#a dude points out a hot woman to either of them and they get offended like

[rise-my-angel]

I was watching trailers and saw this. You know how in medici richard madden’s character is like once we are married youll be a medici, your loyalty lies with me, your husband?

Imagine robb saying that to hotg reader.

(I know he tells stannis that reader’s fate lies w him, her husband and i love it)

That scene is from Robb's pov so you wouldn't know this, but LET ME TELL YOU STANNIS WAS SITTING THERE WHEN ROBB SAYS THAT HAVING A BACK AND FORTH WITH HIMSELF OVER IT.

He's like, my daughter this is who you ran off to? Then the other part is like, hey buddy you married her to him yourself. But he's being possessive of her like she belongs to him, and then again is like, stannis buddy what do you think a marriage vow means this is still your fault.

Robb's like, shes my wife that means her loyalty is with me now. Like, to be fair, Robb also isn't looking at it like a property sort of thing, but the man is a hot blooded wolf, you're his mate and thats that. Its also why I never made any hints towards Jeyne Westerling in any way, because I didn't want to give the impression that Robbs the sort who would ever let his eyes stray from his wife.

He doesn't want your eyes straying to other men (he is so jealous of other men around you Robb shes in an army camp with thousands of men, my guy youll die of jealousy at this rate), and so he would never disrespect you back by even entertaining attraction to another woman.

It's why the reader never is honest about Jon. She 100% loves and is loyal to Robb. If Robb lived, and they reuinted with Jon, she'd still be with Robb. It'd be complicated for their hearts, but she would always be loyal to Robb from the moment she married him at the heart tree. She didnt want Robb thinking she would stray from him or was thinking of his brother when with him. Deep down she'd always love Jon, but that never overpowered the fact that the life she had was love with Robb.

Robb absolutely is the man like, she belongs to me, her loyalty lies with me as her husband. But thats also because he assumes you understand that it goes both ways, and he will always be dedicated to you in return.

But Robbs also just a jealous man so demanding you always give him your loyalty isn't a red flag thing it's just he's such a cave man brain wolf who gets off on monogamy in a really kinky way.

[theveteranside]

Here is my disclaimer, here's your one chance to run away. Don't get all offended after this. Your risk, not mine. What you are about to read is some truth, from one Operation Iraqi Freedom II veteran, although the end of the series may come as a bit of a surprise.

Do you know how hot it gets in Iraq? One-hundred-and-thirty fucking degrees, at least. One of my battle buddies used to say, "Its hotter than all balls!" No lie, it is for fucks sake. 

I joined the Army AFTER 9/11, real genius move. I went in having a Quartermaster job, 92G. Yes, yes, a goddamn cook. Why? Because pushing back my ship date cost me my slot as 54B, NBC (Nuclear Biological and Chemical). So, I took the next best thing, a big bonus.

Basic Training, check.

AIT, check.

Report to duty station in Wurzburg, Germany, check.

Deploy to Tikrit, Iraq on Mother's day 2004, fucking check.

In-process in Kuwait for two hellish weeks. Hurry up and wait, story of a soldiers life. Check.

Land in Tikrit, check.

Settle in at my living quarters....in a marble palace in Sadaam's hometown? Holy hell...

These palaces that we lived in were unbelievable. Marble. Gold. Crystal. One square mile of luxury, while outside those walls were desolate. Power outages were rolling. Water was dirty. Us? We were all pretty fucking rough, chain-smoking, gutter-mouthed, horny bastards that had each other's back in life, and in death. To this day, I'd trust my battle buddies with my life, because it just doesn't get any more real than that. Even if I haven't seen them or talked to them in years, there still lies that special bond. Blood and guts, no question.

On a daily basis, temperatures rose well above a hundred degrees. We wore our full battle at all times because The Big Red One was held to higher standards. Those higher standards nearly gave us heat stroke on a daily. DRINK MORE WATER! Hydrate fucker! So much fucking water. 

Full Battle Rattle consisted of full DCUs, flak vests weighing in at 20lbs maybe? And that's without add ons. On top of that was usually a camel pack with at least a half gallon of water, give or take. Six magazines of 5.56 rounds in Molly gear also attached to that flack vest. You have your standard M16A2 on a three point sling, eight pounds. On top of our already hard-headed noggin, a Kevlar helmet. Couple pounds. By the end of each day, lovely, thick salt rings in/on/through our DCUs.

On top of that shit, we were peppered with mortars and RPGs every fucking day, more than once, more than twice. Them hajis would drive over the bridge crossing the Tigris River with a dude, or woman.......or teenager......in the back ready to sit up and fire in hopes of blindy taking one of us, or some of us, out with a bang. It got to the point that it happened so much that we stopped ducking and diving. We wished a motherfucker would, cause they'd have hell to pay. When an RPG crosses about a foot in front of your face while scootin down the road, it pisses you off so much so that you turn around, head back to point A, kick a fucking door open, sit in front of a cooler with a cigg hanging out your mouth, and contemplate a whole scenario of blood and guts, not your own either. If only they were close enough....

**Break**

I think about this today. From what I can gather, in all my non-scientific-scientific-next-best-educated-life-experience-guess, is that we were out there for approximately 365± days, living on pure adrenaline, 24/7 in some form or another. So after a while, THAT becomes your body's "normal," then you get shipped back to duty station, asked a couple questions, deemed safe and normal, and then shipped for thirty-day leave and expected to adjust to normal civilian life with your family and kids and shit. The government failed us, oh so badly.

**Break**

Then, one day, they say, "S******! You'll be training on the .50cal, get ready!" I think, "How you figure?" But there I go......

[nightswithkookmin]

I hate it here

Why does he get to appropriate people's race and still have so much access??

I thought impersonation was a crime.

I thought stealing someone's identity was a crime. How is he walking around Freely and taking pictures with hot chicks?😒

THAT SHOULD BE ME😭😭😭

If he is profiting off of his looks he needs to be sued by Hybe IMMEDIATELY.

HYBE SHOULD HIRE ME - If they can over look my gossipy nature and the fact they really can't trust me with any company secrets plus I'll spend all my time staring at Jikook and simping for YoonminhopeJoon🙂

Bapsae aaahhhhh 😏😏😏

To answer your question Barbara, you are not the only confused one when it comes to these labels. We all are.

A lot of people use Bi these days instead of Pan because people find the term Pansexuality confusing and offensive so....

Strange times.

Offensive because some people in the Bi community feel it's a redundant term as to them it means the same as Bisexuality. As such they feel the use of Pansexuality is erasure and invalidating of their own identity.

From what I understand of this ongoing label wars in the community, those who get offended by Pansexuality do so mostly because they do not view trans identity as a seperate unique gender in of it's own but merely as an adjective.

To such, there is no thing as cis boy or trans boy and that a boy is a boy. So being Bi to them means they are attracted to boys( cis or trans) and girls (regardless of whether they are cis or trans)- which is what Pansexuality actually is💀

Here in lies the conflict. Cis women and some people, myself included, see trans identity as a seperate gender identity from cis identity and differentiates between a biological Male or female and a trans Male or female.

As such a boy is not a boy, a boy is either cis boy or trans boy and both are valid.

This distinction is what mostly sets bisexuality from pan sexuality from my point of view.

It's disheartening. Not to mention anxiety inducing and confusing as hell when we can't even agree on basic terms to describe ourselves.

I don't know how conscious BTS are of these conversations and so I've always viewed their use of labels such as boy/girl in their lyrics with utmost fascination given as there are trans genders within their community.

I often find myself wondering what Joonie means when he talks of girls- does he mean cis girls or trans girls? Would he date either or both?

Personally, I view Trans identity as a valid, separate unique form of identity, unique from Cis identity and not just as an epithet.

I date and definitely find trans girls romantically and sexually attractive especially if there's minimum trace of their cis masculinity in them.

But I have friends who identify as lesbians but wouldn't date trans girls regardless of how they present. Yet they wouldn't mind dating a stud or Masculine presenting females as long as they are Cis girls. Talk of transphobia💀

Some girls call me Bi because I like cis and other fems and I'm perfectly fine with it. However embracing that label in Male spaces gives me a lot of headaches because they just assume I'd date any man too.

I have dated fem tops (girly girls who like to be the dominant one in relationships and also prefer to penetrate other girls during sex) who identify as lesbians but have threesomes with gay men💀

I mean as long as they get to fuck those men or penetrate/ top them or so they say and yes I've seen it happen with my two eyes- I have gay threesomes don't judge or tell my pastor😥

I'm going to hell as it is no need to compound it🤧

My ex was like that. She dated a gay guy she was topping and was gonna marry him because her family was pressuring her to get married. The dude was closeted and their relationship was convenient until he came out and lowkey outed her in the process.

When I asked her if she was bisexual she said she didn't have a label because none suited her at the time and that she likes girls regardless of how those girls identify as. So a femboi, andro, trans girls, cis girls, straight girls, gay girls, as long as you feminine she likes.

I'm a bit like that too... minus the topping fembois and gays part💀

If I had a dick it would be useless 🤣

I say all this to say, labels are a bit tricky and a lot of people struggle to find the right fit.

Gay or queer is our go to label.

For the sake of the conversation we having, I'd define being Bi as liking your own gender plus the opposite of your gender but in an exclusive way. Being Bi also means the gender of a person matters to you in your determination of what you find attractive.

However being Pan means you place less emphasis on the gender of the person you are attracted to and more emphasis on the qualities those people possess- really doesn't matter what the other person is if you like em you like em. Which means a person don't gotta be cis or trans boy or girl or other for you to like them. They just have to have a certain quality you find attractive.

Just like you said, you being a girl find gurls attractive too but I don't think you'd be willing to date a girl- cis or trans- a person has to be Male for you to date them. Right?

That exclusivity is what makes you straight. You like one gender to the exclusion of others.

Gays and lesbians like one gender, the same gender, to the exclusion of others.

Bisexuals may like multiple genders, different genders, to the exclusion of others.

Pansexuals like multiple genders but not to the exclusion of others.

If Gender is important to you in determining who a suitable romantic partner is you are either Straight or Bi. If gender is not important to your determination of who a suitable partner is then you're pansexual.

Pansexuals are gender blind🤣

If Pansexuals are bisexuals, there should be a label for the category currently viewed as bisexuals.

When Suga says " I look at personality and it's not limited to girls" I believe he's talking about the qualities he finds attractive in PEOPLE.

When he sings boy or girl my tongue technology will send you to hongkong it carries a similar sentiment. He's saying basically it doesn't matter what you identify as he can make you orgasm under his- rap?

That's pan energy to me. You go pan Suga! BAPSAE AAAHHH🤭

IF he were queer then I'd assume he's more likely to be pan not bi- hypocritically speaking.

But he is NOT QUEER.

SOPE YOONMIN AND ANYSHIP INVOLVING SUGA IS NOT REAL or even likely to be.

Since we are both men, how can my heart throb for a man. This implies he believes his heart only has to throb for the opposite sex. Yea no he is definitely not bi.

Straight as an arrow this one.

He doesn't find men sexually or romantically attractive. He is not gay or bi and I don't think he wants to be.

I assume he's straight. I do.

And as a straight dude, he's certainly intriguing and I can see how certain actions of his make people queer read him especially in his dominant ships Sope and Yoonmin and Taegi.

But I don't think he goes out of his way to queer code himself.

And I see what you mean by the exaggerated speech. Rappers do trash talk, boast and talk shit in their music but they are also notoriously homophobic with the exception of a few. References of queerness in their lyrics are usually often used pejoratively to slur other rappers etc.

May be I'm too black, gay, and a woman to overlook the misogyny and homophobia that's traveled through Black American hip pop to elsewhere even if it takes on new family friendly labels such as Kpop or BTS.

I don't tend to read hiphop lyrics through non cis non straight non male lens. Unless of course it's from a queer artist but even that there's almost always something internalized.

It's fascinating how people look at a hip hop artist and glean their sexuality from their lyrics....

I'm dozing off. Will read over this tomorrow and add anything I might have missed.

GOLDY

[adhdeancas]

for trans man!dean, him mcfuckin dipping to totally transition how he wants then posting up at a family reunion as his badass self with Sam proud of him? also cas comes as his plus one/emotional support/husband idk

mcfuckin love how you worded this. here you go, more trans dean for everyone. minor trigger warnings for a little bit of dysphoria and a little bit of transphobia

Dean didn’t tell anyone when he went away. He just left. Wasn’t anybody’s business, and it’s not like anybody cared enough to keep up with him. 

Sam was too busy with school and work, Dad was too busy being a drunk asshole, and, well, there weren’t many other people who gave a shit in Dean’s life. 

The only person he told was Bobby, and that’s because Bobby would’ve hunted his ass down just to kick it if he just stopped showing up at the garage. 

Sam texted every few months, sure, but Dean always got by with vague answers. He didn’t tell Sam that he was having top surgery, or going on hormones, or shacking up with a hot former-priest in Canada. Nah, not important. After all, he’d told Sam he was a dude years ago. So he shouldn’t be too surprised. Right? 

Except then he has to go to this stupid Winchester Family Reunion.

“Dean, it’s going to be okay. They love you,” Cas placated him for the thousandth time. He came over and fixed Dean’s tie, which Dean resolutely batted away. He was the one used to fixing Cas’s tie. He glared at his boyfriend. 

“You don’t know them.” He said quickly. He stomped over and flopped down face first on the gross motel comforter they’d rented out halfway to Bobby’s. (Dean wanted to just power through, but Cas insisted on making a road trip out of it. He hadn’t been on many.) He let out a muffled moan out of frustration.

Cas rolled his eyes. “Well, that’s why we’re starting with Bobby. Baby steps, right?”

Dean sat back up and cringed at his boyfriend. “Yeah, baby steps for me and giant leaps for Bobby.” Cas smiled and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked like a freaking doctor visiting a patient, and it was so cute Dean wanted to end the conversation and pin him to the mattress instead. 

“Bobby knows you’re trans, right?” he asked patiently

“Yeah.”

“Then it shouldn’t be that big of a surprise to him that you look a little different. I mean, it’s been two years.” Dean grinned at him. Cas had a way of making everything seem so manageable. 

“Sure, just a little bit different. Two boobs lighter and a beard heavier.” He gave Cas a shit eating grin and looped a leg over him, sitting back on his heels. 

Cas pursed his lips, running a hand over Dean’s stubble. “I don’t know, would we call this a beard?”

Dean growled at him and leaned in for a kiss. “Hey, asshole, aren’t there better things you could do with your mouth than talk?” Cas laughed and kissed him back. 

“You make a good point.”

They left the motel room a little dirtier than they found it.

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

Dean spent a full minute pacing back and forth behind an old clunker before he ran up to the front door and knocked. Cas eased up from where he’d been leaning against the Impala and joined his boyfriend where he was now awkwardly drumming against his thigh. “Do I look okay? Do I look-uh-” he faltered, not sure how he wanted to look. Did he want to look like a guy? Or enough like a chick to look like his old self, so Bobby would let him in? 

“You look great.” Cas reached for his hand but Dean stole it away so he could turn around when he heard the door opening. 

“...hello?” Bobby asked gruffly. Dean grinned and put his hands on his hips, then down at his sides when he realized he didn’t want to emphasize how wide his hips were. 

“Hi, uh, Bobby. It’s… it’s Dean?”

Bobby did a double-take, and then Dean shifted uncomfortably. He knew he was looking for what Dean used to look like in how he looked now. He cleared his throat. Bobby blinked at him. “Well, shit, Dean. You- uh- you been working out, kid?”

Bobby pulled Dean into a bone-crushing hug, laughing. Dean pulled away with just a grin just as big. “Lil’ bit.” He said, blushing. “Oh, uh,” he stepped back and grabbed Cas’s hand, pulling him forward. “This is Cas. He’s- he’s my boyfriend.” Dean was absurdly more nervous to admit he liked guys (again) than he was for Bobby to see him post-op. Would Bobby still believe he was a guy if he was queer too? 

“Shit, a boyfriend? What, you got a mortgage too, you hiding a kid under that jacket?” Bobby huffed and stalked into his house. Cas seemed a little taken aback by his gruffness, but Dean just grinned and squeezed his hand. This was a good sign. They followed him into the kitchen, where Bobby was making coffee and muttering, “What, go away for a couple years and come back a man?” 

Dean beamed. 

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

Dean took a deep breath, and Cas squeezed his hand. He pressed a kiss to Dean’s cheek. “You’ve got this, babe.” Dean nodded shakily. He could do this. 

Surprisingly, he could do this. From the second he walked in the door, Dean took no shit. Most people didn’t give him more than a glance; they didn’t recognize either of the new men. Dean looked for Sam’s messy mop of hair and made a beeline as soon as he recognized it. Easy, when Sam towered over practically everyone. 

“Sammy!” Dean poked his brother in the back. “How the hell are you?”

Sam turned around, his furrowed brows loosening into a look of pure surprise when he recognized his brother. Which of course he did. “Dean!” He hugged Dean, pulling away so he could look at him. “Holy shit, you- you got top surgery?”

Dean grinned. “You know what top surgery is?”

Sam looked offended. “I research.” Dean laughed and lifted up his shirt quickly to show his scars. 

“Pretty cool, right?” Cas laughed at that and Sam turned his attention to the dark haired man standing behind his brother. “Oh yeah, I brought moral support.” He dragged Cas forward with a hand on the small of his back, and Cas thrust out his hand. “He’s a grad student too. I’m sure you nerds have a ton to gab about.” 

Sam rolled his eyes and shook Cas’s hand. “Hey, man, nice to meet you. What’re you studying?”

Dean zoned out almost immediately, keeping a hand on Cas out of comfort. All around the room, his family didn’t recognize him. Usually he’d have people coming up to him, Aunts screeching “Deanna!” and talking about his weight or his outfit or his hair, he’d have uncles throwing him over their shoulders and talking about last time they’d seen him when he was a little girl. Now? Nothing. Clean slate. It felt like freedom. He was him, in front of his family. For once. Then Dad walked up to him. 

“Sammy, who you got there? Thought you weren’t bringing a plus one.” John asked gruffly, suspiciously. Sam rolled his eyes. 

“It’s Sam. And I told you, Jess couldn’t come, she’s got too much on her plate right now.” He reminded his dad quickly that he was dating a woman right now, fuck you very much. 

“Yeah, sorry Dad, that’s my date.” Dean grinned and looped an arm low on Cas’s waist. He felt Cas look at him and he swore he heard him sniff. Motherfucker was checking for alcohol on his breath. He laughed and turned to give him a quick kiss, which surprised him even more. Confidence was a helluva thing. 

John was frozen in place. One of his eyes was twitching like he was overloaded with information. Which, Dean guessed, he was. 

“Dad, Cas, Cas, John,” Dean said, still grinning. Sam let out a snort from his other side. Cas extended his hand coolly. John stared at him as he returned the favor, turning Cas’s knuckles white with the force of his grip. “Oh and I’m Dean, by the way, in case you didn’t get the email.”

Dean extended his hand for his own handshake, and John took it equally slowly. “So you’re just going to show up like this, no warning or-”

“Yup.” Dean said happily. “Now I was promised burgers. Where are the fucking burgers?”

“What have you done to yourself?”

“Upgraded.” Dean shrugged and fixed his jacket. 

“And you’re…” He looked at Cas.

“Into men.” Dean nodded. “And women. No offense, Cas, but women are just prettier.” Cas nodded sagely, and Dean offered Sam a fist to fistbump. Sam did it with a smirk. “Guess you got two queer sons, daddio.”

John made no move. “Burgers?”

“Over there.” Sam answered this time, pointing. Dean looked. 

“Oh over by Grandpa Henry? Sweet. Thanks, Sammy. Wanna join?” He looped an arm around Sam’s shoulders before he could answer and dragged his two best guys toward the food. 

“Dean, hey, I’m- I’m really proud of you.” Sam stopped him and put a hand on his chest, and Dean felt a warm feeling both due to his words and the fact that Sam could pat him on the chest now without it being weird. “I know you’ve had a rough time- I mean, with everybody, with caring what they think- I’m just really proud of you.” 

Dean swallowed a lump in his throat. “Thanks, Sammy. That’s all I need.”

“Jerk.”

“Bitch.”

[edendaphne]

“Discordant Sonata” Chapter 16

New chapter of "Discordant Sonata"! (Feat. adorable art by @corgi-likes-chat​!) Here’s a cropped preview:

>>Read it here on Ao3<< >>Read it here on Wattpad<<

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

CHAPTER 16: LEGATO

Legato: “tied together”; indicates that musical notes are to be connected, so they are played (or sung) smoothly

(Mood Music: Mamma Mia (Swing version) - Opa Tsupa)

[One month later]

“Alright, I’m gonna take the side door and rush upstairs to steal the elven artifact. You got these guys?”

Chat rubbed his hands together, then picked up his controller, adjusting his grip. “Oh baby, I'm itching to try out this new greatsword.”

Marinette nudged him with her elbow. “Don’t aggro too many mobs. Space ‘em out.”

“Did you forget I can stun?" he poked her back.

"No, but you often do,” she quipped. “One sec, buff refresh."

"Ouch, my masculinity! Too bad your regen got nerfed with the last patch.”

"I’ll manage; I bought some extra potions.” She shrugged. “Remember not to blow your rage too early this time. We don't want to pull out prematurely!"

Chat gave her an incredulous look, as if she’d grown a second head.

Marinette winked at him. "I've just seen how you handle that greatsword of yours."

Chat howled with laughter. “Double dagger spec? More like double entendre spec!” He squeezed her shoulder. "You've come so far.”

“Oh, I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve,” she replied.

He sniffled and dramatically wiped away a fake tear. “I'm so proud of you."

Marinette giggled and settled herself into a comfortable position, crossing her legs on the floor. Her fingers gripped her controller tightly in anticipation. “Alright, Minou. It’s go time.”

---

Several tense minutes of yelling and frantic button-mashing later, Chat wailed in agony as he plopped backwards, “NOOOO!!! We were so close!!”

Marinette turned around, frowning. “Dude! Why’d you have to go off on your own into that side corridor?! You should’ve known it would be full of stealth enemies!”

Chat’s arms flapped around as he sputtered incredulously. “Y’know what?? We shouldn’t even be here! You’re the one who wanted to two-man a four-person dungeon!”

“We would’ve succeeded if only you’d stuck to the plan, Mr. Curious Cat!”

Chat paused to shoot her a petulant glare. “Well, I guess that means you won’t be needing this epic leather armor you’ve totally been looking for all week, that I just happened to loot from said forbidden corridor! I bet it’ll fetch a high price at the auction house!”

Marinette let out an offended gasp. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“Wouldn’t I?”

“Give it!!” she yelped as she reached across for his controller.

“Nuh-uh! Nope, too late! You should’ve been nicer to me when you had the chance!” He clambered away, but she chased after him.

“Get back here!” she cried, catching him by the waist.

Chat continued to taunt her, holding the controller up high. “Gee, I wonder what kind of trinket I could buy with all the gold I get for this,” he remarked, tapping his finger against his chin.

Marinette grabbed one of the throw pillows from the chaise and thwacked it against him.

“I’m gonna tell Ladybug about your evil deeds!” she threatened.

Chat grabbed another pillow with his free arm and swatted her back with a laugh. “She won’t believe you! I’m her beloved partner, after all!”

“Wanna bet?”

Before he could reply, Marinette tackled him to the ground, grabbing at his belt to hold him in place. She reached for the controller, but his arm was still too long. She adjusted her grip at his side to reposition herself.

Chat squirmed at her touch and yelped, “ACK!! That tickles!”

Marinette’s eyes widened and she looked up at him, a devilish smirk slowly slithering across her face. She crawled on top of him, securing her legs on either side of his hips. And with that, her fingers went to work, mercilessly tickling his ribs and obliques.

Chat screeched and wiggled, desperately trying to scoot away from but failing every time.

“Surrender!” she commanded, continuing her onslaught.

He answered rebelliously between cackles, “Never! But I may scream.”

He thrashed and tried to squirm away, but she had him right where she wanted him. Chat laughed so hard that his eyes began to water, and he begged for mercy in between belly laughs.

Finally sensing her opening, Marinette got ahold of the controller, yanking it away from his lowered arm.

“AHA!” she cried, lifting her arm triumphantly.

Chat’s eyes grew wide and his mouth twisted into an indignant pout, then he used his enhanced strength to lift his hips off the ground, reversing their position so she was the one being pinned.

Marinette gasped in horror and outrage. “CHEATER!! You’re using your super strength!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, I’m always this strong,” he quipped back, flexing his arm dramatically. He adjusted his position on top and tried plucking the controller away from her.

Despite being a bit disoriented now that she was on the bottom, Marinette maintained a death grip on the controller.

Chat grabbed her wrists and pinned them over her head and she grunted as she struggled. “Oh, how the tables have turned,” he purred as he trapped them both under a single hand. His other hand trailed down to her waist, poking experimentally, then extending his claws from his fingertips to amplify the sensation.

Marinette writhed and wriggled under his touch, shrieking and giggling uncontrollably.

“Do you yield?” he demanded impishly as he stared down at her flushed face a mere few inches away.

“NEVER!!” she replied tenaciously, defiantly puffing out her chest, as if straightening out her posture would somehow intimidate him, or grant her extra resilience.

“You are soooooo stubborn, Ma Minette,” he chided playfully, squeezing her sides hard and making her squeal some more. Marinette twisted and kicked vigorously, trying to escape, but to no avail.

Their antics were interrupted by a descending musical chime and agonized screams erupting from the laptop screen, which was propped on top of Marinette’s antique chest for easier viewing. The pair stopped, their heads whipping towards the source of the sound.

Their respawned characters had died while they were occupied with their tickle fight.

The pair looked back at each other, then busted into hysterical guffaws.

As they laughed and panted, Chat couldn’t help but notice the way Marinette looked with her long dark hair fanned out on the ground, her tiny freckles more prominent against her reddened cheeks. She really had become quite a stunning young woman after all these years. Despite spending their teenage years together, his attention had always been elsewhere, and he’d never really paid attention to how different she looked now, versus when they first met.

She seemed to notice him staring and smiled, and the rosiness of her cheeks seemed to intensify. Probably from the exertion, he figured. And yet, he couldn’t help but feel his own face beginning to feel hot under her gaze.

She looked like she was about to say something, but as she opened her mouth, a new sound blasted across the room; it was Marinette’s mobile phone.

He felt her twitch underneath him, and for the first time, they both realized the position they’d put themselves in. Anyone who walked in on them at this moment would surely have... questions.

Face feeling red hot at this point, Chat released Marinette’s wrists and got off of her so she could get up and check her phone. Giving him one last cheeky smirk, she stood up to see what the commotion was all about.

She gasped as she checked the screen. “Oh my goodness! I’d totally forgotten, I have a study group in fifteen minutes! I have to get ready!” She turned off the alarm and pocketed her phone, then scrambled to her desk to get her school materials prepped.

Chat’s ears twitched in response. “Oh! It totally slipped my mind as well. Good thing you set a calendar alarm. Otherwise, your classmates would’ve walked in to Chat Noir just casually playing video games at your house.”

Marinette darted to her full-length mirror to look herself over, then dashed over to her vanity to grab her hairbrush.

“Do I look alright?” she asked as she fixed her hair.

“My darling, you look positively radiant,” Chat replied theatrically, taking a seat on the chaise.

“Is my outfit okay?” she continued harriedly. “Should I change? Is my shirt wrinkled? Do these shorts make me look short? Is my hair sticking up in the back?”

Chat grinned at how flustered she was. “Helen of Troy would pale next to your indescribable magnificence, Mademoiselle.”

“Chat,” she jokingly reprimanded, but failed at containing an upwards twitch of her lips.

He shrugged feebly. “You look totally fine. But why? It’s just your classmates.”

Marinette hesitated. “Well… Just… no reason!”

She received a skeptical eyebrow in reply. He knew her better than that (not that she was very good at hiding her feelings in the first place). Giving up any further pretense, her posture drooped in response.

“Alright, alright, the truth,” she conceded with a resigned sigh.

Chat leaned forward imperceptibly, raising his eyebrows in silent query.

“My old crush is gonna be there–”

Chat gasped loudly despite himself.

“–And I wanna look nice!” she continued. “But not like, sizzling ‘I’m tryin’ to steal you from your girlfriend’ kinda hot, ya know? I’m just trying to get past him. I wanna move on. I wanna prove to myself that I’m doing okay. He's still one of my best friends. I need to show that I'm happy for him.” Then she added with a weak smile, “Plus, Alya knows what my wrestle-hair looks like, so I'd have to answer some awkward questions if I don’t look at least somewhat put together.”

Chat closed his mouth, which he hadn’t realized was in “fish gape” mode until just then. He looked down towards the floor, now understanding why she would feel so apprehensive.

Marinette was doing her best. He felt his heart swell with affection and sympathy. He had to help somehow; he always tried to be a source of extra confidence whenever she needed to face challenges. It was the least he could do for her.

Chat stood up, cleared his throat and approached her desk, swishing his tail back and forth as he pondered her words.

“I know exactly what you need,” he offered with an air of authority.

Marinette quirked an eyebrow. “You do?”

He retrieved something from her vanity and, with a flourish, he presented a tube of shiny pink lip gloss. “Ta-da! For the ‘I still look cuter than everyone in the room without even trying’ look.”

Marinette accepted the tube of lip gloss, and she couldn’t help but giggle at his sweetness and sincerity. “Sounds good to me! Thanks!” As she looked into the mirror and applied the lip gloss, she continued, “Sorry to kick you out of the house. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

Chat waved it off. “Of course, don’t worry! I have somewhere I need to be this afternoon anyway, so take your time.”

“Alright. I’ll text you when we’re done, but it shouldn’t take longer than a couple of hours.”

“Okey dokey!” He stood behind her and gave her a quick parting squeeze, then walked over to the floor hatch to exit her room, giving her one last wave. “Later, Maribug!”

Marinette smiled after him as he descended the stairs, amused as always at his unintentionally accurate nickname. If only she could tell him.

Someday, she told herself. Someday there will be no more secrets.

She dearly hoped that that day could come soon.

-----

(Mood Music: You Don't See Me - Safetysuit)

A short while later, Nino and Alya arrived together at the Dupain-Cheng residence. At the door, Marinette greeted them with a smile and invited them inside.

From across the street, a certain tall, blonde, bespectacled figure peeked from behind a tree, deciding to wait a few minutes before making his own entrance.

“It looks like your girlfriend was able to tame her Wrestlemania hair after all,” Plagg whispered from inside Adrien’s pocket.

Adrien poked him gently with his finger. “Hush, she’s not my girlfriend,” he admonished.

“Oh that’s right, I forgot,” Plagg replied. “You already have a secret girlfriend, according to everyone’s favorite international celebrity, Lila Rossi.”

He rolled his eyes. “Ladybug’s not my girlfriend either,” he corrected him again.

Plagg poked him back. “And how did you know I meant Ladybug?”

“W-well, I-I just…” Adrien stammered, his body growing hot in spite of the crisp autumn weather. “It was implied. Anyway, we’re not in a relationship.”

“Not yet, you mean?” Plagg inquired with a quirked brow.

“Plagg! That’s not– I mean… not that I’d mind –AUGH, wait! That’s not what I meant to say!!” he whisper-shrieked as an even more intense wave of heat traveled down his torso. “Let’s just go. I can’t spend a bunch of time trying to figure out what kind of relationship we have, or we’ll be late.”

“You could always ask her tonight during patrol,” Plagg suggested with an eyebrow waggle. “Unless your mouths find something more ‘fun’ to do instead.”

Adrien let out a choked whine, covering his face with his hands. Instead of answering, he scurried down the sidewalk, trying his hardest to ignore the muffled cackles emerging from his clothes.

He rang the doorbell and waited. A few moments passed and the door opened to reveal Alya, who greeted him with a smile.

“Hey, buddy! Glad you could make it! Come on in!”

She led him upstairs to the family room, where everyone’s study materials and textbooks were already spread out onto the dining table.

“Hi, Adrien!” Marinette called from the kitchen area as they walked past. “Make yourself comfortable, I’m just getting us some refreshments.”

Adrien greeted her back, making sure to compliment how pretty she looked today (to which she replied with a small “EEP!!” and a flustered, stuttered, “Thank you”) then he walked over to join Nino.

“Dude! Long time no see!” he said excitedly, standing up to welcome him and give him a tight hug.

Adrien chuckled as he squeezed back. “I know, right? It’s been almost twenty-four hours! I was starting to go through best bro withdrawals!” He set his backpack down and began laying out his own notes and textbooks.

A few minutes passed as they chatted and got situated, but Adrien couldn’t quite focus on the conversation. He was too busy casting (apparently not so furtive) glances towards the door, curiously awaiting whoever else would be attending their study group.

Sensing his restlessness, Nino asked, “Hey bro, you looking for something?”

Adrien shrugged. “Oh, I was just wondering–”

A loud clatter of pots and pans interrupted their conversation, punctuated by a loud “EEEEEK!!”, and the group’s heads whipped towards the kitchen in alarm.

“Marinette?” Alya asked, a worried crinkle appearing between her eyebrows.

“I’m okay!!” Marinette cried from within. “Just bumped into something and uhhh, knocked over some other stuff, no biggie!” she explained sheepishly.

Adrien turned back towards Nino and Alya. “I’ll go help,” he reassured them with a smile.

He walked towards the kitchen, watching Marinette as she put away the kitchenware she’d accidentally knocked out of a cabinet.

He rounded the corner of the bar countertop and called out cheerfully, “Heya!”

Marinette whirled around in surprise with a sharp yelp, accidentally stepping backwards onto a stray metal platter. Adrien watched as if in slow motion as Marinette fell backwards towards the hard tile floor.

“Mari!!”

Adrien reflexively darted forward and managed to catch her just in the nick of time, her body nearly parallel to the floor. He pulled her up gingerly, his arms firmly wrapped around her waist and back, their chests barely touching. They stared at each other as they panted, their breaths mingling together.

Marinette blinked, her cheeks a deep crimson, and she let out a small, nervous laugh. “Nice catch,” she said, almost as a whisper.

Adrien let out a deep, relieved sigh. “I got lucky. Sorry I startled you.”

“No, it’s okay,” she said as he pulled her closer and helped her stand up. “I really should pay better attention to my surroundings,” she continued, rubbing her arm with a rueful expression on her face.

“You’re just trying to do too much all at once, that’s all. Let me help,” he replied. “I can reach all the high shelves!” he offered, flexing his arms theatrically, trying to add some silliness into the awkwardness.

She blinked, then let out a small giggle, cheeks still red. “A-alright,” she replied. “Uh… Why don’t you pour some water into these glasses while I finish cleaning this up?”

“Sure!” he chirped happily.

Marinette smiled and resumed her task of cleaning up the fallen pots and pans. Adrien opened the refrigerator to fetch the water pitcher, then began to fill the glasses.

As he did so, he noticed there were only four glasses on the countertop. Odd. They’d need an extra one for Marinette’s (former) love, wouldn’t they? Were they coming alone or would there be extra people? His chest tingled with curiosity as he wondered who it could be.

Turning back towards him, Marinette said, “By the way, the water pitcher’s inside the refri— oh nevermind, you already found it.”

Adrien chuckled nervously, continuing to pour. He cleared his throat and changed the subject. “So how many glasses do we need?”

Marinette looked back at him with a perplexed look. “It’s just the four of us today, as usual. Unless you invited someone else?”

“Uhh, no, I didn’t. I just thought…”

He trailed off and froze.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Marinette had said–

...but if no one else was coming, then that meant...

No.

No way.

Was Marinette in love with Nino?? He’d had a small crush on her ages ago, but he and Alya had been together for years now. Marinette would never try to wedge herself between them, not in a million years!

Her crush couldn't be Alya either, right? Marinette had mentioned that her crush was male.

But… But that meant–

“Adrien, the water!” Marinette cried, her voice jolting him back from his thoughts.

Horrified, he realized he was still pouring water into the already-filled glass, spilling it all over the countertop.

He gasped as he realized his mistake, and set the pitcher down. “Shoot! I’m sorry, Marinette! I'll clean it up!”

He turned around to open a drawer across the way, bringing out a couple of kitchen towels to soak up the liquid.

“I kinda zoned out,” he continued, wiping up the mess. “I’m really sorry, it looks like I’m only doing more harm than good in here.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. But, um...” Her face scrunched up in confusion, “How did you know that’s where we kept the towels?”

Adrien’s eyes grew large. Oops. Why was he so full of blunders today??

“Uhh, I’ve just… I’ve seen you open that drawer before. O-on a different day,” he deflected with a shrug, obviously unable to divulge the true reason he knew his way around the Dupin-Cheng kitchen.

Marinette let out a short hmm . “Yeah, that makes sense. You must have a great memory!” She smiled with a blush and added, “Although that shouldn’t surprise me; I’ve always known you're really smart.”

Adrien forced himself to smile at the compliment, yet a cold chill ran down his spine.

“Not as smart as I should’ve been,” he muttered, speaking about more than just spilled water.

He should have noticed. He should have known. He should have realized sooner that the sadness in her eyes was because of him.

Marinette patted his arm, which tingled under her touch. “No worries, it’s just water. No harm done!” she said sweetly, her kind smile growing even wider.

But I hurt you , he thought to himself. Their conversation from that day rushed back to the forefront of his mind. An indirect and cruel rejection before she ever even got the chance to confess.

He thought back to all the times they’d hung out together as civilians since that fateful day when she came home in tears after school. She’d never treated Adrien any differently after he unknowingly broke her heart. Was she that amazing an actress, or was she just that strong?

Marinette finished putting the drinks and snacks onto a serving tray and bid him to follow her to the living area, where Nino and Alya were eagerly waiting. But how would he be able to concentrate on studying after knowing he’d been the focus of Marinette’s unrequited affections?

No, not affections. She’d used the word “love”. She was actively trying to fall out of love with him.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Nevertheless, that nagging feeling stayed with him for the remainder of the study session. -------

(Mood Music: Que reste-t-il de nos amours? - Avalon Jazz Band)

[Later that day]

Marinette squinted suspiciously.

Chat had been acting weird. Or rather, weird for him, which was saying something. He’d been in a somber mood ever since he came back that afternoon after her study session. What had happened during that brief time while they’d been separated?

Speaking of which, she recalled that poor Adrien had been acting out of sorts as well. She’d asked him if everything was alright, but his face went red and he waved it off, saying it was nothing, claiming that he was just a little tired. She hasn’t pressed the issue, especially knowing that he had a difficult home life and busy schedule. She dearly hoped he’d come to her if he ever needed someone to talk to.

In any case, she’d been surprised to find Chat just as morose and out of sorts. She’d asked him what was wrong and he instantly dismissed it. Then he promptly excused himself to his bedroom, which was unusual. Normally he was chatty as can be during dinnertime, then he would hang out with the rest of the family during the evenings, playing videogames or board games, or engaging in conversation over some tea.

But tonight, he’d hardly spoken a word. He had only answered briefly when spoken to, and it was like he could barely look her in the eye. And whenever he did, she could’ve sworn she saw something like… guilt?

She wasn’t sure. But she knew she didn’t like it.

Something was wrong. She was sure of it. Perhaps he wasn’t able to share what it was exactly due to his secret identity, but she was determined to help him fix it. She wanted to know the truth.

Tikki had lightly chastised her, saying that maybe Chat Noir had a good reason why he couldn’t share his problems, and that she shouldn’t pry or be too nosy. But this wasn’t nosiness! They were friends! And not only that; it was her duty as Ladybug to look out for his well-being, right??

Speaking of Ladybug...

They had patrol scheduled for later that night. Should she ask him again, as Ladybug? She pondered it... but no; he’d probably act tough and pretend it was nothing again. They were still working on being more open with each other, but progress was slow. Though not for lack of trying. Chat just… didn’t always know how to relax around Ladybug. He didn’t verbalize it, but it was as if deep down, he was always bracing for imminent rejection. Almost like he expected everything to be a dream, and any day now he’d wake up back at his father’s house, all alone.

Despite being allies, there were still many obstacles that stood in their way, as they both navigated through their partnership trying to find their unique dynamic, still somewhat guarded in their words and actions, to avoid hurting the other. There were invisible walls between them, and every time they’d succeeded in tearing one down, it was only to find that there was another wall behind it.

He’d mentioned before that he would never want to do anything to jeopardize their partnership. So he had a tendency to keep quiet about a lot of things, and not rock the boat, so to speak. He’d mentioned before that he trusted her implicitly. But it was like he didn’t trust himself. Or trust his luck.

He tended to be more open with Marinette, most likely because he didn’t feel that he had to watch what he said as closely for fear of rejection. Thankfully, he’d always been able to confide in her.

That is... until today.

She sighed.

Maybe he just needed an evening where he could be himself and be a normal person, as the guy behind the costume. But how to do that without revealing his identity?

Her eyebrows scrunched deeply as a tiny idea planted itself in her brain, slowly blooming into a full-blown scheme.

“I know that look,” Tikki remarked warily. “You’re up to something, aren’t you, Marinette?”

“Maybe,” Marinette replied with a sly grin. “I think Chat needs to get out of the house and spend a night on the town.” With that, she hopped off her desk chair and walked to the large, antique storage chest in the corner of her room where she kept all her current sewing projects. She rummaged around, searching for something.

“How are you going to do that?” Tikki asked with a concerned furrow of her brow.

“I’ll explain in a minute,” she replied as she found the item she was looking for, then set it down on her chaise.

She then opened her phone’s contacts and dialed Mylene’s father's number.

Tikki peeked over her shoulder. “I’m not sure where you’re going with this, but I hope it helps Chat Noir cheer up,” she remarked.

A few seconds later, there was an answer on the other side of the phone.

“Monsieur Haprèle? It’s Marinette Dupain-Cheng. I have a quick favor to ask, if that’s alright.”

A few moments later, the phone call ended, successfully putting the next part of her plan into motion. Monsieur Haprèle had graciously offered to stop by and drop off the items Marinette had asked for, since he needed to be in that part of town anyway for an errand.

“I think we have everything we need.” She winked at her kwami. “And now, Ladybug needs to make a phone call. Tikki, spots on!”

----

Chat closed his communicator and plopped onto his bed with a groan. Ladybug had cancelled patrol at the last minute, postponing it to the next day. He ran his hands down his face dejectedly. He supposed that was just as well. As excited as he’d been to meet with her tonight, he probably wouldn’t be very good company, since he’d been in such a crummy mood all evening.

Still… he’d really wanted to see her. Her presence always managed to do wonders for his morale.

He settled for pulling up a candid photo he’d taken of her with his staff’s camera on a different day. She was breathtaking; smiling softly while looking into the distance, the sunset a golden halo behind her, making her look like the angel she was. He smiled at the memory, and he felt his stomach fill with butterflies as they always did when he truly looked at her.

He swiped to the photo he’d taken right afterwards, when she realized he was taking a picture, her eyebrows raised in mild surprise. Then the photo after that, where she’d let out a bashful giggle, bringing her hand to her mouth, looking adorably shy. And the last photo from those few precious moments: Ladybug striking a dramatic pose, with an exaggerated pout that would put any supermodel to shame; a reminder of her sense of humor and willingness to be vulnerable and silly around him.

His smile broadened, his heart now thumping loudly in his chest. She really was so extraordinary.

A sudden rap on his bedroom door jolted him out of his daydreaming. He sat up and put his staff away as he answered, “Come in.”

The door opened, revealing a sharply dressed Marinette. He almost didn’t recognize her at first, since she’d changed out of her clothes from earlier and her hair was up in high twin buns.

“Hey Minou! You busy tonight?”

“Uhh, actually, no. Patrol got moved to tomorrow.”

“Then I have a proposition for you,” she said, her voice high and chipper. Without waiting for a reply, she took his hand and practically dragged him up to her bedroom. “But first, I need to give you something.”

They arrived at her room and she let go of his hand, then knelt by a large cardboard box he’d never seen before that was labeled “Backstage”. She unfolded the top, then started bringing out a myriad of fabrics and materials so hastily, that her movements were practically blurred. She took out a large pair of sunglasses that resembled vintage aviator-style goggles, an almost ninja-esque facemask, and set them aside.

She stood, holding something else behind her back, and walked up to him with a shy grin, her legs doing her trademark nervous shuffle.

“First of all, I- uh… I made you something. I started it a little while back and finally finished it today.” She tucked some hair behind her ear as she averted her eyes timidly, her cheeks dusted with a lovely shade of pink. “I hope you like it.”

She revealed the item behind her back, holding it up with both hands. It was a black zip-up hoodie, with muted, subtle detailing as an homage to his Chat Noir suit, but the main feature was the cat ears sewn onto the hood itself.

Chat’s jaw dropped, and his eyes practically bugged out of his head. This was the cutest, most considerate thing he’d ever been gifted.

He was at a loss for words, but thankfully Marinette interrupted, “I made it for you so you could hang out at home without having to be transformed all the time. ‘Cause I know that can be exhausting for Plagg, and it’d probably be more comfortable for you to be dressed in casual, loose-fitting clothes. Also–” she gestured towards the box behind her, “–my friend’s dad, he’s an actor, and he gave me a box full of masks and other costumes. You can mix and match, so you can have fun with it while still protecting your identity.” She extended the hoodie towards him hesitantly. “Uhh… anyway, obviously I didn’t take your measurements because it would’ve ruined the surprise, but it should fit you just fine. Cotton-polyester blend fleece is pretty forgiving like that.”

Chat gingerly accepted the garment, slowly and carefully running his fingers across the soft fabric as he admired the attention to detail his friend had lovingly crafted into a piece of clothing that would hardly ever be seen by anyone else.

He gaped at her, throat feeling quite dry. “Marinette… I don’t know what to say. Just… Thank you. This is such a thoughtful gift. I… wow.” He brought his hand up to his face, still in total disbelief. “I wish there was something I could do to show you how much I appreciate that you’re always looking out for me. There’s gotta be a way for me to thank you. Y-you’re always so… you’re just… I’m...”

Marinette stepped closer to him, their toes almost touching. The sudden proximity got his attention instantly, and she booped his nose with her index finger. “Well then, this is your lucky day. I know just the thing you can do for me.”

“Uhh, sure! A-anything you need, just ask,” he stammered, slightly confused.

She began, “Sooo, here’s what I was thinking…”

She continued to speak as she paced around the room, sort of beating around the bush, the speed of her words steadily increasing until she was talking a million miles a minute, so rapidly that he could barely understand what in the world she was talking about. Although he distinctly heard the words “movie theater”, “chaperone”, and a pleading, “You wouldn’t want me to go all by myself, would you?”

“Uhhh–” he tried to interject, still deep in his confusion.

“And before you turn me down and say, ‘But I, the dark and mysterious Chat Noir, cannot be seen in public with a civilian!’ don’t worry: I got you,” she interrupted.

She handed him the sunglasses and face mask, and said, “Detransform and put these on, along with your hoodie. You can wear these to the movies and be totally incognito!”

Chat let out a high-pitched “WHAT?!” his voice cracking once it couldn’t go any higher.

“No one will recognize you with the costume! It’s really not that conspicuous! Lots of people wear special blue-light blocking glasses when they watch movies or use their computers. And face masks have become a pretty common way to keep germs from spreading, so nobody will spare you a second glance. You’ll totally blend in with the crowd. And it’ll be my treat! Please??”

Chat rubbed the back of his neck, eyes darting around nervously. This was all so sudden and he was unsure how to respond. He’d never done anything like this before.

“I-I dunno…”

Marinette continued, wringing her hands anxiously as she spoke, “I know this is totally out of the blue, but there’s this one movie I really wanna watch that’s only gonna be in theaters for this one weekend. I’d ask Alya and Nino, but it’s pretty last minute. And even if they’re available, they’d probably just make out during the entire movie anyway, and God knows being the awkward third wheel gets tiresome after a while,” she added with an eyeroll. “Adrien always has to be booked months in advance, all my other girlfriends are busy, and I really don’t wanna go alone; it’s not safe to walk around a big city all by yourself at night, y’know. So, what do you say??”

Chat looked back at her, her big blue eyes silently begging him to come along.

He suppressed a sigh, biting his lip instead. She wouldn’t want to hang out with him if she knew who he really was and what he’d done to her. She’d always been absolutely wonderful to him– to both sides of him– and he’d repaid her by being a crappy friend who’d been totally oblivious to her feelings. He truly didn’t deserve her.

He was about to decline and try to make up some excuse, but just then, her words from earlier in the day popped back into his head: “I’m just trying to get past him. I wanna move on.”

He paused. All day, he’d only been thinking about his own feelings and feeling sorry about himself, wallowing in guilt. But right now, this was about Marinette, and her needs. And at this moment, it sounded like what she needed was someone to just be with her. He could set aside his own apprehensiveness and insecurities to help her out, instead of pushing her away. After all, she always went out of her way for her friends constantly, at the cost of herself. She’d always been so selfless… to the point where she tended to neglect her own needs. He couldn’t let her keep doing that.

Determined to make things right and treat her the way she deserved for once, he nodded and smiled. “Alright, Mari. I’d love to go with you.”

Marinette let out a delighted squeal and resumed doing her excited wiggle-dance, but Chat interrupted, “On one condition! It’ll be my treat instead. After all, what good is a paycheck from the best bakery in Paris if I can’t use it to spoil my absolute favorite roommate?” He squeezed her shoulder with a wink.

Her mouth popped open in shock, then twisted into a pout. It looked like she was about to argue, but in the end, decided not to press her luck and accept his terms.

“Deal.”

[herstarburststories]

Pure Witch

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: While waiting for Rowena to help with a case, Dean distracts himself with the reader. Suddenly, the bar is under attack and you are the one who saves the Winchester brothers with magic. Dean didn't know you were witch-- but neither did you.

Warning: unprotected sex (y'all are better than that)

‘’Dean, can you focus for a bit, please?’’ Sam sighed, not for all surprised at his brother’s behavior but surely tired enough to cut him off. He had spent most nocturnal hours searching for a specific spell to save a victim from a herb coma after they didn’t find a hex bag that had probably been hidden by a sorceress. He’d finally given in and called the most powerful - perhaps more notably the only allied - witch they knew. Waiting for Rowena with less than two hours of rest while Dean ate hamburgers in heart attack form wasn’t comfortable. The fact that he was about to get up and flirt with a random woman when he was trying to be patient at her delay and not to freak out because of it was unlikely to help either. 

‘’Come on, Sammy. What’s the point of saving people if you don’t get a little nookie once in a while?’’ He winked at the other Winchester just to be greeted with an eye roll. ‘’Also, Rowena is two hours late.’’

‘’Dean-- Dude, come on!’’ Sam protested when his older brother left the table, rubbing his hands on his jeans as he walked towards you. 

‘’Hey, sweetheart. Can I sit?’’ Dean smirked at you and you nodded, waving your hand at the empty chair. If it was any usual day, you would be most likely to push him away with a dumb excuse, especially after he came up with cheap sweet talk, but he was pretty enough to entertain you a bit more, not to mention his velvet voice. Besides, it wasn’t a usual day. You could use a human shaped source of stress relief in a random bar. ‘’I have to say, you are drinking my favorite beer.’’

‘’Then you can have it,” you said, pushing the bottle to slip on the table. Dean grabbed it. ‘’Not really my kind. I like cocktail better.’’

‘’Cocktail over beer?’’ He arched his eyebrows, not so subtly judging your taste. 

You put your hand on your chest, mouth wide open in a circular form while you talked in an offended yet playful manner: ‘’You come to my table and judge my favorite drink? Outrage! I am really hurt, you know? I might have to go lick my wounds now.’’

Dean features quickly changed from worried that he had somehow offended you and threw his chance with a hot girl away to amazed. Spicy girls, he liked that.

‘’Don’t worry about that, sweetheart. I could help you with your wounds.’’ He rolled his head to the side and licked his lips before taking a sip of his beer. You giggled, rolling your eyes at his cheap attempt of a flirtatious line.

‘’Well, since we are already talking about licking wounds, my name is (Y/N). And I think we can agree that a good, old whiskey is better than both of them.’’

‘’Dean Winchester, at your service.’’ The green-eyed man offered you a wide smile followed by a wink. ‘’Yeah, whiskey gets it all.’’

‘’After tequila, of course,” you teased, just to see which reaction you could get from him.

‘’Tequila is better than whiskey? You didn’t just say that.’’ Dean raised his eyebrows. It made you laugh at how indignant he seemed to feel about it. Head tilted to the side and gaze locked with your bright eyes, he remained on the topic. ’’It’s the same as saying that salad is better than burgers or that Bon Jovi is better than AC/DC.’’

I love what you’ve got

Let’s get together, baby

Yeah, we can get hot

The guitar echoes from the song trembled through the bar’s bathroom when Dean threw your back at the wall, pushing his knee between your legs as his lips met yours into a needy, violent kiss. A weak howl left your mouth once you felt his hardness tickling against your bare leg thanks to the little skirt that barely dressed you. It hiked up with the sudden movements, almost letting show what was underneath. Unfortunately, his jeans made it a bit frustrating. He was way too dressed than either of you would like. Both of you were.

Dean’s hands tightened around your waist in a possessive act; it was an unspoken desire to get more of you-- all of you right there.You pushed him away, devil grin on your lips as you watched his confused features replaced by feral, wild eyes when you unconfined yourself from your shirt. The pretty fabric of your green bra seemed to hold the green of his eyes to your breast, as if it was the only part of you that mattered. 

The eldest Winchester denied his urge to ravish you just long enough to abandon his shirt as well as his flanel. In an instant, he was all over you again; licking your neck and going down to kiss your chest. You placed your hands on his shoulders to keep yourself steady. Your knees were too easily weakened at Dean Winchester’s touch to be considered trustworthy.

‘’Dean…’’ His name came out as a beg, a prayer for this man to give you what you needed. ‘’I want you inside me. Now. I’m so wet for you.”

‘’Fuck, sweetheart. You fucking get me when you talk like this.’’ He groaned in response, pecking your collarbone before he raised his head, locking his gaze with yours. His pupils were dilated, like a hunter’s glare when catching their prey. You could bet yours were awash in the same heat, full of lust and flaming hunger.

Opposed to losing any time, Dean put his hands on your back and lowered them while you unbuttoned his jeans, watching their particular path and enjoying how the naked parts of your body felt against his fingertips. He was certain that your pussy would feel just as good if he fucked you with his fingers, but he needed his cock inside you, and you felt such urgency for it, too. Perhaps later Dean could do all he wanted, in a bed or in the back seat of Baby. For the present time, the bedroom would be more than satisfying. He finally reached your ass, holding it as you gave into an impulse to jump.

You wrapped your legs around his waist as Dean pulled you up and pressed your body to the wall again as you finally finished unbuttoning his jeans, pushing the material down. Dean groaned in annoyance when he noticed that your skirt was lifted, but your panties were still on. You were visibly wet for his amusement, yet an obstacle to his need. Not willing to give away any further second, the hunter tore it apart.

‘’Hey, I liked that-- Dean!’’ Ultimately, your complaint was interrupted by Dean pushing into you. Fuck, it felt so good to have him inside you, his cock squeezed between your wet, tight walls. He held your thighs, mouth finding your breast in a kiss and then a bite. Dean pulled your bra, touching your erect nipple before pressing his tongue against it and sucking it. ‘’Dean!’’

His thrusts quickened in rhythm, and you tried to follow it, moving your waist to his pelvis. His cock pushed deeper and harder inside you, making you arch your back and groan when Dean found your G spot, repeatedly hitting there. 

‘’Fuck, (Y/N). You feel so nice around my cock. Wet and tight, just like I like it. Your pussy is so good to me, sweetheart.’’

Your nails scratched his shoulders. You pulled him close, and Dean looked up at you, vivid green eyes reflecting what his body and groans already said; your body was his. At least it was for now. You didn’t care if your favorite lace was crumpled on the floor or if you were fucking an aleatory man without protection or even if you would leave marks on his back. All that you cared about was his cock deep inside you, fucking you, and it seemed like he felt just the same.

He leaned forward, catching your lips in a passionate kiss. His grip tightened around your skin as your mouth escaped his in tease, encountering Dean’s neck and sucking on it there. It won a soft grunt of him, almost a whine. You giggled between groans, soon sealing his lips to yours together once more. The two of you part only to moan each other’s name in intense pleasure as the pace of his thrusts hastened.

The bar’s rock playlist was replaced by rougher music: punching noises, chairs breaking and screams from the few people on the bar who quickly tried to hide or run.  If an hour ago Sam cut a sharp glare at you and Dean walking to the bathroom, the last one was a victorious gesture at him while pointing at you. Currently, he was hopefully looking at the bathroom door stuck between killing a demon and fighting another when his brother finally appeared, followed closely by you. Both of you were disasters from wrinkled clothes to messy hair.

A ginger woman was hiding behind them and holding a book, flipping the pages fast as the boys furiously defended themselves from the things approaching them. ‘’Rowena!’’

‘’(Y/N), stay here!’’ he said in a commanding voice before running to Sam. They were fighting those human-looking creatures that shined when they got stabbed. It was clear that they weren’t normal and neither were their killers. You gulped, breathlessly watching the scene unfold in front of you. What could you do? You barely had any fighting skills other than self-defense. Besides, Dean and his partner seemed to know what they were doing. That is, if they were the good ones. What if you had just fucked an assassin?

‘’I’m trying, Samuel!’’ the redhead hissed, still skimming through the book’s writing. She appeared to be looking for something that she couldn’t find.

The things kept showing up and instead of just fighting, now one of them was able to throw things at Dean, Sam and Rowena. You were horrified. The new addition seemed to be a witch. But those weren’t real. Neither were things that died like there were storms inside them! What was happening?

The supposed witch gave the trio a bloody smile, taking calm steps to get to them. His hand gestured to the side, as if he was killing a mosquito, and Dean flew against the wall. Another move and Sam had the same destiny, seeming glued there next to his brother.

‘’Rowena, like the rat I knew you were. Looking for allies with the Winchesters? That is beyond humiliating, even for you,” the man talked sharply, disgust almost palpable in his tune. It was crystal clear that he thought he was better than the red-haired woman. Your blood fired up in your veins; you were scared and irate. The situation itself was similar to a horror movie’s scene, and the way he spoke towards her was just quite like a woman’s daily horror movie, especially when it came to the workplace. It hit a delicate spot for you. Dean and Sam tried to get away from whatever those things were with what you’d soon learn that was a spell that kept them stuck to the wall. ‘’You should thank me for being so merciful, rat.’’ He grabbed a strange knife and pulled his hand up, a malicious grin on his face as he pushed the lethal knife to Rowena.

Before he could finish his attempt, you screamed, ‘’NO! GET AWAY FROM HER!’’

The reflex on the blade twinkled, everyone’s attention on you. Dean was more nervous than before, Rowena was surprised, and the man looked like he had just heard a joke.

Glaring at you with a superior gaze, he moved his free hand. Instantly, you were slammed against the wall like the Winchesters. You hated it, feeling impotent. The fact that the man who put you through this state appeared to be unbothered himself with that only increased your anger, fear slowly sliding away to give room for your fury.

‘’The rat has a pet, too? How lovely. I might kill you first and then kill her with my knife stained with your blood. How does that sound to you, bitch?’’

‘’Leave her alone!’’ Dean shouted. His eyes never strayed, still connected with the vision of you.

‘’Standing up for the little rat and got a Winchester seal of worry? Forget about just killing you. It’s going to be a long torture. I’m going to make you my little pet before I kill you, bitch.’’

‘’Do you feel more like a man or whatever you are when you call me a bitch? Or when you call her a rat?’’ Your remark came angrily. Who did he think he was? You didn’t notice, but Rowena was searching for something in the book again. ‘’Your little ego gets rubbed when you do that? Maybe you get turned on? You are so fucking annoying, bitch.’’

‘’Respect me, whore.’’ Your throat started to close, the scarcity of air ravaging your lungs. ‘’I’m better than you and her. I’m more powerful than anyone in this room. You should be thankful that I’m directing words towards a little, arrogant slut like you. You fucking b--’’ 

His words filled all of your body with an intense savage rage. You didn’t think; you just wanted to make him quiet-- to bite back. Your eye color switched to a gloaming green, just like the smoke that filled the bar. An enormous noise was heard; the man had been thrown against the ceiling and then on the floor. His neck was noticeably broken, a pool of blood around his body. The earlier creatures ran away as Dean and Sam fell to the ground.

‘’What the fuck was that?’’ Dean asked, holding his gun up. 

You didn’t look at them. You were shocked at yourself, glaring at your trembling hands. Their afterglow dissipated from white and green to the normal color. Your eyes had come back to normal as well, and the smoke was no longer around.

‘’Did I do that? He is dead. He is-- Oh my. What were those things? They weren’t human, right? And he wasn’t a human either? What happened to me? My hands, they--’’

Sam rested his hand on the barrel of Dean’s gun and tilted his hair sideways. You didn’t know what you had just done. You probably weren't aware of your nature. ‘’I’m Sam Winchester, Dean’s brother. She is Rowena, and I think you are like her. A, hm, witch. I guess you didn’t know that, yeah?’’

‘'I am what? No, that’s not possible. I don’t even know if I believe in God-- I’m probably an atheist,” you denied quickly, shaking your head side to side. 

‘’Oh, darling. After all that you still believe that there is nothing else but humans?’’ Rowena grinned, empathic to your situation but mainly surprised by your ability.

‘’It’s certainly not the God I was taught to believe in!’’ Your face was pale and your damp eyebrows slightly raised together. ‘’I-- My. Are witches like, the higher power? Are you God?’’

‘’Well, I guess you could--’’

‘’Rowena, no.’’ Sam stopped her. He understood briefly what having a normal life and changing it abruptly to a supernatural one felt like. The way you were acting screamed nervousness. ‘’We were combating demons and a witch. I know that it is strange and surprising, but it’s real. Everything is real. Werewolves, vampires…'' He offered a gentle smile-- friendly, even. "Witches.’’

‘’God too, but He isn’t quite what we learn as kids. Neither are angels. Actually, most are assholes,” Dean tacked on, tucking his gun away under the hem of his shirt. He couldn't believe that he just had hot, sweaty sex with a witch. At least not even you knew that. You glanced at the three of them, completely disoriented.

‘’You are an Alstonia Sympathin. It is very rare. I myself thought your race was extinct,” Rowena said, gaining more confused glares from all of you. ‘’You know, how werewolves have a pureblood line? Well, she is like a pureblood witch.’’

Breathing deeply, you rubbed your throat in a futile attempt to calm yourself. ‘’What does it mean?’’

‘’You are one of the most powerful witches alive, darling.’’ She curved her lips in return, still holding the book to her chest as she answered, ‘’And you haven’t even started yet.’’

[engaged19times]

RHONJ Recrap - season 11, ep 1 - C U Next Tuesday!

Greetings fellow prostitution whores and welcome to my new weekly recrap of American institution The Real Housewives of New Jersey! Before I jump in I’ll introduce myself by saying that I’m a housewives super fan (I even watched DC, an experience I wouldn’t wish on my worst sister-in-law), an underemployed comedy writer (I can’t define “napalm” either, Lauren Manzo), and nothing makes me happier than to watch 6 bedazzled hypocrites in Cheesecake Factory mansions argue etiquette and loyalty between physical altercations in the world renowned cultural hub of Paterson, New Jersey. I know essay recaps are a bit of a relic but I am fond of ye olde written word so please enjoy this blast from the past, you scumbags!

We open without fanfare mid-scene to red-eyed Jackie and dead-eyed Teresa sitting in Margaret’s partially finished, wallpaper smothered home. We get the Bad Girls Club black-and-white flashes but unlike in Beverly Hills we’re not flashing to “three months earlier” but instead to “three days earlier.” It might take women of less gumption precious time to build to a production-halting confrontation but it only takes these agents of chaos half a week to get the meatball rolling.

Let’s back up a little to the ominous “three days prior” and catch up with our hot girls. It’s Jackie’s giant hot husband’s 46th birthday so she’s throwing him a party under a tent in the parking lot of a Greek restaurant. We learn that Teresa and Joe’s father has sadly passed in the offseason and Dolores Thee Stallion and Margaret have both had full cosmetic overhauls - Dolores with a second butt enhancement that left her with a giant hip scar rivaled only by Sally from Nightmare before Christmas and Margaret with a boob lift and apparent nipple sharpening (is that a procedure?) that she advertises in a blush silk top with no bra. Never one to be outdone at a parking lot birthday party, Joe Gorga arrives with his storyline - I mean wife, Melissa - also smuggling raisins under a skin tight children’s white T-shirt. Nipples are trending, ladies!

The Nightmare Before Christmas.

A beautiful boob lift.

Tarzan’s headlights.

Margaret’s hot employee Lexi and Teresa’s hot realtor Michelle (both of whom are official friends-of this year), as well as iconic social wrecking ball and Aydin Center for Plastic Surgery mascot Jennifer all saunter in for car park cocktails at this 3D nipple fashion show and as the night devolves we see the cast getting truly shit-housed on shots when out of nowhere storyline sniper Teresa drops the bomb that she heard sexy birthday Bigfoot Evan is cheating on Jackie... more specifically, that he “does stuff” at the gym but mysteriously can’t remember any details or where she heard this head-scratching accusation that draws as many gasps as it does “huhs?” Honest straight people question: do y’all hook up at gyms? And if so, where? Are there co-ed saunas now? Also can one of you explain the allure of Mike and Molly to me? Moving on. Most shocking was that the Perez Hilton of North Jersey doesn’t just drop this wild accusation once, she gleefully skips through this asphalt soiree like a goddamn town crier, addressing everyone she passes like Belle through the town square.

The next day the hard partying crew of Jersey Shore: All Grown Up recovers from their throbbing hangovers and we see cool mom Melissa traipsing through her particle board mausoleum in see-through sweatpants with a visible thong in front of her kids’ friends (you girls keep me young!), Marge Sr. driving a blue Mini Cooper with eyelashes on the headlights (which I assume are like the spinning rims of the Jersey Grandma community), and a flashback of Margaret’s Joe puking next to a tree (relatable, my dude).

Marge Sr.: Fully Loaded.

You girls keep me young!

Over at Jennifer’s palatial child farm we learn that her parents fight so much these days that she moved her father (Carl from Up!) to her multi-generational compound which has only angered her mother more.

Jennifer’s sweet dad.

We then find out Dolores’s dry boyfriend David with whom she shares the burning passion of a melting ice sculpture now lives with her bulging slab of a son Frankie Jr. in the house he and Delores built together but Dolores curiously still lives with her also bulging but slightly slimey ex Frank Sr. in her original house, a near Braunwyn-level web of over-explained but still vague relationship fuckery of which none of them seem on the same page. Dolores hid her surgery from David until the day before, David still works constantly so she hangs out with her ex all the time, and I can’t help but think that we aren’t getting the full story on whatever the fuck is happening under these two roofs. Are they brother-husbands? Is Frank Sr. piping both of them? Can Frankie Jr. DM me his nudes please? The only one being straight-forward in these duel households of confusion is Dolores’s dog who is simply named Dog and I honestly appreciate his refreshing transparency.

Dog Catania, king of transparency.

Finally, Jackie calls Teresa to organize an infamous Jersey sit-down because she somehow got wind of the out-of-thin-air accusations that Teresa all but presented with a bull horn and a PowerPoint at Evan’s parking lot social. They decide to meet at Margaret’s partially constructed house/ wallpaper showroom because it’s neutral territory to hash things out in a relaxing landscape of ladders and contrasting patterns and the tension is so thick you could cut it with one of Margaret’s newly renovated nipples.

Jackie pleads with Tre to clear her husband’s good name and Tre enters a baffling Kelly-Anne Conway bullshit loop which includes such hits as “woman to woman, if I heard this you wouldn’t want me to tell you?” (a reasonable point which is actually working against Teresa because it’s the opposite of what she did), then explaining to Margaret the immediately contradictory “I didn’t tell her and it’s not like I told Evan, I told my friends” (which is an explanation of what she obviously did wrong but said in the tone of a defense), the wacky last ditch nonsense deflection “Alright let me tell you the reason why I did it. This year, now, you know I’m single now. I’ve been approached by a lot of married men that think that it’s OK to have affairs,” and finally just saying fuck it and rewriting history “I did not spread a rumor, I heard a rumor.”

The truth is that Teresa was retaliating for a cheating rumor Jackie entertained about her last year but neither can be held to such unreasonable expectations like addressing reality or admitting fault which is actually ideal because if I cared to see emotionally mature community leaders converse thoughtfully I’d watch Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday not this unhinged turnpike circus.

Jackie’s rival won’t budge so she chooses the nuclear option, looks the reigning matriarch of Paterson in her vacant eyes, and declares confidently “I heard Gia snorts coke in the bathroom at parties” which stopped time on Earth as far as I’m concerned. Is this wild accusation true? Probably not. Was this retaliatory tit equal to the offending tat? Debatable. Do I blame Teresa for immediately whipping into a tailspin and storming out screaming the C-word (no Kathy Wakile, not “canoli kit”) at Jackie no less than 80 times? Girl, no I do not. Jackie has since clarified (backtracked?) that this was an analogy not a rumor she heard which... OK, and whether or not either of the atomic bombs dropped in this breakneck premiere were true, I’m excited to watch our Paterson superstars battle it out for another batshit season!

Esteemed poet laureat of Paterson, NJ.

Join me and my own rock hard nipples next week to recrap a girls trip to Lake George, more developments in the case of Jackie vs Teresa: Jersey Crime Story, and hopefully another cameo by breakout superstar Dog Catania! Please share this recrap with the prostitution whores in your life if you enjoy and follow me on Tumblr (engaged19times), Insta (@engagednineteentimes), and Twitter (@_engaged19times)! I’m recrapping weekly but I don’t get screeners (yet) and it takes me a few days to catch up so please be patient!

XO engaged19times

[loufuckers]

when she talks (i hear the revolution)

And look, she isn't dumb, okay? She knows what she looks like, what with the small chest and broad shoulders, how she looks with her short hair she asked Alex to cut with his razor last summer after a fight with her mom, the men's flannels with baggy jeans. She's known since Andrew Williams from her 8th grade History class told their entire grade she was a dyke after he catched her looking at an old Playboy magazine behind the bleachers. She knows.

or

The one where Bobby and Reggie are lesbians and maybe Bobby should love herself a little bit more.

Read on AO3

for eris (@molinajulie) , who didn't ask for this but whom i love dearly. thanks for introducing me to this show and loving bobby as much as i do.

Bobbi's uncomfortable the moment she gets inside the club.

This isn't their usual scene and although it's not that different from the grimy, underground places Sunset Curve usually plays at, it's new enough that it has her constantly looking over her shoulder and jumping a little bit every time someone stands just a little too close.

After their last bassist, some dude named Austin who was just mediocre enough and a little too much of an asshole to Alex for anyone to truly care about him, had quit the band two weeks ago, Luke had insisted they do the club rounds, check what the L.A. music scene had to offer and hopefully snatch a new bassist for themselves before their next gig.

They've not been successful, so far. There's lots of talented bassists, this is L.A. after all, but they're either too enamored of their own bands to give their offer a chance, aren't into Sunset Curve's sound, or just straight up don't like the idea of being in a band with a woman. Bobbi doesn't care about men's comfort enough for her to be offended when they give her a once over with a frowned brow and ask Luke if he's sure that's the kind of band he wants to be part of, but when it's the girls who do it... Well that just hurts.

And look, she isn't dumb, okay? She knows what she looks like, what with the small chest and broad shoulders, how she looks with her short hair she asked Alex to cut with his razor last summer after a fight with her mom, the men's flannels with baggy jeans. She's known since Andrew Williams from her 8th grade History class told their entire grade she was a dyke after he catch her looking at an old Playboy magazine behind the bleachers. She knows.

It doesn't make it any better, knowing, when she has to pitch her voice a couple octaves higher that usual when talking to a girl she doesn't know yet so they don't get scared of her or think she's flirting with them. And it sure as fuck doesn't make it better when bassists would rather stay with their shitty, dead-end bands playing underground clubs and illegal parties than be in a band with someone like Bobbi. With Bobbi.

"Did you came here to listen to the music, or are you here just to sulk at the bar and look into your beer like it killed your children?"

And well, Bobbi must have been too busy with her self deprecation time to realize someone sat next to her at the bar and was now looking at her. Not just someone, either, but a girl. A pretty girl.

"I don't have children," she says before she can stop herself, and maybe this is why she's still single even tho it's 2020 and lesbian bars and dating apps are a thing that exist.

"That's good to know," the girl says, and gifts Bobbi a bright smile dressed in red lipstick. "Hi, I'm Reggie Molina"

"Bobbi Wilson," Bobbi says, and fucking extends her right arm for a handshake like a dumbass.

"Nice to meet you, Bobbi," the girl, Reggie, chuckles shaking her hand. "So? Are you here to see a particular band or did you just came here to be sad? 'Cause I gotta say, if it's the second one you chose a terrible place for it."

Reggie is giving a pointed look at the crowd to prove her point, and she's right, of course. Some band is playing a Pearl Jam cover and the audience looks sweaty and a little bit gross from dancing all together and jumping to the beat of the music. Bobbi can't quite make it out with the dark red light situation the club has going on but she's sure she sees Alex by the right side of the stage talking to someone.

"Uh, no, not really. I'm in a band and we're missing a bassist for our next gig. We're supposed to be looking for someone to play with us but everyone seems..." She doesn't finish her thought but Reggie shoots her a look like she knows what she means.

"What's your band's name?" Reggie asks, taking a sip of her drink.

And wow, maybe Bobbi should practice her people skills because she didn't even notice Reggie already had a drink or the way she looks so pretty holding the straw between her red lips. She also got pretty hands, from what she can see of them holding the tall glass of her drink. They look soft but not too delicate, and Bobbi is definitely not looking at how long and slender her fingers are, absolutely not, sir.

"Uh, Sunset Curve?" She's not sure why she phrases it like a question but she hopes that it's just distracting enough so Reggie doesn't realize she went quiet because she was looking at her hands.

"Oh, shit, are you serious? I fucking love your music," Reggie says with another one of her open smiles. And Bobbi isn't looking, but she can see how pretty Reggie looks when she smiles like that. She has one of those smiles that make her do everything she can to keep seeing it. "I saw you guys play this club over at Sunset Boulevard last month, I think, you guys killed it. My sister definitely has a crush on your frontman, bought your demo and all."

Bobbi kinda hates the sound of her own laugh but she can help but laugh at Reggie's words. Girls having crushes on Luke is such an usual occurrence that they now count on the fact that most of their audience at any given point it's made up of teenage girls and young women who are there to see Luke bounce around the stage with his arms at full display. It's cute, honestly, how Luke gets all flushed when Alex and Bobbi joke about how he ought to take his shirt off on stage to see if that helps selling more tickets to their shows only for him to go on a rant about how 'it's about the music, you dorks'.

"She'll be happy to know he's single, then," Bobbi says between laughs.

"Oh, is he now?"

If Bobbi's heart skips a beat or two at the edge of interest in Reggie's voice she hopes it doesn't show on her face. Of course Reggie is interested in Luke, why wouldn't she.

"Is your drummer, too? Single, I mean."

"Uh, yeah, Alex's single," Bobbi says, her disappointment bleeding through her voice just a little bit. "He's gay, thought. Alex, I mean."

"What about the rhythm guitarist?" Reggie asks again, her smile a little darker and just on the edge of flirtatious, and Bobbi is sure she's imagining the way her eyes seem to give her a once over. "Is she single?"

Bobbi takes a long second to reply, suddenly hyper aware of the way Reggie's blue—so, so fucking blue—eyes are looking directly at her, how her left hand is so close to where Bobbi's is, right next to her beer that's most likely gone warm by now. She's suddenly aware of how close they are, how Reggie must have been closing their distance while they've been talking because now she can feel her breath just inches away from her lips, can even taste the fruity taste of whatever cocktail she's drinking.

"Yeah, I'm single," Bobbi says. It's barely more than a whisper, but Reggie hears it all the same if the way she gives her another one of those lopsided smiles and moves even closer to Bobbi are any indication.

They're so, so close now that Bobbi would have to barely move at all to kiss her. Actually, their lips are so close that they might as well be kissing right now because Bobbi can feel the way they move against hers when she speaks again.

"And what's you guys' policy of dating other band members?"  

"Uh, well, Luke and Alex dated for a while a couple years ago before they decided they liked each other as friends better," she replies. She's pretty sure she must look stupid right now, all cross eyed with how close they are and how she keeps trying to look at Reggie's mouth and eyes at the same time. "Why?"

"Well, you said you guys are looking for a bassist and I would like to audition for the position, but there's this really hot guitarist on the band, too, and I don't think I could play with her if I don't get to kiss her, too."

And Bobbi's brain is so haywire by now that one thing she says to this is, "I haven't even heard you play."

Reggie's face moves back just a couple inches as she laughs at Bobbi's words but she's frowning at the distance anyway, so used to feeling Reggie's lips just barely against hers as they speak.

"Then I'll guess you'll have to stick around and watch," Reggie says with a wink and kisses Bobbi.

It's hardly a kiss, to be honest, just a little more than a touch of lips and it's over so fast Bobbi can't even react to it and kiss her back. It nonetheless stuns Bobbi enough that she stands sat at her bar stool even as Reggie gives her another wink and starts walking towards the stage where another band is starting to set up for their own set, too dumbfounded to go after her and still trying to figure out what the fuck just happened.

[zuffer-weird-girl]

I gotta know what Kai meeting his SO's family would be like. How would he react if one of his SO's family tried to get her to break up with him, ditch their wedding, or try to get them divorced.

I hope you guys don't get bothered with this type... sorry, if anything I will make one different or headcanons if its more complicated

It has been a year and eight months already that he was dating you, and things were only getting more... intimate.

He even let you meet Pops. POPS out of all people... he didn't liked to remind that day but at least the elder liked you... a lot actually, for even telling embarrassing stories about a very young Chisaki...

He never felt his face burning with such passion after that day...

So he knew that he was taking seriously this relationship... although, there was your family as well, which he never saw once.

You did mentioned about them from time to time but actually saw or in person or in video calls? Nope. Never.

You lived alone but your parents still lived on the same country, but yet, really far away from you. But every once in a while you would visit them or for the holidays or some urgency that ghey would call you.

He tried mentioning them on the topic once in a conversation, but you merely responded with a laugh and 'they are loud and sometimes a bit too much excited with things, you wouldn't atture them for too long trust me.'

He was... slightest offended at that one. He convived with Mimic, so what is loud in comparation with that man?

Conveniently, one time where he proposed the idea of a date night you sadly had to decline, saying that you needed to go to a family gathering.

Perfect. He thought.

"Need company?" He asked while you were still tidying up your bag.

"Kai, love, I know you worry a lot about me, buy no way in hell Kurono will come with me in my family reunion. They might think he is my boyfriend instead." His eye twitched at the disgusting mention before he sighed to regain his calm.

"Stupid, I'm talking about me accompanying you." He growled while looking for his dress shirt.

You looked at him with wide eyes before smirking, lifting one of your eyebrows up.

"You? My family? Together? On a family gathering no less?" He nodded numbly, sighing in relief of seing his shirt neatly clean and ironed.

"You have the courage?" He sended you a hot glare after he put on his shirt.

"What do you mean with this? Its just a bunch of people, not some... whatever it makes someone be afraid of."

You giggled before successfully forcing your bag to close.

"Just asking, just asking." You smiled up at him, feeling that bit of anxiousness and excitement at the same time. "Only if you want to."

"If I offered is because I want to. Is simple." He went to pick his tie but you had placed your hand in front of it, preventing him to take it.

He arched an eyebrow in irritation before you explained.

"Is a barbecue... not a extremely expensive event..."

"I see. Can I at least grab my jacket if you wouldn't mind oh angel of my?" He asked sarcastically, deadpanning at your 'sure' and ignoring the blush om his cheeks when you kissed his covered nose.

~

"Look at who is!" Your sister yelled from the door, caming to give you a hug before looking up and down at yourself wjth a teasing smile.

"Didn't change the slightest!"

"Neither you sis." You sighed before Chisaki got up from his seat and closed the door of the car, looking around numbly.

Your sister gasped before pushi g you close to her to whispwr in your ear.

"Who is that?!"

"My boyfriend. Keep your eyes to your husband will you?" You said, hidding the hint of jealousy on your teasing tone of voice.

Chisaki aproached you and nodded silently at your sister who was elbowing your arm a bit too much.

Is she sick? Stop elbowing my angel.

"Uh.. this is my older sister, (S/N)." Before you could even introduce your boyfriend properly a pair of huge arms enveloped in your waist and lifted you up from behind making you yelp.

"Hey shorty! So long that you didn't appeared!" The man laughed along with you.

Chisaki's hands immediately turned to fists as his eyes went murderous looking at scene in front of him.

Who was this filth who even dared to rouch his angel in front of him in such a way? Didn't he liked living?

"Oi! You're going to break her!" The woman yelled before the man smiled teasingly at her and putted you down.

"I swear to God you're almost broked my ribcage at that hug...ouch." you whined placing a hand on your side while the man finally noticed Chisaki's presence, he also didn't miss the murderous look on his eyes.

"Yo! Taking by seing the situacion here you are her boyfriend right? Nice meeting ya!" The man went to shook hands with Chisaki before you grabbed and placed back down, noticing how your boyfriend's gloves weren't in his hands anymore.

He spoke coudly "And who are you supposed to be?"

The man laughed, ignoring Chisaki's comments, while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Older brother. (B/N) (L/N) to be more specific about it." He turned to you with a apologetic smile before pointing to one car "Sorry sis but I have to get back home."

"It's alright. I bet both of you are busy, but thanks for showing it." You smiled at both of them before they sayed their goodbyes.

Chisaki stared before looking at you in question.

"These were only my older siblings, there's one more inside... if she even came in the first place."

"They are usually this... touchy?"

You nodded before laughing at the irritated and rather regretful expression of his.

"Relax Kai." You offered your hand which he surprisingly grabbed. "They are not going to touch you if you or me say to not do it... I hope."

"You hope? How comforting. If it happens a murder here is not my fault."

"You're not killing anyone of my family!"

"It was a joke." He said monoustly before daring to step closer to that house.

It wasn't. It wasn't a joke. He was serious.

~

"Your family is the reason why the population is overloading..." he growled in disgust close to you in pure annoyance and evidently very uncomfortable about what happened.

How the fuck could so many people fit in one place and be so LOUD? LOUDER THAN MIMIC?!

He never so desperately wanted to hold hands with you in all his life because dear god if someone touched him and you weren't close...

First he met, ironically, was your father... the man first commented was about his fucking jacket. Out of all things. Not even 'who is the man?' or 'good afternoon. Who are you?; no, the bastard just preferred to say

"Honey what the hell is this friend of yours wearing it? And why the fuck this mask dude? You're part of a gang or something?"

"Yaku-" he went to correct whole trying to hold back his anger before you slapped your dad's arm.

"Dad." you growled threateningly at your father which he only asked why the irritation.

Then after he met your grandparents... your grandfather seemed... to catch pretty quick aho was your boyfriend.

"Hey aren't ya that leader from the mafia or something?" He whispered to not catch much attention. You mentally faced palmed while Chisaki nodded.

"Ah I see. So you guys still rob a lot of mon-"

"That is business talk which I guess it wouldn't be on your interest neither it is my obligation to tell you something."

Your grandma snorted at that while the old man scoffed in offense.

"I like this one dear." He heard her whisper in your ear.

...this one? Excuse him old lady he had a fucking name.

Then your mother... which had to ask his name and try to hug him as a greeting.

"Woah woah! Mom you can't just hug a person without knowing them!" You exclaimed as you luckily prevented a catastrophe.

"Well of course I don't know him since you mever actually brought him here once. So-" she returned her attention at Chisaki with a huge smile "What's your name sweety? She never spoke your name, only 'my boyfriend this' 'my boyfriend that'..."

First he had cringed at that cursed nickname, them he looked at you silently requesting your help.

"Call me Overhaul." You almost snorted at that one and at the face of your mother.

"That's... not a actual na-"

"Anyway! Come on lets see more of the house shall we?" You thankfully had dragged him out of there.

So there you both were now after MANY INTRODUTIONS, hidded in one room while he tried to ragain his calm and relaxed posture.

"You know we can get out of here, right? I know you aren't confortable with this."

"...Honestly I don't see what's the matter with my jacket for the first place and what if Overhaul was actually my name?" He mumbled more to himself than to you before breathing in and out slowly and getting up from the couch.

"I had worse than this." He commented before he standed his hand for you to get up "But I have to admit it that having you by my side is much... comforting."

"Same my devil." You smiled affectionately at him before nuzzling on his neck as he carresed your hair lovingly.

"You call him your devil?" A child's voice manifested, making you yelp and Chisaki to glare daggers at the kid.

"So that means he is evil, so you can't date my cousin." The boy pointed ul at Chisaki whose merely lifted one of his eyebrows.

"Like you have the power to decided what either me or my partner do with our lifes, midget." You frowned up at him receiving a scoff and his hold on you getting tighter.

He didn't like kids very much... never felt much comfortable about it.

"Uh... What's a midget?" He deadoanned at the kid.

Were they supposed to be this dumb or was this only one?

~

You had to go to the bathroom. You had to leave him standing awkwardly on a wall, begging silently for you to come back before someone cane over to try to have a shitty talk or even worse... a kid asking for him to play with them.

No way in hell.

The unfortunate happenrd when that father of yours approached him and sigh while holding a beer besides him, thankfully not touching.

"So... what are your intentions with my doll?" He choked on his own saliva at that.

What type of question was that?! And so out of no where no less?!

"Did you already... touch them or something?" He lowered his tone of voice while Chisaki merely lifted his eyebrow up.

Was... Was this... supposed to scare him? This?

Seriously?

"For your knowledge, this information is extremely personal and I guess you're not exactly on the right on trying to get this out of me at this failed attempt of intimidation. And just to be clear, I am only aturing this hell hole because of my angel so I would actually appreciate if you don't have those types of comments around me. That is disgusting." He said calmly yet coldly, like he was speaking in a meeting, not with the father of his partner.

Your father oppened his mouth for a moment in surprise before closing it again and repeating his actions for a while. Before laughing. ..

Was this guy sick inthe head or something?

"You have guts. I like that. Especially when my quirkless daughter need someone to protect and care for her." His eye twitched in irritation before he spotted you.

"Angel thank god you're back." He thanked the heavens at seing you again and getting out of that conversation as soon as possible.

"Huh?"

"Remember when you offered to go away? I will take that. Now." He grabbed your hand and dragved you to the door while you giggled at the wide stares.

"Bye everyone! See you soon!"

"We're not coming back for Thanksgiving." He growled to you in disgust while you whispered back, still trying to contain your laugh.

"Definitely not. It's a mess."

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

You've got SO MANY intriguing WIPs that I couldn't just choose one x) Can I get to know about "Vandermeer returns", "Aramis reveal" and/or "Musketeer puppies" pwetty pwease?

Mwahahah. So, you know about the Vandermeer returns. Essentially, weird space stuff sends Vandermeer on La Sirena, and feels ensue - namely, Picard and Alonzo are forced to confront the fact that they are kinda terrible dads. Hugs all around. Q may or may not have been involved.

Musketeers puppies... Well, Tréville finds a big dog, a little puppy and two cats in the Inseparables’ rooms. It’s just pure fluff for them a big headache for him.

The Aramis reveal is my favorite. So, in Anime Sanjushi, a cutesy Japanese adaptation from the 90′s, Aramis is... a woman. As in, a very beautiful, very feminine woman named Renée, who’s pretending to be a dude so she can avenge her dead fiancé. Treville knows, but Porthos and Athos *never find out* even though we know from like... episode 4 out of 52. That fandom is ridiculously tiny, but dammit, I want mah angsty reveal! So there, basically it’s a post series AU where she takes a knife to the ribs and isn’t well enough to patch herself up, as she usually does, and Athos is with her. 

Here, have a snippet of each (except I’m terrible at snippets so they’re actually a bit too long, oops). 

Vandermeer comeback:

Q, who had lived billions of years and had the IQ and memory that went along with quasi-omnipotence and immortality, had also forgotten Jean-Luc. It sounded unbelievable even to him. Q loved humans. They were the most fun he’d had in forever (quite literally), especially their puny, righteous, headstrong starship captains. And Jean-Luc Picard had always been his favorite. But to a Q, an absence of several dozens of Standard Federation years was little more than slip of the mind, the blinking of the eyes that preceded a snap of the fingers in sudden remembrance.  

 It was a question of scale. Proportionally, Picard’s neglect was the greatest, and it thus vexed Q to no end to realize that Jean-Luc had banished him from his mind. It was fortunate for him that he remembered their friendship in that particular century, and not a thousand years hence.

 Musketeer-puppies:

"… Aramis?" Treville wondered aloud. 

Had somebody trained those creatures as well? The small feline tilted its head and meowed again, proudly. Treville dragged a hand across his face. There was no way. 

"D'Artagnan?" He called. 

The puppy barked enthusiastically.

Good God, what in the devil. 

"Porthos?" Treville tried, feeling terribly stupid.

The huge bear of a dog gave a friendly woof, perking up. That only left… 

"… Athos?" 

The grey cat's head snapped in his direction and its eyes narrowed. Its tail flicked stiffly, claws peeking from beneath the fluffy fur of its front paws. 

Good Lord.

Treville closed his eyes for a second, for fear that they would pop out of his skull. Sacré putain de bordel de merde. Either this was the work of an absolute madman who had studied the mannerisms of Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan for months and managed to drill them into savant beasts, or he had a huge, gigantic, monumental problem to deal with. 

Only one way to find out. 

"Do you understand me?" Treville asked, the voice in the back of his head wondering how the hell his three best men always managed to bring him to unheard of levels of stupidity and ridiculousness.

Aramis reveal:

Aramis huffed a small laugh – still impaled by the knife, mind you – wincing when it pulled on the muscles of his abdomen. 

"And a feather bed and a hot bath too, and maybe even some music? I do not need to be coddled," he said as Athos was retrieving his water skin and untying his sash, preparing for the gruesome task of removing the offending weapon. 

"You love hot baths," Athos pointed out, arching an eyebrow. 

Aramis was certainly the cleanest soldier in all the regiment, his hair never matted or uncombed and his clothes smelling like lemon and lavender, from the Parisian laundresses' favored scented soaps. Aramis smiled good humoredly, watching Athos without only faint  – and quite warranted – apprehension.

"I'm still a soldier. Just pull that out and bring me back to the garrison, I'll be fine." 

What? 

"What?" Athos blinked. "Aramis, you have a knife sticking out of your stomach. Paris is still half a day's ride away. Stop speaking nonsense."

[inumakkis]

Chapter one ; lost and found

warnings ; light angst ( okay maybe a substantial amount )

It's gonna be posted to be my ao3 when I actually edit it more because we know ao3 is superior . ( .lichtenberg is my username ! ) Stay safe guys ! I haven't properly proof read it because I'm tired but I'll probably see a mistake in a week and then fix it then after panicking .

-----

Things were always tough for Hitoshi Shinsou. That's how life was for him , he'd wake up and go to school only to be faced with the relentless bullying from his peers which his teachers dismissed. In a world full of quirks, he would much rather be quirkless.

Everyday felt like a battlefield , trudging through the trenches , avoiding any hits from the enemy and soon enough, he was at the front line. His guard was up and yet everyone saw the little cracks on how to get him down.

It wasn't so bad at first , the occasional taunt , nothing that he couldn't manage . though when he got to middle school, things got worse, kids got meaner. Well, so did he . A strong hatred grew towards the world from his bones that supported his figure.

Yet , the blond boy in class 1a would disagree . He never thought that Hitoshi was mean . No , he found his reserved and quiet . He enjoyed it . He enjoyed how he would follow Shinsou around like a lost puppy ( though Hitoshi would change that to a cat ) and the purple haired teen wouldn't spare him a glance.

Yeah , in Denki's mind ? Things were great .

23rd of June

Denki asked Hitoshi out after sitting besides him at lunch for over a month now . He turned him down.

27th of June

Shinsou had a bunch of lavender dropped at his doorstep , all plucked from the ground . He didn't even need to read the note to see who they were from . He simply tossed them on top of his desk before going back to reading.

29th of June

It was Kaminari's birthday and much to his distaste , there was no happy birthday from the boy he wanted to hear it from the most .

Shinsou knew the date , how could he not? When it was all the blond talked about within the recent week, eyes bubbling with happiness, only getting a glance from Hitoshi and maybe a nod of the head.

He would rather people think that he doesn't care then face the pain that comes with having a friend.

30th of June

Denki still hung around him , acted as if he didn't ignore the day he was most excited for out of the entire year . Shinsou didn't say a word.

1st of July

When hitoshi woke up , he had a gift at the foot of his bed and he wondered how Denki managed to break in to the dorms to drop it off. With tired eyes, he grabbed the note taped to the package .

— to toshi shinsou

“ I understand that you may not like me but I like you dude ! You think you're so tough but you're totally not . I hear boys like handwritten notes and I should know that since I am one but I have yet to receive one so it's a new experience for me too !!!!! Hppay happy birthday , I'm not mad at you . I know you don't want to be my friend and that's a-okay ! Just please let me down slowly ? I won't hang around with you anymore if that's what you want . I mean, you probably didn't like me in the first place and you wouldn't be the first so don't worry ! Pikaboy is fine with it ! Happy birthday .

Ps . A thank you would be greatly appreciated.

Pss . Also come on a date with me this Tuesday? I'll be at the restaurant down the road at 7pm . ”

Sincerly sincerely , Kaminari. :)

Shinsou paused . They were back to a last name basis now, Denki had officially removed his nickname from his vocabulary.

He pondered on why Kaminari would constantly go through trouble to make him happy and yet didn't even get a smile in return. Heck, by the last sentence , Denki seemed happy enough to be stood up publicly. Could he really do that to him though? Judging by the ink smudges on the paper , he couldn't . Sunshine boy had either spilt water very precisely or cried while writing it . He hoped it wasn't the latter. It made his chest ache and twist as he reread it four times . He noticed the spelling mistakes and how there would be another teardrop straight after as if he hated himself more for ruining the letter .

Hitoshi eventually tore his tired eyes away from the paper and opened the box which was at the bottom of his bed. He couldn't help the sweet laugh that escaped him. There would be no point hiding it now , after all no one was here to judge him or swear they say him show more than a stoic look.

It was a hoodie , purple and a few shades darker than his hair with the word ' mind fuck ' written across each sleeve while the front was decorated by cats .

Custom made , suddenly a tear dropped and Shinsou stared at it as if it had personally insulted him. He watched as the hoodie took it in , leaving the wet mark for show.

He would turn up to that date . He refused to wear anything fancy but he couldn't let Kaminari know .

5th of July

" dunce face , he isn't going to come ! He hates you ." Bakugou exclaimed as he watched Denki apply his eyeliner for the fifth time. Each time he applied it, he would cry it off .

" you think I don't know that ? I have to try though ! We're meant to help people and if my purpose is just getting myself involved in things that he doesn't like just to show that I care then I can proudly class myself as a hero !"

Mina rested a pink hand on his shoulder , wiping his eyes once more. " Come on, Danks ! He's gonna come , Bakubabe is just jealous because he can't get a date with Kiri ."

" WHAT THE FUCK DID I TELL YOU ABOUT CALLING ME THAT, RACCOON EYES— "

Hanta laughed from the background , playing some weird game on his phone . " Bakugou and Kiri sitting in a tree , K-I-S-S-I-N- OH MY GOD." The boy exclaimed as he ducked from an explosion that was sent his way .

Denki only laughed as Mina tilted his head back to stop the tears and began giving him some sharp winged liner . " Right , you look hot now go get that outfit on and get your sweet ass back here so i can do your hair."

" but I already did my ha-"

Mina out a finger to his lips. " Ah— Mama Mina knows best now hurry up . "

It turns out that Mama Mina did know best because low and behold, Shinsou was waiting right at the restaurant , 7:01 sharp. Hitoshi was far from a people pleaser , perhaps the opposite to Denki. He could give less of shit about what everyone else wanted but when someone had shown him unconditional care ? He knew he had to do something because what kind of hero would he be if he let them suffer due to his ignorance ?

" Let's make this quick." He commented , eyes sharp as he looked to the bubbly boy who had just turned up. It was clear that he wasn't expecting the other man there. His face lit up.

" O-oh yeah ! Sure dude !" Denki managed to get out as he walked inside the restaurant. It was far from fancy, that was clear . " Hey hun !" A woman gave a wide smile to Denki who wrapped his arms around her.

Hitoshi's mind wandered . Was this some kind of joke ? Why was he hugging a girl on a date with him ? Did he say date ? No he meant an outing because he felt sorry for him. That's it . Yeah -

" and you must be the boy that Denki has told me so much about - "

" AOI !" Denki's face flushed scarlet .

" sup, I'm his sister . "

Oh. . .

Oh .

That makes sense.

He looked between the two of them , why didn't he see it before ? The golden yellow hair , sitting in spikes across their heads , though hers was much shorter. They had the same smile and same eyes , the only difference was that her hair had a sideshave with the lightning bolt there.

Needless to say, Hitoshi felt dumb which wasn't meant to happen.

" that's very nice , I guess ?" It came out as a question , he had no idea on how to interact with people. That kind of went with his whole " no friends " thing .

" yeah , so get us a table , pronto !" Denki exclaimed and shoved Aoi along . " I'm going ! I'm going! There's a table over there , it ain't nothing fancy but you'll live. Your date " she wiggled her eyebrows at Denki who groaned. " doesn't seem like a people person , who knows why he's hanging with you - wait , sorry! I've been calling you a he ! You are okay with that , aren't you ?" Her attention turned to Shinsou who only managed to get out a little nod.

She let out a sigh of relief as she handed them both the menu's as they sat down. It wasn't long until she was off to go flirt with someone. Classic Kaminari's.

" She works at an lgbtq+ shelter for teenagers so she's really hyper aware of everyone's sexuality and stuff. " Denki commented , tapping his fingers on the table .

" that's good, I guess ? " Shinsou pondered their background for a moment before the blond boy pulled him from his thoughts.

" hey , my back hurts -"

" what? Why ? "

" from carrying this entire conversation." Kaminari let out a laugh and Hitoshi gave a fond roll of his eyes in return along with a chuckle.

He didn't realise his mistake until it was too late .

" you laughed at my joke ! You laughed ! Fuck yeah ! "

" wait no I didn't !"

And so came joke galore from Denki for the rest of their date . Kaminari wasn't funny , but the way he delivered each joke made Hitoshi's chest pound more and more.

He had been ignoring this .

As they walked out after a very full stomach and a very large discount, he tried to ignore the guilt eating up at him.

Denki had cried because of him, he had cried because he was ignored and he was now acting like Shinsou hadn't done anything to offend him ? What had this kid gone through ?

" so I said - hey are you listening ?" Denki pulled away from his ramble that he was on about Sero and Mina.

" uh yeah , Sero accidentally kicked Ashido in the face and she fought him."

Denki's face lit up and he continued to talk. He tried his best not to zone out this time .

Yeah , things weren't perfect but he could make an effort . Right ?

[thegeekyblondegirlwholovesstars]

Coming Home Part Seven

JJ x Reader

Warnings: There will be mentions of the sexual assault from the previous episodes. Other than that, nothing that the show doesn’t cover: alcohol and physical fights, etc. 

I’m sorry I’ve been MIA, since summer started I’ve just been running around with my friends and I haven’t had any time to write really. I’d also like to apologize for being so inconsistent when posting this series, I’d like to try to get another part up for you guys at some point this weekend. If you have stuck with me and this series I’d just like to give you a huge thank you, from the bottom of my heart it means so much. With that being said, I hope you enjoy and as always let me know if you’d like to be added to the taglist:) 

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  Part 5 Part 6 Part 8 Part 9

You struggle reaching up to take your mint green surfboard off of the roof of your white SUV, in times like this your height provides you no advantage. After a few protests you finally allow Kie to help you. Kie, Sarah, and yourself head down to the beach and plop down in the sand to wait for the boys. 

“I swear I can normally get it down on my own!” you argue. 

“Oh yeah, I don’t doubt you. Maybe you’re just extra short today.”

You stick your tongue out at Kie and laugh. Sarah hands each of your water bottles from her bag. You open your rose colored, sticker covered, hard plastic bottle and take a sip. 

“The waves look good today.” Sarah comments. 

“Yeah and it’s hot as hell, what’s taking them so long?”

“It’s the boys, what do you expect?” Kie chuckles, taking a sip from her forest green hard plastic water bottle.

“Ok fair point but I really thought they would have beaten us here,” you reply. 

“Honestly me too, it takes way longer to get in and get out of dresses than it does pants and shirts.” Sarah agrees. 

“Actually that’s not true, you guys just have to shimmy out, don't even get me started on all the shirt buttons.” John B appeared out of nowhere and stuck his surfboard in the sand before leaning down to give Sarah a kiss. Both you and Kie pretended to vomit, but you couldn’t hold back a smile at seeing your best friends so happy together. 

“Clearly you’ve never seen a corset back dress” Sarah rolled her eyes with a smile. 

“Corsets are still a thing!?” John B said, eyes wide. 

“Yep, beauty is pain my friend.” You stood up and grabbed your surfboard. “What’s taking the other two so long, by the time those slowpokes get here we’ll be night surfing.” 

“And that’s a bad thing because?” Kie asked. 

“It’s not, I’m just itching to catch some waves. I haven’t had the chance to surf since I got back.”

“No way!” John B gasped. 

“My aunt and uncle have kept me pretty busy and I have summer work so…” 

As you finished your sentence you saw JJ and Pope emerge from the entrance to the beach. They each had their boards tucked under their arms.

“It’s about time!” Kie called out to the boys who were casually strolling toward the four of you, their feet sinking into the hot sand as they walked. When they reached the group, Sarah and Kie rose to their feet.

“Dude, Bug hasn’t surfed in years.” John B said slapping Pope on the chest and moving to grab his board. 

“So a little rusty now are we?” JJ smirked and raised his eyebrows at you. 

You rolled your eyes. “Not even a little, I could still kick all of your asses.” 

“Those are fighting words y/n!” Pope exclaimed cupping his fist over his mouth in surprise. 

“I’ve never been one to back away from a fight” you stepped toward JJ and John B not breaking eye contact with either of them. Sarah and Kie rolled their eyes and exchanged a look, they knew how competitive the boys were with each other, and with you back in the group it seemed as though the many bets that took place between everyone were only going to increase. 

“50 bucks we catch more waves than you.” John B motioned between himself and JJ. 

“Alright, you're on!” 

“And a kiss.” JJ added, a flirty smirk growing on his face but worry flashed behind his eyes. You looked at Sarah and Kie. 

Gulping you nodded. “Sounds good.” You extended your pinkie towards John B, his mouth was slightly agape, he was stunned that JJ had finally worked up the courage to even wager something like that. “What?” 

“Nothing, nothing.” He extended his pinkie to you. You locked them and then pressed your thumbs together. This was the ritual you guys had developed for confirming bets and dares. 

You then turned to JJ with your pinkie extended and did the same. His eyes hadn’t left you, he analyzed your body language for any sort of indication of your true feelings toward his flirty forfeit. He was worried he’d pushed too far. 

“Well what are we waiting for??” Sarah picked up her board and started toward the water. Everyone followed. 

Kie whispered to you and grinned as you walked down to the water together, “Well, are you gonna mess up on purpose?”

“Hell no! I don’t care what's on the line and I used to kick their butts in competitions like this all the time so I’m not worried.” 

The six of you spent two hours on the water, everyone collectively decided to dry off and grab some dinner at around sunset. Your confidence had failed you, it turned out that after five years off of your surfboard you were a bit rusty, but the competition was close. JJ caught 10, John B: 8, and you: 6. 

“So not quite the surfer you used to be huh Bug?” Pope ruffled your hair as you tied your surfboard back onto your car, followed by Kie and Sarah’s

“Maybe I overestimated how much a five year break would have affected me.” You said turning around and leaning against your passenger door. 

“You weren’t that awful for how long you've been out of the water.” Kie said reassuringly. 

“I don’t know she wiped out a lot.” John B punched you in the arm playfully as he came over from securing his board to the van. 

Now JJ approached the rest of you his heart was beating out of his chest, he had been wanting to kiss you for years. Quite frankly he couldn’t believe his first kiss with you was going to be in front of all the Pogues. “It doesn’t matter how bad she got.” He chuckled at the offended look on your face and leaned against your car next to you. “It’s time to pay up.”

“Okay, let me grab my wallet.” You walked around to your driver side door and grabbed two $50s out of your bag. Heart hammering in your chest and shaking slightly you handed the money to John B and JJ. “Here you go, I’ll be better next time.”

“Should we place bets on that now or should we wait?” Pope chuckled. 

“I think we’ll wait until she's paid off this one. I think you're forgetting something, Bug.” John B wrapped his arm around Sarah and they both looked between you and JJ who were both visibly uncomfortable. 

JJ scratched the back of his head and stood up straight. “You really don’t have to if your not comforta-” 

“I’m a woman of my word, I never go back on a bet.” You squared up with him, your stomach dropping. Suddenly you got an idea. “You’ll get your kiss Blondie.”

JJ closed his eyes and leaned in. You placed your arms around his neck and rose onto your tippie toes as he grabbed your waist, careful to place his hand where he knew your back wasn’t bruised. Just before your lips touched you craned your neck and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. Even though you hadn’t kissed his lips there was a moment of electricity between you two, your hands didn’t fall from around his neck and he didn’t drop the hold he had on your waist. 

“Well that was anticlimactic.” Pope commented and began walking toward the van. 

“No kidding.” John B said joining Pope, they were both disappointed. They had been rooting for the two of you for as long as they can remember and had hoped that this would be a breakthrough. 

JJ dropped his hold on your waist. You let your arms fall to your sides and took a step back, showing a sly smile at the way you had avoided kissing JJ in front of everyone. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any look of disappointment on JJ’s face. Kie and Sarah thought this was odd, considering you all kissed each other’s foreheads pretty regularly. JJ seemed to be somewhat entranced at the level of intimacy. He had held you before, but never like that. 

“You good Blondie?” 

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, um, I’ll see you guys at the wreck in a few.” He trotted towards the van. 

You, Kie, and Sarah climbed into your car. You were snapped out of your own daze as Kie and Sarah both said together, “Why didn’t you kiss him!?” 

It took you a moment to process their question. “I- I was too nervous.”

“Why were you nervous? He was obviously into it.” Sarah buckled her seatbelt in the back seat and leaned forward on her knees to be closer to you and Kie. 

“Because it’s JJ.” you sighed. “He’s been my best friend for like I don’t even know how long. I just got nervous, and like yeah I wanna be with him so badly. I said it earlier, what if I mess it up?” You let your head fall onto the top of your steering wheel and you closed your eyes. 

“You won’t!” Kie rubbed your arm as you sat upright again. 

-

The next morning you woke up early. You hadn’t slept very well that night. Throughout dinner you had been stealing glances at JJ, regretting your decision not to kiss him. A million what ifs continued to run through your mind as you pulled on your favorite purple bikini, some Hawaiian shorts, and a tank top; and made your way downstairs for breakfast. You were fixing yourself a bowl of cereal when your aunt joined you in the kitchen, her coffee cup in hand. 

“So hun! You’ve been getting home late these last few days, what have you been up to? How’s Rafe?” 

“I actually haven’t seen him since the other morning. I don’t know if Uncle told you but I reconnected with some of my childhood friends through Sarah. So I’ve been spending time with them.” You swiftly avoided her question about Rafe in attempts to put him as far out of your mind as you could until midsummers tomorrow. 

“That’s wonderful sweetie! What friends are these? I must remember them.” 

A wide smile spread across your face, “John B, Pope, and JJ! And their friend Kie who I went dress shopping with yesterday.” 

“Oh I love those boys! I can’t wait to see them again. Are you excited for tomorrow!?”

“Yes very! I can’t wait to show you my dress. It’s absolutely gorgeous!” You poured the milk into your bowl of cereal and grabbed a spoon. 

“I’m sure it is darling, Rafe’s jaw is going to be on the floor!” Your aunt smiled at you. “Would you mind helping me set up tomorrow, you can bring Sarah and Kie if you’d like!

You took a shallow breath and pushed more thoughts of how you were going to deal with Rafe from your head. “Yes of course.” 

“Thank you so much y/n.” Your aunt placed a kiss on your head before joining your uncle in the living room. Just then your phone buzzed. 

                                                  Bookie😊💙

JJ and Pope are still passed out. 

Sarah stayed the night, can you pick up Kie

and meet us here at around noon to hang and go fishing?

Oh and goodmorning Bug:)

                                                                    Good morning Bookie! Yeah 

                                                                             I’ll grab her see you then!

After breakfast you did your kookwork, cleaned your room, and did some laundry. At around 11:30 you called Kie. 

“Hey Kie! John B wanted me to come pick you up on my way to the Chateau, is that okay?” 

“Hey y/n, yes of course! How are you after yesterday?” 

You hesitated before answering. “I’m okay, my ego hurts a bit, I really gotta get practicing.”

“Y/n, you know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

“I know.”

“Soo, are you okay? The two of you seemed pretty awkward at dinner.” 

“Yeah I’m fine I guess. I didn’t sleep much. I really hope everythings okay when I see him later. Honestly, I should have kissed him. I feel like the situation would almost be less awkward.” 

“Yeah, probably but hey I’m sure it's gonna be fine. You two care way too much about each other to let something like this make things weird. Also if you had kissed him, that probably would have been the first of many. You guys are awful at hiding your feelings.” She teased.

“Kie! You don’t know for sure that he feels the same way about me..” 

“Um, yeah I do. It’s so obvious honey.”

“Ugh whatever” You laughed. “I’m gonna head out now, I’ll see you in a few.” 

“Okay see you soon! Bye!”

“Byeee!” 

You smiled to yourself as you hung up the phone. If JJ actually did feel the same way, you hoped you’d find out at Midsummers. The image of you walking in with JJ and the Pogues caused your heart to swell with joy. Just as you were about to grab your keys and head out you got a text. 

                                                       Rafe

Listen, we need to talk about midsummers tomorrow. 

Can I please call you?

                                                                      What is there to talk about? 

I’ll explain, just please let me call you. 

                                                                                                         Fine. 

Your stomach twisted as you answered the phone. 

“Please make this quick. I have somewhere to be.”

“Hello to you too!”

“Really?” Your voice was ridden with annoyance and hurt. He got the message. 

His voice was soft. “I’m really sorry, y/n. I know what I did wasn’t okay. I feel awful for hurting you.” 

“Thank you for saying that but I don’t accept your apology. I can’t forgive what you did to me or what you said to me.” Tears formed in your eyes. Rafe had been your first kiss and the first boy to ever take you on a date. What he did hurt in so many different ways, talking to him made you feel sick and it made your skin crawl. 

“You hurt me too you know. I thought you were my girlfriend, I was starting to fall in love with you. And the other day you just discredited our whole relationship in front of my sister and her little Pogue boyfriend, who apparently you know really well.”

“Rafe you sexually assaulted me. Do you not realize that? And even then, have you seen me lately. There are cuts on my back that are going to scar. I can barely do anything without feeling them and remembering everything that happened. Do you think that’s something I want to relive? Do you think I am going to want to explain that to people, or my kids? I haven't even told my aunt and uncle what they’re really from.” You spat at him, tears burning down your cheeks. 

“I know what I did! Do you think I don’t think about it too?” 

“Oh I’m sure you do, right now. But in a few months or years, you’ll forget. This is something I’m going to have to live with for my entire life.” You swallowed a sob, not wanting him to know just how upset you actually were. “Can we not have this conversation right now. I have to be somewhere and I didn’t really wanna talk to you in the first place. What did you want Rafe?” 

He huffed and gave up the fight. There was a tone of sadness in his voice, “I haven’t told my dad about the breakup. He adores you y/n, almost as much as I do. Can you please act like we're still together at Midsummers? All you have to do is walk in with me and give me one dance and other than that I’ll leave you alone. You haven’t told your aunt and uncle either. We can tell them this weekend. We can tell them that you and I wanted different things or whatever. I just really don’t want my dad to be mad at me tomorrow.” 

“Rafe, I’m sorry about upsetting your dad but I can’t do that.” You hung up the phone. You were disgusted and anger coursed through your veins. He was truly unbelievable. You grabbed your keys and slid into your birkenstocks and headed out the door. 

-

You sat on the front porch of the Chateau in a daze. You hadn’t said anything besides hello since you arrived with Kie. She knew something was wrong as soon as she got into your car but she didn’t want to push you. John B and Sarah were on your right. She was cuddled into him, her head resting on his shoulder as she fiddled with a string on his yellow t-shirt. Kie was sitting on the edge railing with her headphones in, judging by the words silently leaving her lips she was listening to No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley & The Wailers. Across from you JJ and Pope were playing would you rather.

“Bug wanna play?” JJ asked you as they started a new round. 

When you continued to stare into the distance John B waved a hand in front of your face. 

“Hello? Earth to Y/n.” 

“Oh umm uhh what was that? Sorry.” You snapped out of your hollowed state. 

“Are you okay Bug?” Pope asked, leaning forward on his knees concerned. JJ looked at you worried, he noticed that you were acting a little off as soon as you got there. He was worried it was because of yesterday. He had been scared to push you after what happened with Rafe, but he had done it anyway and he felt stupid for it.

“Yeah I’m fine. Just tired, I had to get up early to do some chores and summer work.” You lied. 

JJ could tell that was a lie, but he really didn’t want to make things awkward. “Ew, why are you doing school in the summer? I thought you were smart Bug.” He teased you. 

“I am smart, it’s not summer school. A few of my credits from my school in Rhode Island didn’t transfer to the curriculum of the Kook Academy so I have to take some classes before I can go there in the fall.” 

“You’re going to the Kook Academy?” Pope said, raising his eyebrows and leaning back into the couch once again. John B turned to you questioningly and JJ’s face dropped slightly. 

“Unfortunately. My aunt and uncle insisted that it’s what my mom and dad would have wanted but I’d much rather go to KDHS with you guys.” 

“Me too.” Kie chimed in shifting her legs so they hung over the railing and faced you.

“Me three.” Sarah sat up and slumped her shoulders, prompting a back rub from John B. 

Kie continued, “Not to dampen your spirits, but it sucks. The education is great and all but aside from Sarah and I, everyone is rude and stuck up.” 

“Great I can’t wait for the first day!” You huffed sarcastically. 

“Okay cut it with the school talk, it’s making me sick.” JJ added, his face was sad as he only just realized you wouldn’t be attending school with himself, Pope, and John B once again. 

“You act like you don’t skip at least one class every day.” Pope teased. 

“That’s only sometimes.” JJ said defensively with a laugh. 

“Mmhm you tell yourself that bud.” John B said under his breath. 

Sarah changed the subject addressing you and Kie, “Do you guys wanna get ready at my place tomorrow? That way the boys can pick us up and actually take us.” 

“That sounds nice!” Kie said hopping to her feet. 

“Is Rafe going to be there?” you asked in what you hoped was a calm voice. At the mention of his name JJ’s jaw tightened and John B’s fist clenched.

“No! He’s getting ready at Toppers with Kelce.” 

“Okay then I’m down! Oh and that reminds me! Would you guys mind helping me and my aunt set up tomorrow morning?” 

“Not at all!” Kie smiled. 

“Thank you!” 

“I’m so excited for tomorrow!” Pope exclaimed, “It’s going to be so nice to not be working the barbecue for a change.” 

“Me too.” You mustered a weak smile. John B, Sarah, Pope, and Kie all started a conversation about plans for tomorrow. You got up and sat down on the arm of the couch next to JJ, “Can we go talk?”

“Yeah sure.” His stomach dropped. The two of you walked off the porch and down to the dock. You each sat down and dipped your feet in the water.

“I just wanna make sure everything is okay between us after yesterday.” You ran your hands through your hair and turned to him smiling. “Are we good?” 

“Yeah of course we are…” He kicked his feet and smiled onto the water before turning towards you. “Well we're good, but to tell you the truth. I’m not. God I can’t believe I’m saying this. I’ve always loved you, It’s always been you Y/n. When you were gone I felt like I was missing a part of myself. I should have said this when we were kids but I was so scared that you wouldn’t want me but now, I don’t care. I can’t keep this from you anymore. I can’t sit here and watch you hurt because of some rich ass hole and not hold you until you forget about it. I can’t not want to keep you safe. I don’t expect you to feel the sa-”

You kissed him right there and then. Nothing had ever felt more right in the world. It was like two pieces of a puzzle falling into place. JJ grabbed your waist and pulled you close, placing his other hand on the side of your neck. You put one hand on the side of JJ’s face and let the other rest on his forearm. The kiss was soft yet desperate, you had both been wanting this for seven years and neither of you wanted to pull away. You broke the kiss, out of breath. You pulled away and brushed his bottom lip with your thumb as you looked directly into his baby blue eyes. 

“Well you got your kiss.” You both laughed. “It’s always been you JJ, I had no idea that you felt the same way I did. I’ve loved you since we were ten and not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about you. I’ve always wanted to keep you safe, to make you happy, and to give you the love you deserve. I just never said anything because I was too scared to lose you.” Tears formed in your eyes. “I can’t lose you JJ.”

He planted a kiss on your forehead before smiling into your eyes, “I’m not going anywhere, I promise. I’m yours Bug, I always have been.”

“I’m yours Blondie.” You kissed him again softly before pulling him into a hug. The two of you sat there for several minutes just wrapped up in each other's arms. You didn’t break your hold on each other until Sarah came down to the dock looking for you.

“There you guys are! Oh um, should I come back?” 

“No, no! It’s fine.” you pulled away from JJ and blushed. 

He stood and extended a hand to you, pulling you to your feet. He pushed a strand of hair behind your ear before interlocking his fingers with your own and turning to Sarah. 

“Whats up?” 

“Everyone was just wondering where you guys went.”

“We were just chatting.” You laid your head on JJ’s shoulder and smiled. 

“Oh well, Pope is making some dinner so we should probably go back up to the Chateau.”

“Yeah probably” JJ laughed, “I’m starving.” 

“When are you not?” You looked up at him and rolled your eyes playfully.

When the three of you walked in the front door, John B could tell something had changed immediately. He knew both of you way too well to not have noticed. 

“Finally!” He smiled and placed a chip into his mouth. 

“It took y’all long enough.” Pope realized what John B was talking about as he placed some burgers on the kitchen table. 

“But they got there,” Kie smiled between the both of you. 

“Thank god.” John B made prayer hands and shook them back and forth. 

“Bookie you knew? And you didn’t tell me?” You gasped. 

“It’s the only secret I’ve ever kept from you and before you protest, you kept it from me too. You didn’t hide it very well but you never told me.” 

“Touche.” you playfully glared at him. 

“So are we gonna eat or just indulge in the love fest of our new happy couple?” Pope said sarcastically, “Because I’m starving.”

“Me too.” You admitted breaking your hold of JJ’s hand to take a seat at the table. “Well?” 

Everyone sat down around you, JJ sat next to you and placed his hand on your knee. It was as if nothing was different, because in a way, nothing was. You and JJ fit perfectly together, there was really no shift in your relationship because that love had been simmering under the surface for years. Now it was finally there, openly for everyone to see. Which seemed to be a relief for your friends now that they didn’t have to watch or listen to each of you pine over each other. It was as though everything had finally shifted into place. In that moment you could not have been any more happy, of course you always had that twinge of sadness because of your parents but after all this time and everything you had been through, you were back with your family. 

-

The next morning you awoke with a wide grin on your face. A weight that you held for seven years had been lifted from your chest, and JJ was finally yours. Today was midsummers! You were in for a fantastic night. You turned over to check your phone before getting up. On your home screen, which was a selfie Kie had taken of all six of you on the Pogue last night, you woke up to two texts. 

                                                 Blondie🤙💖

Good morning gorgeous:) 

I can’t wait to see you tonight. 

Have fun setting up with everyone! 

                                                  Sarah😙💕

Good morning! Kie and I will be over 

at around 9, see you then lovie:)

Each prompted a big smile and a sweet reply. It was 8 o’clock so you had to jump in the shower and get ready for the day. After your shower you pulled on a comfy pastel striped sundress and brushed your hair before heading down to eat breakfast with your aunt and uncle. Your aunt had made chocolate chip waffles and poured you a cup of tea. 

“Good morning Auntie! Good morning Uncle!” You gave each of them a kiss on the cheek before taking your seat across from them. “Sarah and Kie will be over in a bit to help us set up.”

“Someones in a good mood!” Your uncle smiled from behind his coffee mug. 

“She must be excited!” Your aunt addressed your uncles comment, “Isn’t that right sweetie?”

“Yes, very excited,” You took a bite of your breakfast before continuing. “I have never been to midsummers before, I helped Heyward and Pope with the food one year but I’ve never gotten to dress up like this before.” 

“I’m glad you’re getting to have this new experience with us honey.” Your Uncle gave you a kiss on the forehead as he took his plate to the sink.

As you finished your food, Kie and Sarah knocked on the door. Your aunt opened it and greeted them with a hug. 

“Good morning girls! Thank you so much for your help.” 

“Good morning Mrs. Patty!” Sarah smiled as she started down the hall toward the kitchen. 

“It’s really no problem at all.” Kie said following Sarah. Your aunt followed them as Kie finished, “Thank you for hosting, I know everyone is so excited for tonight.” 

“I’m so glad to hear that! I can’t wait to see the boys, I haven’t seen them since I last visited when y/n was in fourth grade.” 

“Oh I didn’t know you knew the boy’s!” Sarah said excitedly, “John B and I are actually dating.” She blushed. 

“Oh how wonderful sweetheart! He’s a sweet young man, my sister thought of him as a son.” Your aunt brushed Sarah’s arm as they entered the kitchen joining you at the island where you stood finishing your tea. 

“What about you Kie?” Your aunt asked, “I don’t mean to intrude I know I have only just met you but I can’t help but wonder, do you have a flame with any of the boys?” 

“Oh it's no intrusion at all Mrs. Patty.” Kie blushed, “Pope and I kind of have a thing going on… well sort of, it's not official.” 

“Oh aren’t you two sweet. I’m sure he’ll ask you to make it official shortly, I mean he’d be stupid not to. You’re a gorgeous girl!”

“I know right, what is he waiting for?” you smiled at Kie as you put your mug into the sink. 

“That’s too bad, that leaves poor JJ without a date tonight.” your Aunt frowned before going to her office to get her to do list for setup. 

Kie’s eyes went wide. 

Sarah whispered, “You didn’t tell her?!” 

“No,” you whispered back.

Kie reminded Sarah, “Mrs. Patty still thinks that y/n fell out of the lifeguard chair last week.” 

“So she think’s I’m still with Rafe.” You finished Kie’s sentence. “So does your dad Sah.”

“Well what about you and JJ? You guys are matching, everyone's gonna notice.” 

“I’m thinking we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” You chuckled nervously. “I figure I’m going to walk in with you guys in a group, no one will suspect anything besides Rafe and I’m praying he won’t want to make a scene.”

Your aunt returned with her list. Sarah helped your aunt with the centerpieces while you and Kie rolled silverware. 

“So, how did it happen?” She smiled. “I’m so happy it did, I haven't seen JJ smile this much since the night we found the gold.” 

You blushed as you told Kie about last night on the dock. 

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before. He literally means everything to me, we’ve been through so much together over the years. I’ve never kept anything from him before and it feels so good to not have to hide it or over analyze everything anymore.”

“Okay that’s literally like the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.” She hugged you. “I’m so happy for you y/n, you both deserve each other.” 

 “Thank you Kie. I could literally go on all day about why I’m so happy that that boy is mine but we’ve got a party to set up.” The two of you giggled and got back to work. 

The majority of set up went pretty smoothly, there were only some technical difficulties when you tried setting up the sound system but your uncle was able to figure it out. Your house was draped in white, silver, and gold lanterns. You and Sarah had twisted pieces of white fabric around the banister on the staircase. In the living room there were tables set up with trays ready for food that would be brought in later and star confetti was placed on the stairs that led into your backyard where tables were set up along with a dance floor. Down on the beach there were white blankets setup with gold and silver pillows so people could sit and watch the sunset later that night. It looked like a scene out of The Great Gatsby. When your aunt had only a few finishing touches to put together, you retrieved your dress, makeup, and shoes from your room and headed over to Tanny Hill to get ready. 

-

Sarah finished your final curl with some hairspray and broke it up with her finger before turning you around. Your two favorite girls stood on either side of you with smiles spread wide across their faces. 

Kie’s hair was in a soft updo, her natural curls framed her face beautifully, and you had braided some baby’s breath into her bun. Her makeup complemented her features perfectly, she wore a white silvery eye shadow that was blended with some light brown and peach shades as well as some peach blush and clear lip gloss. She wore delicate silver earrings that had flowers chained together so that they reached a little below her jawline and a matching flowery chained necklace sparkled on her neck. With her floaty peach dress she looked like the goddess of spring. 

If Kie was a goddess, Sarah was a queen. She looked elegant and regal in her gorgeous white and floral ballgown. She had a low swooping bun at the base of her neck with pink tea roses tucked above where the bun formed. She had on pink blush and some rosy bronze eye shadow that was blended with a subtle light purple, she also sported some tinted lip gloss. A rose gold bangle glittered on her forearm and she had matching dangly earrings with a twisted detail, they rotated when she moved her head and looked as if they were magical. 

You marveled at the beauty of your friends for a moment before turning to see how they had made you up. Your emerald dress was just as dazzling and classy as you had remembered, you felt absolutely stunning in it and loved the way it made you look taller and brought out your figure. Sarah had blended some light gold eye shadow with a neutral brown and dotted your cheeks with pink blush. Kie had made sure your freckles still shone through the little bit of foundation Sarah put on your skin. You wore your mother’s pearl necklace and matching earrings. Kie had braided your hair into a low half up half down and wove some sea lavender into the strands of the braids on either side of your face. She left some of your baby hairs out to frame your face, and your natural waves did so nicely. Sarah had curled your long hair and fluffed them into gorgeous waves that cascaded down your back and hid the bruises perfectly. 

“Wow.” You said breathlessly. 

“I know!” Kie echoed. 

“You guys look gorgeous.” Sarah smiled at the two of you. 

“So do you!” You both pulled her into a hug.

“I just want you guys to know how much you mean to me.” You smiled pulling away from the hug. “I grew up as one of the boys and it's beyond amazing to have you two to do things like this with.”

They both beamed at you. 

“I’m so glad to have you too y/n.” Kie said.

“You have become like another sister to me faster than even Kie did, y/n.” Sarah added. 

You beamed back at them, your heart swelling with joy, “You guys are Pogues now, call me Bug.”

“Really!” Sarah’s eyes were wide with excitement. 

“Yes, but I wouldn’t call any of the boys by their nicknames until they give you the go ahead.” 

“Got it!” Kie said as she pulled you in for another quick hug. 

Sarah’s doorbell rang. 

“I think our dates are here.” Sarah raised her eyebrows and you all headed downstairs. 

The boys' jaws collectively dropped as you each filed out the door. They had all styled their hair as neatly as they could and had a fresh shave. The boys each looked dashing in their respective attire. 

“Don’t my boys look spiffy!” You exclaimed sweetly, “You’re all grown up I might cry.” 

“You look pretty good yourself Bug, much nicer than the princess dress you used to wear to preschool.” John B giggled after sliding Sarah’s corsage onto her wrist and placing a kiss on her hand. 

Pope handed a bouquet of peach and white daisies to Kie as he blushed and took her hand. 

JJ still hadn’t spoken; he was all consumed in the way you looked. He had thought it wasn’t possible for you to get more beautiful, but for the thousandth time, you had proved him wrong.

“Bug, you look.” His words were breathless and his smile stretched across his face, “Stunning.” He slid a corsage of white roses onto your wrist and pressed a kiss onto your lips. 

“Why thank you,” you smiled. His cologne was your favorite and your mind was put at ease at the familiar smell of it. “You look very handsome Blondie.” You smoothed your hands across his chest. 

“I try.” He smirked and took your hand. As you all headed down the street toward your house. 

-

“Woah, this is where you live now Bug?” Pope turned to you amazement in his eyes. 

“Yep! Rose sold my aunt and uncle a pretty nice place huh.”

You all walked through your house and out onto the dance floor. You let go of JJ’s hand and explained to your friends, “I have to go find my aunt and uncle they’re going to want to see me in my dress. I’ll meet you guys by Heyward in a few?”

“Okay sounds good!” John B saluted you.

You wove through the crowd looking for your aunt and uncle. Just as you spotted them talking to Kie’s parents by one of the tables you felt a hand on your shoulder. Turning around you were met with the eyes of Rafe Cameron. Only then you noticed Ward a few feet from where you stood, he was conversing with Rose and some real estate partners you recognized from your aunt’s happy hour. Before you could say anything Rafe moved his hand to the small of your back and pulled you in for a kiss. You pushed away immediately. 

“Rafe what the heck!” 

John B must have heard you because he pushed his way through the crowd to where you were. JJ followed closely behind him. John B reached you first and placed himself in between you and Rafe, JJ stepped into you and wrapped his arms around you as you tucked your head into his shoulder. 

John B spoke intensely, “What the hell did you do now?”

JJ followed him saying, “Haven’t you put her through enough.” 

As he looked at JJ, Rafe recognized the bracelet on his wrist as one that had been on your wrist on so many different occasions. Jealousy flooded his face as he turned toward you, “What the hell is this y/n?” 

People started to notice the situation and your aunt and uncle navigated through the crowd to see what was going on. You stood there paralyzed, your mind moved a million miles a minute but took in the situation slowly. While your thoughts raced through your head everything else was in slow motion. You barely registered Rafe pulling JJ off of you which caused you to fall forward. As you tripped over your dress John B caught you. There was a collective gasp and whatever fight that was about to start between JJ and Rafe ceased. You looked up at John B with your pupils blown out in fear. Your hair had fallen forward. Everyone saw the watercolor of bruises across the open back of your dress which was broken by long red cuts. 

Rose and Ward  rushed over to you followed by your aunt and uncle. Topper and Kelce pulled Rafe out of the crowd and Pope and Kie stood with JJ, Sarah met John B who was helping you stabilize yourself. 

Rose put a light hand on your arm, “Y/n, sweetheart who did this to you? Was it him?” She pointed at JJ. The pogues all scoffed and JJ’s face fell. 

You responded immediately with tears pricking the corners of your eyes. “No he would never lay a hand on me.” 

“Rafe did it.”  

If anyone ever needs anything, wants to give me feedback, or just wants to chat about fandoms please message me and let’s be friends:))  

@tangledinsparkles​​ @hopelesswritingxd​​ @im-a-stranger-thing​​ @jenahbell​​ @annedub​​ @hmspxgue​​ @harrysbbby​​  @spn-pogues​ @nxtrogers​​ @whoeverineedtobe​​ @jjmaybby​ @thegreatestofheck​

[metaphorical-love-for-a-car]

An Unexpected Reunion-- Malcolm Bright x Reader

oRequest; “the reader is an FBI agent who met Malcom in Quantico but they lost contact cause she went to do undercover work and now shes put in New York on. A case and they just catch up and be happy cause malcom needs happy” (anon)

Warnings; specified fem! reader, language, bits of violence, terrible writing

Word Count; 2.1k

Notes; I rewrote this like 5 times so I hope y’all like it lol

Trainees were separated into groups for various training sessions throughout the day, and a group was never the same. Everyone was rotated around. Your group for the day happened to do incredibly well in the training exercises. “Best so far,” you were told. They decided to reward the group by allowing all of you to have a paintball fight, writing it off as combat practice. Everyone darted to various corners of Hogan’s Alley. You hid behind a dumpster and readied yourself for the battle to begin. A thud from the inside caused your brows to furrow. Since the Alley was a mock town, you knew that there wasn’t any trash inside that would attract any critters. Nevertheless, you decided to check it out. You cracked open the lid, only for something to latch around your arm. “What the fuck, Bright?” He shushed you.

“Come on, this is the best hiding spot here! Anyone comes around, and you can easily take them out without being spotted. Just... just hurry up and hop in before you blow our cover.” You stared at him, blinking slowly. Was he serious? Malcolm’s eyes widened, causing him to look slightly frantic as he motioned you inside. Alright, he was completely serious. You clamored into the dumpster and hoped that no one heard the lid slam shut. Malcolm clicked on his flashlight. He raised a brow and grave you a sly grin. He started to speak, but you interrupted him.

“If you’re about to make this sexual, I swear to God I will shoot you in the crotch right now.” Malcolm grimaced, looking highly offended.

“What? No! I was about to ask if you had heard about how Johnson from the second group pissed his pants in the hostage simulation today,” he rapidly explained. Then he froze for a moment, giving you a doubtful look. “You wouldn’t shoot me this close range. You’re not that cruel.” You held up your gun.

“Wanna bet?” Malcom narrowed his eyes at you. He was challenging your capabilities. What was once a game of hide-and-go-seek turned into a game of cat-and-mouse. Either way, you weren’t losing. You leaned back and pulled the trigger. The paintball hit its target with a loud twap! Malcolm shouted a string of profanities as he curled into fetal position. You clasped a hand over your mouth to keep from laughing. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

“Bitch...” he groaned. 

“You practically told me to!” 

Fond memories of your old life were what got you through your secret life. Being assigned to go undercover for months on end was no easy feat. There were plenty of times you wanted to call it quits, but you couldn’t. So, you’d think of moments that made you happy. You were beyond relieved when you were able to return home. It was as if you could finally breathe again. You wanted nothing more than to sleep for at least two weeks straight, but, of course, you weren’t allowed such luxuries.

You had awakened too early for your liking but decided to spend the time catching up on all the shows you missed while undercover. You had just sat down with a cup of coffee when someone started banging on your door. You sighed, taking a long sip of your coffee and hoping that they would go away. Luck wasn’t on your side, as the person continued to try to punch your door down. You groaned and shuffled over towards the door. It revealed a woman with curly hair. She gave you a small grin and held up a badge. You squinted at it in an attempt to determine its authenticity. “Hi, I’m Dani Powell with the NYPD. Are you Ms. (Y/L/N)?” You eyed her for a moment before finally deciding that she was telling the truth about her identity. You slowly nodded, slightly confused as to why she was there. “Mind if I talk to you for a few minutes?” she asked, putting her badge away.

“Yeah... what’s... I’m sorry what’s going on?”

“Your neighbor was murdered last night.”

Your body tensed. Was she serious? Could a murder have seriously taken place right under your nose? You turned on your heel and hurried further into your apartment. Dani looked confused, hesitantly stepping inside. You fumbled through a drawer before returning with a badge of your own. “I’m with the FBI. Could I see the crime scene please?” Dani raised a brow at you.

“Let’s go talk to my superior first.” You nodded and slipped on a pair of shoes. Following Dani down the hall, she approached a man leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Where’s Gil?” The man furrowed his brows at the sight of you. Okay, so maybe you could have at least brushed your hair before you walked out. You probably looked like a hot mess.

“Inside. Who’s your friend?”

“Special Agent (Y/F/N). FBI. I live down the hall,” you answered. The man seemed surprised, causing Dani to roll her eyes.

“Oh shit, really? I’m TJ.” He started to say something else, but Dani interrupted him. 

“She wanted to see the scene, but I was gonna let her talk to Gil first.” You pursed your lips. Surely, it wasn’t the same person you were thinking of. There was a slight commotion from inside the crime scene before two men emerged into the hall. One was waving his hands widely, while the other looked done with his shit.

“Okay, so we’re looking for-” Your jaw dropped. Malcolm? Here, of all places? The world is quite a small place. “Cookie?” TJ and Dani’s faces wrinkled.

“Stinky!” Malcolm laughed at the familiar nickname as you threw your arms around him in an embrace. Gil smiled at the two of you.

“What am I, chopped liver?” You scoffed before giving him a hug too. TJ and Dani shared a look of confusion, which wasn’t lost under Malcolm’s gaze.

“Team, this is Cookie. Cookie, this is the team.” 

“I’m sorry-- but Cookie?” TJ asked, almost astonished at hearing Malcolm call someone by their pet name. The profiler nodded. A smirk crossed his lips.

“We’ve been friends since Quantico. During training, (Y/N) snuck out of her room to steal some treats. Everyone’s called her that since.” You rolled your eyes at the mention of your nickname.

“And you’re... Stinky?” Dani asked with a laugh. You beamed at the opportunity to share your favorite memory from training.

“At some point during your time at the academy, a handful of trainees are dropped off at random points in the Prince William Forrest Park to test your survival skills. We somehow managed to bump into each other while wandering around and decided to team up. Two heads are better than one, right? So, we were trying to figure out a shelter situation when Stinky discovered a foxhole type thing. I warned him not to go in, but-” Malcolm interrupted you.

“I’m pretty sure you said, ‘We can’t go in there because your head’s too big. You’d get stuck and die before we even get a chance to go on a real mission.’”

“Shut up, Stinky, I’m telling a story. Anyways, the bastard decided to go in. Lo and behold! There was a family of skunks living inside, and he just barged right on in. The dude stunk. Bad. No one would go near him for about a week. So, the name Stinky was born.” 

After telling the group a few more stories about Malcolm and learning a bit more about the case, you went back to your apartment to change into some actual clothes. They still required you to go down to the station and make a statement. Malcolm offered you a ride, which you gladly accepted. You hadn’t seen him since before he got fired.

As the two of you got in his car, you couldn’t help but notice how awful he looked. His hands were shaking, and he had heavy bags under his eyes. “You’re staring,” Malcolm joked, but, this time, the smile didn’t quite meet his eyes. You shook your head.

“Yeah, it’s cause you look like shit, Malcolm.” He turned his attention back to starting the car. He knew that you were being serious when you used his actual name. You watched his inner turmoil, no doubt debating whether he could confide in you. Turning your gaze away, you didn’t want him to feel like a bug under a microscope. “How long has it been this bad?” 

“It’s been bad for a while now, but it’s gotten worse over the past few weeks.” His voice was small, and it made your heart ache. Shaking your head, you got out of the car. Malcolm’s brows furrowed. You poked your head back inside.

“Well? Are you just gonna sit there like a fly on the wall, or are you going to tag along with me?” Without a moment’s hesitation, Malcolm switched the car off and appeared by your side. You linked your arm with his, tugging him along. “Don’t ask questions, just follow my lead.”

You led him to a rather posh boutique not too far from your apartment building. Malcolm seemed a bit concerned as to what you had in store for him, and you couldn’t help but laugh. The older woman working there seemed a bit disapproving as the two of you walked in, giggling over some old inside joke. “Okay, seriously, why are we here?” Malcolm finally asked. You grabbed his wrist and looked at his watch.

“You have five minutes to put the most ridiculous outfit together. Loser has to buy lunch. Go!” 

You scurried away, hoping that he would let loose and have some fun. Luckily for you, Malcolm wasn’t the one to back away form a challenge. Five minutes passed faster than you would have liked, but you thought you did pretty good. You were wearing large sunglasses, a tiara, and a jacket almost entirely made of rhinestones. You turned around and nearly fell to the ground with laughter. You hadn’t expected Malcolm to take the challenge that seriously. He was wearing sunglasses similar to your own, a feather boa, a shiny necklace, and he was even holding a single earring to one of his earlobes. What got you the most was his ridiculous hat, something you would only expect to see at the Kentucky Derby. His smile widened at your reaction. “Looks like you’ll be the one buying lunch.” 

“I lost?”

“Obviously,” Malcolm scoffed.

“Oh, but did I really?” You quickly pulled out your phone, snapping a couple pictures. “I can’t wait to show these to Gil. He’s gonna die.” Malcolm’s jaw dropped. He put his earring down and held a hand out to you.

“Gimme.”

“What? Hell no, Stinky. You’re gonna have to pry this thing out of my cold, dead hands.” His eyes narrowed, and you immediately regretted your statement. Malcolm lunged at you, causing you to shriek and dash away. He cornered you near some clothing racks. His arms wrapped around you as he attempted to wrangle your phone from your hands. The two of you were too busy laughing and fighting each other to realize that you were inching closer and closer to the racks. As you struggled to get out of his grasp, Malcolm had the bright idea to suddenly let go, sending you tumbling forward. You landed on a clothing rack, taking the whole thing down with you. Malcolm roared with laughter and had to lean on his knees for support. “Fuck you!” you called out. He held out a hand, helping you to your feet. “You’re a jackass.”

“Oh, come on, you know you love m-” He was interrupted by the older woman clearing her throat. Her arms were crossed, and she was tapping one foot.

“I think it’s best if you two leave. Now.” You both apologized profusely and even offered to help clean up, but she shooed you out of the store, after taking back their clothes of course. You gave Malcolm a hard time, blaming him for getting you both banned from the store. After the two of you fell into a steady silence, walking side by side, you prompted him with a question.

“What were you saying earlier? I know I love what?” Malcolm laughed, almost nervously.

“I was going to say that you know you love me.” You pursed your lips and hummed. 

“Maybe that’s why I’ve put up with you all these years, Stinky.”

“You’re not a ray of sunshine either, Cookie.”

“At least I don’t smell like skunk ass.”

“That was five years ago!”

~*~*~

Prodigal Son Tag List;

@ourfracturedomens​

Permanent Tag List;

@blitchen​

@blitchen-fics​

[gukptune]

— CAUGHT IN A WEB (m.) art by: gukptune’s pyjamas

Pairing: jungkook x reader Genre: spider-kook, spider-man!jungkook, marvel!au, fluff, smut  Warnings: explicit language, mild depictions of violence, crime, flirting, insinuated sex, touchy touchy, making out, etc. more smut in later parts!

— Summary: New York’s resident web-slinger finds himself wrapped in his own webs by the hands of a cunning black cat.

Words: 5.8k Note: Thank you to my loveliest beta for this series! @nomimits7​

Neon lights, brick walls and shit stinking sewers. He sat atop a vacant roof looking over the streets of Chinatown. No one seemed to sleep around here, not even the sewer rats. The spandex dawned superhero munched on his fresh hot pizza, taking a break from his usual scouting.

The brown eyed man nearly chokes on his pepperoni slice seeing a shady man trailing a young woman into an alley. Typical mobbing, but it could lead to something worse.

Pulling down his web patterned mask, cover his chin, he tosses the now empty pizza box down the street. Shooting it with his web, directing the box right into a trash bin.

He runs across the roofs right atop the alleyway. Dropping himself quietly onto the fire escape stairs, waiting for the right moment.

The shady man marches his way into the alley, stopping in his tracks when he realises, he wasn’t alone. He frantically looks around for the woman he was following. The web-slinger watches as the woman seemingly pops out of nowhere, kicking the man down with one blow. His head making a bone-breaking noise as it connects with the red brick wall. He immediately collapsed into a lifeless pile of bone and meat.

The woman takes a deep breath, sighing loudly. Immediately she began digging into his pockets. 

The spider looks on with confusion, was she the one robbing him?

Shit, he jumps off the rails with the tiniest of sound. Landing on his feet against the wet alley, he sees the woman still crouched over the man. With his spidey-senses he could hear the tapping of her fingernails against the glass screen echoing.

He rolls his head and shoulders, puffing his chest out. He asks carefully, “Need some help?”

The woman suddenly turns towards him. Looking him up and down, causing him to feel small. Your eyes burning a hole in him before you shake your head, seemingly unfazed by the overgrown Apider, “Nope, not really.”

He looks on at you, again confused. Did you not know who he was, maybe you were a tourist?

He approach you with caution, still unsure of your position in this situation. He glance over your shoulder to a blinking screen rolling with green codes. The unconscious man’s phone attached to your laptop with a cable of sorts.

You were hacking his phone.

“Would you mind telling me what you’re doing?” He asks, trying his best to seem authoritative and failing miserably it seems.

You don’t seem to care, not bothering to look back at him, “I mind, get going Spider-Man.”

You did know who he was, yet you weren’t cooperating. He knew he had haters, J. Jonah Jameson being a huge collaborator in that ring. Yet, he at least hoped he had some sense of justice allowing any good citizen to work with him.

Indeed, your lack of cooperation made you seem in the wrong.

“Were you in trouble?”

You sigh, “No.”

He furrows his brow behind the mask, side stepping around you. Finally facing your front on he takes a good look at you, maybe he could at least be able to recognise you, if you indeed were a criminal later in his database.

Long brown-haired woman, seemingly in your early twenties or even late teens. You whipped your eyes towards him once during this conversation, your eyes glowing light blue. You cocked your head, as if you were challenging him.

He was growing impatient at this point, “Just tell me, did you steal his phone. You’re hacking it, now aren’t you?”

You click her tongue, “It’s not stealing if it was already mine. The data, not the phone that is.” You stated matter of factly.

You sounded like you were speaking in code, like you didn’t want to say what you were actually doing.

“It’s still stealing.”

You tap away a couple more times before pushing the screen of your laptop down, “Oh shut up, so Spider-Man leaving his webs all over New York isn’t vandalism? You do realise that your shit only comes off with special, web cleaners right...those big skyscrapers you love swinging from, takes them months to get your spider-crap off.”

He was offended, spider-crap, they were not spider-crap they were so much more than that. He couldn’t express that though, that he was offended, hurt even. That a simple girl got the better of Spider-Man, maybe you got the better of him but not Spider-Man. 

You only stared at him, watching him have an inner conflict. His camera lens like eyes squinting around. You rolled your eyes, completely done with this situation. Trying to leave quietly it seemed that his spidey-sense were rather, good.

“Woah! No, I need to know what you’re doing,” He stops you in your tracks. Trying to swipe at the phone in your his right hand. You pull away with a frown.

Stepping away from the Spider, “Now that’s stealing, Spider-Man is stealing? Such irony.”

He seemed really annoyed now, crossing his arms. Those athletic biceps flexing through his spandex. 

You quickly toss the phone against the wall beside the now, snoring man. The glass shattering before it drops on the ground beside the man. Spider-Man looks over at the phone, now completely busted.

You take this moment to bolt.

“Hey! Stop! You can’t just run away!”

You can hear his footsteps chasing you before it completely stops, hearing only whooshes and squirts. Well, he was going to catch up really quick, but you had a backup plan of course.

After a few moments of the chase you had sight of exactly what you wanted, the dark metallic vehicle ahead with tinted windows. You stopped in your tracks right in front of it. 

Hearing the Spider drop right behind you, his hand nearing your shoulder. You took this chance to play with his sense of justice—jumping behind him. 

Pushing against his shoulder blades, peeking over his broad shoulders. 

“What are you—”

“Ah, here you are. Give me the drive, Y/n.”

Spider-Man seemed to understand your actions now. Looking right at the thugs ahead. You hid behind him, like the poor helpless girl you were pretending to be. His hand coming right to your side, pushing you further behind him.

You swallowed, slightly nervous. Feeling his webbed gloved hand holding onto your arm, keeping you behind him lessened it.

“Who are you?” Spider-Man asked the man ahead.

The sunglass dawning brute laughs, cracking his knuckles. “This ain’t about ‘ya Spider-Man. Just me and the girl.”

“That doesn’t sound very good,” He counters.

He turns his head, hoping to hear your explanation.

“They want the drive I’ve got,” You stated the obvious.

Spider-Man sighs, “I know that, what else.”

The brute didn’t seem to want to play, tapping his feet impatiently but not daring to step closer.

You bite your tongue, “It’s just got info about their shady business, okay.”

Guessing that was enough, Spider-Man picked a side.

“You better leave, dude, she’s just a kid.” 

The brute laughs even louder. He waves his fist, more men coming out of the vehicle behind him. Things just got intense. Spider-Man stood his ground, moving back, pushing you further and further away.

“A kid? She—a fuckin’ kid, oh Spider-Man you don’t even know. She’s—”

A brick collides with the man’s face, probably breaking his jaw in the process. The brute curses and his men attack. Spider-Man shoves you away, right behind a stinky back alley bin.

You hide, leaning out to watch the action. You weren’t going to miss this.

He takes the men skill-fully, and non-lethal. A few kicks, punches, squirts of his web into their faces and fists. None of them being able to land a single hit on the hero.

With them all bound by untearable web, he marches towards the brute holding onto his jaw. The larger man spits blood on the ground, pointing at you.

“That bitch, you’re on the wrong side Spider-Man.”

Spider-Man shakes his head, “She’s not the one with a gun in her hands.”

The brute’s eyes widened, before he snarls. Before he could even shoot, the gun in his hand slams against the wall, sealed within webs.

“She’s a fucking rat, you ain’t smart spider. She’s done so much bad you won’t even understand—”

Spider-Man cocks his head, “I’ll be the judge of that.”

You couldn’t help but feel impressed. He really had a way with words, his confidence, his aura. Shit, it was kind of hot. He was also standing up for you, he didn’t even know you.

With that Spider-Man knocks the man out before his fists even reached a close proximity. He cracks his back, pleased with his execution. Turning back to see if you were okay, he finds nothing.

He races towards the spot, nothing. He sighs, springing up the roof to look around the streets. You disappeared into thin air, without a word. Without a thank you.

All he got was a name, a name he’d spend the entire night ripping his database apart for, he was in deep shit.

A week had passed and nothing, he’s got nothing. There was no news of those guys either. They all just, disappeared.

He wandered around the office at F.E.A.S.T. with his head on backwards, of course until Aunt May had something to say.

“Jungkook, you need to take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on.” She sat him down on her office couch, face to face.

Jungkook sighed, “Some girl trouble, it’s no big deal May.”

“Is it MJ? How has she been? I haven’t heard from her in—”

“It’s not MJ. It’s... I don’t even know her, I—it’s hard to explain,” Jungkook sighs, burying his face in his hands in frustration.

May rubs his back comfortingly, “It better not be a one-time thing, Kook, I swear—”

“It’s not!” Jungkook exclaimed, his face beet red, “I don’t do that stuff! I don’t even know her name, I just met her during my Spider-Man night patrols.”

“Oh, you met her, in your suit?” May’s eyes wideneg. This hasn’t happened before.

Jungkook gives her a shy smile, “Yea...she was very different and interesting. All I got is a name and just the first for that matter. I can’t find anything on the girl and—”

“Woah, you couldn’t ‘find’ anything. You were searching for her? Kook, you’re not stalking her right?”

“No! I just heard that she’s in trouble and I don’t want anything to happen to her but she’s like a ghost. Aunt May! I would never—”

“I know, I know. I was joking,” She smiled. He was extremely flustered, and she knew more than he’d let on.

“But are you sure you’re only looking for her because you’re ‘worried’ or...” She wiggles her eyebrows.

Jungkook groans, “Aunt May, please!”

She continued to tease him, on and on. Until she had to leave to help her employees at work and Jungkook had to get home. 

On his way home, Jungkook had come across a new thing. An exhibition, New York Academy of Art’s student exhibition. Jungkook loved art, mainly admiring it. Luckily he had his camera with him, maybe he could get a few photos.

He walks in to be greeted by a very excited student, “Oh my god! Someone’s actually here! Hello! Welcome to our finals exhibition, here’s a ticket—you should be able to see everyone’s art maybe see some artists!”

She shoves the ticket in his hand, he nods thanking her. She pushes him into the first room and leaves, without even introducing herself.

Jungkook eases his way in, not completely sure where to go or anything at all. There were really no signs, arrows, or people around. Strange.

He takes his time admiring the work of the art students, he sometimes wishes he’d be that talented. Snapping a few photos on the way around, he stops at one artist’s work that truly catches his eye.

Snapping a quick photo, he begins to read the information next to the painting. Signifying its artist, media and meaning.

He hears a snicker behind him, whipping around as normally as he could without activating his sense. 

In front of him, was a familiar face. It was the girl he met last week. It had to be, same hair, same face, apart from the eyes. They were green this time. 

You stared at the boy, holding a camera in front of you. His face twisting, thinking hard. “What are you doing here?”

“Uhm, I’m sorry?” His voice rang in your ear.

You look around, wondering if anyone else was here too, “I mean, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you in my class before and the pre-show hasn’t opened yet.”

His face turns red, he starts stuttering, “Well―I, I was told to―to, uh.”

He directs your sight towards the ticket in his hand, you sigh, “Oh, I’m guessing the overly enthusiastic girl out front gave you this.”

You point at the ticket in his hand, right at the opening time, “Six pm. Sorry to say, it’s four right now.”

“That’s, that’s okay. I can leave.”

You suddenly felt bad, the boy was already here, he was also pretty cute. There was no harm in him staying right.

“It’s okay, you don’t seem like trouble.”

He smiles thankfully, out stretching his hand, “I’m Jungkook.”

“I’m Y/n.”

His eyes widened suddenly. You were confused but he responds before you could ask. 

He flutters, waving his hand around, “You’re Y/n? The―uh―the artist! You painted this?”

Jungkook faces the painting, pointing at it.

“I’m grateful that you admire my work, have you seen my stuff before?”

Jungkook turns back at you with a smile, “Yea! I have.”

“Can I ask where? Was it the convention last year because I made such shitty art back then?”

Jungkook laughs, a little too loud and enthusiastically. Maybe he was nervous, “Yea! Don’t be so hard on yourself, it was amazing.”

You bite your lip, nodding.

“Yea…”

You watch him continue to look around, trailing around him, “Can I ask where you study?”

“Oh! I graduated two years ago. I went to Empire State University.”

“Wow! So, you’ve got a degree?”

“Yea, Bachelor of Science in Biophysics, it doesn’t sound very cool,” He mumbles shyly.

You tap his shoulder playfully, “Hey, it sounds awesome. All I might get is ‘artist’.”

Jungkook smiles, enjoying the little banter between you two. He looks over to you, motioning for you to follow him around.

“You must be smart, Jungkook.”

“Uh―I wouldn’t say that.”

You chuckle, “You so are! I hope you can tell me all about your studies, seems so different from me… I kind of, like that.”

Your smile captivated him. Allured him. Jungkook felt a sense of relief and comfort. He liked the sound of that, it sounds a whole lot like a beginning of something. So, he took the chance.

“How about a date?”

You tilt your head, surprised that the shy nerdy boy managed to ask you that, “A date?”

“Yea.”

You hummed, pretending to think over it dramatically, “Well, you see I’m, I don’t know. I’m quite busy these days and the exhibition and―”

“Come on, stop it,” He chuckles, a very familiar chuckle, yet you couldn’t pinpoint it.

“Okay, okay. A date sounds great, you’re planning it though! I have zero time to plan, it’s also not my thing.”

“Lucky for you, planning is just my thing.”

“So, you’re saying that you went on a date with a girl who you think might be a criminal?”

“Yes.”

Taehyung shrugs, munching on some fries, “And what’s the problem again?”

“It was a great date! And now I’m too scared to keep digging, what if I find out she’s with the mob or something,” Jungkook cries, resting his forehead against his palms. Leaving his burger and fries to go stale.

“Again, what’s the problem?”

Jungkook only groans. Of course, Taehyung wouldn’t see a problem with this. Why did Jungkook even worry. He’s Spider-Man, he’s dealt with worse.

Taehyung suddenly snaps his fingers, grinning ear to ear, “I know the problem. You’re scared that you’re going to be really into her, fall in love and completely forget about MJ.”

“No! That’s not true!” Jungkook shakes his head furiously.

Taehyung laughs, he was always good at figuring him out, “It so is! It isn’t so bad, if you fall for her. At least then you’ll get some. Hasn’t MJ been avoiding you… since the breakup, like it’s very unlikely she’s going to take you back.”

Taehyung was right but Jungkook just wanted to stay in disbelief. He’s finally met something he likes, after months and months of trying his hardest to get MJ back with nothing in return. Maybe it was time that Jungkook stopped trying, now that MJ was really not going to return his love.

“Is she hot?” Taehyung’s voice makes Jungkook blush.

His eyes wide and mouth agape, “I mean―yes, of course. Like way too hot but that’s―”

“Way too hot, huh?”

“Shut up.”

“I really need to see this ‘way too hot’ girl, the only thing you’ve ever said about MJ was―she’s gorgeous, pretty, beautiful but hell, way too hot seems fine~”

“I’m not letting you see her.”

“What? Why?”

“Nope.” Jungkook shakes his head.

Taehyung whines, “Please!”

Jungkook hovers over his phone, waiting for a response.

y/n: shit I need to get to bed now

y/n: gn < 3

y/n: i’ll text tomorrow!!

He smiles, heart soaring with joy, typing out a response before slipping the phone into his spandex pocket. He leans back against the pole, looking over at a friendly face.

“You’re Spider-Man!”

Jungkook, now Spider-Man, rubs his head bashfully, “Yep, that’s me!”

“I love you! Can I get a photo please!”

“Of course.”

The fanboy in his homemade Spider-Man cosplay gets off his seat, snapping a quick photo with him. Spider-Man utters a few words before taking the next stop off, tonight he needed to take a good look at Hell’s kitchen. Some shady stuff has been happening there, kidnapping, burglary, a whole lot.

There wasn’t much he could sense, nor did he catch anything suspicious. He’s right about to drop the entire case and leave for the night, but he feels a strange sensation making his ear twitch.

Looking over to his left he sees a figure, pulling themselves over the construction bars by the pier with ease. Silent and quick, he’s worried it could be something bad.

Pulling himself over with his webs, he manages to land on one of the bars furthest away, to at least account for the situation. He hums, murmuring tactics to himself, watching the feminine figure halt in their path.

The seemingly skintight sporting figure had long flowing white hair. A mask on her face that doesn’t seem to cover much at all. The black full body leotard seemed to be supported by white armour in vital areas.

He’s never seen her before, he’s never even heard of a female vigilante. He’s assuming she was good, she didn’t seem to be causing trouble. Tapping away on her arm, scanning the area.

Spider-Man takes a second to fully understand where he was, Wilson Fisks’ secret cargo hold. It had to be, he knew those men, what they wore and the guns they used.

He was mostly worried for the girl. She shouldn’t be here not knowing her stuff about what Fisk can do.

He leaps towards the girl. When she turns around to meet the flying Spider, he chokes on his breath and nearly slips off the rail.

You furrowed your eyebrow towards the red and blue figure that flew beside you. What was he doing here?

“Are you following me now Spider?” You smirked, hoping your waltz towards him would draw his attention away from the situation before him.

His camera lens eyes, blinking, looking right at your swaying hips, “Of course not. I was in the area and you looked like you were causing trouble, again.”

“Oh, come now Spider, I did not cause you trouble. I had everything under control until you showed up,” You retort, brushing your suit’s nails against his chest. You can see through his skintight suit, as he gulps.

He shakes his head, “You can’t just be here, do you not know who owns this place?”

“I might,” You shrug, “Heard he’s pretty stern but I can be pretty convincing.”

Spider-Man doesn’t seem to like that, he shakes his head again. His hand coming up to his face, holding his head, “Stern, stern isn’t the word for him. He’s―he will hurt you.”

“Aw, thanks for caring about me Spider but I can handle myself.” You turn away from him, ready to leap off the edge of the scaffolding.

Before your feet could leave the ground, you’re pulled back with immense force. Knocking your shoulder against the spandex clad man.

“Stop it. This is the second time we’ve met and you’re running off again?”

You stepped away from him, his gloved hand clasping your elbow tight.

“Does that upset you? That I just disappear? That I run from you, is it because you miss me?” You tease, nudging your elbow into his side he finally let’s go, holding onto the spot with a grunt, “Kinda cute, I missed you too.”

The Spider freezes, his mask emoting his reaction quite well. Unbeknownst to the pair was the fact that another pair of eyes were watching them, from afar but close enough to hear their conversation.

Spider-Man clicks his tongue, pointing at the guards, “They have guns, you should be careful...”

“Cat.”

“Cat?”

You shrug again, rolling your shoulders with a crack, “Yea, Black Cat. That’s my alter-ago apparently.”

He nods, repeating your title in a low murmur, “Black Cat.”

“I’m―”

“Spider-Man, I think everyone knows that.”

He stares back at you, of course you couldn’t read the expression very well. It gave you a sense of mystery. He was so intoxicating it was hard to stop yourself playing with him too much. Yet, you held back, shouldn’t scare him away, should you?

“Guess I’m pretty popular.”

You laugh, “Popular? You’re pretty famous.”

He crosses his arms, letting out the slightest of a chuckle.

You didn’t intend on keeping up this conversation with him, as fun as it was. You had something to do and you had one chance to do it. Maybe with the help of a skilled man, this would be done quickly.

“Could you help me with something?” You asked, pleading him with your eyes.

He stands tall, replying, “Of course.”

“I need to steal a painting.”

“No.”

Maybe you had worded that badly. He shakes his head protrusively, his hands waving around in dismissal. You tried again.

“There’s a fake painting that they’re going to try to auction off tomorrow night. I just want to take it and destroy it,” You explained.

Spider-Man considers this, he actually does for a while. Causing you to tap your feet against the railing impatiently.

“A fake, huh? Seems like something he’d do.”

You nod, “Yes, and knowing him after he sells that piece who knows where the money would be used.”

“Weapons, most likely.”

He seemed to be getting more trusting of you. Nodding his head. He takes a moment to access the area. Crouching down, you follow suit.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

You were more than delighted. He could probably see it in your face, the bright smile you returned to him. He couldn’t return the same, well he did but you couldn’t see that. 

You two bolted into action, like a duo you planned it out. He mostly did the planning but that’s besides the point. Making your way around the area, the pair of you managed to non-lethally take down most of the thugs, tying them up on the rails without anyone seeing. He seemed impressed, that you could actually hold your own.

Jungkook couldn’t help but feel this sense of relief. It’s been a while since he had someone that could back him up, make him feel safe like the way he always makes others feel. She was silent, quick and efficient. He shoots the last few webs needed to pull the last thug up and that was that.

You jumped through the air into the building swiftly. Jungkook follows along without falling behind. He watches your swaying hips, saunter towards a sealed door. His eyes never tearing away from the way your long white hair brushes against the apple of your bottom.

He catches himself, when he nearly trips over an electrical wire. Of course, he hears you chortle at him. He couldn’t help but feel embarrassed like a teenager who’d just made a fool of himself in front of his crush. He cocks his head, scolding himself.

You made your way in front of the safe room. Fingerprints, of course. You took a look around and saw a very convenient doorknob not far away. Making way towards it you could hear Spider-Man asking what you were doing.

“Well, we need a fingerprint, right?” You pulled out a device, he’d seen a couple of times.

Scanning the doorknob quickly, it saves a fingerprint. You pray it would work, or else you’d have to scan the entire area, even those passed out men outside if needed.

Turning back towards the Spider who stands idle next to the door, tapping into the system you entered the fingerprint and the light flashes green, “Ta-da.”

The Spider seems impressed, nodding his head.

Your eyes dart towards the painting when the door gapes open. You nearly run at it, eyes glimmering with its beauty.

“That’s it?”

“Yep.”

Spider-Man takes a look around. You begin to pull the painting off the hooks and cut it out of the frame. Rolling the thing up and placing it in a cylindrical tube placed not far away. 

He huffs, “Seems a little too easy.”

“Would you prefer it be harder, Spider?” You jab, finishing up.

His eyes squint, “No, but I just―”

Of course, it wasn’t that fucking easy. You just wanted to hope. The lights started to blink red, you could hear loud stomping getting closer. And then, right within a blink of an eye, what seemed like an army of armed men enter the safe room with guns in hand. 

You panic, trying to step back, hearing the guns fire.

Instead of searing hot pain, you felt a gush of wind. A hand on your waist holding you tight against a hot body. You were outside? How did you―?

You sighed with relief. Spider-Man saves the day of course. He swings you out of the pier onto a vacant building. Letting you drop on your feet softly, he moves away.

You pat around yourself to check for any wounds, none. The painting was intact, and nothing was wrong, right?

You turned to thank the Spider to see him hunched over, grasping his gut. His bleeding gut. Your eyes nearly bulge out of your head, “Spider! Shit, are―are you okay?”

“Yes, but no, dam this hurts.”

You thought about the choices you could make, leave him to die or take him home, to your home where he’d know exactly who you were―the latter was your only decision, without a second thought. You felt a gut-wrenching pain shoot through you, it was your fault. You hold onto him, allowing him to rest on you.

He’d passed out the moment you’d enter through the window. You had managed to rip the damn suit off him, thankfully he had underwear on because that would’ve made the whole ordeal a little more awkward.

His extremely chiseled abdomen eying you the entire time you took the bullet out, thankfully he had minor incisions. His suit took most of the impact but heck, you still stitched him up (,just) in case.

He laid peacefully on your dim light living room couch, his mask still on his face. It felt wrong to just steal a glance at the true face of Spider-Man, it would be so much more rewarding or rather when he’d show you himself.

Though you kept a close eye on him, you know, to see if he’s still breathing through the spandex covering his nose and lips. Since the thing was so tight, could he even breath properly? You made some dinner, making sure to have extra for when he wakes. You were munching on some snacks and watching television when his legs started brushing against your own.

Until, his leg starts brushing against your own. Turning over to your right you could see him start to waver, words spluttering past his lips.

“Uh, my head hurts,” He mumbles. Proceeding to panic when he gets a look at you, his hands fumbling onto his face, feeling that the mask was still on he sighs with relief.

“Did you―”

“I’m not that kind of person,” You cut him off.

Spider-Man shakes his head, “I know, I was going to ask if you stitched me up.” He feels at the bandages wrapped around his waist.

You felt thankful, that he doesn’t see you as bad anymore. Sounds like he even trusts you.

“I did...I apologize in advance if the stitches are a little off. I’m not a doctor but I tried.” You bite your bottom lip.

He nods, “Thank you.”

You take a deep breath, feeling the slightly bit of awkward tension now that you didn’t know what to say. You took a glance at the kitchen table, remembering that you had something for him.

“Are you hungry? I have pasta.”

Spider-Man’s eyes widens, he nods like an excited kid, “Yes! I’m starving.”

He inhales the damn bowl of carbs like it was nothing. His mask half up, you at least get to see a little bit of his face. He had a rather thin top lip and plump bottom ones, sharp jaw and slight dent of his cheeks, he must be extremely good looking to be making you feel this way from just a teeny peek.

Of course, you’ve seen him nearly naked. He’s covered up now, in a large tee shirt you had and sweatpants the fit tight on his thick thighs. Spider-Man had a banging body, not that everyone didn’t know that. He showcased that hard-earned body with his spandex suit everyday, but it was different to see the skin underneath.

“Have you eaten?” He speaks. You furrow your eyebrow at him with confusion. “You’re watching me eat, in a weird way.”

He must’ve caught you staring at him, his face, his lips. You wave your hands, “I ate. I’m just daydreaming.”

The bottom half of his face breaks out into a chuckle, his lips stretching into an attractive, pretty smile. The curve of his lips frames his teeth so well, it was probably the most beautiful smile you’ve every laid eyes on, yet it was so familiar.

“You’re staring again.”

“Can’t I stare at an attractive boy?”

He chokes on his drink, wiping his lips with the end of the tee shirt, “Wh―what, you don’t even know what I look like.”

“Looks aren’t the only thing that makes one attractive,” You tease, “Besides, I’ve seen everything apart from the top half of your face and what’s inside your boxers. I’d say I know 75% of what you look like, Spider-Man.”

The Spider doesn’t seem to know what to say, he only looks between the two of you. Across the table from each other, rather far away.

“You’re straightforward, I like that.” He chuckles.

You reply, “Does that mean I get a reward?” Your voice, cutting through him.

He gulps, “What reward do you want?”

You hum, biting the inside of your lip as you though. Eyes burning into him, you can see him tense up with suspense.

“Maybe a kiss?”

“A―a ki―kiss?”

You sigh, “Just a suggestion, I don’t mean it literally Spider-Man.”

You didn’t expect the hero many loves so much to be so, boyish and shy when it comes down to it. It was rather cute and unexpected, kind of feeding into your ego knowing you had this effect on the Spider-Man.

You begin to get off you seat, only to have the half-masked man follow you right along back towards the living room. You turn back to him with a crooked eyebrow.

He pulls at his fingers nervously, “I wouldn’t be opposed to that idea.”

“Could you speak in a way I’d understand, please?”

“I wouldn’t mind kissing you,” He states.

Your eyebrow twitches, you cock you head with a smirk at him, “Really?”

He said that, he said just one kiss but hell it wasn’t just one kiss. Spider-Man’s hot burning lips against your own was unimaginable. When it happened your mind blanks, only to return when his hand brushes against the side of your hips. Holding onto you, pulling your hips into his own. 

With a moan leaving your lips, he takes the opportunity to slip his heat dripping tongue into you. Roping your tongue with his. 

He sucks you back into him, your body rocking around against his with moans just exchanging between you two. His hands had a mind of their own, hoisting your ass into him. Locking your legs around his waist, his very large, very obvious bulge just kneading your core.

You could feel his mask brushing against your face. Pulled up over his nose, he pushes it against your face wanting to feel you closer and closer.

“Spider―this isn’t one kiss,” You groan, feeling his lips trail down over your neck.

Spider-Man breathes air against the throbbing spot on your neck purposely, “I know, I’m sorry―I couldn’t help myself.”

“It’s okay,” You place your fingers into the peeking hair on the back of his head under his mask, “We could keep going if you want…”

“I can’t...I can’t show you―”

“Keep the mask on then,” You suggest. 

His lip twitches, maybe he liked the sound of that. A little too much. 

Jungkook never thought about that. How he could just keep the thing on, he felt this strange way. Knowing that you didn’t know what he looked like yet, you were so willing.

He couldn’t help but feel like he was lying to you, lying about himself. You knew him, he knew you but not right here. He knew you were Black Cat, the day art student and night time vigilante. You only knew Jeon Jungkook, the photographer who you went on one date with and haven’t kissed yet. And Spider-Man, a crime fighting hero. They were two different people for you.

Maybe he felt like he was getting cheated on. As if you were about to sleep with someone else, knowing that you were still talking to him. He had a stressful time trying to juggle you in his hands and the idea that he felt awful that you were practically cheating on him...with himself.

You idiot, Jungkook.

© gukptune, Monday 15th July 2019 

(btws I don’t own Spider-Man, I just own the plot idea-OC and etc. It’s a fic, just putting this here so people know not to mess with it, steal it and whatnot.)

Tagged Readers: @sinnehe @nomimits7 @mrsjiminsjams13 @jiminblushed @kimchii7 @jables249 @brownies214 @starry-sky-1 @alinegrzeszuk @apurpledheart @zephryne @gliterrywren @ficrecreationrooms @actuallyada @masterpiecejoonie @itsmehoseok @vincent-stargogh @yoonkkgi @bts-trash24 @classickei

[helpinghanikan]

Sing us a song

Dinah Lance (Black Canary) x Reader

Sum: Try as Dinah might, it’s impossible to keep her private and business lives separate. 

AN: Just a little one-shot from the Harley Quinn movie. I’m surprised there aren’t more out there. 

Her voice is so powerful you can hear it through the running water and the walls. But soft enough to be a lullaby. You’ve never heard the end of the song as sleep takes you before the grand finale every time. You only know it’s over when her weight comes back to the bed.

It’s only crossed your mind a few times that you could just ask to hear the whole show. Those thoughts are gone when she texts about work;

‘babe, if I start drunk texting you, can you come get me? I’m really gonna need it tonight’

A few hours later she’ll send another;

‘If I sing opera will I get paid more or killed? Maybe I’ll break all the glasses doing that, fuck them glasses’

It would be a gamble to ask her to sing for you. Either she would, and it would be done without any heart and possibly stop from singing at night entirely. Or she would say no and stop singing at night and make the whole relationship just that much more awkward.

It was already bad enough. Dinah never explicably said not to visit her club. Just that it really wasn’t the place you could easily get into without knowing at least three people. You knew one, and she complained about so much it’d be rude to ask if she could introduce you to two others.

Only once you’ve come close to the club. Only because you saw her car in the alley between buildings. It wasn’t an area you usually go to; just this side of rich and the other side of shady. You didn’t even know it was a club until this bigger dude started marching out.

“What are you doing?” He demands, arms open either for effect or an invitation to fight.

In his defense you were leaning against the hood of Dinah’s car. Phone up over your head for a selfie to send to bae. It was probably just instinct that he started yelling. Not that he was worried about your butt adding another dent to it.

“It’s my, I mean, it’s not mine but it’s my…Sorry! Sorry!” Defense mode was activated within you.

It was a quick slide off of the car. Both hands up with the phone like you were being threatened with a gun. The threat coming at you was probably just as dangerous. Walking forward faster than you could step back. It was nice to think that you would have yelled back when he got to close. Balled up your fists and scream back an explanation that would make him back down. Instead you just kept trying to explain yourself in a small voice while walking backwards.

“No, what the fuck are you doing?!” he shouts again.

If it weren’t for your woman walking out of the door you might have just turned tail and ran. Instead you stay and watch, hands still up as she runs around the man to be in front of him.

“Hey, no, NO!” She yells back at him. The same way one might try to scare away a dog. “Chet, cool it.”

“You wanna tell Mr. Sionis his car is dented because of some chick’s ass?” He demands, his voice much calmer then when he was yelling at you.

“That’s my car, dumbass. And that’s my girl on my car, making my dent. Not yours, not his, mine.” She emphasizes this by pointing at the car, pointing at you, pointing at herself and then back to the car.

The security guard, seemed to be named Chet, shut up after that. After a few seconds Dinah seemed to be satisfied with his submission.

“Let’s go,” She says, this time to you.

“That was really hot,” Only thing you can think to say after driving from the alley and immediately meeting traffic. Dinah tried to hide her smile but wasn’t really doing a good job of it.

You’ve both been riding the high of that conversation for days now. Dinah walking around just a little more puffed than usual, while you pretend not to notice and admire.

That high rode you right into the next weekend. Where you know better than to try and text Dinah while she’s at work. As, not only will she not respond, she won’t let you know that she got home safe. Only to apologize the next morning for leaving you worried. It was something but not the same of immediate notification. So, your phone is kept muted, but not silence.

A little sound takes you from the bottomless pit of the television.

It was a small message from an unknown number. ‘Congratulations on your invite to the Black Mask club. Show this text with the message at the door.’

It’s habit to text this to unknown numbers by this point: ‘You have the wrong person, sorry’

Few seconds later: ‘You’re the singer’s girl, right? Dinah’s?’

‘My girlfriend is Dinah and she sings so, maybe?’

‘Show this message and number at the door. We’ll see you at ten.’

With nothing else to do you gave no response saying you couldn’t make it. Instead spending the next hours playing through your clothes and make up. Rules for clubs have always been weird; what counts as too slutty and what’s too prudish? Are high waisted pants in enough to be acceptable at clubs? How does eye-shadow work? All questions that had to be answered right now.

Taking your best guess with a black cocktail dress and matching dress jacket. The only color that would come with the outfit would be your blue flats and same color eye-shadow. It wasn’t the most “Look at me!” outfit but it was enough to at best blend in.

Or, so you thought until you got there. Everyone was dressed to show off and dance: sparkles and high heels on the women, dark colors and loose ties on the men. These bits of description jumped genders several times, only making you stand out like a mourning widow.

Nothing screamed this more than how the bouncer looked at you. Asking for you name without even holding the clipboard, your fate already decided before a trial could take place.

“I was invited,” Your phone is held up to his face.

Against every instinct you let him take the phone. Looking at the few messages, glancing up at you, looking back to the phone, and then up to you again. Making a scoff noise he hands it back, lifting the clipboard and writing something down.

“Go ahead in,” He says.

Music inside the club was like hitting a wall of vibrations. It was just the beginning of the night; the electric music was meant to get everyone hype. Make them forget that the world outside ever existed and the only thing that mattered were drinks and good times.

You weren’t there for either of those things. A woman was dancing on stage, but it wasn’t Dinah. If she was one of the performers it was likely she would be somewhere in the back getting ready. Since you were at her work and it didn’t seem she was really working, would it too far to text and let her know?

Steeling yourself for when a gamble goes wrong you type out a text.

‘Guess who got into the club? Can’t wait to see you!’

It’s selfish to assume that she would respond right away. She was at work and had more important things to focus on then hanging around her phone for you. Even so you stared at the screen for a few seconds longer then was healthy.

Before you can let out the “oops!” the man you run into catches both of your biceps. It was your fault for not paying attention when turning around.

Just like any upstanding woman outside of her element you just make it worse with your reaction to his face. At first glance he’s not ugly, blonde hair and mouth that would easily become a crooked smile, but there were scars. The most prominent of which was a line going across his throat. After seeing that the rest almost screamed at you to pay attention.

“I-I’m-Excuse me, I didn’t see you.” You said, trying to remember what manners you could.

It’s hard to say whether he was going to respond to you or not. Shrugging your arms up and away from him to escape. It was because of how loose he was holding you that it was possible. Not even making it two steps before finding another man to run into.

“And who do we have here?” This man was cleaner cut then the first. Brown hair with the slightest hint of gel.  

Dinah has complained about the big boss so many times you could probably give his description to the police. Even with all that what gave Roman Sionis away were the clothes. Red and black coat made from some animal that probably doesn’t exist anymore. Sunglasses that probably can’t keep away the sun but still cost more then your rent.

Your name comes out in an attempt to sound confident. Lifting your hand like a business meeting.

He makes a little gasp. “You’re my song-bird’s darling, aren’t you?” He asks.

It takes longer then a second to understand who he was talking about. When it finally clicks you nod, “yeah, Dinah sings here. She’s your singer.” Smart enough to correct yourself but dumb enough to not find an exit to the conversation.

Practically brushing your hand aside, he immediately goes for your face.

“Now, you are adorable.” He looks over your shoulder to someone behind you. “She is adorable. Go get Dinah, let’s make this an event.”

His smile only slightly falters when he looks at the rest of you. Hands open like he was trying to understand an abstract painting. But, like most abstract paintings he didn’t like, he refused to understand it. Instead choosing to remove the offending parts.

“Ew, what is this?” He asks, holding the collar of your jacket with one hand. The other gesturing to it as if the crowd were watching too.

Before you could explain that it was a jacket he was already shaking his head slightly. “No, take it off, it’s awful, take it off now.”

It’s wasn’t that big of a deal to remove the jacket. You were in a sweaty club anyway; a jacket didn’t really make sense here. After getting out of the jacket it was immediately pulled away from your hands. Roman almost throwing it onto one of the passing ladies with drinks. She stumbled slightly but kept her footing after the fabric assault.

“Get rid of this, burn the fucking thing,” He says to her with a wave of his hand. Looking back at you. “Now, tell what do you think of my place?”

All this took place in the center of the club. Like a rock in a river everyone just moved around Roman. Somehow managing to sober up just enough to avoid bumping into him. Just to return to their natural state of happy and tipsy when they get past.

“It’s really cool. The art and everything is intense, in a good way, you know?” How do you make conversation with someone who took your jacket and wants feedback on a club you just learned about.

The answer, as it would seem, is for his arm to go around your shoulders. Pointing towards the nearest statue, and gesturing “The artist, lovely woman I got away from my parents, created these for me. These were the last sculptures she ever did.”

“Now that’s impressive, is she enjoying retirement?” You ask.

“Oh no, she’s dead. And here’s your golden throated girl.” He says, giving a sweeping gesture towards the incoming Dinah.

You’re familiar with Dinah’s emotions more then anybody. You’ve seen her angry, confident, have caught her trying to lie more then once, and you’ve seen her scared. This was the first that you’ve her scared while trying to cover it with a lie.

Although starting the conversation off with a “Hey, Dinah,” you were completely barricaded from the conversation happening around you.

“Hey,” She repeats, not looking for an answer and looking to Roman instead.

Dinah was pulled away before she could finish getting ready. Her eyes and cheeks were done but the lips were bare. She was wrapped in a robe brought from home instead of the clothes she left in or the dress for performance. After hearing your name coming from anyone here, especially Victor Zsasz’s, modesty be damned.

“I hope you don’t mind. When Chad-.”

“Chet,” The man you ran into seemed to whisper.

“Whatever. When Chad told me about how fired up you got I just had to meet the girl behind it.” Roman’s hand goes to your face. “And, I must say, I can understand why. Why haven’t you ever brought her around?”

Dinah shrugs, mentally sending you the message to “bite him”.

“We’ve just been so busy. Didn’t want to bring in a distraction.” She says.

It was a subtle movement Dinah was working on. Taking small steps towards you while still looking at Roman. After noticing whatever Roman is saying means nothing, just taking Dinah’s hand when she reached for it.

“She won’t be a distraction; she’ll be in my booth.” Roman says. Using his free hand to take hold of Dinah’s shoulder. “Now you need to go and finish getting ready. We’ll be watching, together.”

0-0-0

It was fun to imagine what Roman was like as a kid. Did he demand this much attention as a middle-schooler, or did it start towards the end of high school? Imaging that jacket and those mannerism on a teen almost helped the situation. Then you’d look too far over his shoulder, see the man affectionately referred to as ‘Mr. Zsasz’, and it wasn’t fun anymore.

“And you’re all set? Anything to drink? Anything at all, at all.” Roman asks. And when you reply that, no, you’re not thirsty. He smiled, almost laughed. “You don’t drink here because you’re thirsty. You drink here because it’s fun. Shots, over here, shots for all!” Just as he had summoned the waitress with a snap he summoned applause with words.

It’s very doubtful that he created these powers while in middle-school.

Dinah had yet to make an appearance onstage. Sticking to the electric, thumping, music that pulsed and got people moving. Sometimes someone would come out to dance between the decorative hands onstage. More as something people could following along to rather than the entertainment itself. Even with the dancers the large hands were the only thing worth looking at on the stage. Were they made by the same sculptor as the other or some other dead artist?

Clicking on the table, that is somehow louder than the music, that brings you back. Two shots, neon blue and green, set between the two of you. Without even acknowledging the waitresses delivering them Roman takes one in each hand. Holding the blue one to you and keeping the green for himself.

“To new friends,” he says, holding it up.

“To new friends, and your amazing club,” You add in.

He places a hand dramatically against his chest at your compliment.

“Salute!” He says as you clink the glasses.

What exactly you were drinking is hard to say. But it was strong and left a coated feeling in your mouth after drinking it. Probably not used to the intense taste of alcohol you started coughing as soon as it all went down.

A gloved hand lightly pats your back. “You’re so fucking pure,” He says, twirling the shot glass he hadn’t taken. “I can see why your girl wants you to herself so badly.”

It was only a few more seconds of your coughing before said girl came on stage. You’ve never seen that particular dress in her wardrobe before. It looked too complicated, with such a niche style, to be something she’d wear on a regular night out. Yellow underclothes that could be confused as a bathing suit, and a long ‘dress’ that showed every bit of skin that could be showed.

From your position in the booth it was hard to tell if her stance was due to fear of tripping over the ‘dress’ or the thinly hidden rage she was pointing your way. Either way her legs stayed shoulder width apart, holding the microphone and starting to sing.

Her voice was so much better with a proper sound system and no obstructing water. Power in her eyes matched the strength in her voice. The song you knew, not enough to sing along to, but enough that you could hum the melody for days to come.

The song wasn’t one that you could dance or exactly sway to. Best described as intense background music.

It took a second to escape the trance Dinah had made to realize that your host had made his exit. Apparently famous for both his loud entrance and Irish goodbye, Roman had made his way into the club. Leaving you in a too large booth and Mr. Zsasz who was probably there to make sure you didn’t leave.

Although Zsasz’s body was leaning on the support towards you, his head was turned towards Roman. Not outright staring, but more of a long glance that didn’t end.

Dinah’s singing was, in fact, background music. Specifically background music for Roman to make some rounds about his club. Watching him with each table or specific person was different then the few steps between them. Those few steps his face would fall, just slightly, and then return to a smile that was becoming less charming the longer you stared at it.

Coming back to yourself you made the mistake of looking about the room. Landing on Mr. Zsasz who was now staring right at you. It’s not that was glaring or showing any emotion outside of slight curiosity. It’s that he let the eye contact last just this side of too long before smiling.

It was like a bite. Snapping your focus away and back to Dinah on stage. Someone else who was staring right at you, but which caused a feeling of love instead of teeth filled fear.

You’re searching for safety in your girl’s voice. Moving about the stage in sways that move her dress and braids in barely dancing. Focused entirely on you, hitting the high notes. Her eyes only close to keep the song going long, holding the notes that make you sigh.

“She is absolutely fantastic,” Roman says, a firm hand landing on your shoulder. “With those pipes. It’s quite selfish of you to keep her all to yourself. Why were you being so greedy?”

“I-I didn’t know she was so good. I didn’t really hear her sing as much as she does for you.” His hand is still on your shoulder, holding on this side of too tight. “I think she likes to save her voice for your club. Save it for you.”

His grip holds for a second. Looking over his glasses at you like an annoyed librarian. Then the grip turns into a pat on the same spot. “You’re forgiven for being so spoiled. It’d be a fucking shame if you had tried to keep her all to yourself.”

The song is ending, and Dinah is staring right back at you. Specifically towards Roman. Holding the microphone pole like a lifeline, her voice cracking at one point before recovering. Her eyes close again, trying to strive to make a good finish.

The song in its entirety was hypnotizing. If it weren’t for your host pulling you from the song you might not have even noticed it ended. Even so you are still staring will a lulled smile on your face when the song dies down. Only coming back when that same host start open handed clapping, rising the rest of the club to do the same.

“Wonderful! Wonderful!” he announces. Grabbing your shoulder once more. “Isn’t she fantastic?”

You didn’t have to pretend to agree with him. Smiling brightly at your woman as she tries to match the enthusiasm.

“Would you like to hear another one?” Roman asks the crowd, you included. When the club cheers he takes that as the answer. “Sing us another song, birdy. Come on, let’s hear another!”

Although never said it was obvious this wasn’t an option. Taking another look into your eyes she focused back on the microphone. Taking a breath and starting to sing once again. This time she dared to take her eyes from you, instead following Roman through the club.

The cycle of song, cheer and another goes on two more times. Roman disappearing into the crowd and coming back just long enough to demand another.

In that time Dinah’s singing had changed to something that was beginning to shake the building. A low rumble that was brushed away as vibrations from the speakers. It shook and messed with your table. The empty shot in front of you was starting to click against the table. Enough so that you began toying with it.

“Another for the guest of honor.” Roman says, another shot of neon color placed in front of you.

Before accepting or rejecting the drink it was almost snatched from the table. Dinah hitting it back with a following fit of coughing. Dinah was tough but whatever was in the shot was something serious and would affect most.

“That was pretty fucking rude,” Roman says but with a smile.

It felt like a secondary race to Dinah’s side. Roman won the race, only getting there first because Mr. Zsasz had cheated. His arm coming around you the moment you escaped from the booth. He gave you that biting smile again when you looked up at him. Snapping you to look at Dinah. Your girl was just as trapped as you were. Roman holding an arm around her shoulder, smiling that didn’t reach his eyes just yet.

“It was so great to meet you,” He says free hand extending towards you.

Thinking he was going for a handshake you matched it. A sudden pull almost tripping you into him. Now trapped under his arm, matching your woman who wasn’t looking away from Roman’s face.

“Little bird, you can’t keep her all to yourself anymore.” He says to Dinah. “Especially now that I know all about her.”

[superlockatrocity]

turtle said they’re fine with me starting sherlock without them so here i go :} S1EP1 of BBC Sherlock, a study in pink livewatch:

oh flashbacks! fun. why is my screen so dark

that’s kind of a sparse apartment you got there ― oh hi therapist lady my blog is going very well thank you for asking. why is your office so Big?

“i never get cabs!” ah. time to eat the ric ― pill?? spasming??? why are we focusing on the lady he was having an affair with. hello random people in the rain you are wimps rain is lovely why are you also taking a pill? oh. oh you Assholes why’d you take her keys?? you dipshits she needs those! i know you shouldn’t drive while you’re drunk but we don’t know that she is! aaaa!! see? now she’s taken that weird pill too!

everyone’s phone beeped with a text message saying “wrong”. i remember that this is sherlock texting them so 1) how did he get that text sent to all the people in that room? 2) why is no one reacting to this beyond “oh a text”? seriously this happens twice within the span of a minute and no one thinks that’s weird? 3) how is sherlock reacting in real time to this? is he there? if he’s watching it through a live news report, wouldn’t there still be at least a bit of lag with the camera feed and whatever he’s watching it on?

“well, don’t commit suicide” jesus shit, lestrade, fuck you too. 

this is the third time that everyone’s gotten the exact same text! why is no one mentioning how weird that is!

oh, lestrade doesn’t know how sherlock got the numbers either. alright cool

“i knew him, he was nice : )” “cool lemme just desecrate his fresh corpse in front of you” “ok! this somehow does not lessen my crush on you!“    oh gods i feel so sorry for this woman.

“i play the violin when i’m thinking and sometimes i don’t talk for days on end” oh my ― if sherlock were not such a great stickbug of an asshole i’d love to be a flatmate with him. he can even keep the skull! but no! he’s got to be an enormous string of eloquent flatulence!

this isn’t anything to do with the show, but my dad brought home fried chicken and i just got such a strong sudden aftertaste of it that i couldn’t focus on fuckin anything what’s going on now? oh text messages sent okie

ah! another person taking that pill! hot damn she got shaky fuckin hands

das a lotta boxes. sherlock, did you ever learn how to clean up after yourself? like, properly?

“there’s another bedroom upstairs, if you’ll be needing two bedrooms” ok so . . . . either there’s something about john that makes mrs. hudson think “oh he Gay” or there’s something about sherlock’s behaviour that leads her to believe sherlock bringing a man home means a romantic and/or sexual relationship. like, this is the first episode. we’re fourteen minutes in. this is the first instance of someone mentioning/bringing up john and sherlock being together in some way ― the first episode. jesus.

why is it dark now? how far away are they from . . . . uh. wherever lestrade said the thing was?

“the police don’t consult amateurs” FHRUIGHIRHG THAT LOOK IS SO OFFENDED “yeah no SHIT they don’t consult amateurs nimrod the fuck do you think i am? ‘amateurs’, sure.” oh there’s that chicken taste again don’t like that

“you never see those marks on a sober man’s phone, never see a drunk’s without them” yeah my wholly-sober-blind-around-the-edges-shaky-hands-having-ass self would beg to differ.

alright. in all honesty, sherlock’s reaction to john’s “that . . . was amazing” is kind of endearing. he pauses for a moment, as if to give john time to take it back, then asks “really?” just to make doubly sure. this says that no one has ever reacted like that before to his analyzing ― well, anything. or if they have, they’ve been few and far between.

yeup, that’s a dead body. actually, that’s a. really tidy dead body? like, the others were curled up or something and she’s just. plap flat on her face. s’weird.

i mean i didn’t really see any difference between her ring and the rest of her jewellery (disregard my being blind ‘round the edges for a moment thank you) so you don’t think she could’ve. y’know, fiddled with her ring all the time? it’s what i do with mine ― in fact i’ve fiddled with it so much the resin came off, so.

“PINK!”

aaand john is left to make his way home by himself. nice, sherlock.

“he’s not paid or anything” wait so. sherlock WHERE are you getting whatever amounts of money you have from. sir?? do you. are you still getting an allowance??? sir? hello?? like i get that y’ain’t too well off given you’re looking for a flatmate to share the rent with, but if you’re not being paid for literally the ONLY thing you do professionally then how the fuck are you managing your finances?

“’cause he’s a psychopath!” ahhh. we love ableism in this house :)    okay yeah so one instance of iffy language isn’t this huge indication of ableism, but it really doesn’t sit well with me that sherlock is called a psychopath just for being an observant asshole

“i’m watching you through street surveillance cameras! no, this isn’t creepy and invasive :) i don’t know what you’re talking about! aren’t i cool and mysterious?”

hot diggity damn this car ride is awkward and i am uncomfortable hahahaha :)))

“and since yesterday you’ve moved in with him and now you’re solving crimes together. might we expect a happy announcement by the end of the week?” ok that’s the SECOND character ― still within the first episode ― to comment on how close john and sherlock are, and he’s doing it while making note of how weird it is that they meshed so quickly! and the way he says “do you plan to continue your association with sherlock holmes” fuckin sounds like a shovel talk.

YOU SNITCHED HIS THERAPIST’S NOTES??????

hhhhh more awkward car rides help me

i thought you did violin playing when you were thinking? why the nicotine. i ― sherlock you are such a little shit.

“a friend??” “an enemy” “oh, yeah that makes way more sense. i got multiple, d’you know which one it was?” “the. the dramatic one.” “well that narrows it down.”

oh jesus fuck my neighbors are getting physically loud now i’m concerned

jesus sherlock CHILL. people can’t type that fast on a phone alright? yeesh

hey what the fuck did you just step on dude

i ― SHOES ON THE FURNITURE. SHAME. SHAME, SHERLOCK, GET YOUR SHOES OFF THE FURNITURE YOU UNCIVILIZED UNCULTURED FOULMANNERED HEATHEN. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

wh ― no mrs. hudson! why’d you take the skull? was good skull. listened well. why you take it. Q_Q

“disappeared from busy streets” i mean technically one of them disappeared from an empty street but you can’t know that so.

aaa! *pointing aggressively* aaaaaa!! that’s the third person to think there’s something going on between john and sherlock, he’s just the only person to be so blatant about it!    and then. and then. john himself brings up the idea of sherlock having a male partner ― and sherlock doesn’t actually deny being attracted to men, he just sort of looks over like “my attention’s been caught what is it” ― and then talks about the both of them being single. and then sherlock taKES THIS AS AN ATTEMPT AT FLIRTING.

okay i. i have to separate this into parts i’m only halfway through the episode and i’m exhausted. gonna take a break (hopefully tune out my neighbors’ drunken screaming) and come back with the rest of this in a reblog. see y’all later.

―mod mouse