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peachtree-dish · 3 years

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A Te Che Sei Il Mío Grande Amore

Chapter 3: Senza che tu mi dica niente tutto si fa chiaro

Luglio 01, 1969

Luca’s birthday rolled around faster than anyone expected, the day arriving with clear skies and high temperatures. Luca awoke to his mother’s voice echoing through their home as she prepared breakfast. Stretching, the fifteen-year-old shook his nonna as gently as he could to wake her. She grumbled at his attempts and swatted at his claws.

“Nonna,” he sighed, shrugging with a smile and swimming into the kitchen to greet his parents. During his time in Porto Rosso, Luca enjoyed every moment he could swimming and spending as much time in the water since he couldn’t do as much in Genoa. He, along with Giulia and Signora Mia, had snuck to the shoreline in the early hours of the morning every few weeks or so just so Luca could refresh his scales and get the nutrients he needed. It was especially necessary when the temperature had become too cold and made him lethargic and ill. Luca shook his head softly, sending bubbles rippling above him in search of the surface. Signora Mia had been just as kind as Massimo, and just as headstrong in a lot of ways. He made a silent promise to call her with Giulia to make sure she was doing well, even if he were sure nothing could fell the infamous Mia Berni.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Daniella kissed Luca’s cheek and handed him a plate full of seaweed and fish flank on his way to the table. Returning the sentiment, the youth sat beside his father and informed his parents that grandma had decided to sleep in a little longer.

“Ugh, she does this every time. MA!” Daniella shouted in frustration, only to be startled by her own mother swimming around the corner.

“You’re being dramatic, dear. I only do it when I think it will annoy you.” The elderly sea monster smiled toothily at her disgruntled daughter who muttered, “Which is every day,” and finished setting the table.

“So, how does it feel to be another year older, son?” Lorenzo floated a piece of fish to his mouth and chewed animatedly, his gaze never leaving Luca’s. Luca shrugged in response and picked at the seafood drifting across the coral table.

“Not any different than last year, honestly. I still feel like I’m fourteen, so nothing special.” He slurped the seaweed into his mouth, much to his mother’s chagrin, and instantly missed the taste of pasta.

“Fifteen is a pretty big deal, though, you’re becoming a young man and that means changes and more responsibility.”

“I hardly think now is the time to discuss any of that at the table.” Luca’s grandmother scoffed before he could reply.

“What, it’s just the basics; Longer tail and fins, not to mention attracting the pretty lady gills, eh?” Lorenzo nudged Luca in the side who nearly choked on his food and spluttered white bubbles over the table, his scales flushing darkly.

“Lorenzo!” Danielle cried, her claws slapping the table in mortification.

“What? We were around his age when we met. If I remember correctly, you thought I was quite the catch.” He batted his eyes at her, pursing his lips teasingly.

“I was young and silly; I didn’t know any better.” Try as she might, Daniella couldn’t stop the smile that threatened to break her scowl. She busied herself by shredding the fish flank and wrapping it in seaweed. Undeterred, Lorenzo lifted from his chair and leaned in closer, trying to further fluster his wife.

“Yeah, maybe, but you still accepted my courting pearl after the Spring Swim Festival.” Lorenzo pulled a reluctant Daniella out of her chair and began to lead her around the room in spins and pivots, grinning madly as she shrieked with laughter. Luca watched with a mixture of amusement and confusion, his discomfort fading as he pushed the idea of ‘lady gills’ far from his mind. When he peered at his grandma, she appeared nonplussed and continued munching on her food although a genuine smile lifted her aging scales.

“You were skinnier and more handsome then, of course, she fell for you.” Lorenzo pouted at his mother-in-law and led both he and Daniella back to the table.

“I simply grew into my man body,” He emphasized his point by sticking his gut out even farther and patted it proudly. The table burst into laughter and Luca quickly finished eating after, his stomach nearly as full as his heart.

After he finished, he turned to his mother and asked, “Is it ok if I go visit Alberto and Giulia for the afternoon?”

Daniella conceded with a content nod, “Just don’t forget about our dinner tonight at Massimo’s, we don’t want you kids to be late.” Luca agreed cheerfully and kissed each family member on the cheek before swimming out the entrance.

“Hey!” Luca turned mid swim to see Daniella at the entrance. “I love you.”

“I love you too, ma!” Grinning, Luca took off, the water gliding past him as he made his way to the surface and his friends. As he leaped through the blue waves, he imagined he was like the superhero from the newspaper comics that Giulia and Mia both read. Pointing both fists forwards, Luca broke the surface with a whoop, water streaming behind him like a cape.

When he arrived at the Marcovaldo residence, the only beings there to greet them were Machiavelli and a few of his kits, each of whom wanted his attention and brief affection. Finding some of his spare clothes in the drawers of Alberto and Giulia's shared room, Luca quickly left the house and wandered the streets, eager to find his friends. Judging from the sun, he knew the morning fishing trip had come to an end not too long before which should mean Giulia, and Alberto was out delivering. Walking through the town square, Luca waved to a few of the patrons he recognized, mentally wincing as he remembered his first attempts at greeting Porto Rosso’s patrons. If anyone had been the stupidi, it had been them.

Chuckling as he went up the city’s hill, Luca caught sight of two familiar heads of curls along with two faces he was not expecting. Tensing at the sight of Guido and Ciccio, Luca prepared himself for a fight and made to run the rest of the way before he heard laughter. Guido was laughing at something Alberto had said and lightly touched his shoulder. Somehow, the movement was worse than if he had punched Alberto instead. A dark and ugly feeling reared its head within Luca’s belly, causing his face to burn and his hands to clench. Clenching his teeth, the young sea monster marched up the cobblestone pathways, intent on not showing his discomfort.

“Ciao,” he muttered shortly, arriving beside Alberto, and instantly causing Guido to lift his hand from Alberto’s shoulder. Giulia nodded hello from her seat on the bike as Alberto wrapped an arm around Luca’s shoulder.

“Oh, hey Luca,” Alberto cheered even more so upon seeing Luca. “You remember Guido and Ciccio, vero? I helped their families in the off-season while you were away.” Luca looked at the two teens who stood abashedly in front of him and offered his hand after a moment of hesitation.

“It’s good to see you both again,” Not, he thought as he shook the brunette’s hand. Ciccio spoke up, his round features coloring.

“We realize we never officially apologized to you before you left, si? We’re really sorry about last summer, Luca.”

“Si, Ciccio, and I were very foolish and ignoranti, we hope you can forgive us, and we can start again.” Guido smiled warmly, his gaze sincere. Taking a deep breath, Luca felt his earlier feeling of… whatever it was, fading away. If Alberto and Giulia both felt they could trust these boys again, then he could follow their lead.

“Lo apprezzo. I know being around Ercole wasn’t the easiest either, it’s all water under the bridge now anyway.” He smiled genuinely this time, heartened when the two ex-henchmen immediately relaxed.

“Bah, no lie, I’m so happy to be rid of that jerk,” Guido nodded at Ciccio who nodded and twisted his hands anxiously.

“He ate so much of my family’s bread,” Ciccio whispered horrified, his gaze wide. Giulia shared a weirded-out expression with Alberto who only shook his head.

“I didn’t know your family baked,” Luca interceded, ignoring his friends’ lack of subtlety Snapping back to the present, Ciccio grinned widely showing his perfectly white teeth.

“Oh, si, Pasticcini al sale Marino is the pride and joy of Porto Rosso and my family. Our baked goods bring customers from miles around; you should see the line of people who want to buy my mother’s Sfogliatella.” He leaned in conspiratorially to whisper, “My siblings and I have been helping since we were little, so only we know the recipe.” He puffed his round chest out proudly, only to be poked by both Alberto and Guido.

“Knowing a recipe and following it correctly are two different things, Ciccio. Your batter was not very good the last time you tried to make Bombolini.” Guido teased and Alberto nodded knowingly.

“I still don’t know how you mixed up salt and sugar,” the older sea monster screwed his face in disgust, remembering how the supposedly sweet treats and mistakenly been made with copious amounts of salt. “Seriously, Ciccio, even the ocean’s not as salty as those things were.” Ciccio pouted good-naturedly as the group laughed.

“It’s still not as bad as the time Guido set the auto garage on fire,” the blond argued mildly to which said boy grimaced.

“I thought we agreed to never speak of that again; I thought my papa was going to skin me alive.”

The teens chatted a bit more and Luca began to warm up to the two boys who had hurt him so much the past year. Perhaps, he reasoned, they had been good all along and had simply needed the chance to prove themselves.

Bidding Guido and Ciccio farewell, Luca joined Alberto and Giulia as they made the rounds. Luca asked a question that had been on his mind since arriving in Porto Rosso.

“So, whatever happened to Ercole? I haven’t seen him since we’ve been in town.” Alberto placed the cash from his previous sale into the leather pouch of the cart before answering.

“Honestly, the guy kind of disappeared after the race. I think he was embarrassed enough to keep his head low for a while, but other than that, I’m not sure. Maybe he left?” Giulia thought for a moment, her gaze focused on the road ahead.

“Maybe, I don’t think he went away to university, but he could have. His family is really wealthy, so they could afford it no matter the grades he got.”

Luca kicked a pebble, his thoughts skipping back to that one word: university.

“What’s the point of grades anyway, doesn’t that, like, stress you out more?” Alberto mused.

“It certainly does for me,” Giulia huffed. She bid Buongiorno to a young mother who bought the last of their fish and both Luca and Alberto filled the empty space as they headed back down the hill.

“I think it’s mostly competition, to see who really wants to be an academico or no,” she contemplated. “Sometimes if you have really good grades, the universities will pay you to study in their schools. That happened to mama when she moved to Genoa.” Alberto winced slightly at the mention of Giulia’s mother, the story of her separation from Massimo fresh in his memory.

“I wonder if I was good enough, they’d do that for me?” Luca hummed, his eyes following the drains that spread across each building they passed.

“Well, duh, they’d be stupid not to; you’re better than good enough right now,” Alberto bumped his shoulder with a smile. Luca blushed and tossed his friend a grin.

“Hey, happy birthday by the way. It’s about time you got to my age,” the older boy winked and wrapped his arm around Luca again, causing Luca’s skin to hum with energy.

“Oh, yeah! Are you excited for tonight?” Giulia asked over her shoulder.

“Thanks, you guys, really,” Luca felt warmer with Alberto’s arm around him, and he was sure it had nothing to do with the afternoon sun. He wondered briefly if said boy could feel how hard his heart was pounding. “Should I be excited, I thought we were just having dinner?” Luca asked, brow furrowing in confusion. He twisted around to face Giulia as she pulled into the plaza and made her way towards the small coastal home. Alberto lifted his arm when Luca turned away, causing him to feel its loss.

Giulia glanced at him and grinned excitedly. “Papa saved some fireworks from the Festa Della Repubblica since we were in Genoa, and he wants to set them off for tonight.” Luca gasped and jumped in his seat.

“Santa mozzarella! Are you serious?!” He shared an animated glance with Alberto who smiled as he hopped off the cart.

“Of course! I mentioned to him how much you had enjoyed the fireworks during Vigilia di Capodanno last December. He decided that would be his gift to you this year.” Giulia locked the bike and carried their bag of earnings inside, the two boys following after her.

Inside they found Massimo at his stove, his presence filling up the majority of the room. He turned to greet them as they entered, placing a kiss upon Giulia’s curly head.

“Buon cumpleanno, Luca. May you live to see many more,” Massimo rumbled fondly, patting Luca on his checkered shoulder. Luca returned the sentiment and wrapped a short hug around the large man, his arms too small to wrap fully around him.

“Grazie, Massimo. For your wishes and for your surprise gift,” Luca pulled away while Massimo smiled happily, his eyes disappearing behind his bushy eyebrows.

“Giulia,” Massimo chided lightly, turning to his daughter who was counting out money, “I thought we agreed to keep it a secret until after dinner?” Giulia smiled apologetically.

“Scusa, papa, we were just too excited,” She and Alberto began counting the coins on the table while Massimo ushered Luca over to the stove.

“Come, Luca, you will help me prepare dinner,” Massimo handed him a bag of clams and ordered him to wash them thoroughly in the sink. Luca would be the first to admit he was not a cook, but Massimo was gentle in his orders and easily guided Luca in making a perfect pasta dinner.

Once the Paguro family arrived along with Ciccio and Guido, once again to Luca’s surprise, the night was filled with much laughter and filling food. The linguine pasta alle vongole was instantly a hit and paired nicely with the red wine Ciccio had brought on behalf of his family. To the teens’ disappointment, the adults were adamant that they were still too young for alcohol. At one moment, Lorenzo laughed so hard, he inhaled his pasta and sent part of it into his nose much to the delight of the children. After dinner, the group trouped outside with fireworks and dessert in hand. While Massimo and Lorenzo set up the fireworks near the edge of the waterline, Daniella, Giulia, and Ciccio helped serve gelato and watermelon.

With a happy sigh, Alberto nestled himself into the sand alongside Luca, happily chewing on the red-fleshed fruit. Luca’s eyelids were drooping as his body felt full and warm, accompanied by his own friend’s radiating heat. His gaze lingered as Alberto licked gelato from his lips, the cream dripping from the corner of his mouth. Forcing his eyes to look anywhere else, Luca shifted closer to Alberto. Instead, his gaze landed on his father asking animatedly about the fireworks in Massimo’s hand, the larger man looking both confused and entertained by Lorenzo’s energy.

“I know I already said it, but happy birthday,” Luca dragged his eyes back to the tanned boy next to him and smiled. He jumped slightly at the first explosion, watching in delight as the light of the fireworks made his friend’s skin glisten with multicolored hues.

“Thank you for sharing it with me,” He replied easily. Neither made comment as their arms brushed or as their hands splayed out behind them with barely any space between. Up above the merry group, bright color after bright color bloomed across a starlit sky, the stars twinkling their own delight.

#luca #pixar luca #luca fanfiction #alberto scorfano #disney #alberto x luca #giulia marcovaldo #luca 2021 #luca x alberto #my fic tag #my favorite siblings #my fish bois #mutual pining #queer fanfiction #massimo marcovaldo #Daniella Paguro #lorenzo paguro #found family #a te che sei il mio grande amore

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belovasangel · 3 years

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Kintsugi

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!GN!Reader

WC: 1641

Summary: Peter needs a push to help an old ally.

Warnings: Swearing, ANGST, hopeful ending

A/N: First off, thank you for reading this. I haven’t written in maybe a year so this might be not the best. I want to shout out Polaroid15 for inspiring me to write. Something else in this fic I should mention, Peter’s identity isn’t exposed and in the Blip he aged according to current-time (so in this he is 18-19)

“In Japanese culture, Kintsugi is the reformative art to repair broken pottery. The shattered pieces are taken and glued back together with a binding agency and gold paint. There is a metaphor between each crack and gold stroke, as the meaning is deeper than restoring a pot. It’s meant to give hope and to empower those who are deemed ‘broken.’ The point is to tell people to embrace their insecurities and you will be okay in the end.”

Peter Parker rolled his eyes and looked back at his notes. The background film of his art history course droned on, as the school stuck the Blipped students into a course to graduate faster. He began to doodle along the sides of the pages, drawing the Spider-Man suit and a few webs. He thought of Ned, sitting on his MIT campus, working on his computer engineering software, and hoped he was thinking of Peter as well. Him and Ned made a pact back in freshman year to attend MIT together and when the Blip hit, Ned kept his promise. And at this rate, Peter will be in their dorm room by March.

He looked back up at the lecture briefly to watch the credits roll, only to notice afterwards the teacher had fallen asleep at the desk. The other students got the same idea to pack up and leave for the weekend early. Peter began stuffing his notes in his backpack and stood to walk out, only to bump into a fast body.

“Hey-”

Peter looked up, his backpack falling to the floor in a heavy heap. He looked up angrily, fully expecting Flash to be staring back, however he saw the red-faced (Y/N) staring back with doe eyes. “Peter, I am so sorry...”

He huffed and shoved (Y/N) back with his shoulder to grab his stuff. “You can leave, ya know? Don’t need to watch me pick up the mess you made.” He audibly heard them gulp and quicken their breathing. With a quick shuffle, they walked out of the class. Peter stood quickly and recalled the events leading to their icy encounter. He can feel sympathetic towards them, as Mr. Stark passed away tragically about a year ago. While Peter has come to terms painfully with his death, he can tell (Y/N) still is struggling. He knows they had a plan to attend Yale or Stanford after this, but those plans have derailed fully. Peter knew (Y/N) wasn’t fully ready to accept they need to grow up and move on. He wouldn’t be the one to put gasoline on an already erupting fire. Hopefully Pepper can say something

He began walking down the halls of the school, remembering the small memories along the halls. Lifting the lockers during Homecoming to get his suit, him and Ned discussing the plans to build the Death Star, and even when MJ first opened her locker next to the two (and immediately asked, “what are you two losers looking at?”). Fond, fond memories.

Peter hopped on the subway, getting minorly excited to begin patrolling the city. May has plans tonight, he hopes it’s a date so he can spy once or twice, but overall it’s sitting on buildings and eating those amazing subs. The moment Peter stepped into the apartment, May was on him. “Hey, my beautiful boy genius, how was school?”

He laughed as she kissed and pinched his cheeks. “Hey May. It was fine, boring. How are you, need any date prep?” She turned bright red and looked back to the newspaper. “Peter, I told you it’s not a date. Happy and I are-”

“Your date is with Happy?” Peter popped his backpack to the floor with a quick thump. May gave a sheepish look, fully expecting this from him. “Peter I promise you, Happy is super kind and is going to treat me great tonight.”

He sighed, pulling at his hair minorly. “Do I need to chaperone you?” She laughed and shook her head, “we’ll be fine Pete. Anyways, to change the subject, Pepper called you earlier and asked for you to swing by the Tower when you get a chance.” Peter nodded, head still foggy with holy fuck, Happy is going to get with my Aunt.

He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and ran to his room, changing into his suit and flopping out the window. Within the first few hours, Peter stopped three guys from breaking into cars, saved a cat from a tree and rescued an old lady from oncoming traffic. As the sun was setting, and Peter got to enjoy the sunset with his sub, he decided to call Pepper.

“Hey Pep, what’s going on?”

He could hear her sigh on the other side, and he took a bite in anticipation. “I need your help Peter. And I know you won’t like it.” With a mouthful of spinach, salami and bread, he said muffled, “you can count on me.”

“I need you to help (Y/N).” Peter promptly spit his sub out of his mouth with a sharp cough and inhale. “What? What’s wrong?” Pepper sighed again. “(Y/N) isn’t okay. They’re only leaving their room for school and that’s it. I deliver them breakfast and dinner, we barely talk between the doors. Plus they come home late every night and I need to know what’s going on.”

Peter bit his inner cheek. Of course (Y/N) is being selfish towards Pepper, seems about right. Peter felt like this was a sign, to finally see what’s going on and help Pepper reconnect with her kid. Yet, Peter didn’t want to give (Y/N) any slack. They’re being rude and not grateful for what they have. “Of course, Pepper. I’ll keep you posted. Does K.A.R.E.N. have her location?”

“No, she turned off her location a while ago. Thank you Peter.” He nodded, knowing she couldn’t see. With a quick end, he threw the mask on and dove off the crane. He searched every alley in all of Queens, ever corner store, checked every rooftop and park and bridge and under every car. He found a huge ass tree and even climbed it. Peter didn’t want to let Pepper down, even if he felt more and more annoyed with (Y/N). He knew they wouldn’t leave the city, but this was getting ridiculous. Eventually, around 11:30 P.M., he found them sitting in front of a large mural of Tony. There were flowers along the painting, along with lit candles and teddy bears. Peter felt his blood boiling, knowing they could have had their location on this whole time.

“What the fuck are you doing (Y/N)? Pepper is besides herself worried. You’re being so fucking selfish, leaving her alone every damn night. She is suffering, wondering why her own child won’t talk to her while you’re out here hiding! What are you scared of? Why can’t you grow up? He died! Get over it!”

Peter creeped up closer and closer to them, not listening to the sniffling and heaving breaths of (Y/N). As he reached them, he saw they were hunched over and panting. “What’s wrong? Get up,” Peter sneered as he pulled their shoulder back. He let out a gasp and let go, in complete shock of what he saw. Their face was littered with bruises and cuts. Their right eye was completely swollen and the under eye bags were as dark as the sky. “Are you okay?”

They scoffed and pushed away Peter’s hand, and struggled to get off the ground. Many groans and gasps were shed as they stood slouched. Peter quickly noticed the large gash on their side, and he could tell they were severely injured. “We need to get you to the tower right now, c’mon.”

As he got closer, (Y/N) stumbled back to avoid his touch. Peter scoffed and tried to reach again, but with the same result. “Stop being stupid and let me help you.” They stopped and let out a large laugh. “Now you fucking care about me, when it will make you look good. I can just imagine Pepper telling me how great and caring you are, and how brave you were to go searching for their lost child. Fuck off with this savior complex, Peter, you can’t save everyone! Some people were meant to suffer and burn and fucking die in the end.”

Peter had never felt so confused in his life. He tried reaching out for the third time and was shut down. They began to walk towards him, fire and tears in their eyes. “Do you have any idea how much fucking pain I feel every day? When my father died, Pepper and I were so shattered, but instead of staying with family she decided to work with you, the great and friendly Spider-Man! Why help your own kin when the prodigy is doing just as bad? I am so sick of living in your shadow Peter! It’s like the universe is telling me I was a mistake! You ruined my life. You are the reason my father is dead. You are the reason I wish it was me instead!”

They fell to their knees in agony, letting out screaming sobs and pained sounds. He quickly recovered, wiping his own tears to comfort them. “I am so sorry (Y/N), I am so so sorry.” Peter put his hands under their arms and lifted them into his arms, as fast as he could go to avoid another lash out. He began to swing them back, and in a quiet voice, (Y/N) whispered into his neck. “Why wasn’t it me, Peter?”

And in that moment, Peter realized that some people need help being put back together. Maybe Kintsugi isn’t so dumb after all.

#peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker imagines #peter x reader #spider-man #peter parker x gender neutral #peter parker gender neutral #my fic

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1kook · 4 years

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paint job, hand job

a some way, some how jk smut drabble ((there’s references to it but honestly this could be read alone)) tags; established relationship, more autoshop fun, handjobs, praise pink, spitting :/, nipple play, jk gets pampered basically, hints of domesticity notes; I wrote sw,sh bc I specifically wanted to write this scene and in the end I forgot about it…. so here it is in drabble form 🤩

also thank u to my buddy @kigurumu for reading this over for me 🖤🥺 no more wrong usage of verb tenses🤩 and u have rumu to thank for it!!!!!! also thank rumu for sliding me this gif v.v

In the past few months, you’ve come to learn a multitude of new things about Jungkook. He was still as wonderful and endearing as he’d been his whole life, and with no soul-crushing secrets between you two, you were exposed to a whole new side of him. There were, of course, a lot of nice things, tiny actions you had only just begun to notice; the way his eye twitched when he was looking at a car, the mindless way he’d bump his foot against a wheel when he was thinking. But for all the wonderful things Jungkook was, you would also catch sight of weirder quirks. Not weird in that they made him a terrible person, but weird as in they weren’t exactly qualities the majority of society strived to have. There weren’t many, but the ones you knew of weren’t exactly ideal to your position as his girlfriend.

One, he was extremely bad at asking for help. One time you caught him floating through the bread aisle at the supermarket, hands drifting over the plastic bags as if his touch alone would remind him which was your preferred brand. It was amusing watching him wander like a ghost until you finally walked up behind him, gestured towards a loaf. You didn’t mind little things like this, after all you were very picky about buying the correct brands, and Jungkook knows this. At the time, you thought it was adorable. Overtime, however, you can admit that his fifteen minute detour to the bread aisle could have easily been cut in half with one simple text your way.

Two, he was easily stressed. Jungkook’s job was pretty grueling during the fall, when college kids were back on the roads and fucking up their cars every chance they got. Thanks to the multitude of employees on his team, he was never doing too many repairs at once. But every so often, he’d find a project that spoke to him and he’d pour every ounce of dedication into it. He always did good, always left customers happy. The real obstacle was Jungkook’s own need to always one-up himself. He was perpetually unsatisfied with his work, no matter how many times people praised him.

Lastly, and probably where you find yourself struggling the most, was his inability to communicate these things. He never asked for help, never told you he was feeling stressed. It was a guessing game with him, trying to figure out if he needed some extra support or not. You slipped up at times, tried to help him with something only for him to wave you off with an amused smile.

But there were other times where he desperately needed you and didn’t know how to ask. Like now, the shop completely dark save for a lamp shoved up beside his lonely form in the empty garage.

Rolling your sore ankles around once, your heels clack loudly as you enter the space, keys tossed somewhere onto the metal tabletop as you set to work preparing him a snack. His newest project was repairing a beat up Ford GT from the early 2000’s, a silver body with dark blue decals running over the hood. He had found it somewhere by his mom’s house, fell in love, and had been on a mission to revive it since. All this would’ve been fine, normally, if Jungkook wasn’t so set on getting everything perfect down to the last detail. Tonight, it was fixing the exterior. The garage reeked of paint.

It had been like this for the past three days. You would come over, catch him cooped up in the garage late after working hours, and make him something to eat. The weekend had been okay because you had stayed over most of the day and checked in on him when you could. But Monday was trickier to plan around; one glance at the clock told you it was a little past nine.

That morning, as you packed your lunch, you had been mindful of setting aside some for him too. Now, as you pulled a plastic container of washed and scalped strawberries for him, you were glad you had thought ahead.

It’s much brighter where he is compared to the rest of the garage, the yellow glow of the lamp glaring down at where he’s carefully running a brush against the edge of one, straight line. If he hears you come closer, he doesn’t acknowledge it, furrowed brows narrowed at the metal before him. Setting the container on a tool cart beside him, you lean down to brush your lips against his cheek. “Hi,” you murmur, wait for him to mindlessly turn his head and kiss you.

He does, a quick kiss, before diving back into his work. A beat of silence, and then, “hi, baby,” quietly, almost robotically. You don’t mind, leaning over his shoulder to glance at how perfectly he manages to paint along a straight edge, even with you breathing over his neck. He’s got the stool raised up today to properly lean over the hood of the car. Shorter than you still, but higher up than how you usually find him beneath a car. After a moment you return your gaze to the side of his face, pink bottom lip caught between his teeth as his eyes scan over his work, round glasses barely clinging to his nose. Cute, you think, faintly nudging the spectacles up the bridge of his nose for him. He mutters a soft, “thanks.”

You hum, wrapping your arms around his shoulders when he finally leans away from the car, dark eyes scanning over the paint job. Occasionally you pluck a strawberry out from the container, hold it to his lips as he munches through it, puckered lips mindlessly opening and closing for you. You don’t stop until he’s eaten half of them, by which you then move on to your daily questioning. “What else d’you eat today?” You ask.

It takes him a moment to respond. “Subway,” he says, gestures with a nod at the discarded wrappers in the trash.

“And when was that?”

“Around noon.”

You sigh, rest your forehead on his shoulder. “Baby, that was a long time ago. Have you even showered today?” You ask, tug the beanie off his head to get a whiff of his hair. It smells okay, but you have a feeling his last shower was yesterday night. Jungkook doesn’t say anything but at the first brush of your fingers through his hair, he dissolves. His head rolls back, desperate to feel your touch on him for the first time in a while. You snort, dragging your nails along his scalp. “Feel good?”

“Mhmm,” he hums, body loosening. “So good.”

You beam, trace your fingers down the curve of his neck, until goosebumps are springing up. “You’re so tense,” you note, hands drifting to rub over his shoulders. Jungkook sighs, head falling between his shoulders as you get to work on them. “You need to relax, honey.”

“I know,” he sadly agrees, and, like a baby, stretches his arms up cutely, before letting himself slouch again. You let your hands drop, wrapping your arms loosely around his chest. “But I wanna do good.”

“You always do good,” you tell him, squeezing his middle in reassurance. Jungkook sighs like he doesn’t believe you. “But,” you add, and at this he visibly deflates. “You’d do even better if you relaxed every now and then. No one’s waiting on this car. It’s just for fun, remember?”

He’s always had this obsession with perfection. You suspect it stems from his past, his relationship with Sojin, and most importantly, his relationship with her dad. One can only take so much criticism from their lover’s parents until they snap. Snap, or begin to believe it’s true. He must’ve suffered through so much in their time together and never once did he fight back, a thought that makes you frown as you watch his knee bounce nervously.

Another sigh. You kiss behind his ear, rubbing your hands soothingly over his chest. However, you greatly underestimate how strongly your thirst for Jungkook runs, because even now with him all mopey in your arms, you want nothing more than to please him.

A subtle brush over his abdomen, and Jungkook inhales a tight gasp, abs curling beneath your wandering hands. The sweatshirt he's wearing is your only obstacle. Pressing your lips to the mole on the back of his neck, you move your mouth to his ear. “Let me take care of you?” You murmur, nibbling at one of the tiny hoops that lines his ears.

He tenses up, turning his head, half-lidded eyes analyzing your features. After a moment, he nods, cheeks flushed.

“Good boy,” you purr, hands creeping beneath the hem of his top, faintly tracing over his skin. Jungkook lets out a shaky exhale, muscles tensing under your touch. Another kiss beneath his ear.

It’s rare that he lets you do this, let’s you pamper him while he does nothing. Jungkook was a fairly proactive lover, always making sure you were completely satisfied before anything else. In the past few months of being in a relationship with him, you can hardly remember a time he came without you.

Which is why you take extra care gliding your hands up his chest, over his pecs. His heartbeat thunders beneath your palm, skin so soft and kissable. You’ll save that for another day, you think, tracing a finger over his nipple. It hardens quickly, and you don’t miss the way he shifts in his seat as you begin rolling it between your fingers. “You like that?” You hum, lips pressed against his ear.

It’s so easy to get as close as you’d like, breasts pressing against his back. Jungkook nods, shaky breaths escaping his throat.

While one hand busies itself on his chest, tugging at the sensitive buds until he’s jolting in his seat, the other creeps back around his waist. You run your hand along the skin above his waistband and relish in the way his muscles twitch, until you’re finally slipping it down over his sweats.

His cock is hard, painfully so, and a soft moan escapes him when you run your hand over his length, cupping the head gently. “Look how hard you’ve gotten,” you tease, pressing your palm down more forcefully. Jungkook huffs. “Just from me playing with your nipples,” you chuckle, kissing down the side of his neck. Even through the fabric, you can feel every twitch of his cock, every throb as he grows more and more aroused.

“You like having your nipples played with?” You ask, abandoning his cock to slip both your hands up his shirt again. Jungkook complains with a soft whine, rolling his head back to the ceiling. He’s choked off when you catch both nipples in your hands, pinch the pebbled buds. His hips squirm against the stool, rutting up into nothing, as you continue over his chest. “How does it feel, sweetheart?”

“G-Good,” he gasps, knuckled fists trembling on his knees, pale from how tight he squeezes them. “Can you…?”

“Can I what?” You hum, finally releasing him in favor of gliding your hands down his stomach and over his thighs teasingly. He’s pliant under your touch, muscular thighs reduced to two trembling masses at your every touch.

Jungkook bites down a whimper, eyes trained on the hands that dance over his lower half, barely brushing over his cock like he wanted them to. “Kook?” You croon, right against his ear. He bucks into the air, his head finally lolling back to rest against your shoulder. “Finish your sentence, babe.”

He nods but you can tell he doesn’t remember what he wanted anymore, eyes rolling back behind his foggy glasses. You smirk, pressing a chaste kiss to his jaw. “I, um,” he falters, legs spreading wider as you continue massaging your palms over them. “You…um.” A few more stuttered ‘ums’ later, and then, nothing.

After a moment it’s obvious he won’t say anymore, mind a frazzled mess as he falls headfirst into the sensations you’re bestowing upon him. “It’s not proper to say ‘um’ so many times,” you scold, finally let your hand rest over his cock. He sucks in a breath, teeth clenched. “Good boys don’t do that, y’know.”

“S-Sorry,” he chokes out, and you forgive him with a squeeze around the head of his cock. “Wanna be good,” Jungkook pants, voice strung high.

“I know you do,” you murmur, kissing down his neck as your hand continues rubbing over his cock. His hips circle, body sinking further back onto you as he melts under your touches. “Wiggle your pants down for me, sweetheart.”

“Yes, yes,” he concedes, hands scrambling for his bottoms. Unravelling yourself from around his waist, you wrap your arms around his shoulders instead, watching him as he struggles to tug the rest of his jumpsuit down.

“Kook?” you call, watching his trembling hands fight with his boxers. “relax, okay?”

He nods, takes a deep breath, and then slowly tugs his bottoms down. He doesn’t manage to get that far before his eagerness wins over, and he’s struggling to push them down past the bulge of his muscular thighs. You decide it’s enough, pushing his hands away as you wrap yourself around his waist again, nuzzling your face behind his ear.

“Good boy,” you praise, and a tiny whimper catches in his throat. You glide your hand over his thigh and let it sit at the base of his cock, thumb and forefinger teasingly wrapping around the base.

“Fffuck,” he moans, twitching beneath you.

There’s a pearly bead of precum that forms at the tip, creamy substance slowly dripping down his cock and leaving a glistening trail in its wake. “Pretty,” you comment, watch it pool around your fingers. “But not enough. Kook, spit,” you demand, feel the way his body tenses up at your words.

“Huh?” He chokes, ears and neck flushed as his brain fully wraps around what exactly you’re telling him.

You shift closer, tightening your hand around his cock as you listen to the whine that rips itself from his throat. “You heard me. Lean over, and spit on your cock,” you repeat, feel him shake beneath you. “You’ve done it before, right? Used your own spit to get yourself off.”

He doesn’t answer, so you give his engorged member another squeeze that has him sputtering back to life. “I-I have,” he admits, blush high on his cheeks. “But I never just...spit. On it.”

You hum, watch the way his fingers flex on his thighs.

Deciding to switch tactics, you push as close as you can, licking a thin stripe up the curve of his ear. “But I love watching you spit,” you pout, loosening your grip on him ever so slightly. His cock remains just as stiff, standing almost completely on its own. “Love feeling it all over my body, down my pussy,” you moan, and the way you rub your thighs together is no act. Jungkook throbs in your hold, biting down another groan. “Don’t you wanna know how good it feels?”

His breaths come out shaky, head nodding at your words. He ducks down, dark hair covering his eyes from your view, but not his mouth. His lips pucker, and ever so slowly, a thin trail of spit drips down from his mouth, glistening in the lamp light until it finally reaches his cock, coating his length in a thick sheen that drips down over your knuckles.

Fuck, he was gorgeous. “That’s it,” you gently encourage, slowly beginning to work your hand over his cock. The glide is slippery, squelching noises filling the huge garage as your fist pumps up and down his cock. “Doesn’t that feel good?”

Jungkook groans, bucking into your palm with every squeeze you give. “Ye-yes,” he pants, skin warm and flushed as you kiss over his neck.

His cock is still so hard, twitching for you. You could do this for hours, feel the heavy weight of his arousal in your hands, listen to his tiny gasps of excitement. His head lolls back again, and you can’t help the endeared smile from watching him fall apart in your hands. “Sweetie, look,” you call out, finally making your other hand useful as you cup his balls.

Jungkook hisses. “Babe, that’s—“ a moan rips itself from his throat, your hands massaging over his swollen balls, caressing him as your hand picks up its pace on his cock. “Too much,” he whimpers.

You press a kiss to his neck, nibble at the skin until it’s bruising. He’s quivering like a leaf, sweat trailing down from his hair and over his skin, your name falling from his lips like it’s all he knows.

The head of his cock is angry and swollen, dripping in precum and his own saliva. You want it in your mouth, but the moment was already so fragile, so close to the end, you didn’t want to mess that up by pulling away. So you tighten your grip, licking the beads of sweat from his neck until Jungkook spasms in your hold.

“Fuck, shit, I’m gonna,” he grunts, body caving over as his orgasm hits, grabs him by the throat until he’s gasping for you to stop, voice wobbling on every syllable. You don’t, choosing to stroke him through until his cock is limp, jumpsuit stained with pearly splatters of white.

After he’s done, you press another kiss to his ear. “Good boy,” you smile, straightening your back after wiping your hands against his soiled uniform. You step away and snatch some napkins off the metal table to wipe him down.

You can tell he’s not completely there yet when you crouch down in front of him, dark eyes unfocused as you make a lousy effort to wipe the splattered droplets of cum off his jumpsuit bottoms. “Hello,” you tease, nudge his chin with your hand. “Anyone there?”

Jungkook snaps out of whatever post-orgasm trance he’d been in and helps you to your feet. “Fuck, that was good,” he sighs, and you giggle. “Screw the car, can we just go to your place?”

#goldenclosetnet #ksmutclub #networkbangtan #jungkook smut #jeon jungkook smut #jjk smut #jungkook fic #jeon jungkook drabble #jungkook drabble #mine #swshd

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stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale · 3 years

Text

Top 5 Missed Opportunities in 400 Days

Hey, remember when TWDG Season One ended and we were a group of emotional messes? Remember when Season Two was announced and we were gonna get a DLC to bridge S1 and S2 together and we were extra excited for everything to come? Because I do.

To be fair, I truly did enjoy 400 Days when it first came out years ago, and it’s not like I hate it now or anything... I just can’t help but look at it and see wasted potential on every level-- the characters and their development, the stories, the impact our choices made for the future...

The concept of 400 Days-- a collection of stories that follow different protagonists and the situations they find themselves in within the zombie apocalypse that eventually connect to one another-- is a great one. I love the idea of mini-episodes that are all connected, and one choice you made in one episode affects the next episode you play... so what happened? Why does it fall flat now when we look back on it?

Well, a major reason for me is the fact that all four seasons of the main game are complete. When 400 Days came out, we didn’t have S2, so we didn’t know what our choices meant. That lead to us theorizing about what would happen if we got everyone to go with Tavia, or what would happen if no one but Bonnie went. Why was Bonnie the only one who agrees no matter what? What could that mean?

And we have those answers now, and it’s a let down... especially when it could’ve been so much better. That’s what I wanna talk about today. I wanna talk about what I think are the biggest missed opportunities in 400 Days.

5. Giving Shel and her dumb sister actual personalities

Of all the stories you can play in 400 Days, Shel’s episode is probably the worst due to the fact that she and her dumb sister lack any memorable qualities or personalities.... which is such a shame because this story also has one of the more interesting moral dilemma’s.

In this story, you play as Shel who is surviving in the diner/gas station with a group that consists of some of the cancer patients from S1. Remember them? They were with Vernon and helped him steal out boat? Yeah, they got away and apparently Vernon died and the group feel apart over the damn boat, but you don’t get much more than that.

Shel has this dumb sister who I can’t be bothered to remember her name because she’s that bland. Her sister is basically Shel’s personality. Take away her sister, and you’re left with nothing.

They’re going for the “Oh man, I don’t know what this world is doing to my dumb sister, it’s changing her, I don’t want her to have to do things like murder, I want her to have a normal childhood,” but that falls flat when they don’t give me a reason to care about them in the first place.

Like I said, the moral dilemma for this one IS interesting-- They catch someone who tried to steal from them. The man is injured pretty bad, and he can’t speak English, so there is no way for them to communicate with him. Roman, the dude who acts as the leader of our group, says that they can’t keep him here but they can’t send him back out there... and that means killing him.

So what do you do? Do you risk it by giving this man a second chance, give him some food and send him on his way and hope he doesn’t come back and do more harm? Or do you kill this man so that there is no risk in him coming back to do harm?

And you as Shel are the swing vote. That’s not an easy choice to make, plus you gotta think about how that choice is gonna affect your dumb sister?

Except it doesn’t really matter.... at all. No matter what you do, Roman still cracks down and wants to murder another member of the group who tries to escape, Shel’s dumb sister is still a brat who talks big but never does anything, and Shel is still a stale piece of white bread.

If they wanted us to care, then give Shel something other than her sister. Maybe they could’ve had her be someone who doesn’t really have a backbone, she tries to avoid conflict and is intimidated by Roman, she doesn’t speak up even when she should, and then her dumb sister could be the opposite-- Loud, take charge, wants to get more involved with protecting the group, isn’t afraid to stand up to Roman which causes him to take her under his wing and wanna turn her into a murder baby... which Shel definitely doesn’t want so what could she do to keep her dumb sister away from him?

If they wanted to tell the story of a woman worried her sister is going to grow up cold and ruthless because of the world around her, then tell that story. Show us that story, show us what happens when you agree to kill the man and now her dumb sister genuinely believes that murder is an easy solution to their problems, so when it comes to the woman who escaped, the dumb sister volunteers to kill her and Roman lets her... and you as Shel gotta decide if you wanna fight that by running away or just let it happen.

I dunno man, but Shel’s story is my least favorite of the bunch because I have no reason to care about either of them, and that’s a waste.

4. Nate’s a shithead so they should’ve used him more

Well, hello again, Nate... we meet once more here on T5F.

So yeah, I’ve talked about this crazy bastard on a previous list about characters no one likes, so you’re probably wondering why I’m saying that he should’ve been around more.

That’s the thing, I hate Nate. He’s gross, he’s brutal, and he’s uncomfortable with those crazy eyes of his... but he would’ve made for a fun antagonist in more of 400 Days, as well as in S2.

Depending on what episode you play first, Nate can either first appear in Wyatt’s story, or Russell’s. In Wyatt’s story, Nate is chasing down him and Eddie after Eddie accidentally killed a guy who was with Nate, and Nate here is chasing them down for some revenge. He eventually finds them, and who ever is left in the car as no choice but to flee, leaving the other behind.

Nate plays a more active part in Russell’s story, picking him off the highway and chatting with him on the way to the diner/gas station, and y’know how Shel has no personality? Well, I think I know where all the personality went because Nate’s got quite a bit of it. He’s one of the more memorable parts of 400 Days for a reason. He has a weird charisma about him, but then he starts talkin’ gross and almost gets Russell’s face eaten off by a walker and you get the idea that this man isn’t quite right, y’know?

Then we make it to the diner/gas station where they get shot at, and Nate insists on finishing this... as in, let’s go in and shoot whoever is shooting us. They sneak in, and the old man there says Nate is back to finish the job... which isn’t great. Nate acts like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but then suggests they kill the old couple using a line from the story Russell told her.... y’know, the story that’s kinda triggering for Russell.

At this point, Russell can either tell Nate off and leave, or he can stay where Nate will kill the couple right in front of him and claim that Russell is his boy and it is not great.

We know that either way, Russell gets away from Nate. We never see him again so he could be dead, turned, or alive. All I can think about is the fact that they created the beginnings of a compelling antagonist who could’ve bled over into S2 at Howe’s or even afterward. Like if we showed up at Howe’s and were locked up, only to find Nate locked up with us. Or maybe instead of Arvo, Nate could’ve been the one who stumbled upon Clementine and Jane and was overpowered and threatened by them... only for him to stalk them and confront them about what happened.

Either way, there was a missed opportunity to do more with Nate.

3. Focusing on the wrong things within Bonnie’s story

Alright, everyone’s favorite: Bonnie.

Bonnie is the only character in 400 Days who actually matters in terms of S2... and even then, her story doesn’t matter too much...which is dumb.

For me, Bonnie’s story is such a waste... like okay, right from the start they establish that Bonnie is a recovering addict, and I’m intrigued. The idea of an addict surviving in the apocalypse while trying to kick the stuff is interesting as hell.... but the story kinda just glosses over it unless Dee is insulting Bonnie by calling her a junkie.

No, the story we got was Bonnie breaking up a marriage. Great.

There’s this dude Leland who has a wife, Dee, but he and Bonnie are getting awfully snug with one another... so that’s real nice. Dee eventually finds them giving each other the look and breaks it up in a passive aggressive way before revealing she found a bag of supplies. This happens to be a bag that she “found” at the diner/gas station where Shel’s group is currently staying.

An argument breaks out between Leland and Dee with Bonnie in the middle and it’s not compelling at all. You can just sit there and do nothing and it doesn’t matter, they continue to fight until Shel’s group spots them and they gotta run.

Bonnie ends up shot and falls behind, and we do get a cool scene where she has to make her way through this cornfield without getting caught. I do like that bit, it’s fun.

But then she gets away, grabs a weapon, and hits someone walking up on her... that someone happened to be Dee. Whoops. Dee calls her a junkie, saying she killed her, and then dies.

Now comes the big choice: Do you tell Leland the truth or lie to cover your ass?

While this is an interesting choice on paper, it doesn’t matter. Leland isn’t with Bonnie in the end no matter what, and Bonnie will always agree to go with Tavia.

Personally, I wanted the fact that she was a recovering addict to be more front and center. Throw Leland and Dee away, have Bonnie travelling on her own. Have her going through withdrawals, show us her struggle of still being hooked on drugs while surviving in the zombie apocalypse... have her stumble across Shel’s group and from a distance, she sees they have medical supplies. She’s so desperate that she sneaks in at night and steals as much as she can, but gets caught.

We could still have her running away through the cornfield with the drugs, she can still get shot and everything... but maybe she’s so desperate for them that she ends up killing one of Shel’s group members, and she sees just what she’s willing to do in order to get these drugs, and you can make a choice of abandoning the drugs and quitting, or taking the drugs and running away... and it could actually affect Bonnie in the ending and into S2.

Plus, her killing one of Shel’s group would help add to the debate in her episode, y’know?

I just... I wanted that story... not what we got.

2. The past is more interesting than the present

This goes hand in hand with #3, but applies to almost everyone else.

All of these characters that we get to play as have more interesting backstories that I was more compelled by than what they’re actually going through in their stories.

The first time we meet Vince, he straight up murders a dude who is pleading for his life, saying he doesn’t even know Vince’s brother. Like... okay, what the hell happened here? What happened to Vince’s brother that made her commit murder like that?

How about Wyatt and Eddie? They’re running from Nate after Eddie killed the guy he was with. They’re panicking, Eddie is covered in the dude’s blood, Wyatt doesn’t know if Eddie meant to shoot or not. You can tell they’re known each other a long time, too. They’re a couple of stoners who got themselves into hot water.

Oh and Russell? His story is interesting as hell! He was in a group where the main guy kept going on about how seven if the perfect number for a group, ya can’t break seven, and this group eventually started killing so they could steal, so Russell got away and is now on his way to find his grandmother’s place.

Once again... Bonnie is a recovering drug addict in the apocalypse.

The only one without an interesting backstory is Shel... which I guess is fitting. The boring character doesn’t even get a fun backstory, she just exists.

It’s not a good sign when I’m more interested in the past, y’know? Vince’s I can give a bit of a pass to because he killed that guy before the apocalypse broke out, and his dilemma takes place right at the start, and it’s done pretty well.

Everyone else though? I already explained Bonnie’s, but what about Russell and his seven group? We could’ve gotten that story of a group that starts out good, the guys gives his philosophy on the dumber seven, Russell meets that one girl... but then things start to grow dark when the group starts to become desperate enough to murder and steal, the guy keeps going on about the number seven so they can’t invite anyone in, and they can’t let anyone go... so Russell has to sneak away or something.

Wyatt and Eddie? Show ‘em there when Nate and his buddy show up. Give us the tension of “are these guys chill or are they planning something?” when Eddie gets into a fight with the other dude and ends up shooting him, Nate gets pissed, and they gotta flee. Wyatt doesn’t know if Eddie shot him intentionally or not, it’s a whole, thing and they can still hit the cop and do that whole thing, too.

I just... I think problem is the stories were a bit too compact and short, not giving the characters a chance to develop or the stories enough compel to them.

1. It doesn’t matter who goes to Howe’s or not and that’s dumb

Sigh..... so yeah, obviously this is #1.

My biggest problem with 400 Days is that is doesn’t affect much. Even Bonnie’s story doesn’t affect what she does in S2.

As for the rest, if you only got Bonnie at Howe’s, then the rest and their fate’s are unknown. But if you do manage to get everyone to go with Tavia, they are at Howe’s... the problem is, they show up in small cameos that literally do nothing.

Ya got Wyatt who walks past Clementine like “Dude you better hurry, Bill doesn’t like to wait” like.... what, am I just supposed to get excited and point at him like “oooohhh I know him! I know him! That Wyatt! Hehehehe!” because I didn’t do that...

Or Vince randomly showing up to catch Tavia smoking, or Shel and her dumb sister making a comment about Sarah, it’s just dumb.

And then Howe’s falls and their fates are left unknown anyway.... so it didn’t matter.

I’ll just say what most of us were thinking.... Why weren’t they the cabin group? No, seriously, why weren’t the 400 Day’s crew the cabin group? Because it was too hard given the fact that there are so many combos? That’s fair, but if that’s the case, then what was the point of 400 Days?

Did they just want to tell a bunch of smaller stories within this world but never actually planned on using them outside of fun cameos in S2, with the exception of Bonnie? That probably is the case... and I think my disappointment in 400 Days does stem from being in the fandom at the time and getting hyped to see what they would do with these characters, only for it to be this.

Not only that, but then I started to think about how they could’ve done with game but with the actual cabin group from S2. Luke, Nick, Pete could’ve had their own story dealing with Nick’s mom getting bit after they took in a bite victim.

Rebecca and Alvin could’ve had a story about their marriage kinda falling apart despite them trying hard, and this could help make her affair with Carver make more sense.

Carlos and Sarah could have a story that explains Carlos’ over protectiveness and as well as explore Sarah as a character.

Hell, give Mike a story.

Give JANE a story about her and Jaime so that her appearing outta no where isn’t jarring, and develops her and the reasons she treats survival the way she does.

There was so much they could’ve done with this idea... and to be honest, if we ever get another game in this series, I would love it in this style but expanded into a season where each episode follows a different character and tells a different story, but in the end they all end up connecting. There is SO MUCH you can do with that!

But alas..... 400 Days for me is full of missed opportunities and I wish it wasn’t.

---

Honorable Mentions

-Eddie only appeared in Wyatt’s episode and then disappeared until his death in S4.... Eddie’s great, should’ve been around more. -Would’ve been nice if the cancer group from S1 was expanded on, give more context to what the hell happened to Vernon and the boat, y’know? -a bit more development for Tavia would’ve been nice, as well... she just kinda shows up at the end and recruits who she can.

---

So what are your thoughts on 400 Days? Do you agree with these missed opportunities, or have any to add? Lemme know, it’s always fun to chat.

Have any suggestions for future T5F’s? Feel free to send ‘em in! :D

Next week’s T5F Top 5 Reasons Gabe’s Pretty Great, Y’all Are Just Mean

#twdg t5f #twdg 400 days #twdg vince #twdg wyatt #twdg shel #twdg russell #twdg bonnie #twdg nate #next weeks t5f inspired by reddit

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elisela · 4 years

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make my wish come true buck x eddie, g, 2k, fluff and sweet drunk boys for @madamewriterofwrongs because for once it wasn’t @tylerhunklin who said “yes write it” after sending me a TikTok

“Four,” Buck says. His head is tipped back on the couch, cheeks flushed, eyes bright—Eddie wants to reach out and touch him, to trace the lines of his face with gentle fingertips, to press his mouth against Buck’s and see if his lips are as soft as they look, if they would give way underneath Eddie’s teeth and thumbs and—“no, five,” Buck says, looking over at him. “Six? I dunno, Eds, s’probably time for water.”

“Probably,” he says. He doesn’t move. The kitchen—it’s so far away, and the couch is already tilting a little, pressing Buck right against him, his body radiating heat that Eddie feels down to his bones. He presses a palm down on the arm of the couch, but his stomach lurches as soon as he shifts forward and he gives up. “Gonna regret this in the morning.”

“Long way from now,” Buck says, and his head drops onto Eddie’s shoulder. “Hey, Eddie. Truth or dare?”

“This is a bad idea,” Eddie says. He’s still sober enough to know that Buck’s usual dares take a dangerous turn when they’re drunk—it’s only happened twice before, but he can still recall how cartwheeling into the side of the house had quickly ended the game last time. Still. “Dare.”

“I dare you to do a handstand for five minutes,” Buck says. His breath blows out over Eddie’s skin as he laughs, seemingly already picturing Eddie struggling in his mind.

“Fine,” Eddie says. He still doesn’t move. “I’m gonna puke on your floor though.”

Buck’s arm slides along his waist as he twists, ending up with his face smashed into Eddie’s neck, his weight pressing Eddie back into the couch. “Nevermind,” he says, and he rubs his nose into the crease of Eddie’s neck, laughing again when Eddie tries to push him away. “I don’t wanna clean it—no, stay—”

Eddie relaxes, stops struggling against him, but Buck’s still got most of his body tucked against Eddie’s so he doesn’t feel bad about the hand he keeps on Buck’s waist. “S’this mean I win?”

“No,” Buck says. “I get a do-over.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“Do not.”

“Do too,” Buck says, poking him in the ribs. “You can’t just say you win, Eddie—” the way Buck’s lips brush against his skin drives him crazy, and he’s too buzzed to remember that he really shouldn’t be leaning into it, he should probably pull away, move himself across the couch and to a safer distance, where he couldn’t smell the shampoo Buck uses from the way his hair tickles under Eddie’s nose, “—uh, did you say truth or dare?”

He frowns. “Um. Dare?”

He always chooses dare. Buck somehow hasn’t caught on, but he’s not worried about Buck’s dares, all some variation of physical stunts that will likely result in one of them breaking a bone at some point if they keep it up. But truth—he’s heard the questions Buck asks Maddie, asks Chim. He can’t risk that Buck wouldn’t dig straight to the bottom of his soul if he got a chance.

“I dare you to get us water,” Buck mumbles.

“Okay,” Eddie says, and neither of them move for several minutes. Buck’s head gets heavier on his shoulder, and Eddie feels his own tilt down until his cheek is resting on Buck’s forehead. It’s—gravity. Alcohol. Nothing he’s doing of his own volition, just—”you still awake?”

Buck hums. “I’m hungry. Let’s go get tacos.”

His stomach turns over. “Pancakes.”

“Oh, those dumplings you like at that one place—”

“The one by—”

“No, the other one,” Buck says. “Think they deliver?”

“Not at three in the morning,” Eddie says. He doesn’t really know what time it is, but it’s been dark for hours now, so—maybe.

“You ever been to San Francisco?”

“Not since I left my heart there,” he says, and snorts when Buck makes a confused noise. “It’s—nevermind. No. Have you?”

“”m gonna take you ‘n Chris,” Buck says. “There’s a place, they have these green onion pancakes—it’s amazing. I dream about ‘em.”

“When’d you go to San Francisco?” He’s heard Buck’s life story, knows the trips he’d been on with his family, the route he’d taken through South America and up through Mexico before landing in Los Angeles. Nothing further north than L.A. had ever been mentioned.

“After Abby,” Buck says. “Drove up the coast, tried to get used to being alone again. Didn’t need to, I still got you guys.”

His throat is only dry because of the alcohol. God, he wants. He wants to tell Buck that he always has him, has Chris, that as long as Eddie’s alive he’s going to wait until Buck decides he wants him. He thinks—well, he’s never quite sure if he’s reading things the right way. There’d been the ghost of Abby, then Ali, then a long stretch of no one until Buck had started to make comments about dating, about finding someone, but—nothing ever came of it. And every time Eddie thought, this isn’t something just friends do—like this, this cuddling on the couch with Buck’s fingers pressing idle patterns against his skin—he’d turn around and see Buck getting just as close with Hen, his feet in her lap on the couch at work, or catch him flirting with other people.

It’s fine. Eddie’s just not used to friendships like this, such tactile, vulnerable relationships, but he can live with it, even if he constantly wants more, even if he sometimes would bet on Buck wanting more, too.

“You ever go?”

“No,” Eddie says, even though he’s pretty sure Buck had already asked. His hand is in Buck’s hair, somehow, scratching the pads of his fingers against Buck’s scalp. “Want to.”

“Let’s go,” Buck says. “Trade our next shift, we can take Chris—”

“Our next shift is Halloween,” Eddie says, and there is absolutely no one who will trade them if it means they end up working on Halloween.

“The one after that, then we have six days—there’s the bridge and Chris would love Alcatraz and we could drive up—”

“You don’t have to convince me,” Eddie says, a yawn interrupting his words.

“Cool,” Buck says, and Eddie can always tell when he’s smiling by how his voice sounds. “But ‘m still hungry.”

“Water.”

“Carbs,” Buck says. “Oh, sourdough bread. You think Uber Eats can bring it?”

“I think we should have water and go to sleep,” Eddie says, but again—he can’t bring himself to move. Buck is warm against him, soft and happy, and Eddie would stay awake all night if it means getting to touch him like this, getting to drop his chin down so that his lips almost brush Buck’s forehead as he speaks, a poor imitation of the way he wants to kiss him.

“You remember the sourdough french toast we had last Christmas? Where’s that? I want it.”

“Chris wants a dog for Christmas,” Eddie says, dropping his hand to the back of Buck’s neck and squeezing. The groan it draws out of Buck is enough for him to squeeze harder, and the little gasping noise he makes when Eddie rolls his thumb up behind Buck’s ear—“I think I’m gonna give in.”

“You should,” Buck says. “A big one. What do you want for Christmas?”

“Someone who will take care of a dog when Chris inevitably loses interest in twice-daily walks,” Eddie says, shaking his head. It bumps his chin against Buck’s head, and he catches himself just before he presses an apology kiss to the spot. “Dunno. It’s October, I haven’t thought about it. What do you want?”

“You,” Buck says sleepily. “And carbs. Maybe together, like, at the same time. Oh, you know those banana muffins you make and you make them into pumpkin muffins for Halloween? Do you have Christmas muffins? Like—wait, what would you put in Christmas muffins?”

“Maybe eggnog,” Eddie says, and then he blinks when everything Buck said filters through the haze covering his thoughts. “Wait. Did you—”

“Eggnog in muffins? Eddie, that’s gross.”

“‘s’not gross,” he says, because he makes amazing eggnog french toast—well, Sophia makes it, same thing—and he can’t see why eggnog muffins wouldn’t be delicious as well, but really there are more pressing issues here like “did you say—”

“You.”

His hand stills on Buck’s neck. “Like,” he says, slowly, trying to force reason through everything he’s had to drink tonight, “like—you want to spend Christmas together?”

Buck snorts, but he doesn’t say anything for a long moment and Eddie wonders if he’s drifting off to sleep, or if he’s having the same trouble trying to think clearly. “If that’s what you want me to mean,” he says finally, yawning. “You’re right, we should sleep.”

“I want to know what you meant,” Eddie says, and a second later Buck’s hand is cupping his jaw and pulling him down, tilting Eddie’s head as he brings him into an open-mouthed kiss; Eddie tastes the bitterness of the vodka on his tongue as Buck kisses him, swallows down the soft noises Buck makes, keeps his hands absolutely still against Buck’s body like if he moves it’ll break the spell. “If you forget this in the morning—” he says when Buck pulls away, and Buck laughs softly as he moves away, shaking out his limbs before standing up.

“I won’t,” he says. “Come on, you can sleep in my bed. I’ll keep my hands to myself, I promise.”

“I—” can’t make that promise, he thinks. His lips are still wet from Buck’s kiss, and he shakes his head. “No, I’ll sleep here. Don’t—just—”

“You worry too much,” Buck says, “I’m a little buzzed but not so drunk I’ll—” he trips over an errant shoe as he passes by, and Eddie reaches out to steady him. “Okay, just because I tripped doesn’t mean—”

“Just go to sleep,” Eddie says. “Goodnight.”

“Eddie.”

“Goodnight,” he says again, because maybe he can forget—or not forget, but convince himself that one kiss doesn’t mean that much, that the thrill it sent up his spine was just because it’s been so long, that—

“Goodnight,” Buck says, and he bends down to kiss Eddie’s forehead before he stumbles his way out of the living room and up the stairs. “You can come join me when your back starts to hurt, old man.”

Eddie flips him off, even though Buck can’t see, lays down, and prays.

-----

“God,” Buck groans the next morning, cursing loudly when he runs into a chair and it scrapes against the floor, “death would feel better than this. I want coffee. Come make it for me.”

“Just because I cave to a ten year olds whims doesn’t mean I’ll cave to yours,” Eddie says, pulling his arm down from where it had been over his eyes, blocking the sunlight. “Do you have to have so many damn windows?”

Buck’s been up for ten minutes, talking loudly to Eddie the entire time, and it’s all Eddie can do to lay there and pretend like his heart isn’t breaking. He knew it, he knew, he should have—stopped him, or something. Should have let the “you” go unanswered, ignored it, realized that being lonely and drunk caused a person to do things they didn’t mean and make promises they wouldn’t keep.

He closes his eyes again as Buck walks over to the couch, lets himself be manhandled into a seated position while Buck sprawls out next to him. He can do this—it’s just the same kind of contact they usually have. He’ll be fine.

“Whatever,” Buck mutters. “Here, I want you to listen to this,” he says, nudging Eddie until Eddie opens his eyes and looks at him. “Ready?”

“Sure,” Eddie says, waving a hand weakly. He’s not sure what he expects, but bells and Mariah Carey in October is definitely not it. “Buck.”

“Told you I wouldn’t forget,” Buck says, leaning against him. “I’d kiss you again but something died in my mouth overnight—”

Eddie leans over and hits the pause button on Buck’s phone. “I’m telling everyone you played me All I Want For Christmas is You, you know.”

“Good,” Buck says, grinning. “It was pretty romantic of me, right?”

“I think we have a very different idea of what is or isn’t romantic,” Eddie says, but he turns his head to the side and presses a kiss to the corner of Buck’s smile, then another, and has to pull himself back before he does anything else. “Let’s go talk about it during breakfast. I’ll take you out.”

“It’s a date,” Buck says, and leans in to kiss him again.

#buddie fic #buddie #eli writes #more shit based on tiktok videos lets all be surprised #evan buckley #eddie diaz #drunk boys in love #yes i wrote what is essentially a christmas fic in september

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sometimesitrytowritethings · 4 years

Text

Mountain Man: Part 2

Pairing: Arthur Morgan x Reader

Word count: 2.8k

Warnings: Swearing, Mention of death, Mourning

Summary: You never thought you’d love again. Then Arthur Morgan came into town. Fate continuously has you meeting each other in odd ways, and a troubled past is something you are both familiar with. Perhaps that’s what will make this time different.

Notes: A MASSIVE THANK YOU to @morgans-whore for helping me out with this!!! If you haven’t read their work, please do so immediately.

------

Worth’s General store was a large building at the end of the Main Street. Although obviously aging, Jacob Worth did his best to maintain the store as much as possible, and keep it as well stocked as he could for the citizens of Valentine. The store was small and dark, despite the bright day outside, but stocked to the brim with goods both local and exotic.

You stepped over the familiar threshold, and were immediately greeted by the friendly voice of Jacob, “Good morning!” You greeted him with a nod and a smile, moving to the left so that the excited child behind you could dart inside.

Ben immediately dashed to the small candy display near the register, bouncing up and down in excitement. His curls bounced with him while he looked at the selection with a grin that reminded you so much of his father. Small, dirty hands grabbed for a bar of chocolate and a bag of hard candies, holding them up to his face for closer examination.

“Are you looking for anything in particular today? We just got in some more of that coffee from Guarma that I know you’re fond of,” Jacob continued, standing behind the counter and keeping his eyes on your son. He indicated to a shelf behind him, with a sign bosting “Fresh Guarman Coffee! $1 per pound!”.

You smiled at him. “Thank you, Jacob, but we’re only here for picnic supplies today. I’ll come back later in the week to pick up more coffee and dry goods, if you could please hold some for me?” Jacob was a nice man, if a bit lonely of late. He had been very close to your husband, and made sure to take good care of you and Ben in recent years.

He nodded, grabbing one of the heavy bags off the shelf and putting it to the side behind the counter. “Of course, happy to,” he wrote your name on a slip of paper and put it on top of the bag. When he stood up, he brushed his fingers off on his apron, and then rose his hands to comb through his unkempt beard. “You going over to see Andrew today?”

With a bittersweet smile, you nodded in affirmation. “Yes, it’s been a while since we’ve gone over there. And since the weather is nice today, we thought we would have a picnic,” you explained, walking over to your son and ruffling his curly hair. “Isn’t that right, Ben?”

“Yep!” he exclaimed, still mostly focused on the candy in his hands. “And Mama said I could pick out a candy for today, right Mama?” He looked up at you, eyes wide with excitement, reminding you all the more of Andrew.

You couldn’t hold back the loving smile that lit up your face when he looked at you. The five years since Ben had been born had been tough, no doubt, but seeing the boy grow up was worth more than the world. He was becoming more and more like his pa as he got older, earning you a small, bittersweet ache in your heart every time you noticed the similarity.

Raising Ben together with Andrew on the little ranch outside of town had been your plan. The two of you had looked so forward to teaching him to care for animals, to giving him more siblings to play with, to raising him into the brilliant young man that he was indeed becoming. Unfortunately, fate had had other ideas. Only one of those wishes was coming to fruition, and you were forced to watch him grow up alone.

You had grown up in a small town on the eastern edge of New Austin, helping your parents in the saloon and restaurant they had owned, and sadly knew next to nothing about ranching. Andrew, on the other hand, was born on a small ranch just outside of town, and had practically been taking care of animals since he could walk. Sadly, Andrew had passed only a few months after Ben was born, and never got a chance to teach him anything or give him any siblings.

Ben’s determined decision brought you out of your bittersweet reverie. “I think I want chocolate today,” he said, before placing the small bag of hard candies back on the counter. “I like when it gets all melty when it’s hot. Then I can just lick it off the package and I don’t even gotta chew.” His rambling made both you and Jacob chuckle.

You went back to browsing the shelves, picking up a few apples and peaches, and asking Jacob for loaf of bread, dried beef, and some cheese. As a special treat for you and your son later, you picked up some assorted biscuits as well. The last things on your list were a small bottle of wine for yourself and a bottle of milk for Ben… who was now hiding something behind his back.

He had a shameful smile on his face, and was rocking back and forth from his heels to his tippy-toes. Behind him was an obviously empty space on the shelf where peppermint candies usually sat. He could have only been more obvious if he were whistling. The boy really was a horrible thief.

“Ben, sweetheart, put that down please,” you lightly scolded, getting ready to bring out your stern mother voice if need be. “You’ve got a chocolate bar for later, you don’t need more candy.”

Then again, there is no reasoning with a child. “But Papa’s favorite is peppermints. I wanna get some candy for him,” he says, eyes going wide and shining with definitely-fake tears. He brought the red and white striped package out from behind his back and showed it to you, eyes as wide and innocent as a puppy.

“Honey…” you rubbed the bridge of your nose as you spoke, and closed your eyes, torn between holding your ground and giving into the puppy-dog eyes.

“Please mama?” There it was, the lip tremble. This kid had you wrapped around his tiny little finger. “Please? They’re his favorite. I’ll leave the chocolate if I gotta.” And the cincher. He had to have known what he was doing, offering to put back his own treat to get peppermints for someone who couldn’t even enjoy them? He was a literal angel.

An angel you could simply not say no to.

“Oh, alright, you. Those puppy dog eyes are merciless, you know?” you concede, not hearing the door open behind you and the heavy footsteps coming your way.

The boy jumped in excitement, his curly hair bouncing with him, and ran up to the register to show his purchase to Jacob. You follow suit, pulling a few bills out from under the blanket in the basket and handing it to your friend across the counter.

“Peppermints AND chocolate?” came a husky voice from behind you. “You really must be worth more than I could afford.” You recognised the sound almost immediately, and turned to face the man from the night before. He was again standing casually, observing the scene before him with his fingers looped in his belt, and smiling softly at your son.

Seeing him again so soon made you smile. Last night may have been short, and may have amounted to nothing in the end, but flirting with him had certainly been fun. “Well, hello again Mountain Man,” you responded, teasing him with the nickname Anastasia had unintentionally bestowed on him the previous evening and making no pretense of hiding the fact that you were running your gaze up his body. Although he was wearing the same clothes as the evening before, and was significantly dirtier than you remembered him being before you left, he looked even more handsome in the light of day. “That’s certainly true, but maybe we can negotiate the price over a drink sometime?”

His soft smile that had been reserved for your son turned into an impressed smirk as his gaze drifted to you. “‘d be happy to,” he responded.

You glanced down at your son, who was still pre-occupied with the peppermints, and decided to forgo any further suggestive talk while he was with you. Which, unfortunately, meant that you weren’t entirely sure what to say next. “Well,” you managed, clearing your throat and turning to pick up the full picnic basket from the counter. “I certainly didn’t think I’d see you in the general store. Don’t you mountain men hunt all of your own food?”

Arthur barked out a laugh, throwing his head back with it. You were surprised about how attractive it was. “Shoa, if I weren’t such a bad shot, maybe,” he retorted, looking back at you. “‘m headin’ out for a bounty. Just need t’ stock up on some supplies before I leave.”

“Bounty?” That certainly surprised you. Though, now that you’ve had a better look at him, you supposed that he could be a bounty hunter. He did have multiple pistols in holsters at his hips and a couple of repeaters strapped to his back. Not to mention the fact that he could probably wrestle anyone to the ground with his bare hands alone.

“Yeah, some snake-oil salesman been pawning off poison to women with sick husbands,” he explained nonchalantly, pulling his hands from his belt and walking in your direction.

“Ah…” you drew in a sharp breath as he came closer to you, backing you up until you were nearly touching the shelves against the wall. Your heart was pounding in your ears, what was he playing at? He kept his eyes on yours the whole time, the same predatory look in them that you noticed last night, and you would have panicked if it weren’t for the mirth in them as well. Somehow, you could tell he wouldn’t hurt you. This was just a part of the game.

Without a word, and keeping his eyes locked with yours, he reached behind you and pulled a box of shotgun shells off the shelf.

When he had what he wanted, that stupid attractive smirk returned to his face and he stepped back, giving you room to breathe. “S’posed to be camped out by Cumberland Falls. Shouldn’t take long, if ya’d want to join me for that drink afterwards,” he explained, finally breaking his gaze from you and heading to the other side of the room to the display housing basic tonics.

Now that he wasn’t so close, now that he wasn’t looking at you like he wanted to eat you alive, you could finally let out the breath that you had apparently been holding. “I… I’m a bit busy today, I’m afraid,” you managed, holding up the basket full of picnic foods for him to see. Your heart was pounding, and it was certainly not from fear. You only hoped he wasn’t able to tell.

Completely oblivious to the situation before him, Ben strolled over to you from the cash register, where he had been chattering on to Jacob. “Yeah, we are going to see Papa!” he told Arthur excitedly. “We even got him candies!”

Your eyes snapped to your son at the sound of his voice, only to see him standing beside you with an opened bag of peppermints, one already in his mouth. Faking offense, you bent down to your son’s height and took the peppermint bag from him. “You said those were for papa, you little thief,” you teased, slipping the bag into your basket before reaching out to Ben’s sides.

The boy knew what was coming, and was preemptively laughing and trying to escape you. “He doesn’t mind sharing!” he giggled, backing away from you with a grin.

You narrowed your eyes playfully at the child. “Oh, sure he doesn’t,” you taunted before going in for the kill, “you sneak!” With that, you drew Ben toward you and began attacking him with tickles. Ben’s shrieks of laughter filled the room as the two men watched on with smiles on their faces.

“Mama, no!” shrieked Ben through his laughter. “No tickling! No tickling! Let’s go see Papa!” His laughter died down as you stopped tickling him and released him from your hold. He was breathless and grinning from ear to ear, eyes shining with glee. You simply adored him.

“Alright alright, let’s go, my little thief,” you said, giving him a purposefully loud, wet kiss on his cheek, which he proceeded to wipe off dramatically. He then dashed to the door, careful to keep out of arms’ reach, lest you try to catch him again. You followed him with a smile, stopping briefly at the door to say goodbye.

“Anyway, it was nice seeing you again, Mountain Man,” you said, turning to Arthur with a small wave of your left hand, the light glinting off your worn wedding ring.

He cleared his throat and tipped his hat as you turned back around to follow Ben. “Ma’am,” was his simple farewell, and if you had glanced back, you would have seen his eyes, focused on the ring on your finger in disappointment.

The cemetery, much like everything else in the small town, was just down the street from the general store. Ben ran slightly ahead of you, still within eyesight, the bag of peppermints once again held tightly in his tiny hand. You waved and said hello to the few people that you passed as you walked the short street, but all-in-all it took no time to get to where you needed to go.

Andrew was buried next to his parents, and you knew the space like the back of your hand. The grave was starting to age, but was generally well kept by both the town minister and yourself. It was situated toward the back of the cemetery, under a tree and away from the road - an ironically beautiful spot for a picnic. Andrew would have loved it.

Just an hour after leaving the general store, you sat atop your picnic blanket, a worn blue and white quilt sewn by yourself and your late mother-in-law during the early days of your marriage, under the shade of the large tree with a book in hand. The half-eaten loaf of bread, leftover cheese, and beef were packed neatly back into the picnic basket, leaving you and Ben plenty of space to lounge.

Peppermints had been scattered over the blanket and beside the grave itself, as Ben played with a wooden horse on top of the weathered stone. He spoke quietly, voice still full of excitement, to his father’s and grandparents’ graves as he played. The book you were holding, a cheap romance novel that you had borrowed from Margaret a few weeks prior, didn’t manage to hold your interest, and you were lost in thought.

About Andrew. About the past. About what could have been.

Andrew had been beyond excited for your pregnancy, even going as far as building a small nursery onto the small house once he had inherited it from his parents. It had been a hard time for him, torn between the sadness of losing his parents to cholera not a year prior and the excitement of bringing a child into the world with the woman he loved. Thankfully, the entire town had been there to support him: his friends stopped by whenever they could, the Downes next door helped out on the ranch when they got a chance, Ms. Chadwick had even taken to stopping by on a weekly basis to help you during the pregnancy.

It had all gone surprisingly smoothly, and a little over a year after his grandparents’ passing, little Ben was safely brought into the world. The first few months were an exhausted dream, taking care of a child, your child, together. Waking up at dawn to feed Ben and make coffee for Andrew before he went out to take care of the animals. Days spent feeding and playing with your son, working as much as you could, and waiting for Andrew to take a break so you could coo over the little one together. Nights spent cuddled together, looking adoringly at the face of the perfect child that the two of you had brought into this world.

It was so wonderful, and so tragically short-lived, that you sometimes weren’t sure if it hadn’t all been a dream.

But then you remember Ben, so much like his father in so many ways, and the bittersweet memory of that time solidifies in your mind. It was no dream. It was short-lived, exhausting, and too perfect to last. Andrew was gone, but he still lived on in your son, and you wouldn’t trade him for the world.

An excited squeal from the boy brought you back to the present, and you turned to watch him race his wooden horse across the headstones decorated with your family’s names. Not far away, Arthur was also alerted by the sudden shrill noise. Watching the two of you, as he stood by his horse and covered with grime, sweat, and dirt, he smiled.

#Arthur Morgan x reader #arthur morgan #rdr2 #rdr2 fanfic #red dead redemption 2 #f!reader #arthur morgan x f!reader

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dumbbitchenergy17 · 3 years

Text

Extra Part 10

U.A. a school for students to learn how to become the best Pro-Hero. When young Y/n Midoriya returns from her traveling to be accepted through recommendation. What awaits her when she meet the explosive blonde Katsuki Bakugo

Words- 4471

Katsuki Bakugo x Midoriya!Reader, Izuku Midoriya x Cousin!Reader

Warning-Spoilers from show and Hero license Arc, and fighting scenes.

Series Masterlist

After everyone had joined they continued on with the exam, “Oh, right for the hundred of you who passed the first test, please turn your attention to the screen,” The screen in front of you lights up showing the arena.

“It’s the test arena,” Izuku comments.

“What happens next?” Uraraka questions. You all watch as buildings begin to explode as well as other parts of the area get destroyed.

“What the hell.” You watch as structures collapse destroy the entirety of the arena.

“There’s only one more round to the exam. Your goal is simple: Undertake rescue exercises and save the bystanders who are trapped in these disaster sites.” The announcer explains the next exam.

Both Kaminari and Mineta look confused “Save the what now?”

“Bystanders. We learned about them in class, remember?” You try to spark their memories, “They’re people at a disaster scene.”

“It can also simply refer to innocent citizens on the street.” Momo adds.

The announcement continues. “Use this time to show us how you will carry out successful rescue procedures once you receive your provisional licenses. Treat this as though it were a real thing.”

“Look on the screen.” Shoji points out

“Little kids and old people?” Sato gasp.

“That’s so dangerous, why are they here?” Mineta adds.

“These specialists have been trained as professional ‘persons in need of rescue’ They’re very popular introducing the ‘Help Us Company’, also known as HUC for short”

Sero crosses his arms looking at the Tv “So, they’re basically actors, I guess?”

“It’s the kind of job you never think about, ribbit.” Asui points out

“But a necessary one in our world, since they support our hero training.” Ojiro noted

“The HUC bystanders have dressed up like injured victims and will be located throughout the disaster site. We'll be judging on how well you keep them safe as you go about your mission, We’ll be scoring you on a point system. If you have more points than the benchmark at the time the exercise ends then you pass the exam. We’ll start in ten minutes and take care of any necessary preparations now.”

Most of your classmates head off to go prepare for the next part of the exam. You head over to one of the tables to grab some water and a quick snack. You could feel a presence next as you went to go reach for some water when they grabbed the one you were going to. You turned and saw it was one of the students from Ketsubutsu you think you met earlier. He hands you the water bottle and you nod confused you could have grabbed it.

“Uh thanks..”

“Yo Shindo.” You nod using your quirk to get a piece of milk bread to come to you as you were too lazy to walk over. Shindo watches in awe as the bread floats to you and you grab it taking a bite from it.

“Um bye.” You said turning around heading towards your classmates, he rushes to follow you getting in front of you.

“Uh your quirk is pretty cool.” He stumbles over his words trying to remain calm in front of you.

“Thanks only gets better with training.” You state taking a sip of your water.

“I’m Yo Shindo.” He holds out his hand.

“You already said that earlier.” You smile when his face turns red and he stumbles over his words rubbing that back of neck.

“It’s fine really, I’m Y/n Midoriya.” You shake his hand giving him a smile he nods.

“I didn’t see you at the sports festival, did you not participate?” He questioned not remembering your face on the TV.

“I only joined this summer, I used to travel so I got in through recommendation.” You explained and he looked more impressed.

“Wow.” He looked at you as if you created the stars.

You heard shouting and you turned seeing Kaminari and Mineta harassing Izuku, you sigh turning to him. “Sorry I gotta deal with stuff I’ll see you around during the exam.” You give him a wave, him giving you one back and you make your wave to the boys. You throw out the empty bottle, finishing up your bread as you use your quirk to pull Denki and Mineta away from your cowering cousin. “What the hell is going on?” You look at the two boys glaring at Izuku.

“Midoriya got to see that smoking hot babe’s body naked.” Mineta pointed over to a girl from Shiketsu still waving. You release them from your hold pinching your bridge nose sighing.

“I don’t have time for this boy drama.” You turn away from them, Izuku crying out in distress as they go bombarding him again.

“Oh, hey it’s Shiketsu.” Kirishima munches on a piece of bread as their school comes over to you all.

“Bakugo.” Mora greets him. He was the one who was covered in hair

“What.” Bakugo grumbles,

“I think you met Shishikura in the test. My classmate with the flesh-molding power?”

Bakugo looked uninterested “Yeah. I took him out.”

“I thought so. I’m guessing he may have acted rudely, or perhaps offended you. He has a tendency to try and push his own values onto others. He probably couldn’t help it in your case, since you’re pretty famous. I apologize for him, I’d like to build a good relationship between our schools.” The way he spoke chilled you and it was hard to tell his expression with all that hair.

“I-I guess he wants to be friends?” Mineta shuddered

“So he says.” Izuku is exactly as fearful, “But the way they were fighting, it didn’t seem that way.”

Mora nods walking away “Anyway that’s it.”

You and Kirishima look at each other and shrug and he went to get more food as you watched the Shiketsu students leave. The way Mora acted seemed to hide hidden ideals, you didn’t get to think more as an alarm went off before you were directed to the TV.

“Villains have performed a large-scale terrorist attack spanning all of Insert City Name Here. Since most buildings collapsed there are many injured,” The room around begins to open up again just like before in the beginning “Due to heavily damaged roads, the first responders have unfortunately been delayed for the time being. Until emergency services arrive, the heroes in the arrive will lead the rescue efforts. Your task is to save as many people as you can and help the injured. And with that..” A loud blare goes off and everyone begins to run “BEGIN!” He never stated how this whole point system was going to work so every action counts.

“Let’s start by heading to the nearest urban area. We’ll work as a team as much as possible.” Ida calls out to the class

“You’re going on your own again?” Mina calls out to Bakugo who starts leaving the group and then turns next to you “Are you not going to follow?”

You shook your head following the group in front of you. “Ida’s plan for us to all work as a team will benefit all of us with what the judging is.” You explain.

“Even though this is just a test, it feels pretty real.” Asui looks around the area as you try to find anyone.

“Stay alert!” Ojiro calls out, “be careful of falling debris and explosions.”

You see Izuku stop in front of you turning to face one of the buildings and you go up to him. “What’s wrong Izuku?”

“Do you hear that?” He asks as the group tries to listen and then you hear faint crying. “I hear someone.” Izuku heads in the direction of the cries with the group following behind.

“Help me, please!” Someone calls out and you rush over to him. “My grandpa! He’s been crushed. I think he’s hurt.” He cries and you can see that there is some blood on his forehead.

“Oh no. This looks bad. Where is he?” Izuku analyzes the situation

“This looks bad?” The HUC actor yells breaking character, “That’s points off your score!” and Izuku yelps at his reaction. “The first thing you should do is see how bad my injuries are and if I can walk. I’m breathing kinda weird, too, aren’t I? And didn’t you even notice that I’m bleeding from the head?” He yells at your class, “People with Hero licenses should be able to judge a victim’s condition in an instant!” Are the members of HUC going to be the ones scoring us? “Your gross lack of training is all too apparent right now. You better shape up and pay attention, newbies! You’re not just here to provide aid. Until the police and firefighters show up, you need to exercise authority and make sure this goes off smoothly. Think of the victims here. They must be terrified. There are many aspects of being a hero. But take note, there is one thing to keep in mind above all else. Anyone in need of reducing is having the worst day of their lives. And the first thing you said was ‘This looks bad’? Seriously?” He scolds you all and you see Izuku slap his hands to his face.

“Hey! It’s fine!” Izuku gives him a smile bending down to his level. There is a brief pause before the actor gets back into character crying

“Over there! My grandpa!”

“Don’t you worry. We’ll definitely save him. I can carry this boy to the first aid station myself. You guys, go on without me!” Izuku reassures the actor while addressing the group. You nod heading off to go find more bystanders. It had been a while traveling through the rubble and debris being wary of explosions and such.

“Wait, look, someone is trapped under here.” Momo points over to where you see a elderly man under debris, “I believe he is still conscious.” She deduces.

“I’ll use my quirk to get him out.” Uraraka begins to make her way over but Momo stops her.

“That wall near him looks like it will collapse.” Momo creates metal poles and directs Sero to use his tape to stabilize the wall, then Uraraka went and removed the rubble slowly. There wasn��t much for you and your other classmates as the three of them worked.

“We aren’t going to save anyone just standing here.” Mineta whined and for once the little creep was right.

“It would be smart for our class to split up into smaller groups.” Shoji suggested and you all nodded.

“Our best way of passing is communicating and working together with the other schools to save the civilians.” Ida states. You go off into smaller groups, you are with Mina, Jiro, and Ojiro. You had to travel further into the city looking for any victims.

“Hear anything Jiro?” Mina asked the girl kneeling her earphone jacks inserted into the ground. She stood up and pointed towards where the highway you fought at in the beginning of the exam was destroyed.

You headed over to the location and that when Mina called out the three of you. “Guys I found someone, hey you’re going to be okay I have friends here to help you.” You went to where Mina was and she was calming down an older man.

“He doesn’t have any abnormal responses but his leg is pinned down and we have to be careful if the highway has any falling rubble.” Mina explained pointing to the location where you could see his leg was pin down his pant leg was red but you knew it wasn’t really blood.

“Please help me I can’t feel my leg!” the man cried.

“It’s going to be okay sir, Ojiro you and I will lift the rubble up and Mina and Jiro as soon as you can pull him out, this area isn’t that stable so we need to be careful but also quick.” You ordered and they nodded. Mina and Jiro got into position, Mina holding underneath his arms and Jiro by his legs. Ojiro placed his tail underneath the rubble and your hands glowed red. “Ready, 1..2..3!” You and Ojiro pulled the rock up and Mina and Jiro pulled him out. The two girls pulled him a safe distance for you both to let go of the rubble. They helped the man up to his feet letting him put his weight on the two of them. “Okay let’s get you to a safe location.” You all made your way out of the destroyed highway zone to more clearer areas. Suddenly you could feel rumbling and loud explosions towards the area where you all started at the beginning of the exam.

“Isn’t that where the shelter zone is at?” Jiro commented and an announcement came over the stadium.

“Villains have appeared and they are wreaking havoc on the city, the heroes must suppress them as well continue carrying out rescue maneuvers.”

“Villains and continuing rescue operations? They really want to make this as really as possible.” Jiro points out as you head away from the explosion.

“The only thing we can do is find a new location for civilians and hope any students nearby are dealing with the situation.” Ojiro adds and you all focus on the task at hand. You had found the other examinees setting up a new shelter area and more students with bystanders showing up. You were a reasonable distance from the fight and you could see the occasional gust of wind and fire. You had looked over the examinees and citizens trying to see if you could find Izuku.

“You should go help them.” You turn and see Mina looking at you, you shook your head turning back to people resetting up the shelter zone.

“I’ll be better helping here if we need to move again. Anyway my quirk is better for defense then combat.” You go back to helping pass medical equipment to one of the examinees checking a bystander.

“I’ve seen you fight in training during school and when we don’t have classes. Your quirk is definitely more than just defense, you can move things with your freakin mind. You could end that fight in seconds, they need you Y/n.” She pulls you away from helping and pushing you into the direction of the fight, “So go over there and show those people in the stands that you are going to be the next number one.” You smiled taking a deep breath in and turned back to her.

“You are literally my favorite.” She laughed, shooing you off and you sent a quick wave before turning towards the fight and taking off running. You could see both Shoto and that one student from Shiketsu trying to fight the “villain” who was Gang Orca. You remember seeing him during the Kamino Raid. Whenever Todoroki tried using his fire and Yoarashi with his wind they both cancelled each other or didn’t affect Gang Orca at all. Todoroki tried using his fire again but Yoarashi used his wind quirk which deflected his flames in the wrong direction.

Heading towards a paralyzed Shindo “No! He’ll be incinerated!” Todoroki thinks unable to stop the flames heading towards the student. Right before the flames can reach two people reach there at the same time. Izuku using his enhanced speed to rescue Shindo, and Y/n landing previously where the boy was using her quirk to stop the flames.

“Dammit what are you two doing!” Izuku yells at the two of them, bringing Shindo to a safer distance.

“Are you two really bicker during a fight.” You commented as Gang Orca’s goons came your way. They had fired their cement guns towards you but you stopped the cement mid-flight sending it back their way. You stuck multiple people together with the cement, keeping your distance to not get over crowded with a more mid-range attack. While you were focused on his sidekicks, Gang Orca grabs Todoroki and uses his soundwave on Yoarashi, knocking him out of the sky. You send a wave of energy towards Gang Orca’s sidekicks sending them flying back rushing over to a falling Yoarashi. You used your quirk to soften his impact with the ground. Facing Gang Orca you got ready to fight your eyes turning red as energy surrounding your hands.

“You're foolish thinking you can take me on by yourself.” He tries to intimidate you.

“As long as those civilians are safe I’ll fight you with everything I got!” You call, a smirk appears on his face as he makes his way towards you. He uses his sonic wave to immobilize you, bringing your hands up to block his attack with a force field getting pushed back by the strength of it even when protected. Running to him going into a close combat fight, throwing punches mixed in with the psionic energy. Gang Orca is pushed back when you throw a ball of energy at his chest, his feet digging into the floor. ‘Just keep fighting until everyone is safe and rescued’ You remind yourself. Punches and kicks are thrown, Gang Orca using his Sonic wave but you keep putting up a force field protecting you.

“How long will you be able to last?” He sees your reaction time getting slower to his attacks. You get back up to your feet ready to keep fighting. Gang Orca sends another Sonic Wave towards you stronger and faster than the other ones. You are not going to be able to protect yourself. Bring your arms up hoping that you have a small force field so you are not fully immobilized. You don’t feel any pain or effect of his quirk, then you hear struggling.

There was Gang Orca cover in a light red haze, your hands had energy a darker red than it’s ever been. “My quirk..” you hear him struggle trying to use his sonic wave to break out of your grasp but he couldn’t.

Dropping your hands the red disappears and he quickly attacks while you are confused on what happened. You flew back, rolling landing on your back looking up to the sky. Your ears rang and you could hear you breathing most noise muffled as the fight continued around you. Why can’t I hear? Turning your head when you felt a wave of heat and there was a huge fire tornado, when did this happen? You couldn’t do anything but watch as the blazing whirlwind is destroyed by Gang Orca who was inside it. You didn’t get to view the rest of the fight when your vision was turned away by Mina who is kneeling above you. Her mouth was moving talking to you but everything was muffled.

“What…” you gazed up at your friend as she helped you up from laying down to sitting up.

Slowly her voice became more clear and the noise around you returned. “Y/n are you okay when the rest of us came to help I saw you on the ground and thought the worst.” You nodded and looked around and saw Izuku standing next to Gang Orca but they weren’t fighting. Before you could question the loud speaker came on.

“All your scores have been tallied. For those who have suffered injuries, head to the infirmary and for those who aren’t to change back into their normal clothes and await for further instructions.” So the exam was over and all you did in the end was stare at the sky.

“Come one let’s get you checked out.” She grabbed your arm helping you to your feet. You both made your way out of the arena when you felt eyes on you. Looking back you saw Gang Orca looking at you, looking back forward you let Mina lead you away. How did I do that? After being checked out you had a bit of a concussion when you got hit at the end of the fight, but it didn’t explain the bloody nose and blood coming from your ears.

You got cleaned up and changed back into your school uniform gathered in front of a screen. “Okay. Everyone, thanks for your hard work in today’s exam. Now before I announce the results. I should probably explain the way we evaluated you, between HUC and those of us at the Heroes public Safety Commission. We had a two-fold demerit system that we used to determine your total scores. In other words, we were evaluating you based on how few mistakes you made in a crisis situation. Anyway, the names of those who passed are listed here in alphabetical order. Keep my words in mind as you search the screen for your name.” The screen in front of you all turns on with a list of names. Come M.. Midoriya. You look through all the M’s and there it was Midoriya Y/n. You passed!

Mina tackles you into a hug “We both passed look at us! One step closer to being Pros.” You laugh as you other classmates freak out about passing. You glance through the board and can’t find Bakugo’s name.

“Todoroki!” You all turn to see Yoarashi slamming his head into the ground in front of Todoroki. “I’m sorry! It’s my fault that you failed the test. My focus was too narrow minded.”

Todoroki doesn’t move before stepping forward. “You’re fine. I was the one that got us off to a bad start. And thanks to the things you said to me, I have a lot to think about.”

“Holy crap. Did he really fail?” Mina asked

“How could our top two classmates not pass the exam?” Sero said out loud.

“Shoulda been more careful what you said. Words are important, you know.” Denki teases Bakugo and Bakugo looks ready to kill.

“Shut your mouth before I murder you.” He hissed and Denki's face went pale.

“Those entitled people at the top think so highly of themselves, don’t they?” Mineta joins into the conversation, “Their own egos are their worst enemies.” He grabs onto Todoroki’s shoulder “Looks like our class hierarchy is collapsing”

A red haze surrounds Mineta and he’s thrown away from your classmates. Todoroki gives you a nod and thanks and you respond, but a sharp pain in your head has you hissing pressing a hand to your forehead.

“You okay Y/n?” Mina looks over at you but you wave her off.

“I’m fine, I probably shouldn’t use my quirk with a concussion.”

“When did you get that.” Sero asked as you stopped rubbing your head feeling better.

“When I was fighting Gang Orca.”

“You fought Gang Orca!” Denki and Sero yelled, making your head hurt more and they lowered their voices.

“He’s like the number 10 Hero and you like actually fought him.” Denki asked and you nodded.

“Todoroki and Yoarashi were down and everyone was busy with the evacuation. I did what I could but then…” You froze remembering Gang Orca struggling unable to use his quirk, but you can’t stop people’s quirks right? Your friends look at you confused when you stopped talking to tell what happened, “Um… all I remember after a bit was that I was on the ground with Mina there and the exam was over, not a big deal.”

The boys nodded and Mina squeezed your hand and you didn’t see Bakugo still staring at you. What really happened in that fight.

“So next we’ll give you the printouts of your results. They include a breakdown of your scores, so you’ll know exactly what areas you need to improve going forward.” People came out handing out papers to each of you giving a breakdown on your profile during the exam. “We lopped off points when you did something wrong. Fall below 50, and you’re done. These demerits are itemized on your result forms, as you’ll see so I’d look at them.”

“Mina what did you get?” You looked off your paper turning to your friend who was glazing over hers.

“I got a 80 seems I’m pretty good at these things, what about you?”

“Eh I got a 85 they mainly took points off when I went to fight by myself instead of helping the evacuation or at least bring someone with me.”

Mina's arm went over your shoulder pulling you into a side hug. “I think you did the right thing. You were able to single handedly fight a Pro on your own, that’s freaking awesome.” you smile thanking her and the announcer continued on,

“Anyway, moving forward those of you who passed can exercise the same authority as pro heroes, but only during emergency situations. In other words fighting villains, saving the victims of criminal acts or accidents. You may act using your best judgement with no direct orders. Keep in mind that your every action from now on carries with it the deep responsibility toward bettering society, and that the world is watching you. I’m sure you’re aware that All Might, our greatest hero, no longer has his incredible power. One of the reasons crime in this county has been so low is due to his presence. With that deterrent gone, criminals are sure to become bolder and more widespread. Expect the balance we currently have in our world to be destroyed, and for things to change quickly.”

“You young people will be the hope for our future. It’s Imperative that you become exemplary heroes. That your reputation grows to suppress crime as did his. Remember the license you earn today is provisional and you still have much to do. I would like for you to think of yourselves as fledglings, and be even more diligent in your studies. And as for those who fell short and did not pass. We don’t have time for you to feel bitter about your loss. Instead, we offer you a chance to redeem yourselves. After you attend a three-month-long special course and pass an individual test, we plan to issue a provisional license to those of you who failed as well. In order for us to reach the idyllic future that I just spoke of, we’re going to need as many good heroes on the streets as we can get. The first round was one to weed people out. But we would like to grow the 100 selected in that test as much as possible. That's' why we watched you all until the very end. So we can see for ourselves that you each have promise. That once your shortcomings are corrected, you have the potential to be as great as your fellow classmates. This special course will keep you busy as it will run concurrently with your normal studies. You’re welcome to retake the exam in April if you prefer to wait.” He had finished his speech and with that the provisional license exam was complete.

#mha #bmha #mha bakugou #mha quirks #mha x reader #mha x y/n #bakugou katsuki #Katsuki Bakugō #bakugou x reader #bnha bakugo katsuki #katsuki bakugo x reader #my hero academia #izuku midoriya #bakugo x midoriya!reader #x midoriya!reader #katsuki x midoriya!reader #izuku x cousin!reader #deku x cousin!reader #hero license exam

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cylonalyna · 4 years

Text

Alyna watches Xena! S01x01 – Sins of the Past

Beware. For the road is long and full of spoilers… I mean, if a 25 years old show can be spoiled. But fair warning.

I was never a fan of Hercules so when I watched the pilot I didn’t know what Xena’s back story was and that it was Hercules who convinced her to change her ways. And because I didn’t know that, I thought Xena was just this ex-evil warrior who changed her ways because of some reason known to her. Anyway, I remember watching this episode out of boredom and thinking it’s just a female version of Hercules, but oh boy, was I wrong. Thankfully. And this thing here was supposed to be short but I made a very long recap of the episode. Sorry not sorry, I’m gonna be making recaps of the series. Yes, every single episode… Not regularly... And it's gonna be long… Deal with it.

And maybe read it and let me know what you think. :)

Oh, and if there are any grammatical or punctuation errors also let me know. English isn't my first language so there might be some things to fix. :)

We start with Xena is going through some burned village reminiscing on her past when she was just killing, pillaging and burning villages… And people too, I guess. And then there’s this boy coming out of a burned house asking for food. And when Xena asks him where his parents are, he says Xena killed them. He describes her attack as if the goddess herself showed up and fucked the village up for no reason and Xena is all like:

And it’s really one of the best moments of a pilot, because we’re shown flashback of the attack so even without watching Hercules and meeting Xena there we can see she used to be a bad bitch. So before leaving she gives the kid some bread and cheese so he could hide in his burned house and eat something before he dies of some sickness, gets killed, is eaten by wild animals in search for food etc. Brilliant plan boy, you’re a prodigy.

So then we have the scene where Xena digs a hole and puts her armor her sword and chakram there and frankly, she’s not really a clean lady since there’s still blood and some meat pieces on her chakram.

*rule #1 - wash your weapons from enemies intestines*

And suddenly, a whole bunch of villagers is chased by some warlord taken straight from Mad Max movie. Xena observes the situation, the Mad Max warlord says he’s gonna get the girls (men, smh) and then this blonde girl is all like “take me and leave everyone” and warlords are like “lmfao, nope” and Xena is all like:

*Carless Whisper saxophone solo intensifies*

Because frankly, who wouldn’t be? I know I had the same reaction to Gabrielle so I get Xena. I totally get it.

So when the warlord wants to whip Gabrielle for being insubordinate Xena suddenly jumps into action and starts kicking ass. We get backflips, kicks, punches and a really awesome action sequence until Xena is hit in the head (because she was watching if Gabrielle was safe and it got her distracted. Again, totally understandable).

Men are standing there groaning “argh, grr, rghhg” or something like that and then BOOM! Xena takes out her sword from the hole and with a laugh starts fighting them. And you can see how much fun she has. She kicks warlords’ asses and realizes they’re from Draco so she tell them to say hello from Xena. But who’s Draco? What does he do? Is he more evil then Xena? We don’t know! And… opening!

In a time of ancient gods, warlords… Well, you know it.

So later on Xena is in this small village surrounded by the villagers and Gabrielle is fawning over her and the whole situation, and Gabrielle’s father comes in being all like “thanks for saving us, but now GTFO” and this tall dude behind him wants to take Gabrielle. But Gabrielle is all like “dude, I know I’m supposed to marry you against my will and then die in childbirth or of boredom, but I’m not gonna listen to you. GTFO”. So when he leaves, Gabrielle begs Xena to take her with her. Xena being stoic and supposedly unmoved by Gabrielle words of course disagrees, because “she works alone” and… Then she tells Gabrielle she’s going to Amphipolis, because OF COURSE Gabrielle wouldn’t try and follow her. Nope. Not at all. And she goes like “don’t follow me, you don’t wanna make me mad, do you?” and of course Gabrielle is all like “yeah, no sure, I get it” but then is of course “meh, she’s not that scary. I just need a plan!”

So we move to Draco’s camp where he’s without shirt exposing his bare chest, being all handsome and shit, and being badass when catching almost four arrows at once. But then he’s sort of colorblind… I mean he notices the color of the arrow that wounded him but can’t see who has green arrows when the dude’s arrows are visible from behind his back...

*seriously Draco…*

Anyway, later he’s alone and Xena sneaks in and they have the whole who's tougher bitch, which is Xena of course, and she asks him to leave the village alone (because of her future wife or something) and Draco’s all like “yeah, sure… If you join me” and when Xena says she can’t join Draco, being a typical man he asks why. And we get this really awesome scene where Xena dramatically turns her back, stares at nothing and says she’s going home. OH, DRAMA!

So Draco becomes even a bigger drama queen than Xena and tells our warrior saying he’s dreamt of being in love with her or… fighting in battle or whatever, can’t remember, but Xena turns and Draco goes all soft and says he’ll spare those villagers. But he also asks Xena what's she looking for at home. Being still in drama mode he tells her that when he tried to come home his dad beat the shit out of him with a blacksmith’s hammer. And he survived that. Damn, he IS badass! I mean, have you people ever seen a blacksmith hammer?!

*10/10 wouldn't recommend this an educational tool*

Meanwhile, Gabrielle wants to escape home in the middle of the night and while sneaking out she… Hits strategically placed table waking up her sister Lila. Gabrielle explains to her she needs to follow Xena because she’s in lo… She wants to be a warrior like her and that she doesn’t love Perdicus and it’s her destiny. So Lila being a supportive sister is all like “Go, chase your girlf…. Dreams! Just do it!” and Gabrielle leaves.

*Lila being a supportive sister*

It’s daylight and Xena is riding Argo when suddenly her horse stops all afraid. So Xena gets off the horse that suddenly runs away and… The Blind Cyclops shows up with Draco’s dad’s blacksmith’s hammer! (I honestly don’t know if I used Saxon Genitive in the right way, but I hope you get the meaning). Xena is all like “Fuuuck, that’s a big hammer!” which makes the Blind Cyclops even more badass than he already is, but she stands to fight and humiliates him by dropping his pants. He starts bawling like a baby and Xena leaves him and continues her journey to Amphipolis, because she has no time to deal with Cyclops drama.

But Draco is plotting against Xena. He decides to attack Amphipolis and pretend it was Xena who told him to do it. Plot thickens, you guys.

Gabrielle is afraid of bridges… And gets caught by…Yes, you guessed right. The Blind Cyclops. But being a smart girl she says she’s out here to find and kill Xena because… And here we have very subtexty dialogue:

C: “How’s the young thing like you is gonna kill Xena?”

G: “That’s the point. She’d never let a man get close enough to do her. At least not that kind of do her. But a young, innocent looking girl like me, I’ll catch her totally off guard…

*You sure will, Gabrielle. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*

At the same time, Xena is being followed by Draco’s warlords. They’re dumb enough to think she doesn’t know so she goes all ninja on them, fingers the Mad Max warlord… I mean, she cuts the blood to his body… Pervs. ;) And when she learns about the plan she leaves to stop the invasion.

In the next scene, Gabrielle is chilling out on the road when some old dude stops and tells her to GTFO, because she’s blocking the only route to Amphipolis. So Gabrielle convinces him to take her with him and the old dude agrees.

So while Gabrielle and the old man are traveling on the only route to Amphipolis, Xena is taking a detour through the hills for dramatic effect or something. Basically, New Zealand… I mean Greece is a beautiful place so why not show it, right? Right?

She meets those peasant women singing Bulgarian… I mean Greek chants and rides through them, but they don’t give a shit being too into chanting and putting on stacks of… Hay, I guess. Meh, whatever.

So Xena reaches Amhipolis and goes into a tavern to drink wine and sleep with beautiful women. But unfortunately it’s not that kind of a tavern and there’s no wine and beautiful women to sleep with. All she meets are angry people, silence and… wait for it… her mother, Cyrene!

Cyrene grabs Xena’s sword and tells her she’s not welcomed there and she should GTFO. Xena wants to rally people against Draco but Cyrene is against and she tells Xena she’d rather die and that she’s not her mother. And it’s a rather powerful stuff, because we only know glimpses of Xena’s past so we don’t really know how big her crimes are. Of course burning one village and killing peasants is a big no no, but Xena is too big of a character to be hated for such a minor offense. Anyway, villagers in the tavern also tell Xena to GTFO so she does.

Draco is pissed that Mad Max warlord told Xena about his plans and tells him to pick a weapon. Sadly it’s not Draco’s father’s blacksmith’s hammer because that’s been stolen by the Blind Cyclops, but a simple spear. Still, Draco proves to be truly awesome by kicking Mad Max warlord’s ass and killing him while telling new plans to his people. Truly, he was a great choice for a pilot.

In the morning, Xena comes back to the tavern looking around hoping to find some wine and beautiful ladies to sleep with, but to her disappointment there are still none. But her sword is there. And her mom is there. Oh boy, this tension between them could cut diamonds in half. But we get a bonding moment where Cyrene and Xena open old wounds so they could heal, and Xena tells her mother she might not be able to set things right, but she’s gonna spend the rest of her life to try. It’s another great moment in this show where we see Xena in her vulnerable state and not all powerful and strong. And this moment is ruined by villagers coming into the tavern saying Xena’s army is burning fields to which Xena answers they’re lying, Cyrene feels all hurt thinking it was all a ruse and leaves, and villagers start throwing rocks at our warrior princess.

But then Gabrielle comes to the rescue! Because Gabrielle has a natural talent to talk her way out of troubles, she uses it to save Xena. She uses a cunning bluff of “if you hurt bad guy’s girlfriend imagine how pissed he’ll be”. So the villagers reluctantly agree and decide to not commit murder. After a small talk Xena takes Gabrielle on her horse and takes her to her dead brother. Because, you know, there’s no better start of a romance than a visit at the crypt.

So Xena is talking to his dead brother saying she’s lost but that she’s gonna be ok, but that she’s alone and then Gabrielle shows up saying she’s not. And by the way that they’re looking at each other we’re to believe these two weren’t into each other from the beginning? Please.

*they’ve known each other for like 1 hour and we get those looks already? So straight indeed*

Meanwhile, the villagers are waiting for Draco to make a deal, but when he shows up he’s threatening to destroy everything and kill everyone unless they tell him where Xena is. And this is another great moment for Draco, because he really is a scary and ruthless dude and I really wish he was more in this show then just 3 episodes. It was a wasted character, imo.

Anyway, while threatening the leader to kill him, Xena shows up and Draco makes fun of her asking about the homecoming. Again, he tries to convince Xena to join him and goes all Palpatine saying she should “celebrate her dark side”, but Xena is all like “pfft, fuck off and let’s fight to the death”. Draco tells her to choose weapons, but Xena leaves the choice to Draco. Now, Draco being a really smart guy and someone who knows how good Xena is with swords, chooses staffs. I’m sure he believes it’ll give him advantage or at least even oit the odds. Xena chooses the conditions and her conditions are to fight on a scaffolding. The first person to touch the ground is gonna die. Draco agrees and tells his people that whoever falls first is to be killed.

Doing a flip with the help of his people he gets to a scaffolding and grabs his staff. Xena is way more of a showgirl. She hits the dude with his staff and when he leans down she jumps on his back and then on a head of another warlord and jumps to meet her opponent.

They start fighting. It’s an even fight and Draco proves to be a worthy opponent. Soon Xena has to fight to stay on the bamboo scaffolding as it starts to fall off. The archers prepare to shoot, Cyrene shows up and everyone is thinking if she’s gonna fall. But no, Xena standing on one bamboo stick starts hitting bamboos under Draco’s feet to make him back out and leave him vulnerable. But Draco stands tough and very soon he manages to make Xena almost fall again. She manages to hang on her staff, her legs barely touching the ground. Cyrene starts panicking, being all teary, because, come on, she’s a mom. No matter how pissed our moms are at us, they worry 24/7.

Draco starts hiting Xena’s hands wanting her to let go and fall, asking her why she would die for the people that hate her. But Xena grabs Draco’s staff with her feet and doing a truly awesome backflip she manages to stand on the scaffolding again attacking him. Draco almost falls but jumps on people’s heads and give Xena a signal to join him.

And the same villagers who earlier denied Xena her wine and beautiful women to sleep with, and wanted her dead are now supporting her… Literally. She manages to stand on the arms of one person and attacks Draco. They do backflips, kicks, punches and all that for a few minutes and then with one swift kick to the chest Draco falls down on the ground and Xena jumps on his chest looking down upon him to let him know he’s just a little bitch and not a match to her skills. Xena promises to spare Draco if he leaves the valley and he agrees.

But one of his warlords decides to sneakily attack Xena from behind. Gabrielle’s warns her, but before the warrior can react Draco throws his knife at him. After all, Draco may be a ruthless warlord, but he’s honorable.

After the fight Xena is preparing to leave when Cyrene shows up and hugs Xena, who asks again for forgiveness and is, of course, given that. It's a truly awesome moment in this pilot.

But, and honestly I have no idea why, Xena doesn’t stay in the tavern for wine and beautiful women to sleep with. Maybe there is no wine and beautiful women to sleep with after all. Instead, Xena starts a fire near some woods when she hears some noise and goes into a warrior mode. But, as it turns out, it’s just Gabrielle saying she wanted to follow Xena without her noticing, but she couldn’t start a fire and it’s cold and there are mosquitoes looking lkke eagles or something.

Xena wants to send her back home, but Gabrielle says she won’t go. There’s a talk about not belonging there and Xena seems to understand Gabrielle completely. So when she gives Gabrielle a blanket we get one of the most beautiful moments in the pilot.

*couldn't find gif so you're stuck with bad screenshot*

And in the morning we see Xena and Gabrielle travelling to new adventures to right wrongs, drink wine and… Oh forget it.

This episode is all kinds of awesomeness. It’s a great introduction to a character of Xena even to those, like me, who didn’t know her from Hercules. It has tons of very well choreographed fights, amazing music and it’s a rreally strong pilot that makes you wanna see more.

10/10

#xena warrior princess #xena #gabrielle #xena and gabrielle #lucy lawless #renee o'connor #sins of the past #01x01 #alyna watches xena

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blazingopus · 4 years

Text

Pull Me Under - Stardust Crusaders

When I set out to write this story, I did not intend for it to be so emotional. I guess that’s what you get when you take inspiration from a song about Hamlet. Please enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGRgAULYgWE

All that I feel is honor and spite

All I can do is to set it right

My alarm sounded, sending a shot of adrenaline through my body. Not a lot, just enough to wake me up. I reached over and shut the thing off. Pulling myself out of my futon, I crawled over to the sliding paper door. Pulling it open, the cool morning air rushed in and birds greeted me with song. Much longer, and the frost would start setting in. I would need my winter bedding before too long.

I stuck my head out of the room, trying to hear any movement or conversation in the compound. It was a large series of buildings grouped around a large garden, so knowing where people were was a bit hard. Still, it couldn't hurt to check. Especially with Joseph and Muhammed Avdol staying with us. Though, I think it would be pretty easy to find Joseph if I needed to. His normal speaking voice was louder than most, and he had a habit of yelling all the time.

I slowly stood up, trying to let my body figure out what it was doing. My joints don't like to work first thing in the morning. Once I worked the kinks out and my body was responsive, I went to the bathroom and got ready for school. I put on my required uniform. I missed the public school I went to in New York, where I could wear whatever I wanted. But then again, the teachers there didn't really care about their students. Where education was very lax in the States, schools were cutthroat in Japan. Everything depended on your grades and how you ranked. To be honest, I didn't know which one I preferred.

When I was done, I straightened up my room and headed outside. The buildings on the property were connected by a series of porches and bridges, all circling around the main garden. It was based on traditional Japanese architecture, and was intended to evoke the feeling of a sprawling castle. I wandered over a few buildings where the kitchen was set. I leaned against the doorway and looked inside.

Inside, Holly was busy with breakfast as she usually was. Today she was making a more American breakfast, as opposed to the traditional Japanese meals she enjoyed cooking. This was probably because her father was staying. She hummed to herself as she turned the food in the pan. I didn't see anyone else in the kitchen, either because they weren't awake or hadn't found their way in.

Holly noticed me, waving her spatula at me. "Good morning, (Y/N)!" She smiled wide at me. "Breakfast will be done in a minute."

I knelt at the low table. "Good morning. Anything going on today?"

"Just the usual," oil sizzled as she cooked. "I hope to catch up with my dad today. We talk on the phone all the time, but it's just not the same."

"I bet." My parents used to go on business trips all the time, so I could understand the sentiment. My father was a member of the Speedwagon Foundation, so he traveled a lot as a translator helping on different assignments. He was also a bit if an intermediary between Joseph and the Speedwagon Foundation. My mother also worked under him, though not in the Foundation. She helped the Joestar name become synonymous with real estate. To be honest, it was probably because of Joseph that they got together in the first place. Travel was important to their work, and the phone was my only link to them sometimes. But it was never as good as when they were home again.

"It feels like forever since I last saw him," she thought out loud. "How long has it been? It must have been a few years now..." She started counting on her fingers.

I looked down at my hands. I tried to keep the emotions under control. "Six. It's been six years."

"Yes! I remember now!" She scooped up the food and placed it on a platter. "Let's see, six years ago..." She placed the food on the table in front of me. "That was when he brought you in after the..." She stopped just before she finished the sentence.

"I told you, you don't have to avoid it around me," I did my best to keep my eyes from filling with tears. "That was the accident. The one my parents died in."

Holly was silent for a moment, taking in my expression. She knelt down in front of me and took my hands in hers. "Dad said that he and the Speedwagon Foundation would be investigating what happened. I'm sure he will have some information about their deaths."

I nodded, but I didn't really believe her. It was the same story she always told me. If there was any information to be found, it would have been found years ago. Yes, everything around their deaths had been very strange, but that all could have been crazy coincidence. Had I known that they would end up dead, would I have come with them? It was the first trip where I would be with the both of them, so I was so excited to go. But then again, I would have been left alone again in our home in New York City, for a very long time.

Holly looked deep into my eyes. "I know you miss them very much, (Y/N). I miss them too. I think about your mother every day." She squeezed my hands. "She was one of my closest friends."

"I know. I remember." This wasn't the first time she went down memory lane like this. I knew the story. But it didn't change the emotional weight her words had. I could feel the tears bubbling up.

She smiled, a hint of sadness behind her eyes. "When Dad brought you here, you were like a daughter to me from then on. I love you so much. I don't know what I would do without you, (Y/N)."

I closed my eyes, letting a few dears run down my cheeks. Damn, I thought that this stuff wouldn't affect me this bad once I got old enough. I felt arms reach around me, pulling me into a hug only a mother could give. I let the warm embrace envelop me, breathing in her signature perfume. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but it wasn't long enough. She released the hug, wiping the tears from my eyes before going back to her cooking. I did my best to clean myself up before anyone walked in. When I thought I finished, I grabbed some food Holly had placed on the table, letting the flavors wash over me.

It wasn't very long before Jotaro wordlessly stalked into the kitchen. He crossed the room and pulled out the toaster. Plopping in a few slices of bread, he pushed down on the lever in one long motion

"Good morning, Jotaro!" Holly sang as she flung her arms out to hug him. After she collided with him, he nudged her off with a few curses under his breath. "I made breakfast! Make sure you eat before you head off to school!" She collected herself and went back to what she was doing. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day! You have to start the day off right!"

Jotaro grumbled as the toast popped up out of the toaster. He stuck a slice in his mouth and brought the rest over to sit next to me. He plopped down, munching. He didn't have a plate, of course. He didn't need a plate to eat toast. Plates were for plebeians.

"Hey." I said. He gave me a nod before taking another bite of toast. I didn't like to talk much when I was eating, and neither did he. I went back to my food.

I felt his eyes on me, longer than I was used to. I looked up from my breakfast to see him staring at me. "What's wrong with you? Are you okay?" He asked bluntly.

I blinked. Did I not wipe all the tears off my face? Were my eyes still red from crying? Whatever it was, I didn't feel like talking about it any more than I already had. "No, I'm fine," I croaked out between bites.

His eyes lingered on me with some suspicion. He knew me too well by this point, but he didn't push the subject. He took another chunk out of his toast, scowling a bit more than usual.

When we had finished eating, we gathered our things and got ready to leave for school. Jotaro and I met at the front of the complex as we usually did every morning. We were about to leave before we heard a voice call out behind us.

"Don't go yet!" Holly jogged up to us, still wearing her pink slippers. She stopped in front of Jotaro as he turned around, "You forgot your goodbye kisses!" She leaned forward, up on the tips of her toes to reach him. She was still a few inches too short.

"You're such a bitch," Jotaro shoved her off. "Stop treating me like I'm still a little kid." He walked away without looking back.

"Okay!" She called to him with her usual cheeriness, a big smile on her face.

I looked back at Holly and shook my head. "He'll grow out of it," I whispered so Jotaro couldn't hear. " I'm sure this is just a phase. He used to adore you when he was younger."

"I know," she sighed, gazing at him with nostalgia in her eyes. "He's still the same boy that wanted me to watch him score his goals, and begged me to make him the same dinner every night."

I leaned in, giving her a brief hug. The scent of her perfume filled my senses. "Just be patient with him. He'll come around eventually."

"You're right," she said into my ear. She kissed my forehead and pulled away. "Watch him for me, okay? With all the trouble he gets into, I worry about him. "

I nodded with a smile. "I always do, Holly." I turned and ran to catch up with Jotaro. He didn't acknowledge me when I matched his long strides.

We walked the usual route to school, letting the comfortable silence surround us. It was how we liked it. That was how it stayed, until...

"Jojo?"

"Is that Jojo?"

"Hey, Jojo!"

"Jojo!"

"Over here, Jojo!"

The fangirls. They annoyed the hell out of the both of us. These girls saw Jotaro as prey, a way to gain status by taking the badass as a boyfriend. Once they figured out that I was just a "sibling," and not a girlfriend like they assumed, they started using every dirty trick to get his attention and affection. Jokes on them. Because of the number of girls fawning over him, there was immense competition. Fighting could turn violent at times. But they usually distracted each other, so we didn't have to intervene much.

A dark haired girl latched onto Jotaro's arm, butting in between us. I tried my best not to get aggravated as she nudged me aside. "So Jojo, where have you been?" Her voice sickeningly sweet. He ignored her and kept walking. "You've been out of school for four days! What happened?"

His only response was a cold glare, a warning to her. Despite his cold and menacing demeanor, all it did was make her blush and stare wistfully into his eyes. I scoffed a bit. She was probably more in love with the fantasy of him than the actual Jotaro. In order to do that, you would have to get to know him, and that was something these girls would never do. If they did, they would find out that he was a human, not the brooding god they were hoping for.

Another fangirl elbowed the brunette away from his arm. "How dare you!" she accused, her red hair vibrant in the morning sun. The only thing appealing about her, really. "I don't like how friendly you are getting with him."

I closed the gap between Jotaro and me. I wouldn't call their actions "friendly." They were much too aggressive, too selfish. The two girls chattered behind us, slinging insults at each other with increasing intensity.

I gave Jotaro a questioning look, asking him if he was still alright in one expression. He responded with an aggravated look. Not an uncommon thing with him. But I could tell these girls were getting to him. I looped my arm around his, partly to reassure him, partly to keep anyone else from getting to him.

Behind us, the two angry fangirls were becoming louder and more agitating. Their bickering reaching a terrible crescendo, voices hitting higher and higher notes. I was about to say something spiteful and bitchy, when I felt Jotaro twist around suddenly.

"Shut up!" He shouted. "You're so fucking annoying!" This wasn't his breaking point, but I knew this was his last warning to them. I turned and shot them a glare, trying to add to the aggressive message. It wasn't long before they were swooning again, faces flushed and letting out sighs. I shook my head and focused on walking.

The girls continued to walk behind us, a little farther behind and little more quiet. We continued our walk with the entourage trailing behind. We came to a long set of stairs, the divider between the suburbs and the main city itself, the tall skyscrapers framing the morning sky. We passed under the tall red gate and descended the stairs. Branches passed by as we took step after step, brushing against my arms and legs.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a fountain of blood splash across the stone. I felt Jotaro push me away, and I watched as he began the long fall down the stairs. I shouted his name, trying to pick myself up. I heard the girls behind me panic and scream.

This couldn't be happening. It all came out of nowhere, everything changing so fast. It seemed like a nightmare. Whether it was or not, I had to do something. I stumbled to my feet and tried to summon my stand, thinking desperately to figure out a way to stop his fall.

Jotaro must have had the same idea, because he summoned his own stand and used him to grab a hold of some of the branches passing by. They bent and warped, slowing his descent until he rested at the bottom of the hill. I stopped what I was doing. I grabbed our bags and went down the stairs as fast as I could without falling myself.

I met him at the bottom of the hill, letting out a sigh when I saw he was alive. His face was white, his breaths ragged gasps for air. He stood up and brushed the leaves and sticks off his clothes. He looked around like he was trying my figure something out.

"What happened?" I quietly asked. There was a long gash in his knee, blood oozing down his skin and seeping into the fabric of his pants. I reached into my bag, looking for a handkerchief. I thought I had one, but I guess I was wrong.

He shook his head. "I don't know. Something's not right," he said in a low voice, almost as if he was afraid someone would hear him.

"Jojo!" The gaggle of girls finally made their way to the bottom of the stairs. They circled us, asking all sorts of questions. Some were trying to get closer to Jotaro, offering to hold his hand to prevent any more accidents. He ignored them and looked through his coat, looking for something to tend his wound with.

I felt eyes on me, dark and devious eyes. I looked around me. Descending the stairs was a student around our age. His uniform didn't match our school's standard, being green instead of blue. His hair was bright red, almost unnaturally so. A white scarf wrapped around his frame like bandages for the dead. He was almost as tall as Jotaro, and his face was cold and stony. He stopped in front of us, reaching into his pocket and to bring out a square of cloth.

"You seem to be injured," he said, quiet and monotone. His eyes were dangerous and empty at the same time. "Use this. It will stop the bleeding."

"Thanks," Jotaro took the handkerchief. His eyes were narrowed with suspicion.

"And you," the stranger turned to me. Everything about him seemed so off, like he wasn't human. His voice sent a shiver down my spine. "It looks like you scraped your elbow." He pointed at my left arm.

I looked down at my elbow. The outer layer of my skin had been shredded, letting blood seep out between the little that remained. Now that I was looking at it, it instantly started to hurt. It must have happened when Jotaro pushed me away.

"It would be a shame if your wound got infected," he turned slowly and robotically, walking away with a strange stride.

"Hold it,"Jotaro called out. "You didn't let me thank you. What's your name?"

The stranger stopped, swiveling a bit. "My name is Noriaki Kakyoin."

"You don't look like you are from around here," I spoke before he could get away. "You're not wearing the proper uniform if you were a student."

"I'm a transfer student. I moved here two days ago." He lurched forward again. "See you around." He walked away without saying another word. Jotaro and I stood there for a few moments, trying to figure out what had just happened.

After a while, we finally made it to school. The girls said their goodbyes and wandered off to wherever they needed to go. When they had all left, I looked at Jotaro. His cut was still oozing. It might even need stitches. His injury was worse than he was letting on.

"Let's head to the nurse's office," I said quietly. "Your leg's still bleeding, and I need a bandage for my elbow." He gave me a slight nod, quiet as always. I walked off, leading the way.

We walked through the halls of the school, finding our way to the door with the white cross decal in the window. I swung it open, letting Jotaro stalk in after me. The nurse noticed us as she chatted with two other students laying cots across from her. She turned to us with her perfectly practiced smile.

"Jotaro, (Y/N). What a surprise," she let a bit of sarcasm slip in. The boys she was talking to had confused looks on their faces. "What can I do for you two, so early in the morning?"

I let the door close. "We had a bit of an accident. Can you patch us up?"

"Accident?" One of the boys spoke up. "Most of your accidents send people to the hospital." A smirk etched itself into his face. The other boy chuckled.

The nurse waved him into silence. "What kind of injuries do you have?"

I showed my elbow. "I only need a bandage." I motioned to Jotaro. "He needs more attention then I do. He's been bleeding pretty badly for a while now."

She looked between us. She reached into a drawer, pulling out the appropriate sized bandage. She walked over and carefully placed it on my injury. "You should be alright, it doesn't look that bad." She turned to Jotaro and gestured to a chair. "You will have to take a seat. I'll need a better look at your leg."

Jotaro silently did as he was told, leaning a little too far back into the chair. The nurse looked back at me. "If you don't have any other issues, you had better head to class. I don't want you creating any more trouble for yourself." She gave me a smile before heading back to work.

"Don't get your hopes up, lady," the other boy mused from his cot.

I glanced over at Jotaro. "I'll see you later, then." He gave me a slight nod. I turned and walked out of the door.

I stood outside the office, wondering what I was going to do next. I had a backlog of schoolwork to get caught up on. Holly pulled me out of school when Jotaro decided to not leave jail. Family emergency, I guess. To be honest, I was getting tired of school, and I didn't want to deal with it all today. Thing was, Japanese schools don't like it when people are up moving around, or in places they deem are off limits to students. What to do...

Well, I had packed a few snacks this morning. The roof was off limits, but if I was sneaky about it, I could hang out up there for a while. A nap would be nice as well. It was a nice place to waste time. I made up my mind and headed to the set of stairs leading to the roof. The door to the roof was always kept locked, but I had a way to get it open.

I snuck up the stairs. I had to work fast if I didn't want to be seen. When I reached the top, I pressed my hand against the door. I felt my stand materialize behind me. It reached forward with thin, needlelike fingers. They slid into the gears of the lock, pressing and pulling on the mechanisms. With a few expert motions, the lock gave a small click. I tugged on the knob and felt the door slowly swing open.

I stepped into the bright sunlight beaming down from above. I quietly let the door click shut, the lock resetting. I looked over the rooftop, trying to find a place where I couldn't be seen but still sit in the sun. After a bit of searching, I found a place that would work. I tried to make myself comfortable and brought out my snacks.

I chuckled to myself a bit. Japanese culture would say this was delinquent behavior. American culture would say that I was just being a normal mischievous teenager. Whatever it was I was doing, it felt kind of good. I opened a bag and took out one of my favorite foods. As I looked over the edge of the building I started munching a bit, watching the birds as they came and went.

I felt a rumble from the building under me. My first thought was earthquake. They happened often enough here. Thing was, this didn't feel like an earthquake. The trees didn't move much around me. Something had happened from within the building. God, I hope Jotaro wasn't getting into more trouble. But then again, there could be utility issues going on. Pipes bursting or the furnace giving out.

I started to pick up my things. Whatever it was, I needed to get off the roof. It would be a long fall if the building should collapse, even if it was just part of the structure. Getting caught was also not fun. Where would I hide after this? There aren't many places in the school where teachers didn't search regularly for misbehaving students.

I felt a few smaller quakes under me. Panic started to set in. I rounded up the rest of my stuff and ran to the door. My stand manifested, beginning its work on the lock. Damn it, why did it take so much longer to unlock something when you don't have any time? It fumbled around more than it should have, making silly mistakes.

The building started shaking again, more violent this time. It continued to gain energy, so much so that my stand couldn't keep hold of the lock. Suddenly, I heard the windows shatter and implode. Shards rained down to the ground and clattered against the concrete. The walls and floor began to crack. I watched as parts of the roof began to sink, small parts crumbling to the rooms below.

I took a moment to take a deep breath. I had to get out of here, and quickly. I couldn't do that if I was panicking. I looked at the door in front of me. The quake had caused the wall to warp and crack. Some fairly large ones ran around the door. I had to be careful about this. The wall could fall over any time if I was too reckless.

My stand inserted its fingers into the mechanism again, this time very slow and deliberate with its actions. Every movement felt like a dance with death. After a very tenses few second and a few more clicks of the lock, the door swung open with little effort.

With a little smile I called off my stand. So far, so good. I pushed open the door before it closed again and locked itself. Cautiously, I tiptoed into the foyer. The bells were ringing in alarm throughout the entire school. The walls were crumbling. All the windows had been shattered.

I should have been paying more attention. I had let go of the door, letting sling close like I would normally do. It was the force that caused the wall to give out. I heard the crumbling and the moaning. I whipped around to see it looming over me, beginning its slow descent to crush me. Panic set in, and I threw myself out of the way. The wall crashed and broke apart as it hit the floor. Debris hit me in the arms and torso. Dust filled the air and began to settle on my hair and clothes.

I took a moment to breathe. Had I been a second too slow, I would have been crushed. Another close brushed with death. I looked around. The wall had made a lot of noise, and it could have alerted someone. A few minutes passed by, and no one came wandering by. Somewhat relieved, I picked myself off the floor.

I carefully wandered down the stairs. If the wall could give out, the staircase definitely could. I needed to head to the first floor where the nurse's office was situated. After I found Jotaro, it would be best to get out of the school. Teachers would naturally be suspicious of us. Besides, the whole place was a death trap now.

I successfully made my way down two stories without the building collapse around me further. I hopped off the last step and rounded the corner, creeping down the hall. The bells had started to cause ringing in my ears. I had to avoid teachers and other students. I didn't want any more trouble. I made my way to the nurse's office, swinging open a door sitting on its last hinges.

The inside of that room had the worst damage in the whole school. Entire walls had been ripped out, the ceiling was falling to pieces. The windows had been blasted out, and the equipment and furniture had been rendered unrecognizable. I took a step inside and took a look around, searching for any sign of Jotaro.

In a corner of the room, the nurse was lying unconscious. Her blouse had been ripped open and her blood pooled around her. I carefully walked over to her, looking her over. Her wounds seemed superficial. If I didn't know any better, I would say that she might have been sexually assaulted. But things had been too strange around here to give any definitive answers. I didn't have the strength to move her, and I could hurt her just as much as I could help. It would be best just to leaver her.

I stood up and looked around. A figure moving around outside caught my eye. I moved to the empty windows to get a better look. Jotaro was walking to the front gate, a body slung over his shoulder. What the hell was he up to? Did he kill someone? I had to get to him. But I couldn't walk out the front door. I managed to hop though the window without cutting myself on the glass. I hit the ground and ran over to him.

"Jotaro, wait!" I huffed, pounding against the pavement. He gave me a slight look. It was all he could do and not lose the body on his shoulder. I slowed down to match his stride. "What happened? And who is that?" I gasped out.

He didn't say anything for a few moments. "He tried to kill me."

"What?"

He didn't speak again. "He attacked me in the nurse's office. The coward used the nurse against me, using her as some sort of puppet. I put an end to it."

I looked over the body. It was the transfer student we had run into before. Had he been the source of Jotaro's accident? I glanced back up to him. "Did you kill him?"

He shook his head.

I sighed. "Okay, so what are we doing with him?"

"I'm going to show him to the old man. He might know something about him. He might have something to do with DIO."

I took a few moments to think over what he said. "Alright. I'm coming along too. I can't let you have all the fun."

We arrived home soon after. Jotaro shifted the limp body on his shoulder and we entered the front building. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath. "This place is too big."

I instantly understood what he meant. "I'll go look for Joseph. You hang tight until I come get you, okay?" He paused a moment, but gave a reluctant nod.

I walked throughout the compound, opening doors to rooms they might be in. They had to be somewhere. I passed over bridges and slid open doors. It wasn't long before even I was getting irritated.

As I was opening another door, I heard conversation a little bit down. That is to say, I heard Joseph's booming voice. Unless he was crazy, he was talking to someone. Probably Avdol. I walked down a few doors and opened the one into the tea room.

As I slid the door open to find Joseph and Advol sitting on the floor, sipping on some hot drinks and deep in discussion. When they saw me in the doorway, they stopped and looked at me quizzically.

"(Y/N)," Joseph looked up at me. "What's going on? I thought you were at school."

"I was," I looked around to see if I could find Jotaro."But something came up. You're going to want to see this."

I popped my head out the door an glimpsed Jotaro. He was talking with his mother, doing what they normally do. I waved him down. He saw me and came over, Kakyion still bleeding over his shoulder.

"See what?" Joseph asked. He put away his tea set, which he was using for his disusting instant coffee. "What happened to you? Why are you covered in dust?"

Jotaro appeared in the doorway beside me. Joseph and Avdol took in the sight of us both. Me covered in plaster and rubble, Jotaro drenched in his own blood and the blood of our mysterious transfer student. He walked in and laid Kakyoin out on the floor in front of them.

"Do you know him?" Jotaro asked. "He tried to kill me." He then gave the abridged version of what happened in the nurse's office. I walked in and stood beside him as he talked.

Joseph thought it over, stroking his beard. "I hate to say this, but there's no chance he's making it out alive. He has a few days to live, at most."

"What do you mean?" I piped up. "Jotaro might have beat him senseless, but that couldn't be enough to kill him!"

"It's not Jotaro's fault." He leaned forward and pulled back Kakyoin's bangs. "Look!"

In the center of his forehead, just along the hairline, a thing that looked like a pimple with legs pulsated and moved. This wasn't regular teenage acne. This was something evil.

"What is that thing?" Jotaro asked with disgust. "Is that what made him swear allegiance to DIO?"

"Yes," Avdol said calmly. "It's called a flesh bud. It is constructed from DIO's cells. It may be small, but it has the power to control the mind of it's victim."

"CHARISMA!" Joseph announced with passion and fury. "DIO wields the same power that leads soldiers into battle, and believers to follow corrupt cult leaders! Kakyoin is only one of his lackeys! There will be many more, and they will not stop until we all are dead!"

"Then just remove the bud," Jotaro said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Joseph shook his head, his voice serious again. "That won't work. Removing it could cause severe injury to his brain. He would be subject to a fate worse than death. In the end, the bud always consumes the brain totally and completely."

During the conversation, the gears in my head had been turning and grinding. It was a bit of a long shot, but if Jotaro was set on saving Kakyoin's life, we didn't have much of a choice. "What if..." I said slowly, "I used my stand to separate the bud from his brain?"

"You never mentioned you had a stand," Avdol replied in his low voice.

I stood there a bit awkwardly. "I... never felt the need to bring it up. It's not very strong, and it doesn't seem very capable of fighting. It's very useful though. I think I'll be able to separate it from his brain, but my stand won't have the strength to remove it completely."

Jotaro summoned his stand. "That won't be a problem." His stern eyes bored into mine. "Get the damn thing loose, and I'll take care of the rest."

I nodded and summoned my own stand. I knelt on the floor, situated just above Kakyoin's head. Jotaro did the same on the opposite side. I reached out and held Kakyoin's head between my hands to keep him steady, with Jotaro mirroring my actions. Then, my stand reached out with its long fingers, sliding them between the flesh bud and the hard bone of his skull. They felt deeper and deeper, carefully feeling around the pulsing parasite. It slowly pulled the deep root of the bud away from the soft tissues of his brain. The stand's fingers plunged deeper, until there was no more root left to find.

"I think I got it," I said, the stress coming through in my voice. My stand held its fingers in place, waiting for the next part. "You'll have to finish it out, Jotaro."

He nodded. His stand reached out and grabbed the external part of the bud. The tension hung in the air, breathing it in as we tried to remain calm. The stand pulled the pulsing bud, exposing the root beneath. The legs began to slide out of the wounds they created.

One leg shot away from the bud. It hit Jotaro in the hand, writhing under the skin and working it way up his arm. I gasped as another dislodged itself and collided with my wrist. I could feel it sink under my skin, sliding over the muscle up my arm. Joseph and Avdol exclaimed beside me. As much as I wanted to panic and yank it out, it would kill Kakyoin. Any mistake would be lethal. I just had to trust Jotaro would succeed.

Kakyoin's eyes flashed open. They roamed over our faces and the stands as they worked.

"W-Why?" He managed to get out. "Why would you do this?"

"Don't move," I commanded. "This will all be over in a minute" Yeah, one way or another.

Jotaro's stand was still struggling against the flesh bud. I could feel the tentacle slide under the skin in my neck and into my face. I looked up to see the one in Jotaro had almost reached his forehead. I had to stay steady. I took a breath in to calm myself.

With one final pull, the bud was pulled free. Jotaro's stand took hold of the tentacles that had wormed into our bodies and pulled them out with a slurping sound. He launched the bud into the air.

"Overdrive!" Blinding yellow light erupted from Joseph's hand. With one swipe, the bud shrivelled and withered away. It left nothing but dust and the memory of the horrible thing. I didn't think his stand could do something like that.

I sat back and let my stand dematerialize. I rubbed the wound on my wrist. It was oozing blood down my hand. I hadn't expected the bud to fight back like that. I let out a ragged breath. I slowly stood up and walked to the door to breathe in some fresh air. I could feel Jotaro make his way beside me.

Kakyoin slowly sat up and rubbed his forehead. Blood was running from the hole drilled into his brain. I could tell he was a little out of it still. How much was in control the past few days? How aware was he of his own actions? His blurry eyes made their way over to us.

"Tell me..." He wracked his brain for the right words. "Why did you save my life? After all that I've done..."

Jotaro walked past me, stepping onto the porch. He let the sun hit his face. "I don't really know." He said curtly.

I shook my head. 'Because you're a good person,' I thought to myself. Whether he realized it or not, under that sulky and angsty exterior was a heart of gold. He deeply cared about people. I think he had a problem showing it.

Holly rounded the corner, a bowl of medical supplies in her hands. She was basically a nurse at this point. There were so many times she had to patch us up after fights or scrapes or accidents. She knelt down in front of Kakyoin and began work on cleaning him up. We quickly filled her in on what happened to get him into such a state.

When she had finished and had him bandaged up, she sat back in satisfaction. "There," she nodded to herself with a smile. "All done."

Kakyoin looked at his hands, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "Thank you. For everything," he said quietly, almost too low to hear. This whole ordeal must have been hard on him.

"From what it sounds like, you've had a very eventful day. You better stay here and rest up for a while." She turned to Joseph. "Papa, get a futon ready for him," she ordered

"Huh?" He looked at her with a confused look. "Why do I have to? I don't like sleeping on the damn floor anyway." He crossed his arms and looked pouty. "In fact, get that stupid thing out of my room and replace it with a real bed!"

"No way," Holly replied stubbornly. "You are in Japan now. And in Japan, we sleep on the floor."

This was going to go on for a while. It would probably be best to attend to the patient. I knelt down next to Kakyoin. "Do you have any family you need me to call? I'm sure they will worry about you."

He looked at me with a stunned expression. I could see the hesitation behind his eyes. "Yes, here." He took a pen from his pocket and looked for something to write on. He settled on a piece of bandage. He scribbled a number down and bashfully handed it to me. I gave him a smile and stood up.

"Holly's a beautiful name! I gave it to you MYSELF!" Joseph yelled, being much too loud for such a small room.

I walked out the door, passing Jotaro. "Yare, Yare..." he muttered before following me. He wandered his way back to his room, while I made my way to the nearest telephone. The sounds of argument followed me as I travelled around the compound.

I stepped inside the kitchen and picked up the receiver off the mounted base. I held up the bandage to get a good look at the number. The ink had bled some, almost obscuring the digits. I dialed the number into the phone.

As I listened to the phone try to connect, I thought to myself. I would have to use a different name to not confuse Kakyoin's family. An American name would only tip them off. Someone picked up the phone of the other end.

"Yes, Hello. My name is (Y/N) Kujo...

"HOLLY!"

I woke up to his sleepy, rambly yelling as he paced up and up the compound. I had planned on sleeping in. It seemed Joseph had other ideas.

"You gave me Jotaro's pants! Where the hell are mine?"

I sighed. Flipping the covers off me, I pulled myself out of bed. We had decided that it was too risky to go back to school. It was the perfect place for ambush, as yesterday proved. I dragged myself into the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Jotaro was going, but I think that was just to get away from all the craziness at home. It was getting to be a little too much. Can't say I blamed him. If anyone could deal with idiots and enemies, it would be him.

"No! My daughter has one name! HOLLY!" Joseph's voice echoes across the compound.

I stood in front of my closet, trying to figure out what I was going to wear. I was tired of the school uniforms. I looked around for something more casual. When I finally found something, I slipped it on and headed outside. Holly would probably be done with breakfast by now. It would be nice to eat next to the pond this morning.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Joseph's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. This wasn't what he usually sounded like. His voice was full of sadness and despair. It sent shivers down my spine. Something terrible must have happened for him to be like this. I ran across the compound toward the source of the cry.

I came to a halt in front of the kitchen. Intense conversation was happening between Joseph and Jotaro.

"We have to find DIO!" Joseph was saying. I had never heard him sound like this. "The only way to break this curse is to find him, and kill him!"

What?

I stepped into the kitchen. I felt my stomach tighten, my throat close. Before me, Joseph and Jotaro seemed to be at each other's throats. Behind them, Avdol was kneeling on the floor, cradling Holly's body. She was sweating from fever, her breaths coming short and haggard. Strange vines were starting to wrap around her.

I looked between everyone, not knowing who to ask. "What happened? What's wrong with her?"

No one said anything. After a while, Advol was the one who spoke up. Everything about him was serious and level headed. "Her stand is making her ill. It's too powerful even for her. If we don't find a way to stop it, she will die."

My blood went cold, then began to boil. No, not again. It can't happen again. I grabbed a hold of the doorframe to steady myself. This can't happen. I won't let this happen.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. I glanced up to see Joseph towering over me. His face was etched with concern. "(Y/N), go get her bed ready, and something comfortable for her to change into. We need to move her out of here."

I gave a small nod. I walked towards her bedroom, feeling like the world was spinning around me. It felt like anger was taking hold in my heart as I got her futon ready and picked out her favorite nightgown. I watched in silence as Holly was carried in. After everything was settled, I broke away from the little group. Anger was causing me to shake a bit, and I didn't like it when people saw me out of control. I walked away as Joseph started to bring in a collection of cameras.

There was a little alcove of trees that sat right next to the water. It was easily accessible, while staying somewhat hidden. It was perfect for times like this. I sat myself down on the soft ground. I let the sounds of the bamboo fountain and the birds ease me. I folded my legs under me. I glared into the water below. Despite my best efforts, emotions started to bubble up from the depths of my soul. Emotions I hadn't felt in a long time. Emotions I didn't dare deal with, scared of what would happen if I did.

I don't know how much time had passed when I heard footsteps coming my way. I continued to stare into the water, pretending like I didn't hear them. Maybe they would go away if I didn't make myself known. I not ready to give up being upset.

I was extremely annoyed when Joseph meandered into my grove. "There you are. Jotaro said you might be here."

'Lovely,' I thought to myself. Of course, I couldn't be alone with these people.

He sat down next to me, hitting the ground with a groan. He rubbed the small in his back. "Sitting on the ground so much is starting to take its toll on my old body. I don't understand how the Japanese can do this all the time."

I didn't look at him, not really wanting to acknowledge him. "Did you find anything with Hermit Purple?" I spat out, very monotone.

He thought for a moment, pulling on his gloves. "We might be able to narrow down where DIO is. Jotaro was able to use his stand to draw a fly that was in one of the photos. Avdol is researching right now in the library. He thinks he can pinpoint where DIO is hinding. We're just waiting for him to get back to us."

"Oh," I muttered. I wasn't wanting to contribute to the conversation much, and I wanted Joseph to go away.

I could feel his eyes on me. "Are you okay, (Y/N)? You seem to be taking this pretty hard."

I could feel anger rise up inside me again. I turned my head with a dramatic glare. "So is everyone else. That tends to happen when people have a dying relative, right?" I let the attitude come forth.

His brows furrowed immediately. "Don't get testy with me, (Y/N). I'm trying to help you here."

"I don't want you to help me!" I snapped back. "Just leave me alone."

Joseph sighed and rubbed his neck. "I'm only doing this because I care about you. You're not acting like normal."

"Like you would know how I act normally."

"I've know you since the day you were born. I watched you grow up. I think I know you pretty well."

I shook my head. I didn't want this. I was so upset. All I wanted was to find DIO and end him. Make him suffer as I have suffered. Grind him to dust. Bring his head back on a pike and show it to Holly when she woke up. Let her go back to living like she did before. My heart ached, but my body was consumed with hatred.

I felt Joseph's hand on my shoulder. I reluctantly met his gaze. "(Y/N), every one of us is determined to save her. I promise you, we'll kill DIO and bring Holly back to normal. You'll see."

I felt the world spinning without me. Something forced its way to the surface, something I had never known before. "You make a lot of promises," the words formed slowly and concisely. My mouth moved on its own. "But you never seem to go through with them. You promised you would find out what killed my parents." I felt control slipping. "It's been six years! SIX. YEARS. You haven't told me anything in all that time! My mother was your best employee! She was your daughter's best friend! My father was your intermediary to the Speedwagon Foundation. I'd think you would owe them more than that."

Joseph's shoulders sank. "I know, and I'm sorry. I was going to tell you everything and give you some sort of closure. The thing is, the more I dug into it, the more I found it was more complicated than I first thought." His eyes pleaded with me. "I didn't tell you anything to keep you safe. You parents were involved in some dangerous things. Things the Speedwagon Foundation keep very secret. If I told you, well. I didn't know what would happen."

I clenched my fists. I could feel myself begin to shake again. "Do you even know how it feels? To lose your parents, and not know what happened to them? How could you do this to me?"

His voice was soft. "Let me tell you a little story about myself." He adjusted himself on the gound. "I didn't know who my parents were until I was eighteen. I was raised by my Granny Erina and my Uncle Speedwagon. I didn't even recognize my mother when I finally met her."

I sat in silence, not knowing what to say or do. Joseph hesitated, like he didn't know how to say what he wanted to say.

"She knew the entire time, of course. She was the one who ended up training me and helped me defeat the Pillar Men. It wasn't until after she thought I had died that she told me what happened." He took a deep breath. "My father had been killed by one of DIO's zombies, left over from his battle with my grandfather Jonathan. She was scared for us both. She gave me to Granny Erina to take care of, then she went into hiding. She focused on her Hamon, so that something so terrible would never happen again. The entire time, no one told me anything."

I let his words sink in. He hadn't told me this before. Of all his grandiose stories of crashing planes, fighting ancient vampires, intense training with his friend Caesar, finding his wife Suzie Q in Italy, he had never mentioned any of that. Was it too painful? Or did it just not come up? Whatever had possessed me started to die down, leaving an empty feeling.

"I'm sorry, I... You never told me. I'm just so worked up. Holly..." I couldn't control myself. Tears started sliding down my face. "You guys are all I have left. I can't... I can't..."

The overwhelming concoction of emotions overtook me. The tears came so fast and so strong. Joseph pulled me into a hug, letting me sob into his chest. He rocked me back and forth. He stroked my head with his human hand. It was the first time in a long time that I had been so vulnerable. I clung to his shirt as I bawled and bawled.

When my tears had run dry, he pulled me away so he could get a good look at my face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here," he handed it to me.

I took it and began to clean my face. It was so wet, with what I could not tell. I didn't think I would get so emotional. This wasn't usually like me.

Joseph looked off in the distance like he was watching for something. "I'm sorry for all the pain I caused you, (Y/N). When all this is over, I'll get that information about your parents for you. Does that sound okay?" He waited for my answer.

I gave a small nod, handkerchief still pressed against my face. I looked down at his shirt. It was wet with all the tears I had shed.

He gave me a small smile. He slowly stood up with a groan. "I had better go see what Avdol's found anything. When you're ready, I think it would be a good idea for you to meet back with us. I think Jotaro has been worrying about you." After another nod from me, he quietly strolled away.

I sat next to the water, letting the last few tears slide down my face. I had never intended to get so emotional. I had hoped to drive him away so I could continue to languish in my emotions. I... Never thought he would end up telling me something like that.

I rubbed my face. Why had I gotten so upset in the first place? Why did I have to go digging up old hurt to use against Joseph? My past made me upset, for sure. But usually not that much. I had attacked him for something he had no control over. But then again, I didn't know that. I just... I don't think I was as at peace with myself as I had once thought. I didn't do any of the healing that was required to lay it to rest.

Did I still feel so angry and feel compelled to hunt down DIO? Yes, definitely. I would do whatever it took to make sure Holly was safe. I'll trade seven lives for one if I had to. Maybe more. The difference was, it didn't feel like it was consuming me. All I really felt was honor. Honor and spite.

I didn't know what had come over me before. Love? Hate? Fear? I couldn't tell. I didn't want to lose Holly. She was like a mother to me. Not that she could replace my own mother. But she had come into my life in a vulnerable time in my life. She had become important to me. Life wouldn't be the same without her.

I stood up and began walking back to Holly's room. I should check on her. I never got a good handle on her condition. The guys also probably made some headway in finding DIO. If they did, I wasn't going to let them leave without me. I wanted to be one of the reasons DIO comes to an end.

I wasn't okay. I didn't know if I was going to be okay. But if I had to sacrifice myself and my sanity to save Holly, I would do it in a heartbeat.

#jojo's bizarre adventure #jojo's bizarre adventure stardust crusaders #stardust crusaders #jotaro kujo #kakyoin noriyaki #joseph joestar #muhammed avdol #jjba #jjbaoneshot #jjba fanfiction #jjba reader insert #jjba x reader

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pixieungerstories · 4 years

Text

Captive - 7

Elly was barely in the door when the pizza arrived. “You have the wrong house,” she said politely but firmly.

The delivery guy looked at his clipboard. “Nope. Right address, says Ben ordered them. They are already paid for so it isn’t a prank call.”

“Oh,” she said lamely. “Ben. Yeah. This is the right place. I just wasn’t expecting him to be here this late.” She fumbled in her purse for a tip and staggered inside under the weight of five extra large. When she tried to hit the light switch with her elbow, nothing happened. Then she noticed the ott-light had moved. She groaned. How many times did she need to tell Posy not to do that?

The pizza was set on the counter as she stomped up the stairs to flip the breaker. Once she hung up her coat, she wrenched off her heels and threw them into the hall closet with a fury that might have been surprising if she hadn’t spent the day feeling like an idiot child.

She found her sheep slippers, grabbed a beer out of her fridge and pounded down the stairs again.

“Ben?” she called.

There was no answer.

She walked around the shop, turning off the lights. The bakery was still a mess, which was just not like him.

The door to the basement was open.

Oh god!

“BEN?!” she yelled frantically, as she ran to the steps.

“Careful, treasure, you don’t want to slip.”

“Oh! Hi, Elly! I ordered pizza.”

Elly stared between the two of them in the gloom of a battery powered trouble light. Ben in the chair, George curled up on the floor in front of him.

And a mostly empty bottle of scotch on the table.

“Are you drunk?”

“Probably,” Ben said amicably. “Did you know you have a dragon in your cellar?”

Elly sat down heavily on the step. It took her a few minutes to even try to get her brain working again. In the meantime, Ben asked, “Any sign of the pizza? George says he’s never had taco pizza or buffalo wings.”

“Yeah,” she said faintly. “It’s upstairs.”

“I’ll get it!” Ben stood up, then he suddenly sat back down. “I think I need a minute.”

“You need food,” George corrected. “You wait here, I’ll help Elly get whatever it was that you ordered.”

“You can’t -” she stopped and pinched the bridge of her nose. “OK. this is ridiculous. I’ll go close the curtains, then we call all eat in the bakery.”

She grumbled to herself as she pushed the tables against the wall and closed the blinds. She jumped when she turned to find Ben standing way too close to her and George peering at her from the stairs. Ignoring George for a moment, she looked at Ben. “Are you OK?”

He gave her a glassy look, “I’m -” he started to say, then stopped for a moment, “ I’m not entirely sure this is real.”

“That’s up to you,” George rumbled coming into the dining room. “Tomorrow you will wake up with a hangover and we can all just pretend this is a bad dream, if you want. For now, however, I smell dinner and I know that buffaloes don’t have wings.”

“They are chicken,” Elly murmured as she went to get the food.

“I like it when people bring me cooked chicken. They are too fiddly to eat on my own. Eau de burning feathers is not an appetizing smell.” George got the pizza boxes off the counter and carried them back to the bakery’s dining room. He managed just fine, but it was awkward to look at. His legs looked kind of bandy and short, his feet more hand like, and hs tail seemed to be in the way. He ended up sitting at the table, but on the floor with his tail lashing behind him like a cat.

Ben brought over two tea cups and two water pitchers George graciously accepted one of the jugs and held it like an oversized mug, taking a long drink. Elly was suddenly very aware that she never brought him liquids. Ben was oblivious to that and was pouring her a cup of water.

“I can make you a pot of decaf if you like.”

Elly waved him away, “I have most of a beer around here somewhere.”

“On the coffee table by the fireplace,” George said, carefully trying to figure out the pizza box.

Elly went to grab it and came back in time to see Geoge popping a wing in his mouth and chewing thoughtfully. “We don’t usually eat the bones,” she pointed out.

“Extra calcium,” George shrugged. “These are good. I was expecting them to be more spicy.”

Ben blinked, “I ordered mild, medium, hot and extreme and I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to eat the bones because they could make sharp pieces and-”

“That’s dogs,” Elly interrupted. “I have no idea if it applies to … George.”

George was already daintily taking another wing out of the pizza box with dividers keeping the wings segregated from each other. He crunched that one up too. “Which one is the spicy one?” Ben pointed. “You are staring.”

“Right! Sorry! It’s just … wow. Holy shit. You are … amazing!” He turned to Elly, “You have an actual dragon in your actual dungeon. Do you have any idea how cool that is?”

Elly just snorted as she helped herself to a slice of taco pizza. “This is just weird. I can see using salsa instead of tomato sauce, and almost see queso instead of pizza cheese, but who puts sour cream on a slice?”

“Hey, at least I ordered it without the lettuce,” Ben argued.

“OK, these ones are getting better,” George said, pointing to the extreme wings. “I’m not sharing these.”

Both humans stared at him. It was Ben who finally said, “I can just imagine you on Hot Ones on YouTube.”

“What?” Elly asked, but Ben was enthralled watching George suck the sauce off his fingers.

George, however, was watching her. “What did the lawyers say?”

Elly glared at her pizza then took a swig of beer. “Any major changes to the business are subject to approval from the trustees. They don’t object in principle as long as I can show I won’t have losses in excess of the monthly stipend.”

Now Ben was looking at her. “You are going to change the business?” he asked with feigned nonchalance that was undermined by his voice breaking part of the way through the sentence.

Elly shook her head, “I wouldn’t interfere with the bakery, but I don’t know enough about yarn to keep this place afloat.”

“You were learning though,” he pointed out.

George snorted, “She is unhappy though.” He narrowed his eyes at the man. “Why is it your concern?”

“If I close up shop, Ben is out on the street,” Elly pointed out. “This will affect him too.”

“Hmm,” George considered this.

“Try some pizza,” Elly suggested.

“Get Ben a beer,” George suggested.

“Nah, man. I gotta drive home.” Then he frowned. “I gotta clean the kitchen.”

“I will allow you to sleep on Elly’s couch on the second floor,” George replied magnanimously. Elly rolled her eyes. Ben grinned at his plate and took a slice of the all meat pie.

“I like this place, they have good sauce and they have a partially good sourdough crust.” He took a huge bite and chewed thoughtfully for a moment, “and I’m sure they make their own sauce.”

“You already mentioned the sauce,” Elly pointed out.

“It was a very good bottle of scotch,” George explained. “The boy needed it.”

Elly sighed. “Yeah, you can sleep in the guest room,” she agreed. “I’ll change the sheets and help you clean the kitchen tomorrow morning.”

Ben was looking thoughtful. “I know you don’t order this much food all the time. Is that why all the cats are going missing?”

“Yes!” Elly snapped.

“No!” George just looked hurt. “I don’t eat cats!”

Ben chortled, “Methinks the lady does protest too-” but before he could finish the quote, George leaned across the table and snapped his teeth uncomfortably close to Ben’s face.

“You do not come into my house and disrespect me like that!”

Both humans froze.

George blinked and leaned back away from them. He turned and glared at the door to the stairs. “I have changed my mind, treasure, I do not like this friend of yours.”

“I’ll -” Elly squeaked then stopped and tried again. “I’ll just take him home then. To his home, I mean.”

George looked pointedly at the window, “You can not go and be back before dark. Take him upstairs, put him to bed and if he remembers this in the morning, I will expect an apology.”

“I’m sorry,” Ben said immediately. He was extremely contrite. “You are right. That was rude.”

George narrowed his eyes at him. “Go,” he managed to hiss the word despite the lack of sibilants. As he watched them scurry up the stairs like frightened mice, he helped himself to another wing. As he was crunching he could hear Elly speaking upstairs.

“That isn’t even how that quote goes. It’s ‘the lady doth protest too much, methinks’ -”

“Really? That’s the part of this you have a problem with?”

“No. I’m just... “ she sighed. “Look. You need to think less drinking buddy and more tetchy grandfather.”

George managed to frown even harder. Tetchy? Really? The grandfather, well, it was completely incorrect but he could see how she got there. But techy? Ugh. He finished the wings and opened one of the pizza boxes at random. Bread, tomato sauce, meat, mushrooms, bland white cheese, not ideal, but oddly satisfying.

The reality of the situation caught up to him. He groaned. He should have made the boy sleep on the chesterfield in the basement. Instead, he was up there with Elly and George was down here, alone. That certainly wasn’t how this was supposed to go.

Still, it would be dark soon. Time to go for a night out.

#the captive #exophilia #monster boyfriend #dragon boyfriend

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alynawatchestv · 4 years

Text

Alyna watches Xena - 01x01 Sins of the Past

Beware. For the road is long and full of spoilers… I mean, if a 25 years old show can be spoiled. But fair warning.

This thing here was supposed to be short but I made a very long recap of the episode. Sorry not sorry, I’m gonna be making recaps of the series. Yes, every single episode… Not regularly... And it's gonna be long.

Comments and reblogs are appreciated. 👍👍👍

*rule #1 - wash your weapons from enemies intestines*

*Carless Whisper saxophone solo intensifies*

Because frankly, who wouldn’t be? I know I had the same reaction to Gabrielle so I get Xena. I totally get it.

In a time of ancient gods, warlords… Well, you know it.

*seriously Draco…*

*9/10 parents wouldn't recommend this as an educational tool*

*Lila being a supportive sister*

But Draco is plotting against Xena. He decides to attack Amphipolis and pretend it was Xena who told him to do it. Plot thickens, you guys.

C: “How’s the young thing like you is gonna kill Xena?”

G: “That’s the point. She’d never let a man get close enough to do her. At least not that kind of do her. But a young, innocent looking girl like me, I’ll catch her totally off guard…

*You sure will, Gabrielle. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*

*They’ve known each other for like 1 hour and we get those looks already? So straight indeed*

After the fight Xena is preparing to leave when Cyrene shows up and hugs Xena, who asks again for forgiveness and is, of course, given that. It's a truly awesome moment in this pilot.

*couldn't find gif so you're stuck with bad screenshot*

And in the morning we see Xena and Gabrielle travelling to new adventures to right wrongs, drink wine and… Oh forget it.

10/10

Edit: I got the gif. Thanks @girl4music :)

*there’s nothing gay here. nada. zero... mhm...*

#xena warrior princess #xena #xena and gabrielle #lucy lawless #renee o'connor #alyna watches xena

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