#Let's just say that in the latest chapter they sorted things out like their counterparts said they would

[starlytenight]

I have many scribbles but now I can share these, haha

Galacta is such a supportive "brother."

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 37

💖 first time reader click here 💖

Five more chapters to go, guys. This is coming to an end 😭 I enjoyed writing it so, so much! In this chapter we have fluff. Literally only fluff and snark, because my babies have suffered enough. And the remainder is gonna be the same. Because fuck pain.

Coulson was mad. Outwardly, of course, he seemed as level-headed as ever, handing out orders and signing papers out left and right, but coming to sit within five feet of him seemed like the worst mistake I had recently made. His phone was ringing practically non-stop and he answered every call, sometimes speaking in different languages I didn't understand, sometimes in rapid-fire English that sounded like Morse code to me.

I'd never been sent to the principal's office but I imagine that's how it feels like. Finally, his shoulders sagged and the breath he took in left his lungs slowly, deflating his body into a tense ball of quiet fury.

"You and mister Brock ruined months worth of investigation and undercover work," The agent finally spoke. "But I can't even be mad at you properly. We've apprehended the main culprit, detained all of his followers except select few that Dr. Xavier took upon himself to handle," His words shocked me; not at all the scolding I was expecting. A deeper part of me was even afraid I'd be taken away and buried under so much red tape not even Tony's seemingly endless money and influence could have gotten me out. "I... Really don't know what more to say." Coulson folded his hands atop the desk, looking over me with a blank look.

"A thank you would be nice," I let my mouth run before the words even really registered in my brain, the cursed thing.

The agent chortled, "Perhaps, we really do owe you a solid one," Before standing up and walking over to the coffee machine in the far corner of his office. "Coffee?" He motioned to a pile of empty cups next to it. I nodded and he set to work. "The guys should be back in two hours, tops," He remarked off-handedly, watching me out of the corner of his eye. There was no way he had missed how my body relaxed into the uncomfortable office chair at the news. "Nobody is hurt except Rogers but I think he'd find how to hurt himself even on recon duty." The man laughed, bringing over two cups of dark, delicious, steamiy hot bean juice. Nhghhgg.

"Steve is a dumbass," I agreed amicably, blowing over the rim of the cup. The stone of coffee on it's own seemed to wake up my previously anxious, half-empty half-racing brain. The past twelve hours were full of urgency, the team being called in for assistance in mere minutes after my and Venom's return to the tower.

They barely had time to wipe their tears and shelf their worries before the suit-up call came, haste hugs and kisses being traded on their way to the quinjet. Coulson showed up not much later after that, a quinjet of his own and a stack of papers for Eddie to fill out, stern instructions for me to follow him and stay glued to his side at all times. I didn't need to ask: it was obvious there was a rat in SHIELD, again. Thankfully, the rat was discovered before they could come and try to increase their odds by doing something to me; I'd hid out in Coulson's office, crashing down into a strange, most likely Venom-induced sleep as footsteps raced past the door.

I'd woken up anxious and disoriented, the owner of the office pacing along the furthest wall and pointedly whispering into his cellphone. The rest was history.

"Your father called," The agent remarked, watching my reaction carefully. "Said to call him back whenever you can."

I was drained, beyond wrung out, and not just from my latest stunt as a parasitic symbiotic alien's host. The past couple of months were a nightmare, an anxiety-riddled, paranoia-spiced mess of a shit show. I was very much looking forward to breathing freely and enjoying my science without hiding my WIPs, enjoying my relationship (s) without fear of being abducted and sending my men into a panicked, destructive spiral.

My voice remained even as I carefully contemplated and spoke my next words. "He can go fuck himself. Him and that harpy of a woman," I sighed: disappointed in my parents, but not surprised. "I'm freshly out of fucks to give. I'm done."

Coulson, if he even was surprised, didn't show it. His expression remained neutral and supportive. "I understand you. There's enough basis for us to aid you in creating a new identity for you, if you'd like," He pushed a stack of papers towards me.

I chewed on my lip in contemplation. It would be handy, sure, I could be rid of the curse that became of my family name and my parents couldn't legally do anything at all to me; on the other side there was my name plastered on several inventions and projects I'd done over the years. In all my years, I was taught that my name is to be my business card.

The decision was obvious. "No, thank you," I looked at him, hoping to convey the sincerity. "I think I will be okay."

He smiled and went back to his paperwork, all but verbally dismissing me. As soon as I finished my coffee and washed the mug, the couch called to me once again and I curled up under the fleece blanket Coulson had thrown over me while I slept, alternating my attention between sneaking glances at his concentrated form and my cellphone and the few meager games it had. There was no signal and no wi-fi access on the Helicarrier. Security reasons, blah blah blah...

A knock sounded out, startling me out of my sluggish thoughts; one of Coulson's hands crawled down to one of the drawers on his right side where I assumed he had hidden a gun. "Come in," He called out, shooting me a pointed look. I sat up, alert.

"M'here to pick up - uh - a Baby," A tired but amused, familiar voice called out. Clint stepped into the room, still wearing his dirty and bloody uniform, and, as my eyes briefly scanned him, the archer appeared to be unhurt save for a few bruises here and there. His eyes landed on me immediately, visibly relieved.

"Waa," I deadpanned indignantly, raising my hands like a toddler would do when they wanted to be picked up. The only thing Clint was missing was a courier's ball cap.

"I assume the mission went smoothly?" Coulson asked, a soft grin and even softer eyes landing on our interaction.

Clint nodded affirmative, walking over and picking me up with ease, disregarding my shierk completely and stopping only when I poked him in the ear - closest appendage to me - in retaliation. His eyes were laughing and his tone was flat. "Caw caw, motherfucker," He announced to me flatly, waving goodbye to Coulson.

We passed more than a dozen agents giving us the biggest side-eye as I dangled over his shoulder, ass up in the air, fiddling with the numerous straps of his gear as Clint power-walked us to the Avengers quinjet. I'd even stuck out my tongue to some dude pointing a finger at us.

My family was already loaded into the vehicle, all in various stages of dirty, bloody and undressed. Coulson's words were true - only Steve sported a wide bandage over his shoulder, neck and head - one look at Bucky and I just knew the Captain would be regretting his stupidity in a few hours time. Even Stephen was there, looking unhurt but very annoyed and tired, as he hovered a few feet off the ground with Cloaky majestically swaying behind him.

"And what the fuck was that little performance for?" I asked once Clint deposited me in the very front row, between a dozing Bruce and a tinkering Tony.

"I had strict instructions from the Hulk," The archer grinned, pushing a few buttons on the dashboard of the vehicle. In seconds, we took off home.

"Oh, hi," Bruce must've heard his green counterpart being mentioned; his eyes cracked open just as I smiled at the scientist and reached over to brush his curly mop of hair out of his face. "M'yes, Hulk is demanding you do not set foot on the ground these days," Bruce was sleepy and warm, so soft when he kissed my hand, I felt my heart swell.

"Gonna spoil me rotten, you lot," I snorted, keeping the happy smile and the warm feeling as Stephen came back from the Astral world, opening his eyes and giving me a grin of his own.

"That's my job," Tony mumbled, still very occupied with a part of his suit. I turned around expecting a kiss; I had to stifle an ugly snort upon discovering one of the parts of his Iron Man suit got damaged and stuck, making a part of the chestplate render one of his arms temporarily immobile. Tony looked like a frustrated toddler building Legos.

"Someone get me a screwdriver and some pliers," I gently pried away the calloused fingers away from the jagged piece of metal, kissing Tony's cheek in the moments until Natasha handed me the required instruments. Tony was free, grimacing in discomfort as he stretched and rotated his arm, in little under ten minutes. "What happened to the nanosuit?" I asked, not remembering the last time I'd seen Tony in one of his older, clunkier creations.

"They had some sort of technopath mutant," He grumbled - I had discovered the source of his ire. "Turns out, Bruce snuck in my special anti-mutant suit I'd made ages ago. Nanosuit got destroyed in seconds and Hulk had to carry me back to the quinjet for a change of equipment," Despite his sour mood, Tony was visibly more relaxed than since the day I confessed I'd been drugged. "Brucie-bear, this is exactly why it remained a prototype."

"It's better to get stuck in a suit than to be a meat pancake on the sidewalk," Used to Tony's tantrums, Bruce merely blinked and continued eating the chocolate that he procured only God knew where.

I locked eyes with Stephen, both of us shaking our heads in almost identical, semi-fond semi-annoyed way. Ah, sweet sweet normalcy.

There were towers of pizza boxes as we arrived in the tower; a couple of agents got all but yeeted out by Tony, with little to no thank you as they had been the ones that arranged the food for us - still, I understood Tony's dislike of the super-secret organisation and merely paid the two for the pizza, politely waving goodbye as they side-eyed Tony with disdain.

Then, I had to tow both Clint and Thor as they attempted to begin eating, still wearing muddy bloody clothes - of course, I did not possess the physical strength required to handle two adult men, so I merely began a small lecture on parasites (Stephen gleefully joined in) and both of them scattered towards the showers like two spooked little first-graders.

I also used the brief moment of stagnation to hug Loki; these days he didn't freeze in surprise but rather warmly hugged me back, whispering something cheeky to me as I buried my face in his chest. Stephen was the one to cough extra-loudly to attempt to separate us - it was, once again, unanimously decided to have a family dinner and a cuddle pile straight after. Food coma had never sounded nicer.

"So, what'd Coulson say to you?" Clint asked curiously as we all settled in, freshly showered and those who needed it, re-bandaged. I was warm and toasty between Tony and Stephen, wearing the former's gym shorts and the latter's hoodie, Bruce's t-shirt underneath it. The scientist himself was drooling onto Tony's shoulder, somwhere between sleep and awareness, glasses askew.

"He basically thanked me and offered me a new identity," I shrugged, polishing off the last of my smoothie and handing the second bottle over to Loki. As usual, no food was wasted and I always had someone to finish my leftovers, especially since Bucky tended to think I could eat as much as him and kept trying to overfeed me like a foie gras goose.

"Congrats, you've been adopted," Natasha snorted from her place between Clint and Steve. Only the red of her hair was visible behind the man-bulk and the blankets.

"Uh," My response was, as always, deeply informative and astute.

"He likes to take in strays," Clint full-belly laughed. "Me at first, then Natasha. He's got a soft spot for Tony and Bucky but he won't admit it."

My eyebrows rose. "That's... That's my job?" I remembered the whole Venom/Eddie situation, our rogue wizard. Coulson was aiming for my place- the audacity! "He can't just do that!"

"And you can?" Stephen's finger booped my nose, making me huff and cuddle up to Tony, turning my butt towards the sorcerer to show him exactly what I thought about his observations. He only laughed harder. "Sounds like someone's a little jealous."

"Okay, boomer," I rolled my eyes. Stephen Strange, a supreme troll is what he is.

"But that's why you love me," He continued as others around us groaned and snorted, too used to us teasing each other about our age difference and my old man kink. Whatever, I got to bang my hot old men anyways.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway @softie-socks @schemefrenzy @letsby @cutenessloading @romeo-the-cactus @jelly-fishy-babie @mikariell95 @gladiosamicitias @warrior1-19 @toomanyrobins @i-cant-hangout-im-drumming

[taiblogcomics]

I Can’t Pet Force You To Read This One, But...

Hey there, high school crushes. Well, it's finally here. Can you believe it? Yes, counting from the original Xanga site (which, yes, still counts. It's like our own Golden Age publication or apocryphia), this is our 10th anniversary of reviewing comics. That's fantastic. I'm excited, can't you tell? I can tell, since I'm writing this preamble a good two months before the actual anniverary~

So, last year we reviewed the absolute pile of dreck that is Heroes in Crisis. And while that was worth ripping into, I'd rather not spend the 10th anniversary hating on something. I'd like to do something actually meaningful to me. I've teased about this one for many years, probably for as long as I've been doing this blog, and I think it's time we stopped pussyfooting around and reviewed some Garfield. But not just any Garfield. It's finally time, my friends. This... is Garfield's Pet Force.

I dunno how many people will remember this one. Maybe you recall the direct-to-DVD movie adaptation from 2009, or at least advertising for it. I never saw it, but apparently it differs a bit. They also appeared a few times in those Garfield comics from back in the day. We even reviewed a couple (some were on the Xanga blog). But what we're looking at here are the original novellas published between 1997 and 1999. So yeah, these really are from my childhood. And since I've long espoused that Garfield was always funnier 20 years ago, this must be actual premium Garfield content, yeah? By golly, I hope so, because we got five whole books here today. So we should probably get into them~

Book 1: The Outrageous Origin

This is a classic sort of superhero cover. Standard team shot of poses, and that's fine for a first volume. In fact, that's great. Later editions of this would replace the lightning-filled gradient background with a pure white one, but I have this original version. We'll get to specifics about these characters in the meat of the story, but let's talk about the costumes for a bit. Very classic early-'90s sort of look, before the Dark Age kicked in. Reminds me a lot of Jim Lee's X-Men designs, actually. Making all your characters visually distinct is important in a team book. The heavy lean into secondary colours is unusual for heroic characters, but not unwelcome.

So we actually start with a cold open in the superhero universe. This is pretty much to introduce us to the characters as soon as possible, and thus I'll do the same for you here.

*Garzooka, team leader, super strong, has a razor-sharp claw, and can shoot radioactive hairballs from his mouth. That's... at least a unique power, I don't think anyone on the Justice League can do that~ *Odious, the dumb muscle with the accent on the "dumb". Possibly even stronger than Garzooka, and possessing a "super-stretchy stun tongue", an elastic tongue that can scramble the minds of whoever it adheres to. *Starlena, the team girl. She can fly, and she has a siren song that can put those who hear it into a hypnotic trance. Garzooka is the only one immune to its effects, for reasons that are never explained. *Abnermal, the kid-appeal character. He has ice powers, forcefields, and an ill-defined "pester power" that means he can annoy people on a greater scale than normal folks. It's pretty much only used for comic relief, but that could be a brilliant power in the right hands. *Compooky, the brains of the operation. Other than flight, his powers are limited to super intelligence, which means he's usually the exposition guy. There's probably a reason they left him out of the movie adaptation~

You got all that? Don't worry, we'll introduce you again later in the book. What actually happens in the intro chapter isn't really important, it's just setting up the universe. In fact, it's all taking place within Pet Force #99, a comic just enjoyed by Nermal. Yes, we quickly cut over to the main Garfield universe ("our universe", the narrator calls it), where Pet Force is just a comic book. The Garfield gang is all outside, enjoying a cookout prepared by Jon Arbuckle. Nermal is extremely enthused by his comic book, and brags about how he has all 98 previous issues sealed and polybagged, and this one will soon join them. Sorry, Nermal, this came out in 1997, the speculator boom already went bust~

Garfield dismisses comic books as stupid because you can't eat them or use them as a blanket, and declares that none of the stuff that happens in the comic could possibly happen in real life. Uh oh, irony! Because these things can happen, and do! It's a parallel universe, baby! This might be one of my earliest introductions to a "parallel worlds" concept. Much like Earths 1 and 2 in pre-Crisis DC, the events of the comic are essentially the real life adventures of their super-powered counterparts in another dimension. Most of the action in these stories will take place there~

So here's the setup: Vetvix (the parallel equivalent to Liz the veternarian) is an evil sorceress and scientist, who essentially wants to experiment on animals in peace, and possibly subjugate the universe while she's at it. You could argue that Liz is an odd choice for villain, since our universe's Liz isn't particularly evil. But then, our universe's Garfield isn't particularly heroic either. She operates out of a deadly space station called the Orbiting Clinic of Chaos, and at present she's waiting for the arrival of her henchman, Space Pie-Rat, who is a six-foot-tall anthropomorphic rat dressed in stereotypical pirate getup. Vetvix has just finished inventing a levitation ray, and she'd like Pie-Rat to go out and use it to steal all the food in the universe. Vetvix doesn't think small, is what I'm saying.

The counter to Vetvix is Emperor Jon, ruler of the planet Polyester. He's kind and benevolent, even if he's a little dippy and his fashion sense atrocious. Having gotten wind of Vetvix's latest plan, he contacts Pet Force in their ship, the Lightspeed Lasagna. Upon learning the problem, Pet Force gives chase to Pie-Rat. They eventually corner him on some desolate planet, landing and entering an abandoned factory. Unfortunately, they're not safe amongst the dangerous machinery, because this turns out to be a trap. Vetvix has been busy as hell, because she's also invented a metal that's impervious to their powers. And that's not all, because she's also basically invented the Phantom Zone, where she traps Pet Force forever. It specifically mentions it doesn’t kill them, because it wouldn't be kosher to murder the heroes in a Garfield book~

The Lightspeed Lasagna has both onboard cameras connected to the heroes' belts as well as automatic return protocols, so within two days, Emperor Jon knows exactly what's happened to Pet Force. He needs help, so he calls upon his most trusted and powerful advisor: Binky the Sorceror. Binky's just as loud and obnoxious as in the main universe, but he's also a powerful magician. He conjures up a spell for Emperor Jon that lets him pierce the veil between universes. It's basically Equestria Girls rules: parallel universes have similar characters between them. So to replace Pet Force, they need the nearest genetic equivalents from another universe. And that's the versions of Garfield, Odie, Arlene, Nermal, and Pooky that we know and love~

Back in the main universe, it's another day entirely. Another cookout is taking place, and Nermal has received his special anniversary issue of Pet Force #100. The cover's really special, dripping with '90s cover gimmicks like glow-in-the-dark and embossing. A rarely used one, though, was "portal to another universe". That was pretty expensive to print, so you won't find many comics like Nermal's. Maybe he had something there with the collecting after all. The cover glows, and while Jon is distracted by the grill, Garfield and Friends disappear~

They reappear in Emperor Jon's wood-paneled throne room, now transformed into Pet Force. Emperor Jon and Sorceror Binky try to explain the situation, but Garfield--now Garzooka--is disbelieving of the whole thing. In fact, even the idea that Jon can now hear him talk absolutely floors him. Since he's about to deliver the exposition for everyone, can we talk about Compooky for a minute? This spell has just granted sapience to Garfield's teddy bear. I don't expect deep philosophy from a children's novella, but the ramifications of this are really under-explored. Like, never mind the whole idea of a teddy bear having the same genetic makeup as an alternate universe equivalent. He goes from inanimate object to fully conscious being, and he just rolls with it.

Anyways, once everybody gets caught up on what's going on and accepts the new reality, a training montage ensues so the group can all learn to use their powers without killing each other. Once at least reasonably trained, the reborn Pet Force is sent out to stop Pie-Rat. He's gotten sloppy in the times with Pet Force dead, so they track him down easily. After a brief scuffle where Garzooka takes his eyepatch, Pie-Rat flees in his ship. They follow Pie-Rat back to the Orbital Clinic of Chaos, but they can't go in the front. That led the original Pet Force into a trap. Finding an unguarded maintenance hatch--standard on any big space station--they enter Vetvix's lair for a final confrontation!

After dealing with the Waiting Room of Doom, which slowly fills with outdated magazines, they enter Vetvix's inner sanctum. Frustrated with Pie-Rat's failure, she uses her magic to turn him into an ordinary mouse. Vetvix then attempts to use her same weapon on this new Pet Force, but thanks to story contrivance, it only works on beings born in this universe. As other dimensional visitors already, they can't be banished to another dimension. She then pulls a Dr. Claw and runs off cursing Pet Force's name while her base self-destructs. Vetvix is a very "discard and draw" sort of villain, it seems. Pet Force, of course, makes a harrowing escape just in the nick of time.

Returning to Emperor Jon, they vow to be ready to return whenever they're called on, since evil never stays dormant for long. Odious even gifts Emperor Jon with the mouse-ified Pie-Rat as proof of their victory. Well, I'm glad they remember that, so they didn't accidentally murder a major villain in their first superhero outing. They're returned to their own universe, and the time differential between them places them back with Jon having not had time to even look up from the grill. Garfield begins to doubt the adventure even happened--until that night, when he finds Pie-Rat's eyepatch still on his person. Ah, definitive proof of... eyepatches, I guess~

Book 2: Pie-Rat's Revenge!

You have to wonder where, in a space-faring superhero setting, Pie-Rat got the inspiration for his classic pirate motif. It's a little incongruous is all I'm saying. And hey, remember when I said earlier that Garzooka's purple-and-green colour scheme was odd for a hero? Well, here he is as a villain! That'll catch your eye. This would be a terrific comic cover, which is what you want in a series like this.

The book opens with a brief recap of the previous story's events, then moves into the new plot. See, Emperor Jon has opted to keep the polymorphed Pie-Rat as his pet. How very Ron Weasley of him. That's pretty apt, actually, because similarly Pie-Rat has maintained his intelligence in his new mousey form. Pie-Rat gets sick of being Emperor Jon's pet and plans a daring escape, exploiting the emperor's dimwitted and loving personality against him. Pie-Rat jams the lock with a food pellet and makes his escape that night.

Once free from his cage, he encounters Binky's cauldron, still left in the throne room from when the sorceror summoned Pet Force from Garfield's universe. Figuring he has nothing to lose, Pie-Rat jumps in the leftover brew. Suddenly he finds himself growing. He returns to his original anthropomorphic state--but with a twist. He's now twice his original height, a staggering twelve feet tall. He scoops up the rest of the remaining potion for later, and sneaks out of the palace as best as a 12-foot rat can sneak. Desiring revenge on both his former employer and his longtime foes, he steals Pet Force's ship and makes his escape from the planet, headed for Vetvix's newest base.

After his guards help Emperor Jon put the pieces of the problem together, they decide they must once again call upon the powers of Pet Force to recover their missing vehicle and stop the newly embiggened Pie-Rat. Fortunately, Garfield and friends have been watching movies all weekend, so Jon doesn't notice when his pets disappear from the living room in a bright flash. Of course, once returned to the alternate universe and the situation explained, they still have a problem: how do they give chase to Pie-Rat when he's got their ship?

And speaking of Pie-Rat in their ship, he's followed the trail of a mysterious energy output, and it's led him right to Vetvix's new base, the Menacing Moon of Mayhem. See, this is why you don't blow up your base: the backup base is never as good. if it was, it wouldn't be the backup. Given that it's such a shoddy base, Pie-Rat is easily able to get inside and get close to Vetvix. She's expecting a technological attack, so she's unprepared when he pulls out that vial of magic potion and sprinkles her with it. And naturally, the potion that made him grow 12 feet tall makes Vetvix shrink to 5 inches. It's magic, we don't have to explain it!

Pie-Rat takes the magic crystal that Vetvix uses to fuel her powers, which of course didn't shrink because magic is just bullshit. See previous paragraph's last sentence. And while Pie-Rat takes over the base and begins plotting a further revenge against Pet Force, we cut over to them. They're at Sorceror Binky's own castle, and it's clear he's a bit of a hoarder. This is to their advantage, though, as they eventually piece together a working spaceship out of old car parts and other things, all patched together between Compooky's know-how and Binky's magic. This seems like the sort of book where I could use that "it's magic" quote every other paragraph. But craft a new--if small--ship they do, and speed off in the newly christened Planetary Pizza.

The rickety little ship does eventually find its way to Pie-Rat's base, saving him the trouble of being proactive as a villain. The magic thing keeps happening, and Pie-Rat basically becomes Discord for a bit while he fights them, doing things like turning Starlena's siren song into actual living music notes. One by one, the members of Pet Force are taken out, with only Garzooka is left. He and Pie-Rat struggle, while Pie-Rat tries to aim the magic crystal at Garzooka. Garzooka uses his claw to rip the crystal from Pie-Rat and defeat him.

Unfortunately, here's where the cover comes in. It seems the moments Pie-Rat was focusing the crystal during the struggle affected Garzooka's mind. He puts the crystal around his own neck. which turns him evil. He helps Pie-Rat to his feet, and the pair escape in the Lightspeed Lasagna. While Pet Force pursues them in their ramshackle ship, the new criminal duo strikes the storage planet of Deli to steal their food. Pet Force manages to catch up as the villains celebrate their spoils, and use a magic blast from the systems Binky installed to short out the Lightspeed Lasagna. This enables them to dock with the ship and climb aboard for a contfrontation.

The group fights, and once again the bearer of a bullshit magic crystal subdues the heroes easily. Annoyed now, Garzooka takes hold of Starlena and prepares to kill her or something. She taps into the one thing she has left: she's not fighting just Garzooka, but Garfield in his body. She drops some heavy put-downs, which resonate with Garfield, and he hesitates long enough for her to cut the crystal off him. The crystal hits the floor and shatters, undoing its evil magics on Garzooka's mind as well as on all his teammates. With Pet Force reunited, Pie-Rat is easily subdued and locked up.

The group waits for the ship to power back up, then speed off to apologise to the planet Deli. Following that, they head back towards Vetvix's moonbase. That night, though, the magic that was making Pie-Rat 12 feet tall wears off, and he escapes from his cell. He steals the remaining shards of the crystal, climbs into the Planetary Pizza, and makes a getaway. As a bonus, he also repeats the power-down spell against the bigger ship, giving him ample time to escape. And he's not the only one. Over on the Menacing Moon of Mayhem, Vetvix also returns to her proper size, and abandons this base as well. And when Pet Force fails to find her, they simply return to their own universe, ready to be called on once again in the future~

Book 3: K-Niner: Dog of Doom!

Another very basic comic book-style cover. K-Niner is a much more typical villain in style. This one's actually a wrap-around, and features the rest of Pet Force reacting to K-Niner on the back cover. Which is good because, other than the first cover, the covers all have a heavy Garzooka focus. Which makes sense for a book series, I suppose, you wanna assure the kiddos that Garfield's gonna be in the book. But as a comic book series, this would be a bad look for a team book~

So after our standard introduction and recap, we start off with Vetvix in yet another new base, the Floating Fortress of Fear. I'm sure it's very intimidating, if she can keep hold of it for more than a single book. She's picking up from the epilogue and putting the last touches on K-Niner, mostly enhancing his intelligence. Now, you look at the cover and tell me what kind of voice you'd expect. Some sort of German or Austrian accent, like the doberman on Road Rovers? Does anyone remember Road Rovers~? Anyways, but no: he speaks with a posh British accent. You know, the "I say, good chaps, looks like we're in a bit of a sticky wicket, eh wot?" type. Trust me, you can tell. But just because he sounds refined doesn't mean he's not evil.

I also love that after the initial "trapped them in the Phantom Zone" bit, the villains just go whole ham. K-Niner here demonstrates that he is indeed evil by threatening to rip out Vetvix's throat. Let your villains be villainous is all I'm saying. She's pleased he's so vicious, but feels he needs to learn his place as well. She force-chokes him until he complies. She then gives him his assignment: she thinks dogs should be liberated. The Boy Mayor of Second Life would approve, and so does K-Niner. Turning pets on their masters is just his style.

K-Niner takes a portable evolution gun, and immediately sets off. He begins on the planet Kennel. Isn't it neat how every planet is named after an English word that describes its function? K-Niner quickly takes over the dog population and turns them against their masters, because boosting their intelligence also makes them evil, of course. They use enslavement collars on their former owners, and within a few days, the dogs now run the planet. We cut over to Emperor Jon on Polyester, where a man has crash-landed a ship. He's an escapee from Kennel, and he's here to report the events so we can get the plot moving and once more summon Pet Force!

And summoned once more they are, Garfield and Friends once more conveniently disappearing in a split second while Jon's back is turned (this time they're outside playing volleyball). And once back in the parallel universe, Emperor Jon fills them all in on K-Niner's dastardly doings. Garzooka, naturally, takes great offense to dogs being in charge, and takes his duties as a hero completely seriously for once. Pet Force takes off for a confrontation with K-Niner in the Lightspeed Lasagna. And speaking of Pet Force's ships...

The Planetary Pizza, piloted by Pie-Rat, plants its pads down on polar planet Glacia. Pie-Rat is here seeking a way to restore his magic crystal and regain his mighty magic powers. He's sought out the home of a legendary evil wizard, who's known by the name of... Barfo. I see why Barfo keeps his location a secret. But anyway, Barfo is the one who made the crystal, so naturally Pie-Rat reasons he can restore it as well. Suprisingly once on Glacia, Barfo's evil lair is pretty easy to find. His manservant, Hobart the Gnome, brings Pie-Rat before the wizard, and within moments the crystal is restored! Pie-Rat turns to thank Hobart, but Hobart suddenly turns into Vetvix!

Yes, Vetvix knew all along that Pie-Rat's quest would lead him here. And as she was once Barfo's student in the ways of evil magic, she knew she could get the old coot to go along with her plan. Barfo returns the crystal to Vetvix, restoring her powers. And so Pie-Rat, a recurring villain in three whole books, is unceremoniously done away with, as Vetvix teleports him inside an asteroid, trapping him in solid rock. Even if the asteroid were hollow or he displaced the interior when he teleported in, no doubt he'll suffocate within moments. That's pretty harsh.

With that over, we rejoin Pet Force as they approach Kennel. K-Niner's battle cruiser spots them incoming, and shoots the ship down, even in spite of Abnermal's forcefields. Pet Force bail out of the ship, and Abnermal uses his powers to make snow to cushion their fall. Upon landing, a contingent of mutant animals attack. The mooks aren't much, but K-Niner himself puts up an impressive fight. However, one of the mooks pulls a gun and points it at Compooky. This is why Compooky usually stays aboard the ship, but that wasn't an option. Rather than let their friend get hurt, Pet Force surrenders.

Pet Force is held prisoner separately from Compooky, with both the cell's technology making it freeze-proof and threats of "don't break out, or we'll shoot your compatriot". Their imprisonment is not long, though, as suddenly the power goes out. Pet Force takes advantage of the situation and make their escape, quickly running into Compooky. K-Niner didn't think the hyper-intelligent teddy bear needed a high security cell, and just locked him in the basement. It was easy for him to then break out and shut down the local power grid. This also has the side effect of turning off the control collars the humans were wearing. How convenient!

With control of the planet now tilted in their favour, Pet Force now has time to both fix their ship and reverse the polarity of the brain-boosting weapons, turning the dog population of Kennel back to their normal selves. Though the experience did change the pet owners of Kennel. Having experienced life in their pets' shoes (so to speak) for a bit, they've resolved to treat their canine companions a bit more equally. More being allowed on the furniture, less stupid tricks for treats. Still, Pet Force can't stay long, and they head off in pursuit of K-Niner's battle cruiser. This is why most superheroes don't have spaceships (Jedis don't count): if your enemy also has one, they can flee way more easily than on foot.

Not willing to let another place go to the dogs, as it were, Pet Force catches up with K-Niner. With his previous success, Vetvix has stepped up the timetable and sent him after Polyester right away. Emperor Jon is in danger! They enter the planet's atmosphere, and are attacked by fighter craft. They fend them off, but their weapons system is damaged in the fight, so they can't simply use the reverse brain-rays and solve it quickly. The team splits up instead: Garzooka and Abnermal will go after K-Niner, while the other three will find the planet's power source and knock out the collars, since that worked so well the last time.

The two heroes quickly make short work of K-Niner's guards, and then turn the battle to deal with the Dog of Doom himself. While the struggle goes on, the rest of Pet Force reach the planet's power grid. Using a clever tactic, Compooky overloads the power and causes and electrical storm that simultaneously undoes the brain-boosting effect and shorts out the enslavement collars. There's only a few pages left, after all, and we have to wrap this up.  K-Niner is reverted back into an ordinary dog, and the emperor is reverted to an ordinary non-enslaved person. The day is saved!

And now once again, Pet Force prepares to return to their own universe. However... when the spell clears, the five heroes are still standing there. Something is blocking the passage between dimensions, and Pet Force is trapped. And while Pet Force's adventures have taken place between mere moments in their own universe, they have always returned quickly enough that Jon didn't notice a thing. But this time, as Jon retrieves the volleyball and turns around to his pets, he's surprised to find they've all vanished into thin air...

Book 4: Menace of the Mutanator

This one's very striking because of its more painted look compared to the heavy black outlines the rest of the covers have. Does this one count as having the whole team on the cover? Because, spoilers, that's what the Mutanator is: the rest of Pet Force mashed up into a villain. Again, though, that's definitely a striking image that'd draw in readers to a comic cover. In fact, while Garzooka may be over-used as a cover focus, several of these also show him imperiled in some way, and that's nice for character stuff. That helps balace it a bit~

I wanna say, before we start, that I'm impressed by the continuity for the series as a whole. They could've just written each story as a standalone, but for a series of 100-page children's novellas starring Garfield characters as superheroes, things happen in these books. Like, maybe not sweeping status quo changes, but events affect the plot of each next book down the line. And that's where we pick up! Right where the last book left off, with Pet Force now stuck in the alternate universe, unable to return home to Jon. But if they can't go home to Jon, well, maybe then events will conspire to bring Jon to them~

Yep, because Jon happens to wander into the room where they keep the copy of Pet Force #100 that acts as a portal to their universe, he gets transported into the Pet Force universe. And since Emperor Jon is still an extant entity, there's just two Jons now. Jon, of course, is a bit freaked out, and it takes several pages to explain the whole deal to him, and also have a showcase of all their powers to pad out the book some more. Eventually, they decide to call in Sorceror Binky to examine the problem. When he has a go of it, a sudden tornado emerges from the cauldron and whisks away Pet Force--save for Garzooka, whose prodigious strength keeps him anchored.

Garzooka heads out in the Lightspeed Lasagna to track Pet Force's signature, glad to get away from a double trouble Jon. And while he's searching, the scene cuts to Vetvix's Floating Fortress of Fear. Hey, one of her bases actually lasted more than one book! This is where Pet Force has been transported to, once more in a power-proof cell. Vetvix monologues to the heroes, as she is wont to do, explaining that she's the one who cast the spell to keep them from returning home. And further, she's brought them here to mutate them into her servants.

While Emperor Jon exposits about his backstory (turns out he is not of royal blood, and has about as much legitimate claim to the throne as you or I do), the search continues. Sorceror Binky detects Pet Force, giving them all a view of what happens next. The trapped members of Pet Force are literally broken apart and reassembled: Odious' body, Compooky's brain inserted into the chest, Abnermal's hands, and Starlena's head. She christens this beast "Mutanator", and it is soullessly obedient. I also wanna say, Mutanator's kind of a non-binary icon, aren't they? (The comic uses "it", but it was 1998 and alternative pronouns weren't really a thing yet.) Muscular, masculine body, but confident enough to still wear lipstick. It's a look, is all I'm saying~

Mutanator continues to possess the combined powers of Pet Force as well. Vetvix sends them to attack the planet Armory to gear up before attempting to conquer Polyester. And meanwhile, thanks to the convenience of being able to scan all of Compooky's memories now that his brain is part of Mutanator, Vetvix has the perfect trap to spring on Garzooka--or should she say Garfield. Yes, she really knows the whole origin for Pet Force now, and now she knows all Garfield's weaknesses, likes and dislikes, and probably blood type and other dating profile stats~

Thus, when Garzooka receives the coordinates from Emperor Jon and arrives at the Floating Fortress, he finds himself menaced by giant spiders. Vetvix couldn't think of a way to get Mondays to attack him, so the Giant Spider Invasion will do. Spiders are apparently very formiddable foes, Garzooka's personal fears aside. They can swat gamma hairballs out of the air, they can construct webs as quickly as certain Marvel heroes, and their hairy exoskeletons are resistant to both claw and strength. But despite his fear and Abnermal's running commentary, Garzooka manages to trounce the spiders with a carefully applied flame--taking Vetvix's blueprints with them.

Garzooka heads out once again to track down the Mutanator, leaving his less-than-all-together friends in the safety of their forcefield prison. While he's off, we return to the perspective of his target. Using their combined powers, the Mutanator swiftly conquers the planet Armory and sets their sights on Polyester next. It's not a bad plan, honestly. With the stockpile from Armory, not only will the Mutanator be more powerful, Polyester won't be able to use the planet for backup. Fortunately for the two Jons, though, Garzooka intercepts the Mutanator before they can leave Armory.

The fight's actually pretty good. Very back and forth. But even despite Garzooka's great strength, the Mutanator wins in the end. Thankfully, Vetvix puts her conquest of Polyester on hold to take the time to retrieve Garzooka and add his power to the Mutanator. This, of course will be her undoing--in a completely ridiculous way, of course. For back in the palace, our universe's Jon is watching Pet Force's struggles with the scrying cauldron. And he leans in a bit too close. Sowhile Vetvix is prepping the machine to divide Garzooka's body like she did the rest of Pet Force, Jon suddenly tumbles through the dimensional warp caused by the cauldron and lands on Vetvix, which causes her to put the machine in reverse. A real Jonnus ex cauldrona there, eh?

The Mutanator disappears, their existance as a unique being wiped out as their pieces return to their proper Pet Force owners. With Pet Force reassembled, Garzooka takes out Vetvix with one of his gamma-radiated hairballs while she's distracted by Jon. Pet Force decides that the vile veternarian should have a taste of her own medicine, and stick her in the body-splicing machine with some of her guards. This divides them all up and mixes them into bizarre combinations. It also has the side effect of disabling Vetvix's magic, so they can return to their own universe now.

The book wraps up here. Pet Force first returns to Armory to both return the stolen weapons and also make repairs on the buildings that were damaged in Garzooka's fight with the Mutanator. That's the sort of thing I'd like to see in more superhero stories in general. The two Jons part ways, with the Emperor believing the other Jon's heroism to have been deliberate. And thus are Garfield and friends returned home. And just like the end of their first adventure, where Garfield couldn't be sure if it really happened, so too is Jon's memory fading. Had he really witnessed all that? Only his pets know for sure--and in this universe, they can't talk~

Book 5: Attack of the Lethal Lizards

This one's another wrap-around, showing the rest of Pet Force engaging the remaining Lethal Lizards on the back cover. This is one advantage books have over comics: a front and back cover you can use for your story-telling. The Lizard designs are pretty good for a villain group too. Like Pet Force, they don't adhere to a particular theme, but they do look good individually. Garzooka roasting a hot dog on a stick might be a bit too comedic for a superhero story, though. It sets the tone wrong. How "lethal" can they possibly be if Garzooka is out here roasting hot dogs in the middle of battle?

So here we go, last book. After the usual recap, we open with Jon explaining to Garfield and friends his latest plans: they're going to WackyWorld, a theme park dedicated to Jon's favourite cartoon, The Wackies. Both Garfield and Nermal think the show is lame, and if those two agree on something, you know it must be so. In less lame universes, however, trouble is once more a-brewing. So it turns out Vetvix's Floating Fortress of Fear has been orbiting the swamp planet Reptilius this whole time. And her various experiments in the last two books have been radiating the planet in magical energy...

From that magical power, three reptiles find themselves uplifted in intelligence and granted fantastic powers. Please say hello to our three main villains for this book: Snake, an enormous snake (the only one without an anthro design) with stretching powers; Chameleon, who can shapeshift; and Dragon, a komodo dragon with fire breath and the bad attitude to match. While Snake and Chameleon figure out their powers, Dragon declares himself the leader as he's clearly the smartest, strongest, and most powerful. They name themselves the Lethal Lizards and start plotting how to rule the planet.

After that exciting intro, though, the book kind of slows down. First we get a whole chapter of Emperor Jon also deciding to go on vacation, to planet Funlandia. With Vetvix out of commission for a while, there's no better time. In short, he's out of the castle and Sorceror Binky is in charge. This is followed by a chapter of Jon and his pets at WackyWorld. It's certainly an accommodating amusement park to allow pets on its grounds. Garfield at least gets along with the food, but if you know anything about amusement park food prices, the amount Garfield eats will make your wallet weep. Jon takes his mind off it by dragging the pets along to a ride. Surely they have to be under the height restriction~

Fortunately, we get back to the actual stars of this book, and we see a bit more of their dynamic. Snake is the sort who sucks up to whoever's calling themselves "Boss" at the moment. Dragon is power-hungry, and it's clear he'll sell out his allies at the drop of a hat. Chameleon is Starscream. Anyway, they trek through the jungles of Reptilius until they find a downed spaceship. Reviewing the logs reveals it was a scout ship from Vetvix, and they also learn of Vetvix and her mission. However, they don't know where Emperor Jon lives, so they crowd into the the newly christened Rapacious Reptile and set course for the stars.

The first planet they come across is a world called Klod. Quickly the Lethal Lizards beat up the populace and find the local government. Chameleon shapeshifts into a dignitary, pretending to be an advance entourage for Emperor Jon, schmoozing with the governor until he learns both what Jon looks like and the name of his planet. With this information secure, Chameleon nips out suddenly, and the trio sets forth towards Polyester. Governer Klutz calls up the palace as soon as the reptiles depart, and reports the incident to Sorceror Binky.

Binky wastes no time, and he dials up Pet Force. Since all five are in one place, he's able to pull them through even without them being near the gateway through issue #100's cover. Convenient! Pet Force, however, does waste time, as a lengthy comedy scene eats up several pages before we just get on with it. Eventually, the situation is conveyed, and they figure it's safer to keep Emperor Jon on Funlandia for the time being. Compooky stays behind to help plan some strategies, while the rest of Pet Force boards the Lightspeed Lasagna to intercept the Lethal Lizards before they even arrive.

Pet Force spends the next few minutes both scanning for incoming ships and bickering with each other, so I'm very glad when the Rapacious Reptile appears on their detectors before too long. Dragon threatens the ship, telling them to move or he'll knock them aside. It's a spaceship, dude, you can move in three dimensions. The ships trade shots, and while Chameleon's piloting is actually pretty good due to his independently-rotating eyeballs, eventually both ships crash land on whatever planet is nearby.

Both ships crash right next to each other, which is improbable but less ridiculous than some of the contrivances in these books, so I'm okay with it. Now you'd think what with the enemies being reptiles and Abnermal having freezing powers that this battle would be over really easily, but no. In fact, Garzooka and Dragon are pretty evenly matched. Snake turns out to be immune to Starlena's siren song because snakes don't have external ears. See, now there's a contrivance I find a bit weird. Snake swallows Abnermal whole, and Chameleon and Odious get literally tongue-tied. The Lethal Lizards actually live up to their name pretty well.

As the fight continues, half of both sides are laid out when Compooky comes rushing up, saying he has an urgent message from the emperor. And that's when he sucker-punches the team. It was actually Chameleon in disguise, having gotten knocked away when he and Odious separated. So yeah, round one goes to the Lizards, and they make their escape first. Pet Force regroups, and they give chase. The Lizards have enough head start to really lay siege to Polyester before Pet Force arrives, though. They even get access to the palace using Chameleon's shapeshifting, leading to Sorceror Binky letting slip the real location of the emperor just as Pet Force arrives.

Another fight ensues--see, now it's really a superhero story--and the Lizards leave again 2 and 0. This time Snake uses his venomous fangs to attack Starlena. This leads to the weirdest contrivance yet. Maybe not the worst, but definitely the weirdest. They have only minutes to save Starlena. So how do they do it? Well, they notice that Odious drools quite a lot. It's very "fluid output". So they have Binky magically reverse Odious' drooling, so that he has "fluid input" on his tongue instead. It becomes a big suction sponge and sucks the poison out of Starlena. They then restore the drooling, and he just harmlessly drools out the poison. What.

With their teammate saved, Pet Force pursues the Lethal Lizards to Funlandia. They get there just in time to rescue Emperor Jon from their clutches, with Garzooka and Odious combining their strength to literally rip a kiddie ride out of the ground. Starlena corners Chameleon in a hall of mirrors, turning his own trick against him. Snake is undone by Odious' strength. And Garzooka fights Dragon to a standstill, finally trapping all three on a roller coaster still operating. When the ride comes to an end, Abnermal freezes them all until the authorities can retrieve them.

Naturally, Emperor Jon thinks it's all part of the show (because Jon is dimwitted in any universe). The Lizards are sent to a lizard-proof prison (seriously, it specifies this), and Pet Force returns to their own universe. As usual, Jon didn't notice his pets go missing during the dark amusement park ride. The book concludes on an ominous note, however, as the ship carrying the Lethal Lizards makes its jump to lightspeed just as it passes the Floating Fortress of Fear. The shockwave knocks over some debris that reactivates the combining machine, restoring Vetvix to her full evil might once more!

The end!

No, really. Those five books are all there was. I hear it may have continued into the comics, but I don’t know how accurate that is. I didn’t really look into it.

But boy, what a ride, huh? Let’s dissect the books one at a time, since it only seems fair to take them as individual stories.

The Outrageous Origin: It’s a fairly basic origin story, I’d say. It kind of has to be. I guess my main gripe is that, like Rita Repulsa’s entire run on Power Rangers, the heroes never fight the main villain directly. In fact, there’s barely even an evil plot in this one. You have henchmen and some traps, and that’s about it for the menace.

Pie-Rat’s Revenge: A cautionary tale about why you treat your minions with respect. This one’s pretty good, but the events depicted on the cover make up such a small part of the book. Wouldn’t it have been more fun if Garzooka was turned at the beginning of the story? Book 4 would at least do the reverse of that, so it’s not a major complaint~

K-Niner, Dog of Doom: I think this one’s about as middle of the road as you can get. What a coincidence that it’s also the middle of the series! Like I said in the recap portion, it’s a shame that Pie-Rat’s story ended here. This one definitely feels more “villain of the week” than most.

Menace of the Mutanator: This one might be the best book in the series. Garzooka, alone, battling against the best parts of his team? That’s gripping stuff. I guess the main problem is that the Mutanator isn’t really a character in and of themselves. Like, K-Niner, he may have been a generic rent-a-villain type, but he had a personality. Mutanator is little more than an extention of Vetvix’s will.

Attack of the Lethal Lizards: I’m a bit split on this one. The bits with the titular Lizards are great. They steal the show! But the parts where it focuses on either Jon kind of drag, and Pet Force is a bit too jokey here. Like, I get the point is that they’ve relaxed into their roles now, and there’s not much point of doing it as a Garfield story if they don’t actually use the character personalities, but... I dunno. It’s good, but it could have been better~

And that’s it! Like, I dunno how to wrap this up. Pet Force was neither my first exposure to superheroes nor my first introduction to the Garfield brand (you can thank Saturday morning cartoons for both of those). But for some reason, maybe just the absurdly goofy premise, it always kinda stuck with me. And I think that’s a good enough reason to make it my 10th anniversary review, don’t you~?

[quicksilversquared]

The Substitute Ladybug: Chapter 3

After Lila takes things too far and Marinette ends up with a broken leg, Paris is going to have to deal with a different superhero arrangement for a bit. Having to share her superhero identity with her parents before Hawkmoth can be defeated isn’t something that Marinette had planned on doing, but- well, it might end up being a bit of a blessing in disguise.

links in the reblog

The news of the incredibly short akuma fight didn't take long to spread through Paris. There wasn't much footage of it, only what the night news anchor had managed to shoot from inside of the building before getting hit himself, but the guards and everyone living nearby had seen how Coccinelle and Chat Noir had worked together in perfect tandem, practically anticipating the akuma's every strike.

(They had been anticipating every strike, but that was- well, that was being picky, really, and also the superheroes weren't about to give away their secret weapon.)

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to deter Hawkmoth. He attacked the very next afternoon, and Marinette had to hobble her way out of class for a "bathroom break". Thankfully she was getting faster on her crutches- though she was still being careful, Tikki, thank-you-very-much- so it wasn't as hard as she had worried to slip into an empty closet in the library and transform. Chat Noir was already out, and it wasn't long before Coccinelle's symbol appeared on Vipera's screen.

"I'd like to try the same thing as last night," Vipera told them, settling herself up in the closet, half-perched against a shelf. It wasn't particularly comfortable, but hopefully the fight wouldn't last very long. On their end, at least. "If there's two quick take-downs in a row, we might be able to unnerve Hawkmoth a bit, and he might take a step back on the akuma attacks."

"Because he would think that Coccinelle and I are an even more formidable team or something and it would be dangerous for him to go up against us," Chat Noir filled in. She could hear the grin in his voice. "Nice thinking. Are you up for using Second Chance a ton of times again, though?"

"Yeah. And if I end up using it more than I planned, I can always take a nap after school." Vipera allowed herself a smile at her partner's concern, then buckled down to focus on the fight, focusing on the news and camera feeds coming from the area. Once again, she was getting some early intel on the akuma, and this one seemed to be an akuma-sentimonster partnership. That by itself made things more dangerous, but if they could figure out the possessed items on one go-round and then she would know already with the reset...?

That could work.

"Or would I need to bother?" Vipera murmured to herself, eyes scanning the scene. The sentimonster teaming up with the akuma was oddly shaped, the perfect size to get stuck if, say, a manhole cover was unexpectedly missing and it tripped in. One solid whack over the head or yank from below would probably wedge it in well enough to remove it from the fight, leaving Coccinelle and Chat Noir to deal with the akuma- and with Mayura, if she had read the flash of blue along the rooftops correctly.

Hopefully it was just Mayura and not Hawkmoth as well. He tended not to come out as often as his blue-skinned counterpart, though the why was harder to say.

Personally, Vipera was of the opinion that it was poor planning. If Hawkmoth had come out with Stoneheart the first time he had shown up, it would have been all over for the superheroes. Instead, he had lurked in his lair (she assumed that he had a lair, at least- maybe he was just lurking in his bedroom) and waited for the superheroes to actually become competent fighters.

That, and Hawkmoth was a coward.

"I don't see any signs of Hawkmoth personally being there," Vipera finished as she relayed everything that she had seen to her teammates. "But I might recommend coming in from below and capturing the sentimonster first, or at least having one of you doing that. It keeps running really close to the manhole cover near the base of the Arc- Chat, you know the one?"

"Yep!"

"You want us to identify manhole cover locations from below now?" Coccinelle sounded incredulous. "I mean, I can see your plan, but..."

Chat Noir laughed. "The maps on our weapons work wonders, really. And we've used that manhole- I'm not going to say a lot, but enough that I'm familiar with it. I just wonder how we're going to keep the sentimonster from pushing itself back up, even if we yank it down to wedge it in."

"Oh, that's easy," Coccinelle said cheerfully. "There's some men over here who have ropes- I'm going to ask if I can borrow one. Then we can lash the feet to the ladder and buy ourselves some time."

"Fantastic." Vipera flipped to another camera, scanning the area. "Let me know when you're close?"

"We've met up and dropped down into the drains," Chat Noir reported a minute later. "Headed towards the manhole cover. Are they still in the same spot?"

"Oddly enough, yeah." Vipera glanced over the area again and- okay, it wasn't hard to figure out why. Apparently even Hawkmoth's seemingly smarter sidekick sometimes made dumb tactical decisions. "Mayura's found a good hidey-hole and so she doesn't want to move. Chat Noir, you know the place where-"

Vipera explained quickly, and it only took her partner a few seconds to figure out the place she was talking about. By the time the two other superheroes reached their manhole cover, the beginnings of a plan had been put into place. Coccinelle would trap the sentimonster while Chat Noir ambushed Mayura from behind. With two of the three threats contained or distracted, Coccinelle could take on the akuma on her own once she popped out of the drain system.

Well. Visibly on her own, at least. Vipera would be keeping an eye on her and Chat Noir at the same time, so she wouldn't really be on her own.

It didn't take long for the superheroes to reach the right sewer, and then Chat Noir moved out and into position. Seconds after he sent his ready signal, the manhole cover twisted and slid out of place, nudged to the side quietly enough that when the sentimonster made its next rounds, it tripped over the loose cover and stumbled straight into the open hole. There was a jerk, and then it started flailing. The akuma abandoned its latest victims as a purple mask flashed around its face, and then it turned towards the trapped sentimonster, clearly worried about already being down an ally. Vipera set her timer, and then focused, mind frantically sorting through all of the information being thrown at her.

Chat Noir's fight, his earpiece set to continuously stream audio. Coccinelle and the akuma battling it out, her audio also on. Keeping an eye on the sentimonster to make sure that it wasn't wriggling free. Switching between video feeds to watch both of them, re-setting and giving instructions and weighing how helpful those instructions were. Making adjustments when things didn't work as well as she had hoped.

At least her teammates weren't bantering with the supervillains. Their audio was limited entirely to quick updates or suggestions for the next go-round, which helped her keep her focus. Chat Noir was entirely serious as he faced off with Mayura, holding his own well enough. He only needed the occasional instruction as he fought, though that was in large part because they weren't actually trying to defeat Mayura, just hold her off.

Four minutes later, the akuma was defeated and the amok-possessed item had been knocked away from Mayura and also purified. Mayura frantically knocked Chat Noir back and fled as the Cure rushed over Paris, and Vipera let her. It wasn't worth another go-round attempt to see if they could defeat her this fight.

"Should I ask how long that took you?" Chat Noir asked breathlessly over the earpiece as he re-joined Coccinelle. "Because I could hear a lot of instructions going on."

"I didn't really keep track," Vipera admitted, slumping on her little strip of clear shelf. She was going to need a nap after school let out, so she could tell that it had been a long time, but- well, she had kind of done that to herself, hadn't she? She had been the one to suggest that her teammates split up, even if she hadn't needed to interfere with Chat Noir's fight that much. "But I'll be fine. Hopefully that'll scare Hawkmoth off a bit."

"Or we'll have a sentimonster, an akuma, and both supervillains out next time," Chat Noir said with a laugh. "Because they'll figure that eventually they can outnumber us."

Vipera snorted. "Then we'll send out Dad. I'd like to see their faces when he comes out."

Coccinelle started giggling. "Oh, that would be funny! And you know your dad would love to help out. I don't know if we could have both of us come out during the day, though."

"Right. That's something to take into consideration." Vipera glanced at her Miraculous. She was almost out of time. "I might have to start carrying backups with me, either that or tell you where I keep them. But we can talk later- I'm out of time. See you later!"

Her teammates called their good-byes, and then Vipera detransformed. She grinned at Sass- even if she was mentally exhausted, they had done a really good job- and then listened carefully to make sure that no one was around before popping out of the closet and heading back to class.

Even though she was still interrupting her day, Marinette was glad that she was still being involved in the akuma battles in some form. It kept her mind sharp, forcing her to keep up with noticing- well, everything- and she wasn't getting distracted in class, worrying about her mom out there battling Hawkmoth when she didn't have the same amount of experience that Marinette herself did.

Marinette couldn't help but smile to herself as she headed back into the classroom and hobbled back to her seat. When she first started being a superhero, she had hated missing out on class to go battle akumas. Now, when she had the chance to sit back while her leg healed and not worry about it... well, she couldn't help but want to still be involved.

  The city was ecstatic about the apparent new trend in akuma attacks. After months of attacks that- with some exceptions, of course- usually took closer to half an hour to clear up, two attacks in a row that were wrapped up in under five minutes was amazing.

It also sparked a lot of gossip about how, exactly, it was being done.

"Well, obviously the weak point was Ladybug," Chloe sniffed at school, inspecting her fingernails as though she was otherwise completely disinterested in the conversation. "She's been replaced by someone older and wiser, who wouldn't do something stupid like take my Miraculous away from me."

Nino snorted loudly. "Yeah, right. If that's the case, then why haven't you gotten the Bee back yet, Chloe?"

"And didn't Chat Noir say that it's just temporary?" Adrien chimed in before Chloe could snap back, probably with the argument that Chat Noir should get replaced by someone, too, because obviously he was the weak link now keeping her from getting the Bee back. "Because Ladybug was out sick or something?"

"Or something," Alya agreed. "He wasn't very specific about it, was he?" She tapped her phone. "The consensus on the Ladyblog is that Ladybug's family is going on vacation and she couldn't get out of it without being suspicious. I mean, Chat Noir didn't say she was sick exactly, did he? Just that she was getting some much-needed rest."

The class considered that.

"So maybe Ladybug will be out for the rest of this week and then Chat Noir will have a substitute so that he can get some rest?" Rose suggested. She shrugged when they all looked over at her. "Maybe Chat Noir was just telling the truth and we're all reading too far into it?"

"I can't see either of them just sitting back and not coming out to the battles if they were in Paris, though," Alya countered. "That's just not their personality, is it? Or at least that's the impression I've gotten from them," she added quickly. "So I think something else is up. If they just wanted to relax, I feel like they would pull out more full-time holders so that battles would go faster."

"Right, and they should choose moi-"

Alix snorted loudly. "Right, give the one temporary holder whose identity all of Paris knows their Miraculous full-time! There's definitely nothing that could go wrong there!"

Chloe scowled.

"Kids, please," Ms. Bustier pleaded, casting a disapproving eye over the class. Everyone settled down, though not without a fair amount of grumbling. "Let's just be thankful that whatever the superheroes have going on at the moment is working out so well, and try to be positive so that we don't add to their workload. I know we're all concerned about Ladybug, but all we can do is hope that she's okay and will be back defending Paris soon enough!"

Most of the class nodded. Sabrina started to, then caught Chloe's furious glare and promptly stopped, shrinking away from her glowering friend.

"Some people on the Ladyblog are already hoping this team becomes permanent, because they've been doing so well," Alya whispered once Ms. Bustier turned around to write on the board. She leaned forward so that Nino and Adrien could hear as well. "Because people are so tired of akuma attacks, and the last two attacks went so fast."

"But the previous- what? Three, four? They didn't go nearly as smoothly," Nino whispered back. "They aren't going to count the most recent two as just flukes for now?"

Alya shrugged, keeping one eye on their teacher. "I don't know. I think it's too early to call. But the fact that there was such a change, and so suddenly- either they've just really found their stride, or something else is going on. And I don't think that we've seen all of the Miraculous powers out there. Who says that there isn't something else going on behind the scenes that's making them fight so well?"

Marinette hid a smile. Ladybug- well, Vipera, technically- was the thing behind the scenes that was making such a change, but they weren't going to tell anyone that until- well, probably until Hawkmoth was defeated. It was much too useful of a tool to give away.

"People are seriously preferring Coccinelle over Ladybug?" Adrien hissed, sounding thoroughly distressed. "I mean, I know Coccinelle is doing a good job, but Ladybug's done so much!"

"Class, I can still hear whispering," Ms. Bustier told the board dryly before Alya could respond. "Please settle down."

Adrien and Nino promptly whipped around to face the front. From her seat, Marinette could tell that Adrien looked somewhat distressed, ducking his head to exchange a few quick words with Nino that she couldn't hear. Marinette frowned at that, wondering what could be upsetting Adrien so much. She knew that he liked Ladybug a lot, so maybe he was offended on her behalf that anyone would think that Ladybug should step down in favor of Coccinelle.

Honestly, Marinette wasn't surprised that that opinion existed, though it did sting a little that people would so easily consider replacing her. She knew that the interest of akuma attacks had worn off for most of Paris, and even the novelty of superheroes was starting to ebb. People wanted to know why they hadn't defeated Hawkmoth already, never mind that they were trying and they were dealing with adults who were bigger and stronger. Most people understood that they were trying, at least, and so they liked the superheroes, but others just wanted to be done with the whole thing, no matter how it was done.

Marinette could understand that. Even though she sometimes enjoyed the challenge of figuring out how to defeat an akuma and of course she loved the freedom of swinging around the city, having to interrupt her day to deal with the akumas...well, it got old for her, too. So now that people were seeing an older superhero all of a sudden and the fights were going really well and they didn't know the real reason why. Of course they would assume that the change was due to the change in superhero lineup.

Hopefully they wouldn't openly protest Ladybug's return, once she was well again. That would be disheartening.

The rest of the day flew by. Adrien and Nino flanked Marinette as she moved from class so class to keep her from getting jostled, and while there was a lot of talk and speculation about the superheroes, the teachers kept most of it under control. They were there to learn, as Madam Mendeleev rather testily pointed out when she caught Alya whispering with Alix mid-class, and not to gossip about what the superheroes were or were not up to. That could wait until after school.

Besides, she had added, people were gossiping far too much for a simple two fights in a row that had gone well. That hardly provided enough data for anyone to call it a trend.

Thankfully for Marinette's sanity, Alya had to go babysit her sisters right after school and so couldn't lead the continued discussion on what might be going on with the superheroes. She had tried inviting Marinette, but one comment from Marinette about the wisdom of combining Alya's rambunctious sisters with Marinette's broken leg and crutches had Alya backing off right away.

Which meant that Marinette was free to go home and catastrophize on her own, a day's worth of whispers and overheard gossiping enough to make her start doubting everything.

"I thought you seemed to brush off that comment earlier, no problem," Sass commented as Marinette tried and failed to pace on crutches before flopping down on the couch, wincing as her leg got jostled a little more than she had intended. "Because it is dumb that people are being so impatient with the superheroes. You and Chat Noir have gone through a lot of struggles recently! You've lost Master Fu as a mentor and your temporary holders got outed. Hawkmoth and Mayura solved whatever weird energy was polluting Duusu and the Peacock, and now they're stronger. Now you've broken your leg! And still, you've found solutions and you've kept going. I'd say that most people would have lost the battle by now."

"Yeah, but..." Marinette sighed. She hadn't wanted the comments to eat at her, but they had. "The fights, with any luck, will keep going like the last two. People are going to get used to short fights, and then I'm going to come back out all out of shape, and things- well, things are going to take longer again. And people are going to talk. And if we don't give away our secrets, then people are going to assume that I'm the weak link. It's a no-win situation." She slumped a bit more, than attempted to straighten. "And the public doesn't know about all of the other stuff we've had to deal with, either. All they see is Hawkmoth and Mayura coming out and us not managing to defeat them, even though they're right there and not hiding like they did before."

"If they're reasonable, they'll have to admit that fighting up to four times as many supervillains as you did before will be harder, and you can't be expected to do four times as much work with just two of you."

Marinette sighed. "Yeah, but- okay, so I've read the Ladyblog, and people are confused about why we haven't pulled out the temporary holders we had before and keep them on more. I don't think there were many people in this area of Paris who didn't get hit by Chloe's bees, so nobody besides her and Hawkmoth and Mayura actually know that people's identities got revealed."

Sass considered her. "Did you tell your temporary holders?"

"Of course! I didn't want them to get upset that we passed them over when we need to get out those Miraculous next time. They were angry at Chloe, but I asked them to please try to let it go, because I really didn't want to have to fight any of them right now." Even the thought of it was completely awful. "And they listened, thankfully."

"Hmm." Sass gave that some thought. "Perhaps you could assign them different Miraculous? Either that or assign them the same one but require that they have a vastly different look and a different name. Could you use them again then- and perhaps assign some of them as permanent holders?"

Marinette immediately made a fact at the thought, though she certainly didn't mean to. "Honestly? Maybe I could re-use them as temporary holders, but I wouldn't dare give any of them the Miraculous permanently. Some just haven't been out enough for me to get a good read on them, of course. Chloe is a hard no and should have been a no from the start. Alya... she's my friend, but she also has the Ladyblog and not the greatest filter about what should and shouldn't go online sometimes. And she's gotten Akumatized, like... a lot. Not Mr. Pigeon a lot, but more often than most other people in Paris. She's got a temper. And Nino... well, he's Alya's boyfriend, and they knew about each other before. If I tap him for either temporary or long-term superheroing, he's going to assume that Alya will get to do the same thing and then tell her and then she'll get mad again."

Sass considered that. "That would not be ideal."

"Not at all, which means that I need to find more potential holders." Which was a lot of work, truth be told. Adults had an advantage with the endless power usages and no timer, but a disadvantage in the fact that- well, they had jobs and would be noticed going missing on a long-term regular basis. Teenagers had the limitations of timers, single power usage, school, and parents, when- well, the last of those really depended on the parent in question.

Kagami, for instance, was a strong fighter. She had showed a lot of promise in her time as a superhero. But she had a strict mom and went to an equally strict private school, which meant that she would no doubt get in a lot of trouble if she had to leave class on a rather regular basis. That by itself meant that Kagami could really only be a temporary superhero even if she changed her transformation. Just like the others.

(Besides, even with a changed transformation... well, that still seemed too risky.)

Ugh. This superhero stuff just kept on getting more and more difficult.

Marinette sulked through her after-school snack, trying not to loiter on thoughts of- well, everything to do with the superhero part of her life. Even though she knew how important she still was in the fights, it was hard not to feel a bit down, a bit useless.

She was limited to helping while sitting in a closet or a bedroom, instead of throwing punches and kicks and being there in person.

"Marinette? Did something happen at school?"

"Oh, hi, mom," Marinette said, trying not to sound too down. "No, school was fine-"

"Her friend was saying that some people want Coccinelle to stay, since the last two fights were so short," Sass reported. "And Marinette was dwelling on that."

She gaped at him. "That- that's tattling!"

"But it's important to not bottle everything up, too," Mrs. Cheng told her. She came over to stand by Marinette, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Marinette, you know that we wouldn't be doing so well without you helping. And four-minute battles? That would be completely out of the question without you."

"Yeah, but..." Marinette tried not to sigh. She and Sass had already discussed this, and really, there wasn't much else they could cover.

Still, she filled her mom in.

"-and I don't want to stop doing the short fights, because I know that it's important for you to be able to get back to the bakery, and Chat Noir probably wants to get back to his life, and I don't exactly want to be missing class, either," Marinette finished. "But when Ladybug comes back, I know that fight times will shoot back up again."

"You could keep using some of the techniques that you've picked up now!" Tikki suggested right away. "The using cameras before you go in to figure out the akuma's powers and what the possessed item is from a safe distance, and potentially spotting Hawkmoth and Mayura ahead of time. That's given us a real advantage."

"And maybe towards the end of my time as Coccinelle, we can admit that Ladybug's been watching with another Miraculous and that's why she's doing so well, because you've been helping and directing the fights," Mrs. Cheng offered. "We don't have to say it was the Snake or mention the Second Chance uses, because I can see where you might be worried about Hawkmoth getting ideas from that. But by saying that you've been helping out so much and that's why we're doing well, that's telling the public that the difference isn't necessarily because of me."

Marinette nodded, her mind whirring. That...was a good idea. It was safe, because they could just refrain from sharing too many details, but Paris would know that Ladybug had been a large part of the success that Coccinelle and Chat Noir had been enjoying.

Hopefully that would make her transition back to being Ladybug easier. Of course people would expect a well-trained trio to do better than a duo, even if the third member of said trio wasn't physically present. Maybe there would be people pushing for them to add a third permanent member in the role that Vipera had been filling, but- well, hopefully that would quiet the people who were pretty much ready to swap Ladybug out for Coccinelle. And if not, it would at least lessen their numbers.

For the first time since that morning, Marinette could really relax again, her mind set at ease and no longer veering off the rails catastrophizing. Even though it was going to be weeks until Ladybug re-joined the battles in person again, they had a plan in mind.

And that made all the difference.

[how-manygalileos]

Yes, Minister - A BoRhap Politics AU

//Chapt 1//Chapt 2

A/N: ello, ello! c’est chapter 3! me and @rachelweiszs-areawoman hope you enjoy!!

Word Count: 1842

Chapter 3

“There have been reports of more arson attacks in the main refugee camp in Calais. The Foreign Secretary is expected to make a statement, along with the Prime Minister soon” The newsreader on the TV said. Gwilym quickly switched it off and sank back in his chair. The ongoing crisis in the refugee camps on the French coast had been playing heavily on his mind for a while. As Foreign Secretary, it was his job to liaise with his French counterpart, and work out what was going to be done. With the recent spate of arson attacks within the camps, time was quickly running out. He knew he had to do something, and fast, but he didn’t know what. There was a knock at his office door.

“Come in.” he called, Ben pokes his head around the door.

“Jesus, you look stressed,” he says, chuckling slightly, “seen Red’s new placard?”

“And that is?” Gwil asked,

“Elsie Stewart, you dipshit.” Ben retorted. Gwil looked at him, somewhat disgusted.

“Christ, Ben. A nickname?”, Ben shrugged in response.

“Y’know you might find out she’s a pretty cool girl if you actually spoke to her.”

“I’ve got slightly bigger things on my mind, Ben” Gwilym replied quickly, trying to concentrate on the paperwork in front of him.

“I know, that’s what I’ve come to you to talk about. The Prime Minister needs a response and a plan from the Foreign Office as soon as possible. He’s had the French President on the blower again this morning” Ben said, putting a handful of takeout menus in front of Gwil “Have these, considering you won’t be leaving the building until this is sorted.”

Gwil all but threw the menus in a drawer of his desk, before he started pacing around the room. He had no idea what he was meant to do in this situation. He’d never been in it before. He’d never been in a situation as serious as this as a Secretary of State. He soon found himself walking in to Kick’s office.

“What do I do, Kick?” He asked as he sank down into the chair opposite the Junior Minister.

“I don’t know. We can’t use the Rhodesia solution again.” Kick replied.

“Well what options do we have?”

“The usual six, Minister.”

“Which are?”

“One - do nothing. Two - issue a statement. Three - lodge an official protest. Four - cut off aid. Five - break off diplomatic relations. Six - declare war.” Kick says, sipping her cup of tea. Gwil just stared at her.

“And which one are we going to do? You seem to know what to do, Kick. Help me out.”

“Well, if we do nothing it implies we agree with what’s happening. If we issue a statement we’ll just look foolish. If we lodge a protest it’ll be ignored. We can’t cut off aid because we’re not giving the french any, and this is technically a row with the French because they came whinging to us about it because we won’t let these refugees into the UK but it’s actually their problem because it’s on french soil.” Kick took a deep breath before she continued “We can’t break off diplomatic relations because we can’t negotiate trade agreements and considering they’re our link to the continent that would be fairly fatal, and if we declare war it’ll look a bit like we’ve overreacted.”

“Which means we do what?” Gwil asked again.

“Tell the French President to fuck off?”

“Seriously Kick, this is the biggest diplomatic crisis I’ve ever had to deal with and I have absolutely no idea what to do.” He almost pleaded.

The next four days were spent in a whirlwind of meetings and chinese takeaways. Lucy was sent to both Gwil and Kick’s houses to get extra clothes and to buy more coffee. Nobody in the Foreign Office slept. Kick and Gwil didn’t leave the building except to go to No. 10 to talk with the Prime Minister. The Secretary of State and his Junior Minister hardly left each other’s sides. An extra desk was brought into Gwilym’s office and Kick set up camp there, her office used for stress-pacing away from everybody else as so not to make them more stressed.

Eventually, after 96 long and arduous hours, they came up with a solution. The solution was sent off to the Prime Minister and implemented. It wasn’t option 6. Kick and Gwilym promptly collapsed.

Gwilym ran over to No. 10 to speak briefly with Prime Minister May, but on his return he found Kick curled up in his desk chair, fast asleep. Her knees were drawn up to her chest and her hands were clasped tightly around her sides. Gwilym took off his suit jacket and layed it over her shoulders, before sitting on the floor against his desk. He leant his head back against the hard wood and was asleep in seconds.

Ben walked into Gwilym’s office, and had to bite his tongue to stop himself laughing. Kick, curled up in Gwil’s chair, with the man himself on the floor. Ben silently pulled his phone from his pocket and snapped a photo, sending it to Kick.

‘Saw you finally slept with Gwilym x’

--

Ben walked back to Parliament from the foreign office, he lit a cigarette and began walking his regular route. A familiar voice grabbed his attention.

“Hey, Harrow!” Elsie shouted, the nickname poking fun at the fact he was a boarder at Harrow School. She was sat on the curb next to the Winston Churchill statue with a placard that said “REFUGEE CHILDREN BURNING, LEE DOES NOTHING!” written on it.

“Not climbing the statue today, Red?” Ben called back

“Nah, the pigs won’t let me do it anymore. Apparently I’m ‘encouraging vandalism’.” she replied doing air quotes. Ben walked over and sat next to her.

“Want one?” he asked, taking the pack from his inside jacket pocket. Elsie took one, getting her own lighter out of her coat pocket.

“Fuck you, Harrow,” she said, lighting it, “I was trying to quit.” Elsie let out her first breath of smoke and put her lighter back in her pocket. Ben laughed slightly.

“You didn’t have to take one you know.” he said, tapping some ash off the end of his cigarette

“Aye but it’s peer pressure, isn’t it.” she commented, zipping up her jacket and adjusting her beret slightly so it covered her ears a little more.

“So you consider me a peer of yours?” Ben joked, leaning back on the podium slightly a smug look on his face.

“Shut up, pal.” she started, “you know what I mean.”

“So… I’m your pal?” Ben said back, looking even more smug.

“I swear to god, Harrow, I will put this out on that bespoke suit.” he laughed slightly in response, taking a drag from his cigarette. “Anything new happening at the foreign office?” she asked

“Well,” Ben said, taking his phone from his pocket. “Our most beloved Foreign Secretary-”

“That supreme prick, Lee.” Elsie interrupted, taking another drag.

“Our most beloved Foreign Secretary and his equally fantastic junior minister-”

“Shawcross.” Elsie interrupted again.

“Are you going to let me finish, Red?” Ben asked, exasperated as he opened up his photos. Elsie raised her eyebrows and leant over to look at the phone. She saw the photo of Kick and Gwilym asleep in Gwil’s office, and burst out laughing.

“Oh, that’s class. I knew Shawcross was effectively running the Foreign office but at least I have some proof now.” she smirked mischievously.

“You’re not allowed to use this against the Foreign Secretary, Red. This stays between us.” Elsie scowled slightly, Ben rolled his eyes playfully.

“Harrow…” she pleaded, fully aware of the amount of damage this could do, should it get out with the wrong spin.

“I mean it, Stewart. You are not allowed to use it.” Ben warned now in a serious tone of voice, he replaced his phone into his pocket and put out his cigarette.

“Okay, fine.” she reluctantly said, “but when they want to go public, you have to let me break the story.”

Ben dropped his cigarette, stubbing it out with his shoe as he made his way back inside the Houses of Parliament. He was queueing for a coffee when a familiar blonde came up behind him.

“Saw you talking to that bloody protester again.” she said, sneering slightly, with a hint of playfulness. Ben turned around to see Miss Martha Bexley MP, conservative Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar. The opposition.

“At least I have friends, Bexley.” Ben teased back.

“Your friend...a communist?”

“Anarchist, actually. At least I have a position within my party, unlike some people” Ben corrected.

“Have you seen what she said about the new ambassador in her latest column? Some of the allegations she was throwing out, I don’t understand how you can listen to her by choice, or how she gets away with it for that matter.” Martha commented

“I haven’t had chance to read it yet, but I imagine it’s as outrageous as always,” Ben replied, “Also she’s actually very interesting to talk to” he added

“Right… suit yourself.” Martha said, beginning to walk away from him “Goodbye Hardy, have fun consulting with criminals” Martha called as she made her way to the opposition offices, he smiled as she walked away, there was something about her but he was yet to figure it out. Ben saw a newspaper sitting on one of the cafe tables, open to Elsie’s column. He picked it up and began to read as he walked towards the Government side of the Houses of Parliament. 

Joe Mazzello: The Boy-Billionaire of New York, the title read. It made Ben chuckle slightly.

Following the retirement of Louis Susman last summer, it was the turn of boy-billionaire Joe Mazzello, or to give him his full title Staff Sergeant Joseph Francis Mazzello III, to take the position of American Ambassador to the UK. Being “unprecedentedly young” is often a quality I endorse in political figures, however we must take into account that with youth does come lack of experience. Before now, Mazzello has held no office; diplomatic or political. He is a 30-something with a business degree and more money than he knows what to do with…  

“Not even a paragraph in and already two solid insults.” Ben said to himself, Elsie had exceeded herself. He continued skim reading until he made it back to his office. He sat down, leaning back and swinging his feet up onto his desk.

…A young, rich, socialite with a fantasy of being a hotshot politician; donates a sizeable amount of money to a presidential campaign and when that campaign succeeds, the position of ambassador to a major allied nation is handed over on a silver platter. It just doesn’t sit right.

They were quite a grandiose set of accusations, admittedly not too dissimilar from her normal works. But something felt different this time, more personal and less fact-based. Ben wondered if she’d had an encounter with Joe, who’d seemed to him enthusiastic and mild-mannered, and put her spin on it as she was want to do. It was Elsie Stewart after all.

[thisgirlsays22]

Chapters: 13/? Fandom: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager, Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Eren Yeager Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, canonverse, In Universe AU, Canon Era, Reincarnation, Surfer Eren, Pining, Manga Spoilers, Angst, Slow Burn Summary:

Between Titan and human, unconscious and conscious, Eren finds he can access a future world.

Thank you to my betas @attraversiamo19 & @erensjaegerbombs and to my readers/cheerleaders @dreamxxdream @ageha-sakura. 

You can also read below the cut: 

Eren sat down next to Levi, shoulder to shoulder on the couch, brimming with excitement.

“What is it?” Levi asked, setting aside his work.  

“There’s someone on this forum who says that they also remember the ‘Lost Titan Years’.”

Levi raised an eyebrow. “And you believe this random person?”

“I don’t know. Maybe!” Eren nudged Levi. “You and Mikasa had the nightmares. Hanji freaked when she started learning about the Titans. It’s possible there are more people like us out there.”

“But they could also just be full of shit,” he pointed out, nudging Eren back.  

“Well, yeah, I guess. They could have gotten most of this information from the right history books, but still. It’s a lead. At least now I had more to search for than ‘Titans’.”  

“True.”

“The last message they posted was from about a year ago, but hopefully they’ll still see my response.”

He was glad Eren seemed more relaxed, happy even, but this was how it often went. Eren would get caught up in something temporarily exciting and then grow despondent again when the high wore off. It was why for months Levi kept thinking, if I could just help you figure out what you want to do... why he’d seized on the idea of Eren going back to school when he’d expressed an, albeit brief, interest. It had only seemed to frustrate Eren more in the end, though, so Levi had been left unsure how to help him.

Levi had the same inclination to let their earlier conversation go--which he knew he had to stop doing from many discussions with his therapist. Whatever the other Levi and Eren had stirred up, they needed to address it at some point. He just didn’t quite know what he wanted to say.

“How did things go with Farlan?” Eren asked. Levi was actually a little surprised he’d remembered to check in given how focussed he was on writing his next forum post.

“They were fine. He didn’t seem convinced things were alright, but I wasn’t about to tell him what's going on.” What a fucking awkward conversation that would be. By the way, you’re dead in that other world. Good to see you alive, man.

“Oh. Are you mad I told Armin?” Eren’s mouth tugged down into a worried frown.

Levi shook his head and put his arm around Eren. “No. That was your call to make, and I’m glad you have someone else to talk to. Why did you tell him, though?”

“It’s going to sound strange.”

“Try me,” Levi said.

“When I saw Armin the other Eren’s memories it reminded me of how things used to be between us. I remembered how supportive he can be.” Eren sighed. “It was impulsive, but I just felt like maybe it could bring us closer together again. And maybe I can put that big brain of his to good use.”

“That doesn’t sound strange at all.”

Eren gave him a small smile, then said, “I’m glad you talked to Mikasa yesterday.”

“Me too.”

“I wish,” Eren started haltingly. “I wish that you’d had each other growing up.”

“Then we wouldn’t have had you,” Levi pointed out.

“I wish that you’d had each other growing up...and still somehow had me too.”

Levi gave a short laugh. “Yes, well. That very specific wish is sweet but pointless. We would have just been two kids with awful nightmares.”

“When you put it that way, I guess it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.” Eren didn’t look reassured, though.

“Any idea how long we’ve got until we’re body-snatched again?” Levi asked dryly, changing the subject.

“No idea,” Eren replied.  

“We’re both just sitting ducks then.” Levi wondered how they’d been so lucky that the sudden appearance of the other Eren and Levi had never caused them any harm. He certainly hoped it would carry on that way.

Eren nodded. “I’m sure they’ll be back soon. We’ll just be...careful in the meantime.”

“That’s all well and good,” Levi said. “But when does this end?”

“I don’t know, but there has to be some reason they’re coming here. Something we can do that ends this.”

Levi sighed. “We keep looking then.”

“We keep looking,” Eren agreed.

They fell into a rhythm over the next few days. Eren mostly wanting to discuss leads, the latest messages he’d sent to his mysterious new contact, wondering if there was a way they could meet. If he wasn’t updating Levi, it was Mikasa, Armin or Hanji, and eventually Jean--“He’s my husband, ” Mikasa had finally snapped. “I told him everything weeks ago, we’ve just been waiting for you two dopes to give me the all clear.”

Things between Eren and Levi felt good most of the time. They hadn’t exactly left the conversation on a bad note, but there was something unfinished hanging over them, and the fact that Levi wasn’t certain what it was left him off-kilter.

Seeing Eren so intent on helping their counterparts kept Levi from trying to distract him. It had been a long time since he’d seen Eren so enthusiastic, focussed. He could hang back for a little longer, give them both time to separate these two other lives that had invaded their headspace.

At least Eren wanted Levi caught up in his plans too. It pleased him every time Eren gave him another instruction for what to do if the other Eren showed up without Levi. Every time they thought of new things to show their counterparts. Every time they shared an overlapping memory from the other world.

Eren heard back from the person who claimed they remembered the Titans, their previous life. After writing back and forth to one another, Eren agreed to a video chat.

“They’re travelling right now,” Eren said over their morning cups of coffee and tea. “They’ll contact me when they’re back.”

“Shit,” Levi said. “You want me on the call too?”

“Yeah, definitely. They said that was fine. I’m thinking we get the others over too, but just have them off-screen.”

“Why the fuck not? Use the family group chat while you’re at it.”

“I know you’re being sarcastic, but I feel an obligation to Jean to do that. He’s pissed at me.”

Levi leaned back in his chair, taking a thoughtful sip of tea. “Hm. Tell him that I fixed his bad sink repairs. He can be mad at me instead.”

“Can I? I think that’ll work. Jean can only stay angry at one person at a time.”

Levi waved a hand and said magnanimously, “Sure.”

“I’m going to put another pot on before work. You want more tea? We have to finish working on our notes.”

They had different plans for if the other Eren, Levi or both came at once. For instance, if both came, Armin had suggested they leave post-it notes around the house with instructions for how to contact someone.

In the meantime, all they could do was wait.

     It was two weeks until the other Eren returned. He seemed broody, his presence pulling the plug on the near-manic enthusiasm of Levi's own Eren.  

“No other Levi this time?” he asked.

Eren’s face clouded. “No.”

Levi could guess the source of the misery, and a pang of guilt shot through him. Could he be blamed for the transgressions of another life? Apparently he could from the way Eren was eying him warily.

“We’ve been keeping notes for you,” Levi offered. “To see if any names or things stand out.” He went to retrieve the notebook from their bedroom. “Unless my Eren’s in there right now and can show you himself.”

“No, I don’t feel him like last time. Maybe because we’re not drunk?”

“Probably.”

Eren looked miserable, and no matter which Eren was in his body, Levi couldn’t bear to see it. Especially knowing he--in any form--was likely the cause of it.

“Would you like to go somewhere?” he asked, recalling the awe the other Levi had experienced at seeing where they lived. “We can bring the notes.”

“Sure, I guess. Where?” At least there was a flicker of interest even though his eyes were still downcast.

Levi ran through a mental list of all the places he could take Eren, and he remembered how intrigued he’d been by the photograph of the ocean, how his own Eren could be soothed by its presence.

“To the beach.”

Eren looked at him blankly. Levi still hadn’t gotten used to explaining what every little thing was. “The ocean is there,” he clarified.

Eren’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Ah, now I’ve got your interest, Levi thought. “It’s not too far away, but I’m going to have to explain what a car is.”

“Uh, okay.” Eren looked nervous but followed Levi outside where he listened with his usual intensity as Levi spoke.  

He showed Eren how to buckle his seatbelt, and then they were on their way. Levi was careful not to drive too fast, lest Eren get carsick. If the body you were borrowing was used to riding in cars, but the soul inside wasn’t, did you still get carsick? Levi didn’t particularly want to roll the dice with that one.  

He explained what the radio was, and he even played some of the songs that his own Eren liked, an experiment of sorts. And yes, shitty taste in music seemed to translate over lifetimes. “This is weird, but kind of nice,” he said of some early 90s dance music. Levi winced.

As they neared their destination, the salty ocean air drifted through the cracked car windows, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Eren’s brows knit together.

“What’s that smell?”

“The ocean.”

Eren pressed his hands to the glass, craning his neck. “Where?”

“Just over the bend,” Levi told him, and sure enough, the ocean appeared before them, waves breaking in foamy ruffles against the shore. The sea was calm and languid tonight.

Levi pulled the car over at the lookout point. Eren had once driven them here late at night, climbed into Levi’s lap and made out with him until some drunk teenagers showed up, tapping on the car window and making kissing faces at them.

The last of the light clung to the sky, the tide just coming in and covering the sand in blankets of waves. Eren got out of the car and walked over to the ledge. His hands clutched the metal rail as he looked down at the sea in quiet awe. 

“I wasn’t ready to come back to your world,” he said, voice thick with emotion. “But I knew I had to. So one day back home we could see something like this.” Eren turned to face Levi, tears on his cheeks. 

Levi ushered him over to the car where he’d left the trunk open. He’d owned his ugly, boxy car for over a decade, and he and his Eren had sat at the edge of the trunk under the stars countless times over the years.

“Take a seat,” Levi said, patting the space next to him.

Cautiously, Eren did as he was told. Levi noticed that he even wiped his tears the same way as his Eren, with the back of his hand. Angry, frustrated, defiant.

“Why didn’t you want to come back here?” Levi asked.

Without hesitating, Eren replied, “I wasn’t ready to see you again.” The ocean breeze blew his hair softly into his eyes, and Levi stopped himself from reaching over to brush it away.  

“So you talked to him then?”

Eren gave a short, miserable nod.

“I saw what happened between you,” Levi said. “After you’d been rescued from that...cave.” That strange memory kept coming into his head--Eren shirtless, in chains. The violence of it all gave him chills. It came to him now in nightmares too.

“He must have thought I was so pathetic that night,” Eren said bitterly. He spoke towards the sea, refusing to look at Levi.   

Eren was wrong. The other Levi had sensed a kindred spirit in Eren, someone he could whisper secrets to in the quiet of the night.  

“No. He understood.”

“Maybe.” Eren shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve spent so much time trying not to think about that night. I couldn’t figure out why he’d let me stay. Pity maybe.”

“I can tell you with certainty that whatever kindness he showed you was never out of pity.”

Eren scowled. “How could you possibly know that? It’s different between you and your Eren. He shared a similar memory with me, but the way it turned out...It’s not the same.”

“In some ways you’re right. But I think we have more in common than we realised.” The saltwater breeze blew back towards them again, and Levi breathed it in deeply. “So what happened when Levi returned?”

“He told me that nothing could happen between us.” Eren’s scowl deepened. “But then he hugged me, and it reminded me of what Eren said. That he wouldn’t just do that for anyone and I--I kissed him.”

Levi’s eyes widened. The kid had balls to kiss his superior officer.

Eren continued, “For a second, I thought he was going to let me. It seemed almost like he was going to kiss me back. But he really doesn’t want me...” Eren trailed off with a defeated sigh and gazed out at the sea again.

“I think he spends a lot of time trying not to think about you,” Levi said slowly, and Eren’s head jerked towards him. “I mean, you can understand his position, can’t you?” Those two probably shouldn’t be together. No matter the pull between them.

“Yes. I just wish things were different.”

“Maybe they will be someday. You don’t have to give up forever.”

“What do I do next then?” Eren asked. A challenge in his voice.

“Don’t leave him,” Levi answered. “If what you have is just a short-lived crush or lust, it isn’t worth fighting for anyway.”

Eren’s eyes narrowed, shoulders tense and defensive. “What do you mean?”

“It might not seem fair, but if you run away, he’ll think he made the right choice, that he did you a favor.”

That year without Eren, after he’d turned him down, he’d thought Eren must have been happy. Imagined him off at school making new friends, going to parties, maybe even falling in love. Never considered that Eren’s longing, lonely ache might have matched his own.

And Levi had most certainly felt an identical ache in the other Levi’s heart. He had felt such depths of sorrow and pain, beyond anything in his own comprehension, and even just the sight of Eren in this world had eased it.

“Be a friend to him,” Levi suggested. “The choice is yours of course, but that’s what I recommend. Even if it’s going to hurt sometimes until it gets easier.”

A seagull squawked overhead, a lonely call in the night, briefly crowding out the soothing sound of the waves. Eren stood and walked over to the edge of the lookout point, eyes fixed on the blackening ocean below.  

“Is that how it was for you two?” Eren asked.

The answer was complicated. Eren had put so much distance between them, Levi had thought for sure he’d imagined their friendship. That he’d imagined that they were family.

“Yes and no.” Levi tilted his head back to look up at the last pink gasps of sunlight. “I don’t know what Eren’s shown you about his mother.”

“Not much,” Eren said. “Mostly happy memories. But I know she died.”

Levi nodded. He stretched his legs out, toeing at a pebble beneath his feet.

“I met Eren, his mother and Mikasa when he was about sixteen.”

At Eren’s puzzled look Levi added, “Mikasa and I weren’t raised together. I didn’t even know I had a sister until Eren found me and introduced us. For so long, I wished I had a family and then suddenly Eren showed up and changed my life.” Suddenly, Levi had felt he belonged somewhere.

“Mikasa is your sister?” Eren repeated, eyes going wide.

Surprised, Levi said. “Oh, yes. We have the same father. It’s not the same for your Levi?”

Eren shook his head.

“Huh. Interesting.” He filed that information away for later. “Anyway, as I got to know Mikasa, I got to know Carla and Eren too. He wasn’t very subtle about having a crush on me.” Levi rolled his eyes fondly.

Face red, Eren stared intently out at the glittering sea as he listened.  

Levi crossed his arms. “One day he kissed me, told me how he felt. I told him no. He was about to start a new phase of his life, and I didn’t want him to miss out on things because he was worrying about me.”  

“I don’t understand what you mean by ‘new phase’.” Eren tilted his head in question.

“It’s common here for people to go away to school for their studies. Usually when they’re about eighteen. You meet a lot of new people, study, work, build a kind of life for yourself there,” Levi explained. “I’m a decade older than Eren, and I’d already lived that part of my life. It wasn’t something I could share with him.”

Eren’s expression turned dubious. “No offense, but that doesn’t seem like a very good reason.”  

Levi shrugged. Of course you’d think that at Eren’s age. “Maybe.”

“Did you change your mind in the end?”  

“Not exactly. His mother got sick and he moved back home. I moved a little closer too, so I could help.” He’d have done anything for any one of them. Carla, Mikasa, Eren. His family.

Sadness washed over Eren’s face. “He showed me some of that. Her dying. It still hurts.”

Levi knew then that Eren was speaking for himself too. Carla’s death in that other life had been violent, horrifying. There was a small comfort knowing in this life she’d been granted peace. He wanted to reach for Eren, both Erens, and hold him.

“I know,” Levi said softly.

“So how did you and Eren...?”

“There was no big conversation about it. You stayed and I stayed, and we just were.” There’d been no choice to make that time.

At first he’d been disappointed that Eren had never gone back to school, but he’d respected the decision and selfishly revelled in the fact that Eren had stayed, that he’d moved into Levi’s home not too long after. More and more of his things appearing in Levi’s spaces, tucked in and around as though there’d been a place for them all along.

A contemplative silence stretched between them. Levi wondered if his Eren was listening, what he was thinking.

“So you think he’d want to be my--” Eren paused, as though trying to remember a long-forgotten word, “friend?” He gave Levi an odd, incredulous look.

“Yes.” There wasn’t a doubt in his mind about that.

“Okay,” Eren said. He stood back again and walked towards the railing to stare out down at the sea. Levi heard him quietly murmur, to himself again, “Okay.”

     Levi texted Armin and Mikasa, and they met them back at the house a little while later, Jean too.

“I’m going to pretend you meant to message the family group chat,” Jean said darkly when he and Mikasa arrived.

Levi sighed, but at Mikasa’s glare said, “Sorry.”

Jean waved a hand. “It’s fine. I just want to meet this bizzare-o, Eren.”

“Yes,” Mikasa said stepping inside, “Where is he?”

Levi took them through to the living room, and he and Jean watched as Eren and Mikasa met.  

“Hi,” she said, moving towards Eren. She lifted her arms, unsure.

A smile spread across his face and he stepped towards her too. “Hi,” he said, and then they embraced. “I saw you here that one time. Before I understood what was going on.”

“I remember,” Mikasa said. She sounded like she was holding back tears. “God, I was so worried about him. I still am, but at least I don’t think he has a brain tumor or something.”

“I don’t know what that is, but it sounds bad.”

She laughed, one of those shaky pre-cry laughs. “Oh, this is Jean. My Jean.”

Eren peered past her and Jean hesitantly made his way over to them. “Hey,” he said awkwardly. “It’s, uh, good to meet you...other Eren.”

“You too,” Eren said, sounding unsure. He glanced over at Levi as though he held the answers. Levi gave him a smile that he hoped was encouraging.  

“Anyway, I’m not waiting for Armin to get here,” Mikasa declared, breaking the awkward silence. “I have questions.”

And they discussed them all. What Mikasa remembered from her dreams, what it was like growing up together in both of their lives. She didn’t shy away from the horror of the other life, and it seemed like Eren appreciated her matter of fact approach.

Jean hung back, only interjecting with a question or two. Once asking, “So you and I aren’t close?”

“Not really,” Eren said. “You’re not always so bad, though,” he added politely.

Jean looked perturbed but fell silent again, letting Mikasa resume her questions.

“We’re not siblings in Eren’s world,” Levi interjected when she asked what it was like for the other Mikasa to have the captain as a brother.

“Really?” she said, startled. “It’s so weird to imagine us not being siblings.”

“You didn’t even know I existed until you were eighteen,” Levi said.

“Fine. It’s hard to imagine knowing you exist and you not being my brother,” Mikasa clarified, rolling her eyes.

Eren’s brows knit together. “It’s harder for me to imagine you being siblings.”  

Mikasa turned back to Eren. “And you said Jean and I aren’t together either?”

Eren shook his head, not looking too pleased at the prospect. “Like I said, a lot’s different.” 

Levi snorted. “An understatement.”

“Whatever,” Jean said lightly, “I loved Mikasa for years before she fell for my charms. I'm sure it's the same there.”

“Jean,” Mikasa said, “Sorry if I wasn’t ‘charmed’ by my younger brother’s friend gaping at me like a fish whenever I walked in the room.”

“I didn’t do that!”

“You did! I liked you when you grew up and asked me out like a normal person.”

“Aw.” Jean smiled fondly at her. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Eren looked miserable, and Levi gave him a commiserating look.

Once Armin arrived, it all started again from the top.

“What’s Erwin like in your world?” Armin asked after he’d exhausted the lines of questioning about himself.

“He’s a good leader,” Eren said, looking a little perplexed. “Kind too.”  

Armin gave a happy sigh, and Levi fought back an eye roll.

“Hey Eren, is your buddy Armin dating your commander?” Jean asked mischievously, picking up on Eren’s confusion.

Scandalised, Eren said, “What? No!”  

Mikasa laughed at Armin’s blush and said to him, “I’m sure if you ask Erwin nicely he’ll do a bit of roleplay with you.”

“Stop,” Armin groaned, covering his face.

“You brought this on yourself,” Jean put in.

Eren looked at Levi in abject horror, but Levi just shrugged in reply. At least Eren wasn’t brooding anymore.

Though he kept a watchful eye on Eren, Levi kept his distance and let the others lead the conversation. He hoped he’d been able to give Eren some comfort, some clarity with his earlier advice.  On their journey home from the beach, Levi had given Eren the few updates he had and told him to return in a few weeks.

Now all he could offer was distraction until Eren returned home, and seeing the way he smiled as Mikasa and Jean described their wedding, Levi took quiet pride in the fact that his plan seemed to be working.

After everyone had left, Levi and Eren sat together in the living room with a deck of cards between them. It had been a long time since Levi had played cards--he’d needed to go rummaging around one of Eren’s many boxes full of junk in order to find them.

“No, you can’t lay that down,” Levi said. “The number of wildcards can’t outnumber the others.”

“Right, yeah.” Eren sighed, picked the cards back up again and finished his turn with a discard instead.

“You’re picking up on this fast,” Levi said. “You should teach your friends back home how to play.”

“You think so?” Eren asked, a hopeful note in his voice.

Levi drew a card from the pile between them. “Yeah, I do.”

A small smile played on Eren’s lips. “I think that’s a good idea. If I can remember the rules, I mean.”

The day had taken a more peaceful turn, but Levi struggled to relax. A melancholy air hung between them, and if Levi could feel it, then certainly his own Eren must be feeling it ten fold. He was in the belly of the beast, so to speak, stewing in memories and emotions. Now that Levi had experienced it for himself, he suspected Eren’s return would be difficult.

Still he longed for it. He was ready.   

[letterfromtrenwith]

Grand Jeté - Ch. 3 & 4

When George Warleggan quits a high powered job in the City to take care of the finances of the South West Ballet, run by his friend, Francis Poldark, it changes his life - even more so than he expected.

Elizabeth Chynoweth came to the South West to come back home, take on new challenges, and leave behind a less than perfect time in her life. She intends to focus on her art, but everyone knows what they say about best laid plans…

Ch 1 & 2 

~

Chapter 3 

“And it’s worth the investment?” Francis tasted his coffee, made a face and reached for another milk.

“Yes. It’s a decent outlay, but since you’re a registered charity they’ll give you a discount. And it’ll save a lot of time and unnecessary paperwork – the system can handle everything: general accounting, payroll, personnel, even scheduling for your studio space and performances.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yes, it’s a few different programs, but they all work together, and there’s another discount if you purchase several of them.”

“God, George, this all seems so simple and yet so complicated at the same time. I honestly had no idea about any of this.” He shook his head.

“Look, you don’t need to know all this. You’re the Artistic Director. It’s like expecting me to know about…..fouettes? Is that a thing?” George frowned and Francis laughed heartily. George had heard Francis and Verity discuss dance endlessly, but he had to admit he hadn’t taken a lot of it in.

“Yes, that’s a thing. You’ll pick up a fair bit of stuff quickly, I imagine. Rosina will help. She trained as a dancer, you know.”

“She did?” He’d talked quite a lot with Rosina in the two weeks he’d been here. He’d learned that she was born in Marazion, and had studied at the University of Falmouth, but she’d never mentioned any ballet training.

“Yes, but she couldn’t continue. Injury, I think.”

“Shame.”

“Yeah.” Francis glanced at the clock. “Oh, I’d better go. Afternoon practice. Our Rodeo debut is getting closer.”

“You’ve completely sold out, by the way.” Francis looked momentarily taken aback.

“We have? I have to admit, I’m surprised. It’s not the best known show.”

“Perhaps not, but the company has an excellent reputation. The reviews for your last season couldn’t be more glowing.”

“I thought you didn’t know anything about ballet?” Francis cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I may not have the technique down, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do my research!” Taking the job might have been a rather impulsive decision, but he wasn’t going to join an organisation without so much as a quick Google. Every local newspaper, and even a few nationals, had been full of praise for the company’s recent productions, which had certainly given him hope that it wouldn’t be too difficult to put them on a financial even keel.

“Well, that’s a start, I suppose. But you’re going to have to properly immerse yourself. Not like when you used to hang around with me and Verity in London. Once I finally get myself in gear and get you introduced to everyone, you could come and watch some rehearsals. You never know, might even let you join in…” Francis left, cackling at what George was sure was the look of sheer terror on his face.

~

The clock in the stage manager’s office read 6:15pm. Ellen Tabb was her name, a bespectacled woman in her 40s who exuded an air of competence. Francis had told George that Ellen was invaluable to the running of the company, and it hadn’t taken much to see why. She’d been highly amenable to all of the suggestions George had had so far about more efficient management and already come up with plenty of ideas about how to implement them. She’d made a point of introducing herself to George on his second day and said he could come to her with any questions he had about the running of the place if Francis wasn’t available, or it was to do with her responsibilities, for which George had felt pathetically grateful.

Since the company was deep in rehearsals for the new season, Ellen had a lot on her hands, and her work-room was almost as chaotic as the finance office had been when George arrived. That seemed to work for her, however. He didn’t like to pry, but he’d seen the walls covered in what looked like plans of the Hall’s performance spaces and sketches of set designs, along with typed notes on half a dozen things. Her desk was piled with copies of programmes, photographs of dancers in costume, and even sheet music. Somehow she had to cohere all of this into a final production, overseeing the co-ordination of every department, from dancers to costumers, stage hands to musicians. George had considered his own task something of a challenge, but it was nothing compared to this.

She seemed to have taken a well-earned finish at a reasonable hour today which, considering it was Friday, was fair enough. So George left the paperwork on her desk, hoping the fluorescent orange Post-It note Rosina had stuck to it would make it noticeable enough amongst everything else.

The Hall was quite an extensive complex, and he still hadn’t fully got his head around the layout. He realised he’d taken a wrong turn and was about to double back when he heard an unexpected snatch of music floating down the corridor towards him. Music in general wasn’t unexpected here, of course, since he’d inadvertently ended up in the direction of the rehearsal spaces; it was just that what seemed to be playing was rock music. Muse, if George wasn’t mistaken. Intrigued, he couldn’t help but follow the sound, finding it emanating from the closed door of one of the studios. Without thinking, he looked in through the window.

A dozen or so dancers, still dressed for practice by the look of them, were in the room, dotted around the sides, leaning on the barre – he knew what that was – nodding their heads to the music. He hadn’t been properly introduced to the full company, but he’d read all of their personnel files, feeling like he was prying the entire time, despite the fact that save a few payroll details, most of the information was in their profiles on the South West’s website. As he watched, a young dancer with a short, dark bob who he recognised as Morwenna Chynoweth stepped into the middle of the floor and, in time with the entirely incongruous beat, executed a series of perfect – to George’s completely untechnical eye – turns across the room before effortlessly leaping into the arms of a slim young man who lifted her into the air as if she weighed almost nothing. George had met this dancer by chance when he’d previously dropped by Ellen’s office. Hugh Armitage was his name, and he’d shaken George’s hand with a strength he seemed unaware of, welcoming him sincerely to the company.

A few others cheered and clapped as Morwenna delicately came down from her lift, and then two male dancers – Paul Daniel and Ed…something– performed a sort of Cossack-style dance to much laughter. George smiled to himself and was about to turn away when two ballerinas came forward on the other side of the room. Both tall and dark-haired, they were a striking pair. The one closest to the door was Margaret Vosper, who had frightened the life out of him by loudly greeting him in the car park as he was about to go home a few nights previously. Like everyone else so far, she had been extraordinarily friendly, insisting he come for coffee with the dancers the next time they went.

But it was the other who really captured George’s attention. The other Miss Chynoweth. Elizabeth. He’d found his mind drifting back to his first day quite a few times since, remembering the faint blush that had come into her cheeks when Francis had called her their ‘prima ballerina’, not to mention her wide smile and soft eyes. She’d seemed keen to get away, however, although he’d hoped it was nothing personal. Rather guiltily, he’d researched her a bit more thoroughly than he had the other dancers, even finding a video online of her performing a solo in the title role of Madame Bovary the previous season. On stage, she was just as stunning as off, her movements elegant and lyrical, the emotion of the dance written in every gesture.

Even here, dressed in her simple practice wear, accompanied by pop music, he couldn’t take his eyes off her. In perfect synchronicity with Margaret, she took several flowing steps forward, picking up speed to leap into the air, hitting flawless splits and landing effortlessly, the women finishing en pointe at the exact same second, to whoops of approval from the others. George barely noticed Margaret, however. As Elizabeth spun out of her finishing position, she paused for a moment facing away from him, exposing the low back of her top and the nape of her neck bared by her hair piled up in a bun.

She glanced in the direction of the door and, although he couldn’t be sure, George thought their eyes met. With a gasp he pulled back, striding quickly away down the corridor, feeling horribly embarrassed and trying desperately to put the image of her sailing through the air, face alight with joy, out of his mind.

Chapter 4

“All right, Folies-Bergeres from the top. We won’t need most of you until after lunch now, so you’re free until then. Back here by 2:15 at the latest for Dracula in full.” At the balletmistress’ words, a few dancers gathered up their things and headed for the door, either to another practice room, or for a long lunch. After an hour’s general class first thing, they’d run through Checkmate and now it was time for its companion piece. Both had been devised by the legendary Ninette de Valois, but were very different in style. Bar aux Folies-Bergeres, to give it the full title, was a much more romantic counterpart to the avant-garde Checkmate. Inspired by the Manet painting, it was a one-act piece with an even smaller cast than its partner. It was Margaret’s proper come-back in a way, as she was playing the role of the seductive can-can dancer La Goulue. Considering she had to dance the famous high-kicking steps, it was a challenge with her injury, but if she said she could do it then Elizabeth believed her.

Her co-stars were primarily soloists – Emma Tregirls had been cast as the barmaid, a role for which she had both the perfect look and more than the requisite ability. Paul Daniel was to play the waiter she loved, with Ruth Teague, Keren Smith and two girls from the corps as La Goulue’s fellow dancers. As she made her way to the centre of the room, Elizabeth caught Ruth sending a nasty look at Demelza’s back and rolled her eyes. Ruth was not a bad dancer, but it was generally accepted that she had her place in the company primarily due to the fact that her mother was the head of the St Ives School, which supplied the company both with potential candidates and youth cast members.

Ruth had coveted Verity’s principal slot and been the most vocal in her sneering at Demelza’s appointment. Demelza, to her infinite credit, had been nothing but unfailingly polite to Ruth in return and if she saw the look, she pretended she hadn’t. Like Elizabeth, she’d obviously decided to stay and watch, as had Caroline, and the three women settled down in an unobtrusive corner. Morwenna came over to join them, but Hugh pulled on his hoodie.

“I’m going to nip in to see Donna, my shoulder’s aching a bit.” Donna was the company physiotherapist.

“That’s chucking Elizabeth about – ow!” Caroline made an exaggerated hurt expression as Elizabeth whacked her on the arm. “Seriously though, are you okay?”

“Oh, fine, just stiff I think. Catch you this afternoon.” With a quick wave he disappeared out the door, the last to leave. Anne closed it firmly and then clapped, signalling it was time to begin.

The practice went off without a hitch. Paul and Emma’s pas de deux was sweet and beautiful, and Margaret’s high kicks were flawless, as were the rest of the women’s, even Ruth’s. Elizabeth considered herself an experienced and skilled dancer, but she didn’t envy them the task of perfecting the can-can en pointe.

At the final note, as Emma returned to that iconic pose, the observers burst into applause, cheering and whooping. With a laugh, Emma took a bow, blowing her ‘audience’ exaggerated kisses. After Anne had given the cast what few notes she had, she announced it was time for lunch and reminded them when they needed to return. She gathered up her own things and departed while others changed their shoes and slipped on sweaters. Margaret sat down next to them and pulled at the ribbons around her ankles.

“That’s was amazing, Margaret.” Demelza smiled. “How’s the knee?”

“Okay, actually. That’s the first time I’ve really gone for it and I was expecting it to lock any second, if I’m honest. I’m really pleased with that.” She’d danced with her knee strapped, and she adjusted the tape, flexing the joint gently. “I’ve got plenty of time, so it’s looking good, all in all.”

Margaret wasn’t in Rodeo and had only a small role in Dracula, as one of the Weird Sisters. For most dancers, such a long period of inactivity would be highly frustrating, but when recovering from an injury it was a blessing. Elizabeth herself had sadly been forced to miss their last Christmas production – The Christmas Carol – due to bruised ribs. As disappointed as she’d been, it had allowed her to be fighting fit in time for their spring-summer season.

“Lunch, girls?” Caroline asked as they headed out. “We’ve got a couple of hours so how about we treat ourselves to trip to Craftworks? Build up our energy for the Count!”

Everyone was prompt back for the afternoon session and there was palpable excitement in the room. Ever since the earliest of prep, it had been clear that Dracula was going to be a great production, and this was their first full run-through. Elizabeth loved her role of Mina, and was dancing with Hugh again, as well as a beautiful and unusual pas de deux with Caroline’s Lucy.

While the dancers were finishing off their warm ups, Francis – the Count himself – entered, accompanied by another man, a tall blonde with a handsome face. He was lithe enough to be a dancer, but didn’t quite have the right posture.

“Hello, everyone! Before we start, I’ve got some introductions to make. This is Dr Dwight Enys – he’s going to be our Medical Director, so Donna and Leila will be working under him.”

“Lucky them,” Emma whispered from somewhere further down the room before hissing as Morwenna elbowed her in the ribs.

“And – ah! There you are! – this is – “

“George!” Caroline cried when George Warleggan slipped in behind the other two men. Elizabeth frowned as her friend skipped across the room and embraced him fondly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Demelza and Margaret raise their eyebrows at each other and felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach.

“Oh, I didn’t know you two knew each other?” Francis glanced between them.

“Oh –er – “ George glanced around, obviously a bit embarrassed by having the attention of the company on him. “I didn’t actually know Caroline was with you.”

“It’s been ages!” Caroline exclaimed, still holding onto him.

“Yes, well you can catch up later!” Francis said. “Since we’ve got some rehearsing to do. Everyone, this is our new Financial Director, George Warleggan. Now, let’s get on. Would you both like to stay for the rehearsal?”

“Oh, yes, please.” Dwight smiled and George nodded in agreement. Francis chivvied the dancers into place, and they finally organised themselves, starters moving into position, the two newcomers sitting down by the piano. As she took her place, Elizabeth felt hyper-aware of eyes on her, but it wasn’t the doctor she was concerned with. 

~

With a sigh, Elizabeth tilted her face into the spray, letting the warm water of the shower relax her whole body. She’d slept late, and was feeling refreshed. Tonight was the opening night of Rodeo, so they’d been given the day free. Although they rehearsed productions while others were in performance, it was tradition that they rested before the first night. Even the most experienced dancers had first night nerves, and a quiet day often helped. Her role was a small one, so she was mainly just enjoying the free time. Or trying to enjoy it, at least.

Ever since that first Dracula run through she’d been feeling a bit odd, and she knew it was to do with George Warleggan. She’d been dancing in front of people for over 20 years, but she couldn’t remember ever being so conscious of being watched. It hadn’t affected her performance if Anne’s notes were anything to go by, but the sensation of his gaze on her had been almost physical. She couldn’t explain it. Or understand it.

Nor could she understand the feeling she’d had when Caroline had greeted him so warmly, or when she’d seen them chatting animatedly at the company dinner the new staff had been invited to. She’d still never got to the bottom of how they knew each other, but Caroline was a beautiful, sophisticated young woman and George was a handsome, intelligent man. One possibility certainly sprung to mind.

She’d run into him outside of the restaurant as she waited for a taxi home. He’d asked if she’d like a lift, but it turned out they lived in opposite directions; kindly, he’d offered to take her anyway, but she’d demurred, not wanting to put him out, and disconcerted by how much she wanted to go with him. She barely knew him. When a cab pulled up, he stepped forward to open the door for her, and when she turned to thank him as she stepped in, he’d said:

“You danced beautifully today. I just wanted to say.” It had been a simple, sincere statement and had completely thrown her for a loop. She shivered slightly now as she remembered the look in those fascinating, icy eyes as he’d spoken.

With a sigh she sat down on her sofa, wrapped in a soft dressing gown, and rubbed her hair with a towel. With hairspray, temporary colour and everything else required for performances, it went through a lot, so when she could she let it dry naturally instead of blow-drying. She tossed the towel to one side and leant back, putting her slippered feet up on the coffee table.

Absently, she gazed ahead of her. On the wall above her television she had a large picture frame filled with a collage of special photos. She would need a bigger frame soon. Her eyes wandered over the images – baby Elizabeth in the arms of her late father; a tiny Morwnna in a too-big tutu; Elizabeth, Francis and Verity in their RBS uniforms; Caroline, Margaret and Demelza blowing kisses to the camera in full stage make-up; and a recent addition, Verity in full Highland dress for the Scottish Ballet’s Ivanhoe. She missed her friend badly, although they talked as often as possible. Elizabeth wished she could call Verity now, but she was in rehearsals this week, for the title role in Jane Eyre. Verity knew her better than almost anyone, and most importantly, would understand exactly why Elizabeth was finding being attracted to someone – because that’s what she was, there was no doubt about it – very worrying indeed.

[aion-rsa]

Riverdale Season 5 Episode 8 Review – Chapter 84: Lock and Key

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This Riverdale review contains spoilers.

Riverdale Season 5 Episode 8

“Am I crazy or have you been feeling the same way too?”

Since Jughead’s narration opens most episodes with the most obvious observations possible, I’m going to return the favor by stating the following: Riverdale is not a series known for its profundity.

Over its five seasons to date it has proven to be a dumb show that is more often or not done smartly. Or maybe its ability to constantly induce narrative whiplash has be semi-concussed and believing that the program is way better than it has any right to be.

Which is where the above quote comes in.

With this season’s time jump and the characters dealing with actual real-life problems like post-collegiate ennui and the long farewell of long-held dreams (alongside of the usual nonsense that is the program’s calling card), Riverdale is the best it has ever been of late. And I’d never thought I’d write such words, but the most shocking thing about this episode was not Jughead’s alien tormentor or the Reggie and Fangs kiss but the way all of the trauma endured by these characters was brought to the surface tonight. Handled with grace no less.

That this minor miracle was set in motion thanks to a Key Party thrown by Cheryl in a creepy effort to break up Fangs and Kevin and live some sort of demented domestic bliss with Toni in her Gothic prison is kind of besides the point. The sheer volume of storylines happening in each Riverdale are so often disjointed that it feels like several shows are happening at once. Again, this is part of the appeal of watching this hottest of messes. So it’s a bit of a wallop across the head then when you have these characters having relatable moments, letting their guards down and getting to the heart of what haunts them.

Throughout this episode we see these characters shedding pretense and recognizing what drives them, be it fear, lust or anxiety. Kevin implodes his and Fangs’ relationship because the former has no idea what he wants out of life, but is certain it isn’t the small town drama teacher existence he currently has. Jughead is quite literally haunted by visions of an otherworldly creature who is either a literal alien or a manifestation of being twentysomething and rudderless, a literary one-hit wonder. Betty is still having nightmares about the Trash Bag Killer, suspecting that he may be responsible for Polly’s disappearance and worried her failure to bring him to justice will result in personal tragedy.

“What’s coming next with my mom and Polly is the darkest thing I’ve ever faced,” Betty states to Archie in the episode’s most powerful scene. The pair then acknowledge their true feelings, that they will be better off as friends. Veronica’s latest fight with Chad makes her acknowledge that whatever bonded them together is no longer there. It is Archie she truly loves, and vice versa. Cheryl bares her twisted soul to Toni, who is in return horrified by her actions and tells her as much. Yet Cheryl quickly finds a form of redemption in the embrace of the mysterious Minerva Marble (Adeline Rudolph, late of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina).

Yes, it is a contrivance that all of these huge epiphanies happen more or less at the same time. I’ll forgive this sin however since Riverdale so often has its character development move at a glacial pace. Perhaps when Veronica states that “the past is in the past” the show’s writers are telling us to forget what we know about how stories will unfold from here on out. Certainly, the post-time jump episodes have proven this. Maybe we really are in a brave new world for the series? Stranger things have happened before, especially on Riverdale.

Riverdale Rundown

• Jughead Jones has become unstuck in time! What do we make of Jughead teaching Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s Slaughterhouse Five to his students? More importantly, is Riverdale going to do a Jughead’s Time Police-inspired storyline?

• This stuff with Jughead and the alien is the absolute best. Please please please let the E.T. be real.

• In what must be a Riverdale first, Archie is shirtless within the first 30 seconds of this episode. As a sexy fireman no less.

• Art dealer Minerva is almost certainly not what she appears to be. So what is she really playing at? Are her feelings for Cheryl legitimate? Or is she playing some sort of long game?

• Speaking of Cheryl, I feel the writers need to really figure out how to handle this character’s mental illness as the argument can (and probably should) be made that they have entered exploitation territory.

• I was getting huge Psycho Goreman vibes off of the alien stalking Jughead.

• We see Jughead making like his comic counterpart and snacking on Lay’s chips in this episode.

• Varchie shippers, are you happy with the Veronica/Archie reconciliation?

• Drew Ray Tanner shined as Fangs here, delivering a heartbreaking performance as Kevin throws away their future together.

• Betty again illustrates how awful of an FBI agent she is by allowing her mom to keep a key to her home in a garden gnome while living in a dangerous city that has multiple serial killers on the loose.

• I desperately want to hear about Jughead’s Jingle Jangle-fueled New York City exploits. This is what happens when you read too much Bret Easton Ellis, folks.

• Lucy Hale makes an audio cameo as Katy Keene in this episode, simultaneously making me wonder why the CW cancelled her show in the first place and laughing at how the Riverdale producers keep thumbing their noses at the network by constantly referencing the doomed spinoff.

• Dr. Whitley’s name is an obvious homage to UFO novelist/experiencer Whitley Strieber (whose most famous work was Fire in the Sky, which just so happened to be the name of last week’s episode).

• Jackson incredulously remarking on Archie as player by saying “Sarge juggling two ladies?” indicates that he doesn’t know him at all.

• Casey Cott gets the episode’s funniest moment as he reacts to Reggie and Fangs’ kiss with impressed shock.

• Despite how this episode ended, I still think that Alice’s remark about how it sounded like Polly was calling from a spaceship is not a red herring. Look, there better be a full blown alien invasion by the time of the midseason finale, okay? I ask for so little.

• “I’m not bringing my baby into this house of horrors” might be the most sensible sentence ever uttered in the Blossom household.

• Betty refers to Cheryl’s Spin the Bottle party (when Archie spends Seven Minutes in Heaven with Veronica) from the series’ pilot.

• Next week, Betty goes in to the heart of darkness.

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[percontaion-points]

Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir Fanfictions

Only Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir fanfics. New stuff is marked with a [NEW] before it.

Ladybug & Chat Noir

Is This How You Feel by irlmagicalgirl Description: In each of us there are always these two The one who stays, the one who’s leaving you I could keep on with the same mistakes Or I could make them with you -- On her way home one night, under the guise and protection of Ladybug, Marinette finds herself stopped outside the Agreste mansion, staring up at Adrien's window. How she made it from the street to his room is beyond her, but she can talk to him as Ladybug in a way she can't as Marinette, and he listens, and the temptation of him and his window are too hard to stay away from. Naturally, her temptation can only lead to angst, confusion, fluff, and sin, reaching towards every corner of the love square. FIC IS FULLY ILLUSTRATED & SOUNDTRACKED. Words: 178,531 Timeline: It's in a slightly AU where the series takes place over a longer time period, so everybody is older Pairing: Adrien/Marienette (in all forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Violence but it's like on the show Graphic sex It's also really long, so...

Pouvez-vous me laisser entrer? by DeadGiirlWalkiing Description: Her blue eyes stared back at him, she looked wired up. Her face flushed, although it could have something to do with the air outside. Her beautiful black hair pulled into the regular twin pigtails that seemed so oddly familiar to him. Before he knew it, she was mouthing something. He wasn’t all that great at reading lips, but he knew exactly what she was saying. Can you let me in? Words: 37,537 Timeline: Normal, I guess? Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in all forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

Le Chat Noir by ParadiseAvenger Description: Le Chat Noir was the most popular strip club in Paris. Marinette could explain how she wound up there the first time, but she couldn't explain how she kept coming back. Words: 55,926 Timeline: Strip club AU Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in various forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Strippers and graphic sex Mentions of models starving themselves for the sake of "fashion"

Sweater Weather by Amiria_Raven, projectml Description: When she was assured that Adrien wasn’t missing his hoodie–yet–her fingers faltered over the keyboard. It wouldn’t hurt for her to borrow it for a little while, right? Words: 4571 Timeline: It seems to indicate that it's some years after the current timeline Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in various forms) Rating: Teen Warnings: Marinette wearing Adrien's oversized sweaters and rocking the sweaterpaws. It is not a drill!

Forget Me Not by speaks Description: After the unexpected defeat of their enemy Ladybug and Chat Noir lose their powers, and thus become separated with no way to find each other. In this post-Hawkmoth world, Marinette and Adrien must each try and find a way to live without their partner. They say loss is a pill that gets easier to swallow over time. Well, whoever said that has never been in love. Words: 19,606 Timeline: Some years past the current timeline, in a world where they manage to defeat Hawk Moth Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in all forms), Alya/Nino Rating: Mature Warnings: Sex/One night stand (sort of) Extreme depression/It never actually comes out and says suicidal thoughts but you can tell that they're there

The Swimsuit Seduction by Indygodusk Description: Chat Noir isn't too worried when he first gets caught by the latest villain and tied to a chair. Case in point, she calls herself Beach Party. What's scary about that? Everything changes when a brainwashed Marinette saunters in after her, looking like a '50s pinup girl in a ladybug spotted swimsuit. Marinette can't help but follow her orders, but when those orders include seducing a certain black cat for information, what's a collared feline to do? Words: 12,914 Timeline: When they're both seniors Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in all forms) Rating: Mature Warnings: Some mild dub-con with that sexy times

Allez Savoir Pourquoi by Yilena Description: Marinette had seen her soulmate for years without knowing his identity, until they bumped into each other at a newly opened cat café. On a whim, she agrees to work for him. AU. Words: 30,022 Timeline: It's a coffee shop/Soulmate AU Pairing: Marinette/Adrien Rating: Explicit Warnings: Some unintended voyeurism, some (consensual) sex

Clear as Day by orphan_account Words: 13647 Timeline: I think that they're aged up? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in all forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Masturbation, voyeurism, consensual sex, hella awkward

Misunderstanding by AlyaBug (MorphologicalMayhem) Description: Ladybug becomes convinced that Chat Noir is a homeless stripper and tries to help him. Chat Noir is confused. Words: 2877 Timeline: Normal? Pairing: Very minor Chat/Ladybug Rating: Teen and up Warnings: Mentions of underaged stripping, but that's as far as it goes

To Be A Hero by AmyEatsCake Description: What does it take to be a hero? Ladybug and Chat Noir have been doing a good job of saving Paris over the past few years, but what happens when they are summoned to a future where the heroes no longer exist? Joined by Alya, the pair must learn how to cope with their future selves and a darkness which has the power to destroy them. Words: 50,987 Timeline: It's a weird time-travel thing where they travel into an alternate timeline and have to set things right Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in various forms) Rating: Mature Warnings: Some sex (and it's probably not what you're thinking), a hell of a lot of violence, mentions of rape

That Which Ties Us by Resamille Description: “Alya, what do I do?” Adrien cried, voice and expression betraying the maelstrom of emotions contained within him. It was a miracle he hadn't exploded yet. “That depends,” Alya hummed coolly. “What do you want to do?” “What?” “Do you want to go after her?” “Yes. Should I?” “Maybe. Do you like her?” “Yes.” “Do you love her?” ... Finally, definitively, he said: “Yes.” It has been a long time since Chat Noir and Marinette fell inexplicably in love--just not with each other. But when Tikki and Plagg decide that the separation has gone on long enough, for reasons beyond the fact their Chosen are oblivious, it starts off a chain reaction that only gets worse. With new powers and new hearts to hold and break, Adrien and Ladybug are walking thin lines of friendship and romance with their hero and civilian counterparts. Words: 37,942 Timeline: Four years in the future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in all forms) Rating: Mature Warnings: Some sex but it's not graphic, some mentions of self harm that aren't suicidal in nature (You'll understand when you read it

Ne Me Quitte Pas by imatrisarahtops Description: “This is my umbrella,” Adrien told him, as though he didn't quite believe it and the words would bring some sense to it. “Even I could have told you that,” the kwami said with a shrug, his focus returning to his meal. “Why did she keep my umbrella?” he asked, only half-directing the question at Plagg. The kwami, however, chose to answer anyway. “Well, she is your friend, isn't she?” he asked as he finally gave in and stuffed the cheese in his mouth. He swallowed, closing his eyes in satisfaction. “What's so weird about it?” When Marinette sees Chat Noir on her way home in the rain, she doesn't think twice about giving him her umbrella. Only later does he realize that this is his umbrella. But why would she bother keeping it? He's determined to figure the girl out, but since she can't seem to speak to him as Adrien, his only option is as his alter-ego. Words: 43,357 Timeline: I think it's three years into the future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in various forms), Alya/Nino Rating: Teen Warnings: Some make outs and minor violence

A sure thing. by Baneismydragon Description: “Tell you what Princess, I will make you a deal. If you ask him out and he rejects you, like you seem to think he will, I will never drop by for any unscheduled visits that don’t involve purple butterflies again. However, if I am right and he says yes, then not only do I reserve the right to continue basking in your presence whenever I so choose, but you will also provide me with free croissants every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next two months.” “You don’t want to make this bet kitty.” “Oh, I am pretty sure I do.” Words: 11871 Timeline: Past the present season, I guess Pairing: Various forms of Marinette/Adrien Rating: General Warnings: Just a lot of teenage angst

Stray Chat by Pozolegirl Description: Adrien just really wants to be friends with Marinette but...it’s hard to be friends with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and not have both parties become a little tongue tied around each other. So Chat Noir attempts to make friends with Marinette with the aid of his mask instead. Eventually Chat Noir becomes essentially adopted by Marinette after problems at his home, and they will both be hiding things as they start on the new adventure of being thrown suddenly into the experience of being roommates. - This story is finished, but I hope to make some extra chapters for it, just for fun! :) Thank you so much for the support, you guys are amazing! Words: 59463 Timeline: Future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in various forms) Rating: Teen Warnings: Super fluffy There are also a lot of typos/misplaced words/stuff like that, but the story was cute, so I find that I didn't mind THAT much...

All I Ask Of You Description: ??? Words: ??? Timeline: Normal, I guess Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: It's not got a rating, but it's pretty clean Warnings: Contains a lot of mentions of musical theater

Transform by htbthomas Description: When Adrien runs away from home, only Ladybug can help him. They both find out more than they bargain for. Words: 43,551 Timeline: Set after season 1, I guess Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in various forms) Rating: Teen Warnings: Violence, but only like what you'd see on the show Some mentions of child abuse and homelessness

Until I lose count by Baneismydragon Description: Adrien hadn't planned on kissing Marinette. He certainly hadn't planned on doing it more than once. He DEFINITELY didn't plan on doing it repeatedly while hiding behind the comfortable anonymity of his alter ego. But some habits are very hard to break, especially when the more times you do something, the less you want to stop. (This is just indulgent Romantic fluff. And kissing. Lots and Lots of kissing. I am such trash I can't even be sorry.) Words: 35,389 Timeline: Um, beyond the first season, I guess? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: It gets a little steamy in spots, but they never actually show anything; just a heavy implication of those events taking place

No Hard Feelings by nicnac363 Description: The Akuma Prevention Program (APP) was established by Mayor Bourgeois to improve the emotional health and psychological wellbeing of all Parisians. Though a huge success at reducing the overall number of akuma, the program is taking a decided toll on Marinette’s love life. Forced therapy-induced exposure is helping to re-kindle her feelings for a certain blonde, ex-model. Feelings Ladybug’s leather clad, Catboy boyfriend will not be happy about. Or will he? [Oneshot] Rated T for profanity, some PG-13 smooching, and a not-so-vague reference to sex. Words: 6515 Timeline: Like five or so years into the future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: As mentioned in the description, there's some make-outs and transparent references to sex

Tendencies by KryallaOrchid (It's a four part series) Description: Miraculous have side effects. From pats becoming a necessity to eating flowers, follow Adrien and Marinette as they come to terms with their new tendencies, and each other. Hawk Moth is coming. Words: 239,141 Timeline: It's slightly AU halfway through the first season, and then goes well beyond that Pairing: Mainly Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: The first three are T, but the last one is M Warnings: There's a lot of talk about sex, but they don't actually do it until the last one It's really long, and the later in the series it gets, the longer the chapters get

Back To Us by DarkReyna16 Description: After a reveal so shocking it rocks the core of Paris itself, the villain Hawk Moth is finally defeated...at a great personal cost to heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir. With the city safe, they go their separate ways, returning to the lives they were forced to put on hold since receiving their Miraculous. Now, seven years later, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is on the rise, studying at the fashion college of her dreams by day, working at her dream internship by afternoon...and occasionally moonlighting as Ladybug by night. This routine is set so firmly in place that, once it's shattered by an old-yet-new enemy, and the reappearances of a cold friend and a hot partner, the whiplash threatens to send Marinette spiraling down into chaos. As Ladybug, she can do anything...but soon those limits will be tested, whether she is in or out of the costume. Words: 446,244 Timeline: Set in the future after they defeat Hawkmoth Pairing: Mainly Marinette/Adrein in various forms, but also Alya/Nino and a couple of others too Rating: Mature Warnings: It's very violent, more so than the show. There's a major character death in the first chapter and it weighs heavily on the tone of the story from that point on. There's also a lot of talk about sex, but only like... one actual sex scene, and it's sort of glossed over. It also goes without saying that this is very, VERY long

Magical Connection by artisticFlutter Description: Based on artwork by Professaurus and an outline by SinMother™ Getting ready for University with tests and portfolios while still being a superhero has Marinette stressed. Fortunately, Tikki knows of a solution to that. Meanwhile, Plagg is laughing and Adrien doesn’t know what the heck is going on. Crossposted on Tumblr @carnalrhythms Words: 6,348 Timeline: Future? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Explicit Warnings: Very graphic sex/maturbation (you'll understand when you read it)

one night of moonlight by calloffyourethics, clairelutra (exosolarmoon) Description: i'll always think of you inside of my private thoughts i can imagine you touching my private parts 2:13 ok im texting you now like i promised instead of drunktexting adrien and telling him how badly i want his cock tonight. arent you proud of me? 2:19 this is Adrien, hi. Marinette's brain-to-mouth filter isn't great on the best of days. Add some beer and some misplaced texts, and things get a little more... interesting. Words: 22,575 Timeline: They're in college Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms, minor mentions of Nino/Alya Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic sexting, masturbation, making out

Nice To See You by yonderful Description: Ladybug and Adrien keep running into each other. Literally. Words: 26,526 Timeline: Um, normal? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: Implication of sex

Look At Me by raeryn There's also a second part, too, that's just Adrien's take on the first part Description: “What do you do if you've discovered your best friend’s biggest secret but kept the fact that you knew from them?” Words: 8011 Timeline: A year or two beyond the present, but not much more than that Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: Make outs, brief mentions of "sexual tension", a scene in the second part where it seems like they might have sex but then they stop

Welp. by musiclvr1112 Description: From the prompt: "Kiss me." Words: 3491 Timeline: Adult? Pairing: Chloe/Nathanael Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

How could you be that girl I knew? by unforgetabELLE Description: Then he saw the source of the commotion. She walked through the smoke-filled room, her face shining ethereally like the actual moon through the haze of the club. No one spoke to her, but all eyes were watching Marinette as she walked in and he was struck by how she simultaneously looked like a completely different person and exactly the same as the girl he knew in lycee. Words: 7437 Timeline: It's like 10 years later Pairing: Marinette/Adrien, minor mentions of a past relationship between Marinette and some random dudebro fuckboy Rating: Teen Warnings: Some cursing and talking about a cheating dirtbag

1NEW1 What's Black and Red and Red All Over? by Otoshigo Description: Deadpool comes to Paris for a job, where he has a run in with Ladybug. It goes just about as well as you’d expect. Can Ladybug and Chat Noir, or even Paris, survive the merc? Words: 13407 Timeline: It's a little bit crackfic, so no timeline, I guess Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in all forms, minor Spider-Man/Black Cat Rating: Mature Warnings: Deadpool related violence and swearing

[newsical]

Henry Turner and Carina Smyth Yale AU: Chapter 1

Hi everyone! This is chapter 1 of @elizabeth-svvann’s Yale AU . It will be cross posted to AO3 once I can make an account there. For now it will be available under the “Keep Reading” link. Hope you enjoy!

Word count: 6170

Summary: Carina had always been one of the smartest people in the room her entire life. She graduated high school at 15 and is currently studying at Yale University to earn a Ph.D. in Astrophysics. Over the past year, the physics department has been hit hard with budget cuts, and the latest one was the nonrenewal of Carinas favourite professor, Dr Jack Sparrow’s contract. Enraged by this, Carina attends an annual Yale fundraiser to confront the Dean of the University, Weatherby Swann.

At the event, the first person she meets is Henry Turner, a classics student getting his master’s in said field. Henry is instantaneously smitten with her, while Carina is uninterested in him - her only purpose there is to talk to Dean Swann. All night she is unsuccessful in getting a moment alone with him. As she waits for her drink at the bar, she overhears two women gossiping about the Dean, mentioning all the favours and grants given to his son in law, Professor William Turner, over the years. The conversation then shifts to Swann’s grandson: Henry Turner. Immediately Carina formulates a plan to use Henry to get to his grandfather, in hopes that history repeats itself and Dean Swann’s nepotism will carry down to her as his grandson’s new girlfriend.

The guilt of using Henry soon starts to grow as she falls for the classics nerd with his terrible Latin jokes and constant babbling about Greek and Roman mythology.

To say she felt out of place would be an understatement. The looks the people were giving her made Carina feel like she was the world’s only dragon. She ran her hands nervously over her dress, smoothing the nonexistent wrinkles, and told herself for the seventh time that she was not underdressed. Out of place, maybe, but never underdressed.

It took Carina a deep breath and a quick gulp of her water--surprisingly chilled--to remind herself why she was there. Without fulfilling her mission there was, of course, no purpose to be there. No reason to be dealing with the skeptical glances and glares of these posh muckety-mucks...In a sudden and odd change of circumstance, Carina felt eyes on her that were, for once, not scathing. A tall boy--tall-ish, Carina decided on second glance--with soft eyes watched her, as if willing her to notice him. Once she did, though, he dropped his eyes and began to study the guest list with an intensity Carina had thought him incapable of. She hid a smile. Ah, the price of shame.

Carina returned to her task. She scanned the guests, waiting to be awarded with the view of loose gray hair. No such luck. Carina caught herself pouting and drew herself up; she would not be defeated quite so easily. She was brushed by someone’s coat, but found that the presence did not leave as soon as it had arrived. Instead, it lingered, and with a sigh, Carina turned to fake her first conversation of the night.

To her surprise, she was not met with the sight of someone demanding to see her ID. It was the boy from before, and he fidgeted slightly before smiling sheepishly.

“Who are you? If you don't mind me asking, that is,” he asked before promptly turning pink upon realizing the directness of his initial question. Carina bit her tongue in disappointment. So she was being IDed, just not in the form of a black-outfitted security guard and rather a golden retriever-esque boy.

When she didn't answer, he tried again.

“I'm sorry to be too forward, it's just...I've never seen you before, and I couldn't find you on the guest list…” He trailed off and just stood there, shifting slightly.

“Come here often, do you?” Carina asked. The boy looked up, evidently startled at receiving a response. “You must be important.”

The boy grinned and looked down.

“Not really,” he said. “So what was your name?”

He was a persistent security guard, if that was his role.

“Carina. Carina Smyth. I'm not on the guest list, so don't bother checking,” Carina offered dryly. The boy’s eyes widened. There it was, Carina figured. She was going to be kicked out.

“Well, if anyone asks, you’re with me. Henry Turner,” Henry said, extending a hand. Carina raised her eyebrows, surprised at the boy's offer and slightly impressed, although she'd never admit it. She returned the gesture. The smile returned to Henry’s face. Carina was certain she'd never seen anyone quite so easily amused.

Certain he wasn't an intellectual, she turned away. No one that happy could harbor any real intelligence, anyhow.

“Wait,” Henry called. “Where are you going?”

“I'm looking for someone,” Carina replied, turning away once again.

“Oh,” said Henry. “Well, I hope you find them.”

Carina waved her thanks behind her and squeezed her way into the crowd. She figured she’d lost five, maybe eight minutes. She was determined not to be distracted again, but grateful to have someone’s name to give, even if it was that of a rich baby.

Carina tried, and failed, several times that night to find and speak with Dean Swann. She wasn’t just going to let Jack’s employment drop. Not without a fight, at least. Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other plans for her that night; there was no sign of the Dean. Upon nearing the end of the night, Carina was forced to accept that her mission had failed. She wouldn’t be talking to or even seeing the Dean. And there was no saying when Jack’s position would be revoked.

Carina sighed and dropped into a stool at the bar.

“Shirley Temple, please,” she muttered to the bartender that came to take her order. He nodded and disappeared. Carina prayed that he wouldn’t be too long before returning with the sugary goodness. She could certainly stand to eat her feelings at the moment. She leaned on her hand idly and let her mind wander.

“Did you hear that the Dean gave another grant to his favorite professor?”

Carina queued in on the Dean’s name. Three women were huddled at the end of the bar, stage whispering over drinks.

“Shut up. He did not.”

“Yes, he did,” the first promised.

“Which one?” The third lady spoke for the first time. She was considerably younger and had a more optimistic look to her than her counterparts.

“His son-in-law.”

“Oh.”

“God, if I could get that money, I don’t even know what I’d do…”

“Nepotism at its finest, if you ask me.”

“At Yale? Are you sure? I mean, Professor T--”

The other two women shushed the younger one quickly, nervously glancing around the room to see if anyone had heard. It appeared they were safe. They leaned in closer and spoke in hushed tones.

“That professor is great, though. I had him when I went here. As far as I remember, he was doing some pretty great work.”

“Sure thing, sweetie.”

“It was some of the most advanced that I’ve seen here!” the younger girl insisted. “Professor Turner is ahead of his time, I promise you that.”

Carina practically jumped out of her seat at the mention of a Turner....particularly one related to the Dean. Henry’s father, perhaps? Carina had sworn to stay invisible and talk to only those she needed to, but this lead was far too great to resist.

“Did you say Turner?” The women looked to Carina in shock and horror that they’d been overheard. Only the youngest looked calm. Then again, she hadn’t exactly been trashing the Dean’s son-in-law. Carina scooted closer.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she began, definitely not sorry. “Does this Professor Turner have a son? One named Henry, by any chance?”

The two catty coworkers exchanged glances without answering, but the younger woman nodded.

“Henry Turner is his son. He’s a real nice boy. Smart, too. He’s majoring in classics here.”

“Henry Turner goes to Yale?” Carina did a double take. The woman nodded again. “And he’s the Dean’s grandson?”

“Yep.”

“Doesn’t that smell a bit like...the old boy’s network to you?”

The woman laughed.

“No, no. Henry’s quite clever. He went to school with my younger brother and got accepted just about everywhere.”

Carina nodded thoughtfully, whispered a thanks and received a nod, and turned to the bartender who had arrived with a Shirley Temple in hand. By the time she had turned back around, the women were gone. Carina thanked the stars; she wasn’t in the mood to continue small talk, especially not while forming a plan.

Someone sat down so abruptly next to Carina that she jumped slightly in her seat. It was Henry.

“Carina! Hello again,” he said with a smile. He looked at the drink in her hand. “How old are you?”

“Seventeen,” Carina sipped her drink. “I’m in my sophomore year.”

Henry nodded. “How old were you when you graduated high school, then?”

Carina started to roll her eyes, but withheld the urge. If her plan was going to work, she couldn’t afford to make Henry feel like dirt on her heel.

“Fifteen.” Henry whistled. “I was homeschooled and just went through the grades super quickly, so here I am.”

“What are you here for?”

“What is this, Twenty Questions?” Henry grinned and looked down to hide the blush that was spreading across his cheeks. Carina spoke again, this time willing her voice to at least sound nicer. “I’m working to get my Ph.D. in Astrophysics.”

“The stars?” Henry asked, so unsure that Carina could do nothing but roll her eyes and shake her head whilst smiling.

“Something like that. And now, you. You don’t look too old, either.”

“I, uh, graduated a year ahead. Not nearly as cool as you. Sorry. I’m a bit young for my grade, so I’m eighteen and in my sophomore year.”

Carina nodded, not breaking eye contact.

“You look like an English major.”

Henry threw his hands up.

“I do not! Why does everyone keep saying that?”

Carina shrugged.

“Well, are you?”

“Um...sort of? Classics. It’s in the humanities, so, yeah. Technically.”

“Oh. Do you want to be a teacher?”

Henry just about fell out of his chair.

“Does every person in the humanities at Yale want to be a teacher?” he exclaimed.

“No,” Carina said smartly. “But you’re not everyone, are you? So do you want to be a teacher or not?”

Henry was silent and traced his hand on the counter of the bar.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” he admitted quietly.

“My dear Henry,” Carina patted his arm, “that will have to change.”

///

Carina was surprised when the head of the engineering department stood on a chair to announce the end of the night. He thanked everyone for coming, said it was a wonderful evening, blah, blah, blah. For someone so good at gaging time, Carina had completely lost track of it. Carina decided that it was entirely Henry’s fault. She couldn’t tell if she’d been there minutes or hours and was only sure that Henry was definitely in the right major; he wouldn’t stop babbling and spouting misleadingly named “fun” facts.

She was sure she'd never met anyone quite so outwardly passionate about their major. His whole face lit up and he'd wave his arms around when he told her about the myths he'd been learning. He knew all of them by heart. It was slightly annoying and, Carina supposed, endearing to some, if they cared...which she didn't. Carina set her jaw and forced herself to humor the young Turner, who, from Carina’s observations, was completely smitten with her. The Dean’s grandson. It was already working out far too well.  

The one benefit from meeting Henry was that Carina didn't feel quite so out-of-place. Of course, she was sure that there were soon to be further benefits, but those would only come when her new friend asked her out. Carina was sure he would; his eyes didn't leave her face once the whole night.

A crowd flocked from the bar to the door and flooded out of the room. Carina took that as her opportunity to leave, or rather, escape. She stood, smoothed her dress, and tossed her purse over her shoulder. Henry froze mid word.

“You’re leaving?”

Carina nodded, trying to ignore the apparent hurt in Henry’s voice.

“Everyone else is, so I imagine that it's our queue.”

“You don't strike me as someone who follows what everyone else does,” Henry said simply. Unknowingly, he'd called her bluff.

“You’re right,” Carina said stiffly.

“So why leave?”

Carina was left speechless. She racked her brain for words and sputtered for a moment until she saw that the act was making Henry smirk.

“Why stay?” Carina crossed her arms and tilted her head, mimicking Henry but with a much cooler expression.

“I know a place with really good arepas. Want to go?”

And there it was: her key to save Jack’s job. Carina could feel a thousand thoughts swirl around her mind in the second that ensued and tried to focus on those of monumental importance. She'd have to be tied down to Henry, which, to some girls, might not seem quite so bad. He was cute, both conventionally attractive and in a way similar to a confused puppy. He was also incredibly talkative--to the point of annoyance. But he was smart, smarter than Carina would allow herself to give him credit for; doing so would involve admitting that she had been wrong in her impression, and even on a good night, Carina could barely stand being wrong.

“Sure,” Carina said slowly. “Sure. Why not?”

Henry smiled and reached for her hand. Carina hesitated, then took it tentatively, and followed him out the door, barely pausing to put on a coat. New Haven in late November was a disaster. Actually, Carina was certain that it was a disaster just about anywhere in New England, but Connecticut was no picnic. It was cold and windy, and Carina had to hug her jacket tight around her to keep warm. It did nothing to protect her poor knees from suffering the stinging winter chill, but it would have to do.

Henry tugged at her coat sleeve, conveniently snapping Carina out of her daze.

“What?”

“I’ve never seen a blue pea coat before,” he remarked.

“I bought it two years ago,” Carina gave a slight twirl. “I’d never seen one this color, either.”

“It’s nice. It matches your eyes and everything!”

Carina tried, and failed, to hold back the smile that was twitching on her lips. Immediately, she was hit by guilt with the force of a bus. He was nice--too nice for her plan. No, no...he wasn’t. He was just as nice as the next person, and if she wanted to save Jack’s ass--employment, she corrected herself--she would have to make some sacrifices.

The two waited together at a crosswalk without speaking. Carina bounced on her toes, willing the little white man to appear on the sign with her mind.

“I swear,” she muttered, “if that sign doesn’t change in fifteen seconds, I’m walking straight into traffic.”

Henry choked on a laugh.

“So what are these arepas, anyways?”

“Heaven,” Henry said with wide eyes. He shook his head abruptly. “Uh, sorry. They’re...um, well...they’re sorta like--they’re the leaning tower of Pisa, except made out of Colombian food.”

“I see.” Carina nodded, trying to imagine such an image. She made a mental note to discourage Henry from being a writer--for his own good, of course, as well as that of a reader.

Just before Carina was about to charge into the street, the light changed and they were able to safely cross. Carina watched Henry for a moment and, consequently, was caught staring. He treated her to a bashful smile.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Carina shook her head. “You just seem to know where you’re going.”

Henry laughed and pulled out a wallet. He opened it, reached inside, and pulled out a picture. Carina took it. A beautiful woman laughed, pearly whites gleaming. She held what Carina could only guess was a small Henry on her lap. Her head was tossed back, and her hair, sun-blond, tumbled over her shoulders. She looked like a goddess.

“That’s my mother. Her friend, Alessandra, owns the place, and we’ve gone there all the time since I was little.” There was no doubt that the woman was Henry’s mother. She had the same eyebrows, light brown eyes, and lightly browned skin. Henry was the spitting image of her. Rather, Carina noted, he was a perfect split of his mother and the man she knew to be Professor Turner.

“She’s beautiful,” Carina remarked, desperately trying to brush off the sentimentality of it all.

“Thanks. She’s the best mom ever. You should’ve seen me at Halloween when I was little; she dressed me up as an animal cracker.”

“An animal cracker?”

“Yup. I was a pirate the next year.”

Carina laughed.

“I still can’t get over the whole animal cracker bit. Do you have a picture of that?”

Henry’s eyes crinkled. He shook his head and returned his mother’s picture to his wallet.

“I do, but it’s at home. I was quite the animal cracker.”

“I imagine you fit right in the role.”

Carina pretended not to notice and fought hard not to tease Henry’s change in gait as they neared a cozy restaurant that emitted warm orange light. Whether her legs were frozen or Henry was abnormally hungry and passionate about Colombian food, Carina struggled to keep up with him. With great effort, however, she succeeded--in heels. Henry pulled open a door and held it for Carina; immediately, she was hit by a rush of warm air, and hurried inside with a chattering “ohmygosh.” A bell jangled above as Henry pulled the door closed behind him. Finally, Carina silently thanked the stars, the cold was gone. Her legs began to tingle as they became reaccustomed to the warmth.

“Henry!” A tall woman with dark hair and a beautiful accent strolled over to Henry with open arms. He embraced her and returned the kiss on the cheek she gave him. When the woman released him, her eyes fell on Carina and lit up. She gave a small gasp and glanced at Henry.

“Who is this?” she asked excitedly.

“Carina Smyth,” he said. “Carina, this is Yolanda. She’s Alessandra’s sister-in-law.”

Carina nodded a hello. Apparently unpleased, Yolanda tittered.

“Come on in, sweetie. I’m a hugger.”

She squeezed Carina tighter than Carina had expected; she wasn’t used to hugs, especially from strangers.

“Is your mom joining us, Henry?”

Henry shook his head.

“Just two tonight, Yolie.”

Yolanda squealed and danced over to some menus. She returned and used said menus to direct them to a table. Carina could feel the eyes of the kitchen on her as she tucked her dress under her and took a seat. Once again, she was the spectacle of the evening. Carina wondered why she’d ever agreed to anything in the first place.

Luckily, Henry was slightly more awkward than she was. He started off the dinner by recommending a dish, then asked her if she had ever taken Latin.

“Of course!” Carina exclaimed. “Lots of classes would be a whole lot harder without it.”

He then proceeded to ask: “What does a frog that knows Latin prose composition say?”

“Latin prose composition has an effect on a frog’s vocabulary?”

“Scribbit!” Henry grinned at her, and Carina shook her head.

“You, Henry Turner, are a born classics major.”

“So I’ve been told.”

They were waited on by what Carina deduced as the entire staff of the restaurant. In other words, Carina imagined, Henry’s date was being sized up by the family. She expected that Mrs. Turner would have a report on her every move before Henry returned home. Or wherever a professor’s son lived.

Fueled only by sheer determination, Carina managed to finish her arepa. Henry watched her with great amusement as she struggled to fit the last few bites of her meal in her already full stomach. Carina wouldn’t dare give him the satisfaction of her being unable to eat an entire arepa. Even though his Latin jokes were cheesy and terrible, she knew that he’d never let her hear the end of it, whether they were friends or otherwise.

“I’ll pay for yours.” Henry reached across the table for the bill, but Carina slapped his hand. Henry withdrew, rubbing the new red mark.

“You will do no such thing, Turner.”

“Yes, I will,” Henry insisted, attempting to make another grab at the check. Carina wouldn’t allow it and snatched it up.

“No, you won’t,” she said, waving a twenty in the air. “Not if I pay it first.”

Carina looked down for a split second to place the money in the bill. In that time, the gentleman-on-steroids lunged across the table and swiped the bill out of her hands. Carina was left in the same position, cradling the ghost of a bill. Henry grinned, handed Carina her twenty, and snapped the bill closed. He was far too smug for Carina’s liking.

“You may have won the battle, Turner, but I will win the--”

Carina was cut of by Yolanda’s return.

“All done, kiddies?”

Henry nodded and handed her the bill. Yolanda shook her head and waved her hands.

“No, no, no, no, sweetie. It’s on the house tonight. Anything for my favorite Turner,” she smiled broadly and pinched Henry’s cheeks, who attempted to smile through what Carina suspected to be pain. “Also, your mommy got me a really nice painting. I owe you all, Henry.”

Yolanda told them to have a great night, which she emphasized with a wink, and escorted them to the door. The entire kitchen staff waved at them through the windows. As she walked away, Carina smirked.

“See, Henry? If I can’t win, neither can you.”

“Apparently not,” was Henry’s astounded reply.

Carina made it about five more feet before stopping abruptly and crinkling her face in confusion. Henry turned.

“What is it?”

“I just remembered that I walked to the dinner,” Carina said.

“And how far’s your dorm?”

Carina paused for a moment, considered her once-again-frozen legs, and answered briskly: “Too far.”

Henry shook his head.

“I’ll drive you.” He pulled out his phone and checked a message. “...Right after I buy my mom groceries. Want to come with?”

Carina almost gave him a flat-out no. It was getting late, and tomorrow was a Saturday. She’d have to get up early if she wanted to make it to Claire’s for pancakes with her floormates. But then again, more time with Henry could equate to a favor, and she couldn’t risk the denial of that favor, not for anything. She could be late to pancakes; it wouldn’t be the first time.

“Sure.”

“To the apple store we go, then,” he said, turning left. Carina stuck her hands in her pockets and leaned into Henry as they rounded the corner with, as Carina reassured herself, the sole purpose of avoiding smacking into any dazed tourists or drunk college kids. The sidewalk wasn’t empty--it never really was. Groups of students and couples walked at alternating paces. The girls in the short dresses and heels giggled and stuttered quickly by, evidently freezing. Carina scoffed. At least she’d remembered to bring a coat.

One couple caught Carina’s eye; two lovers walked slowly, weaving left and right. Their eyes were fixed on one another’s face, and they didn’t once break their gaze--not even when the boy reached for the door and ushered the other in. Carina sighed. It seemed like that kind of love simply didn’t exist for her--never had and never would.

“Carina?” A hand appeared in front of her face. “You passed it.”

“What?” Carina looked to the store in front of her. “The Apple store is right there.”

“Uh...my bad,” Henry said sheepishly. “The little grocery store right next to it? It’s got piles of apples in front of it all spring and summer. I've always just called it the apple store. Sorry.”

Carina laughed.

“The apple store,” she said. “Well, we’ve all got our own names for things.”

Henry jogged past her to grab the door and held it open for her. Carina nodded to him, the closest that she could bring herself to thanking the boy that had dragged her around all night. Carina chided herself; Henry had no fault in her annoyance. She had the ability to turn him down each time he asked...why hadn’t she? It was nearing eleven--she’d had every excuse to leave. What on earth was keeping her? A ride home, she reminded herself as she stepped through a drafty area.

“She needs,” Henry paused and glanced at his phone, “milk, eggs, butter, vanilla extract…”

“Is she on a baking spree?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time. Coconut? Where the hell am I supposed to get coconut? It’s winter in Connecticut, for goodness sakes!”

Carina tried to hide her laugh, but a snort escaped her. Henry looked up.

“What?”

Carina lost it. Who was this boy, anyway? She had never met anyone, certainly no one at Yale, that would run his mother’s errands at 11:15 at night because she had decided to whip up yet another batch of who-knows-what.

“You, Turner, are quite a character,” she said at last. He nodded.

“I believe it. Do you know what shortening is?”

“Henry, how do you not know what shortening is?”

“Hey, it’s not as if I haven’t made cookies before! I’ve just never used shortening,” he mumbled.

Carina marched Henry over to the refrigerators. She pulled open a door, coughed at the cold blast of air that escaped, and pulled out a package of shortening. Henry, awe-struck, reached for it without a word and looked down at the mystery substance.

“So it’s like butter?”

“Yes.”

“Oh. Thanks.” He paused. “So why does she need butter and shortening?”

Carina shrugged. The rest of the grocery run was only slightly less eventful; Henry knew what the rest of the ingredients were, and it took a mere three laps around the shop to locate the coconut. Finally, fifteen minutes from midnight, Henry and Carina made their way to the cash register. A girl with a nose piercing raised her eyebrow and popped her gum.

“Well, aren’t you two cute.” Carina felt her heart drop. “I thought you’d never leave. This all?”

“Y-yeah. Uh, yes. Thank you.” Henry’s stammering response granted Carina the smallest bit of relief; she hadn’t been the only one struck with such a reaction. While the cashier rang up their baking goods, Carina let her gaze wander so that she wouldn’t have to look at Henry after the moment of monumental embarrassment.

“Sour gummy worms?” Carina exclaimed suddenly, grabbing a package. “I haven’t had these in years!”

“You like those?”

Carina nodded vigorously.

“Jack, my, uh….uncle, used to buy them for me all the time. I practically lived off of them until I got about five cavities, and then he had to stop buying them.” Carina chuckled, relishing in the memories of sitting on the docks in New Hampshire with Jack, tossing gummy worms into the air and watching Jack catch them in his mouth. She decided not to go into the whole complicated situation with Jack and Yale and the even more complicated situation with Jack and herself; it was far too late for explanations, and it had been a long week.

“Do you want them?” Carina shook her head.

“You filled me to the brim with Colombian food, remember?”

“Ah, yes. I still can’t believe that you finished that. I thought you were gonna toss it all up on me.” Carina had felt the same way and felt her lips tug at their corners, but her phone quacked, effectively dissolving the moment. It was a call from Jack.

“Do you mind if I take this?”

Henry shook his head.

“Not at all. I’ll go get the car.”

“Thank you,” Carina stage-whispered and hurried to the back of the store for some quiet.

“Hey, Jack. What’s up?”

“Hello, love. I’m alright, how are things faring on your end?”

“Fairly well--”

“What’s that loud buzzing? Are you in the freezer section of a grocery store, or are you being devoured by thousands of bees? If it’s the latter, I’m afraid I’ll have to skip out on the heroic rescue.” Carina rolled her eyes and laughed.

“No, Jack. You were right with your first guess.”

“What on earth are you doing in a freezer section of a grocery store at this hour, love?”

“Take a wild guess.”

“Hmm...I’ll have to go with shopping, but I’ve got to ask. Why?”

“I’m, uh…” Carina struggled to find the right words. “On a date? I believe it’s a date, at least.”

“Really?”

“I think. What’s it when a guy asks you to dinner at his family’s favorite restaurant and then invites you grocery shopping to pick stuff up for his mom while offering to drive you to your dorm?”

“Most likely a date, then. Who’s the guy?”

“A, uh, a Henry Turner. He’s from Yale. Not Harvard, don’t worry.”

“Wasn’t terribly worried, love. Turner, you say? Sounds awfully familiar.”

“His father is a professor.”

“Will Turner? Will Turner’s son?”

“Yes! That’s the one!”

“Must be a real dashing lad, then.”

“You know Professor Turner?” Carina was taken aback.

“Of course, love. We go way back.”

Henry burst through the door.

“Carina, there’s a police officer down the street and I’m worried he’s gonna ticket me for standing. Do you mind coming outside right now?” He sounded out of breath.

“Not a problem,” she said to Henry. “Jack, I’ll have to call you back.”

“Sounds wonderful, Carina.”

The line clicked and Carina hustled outside and all but dove into the passenger seat. Henry closed the door for her, raced around to the driver’s side, and started the car.

“Thank God. My mom would’ve killed me if I got a ticket.”

“She seems too nice,” Carina said, although she’d only seen the picture.

“You’re wrong,” Henry said with wide eyes. “She can be just about the scariest person you’ll ever meet--” His phone rang. “And that’s her right now. Hello? Yes, mom, I’m driving. Yeah, I know, but it’s fine...mom, it’s only...oh wow, it’s twelve. Yeah, I’ve got the groceries. Mom, can you wait a bit? There’s a girl in the car with me….Mom, please! It’s fine! I’ll be over in a bit, just after I drop her home.”

Carina shook her head.

“It’s fine. We can bring the stuff to your house first.”

“You sure?” Henry whispered, holding the phone away from his face.

“Of course.” Meeting Henry’s mother seemed like a great way to get a favor out of the Dean. Besides, if Carina would admit it to herself, she was curious. The Dean’s daughter was rumored to be a legend--she’d gone to Brown, but had been an Ivy sweep. There wasn’t a school that didn’t want her, and not only because she was the Dean’s daughter. Those sort of favors only applied to Yale. If anything, Carina had heard that her connections had made her entrance everywhere else harder, but she’d gotten in anyway.

“Okay, mom. We’re bringing the stuff to your house first...She said it was fine, I promise! You know what? I’ll just talk to you when I see you. Love ya, bye.”

Henry turned to Carina.

“Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “Henry, isn’t your mother the Dean’s daughter?”

Henry winced and rested his head against the back of the seat.

“Yeah...yeah. She just doesn’t like when I tell people because she thinks that everyone’ll say that I got in on the Dean’s word and not my own hard work. You know mothers, they don’t want anyone taking away their baby’s credit.”

Carina didn’t really know mothers, despite Henry’s statement, but didn’t say a word about it.

“Since you graduated so early, I’m guessing it was your hard work.”

“Yeah, but people think what they want. They don’t know that the Dean has practically no say in admissions, at least not anymore.”

“Really? What does he have authority over, then?” Carina tried her best to be inconspicuous with her fact-digging, but she was fairly well convinced that she wasn’t doing a very good job at playing spy.

“Well, I don’t really know. Graduation, for one thing, and employment as well, I guess. I’m not too sure, though. Why?”

“Just considering becoming a dean.”

“I thought you were going for astrophysicist.”

“Who says I can’t be both?”

Henry laughed.

“No one, I suppose. You do seem like the type of girl that manages to do everything.”

“That’s because I am,” Carina said matter-of-factly.

Henry grinned, then leaned forwards and dug around for something.

“You’re not going to crash, are you?”

“Nope,” Henry replied, returning to his normal driving position. He handed her a bag. “Here.”

Carina opened the bag. To her surprise, it held a package of sour gummy worms from the store. Her heart fluttered slightly--who was this boy?

“You got these for me?”

“Yeah. Of course. I thought you could eat them for breakfast or something.”

“Breakfast? What on earth do you eat for breakfast, Henry?”

“I don’t know! It was the next meal I could think of!” Carina laughed--Henry was too easy to tease and too funny when riled up.

“Thank you, though. I’ll be sure to eat them for breakfast.”

“No problem,” Henry said, clicking on his blinker and pulling into a driveway. “We’re here.”

///

Henry struggled to open the door. He turned the key this way and that until Carina decided that she’d had enough and took it from him to try for herself. The lock clicked and the door opened on her first try. Henry looked at her over the bags of groceries.

“Beginner’s luck,” he joked while using his foot to push the door the rest of the way open. “Mom! I’m home!”

“Hey, Henry,” Mrs. Turner called, stepping out from behind the kitchen counter. “And hello there, Henry’s friend.” She looked at Henry directly after her statement, made a judgement based off his face, and winked at Carina.

“Thank you for letting my son drag you along to bring the groceries, dear,” Mrs. Turner said sweetly to Carina. Then, following Mrs. Weasley fashion, she turned to Henry and chided him. “What were you thinking keeping this poor girl out so late?”

“I wasn't--”

Mrs. Turner waved her son off and pulled a pen from the pile of blond stacked on her head. Her hair cascaded down in lovely golden waves--it was princess hair, Carina immediately noted. Henry had the same type, which she realized she'd been jealous of upon seeing it in the car. What was Henry to do with princess hair? It was an absolute travesty.

“And you are…?”

“Carina Smyth. It's a pleasure, Mrs. Turner,” Carina smiled slightly and extended a hand. This was a first impression she was determined to avoid screwing up, even if her hair had fallen flat and she somehow looked dumpy while in a nice dress standing next to Mrs. Turner in her pajamas--what sort of inhuman being was capable of such a feat?

“The pleasure is all mine, my dear. I was worried that Henry would get lost under his pile of classics and never make any friends.” She laughed.

“I have friends,” Henry pouted indignantly.

“I'll bet,” Mrs. Turner winked and leaned against the counter. She practically oozed swagger and power; Carina had no idea what she did, but she was certain that Mrs. Turner was someone in charge of something very important.

“So, mom. What was the baking stuff for?”

“Ah,” Mrs. Turner reached for the bag, which Henry handed over immediately. “It seems random, but I wanted to learn how to bake almond cookies.”

There was no “sorry for keeping you out late,” no excuse for the oddness of it all--Mrs. Turner lived unapologetically in her own image. Forget being an astrophysicist, Carina decided that she wanted to be Elizabeth Turner.

“Almond cookies? Why would you need coconut for that?”

“Flavor, Henry. Flavor. I see you found everything without a problem.”

“He didn't know what shortening was,” Carina said with the raise of her eyebrow.

“Henry, my darling Henry…” Mrs. Turner shook her head. “You will be spending more time in the kitchen with me! Come Thanksgiving, I'll have you baking like a pro.”

“Mom, you never spend time in the kitchen. And are you even any good at baking?” Henry asked tentatively, as if testing the waters.

“Absolutely not! But I'm sure you'll do well.”

“How can I--”

Henry was silenced by what Carina could describe as nothing other than “a look.” Mrs. Turner had raised her thick eyebrows and looked Henry right in the eye. Carina was glad that the look wasn't directed at her; she wasn't sure if she'd be able to stand her ground against Mrs. Turner, much like her son.

“Henry, don't keep poor Carina here any later! Let her get home,” Mrs. Turner shooed her son towards Carina before looking Carina directly in the eye and speaking again. “I hope to see more of you, Carina.”

“It would be a pleasure,” Carina stammered, all the while trying to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks. A compliment, or open invitation, rather, was quite a feat. It seemed to make the whole night worth it--the small talk, the snooping, and the horribly long date. Although, Carina forced herself to admit through gritted teeth, she had enjoyed some of it. Henry hadn't been nearly as dull or stupid as she'd expected the Dean’s grandson to be; she had imagined a brainless oaf who got by on legacy, while Henry had made one too many literary puns to be an idiot, despite his more-than-occasional cluelessness.

“Goodnight, mom,” Henry called, twirling his keys around his finger.

“Goodnight, love. And goodnight, Carina.”

“Nice to have met you, Mrs. Turner.”

“Same to you, Carina,” Mrs. Turner said with a nod. With that, Carina followed Henry out the door. She felt, for the first time in weeks, as if a weight had been lifted off her chest. Even though Jack’s employment wasn't yet secured, she was no longer as worried as she had been. With the Turners on her side and Henry wrapped around her finger, she could make things work to her--and Jack’s--advantage.

[newssplashy]

By urging some candidates to speak out or at least stay silent, Republican leaders who gravely fear losing control of the House risked opening the first significant rift between the Trump White House and the Republican-controlled Capitol.

WASHINGTON — Senior Republican Party leaders began urging their most imperiled incumbents on Wednesday to speak out about the wrongdoing surrounding President Donald Trump, with Rep. Tom Cole, a former House Republican campaign chairman, warning, “Where there’s smoke, and there’s a lot of smoke, there may well be fire.”

Democrats face their own pressure to shed their cautious midterm strategy and hammer the opposition for fostering what Democratic leaders are labeling “a culture of corruption” that starts at Trump and cascades through two indicted House Republicans to a series of smaller scandals breaking out in the party’s backbenches.

One day after Michael Cohen, the president’s former lawyer, implicated Trump in payoffs to two women before the 2016 election, and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted of eight felonies, Republicans were concerned that the worst may be to come in the House, although the party’s senators expressed few worries.

By urging some candidates to speak out or at least stay silent, Republican leaders who gravely fear losing control of the House risked opening the first significant rift between the Trump White House and the Republican-controlled Capitol.

“Anybody who says this is not disturbing is not being honest,” said Cole, an Oklahoman and the former head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, adding, “so my advice to any candidate would be: Keep your powder dry and don’t rush to attack or defend anybody because you just don’t know enough to have a reaction that you can still defend three months from now.”

On cue, Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., called the accumulation of Trump-related scandals a “sad chapter in our country’s politics” and said that “no one is above the law.” Curbelo, in a tough re-election fight, also reproached the president for his caustic attacks on the special counsel, Robert Mueller.

“He’s making a major mistake by attacking the Mueller probe in such a personal way,” said Curbelo, who represents a district that Hillary Clinton won handily in 2016. “The best thing for everyone, especially if the White House is so confident that the president will be absolved in this process, is to let the process continue.”

Nearly as alarming to House Republicans were the mushrooming scandals in their own chamber, misdeeds that may dampen turnout among conservative voters.

Only hours after the convictions of Cohen and Manafort, Rep. Duncan Hunter of California was indicted on a charge of using campaign money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including the alleged purchase of golf shorts masked as a charitable veterans contribution.

Those charges came only weeks after Rep. Chris Collins of New York was arrested on charges of insider trading, something that has also tarnished a handful of his colleagues, including Rep. John Culberson, an endangered Texas Republican. Collins and Hunter were Trump’s two earliest congressional supporters.

In Virginia, Rep. Scott Taylor is accused of forging signatures to get an independent on the ballot this fall to help save his seat. And in Florida, Rep. Vern Buchanan is accused of accepting a seven-figure yacht loan from a bank lobbying for last year’s tax cut, then purchasing the 73-foot vessel on the same day he voted for the measure he helped write.

“It has been a really bad August,” as Cole put it.

Hunter’s Democratic opponent, Ammar Campa-Najjar, released a video declaring, “The division, chaos and corruption in Washington has gone too far.”

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., issued a fundraising plea declaring: “Donald Trump himself was implicated yesterday in Cohen’s guilty plea. The rot of corruption runs deep in the Republican Party.”

To date, Democrats have urged their candidates to conduct their own races and avoid a national campaign against Trump or the Republican Congress, except on carefully targeted issues like health care costs. Trump’s scandals, they argued, will play like background music that they do not need to accentuate.

But the summer eruption of apparent Republican malfeasance has some in the party arguing that Democrats should make corruption more central.

“There’s no way this won’t matter in a whole bunch of races out there, and Democrats need to be talking about this everywhere,” said Sen. Christopher Murphy of Connecticut, invoking the 2006 campaign, when “late-breaking corruption scandals, on top of an unpopular president, tipped the House and the Senate.”

Or, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, a former congressman and the architect of the 2006 House Democratic takeover, put it: “Trump is the issue, and rather than draining the swamp, he brought it with him.”

Democrats moved on Wednesday to elevate the theme. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, distributed a public letter to her colleagues arguing that the Trump-era capital had “become a cesspool of self-enrichment, secret money and ethical blindness” and that House Republicans were offering only a “blind eye to the corruption and criminality at the heart of President Trump’s inner circle.”

But in the same letter, Pelosi also said that Democrats “must also stay focused on delivering our strong economic message.”

Democratic strategists overseeing the midterm elections said they would use corruption against those Republicans tarred by any wrongdoing, but they were not yet convinced that focusing on what some in the electorate view as unending Washington drama would be more effective than highlighting policy differences.

“For a lot of voters, the Donald Trump circus is not enough to get them to vote Democratic in the midterms,” said Alixandria Lapp, who runs the main House Democratic super PAC.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat running for re-election in Ohio, which Trump won handily in 2016, put it this way: “Voters see this, and the people who don’t like Trump know it, and the people who do like Trump know it. I think my job is to make the case that the Republicans have cut taxes for the rich. They are going to raise the eligible age for Medicare. And they try to take health care away from people and Democrats stand on the other side.”

Democrats also worry that employing a Trump-tinged message about corruption will only prompt more questions about whether they would use a new House majority to impeach Trump, a campaign that could rile an otherwise demoralized Republican base. Democratic leaders have studiously avoided the “I"-word for months amid liberal outcry, preferring to shift the burden onto Republicans who have all but ceased conducting oversight of the Trump administration.

But the criminal implications of Cohen’s guilty plea will raise the pressure on Democrats from their own base.

“We need to see what Mueller comes up with,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said about the potential for an impeachment inquiry, allowing that “this is getting deeper and deeper, and it’s going to get more and more serious.”

As news of a Cohen plea deal was circulating Tuesday, House Democratic leaders urged members on a private call to stay on message, avoiding the topic of impeachment. Instead, Democrats will cast themselves as offering a check and balance on the president, a message that their polling indicates voters respond to favorably.

But this is an election year in which the battles for the House and Senate are being fought on drastically different terrain, with many of the most competitive House contests taking place in suburbs that revile Trump and control of the Senate hinging on a group of Democrats from more rural states that he won overwhelmingly.

So even as House Republicans suggested that their most at-risk lawmakers should tread gingerly around the embattled president, some of their Senate counterparts taunted Democrats for trying to curry favor with Trump.

“You’ve got a number of red-state Democrats that are trying to get closer to the president,” said Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, the chairman of the Senate Republican campaign arm, who flew with Trump to his rally in West Virginia in the hours of Tuesday’s convictions. “They are trying to run as close to the president as they can.”

Some Democrats from pro-Trump states said they had no immediate plans to highlight the matter of the president authorizing an undisclosed payoff to a pornographic film actress with whom he had an affair.

“If asked, I absolutely will talk about it,” said Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, adding that it is not currently a front and center campaign issue. “I think people are still trying to sort through it.”

Given the health of the economy and relative stability abroad, Trump’s approval ratings are already significantly lower than what virtually any other president would be enjoying at this moment of his administration. And if there is one predictable element of this otherwise unpredictable presidency, it is that some new story will detonate in the days or weeks ahead, pushing the last eruption off the home page and television chyron.

Indeed, Republicans are wishing that the Manafort and Cohen felonies only wind up being this week’s version of the Omarosa tapes — the latest ephemeral drama to captivate the capital but barely faze voters. But party officials are apprehensive about what more Cohen may reveal on his way to a likely prison sentence.

Even more worrisome to Republicans is what damage Trump may do to himself. If the president is seen as thwarting Mueller’s investigation, either by terminating the special counsel or pardoning allies who are implicated, it would create a far more serious upheaval and force Republican lawmakers into a confrontation they have long avoided.

“Of course you can imagine the president doing things that would be counterproductive,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., before adding with evident hope in his voice, “but you also could imagine the president saying something but never acting on it, just venting.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Jonathan Martin and Nicholas Fandos © 2018 The New York Times

via Nigerian News ➨☆LATEST NIGERIAN NEWS ☆➨GHANA NEWS➨☆ENTERTAINMENT ☆➨Hot Posts ➨☆World News ☆➨News Sp

[andinewton]

Healing the Hurt - Avengers Redemption Series - Part Two - Chapter 21

Characters: Bucky Barnes, Amelia Richards (OFC), pretty much everyone from the MCU appears at some point!

Pairings: Bucky x Amelia (ofc)

Warnings:  Chronic pain, physical disability, implied smut, eventual smut, swearing, fertility issues, pregnancy, angst with a happy ending, Stark has a heart.

Word Count:  151372 (complete with additional epilogues added)

Summary: 
Everything is going well at Avengers Tower, Bucky is integrating into the team slowly but surely; he longs for his confidence back but knows it's going to be a long road, never more than when he meets the new secretary at his doctor's office.

Amelia Richards is a career SHIELD agent, recruited straight out of college into the "company" but now she finds herself passed around from department to department, her latest position as a secretary at Avengers Tower proving monotonous compared to her former life, but when James "Bucky" Barnes walks into her office one Friday evening everything changes…

Join Bucky as he rediscovers parts of himself he had thought long lost with someone who considered herself broken for a long time, helping one another heal in more ways than one…

Master List

Chapter 21

Summary:  Amelia meets Tony and the rest of the team.

Nat helped Amelia dress and pack, instructed the men to pack up her bathroom things and anything she wanted from the living area. Someone on this floor had been poking into Amelia’s personnel file on a more than daily basis, looking for any new information, or anything that was buried. Lucky for her she had buried it deep enough no one would find it unless they made her show them. Steve and Bucky carried a bag each and Nat held Amelia’s arm for support, as she was still a little unsteady on her feet, and they ushered her to the elevator. It was like the coolest armed guard ever but she didn’t have time to even be mildly amused by the thought. Steve initiated the emergency protocol so the elevator would race them to the secure Avengers floors.

‘We need to tell Fury and Hill about the breach.’ Steve stated as Bucky looked Amelia over. She seemed to have lost some colour but he was unsure whether or not it was because of what was happening now, what had happened on the street or something from the meds, just that she looked tired and drained. He had ensured all her medication was packed, and her heat pad, but his mind kept going back to the jerk in number four. ‘Let’s get secure then we call a team meeting. If HYDRA have infiltrated the tower, even just one, we have a problem.’ Nat said as she rested her hand on Amelia’s arm to stabilise her as the rapid elevator neared its destination. ‘FRIDAY, call an emergency team meeting.’ Steve said. ‘Tell Fury and Hill we need them too.’ ‘Will do, Captain Rogers.’ ‘Doll, can you poke into some else's file like they’ve been trying to poke in yours?’ Bucky asked as the elevator came to an abrupt halt. ‘Sure, if there’s anything to find I’ll find it.’ ‘Good. Check that jerk who barged his way into your apartment first.’ ‘You think it’s Freddie?’ She asked as she realised it was a very real possibility. He had tried to get really friendly really fast. ‘Don’t you?’ ‘Yeah, now that you mention it.’ She swallowed and he took her hand as they stepped of the elevator. ‘Do you know his surname?’ Steve asked. ‘I won’t need it. Just sit me at a table and I’ll see what I can find.’ ‘He’ll be lucky if she doesn’t know his shoe size when she’s done.’ Nat smirked. ‘I’m not that good.’ Amelia smiled at her. ‘No, you’re better.’ Steve led them to a meeting room where Amelia could set up and turned to Bucky. ‘Stay with her, don’t let her out of your sight, just in case.’ ‘Paranoid much, Rogers?’ Nat asked as she took the bag off Bucky to take to her room for safe keeping. ‘Can’t be too careful.’ He patted Bucky on the shoulder and went to see if Stark was still awake, Amelia opened her laptop and sat at the table, her back twitching at the upright angle. Bucky noticed and grabbed her a cushion from a couch and tucked it behind her. ‘How long do you think it will take to find out if it’s him?’ ‘If there’s anything to find it will depend on what information SHIELD has. But once I have a name and a photo I can cross-reference it with things like the DMV and its foreign counterparts, passport agencies, that kind of thing. I may even be able to find him on the HYDRA files Nat dropped.’ ‘You make it sound easy.’ ‘For me it is.’ She shrugged. ‘But it may be a few hours, if I have to go that deep.’ ‘We need to get all we can on him, and everyone else on your floor.’ ‘I’ll get started.’ She smiled at him as she opened her bespoke program again. ‘I’ll crank up the coffee machine.’ Bucky went to the corner of the room and checked the water level before adding the filter and grounds. ‘I really am sorry I didn’t tell you, Buck.’ She said over the soft tapping noises her fingers made on the keys. ‘Hey, I understand. Kind of a surprise, I don’t like the thought of you in deep with HYDRA even if you were the best at it, but I do understand your need to start over, clean slate and all that.’ ‘Thank you.’ She smiled up at him briefly before returning to the screen. ‘Can I ask you something though?’ He came and sat beside her as the coffee pot began to do its thing. ‘Sure.’ She shrugged, not missing a beat on the keyboard. ‘When did you join SHIELD?’ ‘They recruited me straight out of college, but I know they noticed me before that.’ ‘And how old were you?’ ‘Twenty.’ ‘That’s pretty young.’ ‘I started college early, graduated early.’ She said dismissively before she looked up at him beside her. ‘How old were you when you joined the army?’ ‘Twenty-six.’ ‘Huh.’ She sort of nodded and went back to her keyboard. ‘Huh what?’ He frowned. ‘Nothing, just huh. How old does it make you now? I mean your birth certificate says one age but your body says another.’ She gave him a sideways glance with a small grin. ‘I’m twenty-nine going on a hundred, that help?’ ‘A little bit.’ ‘How come you graduated college so young? You’re only a year younger than me, right?’ ‘Just your physical age, yeah, but I graduated school early and got accepted.’ ‘What was your course?’ ‘Computer sciences and mathematics.’ ‘Jeez, are you like a genius?’ He teased. ‘I don’t like that term, and IQ levels don’t mean all that much in the real world.’ She shrugged dismissively. ‘I was joking.’ He said in surprise, realising her answer implied she was but didn’t want to talk about it. ‘Good.’ She smiled as she hit another button and looked over the page. ‘Got him.’ ‘Freddie?’ He scooted his chair closer and looked at the screen but it all still looked like code and he couldn’t figure it out. ‘We have his surname; White; and that he works in R&D, which if it’s him that can’t be a good thing. His file is now downloading with his photo and then I can hit up the web and see what I can find.’ ‘See, you are a genius.’ He leant forward and kissed her cheek as his brain reminded him he had been thinking of something else before she said she had found the information. ‘You mean in five years you managed to infiltrate HYDRA and make a name for yourself as a legendary operative?’ ‘Four years, had a year of basic training.’ He gave her raised eyebrows. ‘I am impressed.’ ‘Don’t be. Remember, now I get to type up notes from people whose handwriting is barely legible.’ ‘How did you end up doing secretarial instead of some sort of analyst?’ ‘Because when you don’t want the world to see you,’ Fury’s voice came from the doorway, ‘you have to take the cuts where they’re made.’ ‘Hello, Director Fury.’ Amelia started to stand to greet him but he waved her back down. ‘Agent Richards. You didn’t stay out of trouble long.’ ‘Almost two whole years. It’s not that bad.’ ‘No, it’s not.’ The stern man gave a small smile. ‘The rest of the team are just assembling themselves. I assume you’re doing something technical and borderline illegal with your laptop?’ ‘I didn’t hit the illegal part yet.’ She smiled slightly, knowing by illegal he meant out of their system and into the world. ‘Yeah, but I bet it won’t be long.’ He said, heading to the coffee machine and preparing a cup for when it was done. ‘Not if you want me to figure out who’s being a nosey so and so in my file.’ ‘I didn’t say stop.’ He turned and gave her a serious look, the smile from a moment ago gone. ‘You know, Barnes, when I met this girl for the first time she was just seventeen and had “accidentally”,’ he made air quotes with his fingers, ‘hacked into the SHIELD mainframe. On a dare.’ ‘To be fair it was a double dare.’ She said defensively.’ ‘That didn’t work ten years ago and it won’t work now. But it did bring you to our attention.’ ‘Total attention whore for the government banging on my door at midnight looking for a mole.’ She murmured just loud enough Fury would hear, but she knew he wouldn’t mind. He had acted like a father figure to her when she needed one, a distant one she admitted, but they had known one another long enough ‘Well, now you’re getting attention for all the wrong reasons.’ ‘Existing?’ She smiled sweetly at him. ‘Most likely.’ He looked up as Tony walked in, Black Sabbath t-shirt and jeans covered in grease, a sealed travel mug in his hand. ‘It’s early, Nick, or late, what’s with the meeting?’ ‘Rogers called it, we might have a security problem. Sit your ass next to Richards and look at what she’s doing.’ Tony glanced at the other two people in the room, Barnes and a brunette…and he realised who this must be. ‘You’re Amelia?’ He went and offered her his hand. ‘Tony.’ ‘Nice to meet you.’ She said as he sat in the chair on her other side. Bucky got up and made himself and Amelia a coffee each as the machine was done dripping through, having made sure Fury got his first, before coming back to the table. ‘Thanks.’ She smiled at him. ‘So, what do we have here?’ Stark reached out and turned the laptop without asking, his eyes roaming over the date being collated. ‘Huh.’ He said simply, assuming he had misread something, but realising he hadn’t, his frown deepened. ‘This is pretty sophisticated.’ ‘Someone has been trying to find details on Amelia’s past.’ Bucky told him. ‘And this is their handiwork.’ He nodded, thinking he had got it. ‘It’s good. Maybe one of the best jobs I’ve seen of its like. No wonder we have a meeting at o’dark thirty.’ ‘Actually, I wrote that. It’s running my data for me on a suspect.’ Amelia explained. He looked up at her in surprised amusement. ‘Damn, I think I’m in love. Show me how it works.’ Amelia talked him through it briefly as the rest of the team filtered in, Steve taking a seat next to Bucky and watching in amusement as Tony asked questions about things he wanted to understand but as yet didn’t. It was weird seeing him needing clarification on something technical. ‘Everybody here?’ Fury asked eventually after Bruce took the last seat. There were positive murmurings from around the table, everyone had dressed but there was a large array of bedhead going on. ‘Great. For those of you who don’t know, this is Agent Amelia Richards.’ She raised her hand in greeting in a small wave while Tony badgered her for more answers. ‘She was formerly our best deep cover operative within HYDRA.’ ‘No shit?’ Tony looked at her again.   ‘A girl’s got to have a hobby.’ She shrugged. ‘Done, Stark?’ Fury looked at him. ‘Probably not.’ Fury ignored him. ‘Captain, you want to take over?’ ‘I’m not sure I can tell the whole story, but Romanov can help fill in the blanks.’ She nodded to him. ‘Yesterday an attempt was made to snatch Amelia off the street. Following that Romanov found someone has been repeatedly trying to access her file, someone living on the same floor as her in the tower.’ The meeting went on for some time, with all the information of the attempted abduction, how Amelia found the location of the person trying to access her data, and her background, at which Tony turned to her again. ‘Can I adopt you? Seriously?’ ‘I don’t think so, sorry.’ Bucky rolled his eyes. He was glad Stark was impressed by her, and not antagonising her, but he was practically drooling at her expertise. ‘You’re The Wraith?’ Clint asked, having heard about her many times. ‘I’m The Wraith.’ She confirmed. ‘Always thought you were a dude.’ He murmured and Nat and Amelia shared a smile. ‘The fact remains,’ Fury took up the speaking again, ‘that we have a very real threat of HYDRA having at least one operative in the building. Agent Richards is working on the one lead we have, but I want some of you to go down and take this guy into protective custody.’ ‘It might not be him.’ Amelia reminded him. ‘Other than he’s a douchenozzle and he lives on my floor we don’t have any proof.’ ‘How long until you do?’ Fury gave her a stern look but she didn’t flinch. ‘Permission to run checks on everyone else on my floor?’ ‘Because you ever asked permission before now.’ ‘Good manners.’ She shrugged. ‘You’ve got it. Can you have an answer by eight am?’ ‘Maybe sooner, if I can use more than just my laptop.’ ‘Oh you have got to come see the computer lab.’ Tony offered. ‘You think this little thing is fun, wait until you see the big guns.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘In the meantime, I will put surveillance on this Frederick White. As he works in R&D perhaps today would be the perfect time for a leak of some sort in the labs so he can’t go to work.’ Everyone agreed and got up to leave, Amelia closing the lid of her laptop as the program would keep running in the background, and pushing her chair back as Bucky fetched her crutch. ‘Let’s get you to the computer lab.’ Tony turned back to find her being helped to her feet by Barnes, her movements slow and exaggerated. ‘You okay?’ ‘I’m good, just sore from yesterday.’ She explained. ‘You coming too, Robocop?’ Tony asked Bucky. ‘If I’m not in the way?’ ‘You’re not in my way.’ Amelia smiled at him and he gave her a pleased grin. ‘Just no lovey dovey stuff at the terminals. I’d hate to accidentally vomit on one.’ Tony said as he led the way out of the meeting room.

Chapter 22

[percontaion-points]

Miraculous Ladybug Fanfics (10/30/21)

Only Miraculous Ladybug and Chat Noir fanfics. New stuff is marked with a [NEW] before it.

Ladybug & Chat Noir

Is This How You Feel by irlmagicalgirl Description: In each of us there are always these two The one who stays, the one who’s leaving you I could keep on with the same mistakes Or I could make them with you -- On her way home one night, under the guise and protection of Ladybug, Marinette finds herself stopped outside the Agreste mansion, staring up at Adrien's window. How she made it from the street to his room is beyond her, but she can talk to him as Ladybug in a way she can't as Marinette, and he listens, and the temptation of him and his window are too hard to stay away from. Naturally, her temptation can only lead to angst, confusion, fluff, and sin, reaching towards every corner of the love square. FIC IS FULLY ILLUSTRATED & SOUNDTRACKED. Words: 178,531 Timeline: It's in a slightly AU where the series takes place over a longer time period, so everybody is older Pairing: Adrien/Marienette (in all forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Violence but it's like on the show Graphic sex It's also really long, so...

Pouvez-vous me laisser entrer? by DeadGiirlWalkiing Description: Her blue eyes stared back at him, she looked wired up. Her face flushed, although it could have something to do with the air outside. Her beautiful black hair pulled into the regular twin pigtails that seemed so oddly familiar to him. Before he knew it, she was mouthing something. He wasn’t all that great at reading lips, but he knew exactly what she was saying. Can you let me in? Words: 37,537 Timeline: Normal, I guess? Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in all forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

Le Chat Noir by ParadiseAvenger Description: Le Chat Noir was the most popular strip club in Paris. Marinette could explain how she wound up there the first time, but she couldn't explain how she kept coming back. Words: 55,926 Timeline: Strip club AU Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in various forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Strippers and graphic sex Mentions of models starving themselves for the sake of "fashion"

Sweater Weather by Amiria_Raven, projectml Description: When she was assured that Adrien wasn’t missing his hoodie–yet–her fingers faltered over the keyboard. It wouldn’t hurt for her to borrow it for a little while, right? Words: 4571 Timeline: It seems to indicate that it's some years after the current timeline Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in various forms) Rating: Teen Warnings: Marinette wearing Adrien's oversized sweaters and rocking the sweaterpaws. It is not a drill!

Forget Me Not by speaks Description: After the unexpected defeat of their enemy Ladybug and Chat Noir lose their powers, and thus become separated with no way to find each other. In this post-Hawkmoth world, Marinette and Adrien must each try and find a way to live without their partner. They say loss is a pill that gets easier to swallow over time. Well, whoever said that has never been in love. Words: 19,606 Timeline: Some years past the current timeline, in a world where they manage to defeat Hawk Moth Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in all forms), Alya/Nino Rating: Mature Warnings: Sex/One night stand (sort of) Extreme depression/It never actually comes out and says suicidal thoughts but you can tell that they're there

The Swimsuit Seduction by Indygodusk Description: Chat Noir isn't too worried when he first gets caught by the latest villain and tied to a chair. Case in point, she calls herself Beach Party. What's scary about that? Everything changes when a brainwashed Marinette saunters in after her, looking like a '50s pinup girl in a ladybug spotted swimsuit. Marinette can't help but follow her orders, but when those orders include seducing a certain black cat for information, what's a collared feline to do? Words: 12,914 Timeline: When they're both seniors Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in all forms) Rating: Mature Warnings: Some mild dub-con with that sexy times

Allez Savoir Pourquoi by Yilena Description: Marinette had seen her soulmate for years without knowing his identity, until they bumped into each other at a newly opened cat café. On a whim, she agrees to work for him. AU. Words: 30,022 Timeline: It's a coffee shop/Soulmate AU Pairing: Marinette/Adrien Rating: Explicit Warnings: Some unintended voyeurism, some (consensual) sex

Clear as Day by orphan_account Words: 13647 Timeline: I think that they're aged up? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in all forms) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Masturbation, voyeurism, consensual sex, hella awkward

Misunderstanding by AlyaBug (MorphologicalMayhem) Description: Ladybug becomes convinced that Chat Noir is a homeless stripper and tries to help him. Chat Noir is confused. Words: 2877 Timeline: Normal? Pairing: Very minor Chat/Ladybug Rating: Teen and up Warnings: Mentions of underaged stripping, but that's as far as it goes

To Be A Hero by AmyEatsCake Description: What does it take to be a hero? Ladybug and Chat Noir have been doing a good job of saving Paris over the past few years, but what happens when they are summoned to a future where the heroes no longer exist? Joined by Alya, the pair must learn how to cope with their future selves and a darkness which has the power to destroy them. Words: 50,987 Timeline: It's a weird time-travel thing where they travel into an alternate timeline and have to set things right Pairing: Adrien/Marinette (in various forms) Rating: Mature Warnings: Some sex (and it's probably not what you're thinking), a hell of a lot of violence, mentions of rape

That Which Ties Us by Resamille Description: “Alya, what do I do?” Adrien cried, voice and expression betraying the maelstrom of emotions contained within him. It was a miracle he hadn't exploded yet. “That depends,” Alya hummed coolly. “What do you want to do?” “What?” “Do you want to go after her?” “Yes. Should I?” “Maybe. Do you like her?” “Yes.” “Do you love her?” ... Finally, definitively, he said: “Yes.” It has been a long time since Chat Noir and Marinette fell inexplicably in love--just not with each other. But when Tikki and Plagg decide that the separation has gone on long enough, for reasons beyond the fact their Chosen are oblivious, it starts off a chain reaction that only gets worse. With new powers and new hearts to hold and break, Adrien and Ladybug are walking thin lines of friendship and romance with their hero and civilian counterparts. Words: 37,942 Timeline: Four years in the future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in all forms) Rating: Mature Warnings: Some sex but it's not graphic, some mentions of self harm that aren't suicidal in nature (You'll understand when you read it

Ne Me Quitte Pas by imatrisarahtops Description: “This is my umbrella,” Adrien told him, as though he didn't quite believe it and the words would bring some sense to it. “Even I could have told you that,” the kwami said with a shrug, his focus returning to his meal. “Why did she keep my umbrella?” he asked, only half-directing the question at Plagg. The kwami, however, chose to answer anyway. “Well, she is your friend, isn't she?” he asked as he finally gave in and stuffed the cheese in his mouth. He swallowed, closing his eyes in satisfaction. “What's so weird about it?” When Marinette sees Chat Noir on her way home in the rain, she doesn't think twice about giving him her umbrella. Only later does he realize that this is his umbrella. But why would she bother keeping it? He's determined to figure the girl out, but since she can't seem to speak to him as Adrien, his only option is as his alter-ego. Words: 43,357 Timeline: I think it's three years into the future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in various forms), Alya/Nino Rating: Teen Warnings: Some make outs and minor violence

A sure thing. by Baneismydragon Description: “Tell you what Princess, I will make you a deal. If you ask him out and he rejects you, like you seem to think he will, I will never drop by for any unscheduled visits that don’t involve purple butterflies again. However, if I am right and he says yes, then not only do I reserve the right to continue basking in your presence whenever I so choose, but you will also provide me with free croissants every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next two months.” “You don’t want to make this bet kitty.” “Oh, I am pretty sure I do.” Words: 11871 Timeline: Past the present season, I guess Pairing: Various forms of Marinette/Adrien Rating: General Warnings: Just a lot of teenage angst

Stray Chat by Pozolegirl Description: Adrien just really wants to be friends with Marinette but...it’s hard to be friends with Marinette Dupain-Cheng and not have both parties become a little tongue tied around each other. So Chat Noir attempts to make friends with Marinette with the aid of his mask instead. Eventually Chat Noir becomes essentially adopted by Marinette after problems at his home, and they will both be hiding things as they start on the new adventure of being thrown suddenly into the experience of being roommates. - This story is finished, but I hope to make some extra chapters for it, just for fun! :) Thank you so much for the support, you guys are amazing! Words: 59463 Timeline: Future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in various forms) Rating: Teen Warnings: Super fluffy There are also a lot of typos/misplaced words/stuff like that, but the story was cute, so I find that I didn't mind THAT much...

All I Ask Of You Description: ??? Words: ??? Timeline: Normal, I guess Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: It's not got a rating, but it's pretty clean Warnings: Contains a lot of mentions of musical theater

Transform by htbthomas Description: When Adrien runs away from home, only Ladybug can help him. They both find out more than they bargain for. Words: 43,551 Timeline: Set after season 1, I guess Pairing: Marinette/Adrien (in various forms) Rating: Teen Warnings: Violence, but only like what you'd see on the show Some mentions of child abuse and homelessness

Until I lose count by Baneismydragon Description: Adrien hadn't planned on kissing Marinette. He certainly hadn't planned on doing it more than once. He DEFINITELY didn't plan on doing it repeatedly while hiding behind the comfortable anonymity of his alter ego. But some habits are very hard to break, especially when the more times you do something, the less you want to stop. (This is just indulgent Romantic fluff. And kissing. Lots and Lots of kissing. I am such trash I can't even be sorry.) Words: 35,389 Timeline: Um, beyond the first season, I guess? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: It gets a little steamy in spots, but they never actually show anything; just a heavy implication of those events taking place

No Hard Feelings by nicnac363 Description: The Akuma Prevention Program (APP) was established by Mayor Bourgeois to improve the emotional health and psychological wellbeing of all Parisians. Though a huge success at reducing the overall number of akuma, the program is taking a decided toll on Marinette’s love life. Forced therapy-induced exposure is helping to re-kindle her feelings for a certain blonde, ex-model. Feelings Ladybug’s leather clad, Catboy boyfriend will not be happy about. Or will he? [Oneshot] Rated T for profanity, some PG-13 smooching, and a not-so-vague reference to sex. Words: 6515 Timeline: Like five or so years into the future Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: As mentioned in the description, there's some make-outs and transparent references to sex

Tendencies by KryallaOrchid (It's a four part series) Description: Miraculous have side effects. From pats becoming a necessity to eating flowers, follow Adrien and Marinette as they come to terms with their new tendencies, and each other. Hawk Moth is coming. Words: 239,141 Timeline: It's slightly AU halfway through the first season, and then goes well beyond that Pairing: Mainly Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: The first three are T, but the last one is M Warnings: There's a lot of talk about sex, but they don't actually do it until the last one It's really long, and the later in the series it gets, the longer the chapters get

Back To Us by DarkReyna16 Description: After a reveal so shocking it rocks the core of Paris itself, the villain Hawk Moth is finally defeated...at a great personal cost to heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir. With the city safe, they go their separate ways, returning to the lives they were forced to put on hold since receiving their Miraculous. Now, seven years later, Marinette Dupain-Cheng is on the rise, studying at the fashion college of her dreams by day, working at her dream internship by afternoon...and occasionally moonlighting as Ladybug by night. This routine is set so firmly in place that, once it's shattered by an old-yet-new enemy, and the reappearances of a cold friend and a hot partner, the whiplash threatens to send Marinette spiraling down into chaos. As Ladybug, she can do anything...but soon those limits will be tested, whether she is in or out of the costume. Words: 446,244 Timeline: Set in the future after they defeat Hawkmoth Pairing: Mainly Marinette/Adrein in various forms, but also Alya/Nino and a couple of others too Rating: Mature Warnings: It's very violent, more so than the show. There's a major character death in the first chapter and it weighs heavily on the tone of the story from that point on. There's also a lot of talk about sex, but only like... one actual sex scene, and it's sort of glossed over. It also goes without saying that this is very, VERY long

Magical Connection by artisticFlutter Description: Based on artwork by Professaurus and an outline by SinMother™ Getting ready for University with tests and portfolios while still being a superhero has Marinette stressed. Fortunately, Tikki knows of a solution to that. Meanwhile, Plagg is laughing and Adrien doesn’t know what the heck is going on. Crossposted on Tumblr @carnalrhythms Words: 6,348 Timeline: Future? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Explicit Warnings: Very graphic sex/maturbation (you'll understand when you read it)

one night of moonlight by calloffyourethics, clairelutra (exosolarmoon) Description: i'll always think of you inside of my private thoughts i can imagine you touching my private parts 2:13 ok im texting you now like i promised instead of drunktexting adrien and telling him how badly i want his cock tonight. arent you proud of me? 2:19 this is Adrien, hi. Marinette's brain-to-mouth filter isn't great on the best of days. Add some beer and some misplaced texts, and things get a little more... interesting. Words: 22,575 Timeline: They're in college Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms, minor mentions of Nino/Alya Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic sexting, masturbation, making out

Nice To See You by yonderful Description: Ladybug and Adrien keep running into each other. Literally. Words: 26,526 Timeline: Um, normal? Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: Implication of sex

Look At Me by raeryn There's also a second part, too, that's just Adrien's take on the first part Description: “What do you do if you've discovered your best friend’s biggest secret but kept the fact that you knew from them?” Words: 8011 Timeline: A year or two beyond the present, but not much more than that Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: Make outs, brief mentions of "sexual tension", a scene in the second part where it seems like they might have sex but then they stop

Welp. by musiclvr1112 Description: From the prompt: "Kiss me." Words: 3491 Timeline: Adult? Pairing: Chloe/Nathanael Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex

How could you be that girl I knew? by unforgetabELLE Description: Then he saw the source of the commotion. She walked through the smoke-filled room, her face shining ethereally like the actual moon through the haze of the club. No one spoke to her, but all eyes were watching Marinette as she walked in and he was struck by how she simultaneously looked like a completely different person and exactly the same as the girl he knew in lycee. Words: 7437 Timeline: It's like 10 years later Pairing: Marinette/Adrien, minor mentions of a past relationship between Marinette and some random dudebro fuckboy Rating: Teen Warnings: Some cursing and talking about a cheating dirtbag

What's Black and Red and Red All Over? by Otoshigo Description: Deadpool comes to Paris for a job, where he has a run in with Ladybug. It goes just about as well as you’d expect. Can Ladybug and Chat Noir, or even Paris, survive the merc? Words: 13407 Timeline: It's a little bit crackfic, so no timeline, I guess Pairing: Marinette/Adrien in all forms, minor Spider-Man/Black Cat Rating: Mature Warnings: Deadpool related violence and swearing

Draw me like one of your French Girls by Baneismydragon Description: When Chat Noir and Queen Bee get into an argument over who is the hotter superhero, things quickly spiral out of control. Marinette and Nathaniel find themselves drafted into the contest, drawing the strangest commission of their lives and learning a lot more than they ever expected. (Cross Posted on Tumblr) Words: 12,032 Timeline: Post introducing Chloe and Alya as heroes? Pairing: Chloe/Nathaniel in various forms and Adrien/Marinette in various forms Rating: Teen Warnings: There's some mildly indecent thoughts as well as SEXY posing

Satisfaction Brought It Back by siderealSandman Descrption: Most people rekindled friendships with people from high school over Facebook or Twitter. Most people met for coffee, shared pictures of their bratty children, and sent old friends Christmas letters once a year. Marinette was clearly not most people as she had somehow hooked up with her former high school crush on a bondage dating website and didn't know it until he was standing in front of her with an identical look of bemused embarrassment plastered all over his pretty face. Words: 198,137 Timeline: They're all adults; it's like 5 years after they graduated from high school. No miraculuses Pairing: Marinette/Adrien, side of Nino/Alya, Chloe/Nathanael. Mentions of: Sabrina/Kim, Max/Alix Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic sex, consentual BDSM This story was also really long, and I must admit that one of their "scenes" towards the end, I just started to skim because it was getting a little old. However, it was just the one paddling encounter, and I did finish the entire thing aside from that.

You're My Lucky Charm by GwennhaduBug Description: For Marinette, it turns out that having a boyfriend isn't what she expected. Her Ladybug secrets are dragging her down and straining their relationship. Maybe the one upside is that her relationship gives her the confidence to really get to know Adrien- and she likes what she's getting to know. And for Adrien, he expected to feel jealous when Ladybug eventually got a boyfriend...but why did it matter that Marinette had one? It's a good thing Adrien has his lucky charm. He needs all the luck he can get. Words: 78,499 Timeline: Post the Luka episode Pairing: It starts off with Luka/Marinette, and then shifts to the usual love-square, minor background relationships of Nino/Alya and Rose/Juleka Rating: Teen Warnings: It's just the usual fluffy pining nonsense of the actual show, I guess

One A Thief Always a Thief by SaijiSpellhart Description: Things were starting to look up for Marinette as museum curator. She had a prestigious new exhibit to run, and an ace team to help coordinate it. That is until she crosses paths with the internationally infamous cat burglar, aptly named Chat Noir. She wants to hate him, but this suave and charming thief has his eyes set on more than just her exhibit's priceless Bastet artifact. Marichat Cross posted on Fanfiction dot net. Words: 144,262 Timeline: It's a thief/museum worker AU Pairing: Marinette/Adrien, minor pairing of Alya/Nino, very minor Max/Lila for like five seconds Rating: Explicit Warnings: Sex, some violence

A Night of Debauchery & Sin by damagectrl Description: 14th Century Venice, in the days leading to Lent, rules of all kinds are broken as the city on the water succumbs to a carnival of masks and elaborate costumes. Social barriers are crossed, ranks are forgotten, and for one night, a patrician’s visiting granddaughter loses herself in the magic of the festival. Away from home for the first time, Marinette, granddaughter of a widow and member of the noble Soranzo family, is visiting for the spring and when her Venetian cousins lose her in a crowd on the first night of Carnevale, she finds herself in the company of two masked men who show her a night of debauchery and sin she never dreamed of. Words: 18,978 Timeline: It's a medieval AU set in Italy (and then France at the end). Pairing: Luka/Marinette/Adrien Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic three-some sex, double penitration sex

misericordia by vivific Description: Wherein the Papillon akumatises Marinette, and nothing goes as anyone expects. Words: 37,005 Timeline: It's a little bit of an AU, I suppose? Pairing: None Rating: Teen Warnings: Just a whole lot of hurt feelings and people being shitty to one another over basically nothing

LadyBugOut AU (Snippets) by Miraculous-Content Description: (bits and pieces from a salt-heavy AU I made on my Tumblr) Immediately after the events of "Oblivio," discussion is brewing over the photo of Ladybug and Chat Noir kissing, with Alya excitedly soaking it all in. However, not all opinions are positive, and once Marinette takes Ladybug's side in the debate, the class ends up dividing itself on the matter completely. Questions are asked, seats are changed, and Marinette gets an idea of her own: if no one else will step up for Ladybug, she will, and she'll make a blog herself in order to do so. As friends come and go, a crush is crushed, new heroes are considered, and Marinette is able to clear her mind to focus on the more important things in her life. Her happiness, her new blog, and finding Hawk Moth. Words: 44,103 Timeline: It starts from that memory-erasing akuma and kind of touches on a few points, but starts to pull away Pairing: It's listed as Luka/Marinette, but it doesn't happen until the very last chapter Rating: General Warnings: So much salt...

light me up by Yilena Description: With demons possessing victims around the city, Marinette has to hide her identity and live as the superhero, Ladybug. The chance to connect and trust someone opens up when she meets Adrien, a fan who's strangely immune to demons. AU. (a wholesome ladrien au that has adrien as a rich kid.) Words: 34847 Timeline: It's a demon hunter AU set in modern times Pairing: Ladybug/Adrien Rating: Teen Warnings: There's a lot of talk about demons killing people and doing stuff like breaking all of the bones in their body and stuff like that Some kissing but this one is pretty tame with the romance

1NEW1 Reading Lines by decentlysane Words: 1687 Timeline: It's uh... hard to explain? Just read it Pairing: It's tagged as Adrian/Marinette, but I wouldn't really say that it's a relationship fic... Rating: Teen Warnings: Intense breaking of the fourth wall, depression because of this fourth wall break