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imhereformr · 3 years ago

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"Tell me why you did it" "Because I'm in love with you"

I had a prompt request for this an eternity ago (sorry...) but I think I deleted the ask 😬 Here's the prompt anyways.

It made no sense to her. One minute she’d been staring down Lord Darkar with the most courage she could muster – thankfully her stubbornness helped her there – and having death threatened. Next thing she knew, there was a body between her and the skeleton-man (could he be considered a man?). A loud no had echoed through the cavernous space accompanied by a flash of magenta-topped blue. She’d been so stunned by the action that it took her a moment to register why the voice was so familiar.

Riven.

He’d jumped in front of her.

He’d saved her life.

He’d risked his.

For her.

After that, everything was a blur. Somewhere in the back of her mind she’d been aware that the Trix had shown up and helped them. She knew that that distraction had broken Darkar’s spell; the one that had kept her, and her friends frozen in place; the one Riven had somehow broken through to save her. She knew that thanks to that distraction Brandon and Helia had managed to get to Riven and bandage him up, bringing an end to the blood that she swore – though her memory may be faulty – was spilling endlessly out of Riven’s abdomen and temple. All those details had barely managed to make a scratch in her mind – as if they were happening somewhere else to someone else - as she stared at his closed eyes begging the gods – any gods - to let her see that violet she loved so much; that violet that had tinted her dreams since she’d met him.

Nothing. At least not between the brief moment when he’d flickered into consciousness after she reached him and called out to him and when he’d woken for an even briefer moment on the flight back to Red Fountain.

Musa knew that, in some twisted series of events, it was thanks to the Trix that Riven was still alive. She refused to acknowledge it, though; refused to acknowledge that it was thanks to them that she’d been able to spend every free moment by his side as he recovered. Not that there were many of those, or, at least, as many as she’d like. Apparently helping to save the entire universe didn’t count as a valid reason to miss finals in Griselda’s mind so Musa made her to way to Red Fountain’s infirmary every day after classes. She’d spent so much time there that she was on a first name basis with the nurses; they even let her use their coffee machine now so she wouldn’t have to go down to the cafeteria to get some. She’d set herself up on the empty bed across the room with her books sprawled out in front of her, trying - and mostly failing - to study. She knew she wouldn’t fail any of her classes – she had nearly perfect grades in all of them – but she wasn’t too keen on failing her finals considering they were worth a quarter of her final grade. It didn’t matter how much she forced herself though because her eyes always seemed to wander away from the books over to Riven.

Musa arrived at Red Fountain today with a bag full of books that she intended to get through. Three classes to study for and just under five hours to study. She needed to get through the books or else she’d be kicking herself tomorrow when she was trying to take those exams. Whose bright idea had it been to schedule three exams in one day anyways?

He slept through the first few days; she’d expected that. What she hadn’t expected was for him to sleep through the entire first week and a half after the mission. According to the nurses, he had woken up a few times but mostly when no one was there. Timmy had spoken to him once, albeit very briefly. Musa hated the thought of Riven waking up to an empty hospital room. He deserved to know that his friends were checking on him; that they cared. That she cared. That his friends were checking on him. When she’d arrived yesterday, Brandon was set up in the room with a set of weights (the nurses had complained but Brandon shrugged them off). Sky and Timmy had been there the day before that and Tecna and Flora had accompanied her the day before that.

She strode into the infirmary, greeting Doris, the nurse at the front desk, with a nod. Musa was vaguely aware that the nurse tried to tell her something, but she had headphones on and too much on her mind, so the movement of the nurse's lips only registered after she’d passed the desk. Upon turning to question what she’d wanted to say, Musa found that Doris had had her attention diverted by a phone call, so she shrugged it off and continued to Riven’s room. Her bag slid off her shoulder, dropping to the floor a mere inch from her toes when she entered his room.

It was empty.

Nobody hanging around in case Riven woke; nobody on the bed; no book or flowers (courtesy of Flora) on the bedside table; nothing. The bathroom door was wide open, revealing a pristine shower, sink and toilet. No Riven. Musa poked her head out of the room, checking the number beside the door. Twenty-one: she had the right room. Where was he?

“He was discharged about two hours ago” Doris, a sweet older woman with greying brown hair and bright green eyes, informed her, coming up behind the fairy.

“B-but he’s barely woken up in the last week?” Musa managed to stammer as she turned to face the woman. Doris shrugged. Apparently Riven had woken up late last night – just before midnight, two hours after she’d left to make Alfea’s ten PM weekday curfew – and stayed awake all night. When the doctor had checked him that morning, his vitals were good and Riven was in functional condition. “We knew him already; he spent enough time in here last year after all the fights he got in-” Fucking Riven “-so the doctor agreed to let him go as long as he promised to come in everyday for a checkup and to take it easy for a bit.”

No. She would go back to Alfea. She needed to study. If she went to see him now she’d be too tempted to demand answers and that would lead to her getting absolutely zero studying done. But then again... if she went back to Alfea to study she’d never be able to focus knowing that he was awake and she could be talking to him.

Take it easy? The man had jumped in front of a death blow without a second thought, and they expected him to take it easy? He clearly had no sense of self-preservation! “Oh... okay, thanks” Musa mumbled, picking up her bag and slinging it over her shoulder as she walked away. She stood outside the main infirmary door watching blankly as students in unnecessarily tight blue uniforms walked past her. What now? She hadn’t ever considered the possibility of showing up with him gone. Did she just go back to Alfea? Find Riven? And say what? What the fuck were you thinking? Why would you do something so reckless? So stupid? So... so... so... romantic???

“Musa?! Hi” Helia gasped, opening the door before she could knock. Musa lowered her arm, grasping at her bag’s strap tightly. “Looking for Riven?”

Musa was surprised to find that she’d started moving, and that her absentminded walking had led her right to dorm 307 – the guys’ dorm. Her subconscious had decided for her: she would go see him. Musa raised her arm to knock, but she hesitated. What if he thought it was weird that she’d shown up right after his discharge from the infirmary? Or that he was freaked out by the thought of her being by his side every day? No, he’d risked his life for her. He’d be happy that she was there with him. …That you’ll come back, you’ll come back... to me. That’s what he’d said before their groups had split at the cave entrance; he would be happy to see her. She’d knock. Just one deep breath and...

Musa nodded dumbly. She didn’t know why she’d suddenly lost the ability to speak; it wasn’t as if the entirety of Magix wasn’t aware of her feelings for the angry specialist at this point. They’d already gone on a date for crying out loud. Her eyes had drifted down to the dark brown sketch pad in Helia’s hand as she nodded, but she forced them back up to meet his. “Yeah... Is he here?”

“No. I think he’s in the back courtyard.” Musa thanked Helia and began to make her way back down the corridor. She turned to ask Helia if Riven had said anything about, well, anything, but her in particular, but the artist was already halfway down the hall in the opposite direction. Not that it mattered; Riven wasn’t the kind to talk about stuff and the odds of him feeling particularly chatty when he was in pain were not good. Logically Musa knew that the odds of him explaining why he’d jumped to her were minimal too, but she needed to ask anyways.

Her pace sped up to just short of running as she made her way down to the back courtyard. Red Fountain’s new building had three courtyards. The most magnificent one, the front courtyard, was at the top of the school overlooking the forest with the city of Magix visible in the distance of the Southern side. The central one was halfway down the building inside the four gushing waterfalls and contained nothing but training fields. The back courtyard was at the base of the building at ground level. It was made up of the ruins of the old Red Fountain and where the students mostly hung out when they stayed on campus. What could be salvaged of the old brick building had been turned into courtyard décor – picnic tables, benches, stools – and, most notably, the large wall that ran along the edge of the forest. Tecna had questioned if the wall was structurally sound when they’d first seen it, but Sky assured them it was.

When she made it to the crowded yard, her pace slowed a bit. She wasn’t worried about missing him – there was no doubt in her mind she’d be able to pick him out in a crowd – but she didn’t want to appear like she’d been searching for him frantically when she did find him. She took a quick look through the crowded parts, opting instead to search the more secluded areas thoroughly. She knew Riven; he wouldn’t want to be in the packed areas.

She found him in the front corner closest to the forest, next to one of the gates that led to one of the many footpaths that meandered through Gloomy Wood. He was seated atop the wall, leaning back on the arch of the gate. Musa’s eyes flitted to the open iron gate, wondering what the purpose of the gate was if they were just going to leave it open. Then, just as quickly as her eyes had traveled to the gate, they were back on him. It seemed natural at this point to be watching him if he was in the vicinity. No matter how hard she tried not to spend all her time admiring and observing him, she seemed to be eternally doomed to have her eyes find him. It wasn’t her fault he was so fucking beautiful. Especially right now, sitting there with the back of his head leaning against the wall and his eyes closed. His arms rested on his stomach where he’d been hit – she could see the bandage poking out under his shirt – and one leg propped up while the other dangled off the wall. He looked so comfortable and peaceful. It was unfathomable how easily he made her stomach do flips, it –

Wait a minute.

What the fuck was he doing on top of the wall? There was no way to get up there except to boost yourself up. That wasn’t ‘taking it easy’.

“Hi” she said loudly, butterflies having turned to annoyance. It was bad enough that he’d risked his life jumping in front of her, did he also have to risk worsening his injuries?!

Riven’s eyes snapped open and when he looked at her, it was obvious he hadn’t been expecting to see her. Their eyes met briefly as he stuttered out a M-Musa… Hi. He lowered his leg, trying to hide the way he flinched in pain at the movement. Musa dropped her bag and stepped forward to help him as he slid himself down, but he brushed her off. Stubborn ass.

“How are you feeling?”

“Fine, you know, considering…” he shrugged, motioning towards his abdomen.

“Right…” Musa fiddled with her ring – a cheap mood ring she and Bloom had gotten at the fair a few months back – as she tried to formulate a coherent thought or sentence. How was it that she still found herself stupidly tongue-tied around him? He knew how she felt; she knew he felt the same. They’d already kissed and gone on a date. They would’ve gone on another already if fucking fake Avalon hadn’t kidnapped Bloom. Logically, there was no reason for her brain to turn to mush anymore.

Her eyes snapped up to Riven’s face. The bandage that had been around his head wasn’t there anymore, leaving the scar and bruising on his temple visible. His mouth was drawn as his eyes raked over her. He was assessing her; she could see his mind working as his eyes roamed over every visible inch of skin. “How are you?”

“Good. Completely unharmed... thanks to you.” You fucking moron. He should know by now that her fairy form offers her an extra layer of protection that non-magical beings don’t have. He should know that the skimpy outfit is deceptive.

He brushed it off. Riven. The cocky asshole. He brushed it off. Like risking your life – quite literally almost sacrificing it – was nothing more than passing the salt at the dinner table. “Really. Thank you. You didn’t-“

And he laughed at Timmy for being nervous around Tecna. What a goof. “I’ve been here everyday…”

“It’s nothing. Not for…” Riven trailed off. She wished he would finish the sentence, but she knew where it was going. You. Not for you. Would it kill him to give her any sort of sign of liking her? She knew he did, but was it really so hard for him to say: It’s no big deal, Musa. I’d do anything for you. “I, uh, wasn’t expecting to, um, see you h-here…”

If she could burn the memory in her mind and pull it out whenever she felt down, that would be the most incredible thing. The way his eyes widened in surprise only to soften drastically a few seconds later. The small smile that played on his lips that he tried – and failed – to suppress. The redness in his cheeks. He was perfect. “Oh?”

“I wanted to know you were… okay.” Gods, the way he was looking at her made Musa want to close the space between them and never let him go. But she needed to know. It would eat at her until she had an answer, so she dove. “Why’d you do it?”

“Huh?” He cocked his brow curiously. He couldn’t possibly be that daft? What could she possibly be asking about besides him using his body as a shield?

“Why’d you jump in front of me?” she demanded, her patience already starting to thin.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it does! Riven, you could have died! You…” almost did. Musa stopped herself from saying it aloud. She didn’t know if Riven knew he’d been on the brink of death and, frankly, she didn’t want to think about that. One of the advantages – and occasional disadvantages – of having sound-based powers was that her hearing was so much stronger than the average person’s; she could hear the faintest of sounds with enough concentration. Like a heartbeat. Like his. Loud and erratic at this moment, but faint and barely existent after he’d fallen. Musa had no idea how he’d survived, only that somewhere in the background the spell that had been put on Bloom went away, there’d been a bright glowing light in Musa’s peripheral vision and then Riven’s heart had started to gain strength.

“So could you. Just let it go, Musa” he bit back. The fucking goddamn stubborn asshole.

“No! I need to know.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Riven started to walk away from her, but she was determined not to let him. She would have her answer. She needed her answer. Maybe that made her as stubborn as him – no, it definitely did – but she was known for being stubborn and she was fine with that. Musa stepped in front of him, blocking him from the path that would lead back to the courtyard.

“It does matter!”

“No.”

“Yes, Riven. We... I...” Her voice started to break and it took a few seconds before she managed to finish the sentence. Musa would usually do everything she could to avoid someone knowing how sensitive and emotional she really was, but frankly, she was past caring now. Riven had already seen her break before anyways. And she wanted him to know how much she cared and how worried she’d been. “I could’ve lost you.”

“Well, you didn’t” he dismissed with a shrug. There was no way he could be so careless with his life. It infuriated her to think that being moments away from death was something he took so nonchalantly.

“But I could have!”

“But you didn’t so it doesn’t matter.”

“Why are you being so fucking stubborn? I just want to know why you thought that jumping in front of me was-”

“Musa! For fuck’s sake. Just drop it” Riven snapped. She’d never had him snap at her before – Stella, Brandon, Sky (multiple times), even Timmy once. Never her. His snapping didn’t scare her, but rather fueled her and made her more determined to get an answer.

“No! Just fucking tell me instead of shutting me out. You risked your life for me. Why? I need to know; I deserve to know. You have no idea how much knowing that you could’ve died for me has been eating at me. How much-”

“It’s because I’m in love with you!” Riven’s eyes went wide as soon as the words slipped out. He opened his mouth to speak - to backtrack or explain – but no words came out. Musa was so surprised by the outburst – and more specifically, it’s content – that she had to take a step back to steady herself. Her jaw dropped and she tried to form a coherent thought, but she couldn’t.

He loves her.

He’s in love with her.

Riven is in love with her.

“I... I have to go.” Riven took off through the gate at much faster speed than she’d anticipated from someone who’d been seriously injured not even two weeks ago. Musa allowed herself a few seconds to blink away the residual shock, something that she regretted once she realised that he was out of her line of sight by the time her head was clear.

“Fuck” she muttered before taking off after him. She followed the path for a few hundred meters before deciding that she wasn’t going to find him on foot; that, knowing Riven, he’d probably strayed off the path specifically to make it harder for her to find him.

Ignoring her frustrations with Riven and his inability to face any potentially emotional or uncomfortable moments, Musa took to the skies. She forced herself to focus on what he had said – even if it had been blurted out. I’m in love with you. The butterflies in her stomach still fluttered to life every time she thought about it – and she’d been replaying the moment in her mind the entire time she’d been walking.

It shouldn’t have surprised her that she found him sitting at their spot. A small clearing in the middle of the forest – about a half hour walk from both Alfea and Red Fountain – with a ledge that overlooked the lake. Musa had found it last year after a fight with Stella that had resulted in her storming away. Riven had known about it for years before, using it as sanctuary anytime he needed peace for most of his teen years, if not all, she wasn’t entirely sure. They’d met here multiple times over the last year. Most of the time it hadn’t been on purpose, they’d just both happened to need space from the people around them. And what better way to be away from others than together.

Musa landed behind him as quietly as she could. She wanted a few seconds to admire him. She wanted to admire the broadness of his shoulders and the sculpt of his body. The way his maroon hair slicked back and the baby hairs tickled the nape of his neck. She admired his high cheekbones and angular chin. Finally, his soft, full lips. Gods, she wanted to kiss those lips so badly.

The lips of the man that loves her.

“Riven…” Musa stepped forward tentatively, changing out of her fairy form and back into the loose black pants and baggy cropped red t-shirt she’d thrown on haphazardly that morning. She saw the way his shoulders tensed, but he didn’t answer so she sped up. When she reached him, she sat in front of him, folding her legs under her. “Riven?”

His hands were balled into fists that he tapped on the ground nervously as he refused to meet her eyes. Musa reached her hands out and grabbed his, forcing them open so that they would hold hers back. She requested that he look at her. When he didn’t, she pulled her hand out of his grip – he’d been surprisingly quick to take her hand given how adamant he was about avoiding her gaze – and gently turned his head to look at her. “Look at me, Riven” she said in a forceful voice that denied the gentility of her touch.

“I-“ he started.

“I love you, too.”

“Really?” The surprise in his voice nearly broke her heart. She knew Riven came with a whole slew of issues, but she was still surprised that cocky, arrogant Riven didn’t deem himself worthy of being loved. But regardless of what he thought, he was loved.

By her.

She loved him.

She was in love with him.

“Gods help me, yes, really. I love you.” Saying it felt like a weight lifted off her shoulders. She’d been in love with him for so long now and, until recently, she never thought she’d get to tell him. Part of her wanted to the moment they first kissed in the Wildlands, but she knew how comfortable he was with emotion – that was, not at all – and she didn’t want to scare him away so she said nothing.

Riven’s hand pulled away from hers and he brought it up to touch her cheek. He’d given her no sign of relationship – they had to be in one now, right? – in public, so she was always surprised when he was soft in private. Especially the first kiss – after she’d confessed her feelings for him in what, she was willing to admit, was probably the worst timed confession ever – when they were packing up their stuff on the beach. She’d pulled him aside, driven to talk to him about the confession by Brandon’s silent nagging, but realised when she had him in front of her that no words would explain her feelings properly, and it certainly wasn’t the right moment for a song. So, she kissed him. He responded positively, so she took that as her sign to pull him in more. The kiss was wonderful, but more so was the way everything about him softened – his eyes, his touch, his posture, everything. Like he had so much love to give, he just needed someone willing to receive it.

This time was different. Riven was the one to initiate; he was the one to use his hand to bring her head forward. There were no words to describe the way she lit up when they kissed – her lips, her mind, her heart, body and soul; all of her felt like it was coming to life after an eternity of nothingness.

The hand on her cheek slid into her hair, deepening the kiss. Riven’s other hand slid out of hers and landed on the small of her back. With very little effort on his part, he pulled her more and more into him until she was straddling his lap and pressed up against him. Musa brought her hands up to rest on his chest, sliding one of them up to wrap her arm around his neck and pull him closer, if it was even possible.

When they pulled apart for air, Musa rested her forehead against Riven’s. Violet met blue in the sweetest gaze. Musa offered Riven a gentle, sincere smile that he returned, making her heart turn to love-struck mush. They stayed like that for a few minutes until he spoke.

“Did you mean it?” he whispered so low that she almost missed it.

“I do. I love you, Riven.” Musa planted a kiss on his forehead that made him smile even wider. His arm moved down her body to wrap around her waist so that she was fully locked into his embrace. Riven had never looked so genuinely happy and at-ease in the two years she’d known him and it warmed her to know she was the one that made him feel like that. His forehead and eyes found hers once more as he whispered: “I love you, Musa.”

#winx club #winx #winx musa #winx riven #rivusa #muri #oneshot #prompt #canon compliant

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shadowsof-thenight · 4 years ago

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Reunited

Summary: It’s been 15 years since you’ve stepped foot in this school, but now you’re back and Sam is as charming as ever. (this takes place after AoU) Words: 4250 Ship: Sam Wilson x Reader Warnings: Fluff

*** A/N: I’ve been trying to finish a story for Sam for a while now. I hope you’ll like it! The amazing @gnomewithalaptop was my beta for this (like she is for pretty much everything I write) Thank you for all your hard work and kind words! I truly appreciate you.

***

Masterlist

*** You paused for a moment after stepping into the decked-out gym. It was hard to believe that 15 years had come and gone since you’d last had a party here. The room brought back so many memories, not all of which you cared to remember—though plenty had been well worth reminiscing. High school definitely hadn’t been all that bad. Glancing around the room, you recognised many familiar faces, and one in particular stood out. Perhaps it was because of the large group of people surrounding him, or his boisterous laughter resounding through the large open space. Either way, Sam Wilson stood out amongst the crowd, and his smiling face was enough to make you happy you had come.

The group of people currently surrounding him weren’t the people you’d both hung out with in school. This group mostly consisted of what had once been the popular crowd, now eager to drink up the buzz this man was creating. Then again, even if Sam hadn’t become an Avenger, they’d probably still be drawn to him. That’s how it had always been after all. There had always been something so incredibly captivating about him, and he definitely had the charm to back up the interest he sparked.

Another round of laughter over something Sam had said broke you out of the trance you’d found yourself in, and you mentally shook your head to stop yourself from staring any longer. It would soon become weird, possibly a little creepy. In an attempt to quiet the restless butterflies in your stomach, you smoothed out your red dress and took a deep breath. Then you stepped to the side of the entrance and accepted a name tag from the grumpy-looking lady that sat behind a large desk. She looked familiar, though it took you a minute to place her. Mrs. Broussard, the gym teacher that had never really warmed up to you.

She’d only started teaching at the school in your senior year, and by then you had given up any pretence that you enjoyed PE. She had been both surprised and annoyed by your lack of commitment, and many discussions had followed about the necessity of running a minute mile. And while you did receive a passing grade in the end, it was the lowest number on your list upon graduation.

You smiled sweetly as you greeted her and asked how she was doing. Mrs. Broussard only grumbled something in return and then gave her attention to the next arrivals, making you chuckle as you walked away. Honestly, she hadn’t been a bad teacher at all, just one that hadn’t understood others might not be as athletically inclined as she was.

Stepping further into the big square room, you looked around for a familiar face. Though you wanted to walk up to Sam, you hesitated to join the large group. It had been years since you’d last spoken, and you didn’t want to feel like an intruder in the ongoing conversation. Perhaps his newfound fame was a little intimidating. There was also no indication that he would remember you as fondly as you remembered him, and you wondered if he would even want to speak to you at all. You could almost hear your sister’s voice in the back of your mind, scolding you. She’d tell you to man up. He was here, which obviously meant he wanted to see his old school friends.

But, you didn’t man up and walked in another direction instead. Perhaps you could circle back around later on, or he’d find you—which would be even better. Less stressful. Grumbling at your own trepidation, you took a deep breath and plastered a smile on your face. It was time to mingle and if not with Sam, then certainly the wonderful women you’d spend most of your high school years with would do.

“Girrrrlll, you came!” Aurelia called out loudly at your approach. The slight slurring and her enthusiasm told you that she’d already gotten acquainted with the bartender. You chuckled and sped up a little to walk into her outstretched arms.

“How could I pass this up?” you said with a bright smile, your mood infinitely better with the reception your old friends offered.

Soon enough you were pulled into hugs by the other girls and introduced to the people they married—well, the ones that were there. Aurelia’s husband had had to pass, in order to stay with their two young children. Georgette had married her high school sweetheart Joe, who had been part of your group of friends. Hayley was still single, happily enjoying her life as tour guide. And Felicity and Trix were clearly still very much in love with each other. Trix had been a transfer student in your senior year and already out of the closet—it had been her confidence that had given Felicity the courage to come out as well. Each of them looked absolutely stunning in their evening attire, and they certainly appeared happy. Their upbeat demeanour was also enough to finally relieve you of the jitters. Coming alone had been a little scary after all these years. You’d lost touch with all these wonderful people, and you’d had no idea which of them would show up tonight.

“Come on, aren’t you all fancy now?” Trix asked with a wink, and you chuckled. After college, you were the only one that hadn’t come back to New Orleans. A choice you’d never thought twice about, as you’d found your dream job in DC. It wasn’t until you came back this week that you realised just how much you’d missed this city—it really was the most wonderful place on earth. Full of life, laughter and memories. It was like no other.

“Trust me, nothing fancy going on in DC,” you shrugged. Politics weren’t very glamorous for those involved, especially not as a lawyer. There were too many people that needed help hiding their checkered past. “Just very busy.”

“Now that I believe,” Aurelia chuckled.

“So how have you all been?” you asked, and you ended up spending the next hour or so getting caught up in all there was to know about the girls you’d called your friends all those years ago.

It surprised you how easy it was to fall back in step with them, and soon your stomach hurt from laughter instead of those uneasy jitters. You could finally fully relax. You’d missed this place, sure, but not quite as much as this group of people.

***

“A beer and a glass of water please,” you asked the bartender as you leaned on the bar with a smile. Joe had confiscated a tray of champagne, but you’d never acquired a taste for it and had decided on beer instead. Aurelia had opted for water, not wanting to get too drunk to enjoy their reunion.

“I thought I’d never get you alone,” Sam’s voice sounded from behind you. “It’s like high school all over again.”

“Well, it’s the place for it.” You smiled brightly and turned to face him. Quickly, you were engulfed in a tight hug and you could feel Sam’s laughter reverberate through his chest and yours.

“True,” he agreed, his lips close to your ear. Pulling back from the hug, his hands remained on your waist as he looked you over.

“You haven’t changed a bit,” he said approvingly, going in for a second hug.

“You’re such a liar,” you chuckled, “but you look so good doing it.”

“Don’t I know it,” Sam said wiggling his eyebrows, and you barked out a laugh. It was good to know he was still who you had known him to be.

“Hey, would you stop hogging our celebrity!” Haley said loudly, her voice full of laughter, as she stepped up to the bar beside you. She ordered herself a soda and then turned back to the two of you. “For the two people that spend so long away from here, you do seem to fit right back in,” she added with a smile.

“It’s always going to be home,” Sam admitted and you smiled, nodding in agreement.

“Good, you should visit it more then. We miss you around here,” Hayley said earnestly and thanked the bartender for her drink, moving back towards the rest of the group. Taking your drink and Aurelia’s in hand, you and Sam followed her.

“Oh heavens be praised, another man,” Joe said dramatically and Sam laughed as they too hugged. Back in the day, their group had been pretty equally presented, but some of the other guys were standing with the rest of the football team. Probably reminiscing about their hay days.

***

“Who wants to sneak out of here?” Aurelia whispered, as if anyone outside of their group could hear them over the loud music. It had been a good two hours of chatting and Aurelia clearly wanted to spice things up.

“And go where?” Georgette wondered.

“I don’t know, see how much of the school has changed since we were last here,” Aurelia shrugged and you wiggled your eyebrows, excited to check out the school. For some reason, the fact that you weren’t supposed to made it very appealing—as if none of you had done any growing up these last 15 years. Everyone chuckled and the mood changed from carefree laughter into one of mischief.

Dispersing into smaller groups, you all stealthily tried to make your way towards the exit of the gym. It wasn’t going to be easy; Mrs. Broussard was still seated at her table by the door, and she had never been one to turn a blind eye. However, Sam promised he’d have that covered. After all, he’d been athletic and the woman had actually liked him. You promised to wait for him just outside the door.  Aurelia and Georgette held hands as they snuck past the table, Joe following them while laughing at their antics. You’d learned that Joe had been fast friends with Aurelia’s husband, and the two women were still very active in each other’s lives. For a split second, it had made you jealous—as you’d been so absent—but soon enough, they’d made you forget all about any distance that had existed between you. You remembered that one of their many talents had always been to connect people. Aurelia, much like Sam, drew people to her with her quick-witted and happy character, and Georgette had the biggest heart of all of them. You were actually sad that you weren’t able to meet Aurelia’s husband tonight, but she had made you promise to have lunch at her house tomorrow—an invitation you fully intended to follow up on.

Next were Felicity and Trix, who were giggling far too much to be covert. You had missed Hayley’s exit, though you were sure she’d be close to Georgette and Aurelia. None of that mattered though. Mrs. Broussard was too eagerly engaged in conversation with Sam—and you could tell that it had little to do with his status as Avenger. She seemed genuinely interested to hear how he had been doing. Before you snuck out yourself, you overheard them speaking of his time with the air force, a career choice her son apparently had made as well, having gone on his first tour only last month. Her proud smile softened you up to her a little more.

Hidden in the shadows down the hall from the gym, you waited impatiently for Sam to join you, and when he finally did, his smiling face made your heart skip a beat. It no longer surprised you—he’d always had that effect on you, though he had always been blissfully unaware of it.

For most of high school, you’d had a crush on the man before you, though nothing had ever come of it other than a chaste kiss on a drunken night, and you’d been too afraid of his response the following day to bring it up again.

When he hadn’t spoken of it either, you had simply brushed it off as a drunken adventure—one you did not regret one bit, even if it had sucked that nothing ever came of it. And while it should’ve surprised you that he still had this much effect on you after all these years of radio silence, it really didn’t. He was just that charming.

“Let’s go,” he whispered, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and guiding you into the dark hallway leading towards the classrooms in which you’d spent so many hours of your life.

“We never agreed on a place,” you suddenly realised and you both doubled over in suppressed laughter as you tried to remain quiet.

“So none of us got any smarter about our mischief?” Sam asked as you’d both straightened up again.

“Guess not,” you chuckled. “Why don’t we just wander for a bit? Surely we’ll run into the rest.”

He nodded in agreement, going left and pulling you with him.   “So, what’s DC like for you?” Sam asked after a few moments of comfortable silence.

“Busy mostly, lots of crazy situations to manage,” you said, shrugging.

“I can imagine,” Sam said almost solemnly, and you laughed. He looked at you with confusion.

“Come on, I’ve been doing clean-up for the situations you’ve already fixed,” you said, a little louder than intended, and you both glanced around to make sure you weren’t heard.

“Did I fix them though?” Sam wondered.

“Well, I do like my government organisations to be free of Nazis,” you said, keeping the tone light, though the message was very true.

“It’s still politics.” Sam shrugged. It was clear that nobody needed to tell him that there were a lot of lies involved in politics. And you could not deny it, or make the situation any better than it was.

“True, I doubt that’s ever going to be your scene, but every improvement is important,” you said, ready to break free of work talk. It’s been years since you spoke to Sam, outside of the occasional run in in DC. You felt horrible for not keeping up with him, while living in the same city. “Anyway, enough work talk—what’s life been like since your last tour?” you asked.

“Well, an adjustment for sure.” Sam said as he looked away from you and down the hallway to his right. “I needed a lot of time to get used to things again.”

“I can’t begin to imagine,” you said, looking at the floor in front of you. Perhaps this wasn’t the best direction you could’ve steered the conversation into.

“I got there in the end,” Sam said, a smile back on his face, “Your letters were nice.”

“I hated that I was overseas when you first came back. And then, by the time I’d returned, your life had taken a bit of a turn.”

“It did, but we’re here now, aren’t we,” Sam said, bumping your shoulder. His bright smile was enough to bring about a better atmosphere between you.

“Yes, here,” you chuckled and looked around you and pointed at the classroom to your right. “At history.” Fitting, you thought.

“We’ve got plenty of that,” Sam chuckled, the irony not lost on him either.

“I’ve missed it, this city, the people—you,” you admitted and Sam’s arm was quickly wrapped around your shoulders again.

“This place never does leave you, does it?” he said, looking off into the distance. Perhaps you weren’t the only one to miss it as much as you did.

“I for one wouldn’t want it to either,” you smiled.

“Remember the time we had detention in Mrs. Johnson’s classroom?” Sam asked with a wink and you chuckled. You’d all been caught sneaking into school grounds after hours and been kept after school for two weeks. You’d spent the last detention in your English classroom with Mrs. Johnson, who had been too busy to stick around. She’d been in and out of the room, leaving the lot of you time to have fun. Near the end of the first hour, Sam had decided to carve your initials into his desk—just his and yours. He had said it was because of the fact that you were both getting out after graduation—you’d need something to remember, something to come back too.

‘You think those tables are still there?” you asked, giddy at the idea.

“Let’s check it out,” Sam said, taking your hand in his and pulling you through the hallway towards the right hallway. Both of you were eager to see if your legacy was saved. So eager in fact, that neither of you really appreciated how well your hand fit in his. Not until later.

Two hallways down, you had almost reached your destination and you were nearly skipping to get there. Somehow you’d shed your more serious persona and reverted back to the happy-go-lucky person you used to be—before DC. You could hear voices in the distance and you chuckled at the idea that your friends were already there—Mrs. Johnson had been the only teacher that you'd all had together in your senior year. You were just about to call out when the voice of another person from your collective past boomed through the space.

“Miss Thibedeaux, Miss Cormier, you know better than to wander these halls after hours,” the voice of your old principal rang through the silent hallways. You hadn’t expected him and it startled you enough to freeze. Luckily, Sam quickly pulled you into a dark corner, his hand over your mouth just in case.

“Mr. Williams, we were just reminiscing,” Georgette replied, her voice bright and calm. She was always good at talking her way out of trouble. Not that there’d be much trouble, but for some reason these hallways brought back old habits. You were still hiding from the principal after all.

“Where’s the rest of your little group, Mrs. Thibedeaux?” Mr. Williams asked and Sam’s chest reverberated with the silent laughter he was struggling to keep in. Mr. Williams would not be fooled. The man had been as shrewd then as he was now.

“It’s just us,” Felicity answered for Georgette and you leaned to the side, just to see who’d gotten caught.

In the dim light of Mr. Williams' flashlight, you could see Georgette and her husband standing in the entrance of a classroom, while Trix and Felicity were still in the hallway and smiling brightly at the elderly man before them.

“Let’s go back to the gym and perhaps call your other friends to return as well,” Mr. Williams said with a smile. “There really is no reason to roam about the hallways, now is there?”

“What makes you think anyone else followed us?” Georgette tried innocently.

“Because I wasn’t quite as distracted as Mrs. Broussard,” Mr. Williams chuckled merrily, before waving his arm to lead the way back.

As they moved down the hallway, back to the busy gym, Sam took your hand in his and led you in the opposite direction. Looking over your shoulder, you locked eyes with Trix who waved and smiled, before turning back around.

“Do you want to go back?” Sam asked softly after a few minutes.

“Nope,” you said, popping the p. His hand was still wrapped around yours and you were enjoying the feeling, finally realising how natural it had been for him to grab it twice now. You froze again when footsteps echoed through the hallways a short distance away, and to the right, you could see flashlights coming in your direction.

“Though I do think we’re still sought-after,” you added, pointing towards the lights. Mischief grew in Sam’s eyes, and you chuckled with anticipation.

“It’s a good thing you already ditched the heels,” Sam said, before pulling you down another hallway at a sprint.

“Sam, dude, you know I’m not made for running,” you said, working hard to keep up with him—already breathing wrong.

“Just a little further,” he promised, sprinting down another hallway, before rounding a wall of lockers and pushing you up against the side of them. The flashlights swept the hallway you were in, but no footsteps came closer. Whoever had been holding the lights probably figured you’d run in the other direction. After all, this hallway brought you closer to the gym. It didn’t matter though; all that mattered was the close proximity in which you found yourselves now. Out of breath and still full of laughter, you stood chest to chest with Sam and it was having its effect on you.

Sam took a deep breath, leaning over your shoulder to put his forehead against the cool locker and you took a shaky breath yourself. He smelled nice—something fresh and minty, with a hint of pine. You wouldn’t mind taking a sniff, but again, that would be a little weird. Sam pulled his head back up once he’d gotten his breathing under control, though he remained pressed against you in the dark. His eyes found yours and the mirth was still all too clear in them, bringing a smile to your face again.

“I feel like I’m 16 again,” Sam whispered and you couldn’t help but laugh.

“Really, because after that little sprint, I feel 80,” you whispered back.

“A beautiful 80-year-old though,” Sam said, his voice soft and genuine.

“Hmm, keep those compliments coming, and it might get you anywhere,” you chuckled, keeping the vibe light despite the heat that travelled to your cheeks at his words. Even flushed as you were from running and hiding out, he still called you beautiful—that would make any woman flustered, right? Surely it wasn’t just you.

His eyes flickered to your lips for a moment, and your breath hitched—perhaps that crush you’d had on him never really ended. It had just laid dormant all those years. Unconsciously, your eyes flickered to his lips as well and you licked your own in anticipation. Would they be as soft and gentle as they’d been all those years ago?

Sam audibly sucked in air, and your attention went back to his eyes, finding him already looking at you. The staring seemed to last for a few minutes at least, before Sam moved again.

“Beautiful,” he whispered and leaned in, slowly moving towards you—clearly giving you ample opportunity to stop him if you wanted to. But you didn’t. You wanted his lips to devour you, for his tongue to dance with yours and his hands to become oh so much more familiar.

His breath mingled with yours momentarily, and your head got foggy. You never wanted these feelings to end. And when his lips softly pressed to yours, the fog lifted in an explosion. Chaste, quick, gentle—much like all those years ago. And the effect was as devastating as it had been then. When he pulled back all too quickly, you needed a moment to catch your breath.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Sam whispered, and you finally opened your eyes again to look into his as you nodded. You had wanted it too, and you wanted to tell him so, but all your words seemed corny, and you didn’t want to break the spell you were under. So instead you acted—pressing your lips to his in a more eager kiss. One that showed him how much you had thought of it as well, or so you hoped.

His arms snaked their way around your waist, pulling you impossibly close as he responded to your kiss with an eagerness to match it. Heat rose from your stomach to your chest as your hands reached up to caress his cheeks, before going back down his back. All insecurity left you, and you surrendered to the tingling feeling that spread from your toes to your head. Sam pressed you harder against the locker, your bodies touching all over.

Despite the heated moment, the irony of it happening in your old high school wasn’t lost on you, and you nearly broke out in laughter over the silliness of it all. That was, until your heart nearly stopped altogether when a bright light shone in your eyes.   “Well, well—guess who’s been taking the time to catch up,” Aurelia’s voice rang through the air, and Sam reluctantly pulled back from you. He laid his head on your shoulder, while you squinted to look over his shoulder to see Aurelia and Hayley standing there with two Cheshire Cat smiles.

“Hi,” you said lamely, and they laughed as they finally lowered the flashlight they’d been aiming at you. Sam raised his head only to look into your eyes with an intensity that took your breath away. Heat settled in your stomach again as you stared back, and neither of you seemed to care that you had an audience now.

“Maybe buy her dinner first, dude,” Aurelia said loudly, voice full of laughter, and you chuckled, shaking your head. With a deep sigh, Sam stepped back from you finally. He took your hand in his and turned back to your old friends.

“So what’s the best place to do that these days?” he asked them, and Aurelia quickly stepped forward to high-five him.

“That’s more like it. Come on, let’s go find the others and get ourselves some good old fashioned late-night burgers,” Aurelia said, taking charge and walking towards the gym, certain the rest would follow.

#Sam Wilson x Reader #Sam Wilson Fanfiction #Marvel Fanfiction #Sam Wilson #Sam Wilson Fic

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ozai-the-bonsai · 4 years ago

Text

Ghost In The Dark (Valtor x OC)

Link to Chapter 1:

Time Line: Chapter 2 is set a few days before Tecna closes the portal connecting Andros and the Omega Dimension.

Rating: M

*2* Fire Burning Under Your Skin

(Word Count: 3250)

After Hel had calmed down, the Trix had escorted her to an empty bedroom which used to belong to one of the professors before Valtor marked them all. With all the ladies gone, Valtor could finally gather his thoughts in the peaceful silence; however, something was very much disturbing him.

All those years, he had partly blamed Hel for their imprisonment in the Omega Dimension since she had disappeared when he needed her the most. Her incredible arrogance had been the reason why the Company of Light had managed to defeat Hel pitifully easily considering she had been one of the post powerful witches to roam the magical universe –at least that was what Valtor believed before Hel told him what Mandragora had done.

He knew very well that every one of Mandragora’s actions were being controlled by the Ancestral Witches, which meant that they had ordered Mandragora to steal Hel’s ring. They had wanted Hel to be captured.

This is too odd, Valtor thought while he stood in front of the massive window inside the headmistress’s office as his grey eyes thoughtfully gazed upon the dark, night sky. Why would the Ancestral Witches want to get rid of her? During the time we worked for them, they had no complaints about her –in fact, they were greatly pleased with her progress. Unless…

Unless they thought she was becoming a… distraction.

Back then, when they were working together, Valtor had taken a fancy to Hel. Being the fierce and tough woman she was, Hel had played quite hard to get; however, Valtor had always liked a good challenge. The harder the challenge, the sweeter the victory.

The attraction between the two of them had been undeniable and it would have taken a will of titanium not to fall for Valtor’s charms, hence Hel had eventually given into her heart’s deepest desires. Of course, it hadn’t been easy for her to admit that she had been falling for Valtor; even though they had been partners in crime, she had always seen Valtor as a rival.

After all, only one could be the most powerful sorcerer in the magical dimension.

Still, her ambitions hadn’t been powerful enough to keep Hel away from Valtor. The more time they had spent together, the weaker her walls had become and at the end she had been the one to pull Valtor inside her arms.

Upon recalling the nights they had spent together, the edge of Valtor’s lip curled upwards.

Hel had always been a rather physical person; even before the attraction between the two begun to form, she would never miss an opportunity to put her hands on him –the light touch on the shoulder while passing by, the faint contact of the knees under the table… So it had been no surprise when they had found out that they simply weren’t able to keep their hands to themselves at night.

She had a strong effect on him, she had always had, just like a drug and unfortunately, Hel knew how to use this to her advantage. And this is exactly why the Ancestral Witches decided to finish her off, Valtor thought as he shook himself and headed to the desk. Because I let myself get so unnecessarily distracted by her.

Seems like nothing has changed –despite all those years we’ve spent apart and despite all the blame I’ve put on her, she is still magnetic.

Clearing his head, Valtor pushed every single thought about Hel away from his mind and continued reading Cloud Tower’s spell books from where he had left off until his peace was disturbed by a presence lurking inside the shadows. The sorcerer’s grey eyes didn’t even leave the book between his hand as he spoke.

“I thought you wanted to get a beauty sleep, not a two-hour-nap.” Valtor said, he was sitting on the chair with his legs crossed on the desk, as always. Upon hearing his voice, Hel stepped out of the shadows behind the bookcase. She had her usual sleepwear on her: a silver-coloured, silk set consisting of a tank top and shorts.

“The voices of the dead don’t allow me to rest, unfortunately.” she responded and yawned while she was walking towards the desk “Some serious chaos took over the Underworld during my absence.”

Valtor eyed the dark haired woman for a moment before speaking “Do they know you’re back?”

Hel shook her head “No but some of them has begun to feel my presence and they are trying to reach their queen.” she said and grimaced “Do you have any idea how annoying it is to hear countless different voices in your head while you’re in the middle of a pleasant dream?”

“I can only imagine,” Valtor responded as he put down the book he was holding onto the desk, his eyes following Hel’s movements as she walked past the desk and stood in front of the window, her back facing him “But I suppose it would have been better for you to deal with the problems of the Underworld in person instead of complaining about them to me.”

Hel rolled her eyes in annoyance “I am not going anywhere before you explain,” she said and turned to look at Valtor with her arms crossed over her chest “Why the fuck you’ve left me in the Omega Dimension.”

She’s hurt, Valtor thought as he analysed Hel’s tone and gestures. Because she wouldn’t have left me behind if she had been the first one to escape the ice.

Taking a deep breath, Valtor let his legs down and stood up from the chair “Would you wake a potential rival from their eternal sleep, Hel?” he asked while he took slow steps towards her.

The dark haired woman let out a cold, scornful laughter “Perhaps I’ve forgot what a huge self-seeker you are,” she spat out the words as if they were venom “But what was I expecting from a man whose mothers are directly responsible for my time in the ice?”

With that, Hel sent Valtor a last, furious look and walked past him, her shoulder forcefully hitting his arm “Hel, wait,” Valtor said and held her from her right wrist “What Mandragora did has nothing to do with me.”

Hel looked at Valtor over her shoulder as she freed her wrist from his hold “Do I look like a fool to you?” she asked with an angry tone and once again tried to walk away from him, only to be caught by Valtor once again. The sorcerer pulled her against his chest and placed his right hand around her waist so that she wouldn’t be able to step back. His left hand was still holding Hel from her right wrist “Let me go!”

“Tell me, Hel, when have I lied to you?” Valtor asked with a low and calm voice, which caused Hel to stop trying to push him away “Think logically, losing you bore nothing in my advantage –on the contrary, it is one of the reasons why I also ended up in the Omega Dimension.”

For a moment, both of them just looked at each other in pure silence: They were standing so close to each other so that Hel was able to feel the warmth radiating off his body –because of the dragon fire within him, Valtor had always been warm. And once again, after sixteen long years, Hel was feeling the familiar realisation of how small she was compared to Valtor, whose huge frame was towering over her. Being inside his arms had always made her feel that way –it made her feel both safe and small.

“You really are cold,” Valtor spoke with a lower voice this time, he wasn’t wearing his gloves, hence he could feel Hel’s skin under his palm. Slowly, he moved his left hand, which was holding Hel’s wrist, along her right arm “Almost frozen.”

Upon feeling his hand tracing her skin, Hel shivered, which caused a small smirk to form on Valtor’s lips. She has missed my touch; this makes everything more interesting. Seems like it takes more than sixteen years in ice to snuff out some flames.

Quickly, Hel wore her usual, reckless expression –she simply couldn’t stand the idea of showing Valtor how much she had actually missed him. No, she would rather burn in the flames of her yearning than to give Valtor the satisfaction of seeing that she still wasn’t able to resist him.

Either he admits it first, Hel thought as her grey eyes wandered on Valtor’s strong facial features. Or the chase begins all over again.

“Well, darling, not all of us carry the breath of the dragon under our skin.” she said and slowly stepped back when she felt Valtor’s hold loosening. Then, she walked left to the desk, eyeing all the books piled up on it “Seeking to acquire every single piece of magical knowledge in the magical universe, hmm? Just like old times.” Pushing away some books, Hel sat on the desk “Which dimension do these books belong to?”

Valtor snapped his fingers and the books began to re-organise themselves “These are from the spell vault of the Cloud Tower.” he responded and sat on the chair, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

Hel licked her lower lip “Oh, I’ve tried everything to get my claws on some of these back then when I was a student here, in the Cloud Tower.” she muttered “Are there any books for my taste?”

The sorcerer pursed his lips “I haven’t come across anything about necromancy or shadow magic, yet.” he said, then pointed at the books with his head “But I’m sure they are simply hiding somewhere in those pages.”

Hel sent him a fake smile “Then inform me when you find them, will you?” she said, which caused Valtor to let out a soft chuckle “So, whom are you fighting this time?” she asked as she began to draw circles on the desk with the index finger of her right hand “I suppose the Company of Light is not really in the game anymore.”

Valtor shrugged recklessly “Well, there aren’t many people who dare stand against the mighty Valtor,” he spoke with an arrogant tone “Except for the remnants of the Company of Light and a bunch of fairies.”

“A bunch of fairies?” Hel repeated him and threw her head back as she let out a long, loud laughter “This is hilarious –and you haven’t got rid of them yet? In front of the mighty Valtor, fairies should be no different than flies.”

However, a frown appeared on Hel’s face when she couldn’t get the expected reaction from Valtor –instead of mockery, a serious look fell into his grey eyes “Hey, what’s wrong?” Hel asked with a rather soft voice, which had been an instinctual shift, and reached forwards to place her right hand under Valtor’s chin. With slow movements, she lifted his head so that they were making eye contact “Talk to me.”

“The keeper of the dragon fire is alive.” Valtor said coolly “And she is one of those fairies.”

Hel withdrew her right hand as a shocked expression appeared on her face “What? The heir to the throne of Domino? Oritel and Marion’s daughter?” she asked “How is that possible?!”

The sorcerer crossed his arms over his chest “Apparently, her older sister has managed to save her from the attack on Domino.” he said with an obvious annoyance in his voice.

“And she poses a threat for you since the essence of her powers is pure dragon fire,” Hel spoke while she ran her right hand through her dark hair “Which is the only thing that can actually harm you –so your plan is to simply get rid of her, then end the Company of Light for good, and eventually spread your reign across the universe?”

Valtor nodded while he slowly stood up from the chair “That is pretty much the deal,” he said and smirked “And now that you’re by my side once again, nothing will stand in my way.”

Hel clicked her tongue as she moved her right index finger in front of Valtor in a disapproving manner “No, darling, that is not my fight anymore.” she said, which caused Valtor to raise a sceptic brow at her “The dragon fire is no longer an interest of mine –as you see, I do not serve the Ancestral Witches any longer.”

After taking two wide steps towards her, Valtor stood in front of Hel and placed his hands on the desk, on either sides of her sitting figure “What are you planning to do, then?” he asked, his eyebrow still arched. Just as Hel was about to answer, two ravens flying in front of the window croaked loudly “Looks like the word of your return is spreading quite fast.”

The two ravens Daudi and Skadi (meaning death and shadow in Old Norse, respectively) could be considered as Hel’s pets –apart from the time she spent in the Underworld, the ravens would never leave Hel’s side.

Hel shrugged “Don’t mind those two, they’re simply overmuch excited to have me back, that’s all.” she said “What I’m planning is, of course, revenge –you didn’t think you were the only one to plot their revenge during their time in the ice, did you?”

Seeing Hel’s dark side had always turned Valtor on in an indescribable way –no physical contact would be needed at that point. Simply feeling the dark, wicked aura surrounding her and radiating off her body would be enough for Valtor to lose every bit of self-control he had on himself.

It seemed like Hel got quite carried away while telling her plan, hence she didn’t notice that Valtor’s eyes were getting darker with lust every passing moment “First, I have to regain my strength and establish the order in the Underworld to rebuilt my army of the dead. Of course, there’s also one little sunny problem, too, that needs to be fixed –I’m never living the life of a bat once again. Then,” she said and playfully poked Valtor from his chest with her index finger “I’ll go after your mothers and their little minion Mandragora, only to send them into Oblivion for an eternity –one should get a taste of their own weapon, don’t you think so?”

For a moment, Hel stopped talking and slowly moved her right hand to Valtor’s face. Seeing that he wasn’t pushing her hand away, she began to trace his features with a faint touch “Until then,” she continued to speak “I might just stick around here for a while, y’know, just for the fun of it.” Her grey eyes were following the trail her fingers were leaving on his face. She was giving it all not to meet Valtor’s gaze for she could feel his intense looks on herself and she knew she’d melt the moment she saw the yearning within his piercing, grey eyes “Maybe I could visit some familiar worlds to take back the powers which once belonged to me.”

As Hel pulled her right hand back, a smirk spread onto Valtor’s lips. With incredibly slow movements, he leaned into Hel and pushed back the right part of her dark hair behind her right shoulder so that her ear wasn’t covered by the hair anymore. After placing his left hand on the right side of her waist, Valtor brought his lips on a level with Hel’s ear and whispered “So it’ll be like the old times, hmm?”

He still smells the same, Hel thought while she shivered once again –feeling Valtor’s warm breath licking her neck had always made her feel dizzy. Leather and cologne.

Valtor waited for a few second; however, upon seeing that Hel wasn’t making any moves, he slightly pulled away so that he was looking at her face once again. No matter how much she wants me to touch her, she is still the same old Hel –refusing to be the first one to drop the indifferent façade with every single piece of her will.

Well, love, the years we’ve spent apart didn’t blur my memory –I am still perfectly capable of bringing you to your knees.

“I could use the element of surprise against my enemies,” Valtor said while his right hand rested on Hel’s left upper-leg and once again, he was struck by the coldness of her skin. It was for a fact that Hel had always been colder compared to any other human because of her connection with the dead; however, she had never felt this cold against his skin “After all, the Company of Light has no idea that you’re back and I doubt the fairies know about you at all.”

Hel raised an eyebrow “I have no idea how long I’ll have to stay in the Underworld, Valtor –if I were you, I’d make my plans without taking the element of surprise into account.” she said and then took a deep breath upon feeling Valtor’s hand slowly caressing her inner thigh “So, which worlds have you conquered so far?” she asked, trying to maintain the indifferent face. Her efforts were only causing the smirk on Valtor’s lips to grow “Solaria, as I see, has been once again the first on the list.”

Slowly, Hel placed her hands against Valtor’s chest but because of the purple vest and the white ruffled shirt, she wasn’t able to feel much of him under her palms. At least he wasn’t wearing his long, maroon jacket –one layer less.

“Well, you know how much my dragon fire likes to feel the presence of the sun.” he responded “The two just have some kind of… chemistry.”

The edge of Hel’s lip curled upwards as she tilted her head to the side “And that’s why you used to sleep with the Witch of Shadows, hmm?” she spoke with a challenging tone as some little shadows circled around her head for a few seconds.

Valtor playfully rolled his eyes at her words “Her shadows didn’t use to burn me back then.” he said while his right hand left Hel’s leg and cupped her face.

“You should’ve known better than to leave me behind, Valtor.” Hel muttered under her breath but she silently gasped when his left hand, which had been resting on her waist, slowly slid under the hem of her tank top and held her bare waist.

“Hmm,” Valtor spoke with a deep and husky tone “Her skin didn’t use to feel as cold as ice, too.”

Well, two can play this game, darling, Hel thought as her hands, which were on Valtor’s chest, held him from his waist and pulled down into her so that there was very little distance left between their lips “Maybe you could pass her some heat,” Hel whispered against Valtor’s lips with a seductive voice, her eyes were trying to capture his; however, Valtor’s gaze was lingering on her lips “She still recalls the fire burning under your skin.”

Under her hands, Hel could feel how fast Valtor’s heart was beating, which brought a victory smirk to her lips. After Hel’s hold on him loosened, Valtor licked his lower lip and withdrew his upper body a little bit back while placing his right hand on Hel’s waist under her top as well. Slowly, he leaned into her ear once again “If that’s your wish, love,” he whispered and then placed his lips on Hel’s neck.

The amount of tension in this chapter was rather intense, wasn’t it? I hope you’ve enjoyed it, please don’t forget to give me some feedback!!

#winx #winx valtor #valtor #winx club #valtor x oc #fanfiction #fate netflix #fate the winx saga #trix

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artificialqueens · 4 years ago

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Galactica, Chapter 25 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Hey kiddos! As always, thank you so much for any feedback. You’re the best. Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Last Chapter: Long-distance brought challenges to many of our couples.

This Chapter: In Milan, Trixie agonizes over being apart from Katya. But back home in New York, she’s finding support in Violet’s friendship — at least until Miss Fame throws a wrench in their plans. Elsewhere, Willam continues to work his charms, Adore gets an invitation she can’t refuse and Alaska learns some upsetting news.

***

“Guess who just got an extra round of shots because the bartender thought he had a chance? Me! 1 - 0 for the lesbian.” Pearl laughed as she dumped down next to Trixie, handing her friend a beer as she balanced her tray of free shots in her other hand.

“I love Italians. They’ll literally give you anything you want as long as you’ve got a pair of tits and a smile.”

Trixie looked at Pearl before he sighed and accepted the beer, his phone in his hand. He had been trying to call Katya all day, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t get a hold of her beyond a few quick texts. He was just about to dial her number again when he felt a poke in his stomach.

“Ouch! Pearl, what the fuck?”

“Stop looking so sad! It’s contagious and you’re not allowed to be sad during Fashion Week, so how about you turn that frown upside down, we slam these and I’ll score us some free hotdogs on the way home!”

Pearl smiled, her entire face lit up as her eyebrows wiggled, her good mood making Trixie feel a little better.

“I don’t think they have hotdogs in Milan, Pearlie Girl.”

“Well, then pizza! Gelato! Whatever! Now put that phone away and take a shot with me like a man!”

Pearl was just about to grab the phone from Trixie’s hand, but he stopped her, a serious expression on his face.

“Katya hasn’t responded to any of my calls.”

“Well, if you’re so worried, just ask Violet? She’s such a control freak she probably has a written record of Katya’s last three meals and her sleep schedule.” Pearl leaned back in her chair, taking a long swig from her wine, people all around them moving back and forth, coming and going, but to Pearl they didn’t matter.

All that mattered was that Trixie wasn’t going to party with her, and that wasn’t fair.

“Why are you always so mean to her, Pearlie?”

“I’m not mean, I’m perfectly reasonable.”

“If you say so.” Trixie sighed and crossed his arms, finally taking his first swig of the beer Pearl had gotten for him.

“Katya and I have never gone this long without talking. I haven’t heard from her in almost 24 hours.”

“Bro, let it go.” Pearl sighed, pulling a bit of her hair over her shoulder. “Katya is probably fine; you worry too much.”

“Tell that to my stomach.”

Pearl leaned over, a mischievous smile on her face before she placed both hands on Trixie’s tummy, talking to it as if he was a pregnant woman as she adopted a high-pitched baby voice.

“Hey sweetie, I know you’re confused right now, but don’t worry, you don’t have to worry about your mommy one bit, Auntie Pearl is right here ready to take care of you, and I know exactly what you need, which, is, shoooooots!”

Pearl sat up again, laughing hard when she saw the unhappy scowl on Trixie’s face.

“You’re the worst, Pearl, you know that, right?”

“The absolute worst.”

***

Trixie was in his hotel room, silently cursing Pearl as the blonde was off getting laid, the European chicks absolutely loving her. Trixie however really needed a bro since he couldn’t get out of his clothes, too drunk for his hands to work properly, even if he had fought his way out of his shirt.

Fashion Week was like an endless party, and he couldn’t remember the last time he hadn’t been at least mildly buzzed or had gotten more than six hours of sleep.

Trixie was battling with getting out of his shoes, his pants already around his ankles as he heard his phone ring and he jumped for it right away, falling onto the bed and swiping right to pick up the call.

“Please be Katya, please be Katya, please be Katya!”

Trixie hadn’t realized he had said any of it out loud, until he heard Katya’s laugh on the other end of the phone, almost making him cry.

“Katya, oh God, it’s really you, I love you so much, please I want to grow old with you and get weird and wrinkly.”

“Are you drunk, baby?”

“Maybe a little.” Trixie looked down at himself: there were stains of pizza sauce on his stomach, and his pants were still around his legs, making it hard for him to move. “But none of that matters because now I’m talking to you! I miss you sooooooo much!”

“I miss you too, I’m sorry I haven’t called…”

“How are you? Are your students okay? How are you, how are you, how are you?”

Trixie was excitedly waiting for Katya’s reply, ready to hear all about how the most important person in his life was doing, but then there was nothing on the other end and Trixie had to check if his phone was actually on.

“Katya? Are you okay? Like… For reals?”

“I...I really fucked up last night,” Katya said, voice small and soft.

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked. “Are you okay?”

“I just...I really wanted a drink, and I thought Pearl might have something, and so I went into her room and I basically tore everything apart looking for a bottle-”

Trixie froze, his heart stopping at Katya’s words.

“I’m coming home right now.”

Trixie was already standing up, fighting with his pants, trying to get them on and then instead stepping out of them, grabbing his backpack, not caring that he was only wearing his underpants and his socks.

“No! Trix! Trix! Please wait.”

“No! I can’t wait! I have to come home!”

“Trixie, please, baby, listen! I didn’t find anything, okay? And like, after a couple of minutes, I was standing in the middle of this fucking mess, holding Pearl’s Hitachi in my hand, digging through her bottom drawer, and I realized how crazy I must have looked.” She let out a dry chuckle.

“That’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny. And anyway, I’m okay. I saw Sasha after school today, and then I came home and cleaned everything up. I’m sorry for making you worry...”

Trixie stopped, listening to Katya’s words. “You’re okay?”

“I’m okay… I promise. I talked to Violet, and we’re gonna have a slumber party this week, so don’t worry. You don’t have to come home, everything is fine.”

Trixie fell back into bed, the sudden burst of energy only making him more nauseous, the entire room spinning.

“What did Sasha say?” Trixie liked Katya’s therapist. She was calm and warm and extremely perceptive, with a lovely sense of humor. If she thought Katya was okay, then he’d feel a hell of a lot better.

“She thinks that I’m being too hard on myself, and that I just need to try and relax. Which is what I’m doing now. I’m in the bathtub.”

“So...then you’re really okay?” asked Trixie.

“I’m really okay.”

“And you’ll tell me if you’re not?”

“I’ll tell you if I’m not,” Katya echoed.

“Promise?” Trixie asked, sniffling.

“I promise. I love you, baby.”

“I love you too. So, so much.”

***

“So...you gonna tell me why you’ve been pouting all night?” Bianca asked, reaching across the table to stab a penne off Adore’s plate.

“I am not!” Adore said, mouth turning down even more as she screwed up her face.

“Are too,” Bianca said, imitating her childish tone. “What gives?”

Adore scoffed, pushing the pasta around on her plate, making trails of vodka sauce.

“Well…”

“Out with it! Time is money!” Bianca barked.

“Oh sorry, do you have another appointment after this?” Adore asked, taking a big swig of her wine.

“As a matter of fact…” Bianca grinned wickedly, dimples deep in her cheeks.

“That Derrick girl again?”

“No, that’s over,” Bianca said, taking a bite of her salad. “But I met someone at the Michael Kors show, and she’s coming over later.”

The girl from the MK show was a stunning model who she’d previously featured in a couple of editorials for the magazine. A very resourceful young lady, who’d been all too happy to express her gratitude in the back of Bianca’s limo after the reception. But Adore didn’t need those details.

“Ugh, great. I can’t even get a call back, and my big sister’s having late night booty calls.”

“Don’t beat yourself up, kiddo. I’ve been having late night booty calls since you were in diapers.”

Adore heaved a big, put-upon sigh.

“So...who’s not calling you back?” Bianca asked.

“No one…”

“Uh-huh.” Bianca took a sip of wine. White, so as not to stain her mouth before the aforementioned booty call. “Anyone I know?”

“Maybe.” Adore stuffed a piece of garlic bread into her mouth.

“Are you not telling me because you know I’ll disapprove?”

“...maybe.”

Bianca rolled her eyes. "Why can't you date someone who's not an asshole?"

“She’s not an asshole. At least, I don’t think she is. She’s just busy. She’s in Milan this week, I think.”

“Eww,” Bianca’s face scrunched up in disgust. “She works in fashion?”

“You work in fashion.”

“Exactly! That’s how I know,” Bianca said.

“Whatever,” Adore said, face still a stormcloud.

“Listen...why don’t you come with me to Paris next week? It’ll be fun, and you can meet a sexy French girl to help you forget about whatever bitch is treating you like shit.”

“Are you serious?” Adore asked.

“Yeah, why not? I mean, when you’re not whining, you’re pretty decent company.”

“Awww, thanks, B!” Adore scrambled over to Bianca’s side of the booth and threw her arms around her neck. “We’re flying first, right? With lie-flat seats?”

“Is there any other way to fly?” Bianca replied with a wink.

“I love you, you bougie cunt,” Adore giggled.

“Shut up and eat your dinner, punk.”

***

“Hey Jinkx?”

“Mmh?”

Alaska smiled at the redhead in front of her. Alaska and Jinkx were in Alaska’s office, the remains of their lunch in a trashcan, two cups of tea on her desk as the two friends sat in Alaska’s plush chairs, the computer playing one of Lily Allen’s first albums.

“Why did the blonde put lipstick on her forehead?”

“Why?” Jinkx cracked an eye open. Alaska was slowly working on filling in the other woman’s eyebrows. Jinkx had texted Alaska that morning, asking her friend if she would help her with her makeup for a theater reception she was going to later that day.

“She was trying to make, up, her mind.”

“Oh my God!”

Alaska wheezed as tears gathered in her eyes at the look of absolute outrage on Jinkx’s face. Jinkx’s anger was always the funniest thing and a true testament to her skills as a pun master, which was why Alaska continued to tease her red-haired friend.

Alaska picked up her brushes again and began to work on Jinkx’s eyes, slowly covering her lids with shades of gold to compliment her warm brown eyes before moving on to liner.

Alaska had always found Jinkx beautiful: she loved the small gap in Jinkx’s front teeth, loved her soft red curls and round cheeks, loved the cute little cleft in Jinkx’s chin that she knew the other woman was incredibly self-conscious about.

Alaska ran a hand down Jinkx’s face, gently caressing the other’s cheek as she waited for the lash glue to get tacky, enjoying how doing the other’s makeup gave her an excuse to touch her. There was a comfortable silence while she worked, touching her up here and there before finally fixing her lashes on. Finally, Alaska drew back, satisfied with the final look.

“There,” she said. “Absolutely stunning, don’t you think?”

Jinkx opened her eyes and looked in the mirror she was holding up. When her face broke into a bright smile, Alaska couldn’t help but feel warm all over.

“I look amazing! You’re a genius, Lasky.”

“Don’t mention it!”

“No, do mention it.” Jinkx grabbed Alaska’s hand which made a jolt go through the blonde’s body, Jinkx looking Alaska straight in the eyes.

“You’re a true artist, a great artist.”

Alaska was just about to open her mouth, just about to say what was on her mind, when the door to her office opened, Jinkx released her hand and Alaska felt her heart drop.

“Hey Alaska, are you in here? Kim didn’t know if you were back from your lunch.”

Alaska looked up to see Ivy peeking in through the door, a big stack of boxes in her hand.

“Oh!” Ivy looked back and forth between the two women, an apologetic smile on her face as soon as she realized she had walked in on something. “I’m sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt anything. I’ll just leave these with Kim and call you later!” Ivy flashed one last bright smile before she closed the door behind her.

“Jinkx… There’s something I have to… Jinkx, are you listening to me?”

Jinkx was still looking at the door where Ivy had just left, her face flushed as she was practically staring.

“That… That was her, that was her, the girl I’ve been telling you about, that was the angel from Fashion Week who waved at me! You have to tell me her name!”

Alaska felt her stomach drop all the way to the floor. Fuck.

***

ADORE: Hey

ADORE: Hope ur having fun in Milano.

ADORE: So, I’m gonna be in Paris next week with my sister. Maybe we can chill

ADORE: Or, you know, whatever

PEARL: Sounds cool ;)

Adore clutched the phone to her chest, curled in bed, nearly giddy with happiness. She didn’t care that Pearl was playing a bit hard to get. All she cared about was that they were about to be together for a week in the most romantic city in the world.

***

“Cheers,” Courtney said, holding up her glass with a grin.

“Cheers…” Willam clinked his glass with hers. They were sitting together in a cozy booth for a rare mid-week date. Apparently, with Miss Fame in Europe, Courtney was expected to be at the office before dawn, but the upside was that she got to leave a little early in the evenings.

Willam certainly wasn’t complaining. Playing the doting boyfriend via text was tough--he was constantly second-guessing himself and could never tell how she was responding. He felt better in person, where he could see Courtney’s physical reactions to the things he said. Really putting those improv classes in college to excellent use.

The good news was, he was pretty damn sure that he had her, hook line and sinker. The way her eyes glittered in the candlelight, the way she slid closer to him, tilting her chin up…

Shit.

Willam knew that when he came up with this plan, that he’d eventually have to touch a girl. But he was really trying to postpone it as much as possible.

“Hey!” he exclaimed, making Courtney jump slightly. “I just got a great idea!”

“What?” Courtney asked, head tilted coyly.

“I have this friend from college, Sam, who runs an open mic night in the village. We should go. You should sing something!”

“I’m...how did you know I sing?” Courtney asked.

“Uh, I heard you last Saturday, singing along at the concert. You have an amazing voice,” Willam said. He flashed a big smile at her for good measure.

“Oh,” Courtney said, looking up at him with starry eyes. “Really?”

God, she was so easy. Her dream of being a recording artist was just about the most obvious thing in the world for anyone with her FaceBook profile. He’d barely needed to research at all to figure that one out.

“Absolutely,” Willam said. “I think you’re a star.”

Courtney took a long sip of her wine, deep in thought.

“You know, the truth is…” Courtney paused, biting her lip. “Ummm…”

“What? You can tell me,” Willam assured her, taking one her her hands in his. The sad reality was that in order to have any chance at something juicy about Galactica, he had to listen to a lot of crap. Because Courtney loved to talk, maybe more than anyone he’d ever met.

“Well, when I first got to New York, I had this idea that I was gonna get a part in a Broadway show, or...or some other job as a singer. I went on all these open calls. Every single one I could. Broadway, music videos, back-up singers, anything. But…”

“Yeah? What happened?”

Courtney deflated, her eyes cloudy with tears as she shook her head.

“Nothing happened. I never got past the first rounds, never made it to the real auditions. One of the dance captains pulled me aside one day and said that if I wanted to be competitive, I needed way more dance lessons. So I’ve been trying to do that, but it’s really expensive and ever since I started at this Galactica job, it’s even harder to make it work with my schedule. And I mean, I still write music and I still want to be a singer or an actress someday but…”

“It’ll happen,” Willam said kindly, patting her on the shoulder. “You gotta believe in yourself.”

“I don’t know.” Courtney’s shoulders sagged, eyes big and sad as she gazed up at him, lip trembling. “I’ve never told anyone this, but sometimes...sometimes I worry that if I was really talented enough, something would already have happened. You know? Maybe...maybe I’m just not good enough. Maybe I’ll never be good enough.”

Willam cleared his throat. Shit, what the fuck was he supposed to say to all that?

“Listen,” he began. “You are destined for amazing things; I know it. You just gotta keep going, keep trying, and someday, everyone will see the greatness that I do. I swear it.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so,” Willam promised, watching her eyes tear up some more. “Now, come on. Let’s get over to that open mic and show them what a real superstar looks like.”

“You know...I’ve never dated anyone as supportive and kind as you…” Courtney said, twirling her wine glass.

Willam smiled again, trying to push down the guilty feeling creeping into his stomach. This would be a lot easier if she wasn’t so damn sweet.

“Well...you deserve it, babe.”

***

“Sit still.”

“I am-” Katya smiled, wiggling her fingers again, the nail polish wand hitting her skin.

“Katya!” Violet gasped. “Look at your hand-” Violet reached for a cotton ball, gently removing the polish, the cold liquid feeling nice.

“Sorry.” Katya smirked. She knew it wasn’t very kind of her, but it was impossible not to mess at least a little with Violet.

The two of them were sitting on her couch, both of them in pajamas, Katya’s hand resting on Violet’s knee as she was slowly and carefully painting her nails a deep red.

They had eaten dinner together, Violet letting Katya pick a movie without any fight at all, which Katya had found a little weird. Normally it took hours of negotiation to get anyone to watch ‘The Princess Bride’, but Violet had simply agreed right away, almost like she didn’t have an opinion on it.

“You’re not sorry at all-” Violet giggled, and Katya felt her heart warm at the sound.

“I’m not.” It felt a little wrong to tease Violet, but the other took obvious delight in it, so Katya didn’t feel too bad. She was grateful that Violet had agreed to this little sleepover, spending time with a friend so much better than being alone.

It wasn’t that Katya couldn’t be on her own, wasn’t that she was incapable of keeping her demons down, but it was easier with someone around, easier to focus on Violet and her smile, the other woman absolutely hilarious in her dry commentary and snarky sense of humor.

Katya didn’t like her apartment being empty, couldn’t find peace when there wasn’t the putter of others around her. It was part of the reason she had never kicked up a fuss about the fact that Pearl still lived with them. It made her feel calm when she could hear Pearl in the kitchen, when there was the clink of beers in the living room when her and Trixie played games together, even Pearl’s parade of girls had their own strange comfort.

Usually, with the Galactica team in Europe, she’d have relied more on Kim and Shangela. But with Kim working on a commercial for the new makeup line and Shangie distracted by the honeymoon bliss of a new relationship, she really would have been alone had it not been for Violet.

“Maybe you should choose the next movie,” Katya offered. “What do you want to watch? What’s your favorite?”

“Let’s just watch whatever you want,” Violet smiled, “I don’t mind.”

Katya leaned against Violet’s shoulder. She was a strange little bird, indeed. But Katya was infinitely happy to have found her.

***

“Hello?”

Violet tried to not croak, her voice heavy with sleep. She had no idea what time it was. She was sleeping in Katya’s bed with the blonde’s head resting on her shoulder. When she attempted to make her exit last night, Katya had looked like a kicked puppy, so she decided to stay in spite of it being a work night.

“Violet?!”

Violet sat up, Katya making a surprised noise as she was unceremoniously dumped down on the bed.

“Miss? Is everything alright?” Violet was completely awake, adrenaline coursing through her blood.

“The breakfast at this hotel is absolutely horrid. They gave me what is clearly a kale juice when I specifically requested spinach.”

“I’m sorry Miss,” Violet swallowed, Fame sounding genuinely upset. “I’ll call the concierge immediately, do you want me to-”

“I don’t want you to call anyone.”

“Oh? Umh, should I email-”

“No. I want you to pack your things-”

Violet froze, wondering for a moment if Fame was going to fire her over a mistake a chef in Italy had made.

“Book yourself a flight, and meet me in Paris.”

“Paris- How?”

“Figure it out.”

Violet couldn’t believe what she had just heard, but before she could even finish her sentence, Fame had hung up, the phone beeping in her ear.

“Shit.” Violet looked down, Katya lying next to her, the blonde wide awake.

“Katya?” Violet reached out, gently touching Katya’s hair.

“Mmh?”

Violet could see that Katya was trying to be brave, what little she could see in the shadows of night painted with worry.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine. Fine. I’m totally fine. Super fine.”

“Katya-” Violet wasn’t the most emotionally observant person, but Katya was clearly winding herself up, almost like she was afraid to lose it, and that was when she had an idea. “How difficult would it be for you to take a few days off?” Violet ran her hand through Katya’s hair.

“I could work something out, make sub plans-” Katya bit her lip. “Why?”

“Do you happen to speak French?”

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be-ready-when-i-say-go · 4 years ago

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In Sorrow and In Joy- Part 5- Grocery Shopping

Luke learns the hard way what it means to be a dad and how to keep his family safe and together. Dad!Luke with a South Asian Reader. This is a collaborative experience with A Family of Five.

CW: Over the course of this series, themes of racism and prejudice on the basis of religion are present. Please read or skip as necessary. This part, specifically, has themes of prejudice on the basis of religion and bigotry.

Enjoy my masterlist | Series Masterlist

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No one has my permission to repost my work of fiction. This includes translations as well.

_________________________

Luke’s grocery shopping this week. Not a crazy feat or undertaking. It’s just the way things worked out. You have to proctor a mid-term exam and then meet with a student about their paper after your lectures, so you lack the time today. Wrangling your three children is a task and a half. Noor isn’t the problem, the oldest two groan and complain. Ra dislikes the grocery shopping because why does it take all of them to go. Zeek dislikes it because he can never get the chance to race the shopping carts. Typically due to safety reasons. He’s never seen someone get seriously hurt by a cart, but he can’t refute you or Luke.

Luke tucks some of his hair away, reading over the list you left as the oldest two bicker of something. The headphone incident was already taken care of, so who knows what this argument was about. He decides to let them hash it out. Though he’s praying that things are settled soon. There’s nothing else he needs to add to the list, so he shouts up the steps, “Guys! C’mon.” Luke purposefully adds cracks into the shout because it grates their nerves.

A couple minutes go by and they still haven’t descended the steps. “I’ll keep shouting!” he bellows, more cracks breaking into his words.

“Geez, alright!” Zahra shouts back, climbing down the steps. Followed behind her is Zeek.

“Thank you for joining us. Your baby sister and I have been waiting for you two,” Luke laughs.

He situates them all in the back two rows of the car, double checking that none of them have tried to get around the seat belts. Luke settles into the driverseat and sets off. Zeek lets out a small sigh. Luke glances in the rearview mirrors to see his arms folded. “What’s up, bud?”

“Nothing,” is Zeek’s mumbled response.

“He’s mad that he lost in rock, paper, scissors,” Ra speaks.

“I can speak for myself,” he retorts.

“Hey, whoa, let’s take a moment,” Luke mediates. “What was this game of rock, paper, scissors about?”

“Window seat,” Zeek replies. He stares straight forward. He can sort of see out of the front window. But it’s not the same as the window seat. Noor is to his left and Zahra’s to his right. He has no freedom in the middle. “I thought it was going to be the best two out of three.”

“I never said it would be,” Zahra defends.

“But it always is the best two out of three and you know it.”

Luke sighs. It’s a little too late for him to do anything to rectify the situation as it stands. “Okay, well, Ra next time you need to make sure everyone’s clear on the rules. If not, that’s cheating.”

“I didn’t cheat,” she protests.

“But you manipulated the situation in your favor. That’s not fair. That’s cheating.”

There’s a grumble from the back. Maybe her dad is technically right. But she didn’t cheat during the actual game of rock, paper, scissors and that has to count for something. “He can have the window seat on the way back,” she offers.

Zeek looks to her. She’s glancing at him out of the side of her eyes. She doesn’t want to be known as too nice. Just nice enough as the older sister. Zeek nods, with a small twitch of a smile. They weren’t always at each other’s throats. Just most of the time.

At the grocery store, Noor volunteers to be set in top of the basket. Zahra glances up to Luke and he caves. Lifting her up into the basket, Zahra settles down. She’ll have to climb out soon enough. But for now she can enjoy the space. Zeek gets to steer the cart. Luke, however, wraps his hands around the handle next to his. “Love you,” he whispers to his son.

“Love you too, Dad. Where do we start?” he asks.

“Produce,” Luke responds. Zeek nods and pushes along.

Grocery shopping is fine. Noor helps decides on the grapes. The leafy greens excite no one in the group but it’s on the list so Luke dares not ignore it. Especially since he skipped them last time and got an earful from you. Ra climbs out of the basket before they hit the aisles, wandering through the junk food before begging for a packet of oreos. Luke is much too soft to say no.

The four of them stop at the cereal aisle. Luke’s eying the cinnamon toast crunch for himself. Though he knows if he buys a box, the children will want some. Just as the family box hits the bottom of his cart, he catches someone grumbling further down the aisle.

Luke ignores them. “Mommy’s going to be upset,” Noor laughs.

He grins, tucking a section of her curly hair behind her shawl. She wanted to wear it out today and he couldn’t deny his baby girl. It made him a little nervous. How would people react? How would he handle it if it went south? But it all faded away when she pleaded with her pouting lips and big eyes. “Eh, she won’t be mad when she’s eating a bowl.”

The little girl laughs. Knowing it to be true down to the core. Luke does decide to grab the raisin brand that you listed. He knows late at night the two of you will be sneaking bowls of sugary cereal. As they continue on, Zahra t pauses, pointing out a box of Trix. Luke sighs. “It’s that one or the Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Gotta choice.”

She whines, knowing it’s going to go to a vote. “Fucking terrorists, I’m telling you,” a gruff voice whispers. “Take them back!” he shouts loud enough for everyone on the aisle to stop.

Luke turns to the offenders, red MAGA hat on their head. His knuckles tighten around the basket handle. “These are my children you’re talking about,” he speaks through gritted teeth. “Their mother is the most loving woman I have ever met. The only thing she and my children need is for racist assholes like you to fucking disappear. You and your racist beliefs are the problem here, not me, not my children, not my wife, you bastard.”

The man shouts more at Luke, but he turns his back. They get a few aisles over; Luke thinks about walking back over and punching him in his pink face. He’s never seen himself as a fighter, but his family- the people he loves more than anything- he’ll fight for. He’d take a bullet for. He wouldn’t want to, but it’s them first.

“Baby girl, you okay?” he asks, turning his attention away from the drama.

She nods, eyes a little teary. He pulls her from the seat and sets her on the ground with her two siblings. They watch their father in shock. “Do not ever, and I mean ever, listen to people like him. You belong on this earth; you are not terrorists because of your beliefs. You are my children and I love all three of you to death. Our society is not always safe for you all.” Luke pauses, feeling the tears stinging behind his eyes. He sniffles, pulling back some snot and wipes the tears.

He clears his throat and continues. “I wish I could change that with a snap of my fingers. But when you encounter people like that, if you feel safe enough, stick up for yourself. If you don’t, walk away. Find help if you can. Call me or your mother. Call Uncle Calum; call Uncle Michael; call Uncle Ashton– it doesn’t matter. The most important thing is your safety, above all. You have to get back home safely to me.” His voice cracks on the last sentence.

They nod at their father, seeing the tears falling down his cheeks. He hugs each of them one at a time and then they attach to him in a group hug. The rest of the grocery trip finishes in silence.

You walk to the house and Zeek runs up to you. “Mom! You should’ve seen it today! Dad yelled at this guy for saying bad stuff about us. It was a little scary.”

“He swore too; I made him put money in the swear jar,” Zahra adds on.

“Dad was basically a superhero though,” Zeek continues.

You look over to Luke and can still anger and fear lingering. His fists are clenched. His jaw twitches as he looks down at the recipe book. You make sure everyone is okay. Zeek and Zahra blow it off. But Noor clings to you a little. You rub at Luke’s back, one hand resting against Noor’s shoulders. ��Wanna talk about it?”

He shakes his head. A small piece of his hair falls into his face. You tuck it back for him, gently cupping his face. The scruff is turning into a beard. But not even that can hide how tight his jaw is. It’s best to leave this alone for now. So you distract with homework, listening to their day. You even go over homework.

Dinner goes by fine. Luke makes the kids laugh, double checks that the veggies are eaten. He’s more relaxed now than before. You know better. You can see the soft turn to his eyes. Something is not completely resolved. During clean up, Luke bends down, taking his son hands into his. You watch with the two girls, still holding plates to be cleared. “I know you called me a superhero, but you’re the real superhero. You’re my superhero.”

Your son throws himself into his father’s arm. “One day,” he starts, pulling away from Luke, “I’m going to write the best superhero comic ever and they’re going to look like me. And they’re going to beat up all the mean people and help save the world.”

Luke smiles. “Your old man’s going to buy the cost copy too.”

#luke hemmings #luke hemmings fanfic #luke hemmings fic #luke hemmings imagine #luke hemmings series #dad!luke #dad!luke series #5sos #5 seconds of summer #h writes #luke hemmings x south asian reader #luke hemmings x reader #5sos fanfic #5sos fic #5 seconds of summer fanfic #5 seconds of summer fic

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swearronchanel · 5 years ago

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9.07

you know what’s going on

“There are times when all we can do is our best...” felt that

Thank you Vanessa Redgrave for the inspo as always

There’s the incubator, finally

I miss seeing Phyllis with the cubs lol

LMAO Violet pulled a Kanye was “aight Shelagh ima let you finish but let me just say” 😂

May and Angela in their sound of music looking outfits LMAO

I should start carrying around ceremonial shears bc you never know right?

LMAO Ms Higgins is not here for any of McNulty’s shit

Shelagh’s suit is nice but why is she not in uniform at clinic?

She’s like yea I think he’s sentimental he fell in love with a nun he barely spoke with lmaooo

My gal Trixie finally

She’s fiesty, I respect it ha

McNulty with a drug problem is almost predictable tbh, it’s done on a lot of shows. The only time i found it an interesting trope was on House😂 maybe I’m being too hard on the show idk lmaoo

Give us more Shelagh and Trixie !! Cowards

I just want them to be friends sheesh

Also hard to believe they can’t find any braille pamphlets

LMAO STOP this fuckery right now I don’t want these Sister Bernadette and Dr Turner vibes from Sister Frances and Dr McNulty

He’s cool I just don’t want that lol

PHYLLIS STOP YOURE NOT TOO OLD I WILL CRY

KEEP HER HEALTHY OR I WILL RIOT

“A moment on the lips a lifetime on the hips” LMAO that’s DEFF been said but I relate😂 tbh I think Trixie literally said it a few seasons ago?? But whatever I’ll never get rid of my hips sadly

I love Val’s humor

“Master Cyril” sister MJ has a pure little crush on him & no one can change my mind

LMAOO “for historical research” SISTER MJ feening for a fry is me af

“Not everyone wants to take the pill” VERY TRUE! And valid! Just not true for me 😂

but also when are they going to write the pill an episode where it’s not skated around? you know what I mean?

Trixie tell this bitch to goooo

Damn this poor woman, is social services really gonna crush her? Blind women have surely have had babies for a long time then

“Haven’t met a bloke who means what he says yet” OOF also felt that

Old bag? oh nah you do not disrespect Ms Millicent P. Higgins like that (idk what her middle name is but a P name sounds right LMAO)

McNulty I dare you to punch him

Why haven’t we seen that? LMAO someone is bound to get in a fight. Phyllis would FOR SURE throw hands with a deserving person (at least in my head she would but I guess there’s a lot up there LMAO)

Aww Cyril, he better propose soon lmaoo I want to see the church choir again!!

He’s so pure

No one wants to separate her from her baby huh? Hmm where was that energy for Esther Tang🤔 just saying...

Pill poppin’ McNulty

Sister Hilda has grown on me all season, she needs a good storyline to shine more!

Phyllis getting excited for the help🥺 I love her

when the doll hit the table aajskksk oops 🤐

What do we think McNulty’s presumedly tragic reason for being addicted is?

GO KART RACES LETSSS GOOO!

every summer when I was younger me and my friends/cousins on the block tried to make a go kart😂we always failed rip

Sister MJ is such a gem. I’ll die on that hill

Sister Frances taking charge, good for her

Dr Turner walked in and right back out LMAO like what?

I’ve been waiting for Trixie to get a main storyline all season and now that she has one I’m not feeling it? It’s not over I guess, let’s see

aw a baby girl 🥺

out for the count is my line Trix

Aww poor Val man 😭

“The same scared little boys” stinggg

JUDAS 👉🏼

what did you think would happened beryl?

TELL HER TRIX

sibling squabble is over just like that?? or nah

Val’s gran isn’t looking to hot, I hope they don’t kill her off

BILLY THE KID LAMAOOAOAO

HE’S AN ASSHOLE BUT IM DEAD😂

Oh noo she’s stepping on glass

that hurts like a bitch

Val’s making her gran cupcakes😭

Bro CODINE doesn’t work for you? he’s really got it bad

stop this before I cry, save Elise Dyer

Trixie found another blind mom for some inspo & this is why I love her !!

Ok this is a sweet story for sure, I just was looking or a story with more “UPMH” for Trixie if that makes any sense?

This wasn’t the best episode by far, but at least I got to see Beatrix

Phyllis is so happy Lucille and Cyril are there to help

GO KARTS LIT!

“There are always challenges in life. Pieces to put together, plans to lay...”

When Vanessa Redgrave says all will be well I believe it 😭

#call the midwife #i think i'm indifferent tbh #thoughts

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giobrossi · 4 years ago

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meet giovanni “gio” rossi

✗✗✗ you see [ giovanni rossi ] around lately? yeah i heard that the [ cismale ] is/are up to no good. [ he ] has been here for [ thirty years ] now but they’re still pretty [ cruel ] which is fine because they’re also [ loyal ] so it balances out. the [ forty five ] year old [ owner of mayhem ] actually looks like a lot like [ milo ventimiglia ], don’t you think? it’s best to watch out, though, because it’s been said that they’re really into [ alcohol & violence ].

fun facts

nickname(s): gio

age: 45

favorite color: black

lightsaber color: purple def red

favorite fruit: tomato

vibe: blinding lights ~ the weeknd

details

life for gio wasn’t what most people call normal. to him it was. when you grow up with parents who are into guns and drug dealing you tend to forget what’s appropriate and what’s not. declan and eloise rossi didn’t hide their shady dealings from the four children. despite everything gio, nico, trix, and bella all had a tight childhood. they went to school like everyone else. had family game nights like everyone else. had a very large family that included drug dealing friends…unlike most people. the wholesome activities were laced with education on fighting, guns, and the rossi way to deal with problems. the family didn’t have arguments. they fought it out. their parents were loving but strict.

gio had it the hardest out of all of them. as the oldest, he was pushed to get into the family business. the rossis grew up alongside the o’rileys. they were basically and extension of their own family. at the age of seventeen declan had pushed gio into joining which he was hesitant to do at first. somehow the eldest rossi managed to stay strong within the o’rileys while going to the university. he proved himself time and time again as he climbed up the ranks of the o’riley gang.

at the age of nineteen gio started dating a classmate named sarai. she was captivating to him. everything to him at the time. by twenty they were engaged. everything was going great. the one hiccup was sarais ex-boyfriend who was obsessive. they had several verbal altercations. a year after their engagement sarai was murdered by her ex-boyfriend. that drove gio off the deep end. he acted in a fit of rage and hunted the man down, killing him with several shots to the chest. throughout that short span of time with the o’rileys gio had suffered injuries from fights. an assignment gone wrong had left gio in the med suite due to a gunshot wound in his shoulder. saoirse was there by gios side to help pick up the pieces.

one of the constants in his life with the o’rileys was saoirse. their friendship had a rocky start but when they finally clicked they stayed together. they were there for every major event in each others life. the engagements, the losses, the children that seemed to latch on saoirse like they saw her beautiful her soul was. gio saw it as well. after the incident with his ex he stepped back from everything but there was always a soft spot for sao. time went on and his feelings for saoirse grew stronger until he finally stepped up and asked her out. it was all uphill from there.

all of this gang activity left gio wanting more from life. that’s why he continued his studies in the field of sociology. he was determined to keep a semblance of normalcy. years were spent in college to get his masters degree and ultimately become the sociology professor he is now. for some odd reason, gio was obsessed with society. which made sense considering what he does for a living.

saoirse disappeared leaving mayhem to gio. her unexplained disappearance left gio distraught and closed off from most.

gios personality can be described as stern, he has an issue with respect, warm around the people that are closest to him. he’s a huge star wars fan but he keeps it on the down-low. his relationship with his siblings varies depending on which one it is.

#gr: intro #indulgence.intro

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iwantthedean · 6 years ago

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Delicate

Prequel to Malibu.

Summary: Y/N hasn’t been seen in public for a while, and when she finally ventures out to a songwriter’s retreat, she and Jensen make a special connection. Pairing: Jensen x Reader Word Count: 1615 Warnings: Infidelity, drinking. Song Inspiration: Delicate - Taylor Swift Square Filled: BTZ Bingo; Vacation

A black town car pulled up to the front of the hotel and parked outside the automatic doors. Jensen slid his room key from the counter and peeked out the doors to see who would be coming out of the town car.

“I’ll be damned,” he muttered under his breath, slapping the room key against his hand a few times.

He knew that there were several songwriters he was familiar with on this retreat, but he didn’t know that Y/N Y/L/N was going to be here. He had tracked her career for a while, until recently when a nasty breakup had essentially sent her into hiding. For all Jensen knew, this was the first time she had been anywhere near public in months.

“Checking in under Devereaux,” she told the desk attendant. Her dark sunglasses hid her eyes; her voice was meek and tired. Feeling Jensen’s eyes on her, she looked his direction and raised her brow. “Can I help you?”

He cleared his throat. “Sorry. I just — I’m Jensen. Ackles, Jensen Ackles. Here for the writer’s retreat. I’m assuming you are, too?”

She stared at him for a moment, his arm outstretched, hand waiting to shake hers. Her tongue snuck lightly across her lips and she reached to remove her sunglasses.

“Ms. Devereaux? Your room card.”

Y/N’s attention veered from Jensen, and her hand dropped away from her sunglasses. She cleared her throat. “Thank you. Can I have an extra pillow sent up to my room, please?”

The desk clerk nodded. Y/N took one last glance at Jensen, then she was gone, disappearing around a left turn that would guide her toward the elevators.

Jensen chided himself for a not-so-smooth interaction, dawdled long enough for Y/N to get on an elevator, then took that same left turn and headed for his own room.

After lunch time, the songwriters all gathered in a conference room. Y/N was no where to be seen, and Jensen tried to stop himself from looking around for her while the leader of the retreat gave an inspirational opening speech. Most people in the room were familiar with each other, so they skipped the introductions and broke off into groups to start working on projects.

“If I apologize for the semi-awkward interaction at the front desk earlier, do you wanna work with me?” Jensen looked up to see Y/N holding a spiral notebook to her chest; a pen was tucked behind her ear. “Damn, kinda feels like high school again. Awkward girl who nobody really likes asking the popular guy to be her lab partner.”

Jensen gave her half of a charming smile. “I’m not sure you’ve assigned roles correctly, but at any rate, count me in. We could stay here, hit the beach, whatever you wanna do.”

She bit her bottom lip, letting on how nervous she truly felt. “Would you be opposed to finding a bite to eat? I came straight off a flight, napped, and I’m a little hungry. I don’t work so well on an empty stomach.”

“We could try room service. There’s a great view from the balcony of my room.”

Her nervous expression shifted to that of disgust. “Forget it.”

She turned on her heel, tension pulling her shoulders together. Jensen was out of his seat and catching up to her before she even reached the door of the conference room.

“That’s not what I meant, I’m sorry. Look, you can bring whoever with you — but I can see the ocean and the beach from my room, I thought it might be conducive to the creative process.”

Y/N drew in a deep breath before slowly exhaling. “I’m sorry — my misunderstanding. Everyone’s been on me for so much shady shit lately, I just assumed …”

Jensen held up his hands. “Nothing shady, Y/N. I promise. Just a couple songwriters, enjoying food and trying to make a hit.”

The nerves returned, but she nodded and followed Jensen to his room. They ordered a smorgasbord of fresh fruits and veggies to start with, along with a couple of cheeseburgers.

“Fuel for the mind,” Y/N laughed.

Jensen licked his lips in an effort to hide his own smile. This was the first time he had ever seen her laugh, heard it firsthand, and the sound endeared her to him even more. At least this gave him a reason, as oppose to the moment she had stepped out of that town car and piqued his interest.

Y/N groaned and set her head against the table on the balcony. Jensen sat across the table from her, guitar in his lap, fingers lazily falling over the strings.

“This isn’t working,” she sighed, sitting back in the chair. “We’ve been at this for, like, three hours, and we have nothing.”

“It’s not a race with the other songwriters, you know.”

She raised a brow. “So if we show up to the showcase in a few days and we have nothing, you’ll be completely fine with that?”

“First of all, we have three more days after today, second of all … are you saying you wanna break up?” Jensen teased.

She gave a tense laugh. “Everything’s been such a mess lately. This is the first time I’ve left the house in I don’t even really know how long. I was broken down, I was shattered. I want to come back, but I need people to know that I came back strong.”

“I get that. I mean, me and my girl are good, but if we broke up — I’d probably be a mess. I think, anyway. We’ve been together so long, I wonder if sometimes we stay together out of habit.” He drifted off to his own thoughts for a couple of seconds, then cleared his throat. “But you know, endings just mean new beginnings. So maybe, let’s start there.”

Y/N nodded and picked up her pencil again. The struggle was still there, but at least by the time the sun was setting, they had a direction.

“Let’s go to dinner,” Jensen suggested. “Take a break, have a drink or two. We can call it a day after that, or we can get back to it. Your call.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. You find a place, I’m going to change. If I’m going to be seen in public —”

“You’ve got to make a strong comeback,” Jensen finished for her. “I completely understand. Wouldn’t mind getting cleaned up myself. I’ll meet you in the lobby in an hour.”

Y/N left her notebook and pencil, but took her phone. Jensen stared at that notebook for several minutes after she left, tempted to read what else was in there, but he managed to refrain.

Y/N was intoxicated by tacos, palomas, and Jensen. They ate their fill, asked for the drinks to keep coming, and talked like they were old friends, catching up after being apart for too long.

“He didn’t deserve you,” Jensen said, before throwing back a shot of tequila. “No man who abandons a girl who can put away tacos like that and talk sports and sing like an angel deserves her.”

His words darkened the pink of her already flushed cheeks. “You’re too kind. I made mistakes, too. Everybody does.”

“Everybody does,” Jensen repeated, his eyes glassy as he looked at her. He was close to making a mistake, but he felt like he couldn’t stop himself. “We should come back here, every so often. It can be our place. We’ll write music and catch up and just forget the rest of the world.”

“That song’s already been written, I think.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. He recovered, finished off his beer, and held out a hand to her. “Dance with me, Y/N.”

She took a shot of her own, then slipped her hand into his. Jensen lead her to the makeshift dance floor — a patio where others were dancing to the acoustic melodies plucked out on a guitar — and wrapped one warm around the small of her back. She put an arm over his shoulders; their free hands clasped. They swayed back and forth together.

“So, whaddya say? We come back here every now and then? To escape?”

Y/N cleared her throat. “My reputation’s kind of shit right now, so you must really mean that. But, you’ve also got someone. We can’t exactly make promises.”

Jensen nodded; she was right, of course, but that wasn’t going to stop him. Not tonight. He stopped their movement. Their clasped hands became interlaced fingers, dropped to their sides. Her free hand was at his waist now, and his was drawing his knuckles along her jawline.

Seconds later, their lips were pressed together, soft and sweet but wanting. Neither one knew who had initiated the kiss, but both of them knew they wanted that kiss and more. Sober or otherwise, they wanted as much as the other could give.

“Is it too soon to be doing this?” Jensen asked. “I don’t wanna — you’re fresh off of that breakup.”

“And you’re with her,” Y/N said, echoing her earlier statement. “So, I’d say this is a delicate situation.”

“Yeah. It is. What are we gonna do?”

Y/N swallowed down every protest her mind insisted she make. She licked her lips again, tasting the Corona from Jensen’s lips, mixed with the tequila from the shots both of them had indulged. So many things could go wrong, if they continued in this moment — but there were also things that could go right.

Y/N kissed him again, a silent promise of nights that went beyond the one they shared now.

The Whole Shebang: @illisea @ashleymalfoy @busybee612 @mrswhozeewhatsis @sherlock44 @ravenesque @feelmyroarrrr @atc74 @jensen-jarpad @theplaidshirtmadness @blacktithe7 @moonlessnight14 @kitchenwitchsuperwhovian @smoothdogsgirl @melbrandes @xtina2191 @spnbaby-67 @emoryhemsworth @goldenolaf25 @gabriels-trix @applesugar88 @rainflowermoon @deansgirl215 @thisismysecrethappyplace

Jack Attack: @tiffanycaruso @girl-with-a-fandom-fettish

Two for the Money: @jayankles @love-me-some-pie21 @akshi8278 @jensensjaredsandmishaslover @supernatural-jackles @adoptdontshoppets @moonxdance

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sepiadice · 5 years ago

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DiceJar Campaign 0.1: A Slippery Slope (2020/01/03)

So I return to the mighty throne of the GM Screen! To pull the strings, interpret the weavings of fate, mold the world to my whims and desires!

However, I’m going from a module, namely Crypt of the Everflame, made famous by Trix’s adventures. So I’m treading old ground, though with fewer players, and only one returning from that adventure. The better part of a decade has passed since I played it, so plenty of details should’ve left the veterans.

The reason I’m playing out of the module is as a sort of learning experience: Viewing box text and published adventure design so that it may help develop my original adventures. As for why I chose this one: I really like the opening premise. New young adventures thrown together deliberately for their origin story. Often players get focused on making an exciting backstory that they forget to make what happens at the table be the most interesting part of their life. I think it’s charming.

It’s an element/theme I want to incorporate in future campaigns.

Anyways, how will the tomb dive go without Team Pesto?

Cast

Mogui (IndigoDie): A Hedge Mage for a Lord Grey. Essentially a living lawn ornament. He helps take care of the Lord’s menagerie. Sole repeat player of the Module.

Bernard ‘Bean’ Dipp (NavyDie): Still just a child, but his father is (supposedly) suffering polio, so young Bean needs to become the man of the house. GM of the campaign I just finished. Revenge time?

Yot (LimeDie): A traveling mercenary slash adventurer nevertheless being pulled into things because some players struggle with direction. Player is a vetran of an Improv club Navy and I were also members of.

Delilah Dunford (VermilionDie): The unruly daughter of the local snobby nobles. Roguish interests and talents. Player is also from my high school days, but not the High School game group.

Game Master (SepiaDie/Me): Everyone and thing else. Nervous wreck caught in his own head. Attended a High School once and participated in a college Improv Club.

Session One

I failed to change any proper nouns like I wanted, but I also avoided needing to say anyone’s names, so there’s still time.

There’s an immense backstory I summarized, because it was too long for me to read out and I can’t trust players to read.[1] Kassen is a town that evolved out of a hold built by a guy named Kassen, a soldier turned adventurer. One day, he went to fight an evil band of… bad people. Kassen succeeded, but succumbed to injuries taken. He was entombed in a crypt, where an eternal flame was lit. Every year, the mayor rides out to bring back a lantern lit by the flame to bless the town to survive the winter. Every couple of years, town youths are sent instead as a rite of passage.

This is one of the rite of passage years.

The mayor first meets with Mogui, a lonely mage working for one of the town’s two noble families. The mayor awkwardly stumbles through his invitation, which Mogui gladly accepts.

Next, the Mayor finds Bean waiting in the market square. The mayor, again, stumbles through his invitation, which Bean seems rather confused by the semantics of, needing to be specifically told not to just wait in the town center for two days but to come back on the actual day of departure.

Yot is found in a tavern, and attempts to talk a big game as the Mayor asks him to join the adventuring party. I still need to force a firmer connection between Yot and the town of Kassen, as my original plan of Yot belonging to what once was Kassen’s band of mercenaries was sunk before I could work it in.

Delilah pops up from behind the Mayor as he’s on his way to her family’s manor, and she eagerly joins the quest.[2]

Thus is our party arranged!

Two days later, at the predetermined time, they walk into the market square and I gently prompt them to give physical descriptions of their characters. Delilah is described as having slightly asymmetrical dark hair, while the rest focused more on height and relative ages.[4]

Mogui arrives with some sort of bipedal creature. Indigo didn’t actually know what he intended the creature to be, so I’m going to assume it’s a chocobo until gently corrected.[5] Everyone promptly forgot about it, even though it supposedly was following them.

The four mingle for a bit as I lost focus trying to recenter myself and review the next step. I tend to let my players just fill time until they get bored of their scene. I probably should work on keeping a good pace with the plot, but I also don’t want to step on their fun. It’s a difficult balance, especially if there’s no NPC handy to gently snark at them to move forward.

The bells of the Church of Polyhymnia[6] ring in the noontime.

The townspeople, dressed in blacks and other dark clothing, start to form a crowd around our adventurers. The mayor emerges with an old pony pulling a cart of supplies. He distributes backpacks to the adventurers, gives a prepared speech,[8] and sends our young heroes on their way.

Mixed into their supplies is a fourth of a map that, at an actual table, is supposed to be a real piece of paper torn and distributed to the players. Since we’re not in the same room and split between two states, I instead alluded to the paper in their bag for them to ask about, while also prepared to gently drop the detail if the players don’t engage. Pivot and roll!

Initially the torn map pieces are overlooked, and the party walks south, into the Fangwoods, following a trail that starts well-worn, but progressively fades.

A few hours into their hike, they come upon a fallen tree. Three orcs emerge from behind it, and initiative is rolled.

I overlooked a mechanic I was supposed to employ, a problem I had throughout the session. The module imbedded vital instructions mid-paragraph in the description, which means I overlooked having the players roll to disbelieve when they land hits or are hit. I did read the module in advance, though, but it’s easy to forget the details, especially details hidden away like that.

I’m a terrible note taker. In school, if I was taking notes, then I wasn’t paying attention to the lesson because I was focused on writing. This also made me a terrible stage manager. Half the reason behind these write-ups is to get the information down and in circulation in my memory because I’m not able to mid-session.

What I should be doing is reading (or writing) the module, and making a bullet point list of the bare mechanics. I sometimes do similar when trying to learn new systems.[9]

Delilah climbs into a tree to shoot arrows at one of the three Orcs, the other three taking the ground battle.

The orcs are quickly defeated, their corpses fading away. What a curious event that I’m sure has no explanation to be uncovered in the future. An utter curiosity.

At this point, the party finally pauses to ask if they know where they’re going.

Ah, time for pay off.

At this point, I describe how they’d been following a shrinking trail, but soon they won’t have it to rely on.

I’m asked to post the list of supplies to the text chat for them to pour over. A careful edit of the description of the map is needed, and I do so.

The party discusses the supplies shortly, and someone looks at their part of the map. I tell them it appears to be a fourth of a map.

NavyDie shrewdly asks if they’re all the same fourth of a map. He likely learned from the time I gave my players descriptions of dreams then later threw some wood blocks at them not to take paper for granted.[10]

I confirm that they each have a different fourth of the same map. So they jigsaw puzzle it, and Mending is cast. Now they have a single map, and a burned spell slot![12]

They follow their map for the remainder of the day. The sun began to set, and the party needed to make camp.

When the opportunity arises, players will want to roll dice, because rolling dice feels good,. So everyone rolled for the survival check meant for one.

Bean, our ranger, was the only one who failed. I punished him by having him punch a hole in his tent. Everyone goes to bed, though Yot elects to take watch for a few hours, with no intention of waking anyone to take a shift after him. He chose enough time, and made the proper check, to spot a wolf investigating the border of the campsite before slinking off.

Yot decides to increase the length of his watch a little longer. So he was still awake when the wolf returned with three friends.

New combat! Yot shouts to rouse his allies, succeeding in waking Bean and Mogui, who come out of their tents to assist. No one thinks to go wake up Delilah, so she gets to sit out of this combat.

A few rounds occur, with the lead wolf eventually knocking Yot down and mauling him a tad. Mogui uses magic to scare off the other two, but lead wolf stays intent on his objective:[13] food.

The wolf makes his way into the camp, takes a mouthful of food, and skedaddles. I declare the end of combat. Bean buries the remainder of the food,[14] and everyone goes back to sleep.

With the morning arrival, and the completion of a long rest, the journey to Kassen’s Crypt continues.

The map leads them to the shore of a large lake on a misty morning, the grey skies and fog obscuring the horizon. A bandit lays dead on the beach. Our protagonists investigate the body, and find signs of an attack by a massive serpent. The body also has a sword and a wallet of gold on him, but they are left as the body is entombed into a shallow, sandy grave.

Travel continues, and they crest a small hill overlooking a serpentine valley, within which rests Kassen’s Tomb.

This then proceeds into my second big mistake: I overlooked the acrobatics check hidden with the descriptions and had my players roll directly on the failure table. Again, the table carefully set apart drew my eye. I’m learning! Poorly!

Still, someone ran into three different trees on the way down, so at least it was amusing, if unnecessarily punishing. I’ll quietly retcon away any damage taken in apology at start of next session.

Down the overly slippery hill, a small stable’s worth of dead mounts await: two horses and three ponies, the horses long dead, the ponies a little more recent. None the same day our party arrived, however.

A description of a fancy rune in the doorway’s keystone is given, and the session ends, exploration of the dungeon saved for the next session a fortnight later.

As usual, the session was characterized with me being stressed over keeping it running and attempting to follow the script of the module. The few times I’ve managed successive sessions has hinted that I’m able to settle in as things go on and the players figure out the table dynamic. I’m mostly confident I’ll figure it out.

While I am learning the value of boxtexts,[15] modules still invoke a sense of containment on me. A fear that if I, as a GM, stray too far, I’ll accidentally break something. I don’t enjoy scripts, that’s why I did improv. Scripts means you can make mistakes that need course correction.

But I’m playing with friends, we’re learning to be a cohesive performance troupe, and hopefully this will turn into a podcast. For the future.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting.

[1] I’ll grant them the benefit of the doubt that they’re literate. [2] I’m seeing a combined Trix and the Sorceress[3] from her party. I’m going to have fun with that. [3] Indigo says her name was Makenna. [4] Which will make the process of creating sprite pawns for them slightly more difficult. I’ll ask them on the discord for physical appearances when I’m done writing this. [5] Were it not bipedal, I might’ve steered him into making it into a riding jackalope. They’re… kinda my pet fantastic beast. Usually ridden by mail carriers. [6] Originally the Church of a Pathfinder Deity, but I’m transplanting the module into D&D Fifth Edition anyways, so might as well sneak the details of my setting[7] into the margins. Helps everyone’s already just human. [7] Is this canon with the abandoned Genesys campaign? You decide! [8] When I have something to read, the mayor loses the stammering and uncertainty he has when I’m doing it off the cuff. This is because I’m not awkwardly trying to do things off the cuff. [9] I should have a file that’s basically Maid RPG Lite floating around due this same habit. [10] The one time I planned for my players to ‘cheat’ and show each other the notes I gave them, and the clowns kept the notes to themselves. You literally cannot rely on anyone to do anything like they should.[11] [11] I’d say you can trust players to make things harder for themselves, but return to footnote 10. [12] When I played through this module, I arrived after the mayor distributed the backpacks, and the party already had investigated their maps. So I don’t know how this puzzle was solved then. I also don’t remember the Orc encounter. [13] Behind the screen fun: while I rolled three times fairly, I applied the single success to who I wanted. For narrative reasons. I often play favorites in this manner. [14] Sure. [15] Along with listening to Dice Friends streams/podcast.

#SepiaDieGMs #crypt of the everflame #Dungeons and Dragons #Fifth Edition #NavyDice #IndigoDice #LimeDice #VermillionDice

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artificialqueens · 5 years ago

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I'm lost 1/6 (Trixya)- Dexx-ss

a/n: So this is my attempt on a Trixya fic… It’s slightly inspired by the musical Once and the song is “Falling slowly” form the musical. Trixie is a singer here so whenever she sings I’m going to use lyrics from her own songs :D Hope y'all enjoy -xx

I don’t know you But I want you All the more for that

Since Trixie can remember, music was her whole life. She differed that way from the rest of her family because none of them cared for music. Except for her grandpa. Trixies Grandpa played all types of different instruments and when Trixie was a little girl she was so eager to learn them all.

Music was what kept her going on with her life. So Trixie decided to go to study music at university. But during her second year, her grandfather passed away and Trix dropped out. So she decided to work for her mom at her bakery. And earn extra money by playing on the streets with the hope that a producer or something could hear her sing and actually like it. But no luck. Never.

Trixie had had a very bad week. She had a fight with her mom about her stepdad and she couldn’t go out on the streets to sing because it was raining most of the time. And now that she was finally singing she felt miserable. Everything felt wrong. Maybe it was truly time to let go of the idea of having a singing career.

“That’s a nice song,” someone’s voice says with an accent. Trixie looks up and her eyes meet with a beautiful blonde. She looks different than the rest of the people living in this area. She is also smiling, which is kinda strange because the last person Trixie saw smiling in this small town filled with misery was a crazy old person. “Thanks,” Trixie says putting down her guitar and backing her stuff up. This is so stupid. Why would she ever think that someone would actually care for her music? She decides to leave her guitar behind. Maybe some other person wants it or a homeless person can sell it. Trix wasn’t sure why she decided to leave it there she was just sure that she doesn’t need it anymore. She is just gonna go home and take over her family business. “Hey,” The girl yelled, “You forgot your guitar.” , “No I didn’t,” Trixie says not turning back “You can have it if you want.”. “No, I can’t play,”, “Well I don’t need it anymore,” Trixie said. “Well then you are littering,” the girl continued. Now Trixie turned around walked back looking into the girl’s eyes angrily and picked up her guitar. The girl seemed kinda pleased with herself. But then Trixie walked to the dumpster and threw her guitar in there. “Better?” she asked the girl who now looked at her with sad eyes. “Why? You sing so beautifully,” says the girl making her way to the dumpster next to Trixie and pulling the guitar out. “Yeah but that doesn’t pay you pills,”, “Then get another job,” the girl said smilingly. Trixie just raised her eyebrows and let out a small laugh. “I have a job,”, “But you don’t like it?” the girl questioned. Trix gave her a puzzled look but that stranger was not wrong. She really didn’t find the same joy in baking all day than she did with singing. “Come,” the girl said starting to walk holding onto Trixie’s guitar. But Trixie didn’t follow “Why would I follow a stranger?”. The girl walks back and stretches out her arm “Yekaterina,” she sais with a huge smile “but you can call me Katya.” Trixie shakes Katya’s hand “Trixie,”. At first, Katya lets out a laugh but then raises a brow “Did your parent’s really named you that?” she asks and Trixie nodded. “Ain’t that a hookers name tho?” she says with a laugh. Usually, Trix wouldn’t find it very funny but today she couldn’t help but laugh. Katya now lets go of Trixie’s hand and Trixie already misses her touch. Katya starts walking again and this time Trixie follows. She has never ever seen this girl in her life. And now she feels like she doesn’t want to spend any more days without her in her life.

Words fall through me And always fool me And I can’t react

They make their way to a small music store and Katya opens the door and walks in. “Anton, ya vernulsya!”(I’m back) Katya yelled. A tall man got up from the counter and made his way to the two girls. Picked Katya up and twirled her around. The guy looked too young to be a father. But too old to be a boyfriend. “That’s Anton,” Katya finally said to Trixie when the guy put her down. “Nice to meet you,” The guy said holding his hand out to Trixie to shake.

As Katya and Anton started chatting in a foreign language, Trixie started to walk around the store. The store was small and full of everything from vinyl records and CDs to actual instruments. Also, it looked like the business wasn’t really running cause everything was kinda dusty. Trixie was walking through the store, she had never been there but for some reason, it felt like home. Behind some dusty shelves was a tiny stage. Next to that were to doors that Trixie assumed you could open up so people could enjoy live music on the streets.

“Can you sing to me once more?” Katya asked scaring Trixie and bulling her out of her thoughts “You can sit there.” Katya pointed at a chair on the stage.

Trixie wanted to say that technically she wasn’t singing to her before but she didn’t. Instead, She took her guitar from Katya, walked onto the stage and sat down in the middle of it into a very dusty chair.

“And I don’t smell you in my sheets

And I don’t hear you in the hall”

While singing Trixie tried to focus on her guitar or look everywhere else but not at Katya. But when their eyes finally locked she couldn’t take her eyes off her. With every word that Trixie sang Katya’s smile grew bigger, the sparkle in her eyes shined brighter and everything felt right(er).

“And then I see you…

And I love you all over again”

Trixie finished her song and they’ve been staring into each other’s eyes for almost two minutes and it didn’t feel weird at all for some reason. It was like they were doing the test where two people stare into each other’s eyes for 4 minutes to see if they fall in love. And for Trixie it honestly was is working.

#rpdr fanfiction #trixie mattel #katya zamolodchikova #trixya #lesbian au #musical theatre challenge #fic challenge #fluff #angst #dexx ss #im lost #musical theatre au

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delkios · 7 years ago

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Take a Chance on Me (DC TV)

Title: Take a Chance on Me Fandom: DC TV Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 5992 Characters: Lisa, Len, Mick, random original characters Summary: Five blind dates Lisa set Mick up on and one she didn't actually. Lisa sidled up to him and it immediately put Mick on the defensive. He loved her and was willing to kill any man or woman that did her wrong but Lisa was also a brat who wouldn’t hesitate to use that same affection for her own gain. Which Mick respected but still meant he knew when to be wary around her. “Hey, Mickey,” she said sweetly which meant whatever she wanted, Mick probably wouldn’t like it. “How’re you doing?” He put the schematics for an alarm down- a brand new system that they’d be facing in Len’s latest heist. “Just get it over with, Lisa.” She pouted but Mick knew better. She had a plan and small talk was just getting in the way. “Fine. Would you be willing to go on a blind date?” “I ain’t dating one of your high school friends. Not even pretend. I’m an asshole, not a creep.”

Lisa rolled her eyes. “I have older friends way older than the high school ones.” Mick abruptly shoved the alarm aside so he could place his elbow down and loom. “Yeah?” He growled. “And where are you making these ‘friends’?” If Lisa hadn’t known him for almost ten years, she might have been intimidated. “None of your business. Are you going to answer my question?” “You wanna hook someone up, try your brother.” She rolled her eyes dramatically, as only a teenager could. “Already tried, remember?” The memory brought a grin to Mick’s face. He didn’t know what actually happened on the date but it was bad enough the siblings had such a row over it and Len gave Lisa the cold shoulder for three days until she swore never to mess with his personal life again. “You’re practically a second brother and you’ve seemed kind of lonely since,” Lisa’s voice trailed slightly and Mick braced himself, recognizing what was coming next, “since Alexa.” He stifled a reflexive growl. The name wasn’t as much a sore spot as it had been not long ago and Mick could admit- now -it was half his fault, letting her manipulate him into doing just about anything. If it weren’t for Len’s instincts, Mick would’ve ended up dead instead of with a few new scars. Didn’t change the fact that Lisa was kind of right. Mick missed having a relationship, even if he’d been paying more attention to his dick than anything else. He pulled the alarm back to him, determined to ignore the bundle of mixed-up feelings remembering Alexa still brought. “Fine, whatever. Where and when?” Lisa squealed and clapped her hands. “Great! This Friday, 8 at Mint.” Mick wrinkled his nose. The Mint was a higher class place than Mick prefered given it was more lounge than bar, let alone a dive. “Fine. I’ll be there.” “Awesome! I’ll give you a pin to wear on your jacket so she can recognize you. You have, like, a sports coat or a blazer, right?” “Lise, if this pin of yours is one of those fucking flower pins…” 1. Crossed-Wires The pin was small- for buttonhole flowers, anyway, three mini white rose-looking things with some leaves, about a finger’s length but Mick still felt like an idiot wearing it. It wasn’t helped by the fact he had a glass of some over-priced beer he wasn’t drinking because it was one of those fancy, craft flavored beers that was disgusting. Because his only other options were even more expensive cocktails or seltzer water. He hoped his date was open to going somewhere else, otherwise it was going to be a very short night. Either way, Mick was not planning on sticking around. “Holy fuck, please tell me it’s not you.” Mick looked up to see an unpleasantly familiar face. “Yasmine,” he greeted with a returned grimace. In theory, Yasmine was the kind of person Mick could easily be friends with. In practice, however, it just didn’t work. Mick chalked it up to the fact that, in all the jobs she worked with them, Yasmine made it clear she was sweet on Len and considered Mick a cockblock. How Lisa read this so wrong, Mick had no clue. If it weren’t for the glowering, Mick would’ve told her she dressed up nice. Maybe would’ve even made an attempt at the date thing. It was clear, however, that Yasmine wasn’t willing to do the same. “Lisa said the guy she was hooking me up with was clever and capable and fun to be around. She said he was gorgeous,” Yasmine said with a sneer. “Can’t believe she was talking about you.” “You really think she’d call her own brother gorgeous?” True, Mick didn’t consider himself all that attractive but the most complimentary he’d ever heard Lisa get about Len’s appearance was, “He’s attractive, I guess”. “Look, obviously this ain’t gonna work so why don’t we go our separate ways and try to salvage our nights, huh?” Yasmine nodded tersely. “Yeah. And tell Lisa next time she needs a blind date for someone, I’m not doing it.” ~*~*~*~ After his retelling of the ‘date’, Lisa sat back with an incredulous look. “Really? I thought for sure… But that’s so weird!” “What is?” Len asked, coming in through the front door. He had a couple bags of groceries and Mick could see a box of Ho-Hos peeking out of the top. Definitely wasn’t on the list Mick left for him but, really, he wasn’t going to complain. “Lisa tried to set me up with Yasmine.” “Yasmine? The woman who we get for the complicated electronics?” When Mick nodded, Len scoffed. “Why? She basically hates you for whatever reason.” “‘Cause she wants in your pants.” “Not going to happen,” Len said, beginning to unpack his groceries. “Love me, love my partner.” “Ugh,” Lisa flopped in her seat. “Okay, sorry. I don’t know how I messed that one up so bad. Next one, though,” she pointed at Mick. “Next one’s going to go better. For starters, I’ll actually make sure they want to date you first.” She paused. “Do you have a preference? Girl or guy?” He shrugged. “Dick, breasts, both- I don’t care.” “Lisa,” Len said, pausing in his unpacking, “why are you setting Mick up on a date?” She retorted, with teenage superiority, “Because it’s not like you’re going to.” 2. Age Gap The next one was at Dirty Trix and Mick’s date- a guy this time -would have on a black collar with a silver heart on it. Not Mick’s style of accessory but it wasn’t like he’d be wearing it, so whatever. He got himself a drink and got himself a seat when someone tentatively said, “Hey, Mick.” He turned to the newcomer and broke into a smile. “Carlito!” The smile faltered when he noticed the collar. “Uh, are you my date tonight?” Carlos nodded and took a seat by Mick, perched like he was ready to take flight at any moment. “Yeah, I guess I am.” He smiled, sweet and shy, and it made Mick’s skin prickle. It wasn’t that he had a problem with Carlos- he was a good kid and that was half the problem. Three years older than Lisa put him squarely in college age, sure, but he still wasn’t even old enough to drink (legally). The other half of the problem was that Mick couldn’t shake the feeling Carlos’s infatuation with Mick was mostly due to Mick putting the kid under his protection in the pen. Eighteen and in for some bullshit charge, Mick took care of him because Carlos had reminded him of a younger Len in some ways. Protecting him also netted Mick- he found out after the fact -a permanent alliance with Luis, a well connected lifer who was also Carlos’s cousin. Point was Mick didn’t want to be part of some Bodyguard fantasy with someone ten years his junior. Besides, he had enough hang-ups with the last asshole he saved. “It’s just a date,” Carlos said. He was fiddling with a glass of something bright blue and Mick realized he’d zoned out. He cursed to himself- he hadn’t meant to make Carlos feel awkward. “If it doesn’t work out, then whatever.” He peered up at Mick through his lashes. “We’re just giving it a shot, right?” “Sure,” Mick agreed, knocking his drink back. “Let’s give it a shot.” It was… datish. For all that Mick knew how they were supposed to go. The only way he’d ever been able to distinguish a ‘date’ from ‘hanging out’ was sex at the end. And, no matter how often Carlos pressed against him, gave him sweetly sinful smiles or draped himself in enticing positions, Mick still couldn’t shake the image of some skinny teen, laying in Mick’s bunk half dressed like he owed it for Mick’s protection. It was nice having a cheerleader while he worked a pool table, though, passing him his beer and singing his praise after every round. At the end of the night, when Mick couldn’t pretend he was trying to put it off any longer, he escorted Carlos home. They stood at the bottom of the steps for a while until Carlos asked, biting his lip, “You wanna come up?” Mick could see Carlos bracing himself for rejection. “Nah.” Mick shoved his hands into his pockets. “Probably best not to.” “Just one night,” Carlos said, desperation in his expression. “One night can’t hurt.” Mick reached out a hand, cupping Carlos’s jaw lightly, just enough to tilt his head back. Mick kissed him, testing, and it was too soft, too tentative and Mick couldn’t feel any stirring to make it anything more. He pulled back and Carlos’s shoulders slumped, disappointed. “I’ll see you around, Carlito,” he said before heading off with a wave. ~*~*~*~ “So? How’d it go?” Mick scowled as Lisa’s beaming face. “I told you I didn’t want to be a creep dating a kid.” Lisa drew back, hands on her hips and expression insulted. “I know that! Carlos isn’t a kid- you met him in jail!” “You can go to jail at 17 if the crime’s severe enough.” Lisa blinked. “Is he really that young?” “He’s twenty.” “Oh.” Disappointed by the turn of events, Lisa flopped on the couch. “I thought he was like Lenny and just looked young.” Len paused in his planning and looked up. “Wait- that Carlos? The one that followed you around like a lovestruck puppy?” Mick made a face. “Yeah.” He gave a huff of laughter. “Just as well it didn’t work out. Luis would’ve killed you when he found out you were schtupping his baby cousin.” Mick blinked in revelation. “Oh shit, he would’ve.” Luis was the kind of progressive who was supportive unless it was family and was a firm believer of ‘prison doesn’t count’. “But Carlos is such a sweet guy!” Lisa whined. “If he weren’t so gay, I would’ve gone for him!” Len paused to give his sister a surprised look. “Even with his being gay, that might be the best dating choice you’ve ever made.” She threw a cushion at him. “Shut up. Also, the next one will be better.” 3. Sugar Baby Ruby Skye was not the kind of place Mick spent time in. Firstly because it was a club, one of the kinds that considered itself- and thus its clientele -’trendy’ at that, and secondly because it was close to a college campus and thus mostly full of college students. And yet there he was. Standing outside of it like an idiot because of Lisa and her stupid blind date plan. To make things worse, Mick had been standing there for twenty minutes looking for someone with a cabaret-style hairclip with a skull and colorful feathers pinned to their hair. At least it wasn’t a busy night so there wasn’t a line at the door. He made small talk with the bouncer for a bit, but eventually wandered closer to the street as time stretched on. If whoever it was didn’t show up within the half hour, Mick was gone. And Lisa could whine and berate him all she wanted but really, she was lucky Mick hadn’t left after ten minutes. A woman walked up to him. “You got a light?” Mick dug into his pocket for his lighter, holding it up to the woman’s cigarette until the end caught. She exhaled a breath and it smelled like cloves. “You been waiting long, sugar?” She was older, wrinkles lining her face and she was dark all over save for a handful of gray curls in her hair. It was too short for her to clip anything in. “Longer than I normally would,” Mick admitted. “Supposed to be a blind date.” “Shame about your date. Hopefully it’ll work out in my favor, though.” He looked at the woman, somewhat thrown. Sure, he’d been propositioned before but usually there was some kind of lead-in. “This a prank?” It didn’t feel like one which just made it all the more confusing. The woman wasn’t overly well-dressed but definitely had the look of someone not used to dressing down to Ruby Skye level, let alone Mick’s. “Honey, I’ve got means and all I need is someone to keep me company. ‘Stead of your date being a bust, how ‘bout you let me take care of you tonight? I’ll take care of your needs and you,” she looked Mick up and down very deliberately, “can take care of mine.” Mick stared, confused. “Is one of us supposed to be a hooker?” She laughed, “Oh, heavens no! You can consider it a business arrangement if you want, but I just turned fifty and feel I am overdue a mid-life crisis. Even if I only plan it to be one night. And I’ve always been partial to beefcake. So whaddya say, handsome?” Her lips were quirked and glossy even in the street light. “I supply the hotel room, you supply that booty?” Mick looked out into the street but there was no one matching his blind date’s description. “What the hell, never been a sugar baby before.” He put on his best, rakish grin and held his arm out to the woman. She took it readily, shamelessly feeling the muscles there. “I’m yours for the night.” ~*~*~*~ He didn’t make it back to the apartment until close to noon the next morning and Lisa didn’t get to grill him about it until she got back from school. “Well?” Lisa asked the moment she walked through the door. She paused and wrinkled her nose. “What are you wearing?” Mick was spread out on the couch, pleased as punch in a brand new, black and deep red silk robe he’d been given the night before over a t-shirt and boxers. “It was a gift.” Next to him, Len starting snickering. Mick had told Len the story earlier along with the fact that, on their way to a hotel they made a stop at an adult store first where Gladys had bought him the robe as well as sheer black boxer briefs to go with it. Sensing something not quite right with the story, Lisa asked carefully, “So it went well?” “Date never showed up. Got picked up by Gladys.” “Who?” “Older lady. Loaded as hell. Wanted a boy toy for the night.” Lisa’s jaw dropped. “You ditched your date to play Pretty Woman for some lady?” “I waited half an hour for them to show up! You wanna be pissed at someone ‘cause the night didn’t work out how you wanted, be pissed at them!” Lisa was still obviously pissed but, given there was really nothing she could argue about on Mick’s side, she stomped off to her room, dragging her bag on the ground behind her. “Ugh, you’re impossible!” The two men sat calmly, both chuckling as Lisa’s door slamming shut. Len rolled his head back, warm where it was resting against Mick’s arm. “So how much do you like this Gladys?” “We ain��t gonna rob her, Lenny.” “Damn.” 4. Job Interview The next date was at The Shack which was a sports bar. It was also happy hour which meant half-off wings. Given Lisa said his blind date was the one that requested the time and location, Mick had to say the night was off to a good start. He was five wings and half a glass of beer in, a boxing match on one of the televisions, when someone sat down opposite him. It was a guy with sallow skin, knobby nose and a perpetually nervous grin. “Holy, shit! Stan!” Mick held up a gnawed-on wing as a salute in lieu of reaching for a handshake. “Didn’t know you were out!” Stan laughed, a glass of something light-gold in his hand. “Just got released. Uh, three days ago?” Mick narrowed his eyes. Stan was wearing a Hawaiian shirt which- Mick would assume was not a coincidence -Lisa had said his date would be wearing. “That’s a pretty quick turnaround to be dating again.” “Oh, what? No- well, sort of. It’s not- it’s more like an excuse?” Mick flicked his bucket- a big plastic basket but advertised as a bucket -of wings at Stan in silent encouragement. Stan picked one up and twirled it in his fingers as he said, “I’m not in a great place financially speaking. I’m staying with my ma but, y’know- old as she’s getting, I don’t wanna burden her.” “Sure,” said Mick, not having actually met a parent whose children liked them. “So I was out looking for some, uh, work, and I heard you were looking for someone? I mean, I know it’s for a date for some reason but I thought… hey- why not see if you got anything lined up? Snart’s always got something planned and you and me are buddies, right?” “Right.” “So maybe you’d put in a good word for me?” He grinned a kind of hangdog grin. “If you need a wheelman?” Mick took a long drink, eyes flickering to the television. There really wasn’t a need for Mick to put in a good word with Len. They both worked with Stan a couple times before, there really wasn’t a better driver around, certainly not one that could improvise routes on the fly while maintaining a calm demeanor or able to drive damn near anything with wheels. “I’ll let him know you’re looking.” Hell, Len might not know Stan’s out, either. “Awesome! Thanks, Mick!” Stan finally took a bite out of his wing. “Damn, still surprised how good real food is.” Mick laughed and waved one of the servers over, requesting they put on whatever motor racing was on one of the other screens. Stan didn’t care about sports unless it had vehicles in it. They sat together, eating wings, drinking and cheering whenever something spectacular happened in their chosen sport. After a while, when a commercial break came on, Stan asked, “This, uh, this isn’t going to be a problem, right? This date?” Mick’s brow creased. “This actually a date? You’re the straightest fucker I know.” Even six months into his sentence, with no one around him but men, Stan hadn’t been able to keep it up long enough to get off. Mick had witness Stan’s frustration enough to know it wasn’t for lack of trying. “Well no but,” Stan fidgeted slightly, “this isn’t gonna hurt my standing with Snart, will it? Even if it’s not a date?” “Why would it?” “You’re… partners.” “Not that kind!” Mick’s mouth twisted slightly. He certainly wouldn’t object if they were. Nor could he blame Stan for thinking that- he and Len had cultivated the image on occasion for various reasons. Mainly to deter certain types of attention in prison. Stan studied him for a moment before turning back to the television. “Sure, whatever you say.” ~*~*~*~ It was late when Mick got back but not late enough to pretend anything of interest happened. If someone’s interest was sticking their nose in other people’s sex lives. Len tutted from his place at the table, “Lisa will be so disappointed.” “Pretty sure she’s getting used to it.” Mick shrugged off his jacket and tossed it across the back of the couch. He went to the table and picked up the mostly empty coffee pot and lukewarm mug, ignoring Len’s grumble as he went to toss their contents down the sink. It might not have been terribly late but definitely late enough that certain hyper-focusing perfectionists didn’t need help staying up. “Date was Stan.” Len paused. “Stan? As in the driver?” Mick nodded, making his way back to the table. “Didn’t know he was out. Also I’m pretty sure he’s straight.” “The fucking straightest. He was hoping I could get him a job.” Len pressed his lips together, obviously calculating. Eventually he stood back, “We could use a wheelman. It’d free you up and it’s starting to look like I’d need an extra body to cover the back.” “Nice. I’ll let him know tomorrow.” He took Len by the arm and muscled him away from the table. Thankfully Len hadn’t been in the middle of any fiddly part of the plan and didn’t put up more than a cursory struggle. “C’mon, bed.” “Whatever, Dad.” Mick shoved him forward with a scowl. “Ass.” 5. For Fun The moment Lisa said the next date would be at Cocktails and that he’d know when he saw them, Mick had a pretty good idea who to expect. When he walked in and heard his name called out, Mick just grinned and enveloped his date in a hug. “Mickey! It’s been too long, I haven’t even seen you at my shows!” Charleen pulled back, lips pouting at him. “You tell Snart not to work you so hard.” Mick laughed, letting himself be pulled to a table. “Not Snart’s fault this time. Well, not Len. His sister’s been making me go on blind dates. “You mean I’m not the first one she called?” Charleen gasped in mock outrage. “I’ll be giving her a talking to later.” Mick relaxed into one of the more private booths, the ones reserved for the dancers and their guests. A server brought them their drinks without waiting for an order. Mick had been there often enough they knew his preferences. “How’ve things been with you, doll?” “Ugh, Kevin finally broke up with me. Not that I wanted him to but it was so obvious he wanted to I nearly did it for him!” “What a piece of shit,” Mick said, amicably and honestly. “You deserve better.” “That’s what I love most about you, Mickey. You always speak the truth.” They snickered at the joke, catching each other up on their lives. Mick had a soft spot for Charleen. Between her pre-transition period and Len’s general existence, they helped Mick realize he wasn’t straight as he thought he was. “Seriously though, you want me to kneecap the asshole, I will.” “Oh, Mick.” Though she was still cheerful, Charleen’s took on a less teasing note. “You say things like that and I just can’t believe why you haven’t had any luck on these dates.” She paused. “I mean I do but I think there’s plenty of people out there that would think you’re worth the risk.” Mick sat there, brain momentarily unable to comprehend the sentence. “What?” “C’mon, Mick.” When he kept sitting there blankly, Charleen sat up straighter. “You can’t possibly... Your partner, Mickey.” “What about him?” “He’s the reason Lise is having a hard time finding dates for you.” Mick bristled, “What’s wrong with Len?” She laughed loudly. “Great God Almighty- you two are made for each other! Bet you didn’t notice how much he wanted to rip apart that Alexa bitch you were ass over teakettle for.” “Yeah- I mean, she shot me.” You got revenge when someone wronged your partner like that, that was obvious. “Before all that happened.” At Mick’s responding silence, Charleen gave a huff of laughter and squeezed Mick’s thigh. “Forget it, I need a distraction from Kevin. Let’s just enjoy the night, no strings attached.” Mind still trying to decypher Charleen’s words, Mick said, “Sure.” ~*~*~*~ Mick didn’t make it back to the apartment until close to dawn, crashing out on the sofa. He was rudely woken up by a backpack being dropped on the small of his back. “What the fuck?” He mumbled into the cushion. Lisa stood over him, beaming proudly, Len behind her with a weird twist to his smile. Len must be getting ready to take Lisa to school, Mick realized blearily. “Had a good night, I see,” Len teased, reaching over to snap the elastic band peeking up from under the waist of Mick’s jeans. It was lace and pastel. “Fairly certain this isn’t your usual style.” “The hell would you know, you never do laundry.” Mick rolled onto his back and pulled his shirt down to cover up his waist. He wasn’t embarrassed- Mick was only marginally aware of what ‘shame’ was -it just felt kind of weird, the way Len was looking at him. “‘S Charleen’s.” Len froze, just for a split second. “Oh?” Lisa, having rescued her bag from Mick, beamed even bigger. “I knew you two would work out! You always looked happy whenever you talked about when you were together before and since she broke up with that asshole she was dating, I figured you two should get together again!” “She really is something,” Len agreed though it was more of a murmur. “Yeah, she is. She’d be better with someone else, though.” The two stopped and stared at Mick. “What?” “’S why we broke up in the first place,” he said, yawning hugely. “Couldn’t seem to get serious about each other, decided it was more fun when we were just flings.” “But…” At an utter loss from yet another failure, Lisa flung her arms out wide and wailed, “Why?” “I dunno. Too much alike, I think.” His eyes flickered, for the briefest moment to Len. “Need someone to challenge me.” Lisa stared at him, a hard, considering look on her face and Mick could practically see her flipping through a mental rolodex for her to wrangle into a date next. She headed towards the door, still deep in thought and Len, after shooting an indecipherable look at Mick, followed after. Alone, Mick flung an arm over his eyes and slowly drifted back to sleep. +1. Partners “No, Lisa.” “C’mon, Mickey! Pleeeeeease?” “No! Those dates I went on were, frankly, shit.” Mick held his hands up, washing them of the entire ordeal. “Half of ‘em didn’t even end up being actual dates!” “This one’s different! I swear!” Mick stood and glared, arms crossed and absolutely set to out-stubborn her this time around. From his sprawl on the couch, flipping through a newspaper, Len said, “Just go, Mick. One last date and if it doesn’t work out, Lisa will give up.” He considered it for a moment before turning to Lisa. She caved quickly. “Fine! If this one doesn’t work out, I’ll leave you alone.” Mick scowled but nodded. “Deal. We’re meeting at Saints- they don’t like it, they don’t have to come.” Lisa wrinkled her nose. “Whatever. He said he’ll be wearing a yellow kerchief.” “The fuck’s a kerchief?” “It’s like a bandana or scarf,” Len said, still not looking up from the newspaper. “Great. Awesome.” Mick scowled. “Let’s get this over with.” ~*~*~*~ Mick walked in and looked around, trying to spot a yellow kerchief anywhere in the low lights and bustle of bodies. Instead his eyes landed on a familiar figure alone at a table. There was another seat open at it, despite the crowd, and a frosted glass still dripping foam down the side sat opposite Len’s own. Mick’s heart clenched- if Len was on a date with someone, there was no way in hell Mick would be able to stick around without punching someone’s teeth in. Then, because Mick was a fucking masochist, he went over. “Hey, Len.” He stood behind the empty chair, hands on the back, trying not to imagine them around the neck of whoever was with his partner. “Didn’t expect to see you here.” He swallowed something painful. “You on a date?” “I would be,” Len drawled, lips upturned in that small little smirk that haunted Mick’s dreams, “if he’d show up.” His fingers clenched harder. It was one thing knowing some jackass was on a date with Len, but it was something else entirely that they would disrespect him enough to make him wait. “You need me to drag the bastard here?” “No need.” Len’s eyes flashed with amusement. “It’s you.” There was a long pause as the words wriggled passed the thrumming music and angry fog, into Mick’s head. Then another as his brain processed them. “Me? Wait- are you my blind date?” The amusement grew into a full-on smirk and Mick finally noticed the yellow kerchief around Len’s neck. “Yeah.” If Mick didn’t know Len as well as he did, Mick wouldn’t have seen the lurking fear in his eyes or heard the timidness in his voice. “You okay with that?” “Okay with it?” Mick pulled out the chair and sat. “Shit, Lenny- only reason I didn’t ask is ‘cause I thought you wouldn’t want me.” An eyebrow rose. “Why wouldn’t I want you?” “‘Cause I’m…” Mick waved his hand vaguely, unable to put into specifics just how ‘Mick’ he was. He awkwardly settled for, “Didn’t think you’d want to mix business and pleasure.” Len shrugged, shoulders relaxing. “You know I’ve never cared much for rules. Especially if they get in the way of what I want.” Mick couldn’t help flushing at that. He felt clumsy and giddy. He took a gulp of his drink- because apparently Len got it for him and it’s one of his preferred beers because of course Len paid attention to that sort of thing. Mick opened his mouth a couple times before closing it, every attempt at starting a conversation suddenly making him feel foolish. He just… he couldn’t wrap his head around the idea that a guy as amazing as Len would want to date a meathead like Mick. “Is something wrong?” Len asked. He leaned back in his seat like a lounging cat, but Mick could see the tension was slowly creeping back up on him. “Nah. I’m just being dumb.” “You’re not dumb, Mick. Just tell me.” He shrugged, tracing aimless designs in the condensation that fell onto the table. “I, uh… I’ve wanted something like this for so long it… just doesn’t feel real is all.” The silence between them stretched and when Mick looked up, Len was leaning forward with an expression and intensity Mick hadn’t seen in him before. “How long?” Len’s voice sounded almost strangled and Mick strained to hear it over the music. “I dunno. Always, I guess? Even in juvie, I thought I hated people touching you ‘cause you were so tiny and didn’t really know how to fight. Then I realized I was kinda always obsessed with you and I told myself there was no way you’d go for it so I made myself back down ‘cause you needed to do your thing and didn’t need me getting in the way.” Suddenly Len was there, a hand against Mick’s neck and jaw, anchoring him in place and Len’s lips were on his. It was a fleeting kiss, chaste save for the intensity and it took Mick’s breath away because it was Len and Len didn’t do PDA. The pressure on Mick’s lips lingered, just the barest brush of tongue, and Mick realized he wasn’t the only one that had been wanting this. Len pulled back, still close enough that Mick could feel his breath over his face. “How attached are you to your beer?” Mick swallowed hard, throat dry as he got lost in Len’s eyes, pupils swallowing up the blue until it was a pale, barely visible ring. “I can get another one whenever.” “Good.” And, with a strength belied by his lean frame, Len dragged Mick from his chair and out the door. ~*~*~*~ The next morning, when Mick finally managed to pull himself out of bed, Lisa was already at the table with some coffee and a Jimmy Dean biscuit sandwich. She took one look at Mick’s satisfied expression and grinned, happy and smug. “Well!” Lisa leaned forward eagerly. “I take it last night went well?” “Yeah, it did.” Very well. Extremely well. Not that Lisa would be getting any details. Mick liked her too much to traumatize her like that. Len yawned, big and loud, as he shuffled in. “Still coffee?” He asked, blearily making his way over. He was never very functional so soon after waking up. The night before- or, rather, earlier that day -couldn’t have helped much. He was also wearing one of Mick’s shirts. Which wasn’t new- Len had snagged a number of them over the years because, to him, laundry was a thing that happened to other people -but this time it made Mick want to ravish him until Len was flushed and begging. All the more because now Mick knew this was something he could do. “You know,” Mick said to Lisa, even as his eyes followed her brother, “you didn’t have to go through all that.” “Go through what?” “All the secrecy and stuff. If you asked me to go on a date with Len, I would’ve agreed in a heartbeat.” Lisa’s brow creased- almost like confusion -and she turned to look at Len who simply raised an eyebrow back. When she turned back to Mick, Lisa’s smile was a bit on the plastered-on side. “Where’s the fun in that? Everyone went home satisfied in the end, right?” “Yes,” Len drawled, taking his own seat at the table, maybe scooting his chair to be marginally closer to Mick. “I made sure of that.” Mick felt like he missed something in the exchange. “Good.” Her smile turned into something more genuine. “You two suit each other. I’m glad this worked out.” Mick turned to his partner and could practically feel the warmth and fondness radiating out of himself. He could see a flush creeping up Len’s neck as he pretended he wasn’t hiding a pleased smile behind his coffee. “Yeah,” Mick said, shifting his leg over so his knee pressed against Len’s thigh. “Me, too.”

#fic 2017 #dccoldwave #dc tv #leonard snart #mick rory #lisa snart

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heebiejbies · 7 years ago

Text

Homme Fatal - Part Two

Characters: Yuta (With appearances from the rest of NCT minus the younger members)

Warnings: Mentions of violence, murder, strong language, etc.

Word Count: 5.4k

Note: I know what some of y’all are probably thinking. “Trix, it’s about dang time!” After almost one month after the first part was posted, here’s part two of Homme Fatal. (Read that first if you haven’t already.)

Homme Fatal - A fatal man

Over the next few hours she started realizing where she was, and over the next few days, she finally remembered everything that had happened. What she dreamed wasn’t a dream, but a memory that came as a dream. Yuta did do that, but he pulled his arm away from her head before he shot her in the head—hitting her lower back in the process. Seeing as no one there knew first aid, he left her at a hospital so she could be treated for the gunshot wound he had accidentally given her. From there, after realizing how mentally unstable she was, she was put in an institution so she could be closely monitored at all times.

“He… He ruined my life. I’m stuck here because of him… I’ll never be able to go back to normal…” In a session with her therapist, she became shockingly aware of her situation. She realized that, by him holding her hostage for all those months and making her witness all of those terrible crimes, he had forced her into a never-ending state of mania. Each night she had nightmares of him, nightmares of the things she witnessed, nightmares of each of the men that were part of her kidnapping.

“He ruined my life but… He cared about me? He would've killed me if he didn’t care about me, right?” She had a hard time explaining her feelings towards Yuta. She knew she hated him, she knew that he was evil incarnate. Despite that, though, she could still remember the fondness that he showed her. How he proclaimed his love to her, how he sometimes showed his care for her despite their situation. Her therapist brought up the aftermath of Stockholm Syndrome, and the fact that her mental state wasn’t in a normal state in the least to try and ease her thoughts. None of which made her feel better.

Jaeho and Jaewoo were avid visitors of hers. The first time they met back up with her left them dumbstruck. It was her third day in the hospital, and she had not yet seen a dentist to fix her teeth after what Johnny did to her. Her hair had thinned, her body weight nearly half of what it was the last time they saw her, she looked lifeless. She truly had become unrecognizable. She glanced up at them, her eyes void of any and all expression. They blamed themselves for not being more cautious of that man, maybe if they had been leerier of him she wouldn’t be in this position.

Yuta sat with Johnny and Sicheng in their old house. He sat sideways in a chair, his coat slung over the back of the chair leaving him in his crisp white button up and silk tie. They had ordered takeout and were busy devouring their meal like hungry wolves.

“The best part of this damn city is the take out, one hundred percent.” Yuta leaned over the table and grabbed some of Sicheng’s noodles with his chopstick, the younger man swatting him away in response. Sicheng had managed to salvage the last bit of joy in Yuta after he shot her. Ever since returning to the city, Yuta had been keeping an eye on her. He would disguise himself as a staff member so he could sneak in to see her. The first time he saw her, she was getting ready to go to the dentist to fix her teeth. He grimaced at the memory of Johnny ruining her flawless face, but he hoped that time would clear up her wounds and she would go back to how she appeared before.

Learning that they locked her up in a mental institution filled him with such indescribable rage. They were treating her as if she were insane, but she was far from that. He had brought out her true nature, he had brought out the real her. After hearing the things she spoke with her therapist about, he realized that he had done one good thing in keeping her—revealing her true personality. Countless nights he dreamed of them together once more, his partner in crime. A modern day Bonnie and Clyde if you will.

“Hey, Yuta!” Johnny threw an unknown object at his head to get his attention, “Are you thinking about that spoiled brat again?” Yuta scowled at him, everyone knew how obsessed he had become over her. The day he shot her, they thought they were in big trouble. Yuta had brought her into their hideout, she had blood seeping out from her backside and Yuta was inconsolable. He made Jaehyun drive him to the hospital, Johnny tagging along for damage control if need be.

“I will not kill her! She won’t betray me, she may not know it but she’s dedicated to me. She won’t betray us, now just keep your mouth shut!” Johnny had told Yuta to kill her numerous times in the car, the tension rising between the two made Jaehyun nervous. He had to pay attention to the road, but it was difficult to do so with two grown men screaming in the car with him.

“Yuta I don’t know why you’re so enthralled with her, she’s nothing but a-”

“You wouldn’t understand!” He had pulled his gun from its holster and aimed it Johnny’s head. Johnny’s glare did not falter, he seemed to be daring Yuta to shoot him. Yuta might have actually done it, but before he could the girl started coughing up blood. Yuta’s gun fell to the floorboard, he immediately hoisted her up into a sitting position and held a towel to her mouth to catch the blood. She had been fading in and out of consciousness since he shot her, and after coughing up blood she fell back unconscious.

“Step on it, Jaehyun!” Jaehyun did as he was told. They miraculously made it to the hospital without being in an accident or being pulled over. Yuta debated on if he should go in with her, he did this to her so he knew he should be the one to be there for her through whatever they have to do to heal her.

“You’re an idiot if you think you’re going in there! Do you want to go to jail? The first thing they will do is call the cops and you’ll be the prime suspect. Then, you’ll get all of us caught as well!” Johnny’s words hit him hard. He also had to think of himself and the guys, they were his family and he had to protect them as well.

“I’m so sorry to have done this to you. I’ll be back one day, I promise,” He kissed the top of her head, then he and Johnny took her body and laid it near the emergency room entrance. As they drove away, Yuta could see staff members running out to her and lifting her to lay her on a gurney. He watched her image get farther and farther away, before completely disappearing once out of sight of the hospital. “I promise, you will be mine again. I will make sure of it.”

“Is it wrong to have dark thoughts?” Her therapist noted that her mental state had started to decline even more. She spoke of murder and kidnapping, and cleansing the world of ‘those that were not worthy.’ He tried to reason with her that all of that was only her capture’s influence, but she shook her head. “I think… I may have always had these thoughts. They didn’t give me these thoughts, I saw those things but it was my choice as to how I interpreted them. They only hurt the bad people, they only targeted the bad people.”

“And what of you? Are you a bad person? Is your father a bad person? They targeted you as well you realize?” She thought about it, and she realized she never did find out just what in particular they wanted her father for. In her mind, she knew there had to be a reason. She always thought her father to be a good man, but thanks to her experience she began to question that.

“I don’t know, is he a bad person? I’m questioning that myself. He must have done something bad to have them target him. As for me, guilt by association?” She gave her therapist a look as if to provoke him. He had never heard her speak anything less than positive of her father, and now he grew worried for how much damage really had been done to her. He felt like a failure, like he didn’t try his hardest to save this her from her own mind. He felt defeated.

She had nightmares every night. Nightmares of the horror she witnessed, of the men she lived with for nearly a ten and a half months. She found solace in these nightmares, each one she had made her fears slowly fade away. She also had dreams of Yuta. The man whom she once loathed slowly turned into someone she yearned to be reconnected with. He was the only one who didn’t treat her as if she had lost her mind. He didn’t look at her apprehensively. He didn’t think she had gone insane. He was a figment of her imagination—a mere dream—but she knew that is how he truly felt about her. She had seen his face many times before disguised as doctors or nurses or even visitors, but she believed that those instances were only her mind wishing for him to come back.

Little did she know, all of those cases were Yuta. He had been keeping an eye on her, silently watching and waiting for the moment to take her back. With Taeyong’s blessing, he would officially make her part of their crew. He sat outside her therapist’s office and listened to see what they were talking about.

“I’ve come to the realization… I was better off with him. I was better off with Yuta and those other men.” Her therapist attempted to interject, but she stopped him before he could, “All of you treat me like I’m insane! I’m not insane! You try to make me think that I am, but I’m not! I know I’m not! This is the real me!”

“What? No, no one here thinks that. We are trying to help you!” Yuta snickered at her therapist’s pathetic attempts to reassure her. He had watched long enough to know that they were trying to make her believe that she was without a doubt insane, but Yuta knew better. He didn’t know it when he was first assigned to her, but she was very much something special. He was glad that he didn’t give her back to her father that day. Her father had been soiling her potential for too long, she needed Yuta in her life. It seemed like fate, he thought. He took back every thought he had about regretting getting her involved, he knew now that this was how things were supposed to turn out.

He and Johnny had amended their once broken relationship, Johnny now wanted to help him with getting her back. Yuta had kept each of them updated on her whereabouts and well-being, and after convincing them that she was on their side, they began planning. They called in two old friends of theirs—Doyoung and Ten—and they agreed to help with getting her out. Doyoung and Ten were the other two people in the woods watching the meeting with Mr. Lockhart. They had left the group two years before, but they closely kept their eye on the group.

Yuta, Sicheng, and Doyoung were in the institution. Yuta and Sicheng had knocked out two staff members and hid them in one of the storage closets. They situated their uniforms and exited to the hallway, making sure the coast would be clear for Doyoung.

“Alright, we are in position and ready to get the hell out of here once you have her.” Jaehyun and Taeyong sat in the woods nearby in the getaway vehicle.

“Our eyes and ears are ready.” Ten, Johnny, and Taeil were waiting in a van in an alley a half a block away from the institution, ready to reroute the signal from the security cameras and kill the alarm system, and also help if they needed more men. Ten also kept a close eye on Doyoung—who broke off from the other two insiders and was in place to cut the power—through the security cameras. “I’m ready as well.”

“Alright, guys, if this goes south I want you all to get away from here as fast as you can.” They had been planning this and scoping out the area for days. They knew exactly what to do and where to go, but Yuta had this unrecognizable fear of failure that had been born in him not too long before this.

“What did I tell you? We are not leaving you in there. You’re our brother, we got your back. If you and Sicheng get caught, we will be your backup and Doyoung will get her.” Ten and Taeil voiced their agreement, Doyoung following in suit.

“Can I just say something? I am so proud of you all. I haven’t seen us work together like this is so long. Ten, Doyoung, it’s nice to have you two back. I’d love to have you two back on my crew.” Taeyong became sentimental at the sight of every member of his crew working together like old times. Only he knew why Ten and Doyoung left to begin with, but clearly, now all of that was in the past. He mentally thanked this girl for bringing all of his men back together again.

“Alright, we are ready to go. Ten-”

“Yeah?”

“No,” Johnny sighed at the boy sitting next to him, “Not you, Ten. I was starting the countdown.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Anyways! As I was saying,” Johnny started the countdown.

“Ten”

Jaehyun and Taeyong exchanged glances, both sliding down in their seats and focusing in on the building through the trees.

“Eight.”

Ten and Taeil were ready to reroute the security cameras, and Johnny was ready to kill the alarm system.

“Six.”

Doyoung stood in the basement with a flashlight on the main power grid, ready to shut down power to the entire building.

“Four.”

Sicheng glanced over to Yuta who had a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. He could see that Yuta had bitten down hard on the inside of his cheek, probably drawing blood. He patted Yuta’s shoulder in reassurance.

“Two.”

Yuta smiled at Sicheng. They were on the floor below the one she was on, and once Doyoung cut the power and Johnny cut the alarm system, the building wouldn’t be able to go into lockdown so they could slip in and out with ease.

“Now!”

Doyoung cut the power immediately, then relied on Ten and Taeil to help him navigate his way back out of the building. He moved a large filing cabinet in front of the basement door just in case someone thought to come check the grid downstairs. Taeyong and Jaehyun kept an eye on the people that were filing out of the building in confusion, also keeping an eye out for Sicheng and Yuta.

On the inside, doctors, nurses, and patients alike had started panicking. The backup lights still worked without power, but they were not nearly bright enough to make it so people could see well. The sun was quickly setting as well, so the little outside light to help them wouldn’t stick around for much longer. They navigated through patients falling over one another, nurses trying to help them up, and doctors trying to control the situation and keep everyone calm.

They exited to the stairwell and went up one floor—the floor she was on. From here, Yuta had the way memorized. He would always take this path when he would come to see her, so even with the little amount of light, he could easily maneuver his way around. Her room was the ninth down on the right, and so far it seemed that no one was in her room but her.

The power going out didn’t phase her. If anything, she was annoyed at the fact that she could no longer see to read her book. She sighed and placed it on a table in the room, then laid back on her bed with her arms behind her head. She could hear people outside freaking out and leaving the building. ‘So melodramatic,’ She thought. She couldn’t see why patients and staff were making such a huge deal out of a simple power outage. Everyone exiting the building would only cause trouble, who knows what patients would sneak off or get lost. If anything, it would have been better to keep them all inside. Whatever they thought was going on probably wasn’t what was actually going on.

She heard one of the doctors calling for the rest of the patients to exit their rooms. With the power off, the locks on the door were no longer working so they could open their doors without needing a key card. She knew one of the doctors would check the rooms to make sure everyone got out alright. She sat up in her bed and waited, either for a doctor to come pull her out of her room or for the whole ordeal to be over, she wasn’t sure which.

Yuta and Sicheng finally made it to her door. Yuta grasped the door handle and then opened it. He shined a flashlight in her room so she could see her sitting figure. It took her a moment to realize who the two ‘doctors’ were in the room with her, but the eyes gave it away.

“You came for me,” She mused. He came over to her and sat down on the bed with her. He brought his hand to caress her cheek, in complete bliss now that they were face to face. “I promised you I would, didn’t I? I missed you so much, I never want you to be away from me for this long ever again.”

“Yuta, I hate to break up the happy reunion, but we need to get the hell out of here right now.” Sicheng brought Yuta back to reality. He pulled her body up to his and kissed her temple.

“Come on, we’re getting you out of here.” As the trio exited her room, they were shocked to see her therapist standing in the hallway. He took one look at the two men and knew that they were not staff members.

“Let go of her!” He attempted to grab her from Yuta’s grasp, but Sicheng pushed him down on the ground. They made it halfway down the hallway when her therapist called to her again, “Ms. Lockhart don’t go with those men, they’re no good! They deserve to be dead!”

“And you don’t?!” They could all hear her voice through their earpieces. She was loud enough to be heard even when she wasn’t wearing a mic on her. “The things you people do, the way you treat people, you’re the one who should be dead! You shut people up in here like animals and treat them as if they are insane and need to be fixed, and for what reason?! Because they think differently than you?! You’re worse than we are, you are the type of people that need to be cleansed from this world. Every last one of you!” She grabbed Sicheng’s gun from him and aimed it at her therapist. Her therapist moved back against the wall as she stormed over to his body. She had it aimed right between his eyes, her finger on the trigger ready to shoot.

“Don’t do this! This isn’t you! I know the real you, you’re not crazy! We were wrong, you are right, everything you think is how we should all think. We could learn a lot from you,” For a split second, her face softened and she lowered the gun, “Please don’t kill me!” With that sentence, all softness washed away from her face.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you?”

“Think about your father, what would he think?” She brought her hand to her chin and hummed, he really thought he had gotten through to her with those words and that he had secured his safety. However, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

“I don’t give a damn about what that repulsive man thinks!” She aimed the gun back at him and shot him in the head without hesitation. She watched his body fall to the ground, a trail of blood starting to drip out of the gunshot wound on his head. She couldn’t remove her gaze from his body, the first man she killed, her therapist, the one who tried to keep her from her real purpose in life. Yuta came over to her and took the gun from her hands and gave it back to Sicheng. He stood in front of her, she looked more beautiful to him now than ever before. She knew her purpose, she knew her and their purpose. She knew what they were all about, and at that moment she came to terms with this.

“You’re so perfect, I love you so much!” Yuta kissed her cheek and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, “I’m so proud of you. Now, let’s go home.”

At the sound of a gunshot, staff members were running into the building to investigate. Luckily, the three were able to make it out with one last group of people exiting the hospital. The sun had fully set a few minutes before, so now all that could be seen was darkness and the light from flashlights doctors and nurses were using to aid them. The three snuck away from the group and into the woods, finding Jaehyun and Taeyong with the getaway car already running and ready to go.

With the three finally in the car, and Doyoung being in the van that held Ten, Taeil, and Johnny, they were ready to leave.

“Thanks, guys, you all have no idea how much this means to me.” As they got on the road back to their house, Yuta glanced over to see her peering out the window. The moon illuminated her face, for the first time in a long time Yuta could see content on her face. He ghosted his hand down her arm and held her hand tightly.

“I still can’t believe they put me in there… I’m not insane, I know I’m not. I just think differently now.” She admitting this to Yuta made him think about how betrayed she must have felt when her family and friends put her in that place—her father and Jaewoo and Jaeho especially.

“Hey, they don’t matter now. We would never do that to you.”

“Yuta’s right. We are your family now, we will never do something like that to you. We will keep you safe and protect you.” She looked to the rearview window to see Jaehyun smiling at her—dimples prominent. Taeyong, who she hadn’t known well at all, even nodded in agreement.

She took a moment to think about her predicament. She could faintly remember how those first few months with Yuta were. She could remember the terror, the fear of death that she felt on a daily basis. She also could remember how that all faded to black and was replaced with something else—fearlessness. To her, she knew that she found nothing wrong with what Yuta and his friends did. After seeing what they did time and time again, in her mind she knew that those people deserved what happened to them. Why she got involved in the first place no longer mattered to her, what mattered now was the future. She had a new-found sense of justice and righteousness.

One year later, they had moved far away from New York City. Far away from her past and the memories of her old life. She had settled into life with Taeyong’s crew well, she learned all of the ropes of the job and she fit in perfectly now. She came in handy and lately, they had a surplus of male targets and she made it easier to apprehend them.

She waited patiently for her target for the night. He had requested to meet in a public area, saying he had fears of being alone with strangers or something along those lines—not that she really paid attention to that part. They opted to meet outside of a pizzeria in the heart of the city, there would be enough people around to see if anything happened to him. She knew she had to get him into an isolated area, but she had learned enough about him to know that she would need to reel him in quickly for her to be able to do so.

Once they met up, they spent the night eating dinner and strolling around the city. Going in and out of random shops as they pleased. She talked him into going down a vacant side street, a side street where Yuta patiently awaited the two of them. This side street had no security cameras, and since no one really came down here at night there would be no witnesses. They were steps away from Yuta’s hiding spot when her target stopped at a storefront. She looked to see what he found more interesting than her and it was a news report. A news report about her father.

“Byron Lockhart was indicted today on nine counts of embezzlement and corporate fraud. Authorities also arrested Lockhart Industries’ Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer in connections to Mr. Lockhart’s crimes. Authorities are seizing all financial accounts of every executive under Lockhart Industries and a special task force has been assigned to review the integrity of the company. We will keep you updated as more information is available.” The camera cut to another news anchor, a picture of her appearing in the top corner of the screen. Her target grimaced at her picture, his head hanging down low and a sniffle could be heard.

“Are you alright?” She asked, she placed her hand on his shoulder and lifted his face up to hers.

“Oh yeah,” He wiped a tear from his cheek, “She’s just… An old friend and I really miss her.”

She looked at the TV screen to see the governor during an earlier press conference, “We have no new leads into the investigation at this time, but we will remain diligent. If anyone has any information, please call the number on your screen. We will not stop this search until she is found and brought home safely, that is a promise.”

“I’m so sorry about that.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and rubbed his back, “I’m sure they will find her alive soon, Jaeho.” She held the hand of her old friend and pulled him along with her. They passed a lone man with his head down and a hat hiding his face. He showed his face to her briefly, then she winked at him as they walked by.

Johnny waited until she led Jaeho down the alley where Yuta hid before turning around and going in behind the two. Yuta held Jaeho’s limp body up in his arms and she opened the back of Jaehyun’s van to put him in. Johnny grabbed his feet and they lifted him into the back, shutting the doors behind them and getting in the van themselves.

“That’s some friend you got there, he didn’t even recognize you,” Johnny laughed and smacked her lightly on the shoulder. She turned around to look at the unconscious figure of her old friend. Of course, Johnny had a point. Jaeho, who had been her friend her entire life, had looked her in the eyes the entire night and didn’t recognize her. She assumed that the new her truly was unrecognizable, along with the minor changes to her appearance that she made.

“Hey, are you okay?” Yuta noticed her staring at the body, wondering if she perhaps was having a slight change of heart seeing as this boy was her friend at one point. “Are you thinking anything strange?”

“No, not at all,” She reassured him and laid her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her body against his. “His father played a role in covering up my father’s crimes, it won’t be long until authorities find out his connection to it. Until then, though, maybe having Jaeho will speed up the process.”

Yuta had finally explained to her why she was a target, she was a target because of the crimes her father had been committing for a year at the time of her first abduction. Yuta explained the situation to her in vivid detail, and she agreed that he had every right to take her. She knew it was guilt by association like she assumed. Now, after abandoning her criminal of a father and his business that was held up by lies and fraud, she was no longer guilty. She had severed her ties from that, and now she was out for vengeance. Vengeance, she thought, is the true way the world should be ruled. Regardless of who they were, if they soiled this world in any way they needed to be taken care of.

“We will lock him up in the basement and when he regains consciousness, we will begin. If he’s anything like you were, there will be one hell of a mess to clean up after I’m finished with him,” Johnny chuckled and bumped her shoulder. She watched them take Jaeho’s body down the stairs into the basement, the same basement she spent her first days in. She remembered those days. She remembered the way Johnny assaulted her, she could still taste the blood in her mouth and she could still feel the pain he caused her. However, it didn’t bother her, in fact, she found that she was very thankful to him.

“Are you alright?” Yuta could tell that she had something on her mind. Judging by the way she watched Johnny carry Jaeho to the basement, he assumed that something about this situation brought up old memories, “Are you mad at me for what I did to you?”

“What you did to me? Do you even know what you did to me?” Yuta looked at her in wonder, what had he really done to her?

“You showed me who I really am. Thanks to you, I know who I really am. The only thing I will ever be for that is thankful. The old me is dead and gone, she will never return. That ignorant girl will never be seen again. This whole experience stripped me of my fear and opened my eyes and made me truly see. See the world for how it really is, people for how they really are, and it showed me the way that things should be. I am also thankful that you allowed me to partake in the attempts to make this world a cleaner place.” She brought her hand to cup his chin, “Everything you’ve done has changed my life for the better, I can never repay you for all that you have done. This is all thanks to you.” She kissed the corner of his lips and left the kitchen. He stood there, amazed at what just happened. The person he just encountered truly was completely different than the girl he met so long ago. She had completely evolved into a different person, and he wondered if he played a role in doing this.

If this way of thinking had been planted deep in her, slowly metastasizing until she finally realized what she truly was, or if Yuta had truly driven her to the ends of all sanity and reason remain unknown. Who she once was had died long ago, and no one will truly know if Yuta is responsible. There is one thing that is for sure, though.

He truly is a fatal man.

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