#also just kind of annoyed cause I invited two of my friends over to watch my favorite movie

[sochilll]

.

[freeabortionslol]

"Baby Zegras" (luke Hughes x zegras!reader)

summary: childhood friends to lovers, reader is trevor's sister, secret dating caught by jack, trevor is portrayed as a mean older brother at the start (im sorry I love him I promise he gets better), italics mean flashbacks

warnings!! heated makeout, suggestive, cursing, mentions of alcohol, mutual pining, fluff, luke being a touch starved awkward king, I feel like I did a bad job proofreading

a/n: strap in cause this one is long!! towards the end it feels kind of rushed but that's bc I need to go to bed but I also wanted to finish this by tn. anyways hope you like it!!

wc:6.6k

The game was long. Too long. The entire time you sat at the edge of your seat up in the box. Your Anaheim Ducks jersey falling slightly past your fingertips, disregarding any attempts to push back your sleeves. Your own last name on your back as you watched your brother, Trevor, race for the puck. You sat in between your mother and father who were basically screaming at the ice like they were down there themselves, but you had your knees to your chest biting your nails. Of course you were proud of your brother, and you always cheered for him any other night, but this game was different. Your attention was focused on New Jersey defenceman, Luke Hughes. When Trevor was 12, he became close with Jack Hughes. They bonded over their love for hockey, and eventually claimed each other as best friends. That summer, Trevor was invited to stay at the Hughes lake house and with how gracious and welcoming Ellen and Jim Hughes were, they offered to let you stay as well. 

“Mama I don’t wanna go! This is stupid. These are Trevor’s friends. I’ve never even met these people before.” You whined as your mother dragged you by your hand out of the car. Your glance immediately caught the large house in front of you. You’d never seen anything like it, never visited a lake being from New York. A boy stood on the front porch, his mother standing beside him with a warm smile. Trevor immediately jumps out of the car, running past you and your mother. You watched as he did a secret handshake with the boy on the porch just before pulling him in for a hug. You took a moment to smell the salty freshness of the air surrounding you. Everything felt so wide and open, and for a split second you thought it might not be too bad. Just as you were enjoying the moment, your mother tugged on your hand walking closer to the house, and your stubbornness kicked back in immediately. You snatched your hand away from her, crossing your arms as you followed her up the porch steps. She hugged the boy’s mother and small conversation began to spark as you stood with a grumpy face behind her. You felt Trevor tug on your arm, pulling you to where he and the boy stood.

“Y/n, this is my friend Jack.” You kept your annoyed face as you shoved Trevors hand off your arm.

“Oh! You’re baby Zegras!” Jack greeted you with a wide smile and held out his hand for you to shake. You simply crossed your arms and let out an aggressive huff.

“I’m not a baby. I’m ten.” You tilted your head away from him as he slowly let down the hand he had up.

“Don’t pay attention to her, Jack. She’s just a brat who wants attention.�� Trevor gave the back of your head a hit and you turned your focus back to him.

“I’m not a brat!” You shoved him back, and he sent you a slap to the shoulder.

“Are too!” What started as two shoves turned into a slap fight on the porch between the two of you. You took a couple hits to his face, while his slaps remained on your chest. Just as you were about to send him a friendly kick to the groin your mother came over to separate the two of you.

“Hey! Hey! Mrs. Hughes was nice enough to invite you both to her lake house which we should be grateful for! Let’s try to act like normal human beings for once!” She said sternly, but not yelling like she normally did. Probably didn’t want to scare off Mrs. Hughes.

“She was gonna kick me in the nuts!” Trevor pointed at you, to which you responded by pointing back at him.

“He started it! He called me a brat!” Your face grew angrier as you and Trevor were now in a stare off.

“Yeah, you were being a brat!” You tried to hit him through your mother’s grip, but she had caught it before you even thought about doing so. She put a hand on each of your backs as she guided the two of you into the house with Mrs. Hughes who had started laughing at the sibling tussle saying, “I have three boys. Trust me, I've seen worse. Quinn ripped out Jack’s braces at the ice rink last year.” The mother’s began to walk ahead of you, Trevor and Jack. Your arms remained crossed, still quite upset at Trevor. Before you knew it, Jack had his arm around you as the three of you broke away from your mom and Mrs. Hughes. Trevor walked up next to you mumbling something along the lines of “Don’t embarrass me or I'll kill you and dance on your grave.” Jack led you both down a flight of stairs to the basement, his arm still wrapped around your shoulder. You didn’t hate that it was there, Jack was a pretty boy and the fact that he was your brother’s best friend made the whole situation better. You knew you could use it to twist Trevor’s gears in the future. When you had made it to the bottom of the steps you were greeted by a couch full of guys you had never met.

“Y/n, this is Alex, Cole, my brother Quinn, and my brother Luke. Luke is your age, Quinn is 14 and those two dick heads are me and Trevor’s age.” Your hands fell out of the crossed position they were in, and you allowed your face to soften. “Everyone, this is Baby Zegras.”

You quickly shot him a glare “I’m not a-”

“Not a baby. I know, but the thing about hockey nicknames is that you’re supposed to hate it. You may hate it, but the team thinks it fits.” He interrupted your speech and shook you with the hand on your shoulder. You turned your attention back to the couch full of unfamiliar boys that were friends with Trevor. You’d heard countless stories about them, but now you could put faces to names. You upturned your lips into a half closed-mouthed smile and awkwardly raised your hand to wave. Everyone smiled back and several “Hi!”s echoed through the room. Jack moved his hand to grip on your shoulder as he moved you towards the couch. He took a seat next to Cole, and Trevor followed after. You made your way to the end of the couch to sit next to your brother, but he responded by putting his leg up on the seat next to him.

“Nuh uh. No way. I didn’t even want you to be here.” You almost felt tears well up in your eyes as the only thing you wanted was the comfort of your big brother in a room filled with unfamiliar faces.

“You can come sit with me!” You heard an excited voice from behind and turned around to see the littlest Hughes scooching over and patting the seat next to him. You sucked all of your emotions back into your chest as you made your way over. You took a seat in between Luke and his older brother who was sitting back looking at his phone. The two of you sat awkwardly for a moment and watched as the older boys discussed things that happened during hockey camp. You looked over to Quinn who you were sure was only there to make sure the boys didn’t break any furniture, or light the basement on fire. 

“They call me baby too. Baby Hughes. I hate it.” Luke let out with a small laugh. You smiled and let out a chuckle as the two of you sat shoulder to shoulder, with hands in laps. “We can be babies together.” He looked over at you and held out his fist for a fist bump. You quickly responded to it not wanting to ruin the chance of having an ally at this house for the summer.

Later that night after your mother left, and the house began to quiet down you were moved into the rooms you’d be sleeping in. Being the youngest child, you were prone to separation anxiety and homesickness. You missed your mom, but you were just thankful you’d be sleeping in a room with Trevor. Cole and Alex were tucked away in the spare room, Luke and Jack in Jack’s room, and you and Trevor in Luke’s room. Trevor was visibly upset that he’d be sharing a room with you, rather than his friends that he came on this trip to see. It didn’t make you sad that he didn’t want to share a room, just as long as he’d be forced in there because lord knows you couldn’t sleep alone. You and Trevor were tucked into Luke’s bed around ten. You tossed and tousled trying to sleep which was hard because you were so far away from home and your mother was nowhere to be seen. After about thirty minutes of lying in bed next to Trevor, you felt the weight of his body lift off the mattress. He had assumed you fell asleep and decided to make his way into the room with all of his friends. Without his presence beside you, you immediately felt a wave of sadness come over you. You burst into tears silently, trying to muffle your heavy breathing into the pillow. You wanted nothing more than to be safe in your own bed, in your own house with your family. You lay on your side facing away from the door, practically drowning yourself in your own tears. As you very quietly repeated the words “I just want to go home” to yourself, you heard the door creak open. You immediately sat up, pulling your knees to your chest under the blanket, wiping your nose with the back of your hand as you tried to stifle your sobs.

“Trevor?” You sniffled out with a shaky breath following behind. You had expected, wanted even, to see Trevor creep through the doorway. Despite the fights you just wanted the comfort of your big brother.

“Y/n? Are you okay?” Luke shuffled into the room with tired eyes, shutting the door behind him. You caught a sudden shock at the sight of him as he moved closer towards the bed.

“Yeah I-I’m fine.” You nodded your head trying your hardest not to cry in front of the boy, but that all went out the window when you said “I just miss my mommy.” Tears resumed spilling down your face. You bit your lip, hoping it would stop the streaming mess that was burning your face. Luke said nothing. He only walked over to you in the bed and wrapped his arms around you to pull you in for a hug. You continued to cry into his shoulder, letting out shaky breaths. The comfort of his polyester t-shirt against your chin definitely helped.

“You know when I'm away and I miss my mommy, I just hug Buttons and pretend it's her.” Luke let go of the hug and reached down to the floor to grab a beat up looking teddy bear. It had one missing eye, with a button for the other, its ears were limp, and it looked like it had been through two world wars. “I came in here to get him, but I think you need him more than I do.” Luke gave a soft smile as he handed over his teddy bear. The same bear that he’d threatened Jack to death if he dared to touch it. He’d never let another person hold Buttons except for his parents, but for some reason you were different.

Luke stayed in the room after handing over his one prized possession. He laid on the floor with a blanket and a couple pillows to let you have the bed. He talked your little ears off until you finally found the comfort to fall asleep, Buttons in hand. From that day on, you and Luke became inseparable. Everyday at the Lake it was always you two together running around in the yard. You would play together until the two of you basically dropped from exhaustion. You became the “babies” of the lake house. You were invited back the next summer. Per request, an air mattress was moved into Luke’s room which he took gladly and let you have the bed. You weren’t sad when your mother left anymore, in fact it made you happy to know you got to spend time with Luke. The Hughes continued to invite you and Trevor to the lake house every summer, and every summer you and Luke grew closer. You were close with all the other guys with them looking at you like a younger sister, but Luke's eyes turned into hearts when he caught the sight of you. He doesn’t remember exactly when, but he was around thirteen or fourteen when he realized how in love with you he was. The way you made his heart feel when you would even just brush a shoulder against him was intense, and he wanted to feel that way everyday for the rest of his life. When the two of you were fifteen, Jack, Trevor, Cole, and Alex decided to throw a party in the basement while Ellen and Jim were away. There were probably 50 people in the basement that night filled with beautiful girls who you were sure would take Luke’s attention away, but instead the two of you stood against the wall all night sipping from Coca-Cola cans since Jack and Trevor said neither of you were allowed to drink. You and Luke watched as your brothers sat in a circle playing spin the bottle with various girls you’d never seen before and would probably never see again. After realizing how lame the party was since the two of you couldn’t drink, Luke pulled you by your hand outside.

“Race you to the dock.” He said quicker than you could think as he began to run towards the water.

“Not fair Lu!” You raced after him in a fit of giggles trying to catch up. Luke of course, made it to the dock first and before you could stop in your tracks, He grabbed you by your waist. The two of you stood there laughing and collapsing into each other. A few moments later you found yourselves sitting at the edge of the dock sitting shoulder to shoulder with your feet hanging over the water. You two just sat there taking in the quiet bliss away from the obnoxious party behind you. The two of you started talking about the actions of your brothers inside the house specifically, spin the bottle.

“Never had your first kiss, Lukey?” You nudged his shoulder and he let out a soft laugh.

“No. Not yet. Who would I have kissed?” He looked over at you with a toothy grin.

“I don’t know. Sure there’s plenty of girls lined up to kiss the baby Hughes.” He gave a sheepish grin and looked down at the water “I haven’t had mine either. Feels kind of pathetic being fifteen not having kissed anyone. All of my friends have.” You shifted your gaze to the horizon in front of you, taking a sip from your coke can. What you didn’t realize is that Luke had been staring at you. Admiring your features and coming up with either the best or worst idea he’d ever had.

“You could kiss me.” He kept his sight on your face, not realizing what he’d just said. You almost choked on the soda in your mouth as you moved your head to face him. He had a smirk on his face that told you he was infatuated with the way you looked. You couldn’t understand why sitting on the dock with no makeup on, in one of his hockey sweatshirts, with your hair messily waved up from the lake water.

“Really?” You asked him with hope in your voice that he was serious.

“Yeah. I mean it wouldn’t be weird. We're comfortable with each other.” This is when he realized what he had suggested. A bright red tint covered his face as you scooched in closer to him. 

“Okay.” Was all you said as you cupped his face into your hand, pulling him in closer. He placed a simple, but sweet closed-mouthed kiss on your lips. The both of you pulled back in an instant, smiling at each other. You noticed the way his blush creeped towards his ears as you rubbed your thumb against his cheekbone.

Unfortunately for the two of you, this wasn’t the moment that your relationship began. However, it was the moment that made you realize just how in love you were with Luke, the crush no longer being one sided. Throughout high school neither of you dated anyone and the only people you’d ever kissed were each other. The two of you grew out of your awkward teen stages together, remaining close. After graduation, Luke went to U Michigan to play Hockey, while you studied psychology at NYU. Though it seemed to your families and friends that the two of you had drifted, it was quite the opposite. You and Luke would stay up late nights on facetime talking about your vastly different college experiences with each other. You loved him, and he loved you. It had always been that way and you’d hoped it would stay that way. When you found out that Luke had been drafted to the New Jersey Devils and he would be living only 20 minutes away, you immediately dropped every man on your contact list. It only took Luke until the second time he visited your apartment to confess his love to you. It was the most relieving moment of both of your lives, feeling like a giant weight had been lifted from your chests. You and Luke decided to keep your relationship a secret considering if Trevor found out, he’d have to resort to physical violence. Luke recalled Trevor giving a whole speech at the lake house to all the boys saying that you were “off limits” and if he found any of them touching you in any way that wasn’t platonic he’d “beat your ass so far into the ground you’ll be able to see the core of the earth” You and Luke’s relationship consisted of a lot of secret meetups at him and Jack’s apartment after games. Jack always went out with the team for drinks after a win, so you and Luke had the place to yourself. The two of you would steal moments during the day to go out for a nice lunch date, or a stroll through the park. It was all you’ve ever wanted and more

That was almost a year ago. Now, you were sitting in the box seats watching your brother go head to head against your boyfriend on the ice. The entire scene was nerve wracking considering it was third period, with the Ducks leading the Devils 4-3. Your parents were ecstatic as they watched the plays unfold, jumping up and down every time the Ducks got the puck back. You however, were nervously making a snack out of your freshly painted nails with your knees tucked to your chest in the same way they were the night Luke found you crying in his bedroom. With the way you looked and the seats you were in, all signs pointed to “this girl is a Ducks fan” but on the inside you were secretly cheering on the Devils. You’d never seen Luke play in an NHL game before, since you both thought it would look strange showing up to one of his games when the two of you supposedly haven’t spoken in two or three years. You had however, seen Trevor play several times and you knew when he was in the game, he was really into it. Deep down you knew that Trevor wouldn’t get aggressive with the Hughes boys, but for some reason the thought lingered in your mind. Not even specifically Trevor, but the thought of any Ducks player becoming aggressive with Luke made your skin crawl. To you, he was fragile. Always the sweetest guy in the room, and you don’t know what you would do if something terrible happened. You also knew that Luke was constantly chirping at the opposing team which caused your fears to escalate. 

“Baby, you gotta calm down.” Your mom placed a hand on your shoulder in an attempt to bring down your nerves “You’re on high alert right now, and the Ducks are winning!” She points to Trevor on the ice, who is grinning wide. Your gaze remained on Luke who was sitting on the bench, and you wished he would just look at you for two seconds. 

“What? It's a stressful game!” You groaned at your mother with a hint of annoyance. 

“Yeah honey, I didn’t even know you got into hockey like this.” Your dad added to which you gave a simple eye roll and returned chewing on your nails.

“Ooh! I know! Let’s play that game where we try to find your future husband on the opposing team.” You looked over at your mom who was bouncing her shoulders up and down with a mischievous grin.

“No no no. Mom, I don’t wanna play.” You leaned your head back in frustration at her attempts to distract you.

“What? You love this game! Come on. Hmm…” She skimmed through the players on the ice reading the names and numbers on their backs “Oh! Luke Hughes number 43!” She excitedly pointed at Luke from the box “You two were awfully close as kids. How about reconnecting?” Your mother’s words did nothing except make you realize that he was back on the ice. You sat up straight in your seat basically going down on your nails at this point. “He’s got nice hair and he’s tall and-”

“Mom, shush I'm trying to watch this.” She sighed in defeat as you locked your full attention onto Luke skating around the ice. 

“You shouldn’t talk to your mother like that. I ruined my body for you, you know? I’m going to go get you a hot chocolate and we’ll see if that calms you down.” Your mom got up from her seat with your dad following close behind her.

“Yeah yeah that’s great, mom. Thanks.” Your eyes still strictly focused on Luke, whose figure was extremely small from the box. You watched as Jack passed him the puck. He skated fast as always, clearly attempting to go coast to coast taking a shot on goal, but it was ultimately saved by the goalie who returned the puck to the Ducks. You let your head hang for a moment in your hands before drawing your attention back to the game. You scooted to the edge of your seat, putting your legs back on the ground as you rested your elbows on your knees. You saw Luke skate closer to Trevors teammate, Ross Johnston. You knew immediately that he was chirping. He was chirping at a time like this. You stared closely, squinting your eyes, watching as Luke spat out a couple words to the taller and older man. You looked down and ran your hands through your hair as you let out a quiet “Oh my god.” Groaning through your words. You looked up from the floor, turning your attention back to the ice, only to see Luke being pushed up against the glass by Johnston. 

“OH MY GOD.” You practically shouted as you rose from your seat, stepping closer to the box barrier watching the scene unfold in distress. The arena’s camera pointed to Luke who was trying to talk his way out of things as usual. Luckily, his teammates had his back and swooped in quickly with the refs following close behind. You let out a sigh of relief as Johnston was pulled away from Luke. You moved back to your seat, heart just about beating out of your chest. You tilted your head behind you to see several Ducks WAGs and parents giving you confused stares. You just widened your eyes and slowly turned your head back to the game, wanting to hide yourself in your jersey. Instead you opted to pull your legs back up to your chest, resting your head on your knees. 

The game continued for another 10 minutes where Nico scored a goal to tie the game, and Luke made an assist to Jack who scored the game winning point. Your parents and everyone else in the box let out various groans and hung their heads in defeat, but you were wearing a secret smile behind your hand. No matter what it came down to, you were just proud of Luke even at the expense of your brother’s loss. People started shuffling out of the arena, including your parents who said they just wanted to make the hour drive back home and go to sleep. You told them you wanted to wait for Trevor as a cover up. You said your goodbyes to them and waited in the box for a bit longer.

lukey: Meet at my car in the parking garage. Second floor. Ily ❤️

You smiled at his message and began making your way out of the suite. All of the fans had shuffled out of the arena at this point, so you were just waiting for Luke to finish his post game interviews. Your walk to the parking garage was nicer than you expected it to be. You smiled and blushed at the way Luke looked when Jack scored the final goal. You couldn’t show it when you were sitting in the box, but you had to let out the excitement now that you were alone. The whole place that was once crowded with fans, was now almost completely empty and silent. You passed by a giant mural of Jack’s face as you walked down a hallway, and laughed to yourself about how big that guy's ego is. You made it to an elevator where you showed the security guard your pass. He looked you up and down visibly confused by your Ducks jersey paired with your Devil’s pass. He shrugged it off and let you in. You skipped your way down the parking garage until you found Luke’s car. You leaned against it, waiting for him to meet you there. After about ten minutes you finally caught sight of Luke running up to you with his duffle bag slung around his shoulder, grinning wide. His soft curls poked out the sides of his Devils baseball cap, while his black hoodie flopped up and down as he made his way over to you. He immediately engulfed you into a tight hug, his arms wrapping around your waist.

“You did so good tonight, baby. I’m so proud of you.” You muffled through the fabric on his shoulder. 

“I love you so much. Thank you for being here.” He huffed out as he rocked your body back and forth. He let his hold strengthen as he took in the scent of your perfume which you only wore because you knew it was his favorite. 

“You have no idea how hard it was trying not to cheer when you made that pass to Jack.” You giggled through your sentence and he let out a soft laugh. He released his hold, flipping his cap backwards, and pulled you in for a kiss. His soft lips immediately washed away the anxiety that poured over you during the game. Jokingly you pushed him back.

“No! You asshole! You scared me tonight!” You giggled and pushed his chest back, as he sent you back a large grin “You have to stop chirping at guys who are bigger than you, ESPECIALLY dudes with a big temperament!” He simply laughed at your statement, wrapping an arm around your shoulder pulling you to the passenger side of the car. He opened the door for you and you stepped into your seat with the help of his hand. He wrapped an arm around you, resting his hand on the center console once you were settled. He planted a soft kiss on your lips.

“I will stop chirping the day you show up to a game in my jersey.” He whispered into your parted mouth before shutting the door and entering the driver's seat.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It didn’t take long for Luke to get started with you. It never did. The moment you shut the door to his apartment behind you, he had you pinned up against it. His lips placed sloppy kisses on yours which were only growing hungrier by the second. His large hands were planted on your waist making you feel like the smallest woman in the world. Your hands moved to his chest, gripping at the fabric of his hoodie, working to pull him closer. His tongue swiped your bottom lip, causing a slight moan to escape the back of your throat. He removed his lips from yours just barely to whisper “Jump.” The feel of his breath against your lips made you eager for his touch. You jumped up to let him hold you. Your legs wrapped around his waist as he carried you through the living room like you weighed nothing. Your hands moved from his chest to the nape of his neck, allowing your fingers to explore his curls. You tugged at his hair slightly to which he responded with a low groan from his throat. He moved throughout the apartment until his back slammed on the door of his bedroom. With one hand on your ass, the other very eagerly searched for the door knob. You gently bit his bottom lip as he finally managed to get the door open. Entering the room, he laid you down on his bed, positioning himself on top of you as your legs remained around his waist pulling him further up. He removed his lips from yours and began placing a trail of sloppy kisses down your neck, until he found your sweet spot and began teething at it. You threw your head back and arched your back desperately for him.

“Need you now, Luke.” You spoke softly with each word interrupted with a breath as his hand hiked further up your leggings. You felt him grin against your neck as he moved his kisses up your jawline until he reached your ear.

“Take off this stupid fuckin’ jersey.” He whispered and his words sent a shiver down your spine as you grew hungrier for his touch. He leaned off of you slightly as you sat up for a moment to rip the Anaheim Ducks jersey off your body. He leaned back into you and began leaving kisses on the parts of your left breast that were uncovered by your bra. He moved his left hand to your stomach, letting the right one reach towards your back to unclasp the lacy bra you had worn just for him.

“OH LUKEY BOY! HOW BOUT THEM DEVS?” Jack's voice echoed throughout the apartment as you and Luke froze, staring at each other with widened eyes. He quickly jumped off of you, realizing the bedroom door had been left open. Jack always went for drinks after a win, so this was unexpected and quite unusual. Your fight or flight mode kicked in as you quickly remove yourself from the bed, shuffling under it. You watched as Luke quickly made his way out of the bedroom, shutting the door closed behind him. Jack passed him on his way to the kitchen, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Good job tonight, man. Seriously.” Jack glanced over at his brother as he leaned against the kitchen counter. Luke’s face was completely saturated with a red tint and his lips were still swollen. “You good, dude?”

“I-uh yeah i-i’m good.” Luke stuttered over his words as he straightened his posture and stuck his hands in his pocket, trying to look as natural as possible.

“Okay.” Jack laughed, taking a sip from his water bottle looking at the counter. “How’s your dick?” Jack looked back to his brother now with a mischievous smile on his face.

“It’s uh- it’s good.” Luke nodded his head, not fully processing Jack’s question “Wait, what?” He leaned against the door frame.

“It’s poking out quite a bit.” Jack’s smile only grew wider as he teased his little brother.

“What the fuck you lookin’ at my dick for?” Luke's voice comes out as frustrated and slightly guilty.

“I’m not! It’s looking at me!” Jack laughed through his sentence, taking another swig from his water bottle. Luke rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “So…who's the bunny in your room?” Jack asked, catching Luke off guard.

“W-what I d- I don’t know what you’re talking about. There's no ‘bunny’ in my room.” Luke flailed his arms out, trying his best to cover up the situation. 

“Yeah bullshit. Who’s the girl?” Jack smirked, walking closer to his brother who just shook his head. “Tell me, or I'm gonna go in there and introduce myself.” 

“No no no, Jack. You have to believe me. There’s no one in there.” Luke protested,but Jack’s hand was already on the doorknob and entering the room. Luke followed close behind him, a feeling of relief washed over when you were nowhere to be seen. “See! I told you. No girl.” Jack felt defeated for a split second, but knew not to give up as he walked towards your jersey on the floor. You silently cursed at yourself from under the bed for not grabbing itn your heart dropping straight to your stomach. 

“So, this is your Ducks jersey I'm assuming?” Jack looked over to Luke with a devilish grin, jersey in hand. Luke's hands went straight to his head, as Jack crouched down to where you were hiding under the bed. Luckily the shadows of the night were in your favor, covering your face perfectly.

“Hey queen. I’m Luke's brother, Jack. Promise I don’t bite.” He reached out his hand for you to take as you sighed, and accepted the defeat. You slowly made your way out from under the bed, your head poking out first.

“Hey, Jack Attack.” You gave him a sheepish smile as he fell back into the wall in shock. His mouth gaped wide open as he looked over to Luke, then to you, then back to Luke.

“BABY ZEGRAS?” Jack yelled at Luke as you swiped your jersey from his hand, quickly putting it back on. “Baby Zegras is your bunny?!” Jack’s glances shifted back and forth between you and Luke. “Oh my god.” Jack covered his face with his hands as he leaned his head up against the wall. “How long?” You and Luke glanced at each other, unsure of what to do at the moment. “HOW LONG? OH MY GOD!” Jack whined at the idea of the two babies from the lake house being together.

“Uh um bout a year.” Luke let out as his arms fell limp beside him.

“A YEAR?” Jack turned to face him, uncovering his face “THAT’S A LONG FUCKIN’ TIME, GUYS!” You began to bite your nails, staring down at the floor. “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. Luke you’re a deadman.” Luke's ears tinted pink as Jack rested his forehead against the wall.

“No no, he's not. Just please please don’t tell Trevor.” You whined at Jack, begging for the slightest bit of sympathy.

“THAT'S GONNA BE HARD CONSIDERING HE’S IN THE ELEVATOR ON HIS WAY UP HERE!” Jack muffled a scream through his spot on the wall. Your eyes widened as you looked over at Luke who had his hands on his knees, clearly stressing. 

“Holy shit.” was all you could let escape your mouth, as you heard someone knocking on the door. Jack ran out of the room to let Trevor in, as you and Luke shuffled in next to each other freaking out, like you were two kids who’d been caught by their parents. You winced at the sound of Trevor’s voice when he greeted Jack at the doorway. However it was quickly interrupted, by Jack pulling him straight towards Luke’s room.

“Trevor, let me direct you to the scene of the crime!” Jack said with a shocked, manic smile on his face. You and Luke stood there shoulder to shoulder. Both of you looked a mess.

“I don’t get it. Y/n, what are you doing here?” Trevor let out a small, confused laugh. He stood there and glanced at the two of you, trying to connect the dots in his head. You felt a hard lump in your throat as Trevor took an unbelievably long time trying to figure out what was happening.

“Oh my god, Trevor. THEY FUCKIN’!” Jack spat out, flinging his arms towards the two of you. You watched in terror as Trevor’s face grew angry, his fist charging up in the air. You quickly stepped in between him and Luke.

“NO NO NO NO! STOP! We are not ‘fuckin’! I think the two of you should sit on the couch.” You motioned the boys out of Luke’s room with him following close behind.

“Yeah, you sure have a lot of explaining to do.” Trevor huffed out as his face turned tomato red, taking his seat on the couch. You and Luke stood in front of the couch facing Trevor and Jack. Your firm gaze was planted on Trevor’s, but Luke was staring at the floor in fear that these were his last moments alive. You smacked him in the chest back into reality, as he fluffed his hair and directed his gaze towards Jack with a look that said ‘fuck you’.The two of you stood there side by side taking in the final moments of your private relationship. You looked over to Luke who gave you a soft smile and nodded his head.

“Luke and I have something to share with the two of you.” You started. Jack and Trevor moved closer to the edge of the couch wearing the same concerned expression with a hint of anger. “We are not just hooking up.” You kept your stern look on Trevor as you took Luke’s hand into yours. “We are in love.” You watched as Trevor’s mouth dropped and Jack pretended to vomit, leaning over the edge of the couch. “AND, have been…for the past year.” Trevors mouth gaped open wider as he tilted his head down, looking up at the two of you through his eyebrows. Jack began to laugh nervously at the situation, looked over to Luke, and mouthed “You’re fucked.” You and Luke glanced at each other nervously, hand in hand as Trevor stepped up from the couch and made his way towards Luke. Trevor gave him the death stare of his life, to the point where he was afraid to blink. Through Trevor’s tough exterior, you hoped there was a small part of him that just wanted you to be happy. Thankfully, you were right in your instincts and Trevor held his hand out for Luke to shake. A sigh of relief left your mouth as Luke smiled slightly, taking Trevor’s hand in his. 

“If my baby sister is gonna date an idiot, i’m glad it’s this idiot.” Your shared anxiety with Luke quickly left both of your bodies as Trevor made his way back to the couch. You looked over at each other with wide grins, realizing the part of your relationship that you both dread was finally over, and you could finally continue your lives without having to be so secretive. 

[sjyuns]

🗒️ 、 INTENTIONS

popular sunghoon x fem reader 1535 words genre fluff mikaela’s note because sunghoon is so tristan dugray coded, inspired by a gilmore girls scene

“I’d kiss you but your boyfriend’s watching,” Sunghoon mumbles, and he’s so close you can feel his breath on your lips.

He holds your gaze confidently, with a tinge of arrogance as his tongue darts out to lick his lip. You think that Sunghoon is the most annoying person in the world, because how can he look so devilishly handsome and have such an intoxicating effect on you.

It all started when he showed up unannounced and uninvited to your birthday party — still in his school uniform, tie loosened and sleeves rolled up with his blazer hanging over his shoulder.

And you should have known better than to let him charm his way into your house. “What are you doing here, Hoon?”

He loves the way his nickname rolls off the tip of your tongue, it's so addictive and he wants to record it so that he can play it again and again, even if your tone is one of spite.

“Happy birthday princess,” Sunghoon completely ignores your words, taking steps closer towards you, “now, where’s my birthday kiss?”

He’s at it again, aimlessly flirting with you. You roll your eyes, a deep sigh exiting your mouth, “it’s my birthday, Hoon.” How did he even know where you lived? You were sure you told everyone you invited not to bring him along.

“So I’ll give you a birthday kiss,” he grins, eyes glinting with mischief as he watches your facial expressions fall, ears burning red as you quickly turn around.

You hate Park Sunghoon and the unimaginable hold he has on you. “I’m going to find my mother. Do not, I swear to god, cause any trouble.”

“Your mother? It’s a little early in the relationship,” he moves swiftly to your side, arms casually slinging over your shoulder as he pulls you closer into him forcefully. “But it’s okay, I’m ready.”

Where in the world does Sunghoon get his cocky attitude from, you think as you try your best to pry and lift his arm away from your shoulder. Despite your surface indifference towards his advances, there were millions of butterflies invading your stomach at his every single action.

Before you can even try to escape, a voice calls your name and you stop to talk to Yunjin. “Park Sunghoon? What are you doing here?”

Sunghoon steals a glance at you, and he thinks you look absolutely adorable as you pout at the image of multiple people seeing you with him; given how you always seemed to have complaints about his overly flirty nature and playboy ways.

But Sunghoon hasn’t fooled around since you transferred into Decelis two months ago, a personal record for him. At first all you were was a form of entertainment, someone who had cute reactions to his smooth pick up lines.

Then it all came crashing down, when he started to feel the need to bicker with you everyday and mess up your hair every time he sees you in the hallways. And somewhere in between the blurred lines, he fell in love.

“Here to celebrate my girl’s birthday,” he cocks his head towards you, who’s palms now cover your face in sheer embarrassment. God, now it’s going to spread like wildfire. His girl?

Yunjin’s eyes widen and jaw drops, “really? You guys are together? But I thought you were with Choi Soobin.” She asks, nudging you.

Sunghoon frowns at her words. Choi Soobin? Since when? Sunghoon literally follows you around school whenever he sees you, and he’s never seen you ever talk to that boy.

“Soobin and I are just friends,” you clarify, “also we are not a couple,” your finger gesturing to you and Sunghoon as you answer the girl.

“Tomorrow we’ll be a couple,” Sunghoon cuts back into the conversation, voice loud, and he catches your surprised expression as he smirks slyly.

Though he continues the conversation without a single stutter or break, Sunghoon’s feeling utterly disgusted. Is that the kind of boy you like? Nerdy losers who can’t do anything for the life of themselves? He doesn’t really like the thought of turning into those types of boys, but whatever you want, he thinks — he’s already practised abstinence for you, he might as well go all the way.

At the same time Sunghoon wonders if you’re really that oblivious to his obvious advancements towards you. He’s made it crystal clear: dumped his girlfriend, follows you around, talks about you literally all the time, and yet you’re still clueless.

And he whisks you away before you find the chance to clarify his words again. He’s determined this time round, to make it extremely straightforward for you.

“Hoon why in the world would you say stuff like that,” you groan, hands slapping his chest. And he grins like an idiot at your touch, if this was what it took for you to initiate skinship with him, he’d be more than willing to proclaim himself as your boyfriend any day.

He places a hand on the place you’d just hit, “it’s painful,” he pouts, and you almost feel a little guilty at your harsh actions, “can you kiss it better?”

Until that. You huff, “i’m leaving,” you announce as you turn away, ready to walk right back into the crowd. Sunghoon quickly clasps his fingers around your wrist, pulling you into his chest.

Your eyes become those of a deer caught in headlights as your body is pressed firmly against his, his arms finding their way to your waist; a gentle but firm hold as he bends down.

“Wasn’t done yet, princess,” he smirks, and you feel some sort of danger looming over because Sunghoon looks like a devil enticing you to commit sin. His black hair styles perfectly like always and his red tie, due to his excessive movements, is now dropping down even more to expose his honey skinned collarbones.

The most you can muster is a mumble, “what,” and your eyes are glassy as you stare up at him, he thinks he might go insane — so close to just moving in to place a kiss on your invitingly soft lips.

“I’d kiss you but your boyfriend’s watching,” and he literally spits the term out, unable to believe he’s labelling someone else other than him ‘your boyfriend’. He knows you guys aren’t together, but just for the comfort of his heart he has to hear it again.

It takes you a while before you process his words. “He’s not my boyfriend, Hoon,” and it’s that short statement coupled with the way you say his name that really breaks it for him.

Sunghoon moves in just as you finish your sentence, and he sinks into your pillowy lips. It’s paradise on earth and he thinks he will never be able to get enough of this feeling.

“Sunghoon,” you mumble when he breaks the kiss, slightly out of breath as you look up with hazy eyes.

He chuckles, “sorry, baby, my bad. I’ll return your kiss back,” and Sunghoon doesn’t hesitate to give you another kiss, fingers caressing your waist as he pulls you closer to him.

This time it’s you who breaks the kiss, way too out of breath to even form full sentences without a few breaks in between. “You just kissed me.”

“Right, I just did that baby,” he smiles, those tiny fangs of his showcased as he gazes adoringly at you. “Actually, I’m looking for a girlfriend.” He pauses, eyeing your flushed cheeks and pink lips, “you looking for a boyfriend by any chance, princess?”

Now that you’re literally glued onto Sunghoon, you take the chance to look at him. Sharp nose, pretty moles that you could probably trace along all day, and his eyes which contrasting to his calm demeanour, held anxiousness as he waited for you to answer.

You’ve thought about dating Sunghoon before. Multiple times. Way more than you should’ve. And you never wanted to ever confess to it, because he was everyone’s crush. And not only that, he was annoying — constantly teasing you and making you flustered by his actions. You’d curse every time your heartbeat started to accelerate at his flirty words. You had thought that there was no way he’d ever like you back.

“I’m looking for a boyfriend,” you admit, letting out a soft giggle at Sunghoon’s overjoyed expression. And you decide that maybe now’s the time to get back at him, tease him a little to get him to stay on his toes, “maybe I should go find Soobin.”

His shoulders drop almost immediately and his arms wrap around your waist securely, chin resting on the top of your head. “No fucking way,” he grumbles, “you’re my girlfriend now. And I’m your boyfriend.”

“Yeah, you are,” you say, voice muffled in the embrace of Sunghoon. And you hear him giggle slightly, the rumble of his chest exposing the boyish feelings your boyfriend was currently going through, “for now.”

Sunghoon lifts his chin from your head, fingers brushing over your cheeks before they land themselves on your jaw. He tilts your chin up, “too bad my intention is forever.” And he places a chaste kiss on your lips again and again.

You are in for a long ride.

© SJYUNS

[thequeenofneverland1]

Draco Malfoy///Meant to be

Request by @characterxreaderimagine: imagine being a potter and Draco having a huge crush on you but denies it.. and eventually gets jealous when he here's Fred Weasley is going to ask you out which lead him to confess his feelings for you but.. plot twist is that your brother finds out and wanted to break the two of you up but eventually failed to do so and just warned Draco never to hurt his sister.. a few years later he got an invitation to a wedding 💀

Since a baby, Harry could always remember James telling him to look after you and to protect you at any cost.

Ever since the death of them, Harry promised to himself that you would be his first priority. and that he was going to protect you at any cost.

At first it annoyed you because his overprotectiveness also included scaring all of the guys away.

but little does Harry know that a certain guy that goes by his name Draco has a crush on his sister even though he denies it every time he gets asked.

“So what you're trying to tell us is that you don't fantasize about Y/n, not even a little bit?” Pansy raised an eyebrow clearly not believing him.

Draco laughs as he shakes his head. "Of course not, who does?"

“Everyone, I mean who doesn't? She's really gorgeous, right Pansy?” Blaise replied, smirking as she nodded with a smirk too.

Draco stops laughing and he glares at his friends. “Everyone does? Does it include you guys too?”

Gregory chuckles, "You shouldn't care since you said that you don't fantasize about her.”

Draco rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. "So what?, it’s not like Saint Potter is going to let one of you date his sister.”

Pansy shrugs her shoulders. "I don’t know but I heard Fred is going to ask her out and probably Harry might let him since they are friends.”

“What carrot head is going to ask her out?” Draco growls “Over my dead body that I’m going to let that happen, Y/n is my future wife and the mother of my kids.”

"But you said that you didn-."

“Blaise shut up, I know what I said.” Draco interrupts and he looks over at Gregory and Pansy “don’t think about saying it.”

Pansy pulls her hands up, " I wasn't planning to.”

"but you did say it.” Gregory whispers hoping that Draco didn’t hear since Pansy and Blaise started laughing.

"What are you two laughing about?" Draco asked madly, causing Blaise and Pansy to stop laughing and to come up with something to answer him with.

“A Joke that someone told us I would tell you but I forgot about it after the scare you gave us.” Pansy replies

Draco chuckles, "a bunch of scary cats that I have as friends getting scared over anything.”

"says the one that's scared to ask Y/n out just because he's scared of her brother.” Gregory mumbles quietly but this time Draco heard him

He pushes Gregory causing him to fall down on the ground “I’m not scared of him or anything and you know it really well Gregory.”

“Then prove it by asking her out if you don’t then you are:”

“Of course!!! I am going to do it because I love her and don’t want her to be with carrot head, not because you're asking me to do it.”

“It’s going to be amazing to watch. Hopefully Draco doesn't have his ass beaten.” Blaise said as they watch him leave

“Freddie, are you sure that you want to ask Y/n out? Are you not afraid of Harry? And what he's gonna do?” Ron asked

He smiles, “He won't dare to hurt me because you're his best friend, and I know that you would not permit him to do so if that were to occur.”

“That’s the thing, I'm his best friend but Y/n is his sister. What kind brother do you think Harry is?” Ron looked at his brother hoping that he remembers how overprotective Harry is.

“Yeah that you’re right I just like Y/n really much and didn’t think about that.”

Ron chuckles, “I comprehend you have her in your mind and heart that you almost forgot that you were choosing death over living.”

Ron and Fred started laughing with one another, but they stopped when they saw you and Draco leave together.

Ron looked at his brother, who was frowning, and asked, “Are you all right?” Fred, on the other hand, took no notice of Ron, choosing instead to follow behind Draco and you.

Draco and you went to the courtyard since he told you that he wanted to talk to you in private

“So what is it!?” You asked

Fidgeting with his hands and avoiding your gaze, he seemed to be nervous. Finally, he uttered, “Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?”

His sudden boldness made you feel taken aback and you couldn't help but smile. "Of course!!!”

A smile spread across Draco's face, but it soon faded when he saw Fred walking towards him and you. “It's carrot head.”

You looked around to see what had caught his attention and saw Fred advancing with a mischievous smirk on his face. You couldn't resist laughing at the sight. Fred was well-known for his pranks and jokes, and it was obvious that he had a plan.

"Hey, guys.” Fred winked at you. “What are you guys talking about?”

Draco intervened before you could respond. “I asked Y/n to be my girlfriend and she agreed.” Draco's demeanor became slightly defensive, causing you to look at him with shock.

Fred raised an eyebrow in anger, but quickly recovered. "Harry will know about this.”

You gazed at Draco with a puzzled look. “What motivated you to tell him that? Mostly it was a lie.”

Draco's expression was serious as he grasped your hands to kiss them. "I have a fondness for you and I don't wish to lose you to carrot head."

“But I don’t like him.” You told him.

“But he likes you.” He tells you back “so do you like somebody?”

"I have feelings for you too, Draco.” He was filled with excitement after hearing your confession.

You spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing, with him and by the time you said goodbye. Harry waited for you in the common with his arms crossed and an angry expression.

“Is what Fred told me about Draco and you dating accurate?”Harry asked with anger

“So what if it is?” You replied

“I forbid you from seeing him and I want you to break up with him.” Harry said before leaving

Dating Draco Malfoy, of all people, was not a good idea for him. He prohibited you from seeing Draco again, but you couldn't stand to think about hurting him. Draco and you are still keeping your relationship secret.

Unfortunately, Harry did find out and confronted you both. He tried a lot of different ways to end things, but he finally gave up when he saw how happy you were with Draco. He warned him not to hurt you because it would make him regret it.

Harry got an invitation to a wedding shortly afterwards. Upon opening it, he came to the realization that it was from his now-brother-in-law, who was inviting him to the wedding. Harry was grateful that they had found a way to come together as a family even after a bumpy start and couldn't help but smile. As he stood at the dancing floor and watched you have your wedding dance with Draco.

[vettelinyourarea]

ohhh can i get one arthuro request with just a friend to you by meghan trainor? arthuro got friend-zoned by his teammate will be a good pathetic one💀👍🏻

just a friend to you - arthur leclerc

genre: angst

word count: 863

inspired by just a friend to you by meghan trainor

warning: english is not my first language, one or two curse words

thank you so much anon for the request! i really hope you like this one and sorry for taking a long time to finish it!

I've been pretty busy with uni and will be busy with uni until May, that's why I'm not posting as frequently. Also, my requests will be closed until I finished all of the requests I have currently!

feel free to send me any feedback 🫶

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

Why you gotta hug me like that every time you see me?

Why you always making me laugh

Swear you're catching feelings

I loved you from the start

“Arthur! I missed you,” you said, pulling him into a hug. It’s kind of like a routine for you and Arthur, hugging each other every time you saw one another. And frankly, it’s quite funny for the young man, seeing you doing all those things with him while saying that the two of you are strictly just friends. Everyone else doesn’t believe you, not even Arthur himself. 

“We just hang out last night chérie,” he replied with a chuckle, returning the tight hug you have him. 

“I guess I just love you too much that even a night seems too long.”

Arthur knew it was supposed to be a joke coming from you, yet still, he can’t help but wonder, do you really love him just as friends?

So it breaks my heart

When you say I'm just a friend to you

“Seriously, what is it between you two?” Dennis asked. Currently, you and Arthur are preparing for a race, joined by other drivers who always wonder what is going on between you and your beloved teammate. 

“What? Never seen a girl and a guy being friends?” you said, trying to look annoyed and Dennis but failed eventually. 

Arthur watched you silently as you laugh at Dennis and Paul, trying his best to stop his heart from breaking as the word ‘friends’ keeps replaying in his head over and over again.

Cause friends don't do the things we do

Everybody knows you love me too

Tryna be careful with the words I use

I say it cause I'm dying to

I'm so much more than just a friend to you

Just friends my ass, that’s what Arthur want to say to you when you woke up. It was 2 AM, and you are sleeping beside him which is a tradition for the two of you. After every race weekend, both of you would have a sleepover. Nothing really happened though, besides the occasional cuddles, hugs, and kisses on the cheek. But still, Arthur wonders what are you really up to? There’s no way nothing is going on between you two. The number of kisses you pressed on his cheeks, the number of cuddles, hugs. Everything you do makes Arthur question your intentions.

Because, there is no way the two of you are just friends, right?

When there's other people around

You never wanna kiss me

You tell me it's too late to hang out

It was in July when everything changed. At first, Arthur noticed that you gave him fewer kisses, which transformed into no hugs, then you never initiated any physical contact with him anymore, and it all wrapped up with you declining his invitation to hang out. 

Arthur is frustrated about it and he doesn’t even try to cover it. He keeps questioning everything, did he do something wrong? Did he hurt you and he doesn’t realize it? Because it seems to him, you are trying your best to avoid him at all costs, and Arthur can’t help his heart anymore from breaking more and more each day.

And you say you miss me

And I loved you from the start

So it breaks my heart

When you say I'm just a friend to you

It was during a Christmas party held by Juan when Arthur finally got his answers. It was a chilly afternoon in Italy, every driver in Formula 2 are invited, and you are standing there alone, waiting for your drink when Arthur got the courage to approach you. “Can I talk to you?”

It was weird for you two now, standing all alone together in close proximity when it used to be so normal. “Why are you avoiding me?” He finally breaks the silence.

“I’m not avoiding you,” you replied, avoiding his gaze.

“Yes, you are and don’t lie about it.”

It was a few seconds before you finally answered, a few seconds too long for Arthur. “I have a boyfriend now,” you said looking down at the glass you are holding. You knew what you did to him was wrong, you knew all along that Arthur likes you more than a friend, you knew what you have done to him the past 2 years you become his teammate, yet, you still lead him on all those years.

“Who?” he finally asked with bitterness evident in his tone.

“Oliver,” you answered. You already knew it was wrong to lead him on for 2 years, and you knew it would be even worse if you date his close friend. Yet, you did both of those anyway.

“Congratulations, you don’t fucking deserve him,” he replied, clearly disgusted at you and he left you alone.

And that would be the last time you talked to him because not even two weeks later, news broke the Formula 2 community.

Arthur Leclerc is to leave Prema and race for DAMS this season

And maybe, you knew that it was what you deserve. Losing a friend, and a teammate because you want to have fun. 

[daybreak-tkler]

❝To Save Seoul...❞

Lee(s): Superhero! Mark

Ler(s): Supervillain! Haechan

Small Synopsis: Mark has saved the city of Seoul countless times, he is their hero through and through. Can he be their savior once more when their fate rests in his ability to keep his lips sewn shut?

a/n: this was my wip that you may have previously known by it's former title "the giggle machine!" :D I hope you like this extra long fic, because I wanted to give back to you all! I just wanted to thank everyone who gave my fics a chance and loved them as well as the characters in them. I never would have thought after posting "Explorer" back in June that i'd get this much attention again like I did before when I wrote bts works and your continued support has carried me through the second half of 2022. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, and I can't wait to see you all in 2023! Please like, reblog, scream at me in my asks and share this fic to all of your lee, ler and switch friends! Your love makes me more motivated to write!

also... the names of our hero/villain duo as well as their powers are all my own idea!

High above the buildings of Seoul, a hero waits wity baited breath. New Years eve was a day many cherished. It was the sign of new beginnings, a fueled desire to do even better in the next year than you had in this one. And most of all, it was a time where most liked to party; especially younger people. Our hero, SilverStorm was his name, knows better than anybody that on such a populated night... There was bound to be some villains lurking in the darkness and waiting to cause trouble.

SilverStorm, who was better known out of his persona as Mark Lee the writing major at college, gazes over the city from above, perched atop one of the many tall building's Seoul had to offer. The streets still bustled even in the darkest of nights. The neon signs that adorned the sides and fronts of buildings seem much more vibrant in the dusk, and they do a good job at illuminating the populated streets of college students and older adults who were clearly outside to have a drink or three. It was the last day of the year, after all. Mark sighs to himself, remembering what he had sacrificed in order to save the city. Renjun, his highschool crush and prettiest boy on campus, had invited him to go drinking with a few friends. Unfortunately, Mark knew what kind of trouble would be lurking around on such a busy evening.

So he had to opt out.

It was so annoying, Mark thought as he flew down from his perch to land on one of the shorter buildings below, because he knew that if he didn't go drinking with Renjun... Jaemin and Jeno would. Mark always got jealous whenever his crush hung around with those two. They were too into him! It irked Mark more than it probably should have. He dusted off his silver hero suit. It was a dull silver colour (so that he didn't shine too aggressively and get caught) and had angel-esque wings attached to its back, making him able to fly. He also had the same powers that most superhumans did.. super strength, super speed... that whole shebang. He wore a matching black and silver mask over his face and he had a hood to mask his raven hair - mainly to protect his identity from people.

He drifts down a bit further and peeks his head around the side of a taller building. They were nearby the college campus.. which means.. "Gotcha," he grunts as he spots his target. The Crimson Knight... his archenemy. He knew that the supervillain was around his age, and couldn't for the life of him ever figure out why anybody his own age would act so wild and chaotic. Mark squints his eyes to try and figure out where on Earth the villain could be heading. Then, it clicks. Zhong Chenle's New Year's party... of course! So many people their age would be attending that party, so the supervillain wanted to crash it..!

Not on his watch.

Quietly, he tries to keep up with the supervillain. He takes precaution, because he wasn't a huge fan of the idea of getting caught and fighting it out with the villain right now. Not when he still didn't know what Crimson Knight was planning. He follows the other man pretty far and it isn't until he makes it right to the window of Chenle's penthouse kitchen that he loses sight of the supervillain entirely. Mark firgures that he should stay alert for wherever the cunning villain had gone. He grips onto the deep ebony pipe that traveled down the side of the block of penthouses, hiding beside the clear glass window so that he wouldn't be spotted by any party-goers.

Zhong Chenle was a boy who was in his second year at college, a year below Mark, and he was stacked. Hence why he had the top penthouse nearby the campus, his parents bought it when he first arrived in Korea. Everybody on campus knew him and they all wanted to be his friend or have some form of relation with him. Mark didn't know much about the boy, personally. The only reason he knew him was through Renjun, who had been pleased to find another Chinese friend on campus.

Mark had been all but focused on Crimson Knight until he wasn't. In all honesty, he doesn't recall when he stopped looking out for the villain. He figures that it wouldn't be a crime to inconspicuously look through the window and see if he could spot Renjun... so he does. He looks around as much as he can from the kitchen window and that's when he sees it. "Son of a...!" Mark curses, much louder than he intended since some guy who was drinking a canned beer heard him and turned to gaze at the window. Luckily, he managed to duck in time. He waits for a moment before popping his head back up and cursing under his breath. Right there, in Chenle's massive lounge, was Renjun being chatted up by Jeno and Jaemin. Not only was he looking absolutely fine in those jeans, but he was blushing at the two as well!!

Mark couldn't believe his eyes at first, and he especially couldn't when Jeno (the really smiley guy that everyone loved) took Renjun's hand and playfully spun the shorter boy around. God dammit! Why couldn't that be Mark spinning Renjun around like that?! He couldn't stop staring at the three of them, presumably gazing at them flirting with one another. "Got the lover blues, hmm?~" a voice coos in his ear and he shrieks, ducking below the window again in panic. "Who the hell...?!" he turns to look in the direction the voice had come from.

But the next thing he knew, everything was black.

-🌃-

The superhero of Seoul wakes up again at least an hour later, head foggy and vision blurry. It takes a few long minutes for him to shake himself back to reality, and the first thing that helps with that is the fact that his arms are pinned up and outstretched either side of him. "Wh-Wha..?" he murmurs groggily. "Well, well, well!! Our powerful hero is finally back with us!! Did you have a nice nap, sweets?~" a familiar voice sings. Mark raises his head up, not initially noticing that his mask is pulled down and his hood is also down. "Crimson Knight..?" he asks under his breath.

"Wait.. Mark?! Mark is SilverStorm?" another familiar voice says in bewilderment. No way that he's here too..

Just as he suspected, Renjun and his other friends are all tied up behind the supervillain. The strangest part was... They certainly weren't tied the same way that Mark was. "Huh, who would've thought... I just had the impression that he was a loser lyricist that hated partying.." Chenle snickers from where he sits, arms behind his back and knees bound together so he couldn't escape, like the rest of his friends. Now that Mark was more awake, he could assess the situation better. Crimson Knight stood before him, in his signature long deep red coat. Behind thehe supervillain was Renjun, Jaemin, Jeno, Chenle and Chenle's boyfriend Jisung. They were all tied up. "What's the deal, Knight? Why tie them up too?" Mark asks with a scowl. The villain merely titters "Assess your own situation first, mister SilverStorm, then maybe you'll understand more~"

Mark skeptically looks around at his own predicament. His legs were outstretched before him, locked away like his wrists were. He was strapped to some sort of device that had a chart beside it. The little chart, he soon figures out, is a tracker with a little arrow that has five faces displayed in a row. At the moment, the arrow was pointing to the first face "Not Laughing". It was strange, but the last face was really what set the hero off in a panic. "Ka-Boom" with a picture of an explosion. "What the hell is this?" Mark queries with a glare.

"Why, I'm so glad you asked!~" the villain chirps. "This smart machine you've found yourself attached to is called "The Giggle Machine"! And it'll track your laughter through that microphone, following these five stages and then when it reaches stage five... everything goes boom!" Crimson Knight finally explains with the proudest grin Mark had ever seen. "Your friends are here to watch you fail and blow up the city!~"

Mark was confused... giggle machine?,, blow up the city? What was he talking about? "Wait I recognize that voice.. Oh that's totally the guy from Jisung's music class, he never attends! His name is like.. Haechan or something?" Chenle chimes in, clearly not at all concerned about what the supervillain had just said. Jisung nods his head in agreement "It's totally him but... LeLe we have more pressing matters!" he hisses to his shorter companion. Haechan rolls his eyes, seeing that Mark still wasn't getting it. "C'mon, Stormy, it's not that difficult! I'm gonna tickle you, duh! How else would you laugh up a storm for me? Hah! See what I did there?~" he turns around to his literal captive audience who just nod in fear of what a supervillain might do to them. "Super clever, dude," Jeno praises him with an awkward grin.

Mark immediately shakes his head, pulling on his trapped ankles with as much force as he could muster. Now that he thought about it, it was a little strange that his shoes had bern taken off. Haechan sits down on the floor with a wicked grin. The evening breeze was getting quite chilled atop the penhouse block. It was either that, or Mark was getting really nervous for some reason. He couldn't be that ticklish.. could he? His answer is given to him rather quickly as Haechan trails a finger down the black sock protecting his foot and his whole body twitches. "Awh.. tickle tickle tickle!!~" he teases as he sets off immediately to scrabbling at the bottoms of Mark's feet. "This is gonna sound really stupid but... Hold your breath, Mark! That should keep you from laughing!" Jaemin suggests from where he's trapped. The hero follows his instructions, taking a deep breath in and holding it. Haechan tuts "Y'know... it's only going to be all the more satisfying when you start laughing!" he smirks as he scratches all over the superhero's soles.

Never in his life had Mark needed to keep his lips sewn shut like this... it was surprisingly difficult when Haechan kept scribbling across his arches and squeezing his knees. He kept teasing him, too, "I know you're gonna break soon~" and the more he heard that phrase, the more he felt like he was going to give in. He can just about see behind the supervillain, that the captive audience was doing their best to escape to lend him a hand. Mark knew he was a goner the second Haechan's tanned fingers tickle his lower tummy. "Nohohohohot thehehehere, crap!" he curses as the laughter pours out of his mouth.. much to the satisfaction of the villain causing his tickly plight. "Plehehhehehease stohohohop ihihit!" Mark begs as Haechan returns to mercilessly scrabbling his soles. Out of the corner of his eye he could make out the chart from before. The green arrow was slowly moving away from the "Not Laughing" face and ticking towards the second face "Giggly Mess".

The hero didn't know how he could help himself, he was trapped and his powers couldn't get him out of this situation at all.. he was stuck, laughing at the hands of his archenemy until the city blew up. Because now that he had started to laugh, he just couldn't stop! It was part of Haechan's super power, he thinks, and damn if the villain wasn't a genius for setting all this up. "Ehehahhaha! Plehehheehase not my hihihihihihips!" he squirms in his restraints, earning a coo of faux sympathy from the villain. "Is Markie too ticklish there?~ Is he about to move the arrow to stage three already?~" the evil male meanly coos at him. He couldn't help himself! Especially as the villain trailed his skittering fingers up his sides, ticklishly wiggling them in the hollows of his underarms. He couldn't believe what was happening right now, was Haechan really going to win here? Was the whole city going to explode because Mark was too ticklish?

As the night continued on, Mark could tell that the arrow was getting dangerously close to the "Ka-Boom" face on the chart, but he couldn't stop himself from laughing and squeaking. The supervillain made sure to get every spot, wiggling and poking his fingers at every expanse of sensitivity. "Pleheheheehease! You dohohohon't wahahahaant thihis do you?" he genuinely begs the villain to stop the torture. Haechan evilly chuckles. "I would like nothing more... it'll be so satisfying~" he sings as he squeezes Mark's sides over and over, letting out a satisfied coo at every squeak and giggle. "Watching you squirm and writhe and having you be responsible for Seoul's destruction.... I couldn't be happier~"

The arrow ticks closer and closer... and as it does, distant voices cheer and scream, excited to start the new year's countdown and all hope seems lost as Mark helplessly laughs at his ribs being plucked. "Hey, Crimson Knight!" a voice from behind them calls out. Haechan spins around in confusion, allowing Mark to heave in a few breaths. "Huang? How did you even escape?!" the villain asks in confusion as Renjun stands tall before him. "Magic..~" the short man winks. "Mark! Oh, sorry, SilverStorm... Do us all a favor and send this guy to sleep!" Renjun snaps his fingers the superhero pulls at his limbs, he's suddenly free! He leaps up from where he was tied and, using his superpowers, sends the supervillain into a deep sleep. In the distance, the countdown has began as soon as Haechan grunts and its the floor.

"10! 9! 8! 7..!"

"Woohoo!!" Chenle excitedly cheers "That was so cool! I didn't know Renjun hyung was magic!!"

The shorter man bashfully smiles, shaking his head. "It was nothing... but uh..! Mark!" he quickly looks up and locks eyes with the hero. "Ticklish or not, you're still a cool hero," he grins. And just as the echoing voices yell "Happy New Year!" the smaller places a kiss on the hero's cheek, making Mark become flushed.

"That's cute n' all... but could you untie us so we can figure out what to do with Haechan?" Jaemin huffs out a laugh.

"Only if you guys pretend that you don't know my identity,"

[hallowedmuses]

discord chat: so hungry i could eat a horse

SUMMARY: Dagon comes clean to Beelzebub about a deadly creature that she’s befriended in the Mariana Trench. The two make their way there with some unfortunate company in tow. TRIGGERS: Trauma, PTSD, Depression, Body Horror, Animal Death WRITTEN WITH: @offallenfeathers (Beelzebub, Gabriel, Suds) @hallowedmuses (Dagon, Andy)

DAGON: She was anxious as leaned against the dock and picked at her lunch. Today’s environmental committee meeting was a disaster. She didn’t know what happened. Suds was doing so great these past few weeks but last night was a massive regression. She felt like it was only a matter of time before Gabriel found him. She couldn’t keep hiding the creature on her own. It wasn’t safe. She had a plan, an idea really, to bring Suds to Hell but she needed help. So, she asked Beel to come have lunch with her after the meeting. She needed to fess up to her antics and show him everything, but it was hard to know where to begin. “It looks like it’s going to rain…” she began mildly only for one of her snakes to escape her bun and nip at her ear. She swatted it away, annoyed with herself. “Alright, Jesus…” She surveyed the dock to make sure they were alone before sliding her lunch over to Beel. “I need your help.” She was pretty sure he picked up on that a while ago. “The creature Gabriel’s unit is looking for is a shark,” she began. “Prehistoric, large, one of your original designs maybe..." She bit her bottom lip. "His name is Suds. I've been hiding him for the past few months..."

BEELZEBUB: Ever since Valefar had joined these committees, they'd gotten more interesting. Beel wasn't fond of the idea of her being there, but surprisingly, she wasn't the drama this time. Gabriel had made them all aware of some sort of creature in the ocean that was attacking ships and eating massive amounts of sealife. It was upsetting the balance of things, and worse than that, when Gabriel sent his own people to deal with it, the beast killed and ate them. Thankfully, the Empty wasn't a bad place to end up now, but death was still a serious thing. They'd never be able to leave the Empty again. It clearly put a lot of stress on Gabe. Beel could see the frustration and guilt on Gabe's face for what happened to them, and he seemed desperate to stop the monster. On the other hand, Dagon had seemed panicked ever since the subject of the creature was brought up, though for different reasons. Every time the actions of the monster were brought up, she seemed to defend it with the same passion as a mad lover. It all made her seem incredibly suspicious. She was known to make friends with all kinds of creatures, and he was sure that everyone suspected that she was somehow involved in the reason why the beast hadn't been caught already. After the committee was over and Dagon invited him to lunch, he suspected that it wasn't just an excuse to have some of his cooking. It was actually all the confirmation he needed to know she really was involved in this.

It was amusing to watch her snakes nip at her. It was always an interesting display to when she was at war with herself, but in the end, the snakes usually helped her to the right destination. He took her lunch, beginning to eat it as she explained herself. He nodded for her to keep going when she said she needed his help. That was a given. The fact that it was a shark was a little surprising. There were some giant sharks out there that he'd made. A few were even still around, though they didn't cause many problems. They also didn't usually attack angelic units, nor did they have the power to actually kill them. "I don't think that sounds like something I would've made." Although the name she'd given the shark was a little amusing. It was close to the nickname Laute used to call him a long time ago. "Can you take me to him. I think I need to see him with my own eyes." Beel usually had a strong connection with his creations. Even if they didn't recognize him as the one who created their species, sharks tended to be relaxed around him. The better thing was that he could make sure the shark was no real threat to Dagon. Even if it tried attacking him, there weren't many things that could actually harm an archangel.

DAGON: Beel seemed annoyingly satisfied that she was asking him for help. Her snakes eyed him like they were debating smacking the tacos out of his hand. “Don’t. He’s just wearing a smaller, smugger look under there,” she warned her snake as she tugged it back into her bun. It didn’t surprise her that he didn’t want to be credited or associated with Suds, but she’d seen enough of Beel’s creatures to know his designs. If Suds was created by a copycat they were in some trouble. “Look, I know he looks bad on paper, but I don’t think nurture made him the way he is. I think something happened to him. The way I found him, he wasn’t in good shape...” Of course, she found him when he tried to eat her, but she was able to save herself and gain his trust. She got quiet when Beel asked if she would take him to the shark. “That depends.” The words were heavy between them. For a couple months now, things seemed like they were back to normal with the two of them. Dagon had forgiven the secrets that were kept from her, but this was a reminder that she hadn’t forgotten. She was still struggling and the act of asking one of them for help was still hard. “There’s ground rules to this. I found the shark, I make the final decisions. You don’t get to shut me out, okay? He’s my friend, Beel.”

BEELZEBUB: "It's actually a larger, smugger look, but it wouldn't be that bad if you didn't make yourself so obvious in that committee." Gabriel and Andy were probably just waiting for her to outright admit her involvement, not that they could actually do much about it. They'd have to go through a lot of channels, and in the end they wouldn't get anywhere. Dagon may not have been right to protect a monster that was killing angels, but Hell would still defend her if they needed to, though whether they'd defend her creature or not was a different story. "I'm not trying to disown him because he did bad things, Dagon," he promised. "I just really don't recall making something like this." It was possible he'd been on something if he'd made this. He'd been pretty chaotic when he was younger, and he had so many creations, he couldn't always keep track of them until he was looking at them, which is why he felt like he needed to see the shark first. "If I did make him, then he's my responsibility." He didn't mean that to say he was going to take over on what to do with the shark, more so that he felt responsible enough to help make sure that his creation was well taken care of and that it wasn't hurting people outside the natural order of things. "He wasn't in good shape?" he questioned. It was hard to believe something that massive could really go through any kind of trauma. It wouldn't have had any natural predators. If it was killing angels, the average fishing boats shouldn't have been a problem for it, and he didn't think Gabriel's angels would attack it without cause.

"Even if he did go through something rough, his actions seem more like animal instinct. He's going to eat the biggest things he can, which at this time seem to be angels." He didn't think it really made a difference whether it was nature or nurture that was making Suds act like this. It wasn't like they could give a shark therapy, and the amount of time Dagon was spending with it didn't seem to be helping. He recognized that Dagon was nervous. She'd asked for his help, but she still had reason to doubt that she'd be on his side.

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not looking to hurt Suds. I know that you care about him, and I'm sure we can find something to do for him." He didn't know what that was just yet. He needed to actually see the creature's size and personality first. It'd make things easier if the shark listened to him like the others did, but if it wasn't his, he didn't know that it would. There was still another concern though. "But if a life is in danger because of him again while I'm there, I will stop him." He was mainly worried in regards to Dagon. She might've bonded with a lot of creatures, but that didn't mean they wouldn't hurt her if she got in the middle. If his presence upset the shark, it was possible she could get hurt, and he wouldn't let that happen. He didn't plan to take deadly force immediately, but he would do what he had to do to keep more lives from being taken. Suds might've been Dagon's friend, but he was killing a lot of Gabriel's friends.

DAGON: She gave him an exasperated, almost comical look. “Well, you try keeping these space buns under control!” She pointed to her hair. She might’ve known a thing or two about being covert, but her snakes weren’t always on the same page. Which is why they were in intricate buns and braids almost every meeting now. She was getting tired of being tied up. Restraining them never felt right. They were a part of her. She started undoing her buns. Maybe they would behave now that she was trying something that didn’t require so much secrecy. “Despite defending Suds at meetings, I don’t exactly feel great about what he’s doing. I just need more time to train him.” She shook her hair out, feeling relieved that some of the weight and pressure was gone. “We had a streak going for almost two weeks with only minor incidences. I know he can do it.” She felt her shark deserved a fair shot. Moving him to hell was the best shot she could give him.

She sighed and nodded when he assured her that he wasn’t trying to disown Suds. “Maybe seeing him will jog some memories. I haven’t had much luck digging up his origins. Most of those records are still in Heaven. Talk about paywalls,” she quipped. That was definitely a complaint she’d picked up from Declan. She nodded and frowned. “Yeah, poor thing.” Her snakes drooped a little at the memory. “He had spears lodged along his underbelly and jaw line. It took a while to get him to trust me enough to get them out. And he had scar tissue to hell and back, healed fractures that hadn’t properly set, chunks of flesh that were just gone. He must’ve fought something and came out on top, but for the life of me I don’t know what.” Whatever it was, she was pretty sure Suds must’ve eliminated it.

She didn’t agree or disagree with Beel’s statement. Suds was acting on instinct, but she also believed he could be trained to not be so aggressive and reactive. She didn’t plan to domesticate him by any means. Some form of aggression was needed to survive in the wild, but he had too much for something of his size.

Her snakes observed him quietly for a moment as they tried to assess whether they trusted his words. They dropped away into nothing but strands of hair once Dagon decided that she did trust that he wouldn’t harm Suds. “I want to take him to Hell. I’m not sure Lucifer will be thrilled about the idea, but I think it’s the best place for him. I’ll lay out the vision once you see him.” She knew that second part was coming before he even said it. She was just trusting that Beel’s first plan of action to stop Suds wouldn’t be violence. “All right, then you better trail behind and let me talk to him first so you don’t spook him with your very large, smug face.”

BEELZEBUB: Beel chuckled. "That's basically just asking me to keep you under control. They're a result of your subconscious after all." He could keep his own emotions in check, but he couldn't do that for Dagon. "I think if you said that to Gabe, he wouldn't believe it." The arguing between him and Dagon had only gotten heightened this time. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that Dagon would defend animals, but he could tell that Gabe felt like Dagon just didn't care at all about the people who were dying. Beel knew that wasn't the case. Dagon was an extremely caring person. The problem was that it got excessive sometimes to the point where she only saw the danger around her. She had good reason not to trust a lot of the people at the committee though. Gabriel had kept the truth about what was going on with Bells longer than he had, which was probably part of why she elected to tell Beel the truth first too. "How exactly have you been trying to train him? And if you were doing well, what happened this time?" She was right. There hadn't been too many incidents, but he imagined there had to be something to set him off. Maybe he got startled or she let him get too close to where Gabriel's unit was searching.

"Maybe," he nodded. "I did make a lot of weird things back then. Raphael actually brought down some of those records of my creations a couple years ago." It had been the day that Belphegor confronted the family about the truth, and it was probably the only good thing that happened on his birthday that year. "I didn't get around to looking at all of them, but after I see him, I can compare them to him." Assuming he didn't recognize it immediately. He frowned at the description of the state he was in. "That sounds more like he went through a war than just a single fight." It made the whole thing sound more confusing. He wouldn't have been surprised by some of those injuries, but the others sounded like something he would've had for a lot longer than any injuries Gabe's unit could've given him.

"To Hell?" he asked, considering the idea. It would take some excessive terraforming, but they had people for that, and it would keep heaven off their backs if it kept him away from the angels and the rest of humanity. Beel already had some large bodies of water in his kingdom where they could keep Suds while they worked on terraforming more space. Food might've been an issue, but he needed to understand Suds more first. If they could sustain him on large fish, that might've been fine, but if he really did have a preference for eating angels, then that would be a problem. He'd have to hear what she had in mind for the shark once they got there. "Okay, I'll try to keep my smugness contained. Lead the way."

DAGON: She snorted and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I'm so glad your siblings aren't here. The amount of sex jokes they could generate from that comment alone would be my thirteenth reason,” she joked. She sighed when he said Gabe would have a hard time believing she felt remorseful for Sud’s behavior. “I know. I’ll make it up to him somehow.” She just needed a minute where he wasn’t stressing her out. She was sure he’d say the same about her which was fair. Dagon didn’t have anything against Gabe. She generally liked him. She knew his job wasn’t easy. In the past, she tried to make it easier by cleaning up the ocean at the very least. She and Beel had done a decent job at it. She just wished Gabe would leave this alone so she could continue her work. As a leader herself, she understood he felt responsible for this situation. She didn’t know Gabe all that well and frankly she was afraid that even if she came forward and told him the situation, he’d just want to take it over and she’d never see Suds again. The Archangels had already shut her out once by making decisions regarding her best friend. She had a hard time believing they wouldn’t do it again.

“I train him the way I train most of my animals. Build trust, establish myself as a safe person, keep them fed—that’s been the hardest part. I can’t make creatures at the rate that he eats them.” Which was why having Gabe’s unit work on replenishing the ocean would’ve been helpful to her and Suds in this process. “I’ve been tagging along on hunts with him though and redirecting him to eat creatures that are appropriate shark food. I thought teaching him command cues would be the hardest but he picked up on that fast. He responds best to the old war commands.” She made hand gestures that indicated stay, move out, and fall back.

She got a little quieter when he asked her what happened last night. “I don’t know. It came out of nowhere. We were just floating through the ocean. I was laying on his back stargazing and babbling like one does. We passed by the northern lights and he just froze. I hopped off his back to check on him and I dunno…there was this massive wave of sadness coming from him. It was deep. Like my Kingdom after the fall deep.” She’d never met an animal that experienced that level of profound sadness. It felt almost human. “And then it was like a switch flipped. There was nothing behind his eyes but rage. He went barreling for the nearest living thing which was an expedition ship a thousand knots away. By the time I caught up to him, he’d already eaten it and was looking for the next thing to eat. I got him to slow down and that’s when I heard Zophiel somewhere in the pit of his stomach.” She rubbed her temple at the stress of the memory. “He wasn’t supposed to be there. Apparently, he decided to disregard orders to stay out of the ocean until the situation was resolved. I talked him through how to trigger Sud’s gag reflex.” Gooseflesh peppered her skin. She rubbed her arms as if she was cold. “It wasn’t a pretty scene but he puked Zoph out. While I stayed with the kid and patched him up, he swam off and went on his rampage. When I found him in the morning, he was calm again but the damage…” she shook her head. She was lucky that Zophiel wasn’t hurt, but she didn’t think she’d be lucky a second time if Suds got triggered like that again in open water.

“I don’t know. I kind of miss ham-ster. That one was cute,” she replied when he said that he’d made some weird things back in the day. She was sure the designs that Raph gave him were probably most of his goofier designs. It was unlikely that Heaven would release the blueprints for something as hostile as Suds. She hoped Beel would recognize the creature, but at the end of the day they could still help Suds even if they were unsure about his origin. “I thought about that too,” she nodded. “That maybe he was one of our fighter beasts from the war and that he went dormant after Belphegor’s explosion, but I don’t remember seeing him on the battlefields or in the pens.” The only thing that looked remotely like Suds on the battlefield was Beel. “If Val gets to keep a dragon, I’m sure an argument can be made for letting me have a mega shark.” She smiled when he said he’d keep his smugness contained. “Thanks, Chef. That’s probably the hardest thing I’ll ask you to do today.” She was absolutely being facetious. If she got her way at the end of this, he’d be helping her move a massive shark into hell. She glanced around the dock one last time before jumping off of it and into the water. The demon shifted into her mermaid form and waited for Beel to join before starting the long swim to Sud's hideout.

BEELZEBUB: "I try not to think of what sex jokes they could make. We'd be here all day for that." Through life he'd learned that there was a sex joke for everything. He dished them out himself when he was in the right mood. The best thing to do was just not let it bother you and ride along with the joke. "I wouldn't worry too much about making it up to Gabe as long as we can keep your shark from eating any more of his people." Gabriel was just worried about the safety of his people as a leader. As long as he could see to their safety, he'd be okay.

He nodded, rubbing his chin as Dagon explained her training for the creature. He hadn't really seen the monster that had been attacking people, but they had gotten some descriptions from the deceased. The overall size of the beast seemed to differ in everyone's interpretations, which made sense. It was hard to consider details when you were about to be eaten to death. All they'd really gotten was that it was massively big and somehow managed to sneak up on full groups and eat them all at once, sometimes without them even being able to put up a fight. It spoke to why it would be hard for Dagon to keep it fed. Something that big took a lot of food, and if its prey was angels, that made it even harder to keep him fed. "That's . . . interesting." It made the creature that much more peculiar. So far, a lot of the information she'd given him pointed to the shark being involved in a war somehow, but how?

"Hmm." It was hard to think why any normal animal would have a reaction to an aurora borealis. Maybe the lights could've been frightening to it somehow? But the lights weren't overwhelmingly bright or anything. The fact that it was saddened only made it more peculiar. "It's not possible that we both just . . . forgot something like that being there during the war, is it? The auroras were a sign of loss for a lot of them during the war, but even if a shark was somehow there, he doubted it would feel anything that deep from lights, especially to cause it to go into a fit of rage.

"Zoph got involved in all of this?" He asked with exasperation. He assumed her story wasn't going to end with his death or else this conversation would've probably been going differently. As frustrated as Gabriel was now, he would've been much worse if Zophiel had been seriously hurt. Gabriel treated the Avanis more like family than his own siblings sometimes. Luckily, it seemed like Zoph was being smart enough to keep his mouth shut about the whole ordeal. "What about you? Are you okay? That couldn't have been easy to deal with." He'd seen some of the wreckage that Suds had done. Seeing all of that chewed up and spit out again woudl've felt like seeing the massacre that was the war. It'd be hard not to throw up just seeing it.

He chuckled when she mentioned one of his sentient food creations. "Yeah I liked those too. Definitely not sustainable though. If Gears had taken the time to look at them in the early days, he probably would've felt better about his own designs." All things considered, a lot of his little brother's designs were better than some of the things Beel made.

It really did feel like the creature had something to do with the war, but it was hard to picture where he would've fit in. Angelic warfare hadn't been in the seas. Beel might've turned into a shark on the battlefield, but he'd been a land shark. As far as he knew, this thing seemed confined to the sea. "Maybe God weaponized one of my rejected designs during the war and just had it ready in case the fighting took to the sea?" It didn't sound entirely logical. Maybe God might've used it to take away his safe space from him, but if that was the case, why was it only showing up now? "Maybe he's supposed to be my curse," he suggested. "Maybe he was supposed to stay dormant until a certain time. Once we got to a kind of good place, he showed up so I'd have to deal with my own creation hurting people." He still wasn't sure it was his own creation, but if it was, this might've made sense as a curse. Beel would've felt guilty and would've had to find a way to stop it, but God didn't account for them having other ways to deal with a killer shark besides just killing it.

"My siblings could make a lot of jokes off of that too?" Beel snorted. "In Val's defense though, she does need her dragon to keep guard of all her statues, and she can't even pet it. I think it'd be a better defense for you if you pointed out that Asmo is able to keep your twin." He giggled at his own joke before following Dagon into the water. His form shifted as well, taking on the features of a shark that allowed him to swim through the water quickly to follow alongside Dagon.

SUDS: It wasn't easy to find a place to hide a giant shark, especially one as big as the one deemed as 'Suds' was. Fortunately, the trench hid a lot of tunnels and hideaways, some big enough for the giant to swim through, though the size of the shark was actually fluid. It seemed to miraculously fit through some tunnels that might've seemed to small for it. That made keeping it in one place hard too. Although Suds had some affection for Dagon, he didn't always listen to her. Already while she was out, he'd been on the hunt again. It wasn't angels this time thankfully. At the bottom of his sea cavern was a whale that he was chewing on. He shook it around, spreading its blood through the water. It distracted him enough that he didn't pay attention to the angel and archangel approaching him.

DAGON: "They are incorrigible," she snorted. "That's easy for you to say. You have sibling privileges. Maybe I'll send him a nice gift basket or take Zoph off his hands for a week. He needs more redirection than my shark most days." At least the only danger Zoph presented was to himself generally.

 "He's not exactly a forgettable creature." It wasn't just his size but he had a pretty distinct personality. She was able to see more and more of it the more he trusted her. She was pretty sure it was even playing with her in some cases. "But God is capable of collective mindwiping so it's possible." If he wanted them to forget this creature, he could make it so. He didn't even need much of a reason in most cases to condemn a being to be forgotten. The monster that was God did as he fancied.

She nodded with equal exhaustion when he asked about Zoph's involvement. "He thought it was pretty cool until it wasn't which is usually how it goes with these things. I'm going to check on him in a few days to make sure his stomach's settled." It looked like he'd learned his lesson but she still wanted to make sure he was okay. She chewed at her bottom lip when he asked her if she was okay. "There weren't many survivors to heal. Just bodies and bile. It hit a little too close to home, but I'm okay now." She managed to get herself to the Empty were she promptly lost the contents of her stomach. Gears helped her to the shower so she could clean up but she still couldn't wash that feeling off entirely. Normally she wasn't around when Suds decided to go on these mass rampages. He brought her carnage sometimes, but it was usually animal bones. That was when they'd collectively decided she needed to bring Beel into this.

She knew Gears wouldn't like the fact that Beel saw that insecurity but there wasn't much she could do about that. "Everything is sustainable in the right environment," she smiled softly. "Earth might not have been the place for hammy and burgle and some of Gears creations but Eden made space for them on her lands." And Dagon made space for them in her heart. That was the hardest part of leaving home. She'd left pieces of her heart back there with all the creatures she couldn't take with her.

She listened as Beel speculated on the origins of Suds. "If he was God's weapon, I'm glad he got out of there and stayed out." Suds would've been pretty lethal in battle. Probably on par with the Archangels in terms of the level of damage that he could yield. She didn't think that Suds was his curse. The creature was violent at times, but his existence as a curse seemed to mild when the other curses were forced romance, death to true love, involuntary golden touch, and the void.

She groaned when he pointed out sex jokes could be made about that too. "You're right. I can't even make the standard suicidal jokes like i wish the shark would've just eaten me when there's a minor inconvenience. I'll do it anyway. It's better if I beat Asmo to the joke." She anticipated he’d have the most fun with all of this, but she could at least beat him to the punchline most of the time. “Andras is truly Asmo’s curse. Or maybe he’s Aamon’s,” she speculated. There was still no sign of what Aamon’s curse was.

Their swim through the ocean was quieter than usual. They weren’t met with nearly as many creatures. Suds had eaten a good portion of marine life and anything that he hadn’t eaten was in hiding. Dagon slowed down the closer they got to the trench. As they plunged into the dark depths, her form shifted slightly so that the scales on her tail and torso and the tips of her hair glowed with bioluminescence. Normally other bioluminescent creatures floated down here too giving the appearance of a bunch of floating lanterns, but they were all in hiding now leaving Dagon as the only source of light. She navigated her way through the caverns with ease before pausing briefly at one not too far away from Suds. She had Beel help her create a few seals, making sure to not develop their brains since they would only be used as shark feed. Once the brainless seals were made, she hauled them over her shoulder and gestured for Beel to stay in the shadows for a bit.

She approached the massive shark as he chewed on the whale bone. “Hey, friend,” she smiled and set the seals down next to the whale carcass. “I brought you some snacks.” She held out her hand to him and waited for him to gesture that it was okay for her to approach. When he gave her the cue, she swam closer and ran her hand along his snout to say hello. She gave him some affection, briefly taking the time to assess him for any new injuries. “You look well.” She patted his snout before giving him some space. “Eat up. We’re going to have a visitor.”

BEELZEBUB: "I think Andy would appreciate that as much as Gabe does." It was a benefit to both of them if Zoph stayed out of trouble, and Gabe could always use more reason to do less work. He nodded when she said the creature wasn't easily forgotten. He was more in line with her second thought, that maybe God made them forget the creature, but even if that was the case, why would they only rediscover it now?

"That's a good idea," he agreed when she said she was going to check on him later. Things like this didn't always catch up to you until later. He might've been too hyped up on adrenaline to really feel the panic of a near death experience. He grimaced at her description. It really did sound like the war. When he fought in the war, it was how he'd left things too when he fought in his larger form. He hadn't even had to use a weapon aside from himself, and it just left bodies like that everywhere. When he got off the battlefield, he threw up some of the corpses that got stuck in his mouth. Laute was usually there to clean them away, so he didn't have to see them for long. Unfortunately for Dagon, she had to deal with that herself, and she was far more empathic than Laute. "I'm sorry you had to go through that, but there was nothing you could've done for them at that point." Gabriel probably would have said something about how she could've kept Suds away from people if she told them all about him, and Beel was glad he wasn't here right now.

"I guess I should specify sustainable on earth then." He wasn't really bothered by the fact that they couldn't live on earth. "It was very nice of her to let them stay there. Maybe that's where Suds came from. If he was one of my old creations, maybe he slipped out of Eden. I know we're on better terms with heaven, but maybe they're trying to cover up his escape from there." It still didn't seem that reasonable, and it didn't explain why Suds would respond so well to battle directives or have war wounds.

Beel's shark form allowed him to swim through the water unbothered. He didn't glow like Dagon, but he didn't struggle to see in the dark, with or without Dagon glowing. As they stopped and he made almost lifeless seals for her, he considered the fact that he'd probably be doing this for a while. If they found a way to keep her shark, they'd need to make food for it almost constantly. It wouldn't be allowed to just keep eating angels.

He stuck close to the cavern walls as Dagon went into the opening where her shark was. From his vantage point he had to get a little closer to see around the tunnel, but what he did see was massive. He'd heard the description that the beast was big, but this was bigger than even his megalodon. In fact, it was almost as big as he was when he fought in the war. Obviously there were differences between him and the beast, but he could see why Dagon would think this was one of his creations. He waited patiently where he felt he'd be unseen until Dagon would tell him it was okay to come forward. He didn't want to startle the guy into attacking. He felt like he even he might struggle against it in a fight.

SUDS: Suds dropped the whale carcass when he heard Dagon calling out to him. He had already been eating, but his hunger never really stopped. He waited until she was away from the seals to drop down and swallow them whole before returning back to where he was.  She was so small compared to him, but he still liked the affection he got from her. He didn't always understand it, but she felt familiar to him, some times more than others. He at least knew he felt comfortable around her. She wasn't the only presence there though. He looked past her to the tunnel she'd just come through. He could feel something else familiar there. He swam towards it to figure out what it was.

DAGON: “There’s always one chaotic sibling in a bundle, but I think he’d give me an easier time than he does Gabe and Andy.” At least Zoph seemed to have an awkward little crush on both her and Beel. That made it easier to redirect him. Given what had just happened to him and the fact that he couldn’t really talk openly about it, Dagon figured he’d need someone he could talk to. So, offering to keep track of him had a dual purpose of giving Gabe and Andy a break and providing Zoph with a safe outlet to talk about what happened. She tried to maintain her composure when Beel assured her there was nothing she could’ve done for those people, but still a single tear made its way down her cheek. “I know, I know,” she replied softly. “I’m going to fix it. We’re going to get Suds help so it won’t happen again.” She was mostly trying to reassure herself at this point. “If he did escape from Eden, I’m not giving him back though. Finders keepers. He’s mine.” Granted, it was Suds who technically found her but she still thought the philosophy counted.

She observed as Suds swam closer to where Beel’s energy was coming from. He’d clocked him, but he wasn’t attacking which was a good sign. Dagon swam closer to Suds and placed her hand on the base of his pectoral fin to let him know she was there. She was absolutely dwarfed by the fin, but her glow could still be seen next to him. She took in the emotional temperature of the room. Things were still calm. “You can come out now,” she told Beel. She kept her hand on Suds, but slowly started swimming toward his snout as Beel’s presence filled the room. She stopped when she was finally able to see Beel over the massive shark. “Suds, this is my friend Beelzebub. He’s here to help. Beel, this is my friend Suds.”

BEELZEBUB & SUDS: "Usually several," he agreed. His family had Asmo, Gears, and Lucifer. Hers had Andras and Dagon (As much as Dagon could be reasonable, she also did things like this where she took in exceedingly dangerous animals). The Avanis had Zoph and sometimes Declan. He felt sympathetic to Dagon as the tears slipped out, but he knew there wasn't much he could say to comfort her on it. The way she said help almost made it sounds like he was a person who just needed to go to therapy. It was hard to grasp when most animals didn't have that much intellect to really understand trauma. Beel held his hands up innocently and chuckled. "I don't think anyone would take him away from you if that was the case, so long as we're able to keep him under control." Heaven was a little more lenient now. Beel knew that Michael was trying to get on better terms with Dagon too, and if there was a way to do that, letting her keep one of her pets was certainly a good start. Beel just didn't think Michael would let that come at the cost of (mostly) innocent lives.

Beel waited for Dagon's signal before swimming out into the open. His form changed to become more humanoid, but still shark-like, like if there was a shark version of a mermaid. He grew larger, so he wasn't just a speck to the shark like Dagon was now. It didn't seem that it was necessary though. No matter his size, Suds eyes were locked on him. The shark didn't seem to be listening to Dagon as he swam slowly closer to Beelzebub. Their heads tilted in unison as they observed each other, doing the same thing to tilt their heads the other way. Beel moved around the shark to observe it's distinctive features and injuries, and Suds circled around him as well. They both stopped at the same time after making their observations of each other. Despite them both behaving so similarly, they arrived at two different conclusions.

SUDS: After what happened to Suds, so much had been lost of his mind. He'd been hurt physically, but that was nothing compared to the mental damage. There were certain triggers for his memories. The auroras the other night had made him remember his brother who was gone. He couldn't remember his name anymore, just a sort of echo of his laughter and also a scraping headache of his dying screams. He'd been sad at first until the memory of the being that took him away infuriated him. The fury replaced the memories until he forgot everything again, but he was starting to remember more the more time he spent in this universe. He remembered the man in front of him. He didn't just feel like a reflection of himself. This man was him, before it had gotten so bad. A deep wave of sorrow passed over him, similar to what he and Dagon had experienced the other night under the northern lights. He remembered being that man, having a life. He remembered snippets of a family with Dagon. The memories weren't perfect, but their children had been. Even without remembering them fully, he felt the sorrow of missing them. If it was possible for a shark to cry underwater, he would've been. He pressed forward into Beel. It was the closest he could get to comforting himself and receiving comfort from himself.

BEELZEBUB: For Beel, he felt an almost immediate kinship with the shark. It wasn't just because it was a shark, but Suds felt oddly familiar to him. He reminded him a lot of himself, and he wondered if maybe God had copied the form he used to fight in during the war. The injuries the shark had were similar to ones he'd gotten in the past, but there were certain details that didn't match that either. For one, this wasn't a land shark like he'd been, and Suds also didn't give off the same type of energy as Beel either. He could tell that it seemed to recognize him, but there was also something . . . off about it. Suds felt wrong. Beel wasn't afraid of the shark, but something about it gave him chills, like a sailor sensing an oncoming storm. He looked over at Dagon to tell her what he'd determined when Suds charged at him. Underwater, Beel didn't have any sort of footing to stop himself from being pushed back. His arms wrapped around Suds's snout, holding on until he was pushed up against the cavern wall. "Woah there, buddy." He patted Suds as he nuzzled against him. He clearly wasn't being aggressive, but a giant shark still held a lot of power. He patted Suds on the nose and pushed him back, so he could properly address Dagon. "I have no idea where he came from."

DAGON: Dagon hoped he was right because she wasn't giving up Suds without a fight. She worked hard to train him and if they took him any progress he made would be gone. More importantly, she was attached to him. She'd given up plenty of things during the war and she was done reconciling her losses.

She swam closer to the walls of the cavern as Beel made himself larger. Suddenly the space felt very small and she wished she would've coaxed Suds out to open water, but this was the safest place for them to do this. She made herself slightly bigger mostly so she wouldn't be crushed by anyone's fin. That might've been the way Andras wanted to go but it definitely wasn't the way she wanted to. More light filled the room and illuminated the space. She watched with mild amusement as the two beings surveyed each other in paralleling motions. It was like watching two Golden Retrievers assess each other. As she watched them side by side there was no denying that this was Beel's creation.

Her amusement faded though as she felt a wave of sadness coming from Suds. The unexpected intensity of it stung at her chest. It felt like the air was knocked out of her lungs for a moment. She felt it magnifying her own powers. "Suds..." she started swimming toward him again, but froze as he started to charge into Beel. Was this it? Was the switch going to flip to rage like it had last night? Please, please, please don't. From her vantage point, she couldn't see much but she eased when she observed that the movements weren't violent in nature. The sadness in Suds chest seemed to ease but only by a fraction. As Beel pushed him back, Dagon swam forward. "Hey there, ocean eyes..." she hugged his snout by curling most of herself around it. "It's okay..." she uncoiled herself but continued to give him reassurance that everything was going to be okay.

She nodded when Beel said he had no idea where Suds came from. "That's okay, we'll figure it out. Like you said, our childhood was a weird time. Are you okay?" He seemed a little spooked and confused, but Dagon couldn't blame him. It had to be weird to be confronted by something that was clearly his with no recollection of having made it. Given what had happened to Beel and the fact that they were sheltering in a space that was created through his trauma, it was possible Suds came from that same deeply traumatized space of Beel's mind.

Suds was still pretty elevated as she kissed and petted his snout. "You did good, friend," she assured him. "Can you make him something to eat?" she asked Beel before turning her attention back to the shark. "It's all right," she soothed. "I'm taking you home where it's safe and we'll figure it out."

BEELZEBUB: Beel nodded when Dagon said that they'd figure this out, but he still felt unsettled by all of this. "Yeah, I'm okay. I doubt he could do much to hurt me anyways." He knew that wasn't what Dagon had meant. She probably felt his emotions as well as Suds, and what he was feeling was a mixture of confusion and fear. He didn't really know what he was afraid of. He wasn't afraid of Suds hurting him or anything like that. The shark clearly felt some form of attachment to him, but it was like he was a bad omen. Of what, Beel didn't know. There was also the fact that he didn't remember him. That in itself was concerning. His childhood was traumatizing, but he didn't usually have problems with forgetting. If anything, he struggled with trying to forget. He felt like it had to be something God made him forget, which just caused more pain for him. It was another one of his choices that God just ripped away from him. He wouldn't have just abandoned Suds if he knew about him. He patted the sharks snout. "I'm sorry. You deserved better than this," he said sorrowfully, though maybe part of his sadness came from Dagon's depression manifestation. It was hard to tell.

"Yeah, I can do that." He moved down to the lower half of the cavern to start creating more food for him. Dagon had said he went on a rampage the last time he got sad.

SUDS: If he had a better understanding of language, Suds might've had a reaction to what Beel said. He didn't understand that Beel didn't know who he was. All he could tell was that Beel didn't understand what he meant. He didn't know what was coming for him, and that also made him sad. Maybe with more time, he could gain back more of himself. If he could remember more of who he was, he could warn him before it got too bad, but he was mostly just an animal. As Dagon redirected him and comforted him, his mind became hazier and less focused. The cognition usually only came in small bursts anyways before he felt almost brain dead again. He took the food that Beel had made, chomping down on it and releasing more blood into the water. As he chewed on it, he nuzzled up against Dagon while she petted him. Like with Beel, it pushed her back into the wall, but he wasn't pushing too hard to crush her.

GABRIEL: While Beel and Dagon had been having lunch earlier, Gabriel and Andy had been watching from a distance. Luckily, Gabe literally had the eyes of a hawk, so they could stay far enough away without being seen. After what had happened the previous night, Gabriel decided to switch up his methods. It was obvious that hunting the monster wasn't doing them any good. The beast singled out his units, and he could never get there in time to save them. He hadn't even been able to see the thing himself yet, but from the committee meeting today, he knew that Dagon knew where it was. It wasn't really his intention to kill the creature, but he couldn't let it kill any more people, angels, humans, or otherwise. He thought that Eden would've been a better place for it. She housed all sorts of environments and all levels of dangerous creatures. The giant shark might've been massive, but her garden was ever growing. She could've made sure it had all the food it needed without it having to hurt anyone.

The trouble was just catching it. Dagon hadn't been willing to tell him anything about it, nor would she admit to having it. He wouldn't have cared about her keeping most creatures. She was usually good at keeping dangerous things, but it felt like she was really dropping the ball on this one. It was killing so many people, his people, and it was like she didn't even care. He wasn't all that close to her, nor did he know her life or what she was going through, but it frustrated him to no end that it felt like she was just letting these things happen. A part of him considered that she just had no control over the situation, which made this all worse. If she couldn't keep her beast from eating other angels, what if it got hungry enough to turn around and eat her? He had already started taking more and more of his soldiers away from the water. As much as he would've liked them to help with protecting the humans and replenish the oceans with more food for the creature to focus on instead of the humans and angels, they were losing more lives than they were saving. It wasn't sustainable, but it made it more likely that the shark would get hungrier. He was frankly scared for Dagon's sake, and she wouldn't talk to him about it. He unfortunately had to take the sneakier route. He wouldn't let her die just because she wouldn't ask for help.

He wasn't surprised to see Dagon talking to Beel after the committee. They were both close, and it made sense that she'd meet him for lunch. What he didn't expect was that Beel looked like he was involved in this too. He considered for a moment that if Beel was involved in this, then Dagon might've actually had some protection from danger, but if he was involved, why wasn't he speaking up about this either? Gabriel still needed to investigate then. "They're moving," he told Andy who had accompanied him. It had originally been his plan to have Andy pull Dagon away while he dealt with the shark, but with Beel there, he hoped it'd be less of an issue. After giving Dagon and Beel a moment to make some distance, Gabriel flew down to the shore and dove into the water. His body changed form to work as something more aquatic, a sea kelpie. It allowed him to blend in to the ocean background a little more and stay out of sight of Dagon and Beel.

It got harder as they got into deeper waters. Gabriel didn't really ever go down this far, and it was getting really dark. Thankfully, Dagon's form was glowing, and for a while, it was leading them right to her. Unfortunately, as they got deeper into the sea caverns of the trench, more aquatic life was getting in their way. He wondered at first if maybe Dagon and Beel had caught onto them, but they kept going anyways. "Where did they go?" He muttered quietly to Andy, trying to keep his voice low, so Dagon and Beel wouldn't hear him if they were around. It took them some time, but eventually they came to an opening.

A light glow illuminated some of the cavern enough for Gabriel to see the giant shark. "Fuck," he muttered. Even hearing about how big it was didn't prepare him for its size. Even as an archangel, he felt a little intimidated. He couldn't see where Beel was, but he could see the blood spilling out from the shark's mouth. That glow was coming from the same spot where the shark was chowing down. He recalled the glow they'd been following earlier. "Dagon!" Panic creeped into his throat. "He's eating her!" he told Andy as if she couldn't see the same thing he was seeing. "Get Dagon to safety if you can. I'll distract the shark." He swam forward toward the shark, summoning a spear that he threw right over the shark, intentionally only grazing the top of his skin. "Hey, get away from her!" he told the shark.

DAGON: Beel was rarely unsettled by things. There wasn’t much that they hadn’t seen in their long lives, but Suds was a first. His sorrow for the creature was genuine. Dagon squeezed his hand in silent reassurance. “We can’t fix what happened to him, but we can give a good life moving forward. I think your curse might just be adopting wayward souls with me.” Misunderstood, abandoned, and broken things always seemed to fall into their path. As Beel prepared food for the shark, Dagon continued to coo and babble soothing things mostly for Suds benefit, but occasional for Beel’s sake too. She always talked to her animals as if they could talk back. They never really responded but it didn’t matter. She went on to tell Suds about hell, making promises that they’d terraform him a big space with lots of food. She planned to get the kids involved in that part. They could use the practice designing marine life and ecosystems. Things were going to be okay. Suds emotions seemed to level out once he had food in his stomach. She laughed as he nuzzled her and accidently pushed her against the wall. She allowed him to keep her there as she continued to pet his snout.

ANDROMEDA: Today was a weird day, but she wasn’t surprised it was leading up to this. Dagon hadn’t really given them much of a choice. It was clear she knew where the monster was. Andromeda did not find her attempts to redirect them amusing in the least. It was hard to tell how many people had lost their lives simply because she was sitting on valuable information. So, she and Gabriel decided to follow the demon out to lunch, from a distance of course. Andy picked at her meal. Stakeouts were generally boring. For her vantage point, she could see that Beel and Dagon seemed engrossed in some kind of conversation and for his sake Andromeda hoped he was just giving her a detailed recipe for fish tacos, but Gabriel’s eyes confirmed that Beel’s involvement went deeper than that. She wondered if his ex had a habit of dragging him into things or if he was involved in it from the beginning. Hopefully he was at least telling her how dangerous and stupid this all was. Even Steve Irwin died doing Steve Irwin shit.

Andromeda followed Gabriel into the water and quickly changed into a merform so that they could follow Dagon and Beel. They had to maintain a good distance in order to not be detected. She and Gabe were protectors of nature, but neither were delusional enough to think they knew the ocean better than the two beings they were trailing. It was smooth sailing so to speak until they found themselves in the trench. It was easy to get lost in the caverns and Dagon and Beel were moving pretty quickly through the place. Thankfully, Dagon’s form had changed to allow for a faint glow but given how far ahead the two were, she mostly looked like a dot until she disappeared altogether. “She’s a depression demon. Maybe she’ll get sad enough for us to pick up her energy.” The two angels continued to travel downward as if they were entering some new circle of hell until they eventually saw that faint glow. Sure enough, it was followed by a slight melancholy energy.

Andromeda peered over Gabriel in time to see the giant shark. At first, she thought maybe it was Beel given its size but then she noticed the blood and how close it was to the faint glowing light. Andy nodded at the command to get Dagon, or whatever remained of her, away from the beast. As Gabriel threw his spear, Andy sprang forward and started barreling for the glowing mermaid.

DAGON: She was just about to get up from her spot and tell Beel that it was probably time to try to move Suds out to hell, but then a spear came flying just above Suds. It landed in the sand not too far from Dagon. The demon froze as she heard someone shout her name. It was stupid given how long he’d been dead now, but her first thought was Poseidon. “Beel!” she shouted as she backed herself further into the cavern wall. “Beel!” But it wasn’t Beel that she saw charging toward her. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she tried to process Andromeda Avani coming right at her. “The fuck…”

BEELZEBUB: He appreciated the assurance Dagon was trying to give him, but he wasn't sure he could be comforted him on feelings he didn't quite understand himself. "I don't doubt that. I know that we can help him, but . . . I don't know. I just have this bad feeling. Something about the way he looked at me." He sighed. "I'll figure it out later," he sighed. Like Dagon had before, he really doubted that Suds was his curse. "It doesn't feel like a curse to adopt them," though sometimes it did make him wonder what could have been, and that hurt sometimes. He had moved on from Dagon, but that didn't necessarily mean he moved on from wanting a life like that again. He just went to work on making food as he listened to Dagon talk to Suds.

SUDS & GABRIEL: Suds had been through a lot of pain in his life. He'd been attacked and prodded, but most of it didn't actually do too much to him. As he snuggled up to Dagon, he felt the sharp sting of a blade scrape across his back. He didn't voice any pain. Sharks weren't known to make sounds, but he swirled around, chomping his teeth in the direction that the weapon had come from. He saw two figures. One stirred up more memories than the other. He recognized his brother, but the last time he had seen Gabriel had been after he died, and the Void strung up his corpse like a puppet to use against them. Suds wasn't going to let him hurt them again. He charged forward at him, only to notice the other one with him charging at Dagon. He froze for a second, looking between Andy and Gabriel, back and forth all in the span of a second before he charged at Andy.

Gabriel expected for the shark to come straight after him, most creatures didn't have much genuine thought besides just reactions, but he saw cognition in the sharks eyes for a moment. The problem was that it was considering who to kill, and unfortunately, it chose his best friend. "Andy, watch out!" he shouted at her. He swam forward, making it just in time to tackle her out of the way of the barreling shark.

Suds, being unable to turn that well in this space, slammed into the cavern wall. It shook the entire sea cavern and smashed a hole into the cavern wall. Debris rained down throughout the cavern but eventually settled. Suds shook himself before turning to the intruders. All real thought seemed to leave him, every one except for killing. He was full of rage now. It was all that he was. He only waited a second before charging at Gabriel and Andy again.

"Shit!" Gabriel muttered. He couldn't see Dagon through the debris, but he knew they couldn't go after her at the moment, not while the shark was after them. He hoped that Beel was nearby and could help her, but he couldn't see well enough to count on it. He assumed they must've split up at some point after he and Andy had lost sight of them. All they could do now was pull the shark away from Dagon and come back for her. Gabriel looked behind him at the cavern tunnels. They could try to lose it through there. "Hold on!" He told Andy. He shifted back into the form of Kelpie, so she could ride on his back. Once she had a good grip on him, he swam back through the tunnels as quick as he could. "We'll get back to Dagon after we get it away from her," he promised Andy.

Suds had no problem chasing after the two. All he saw was red. He'd nicked Gabriel's tail, and it was leaving a blood trail right to him. He raced through the cavern tunnels after him, going so fast that he couldn't turn well, and he crashed into walls several times. He didn't plan to let him get out of this alive.

BEELZEBUB: Beel had been focused on making food, letting it float up to Suds whenever he finished one. It was actually a fairly soothing process until he heard the sound of something hitting the sand, followed by a shout, the sound of chomping teeth, and Dagon calling his name. She sounded panicked, and he swam up from where he was quickly, following Dagon's glow. Suds was so massive that it was hard to see around him. All that Beel could see was that he rammed a wall and then fled down one of the tunnels. He made it to Dagon's side right after that. She didn't appear injured from what he could tell, but she looked just as confused as he felt. "Are you okay?" he asked. "What just happened? Where did Suds go?" He glanced over at the sand where a spear was stabbed into the ground. He recognized the design of the weapon. It stayed there for a moment before it recalled back to its owner. "Gabriel was here?"

DAGON & ANDROMEDA: She glanced at Suds when Beel remarked that there was something unnerving about the way the shark had looked at him. There were times she felt that way too about the creature, but she’d written it off as her imagination. When you treated creatures with a sense of personhood, it sometimes felt like they took on those qualities. But Beel had spent maybe 15 minutes with the shark and was seeing it too so perhaps there was some validity to what she was feeling. There was too much left for them to do and process so she left that thought alone for now. They could talk about it in the morning. She smiled when he remarked that it didn’t feel like a curse. She was going to ask if he was sure Murmur’s lack of a filter didn’t feel like a curse, but she knew what he would say. He loved those kids as if they were his own. Instead, she hugged him and held on a bit longer because he looked like he needed it before letting him go. Making food always helped him process whatever he needed to process.

Things were calm for a while until they weren't. Suds was quick to react to the spear by flashing his teeth at the individual who’d thrown it. But as soon as he saw that this was a two-fold attack, he turned his attention to the individual that was coming right at Dagon. “No, no, no…” Panic filled Dagon’s chest. “Andromeda go!”

Andy barely had time to react to the shark turning its attention to her. All she could see was rows upon rows of teeth with bits of flesh still stuck to them. Fear filled every bone in her body, but it did not paralyze her. She was about to draw up her own spear when Gabriel tackled her out of the way. The massive creature slammed into the wall as Gabriel pulled Andy forward and they went speeding down one of the open tunnels.

Dagon avoided the falling debris, but she couldn’t see anything over it. “Suds no!” she called after him once she caught a glimpse of his fin disappearing down the tunnel after Gabriel and Andy. A moment later, Beel was next to her. She was still trying to process what just happened, but she nodded to let him know she was okay. “Andromeda too. They must’ve followed us. I-I didn’t feel their presence until just now. I think they misunderstood Suds intentions and thought I was under attack,” she explained. She pushed herself off the cavern wall. “The switch flipped. He’s going to kill them. We have to get them into one of the smaller caverns.” They could mask Gabriel and Andy’s energy in one of the smaller spaces and ride out the wave until Suds calmed down. “They went this way, come on!”

Andromeda held onto Gabriel as he bolted through the tunnel in his kelpie form, but the beast was following closely behind them. All it would take was for them to hit a dead end and they would be shark food. The angel manifested her golden bow and arrow and took aim. She was hoping to take out the shark’s eye and temporarily blind him, but it was hard to get a good aim when they were moving so quickly through the water. She released her arrow, but it lodged into the shark’s dorsal fin instead of his eye. “He’s gaining on us!” she replied as she held on more tightly to Gabe. They needed to get out of this trench before it became their funeral hole.

BEELZEBUB: Beel took in his surroundings as Dagon told him what she knew. Beel hadn't spent much time with Suds, but it wasn't hard to understand the giant shark after spending even more than a minute with him. There was still blood all around Dagon from the seals Suds had been eating. He could see how that might've made it seem like Dagon was being mauled, but if Gabe and Andy had been following them, surely they would've known he was here. Beel wouldn't have just let something happen to her, but of course Gabe and Andy were already coming into this with their own ideas of Suds. They probably thought she got in over her head, but it didn't really matter right now. What mattered was what Suds thought, which was that they came to attack him in his territory. Beel looked in the direction that they fled through. There was a thin trail of red. He smelled the water as they followed after the group.

"Dagon . . ." he started. Concern and a little bit of fear filled his voice. "Gabe's bleeding. Suds isn't just angry. He's in a frenzy. And if he can actually make Gabe bleed. . ." It meant that Suds wasn't just a danger to angels but to archangels too. Beel had known that Suds was almost as large as he could be, but he didn't think he actually had the power of one. Beel didn't have much room to think that deeply as they swam through the tunnels, but thought of Suds's origins were troubling him once again. He wondered if maybe he'd broken off a piece of himself to make the beast. Maybe that was why he couldn't remember it. Maybe it took the memories with it. He still wasn't going to let it kill Andy or his brother. "We can cut them off this way!" He told Dagon as he turned down a tunnel that seemed at first like it was going in the opposite direction as the shark. "We wait here," he said as they got to a certain part of the tunnels. Beel could hear them coming in their direction. He made himself a little bigger, so he could keep Suds from going forward if he kept going down this way.

GABRIEL: Gabriel did his best to speed through the tunnels, but he was unfamiliar with them. Having a passenger was slowing him down, and so was the fact that his caudal fin, the main thing that propelled him through the water, had a tear in it and was bleeding. He didn't know if Andy was aware of it, but as long as blood was coming out of that, the shark would keep finding him. He was putting her in more danger by keeping her with him. Still, he kept swimming because it was all he could do to keep them both alive for now. "I know! I'm going as fast as I can!" he told Andy. He was praying on everything that they wouldn't come on a dead end.

His prayers seemed answered when he could see two specks down one of the tunnels. It was Dagon and Beel. He was relieved to see that Dagon was okay. Beel must've found her in time and healed her. The problem was that the shark was still close to his tail. He couldn't just lead it back to them. If he did, they might all be dead. He tried to keep an eye on his surroundings, even as he was barreling forward so fast. There was a split in the tunnels right before the tunnel where Dagon and Beel were. "Andy, I need you to trust me and let go of my mane." As he approached the split, he bucked her off towards the tunnel where Dagon and Beel were, using as much force as he could to make sure she got to them, before he went down the other tunnel. He couldn't turn all that well, and he hit the cavern wall. He did his best to recover and start swimming away, but Suds was faster. Gabriel screamed as Suds slammed him back into the wall. The cavern shook again, and the wall crumbled, blocking Dagon, Beel, and Andy from getting back to him this way. Thankfully, the debris falling provided Gabe a little bit of cover, so the shark couldn't find him immediately in it. Gabe was injured more though. He started swimming away, but the shark got the scent of his blood again. The chase was back on.

DAGON & ANDROMEDA: Dagon paused as Beel surveyed the scene. Suds had done enough damage to make Gabriel bleed? “That’s not…” she shook her head as she tried to process that. Most, if not all, the animals in creation couldn’t successfully bit down hard enough to actually tear into an Archangel. Even beings manifested by angels like her snakes barely caused a dent. “He can’t…” but he had. Where did this shark come from? She didn’t have much time to think on it as they continued to zoom down the tunnels. Archangels healed at a faster rate than regular angels but Suds had caught Gabriel’s scent. He was marked regardless. Dagon just hoped he’d heal fast enough to stand a fighting chance against the shark. She turned sharply to follow Beel down one of the tunnels, stopping where he’d indicated they could wait. “Two-fold barrier then?” she asked as Beel made himself slightly bigger. She figured he was going to ram the wall once Gabe and Andy were close enough. She could draw up wardings in front of the debris to act as a second barrier. She hoped that would exhaust Suds enough to be in a state where they could calm him down. It didn’t take long before she saw the spec that was Gabriel with Andromeda on his back followed by the massive monolith that was Suds. “Oh, they’re coming in hot,” she grimaced and got into position.

Andromeda furrowed her brows when Gabe said that he was going as fast as he could. She knew Gabriel’s speeds. He could go much faster. It only took her a split second to realize why he wasn’t going faster. She glanced backwards, regretting it slightly because every time she looked back the shark seemed to be closer than before, but now that she was concentrating on Gabriel she could see the injury to his fin. “Gabe you’re—” she whirled sharply when he asked her to trust him and let go of his mane. “Don’t you fucking dare, Gabriel!” Unfortunately, her protests were of no use. He bucked hard and despite her efforts, she couldn’t stay on. A moment later, she was skirting to a stop next to Dagon. “GABRIEL!” her screams shook the cavern as Gabriel pivoted down a different tunnel. Andy jumped forward to follow him again.

“Oh, what the fuck!” Dagon gave Beel an exasperated look when his brother suddenly changed tracks. She began tailing Andy, but just as they got to the mouth of the tunnel Gabe had entered, it collapsed in and blocked them out.

Andromeda slammed into the debris a couple times but the wall barely budged. She whirled on the two Princes standing before her. “I’m not losing another brother. Help me!” She slammed into the wall again and again.

Dagon gave her an empathetic look. Andromeda’s panic was deep and Dagon couldn’t blame her. She’d be the same way if something happened to her friends. She placed a hand on her shoulder.“Stop,” she told her. “It’ll take too long that way.” She glanced at Beel. “I think there’s a path on the lefthand side that converges with that tunnel.”

“You think?”

Dagon ignored the snippy remark. Andromeda was upset and scared and it was easy to lash out at them. “Go find your brother,” she told Beel. “But please be careful.” Gabriel was clearly drinking from the trough of stupid.

BEELZEBUB: Dagon was struggling with the reality of what her shark was capable of, but it didn't matter. That was the reality, but while it was horrifying, they didn't have the time to process it. He nodded when Dagon asked him his plans, but she didn't need him to answer to start working. She knew what he was doing. He prepared himself for Gabriel and Andy to come to them, but Gabriel wasn't reading from the same book that Dagon was. He should've come right to them, but instead, he veered down another path, throwing Andy to them instead. "Dammit, Gabe!" Beel muttered as he glanced at Andromeda. She looked like she was in far better shape than Gabriel, aside from being panicked and pissed off. He was going to tell Dagon to hold her back while he went after Gabriel and Suds, but then the walls came tumbling down. It was like the shark had the same plan he'd had. It was hard to tell if it was intentional or not. Sharks didn't usually think like that, but this wasn't an ordinary shark. Beel pushed on the wall to test it's strength, but even with him, there wasn't anywhere to move it. His guess was that it filled the tunnel far back. They'd be digging all day if they tried to get through this way, and by that time it would be too late.

Beel didn't think Andy would appreciate any comfort from Dagon, but it was better that they stay close to each other. He gave Dagon a look to tell her to make sure that Andy didn't get in the middle of this. "I will, but I don't plan on losing my brother either," he was speaking to Dagon, but he wanted Andy to hear that too. They both had family in danger here, and he wanted her to be aware that he was going to do everything to keep him alive. He turned around and swam quickly down the tunnel to find his brother.

GABRIEL: Gabriel's injuries were seriously slowing him down now, and with these tunnels so dark, he could barely see where he was going. He was pretty sure one of his arms was broken, but he couldn't stop. The shark was hot on his trail. They were both like fish in a glass case, bumping into the walls they couldn't see. The caverns were shaking constantly, debris raining down on them, but it didn't slow down the shark like it did for him. If he turned around, he was sure he'd see the shark's teeth right at his neck. "Beel!" Gabriel called out, hoping his brother would hear him and come to help him. Gabriel might not have thought it through on separating from the others, but he was smart enough to know that he couldn't actually fight this shark on his own.

GABRIEL & BEELZEBUB: "Gabe!" Beel called back to his brother, thankful to even hear his voice. "Follow my voice!" He hoped his brother would be able to. Caverns like this had a tendency to pass sound around strangely.

Gabriel did his best to listen to which way the sounds were coming from, but that was hard when he was also trying to avoid being eaten alive. "I'm trying! But I don't know how long I can keep going!"

"That's okay!" Beel tried to keep his voice calm, so he didn't scare Gabriel even more. He was also aware that Andy and Dagon weren't far behind him, and he didn't want to give Andy any more reason to jump into something she couldn't win. "You just have to meet me halfway! I'll get to you, I promise!"

Gabriel turned another corner quickly. Thankfully, the shark had more trouble turning. It went careening down a different tunnel, allowing Gabriel some more distance between them, but this wasn't the time to be relieved. He kept swimming towards his brother's voice, not looking back to see how close the shark was. "Are Dagon and Andy okay?"

Beel resisted saying something bitter about how they were never in as much danger as he was now. "Yes, they're fine. Just worry about getting yourself here now!" His voice was really close now. After going a little further, he could finally see him. Gabriel looked awful. His arm was bent oddly. The tear in his tail had gotten bigger, and he was covered in blood. The more concerning thing was . . . where was Suds? It didn't seem likely that he would just give up the hunt in the middle of a frenzy.

Gabriel saw that Beel stopped, and he stopped himself. Looking behind him, he was relieved to finally not see a giant shark chasing him. He felt like he was going to collapse. He sighed, slowly moving towards Beel. He could see Andy not too far behind Beel. He waved at all of them to let them know that he was okay. "Thank H-"

"NO!" Beel screamed as Suds came down through a tunnel that let out right above Gabriel. He opened his mouth as he plummeted straight down, chomping down once the archangel was in his mouth.

Gabriel let out a gasp as he lost every bit of air he had. When Suds raised his head back up, Gabriel's body hung half in and half out of the shark's mouth. He could feel the teeth slicing into his sides, and he screamed in pain. Suds didn't just swallow him down like most of his prey. It was like he was aware this time that his food might survive if he just tried to swallow it whole. He shook Gabriel's body first, spreading Gabriel's blood all around. Then he swayed his head from side to side to slam the body into the cavern walls. Gabriel wasn't screaming anymore. His body swung limply and lifelessly. Beel felt nauseous, but he was furious. He didn't accept Gabriel being dead, and he wasn't going to let this shark take his brother's life. He rushed forward at the same size as Suds, and he slammed into the shark, biting into his side. Suds tail whipped around to smack Beel away. He no longer saw Beel the way he had before. He was an enemy now. He swum around to circle Beel before lunging at him too. There wasn't much room to dodge in here, and he took a bite at Beel's side too. They both charged head to head, kicking up debris all around them. They looked so similar, it would've been hard to tell which one was which except for the fact that Suds still had Gabriel in his mouth, at least at first. As the fight went on, Gabriel fell deeper into Suds mouth. If things kept going as they were, Gabriel would be swallowed, and Beel didn't think they'd be able to get him out like Dagon did for Zoph. Beel looked back at Dagon for just a second. "I'm sorry, Dagon." He told her before his body changed from that of a shark to a merman. Archangel blade in hand, he stabbed upwards into the shark's heart. Suds squirmed for a moment before dropping lifelessly. Beel shrunk back down to his normal size. He pulled Gabriel out of Suds's teeth, carrying his body back to Andromeda. He grimaced as he moved. Gabriel had intense injuries, but there were plenty of marks to speak of the fight Beel just went through. A full chunk of skin had been peeled off his side, but he wasn't as bad off as his little brother. "He's alive, but you won't find anyone to do that here. Take him to Raph as quick as you can." Beel himself had used up too much energy and was too injured to be able to help Gabe anymore than he had, and Dagon was going to be going through too much pain to be able to help too. "And make sure he hears hell about this when he wakes up."

ANDROMEDA & DAGON: Dagon nodded at the silent order to keep herself and Andromeda out of the way. She was well aware this fight was far and above their skill range. She could only hope Andromeda would cooperate. She and Gabriel didn’t seem to be playing on the same chess board as Dagon and Beel were at the moment. She knew what Beel meant when he said he wasn’t planning on losing another brother either. She trusted that he’d find a non-violent way to get Gabe away from Suds, but if it came down to it she wouldn’t ask him to sacrifice his brother for this. She nodded her understanding. “Do what you need to do. Just come back in one piece.”

She watched as he swam away to find Gabriel. Andromeda was about to follow him but Dagon grabbed her shoulder. “Andy, we have to stay here. We can make ourselves useful in other ways. Gabe’s injured he’s going to need—"

Andromeda shoved Dagon’s hand off of her before whirling to look at her. Dagon stopped talking and the two stared at each other for a moment. In Andromeda’s opinion, Dagon’s was way too composed for someone who they thought had just been mauled by a shark. She didn’t have a scratch on her, her snakes weren’t even standing at a defensive position, and given how quickly she and Beel had shown up to the scene Beel wouldn’t have had time to heal her with that kind of precision. “You were never in any danger, were you?”

“No,” Dagon answered honestly. “Not from him, anyway.” But now they all were.

“It’s your pet, isn’t it? That’s why you’ve been holding back this entire time.” Her jaw clenched. “Where did it come from?” Gabriel was risking his life and it was all because Dagon didn’t want to tell them about her massive, angel eating pet. So they were going to talk about it now. “Did Beel make it for you? Is that why he’s involved?”

“He is my friend,” Dagon replied only for Andromeda to scoff. Dagon, again, ignored it though it was starting to test her patience. “Beel doesn’t recall making him. And before you ask he didn’t know about Suds before today.”

“You named it? Might as well have gone with Scrub Daddy.” She was exasperated. This thing was killing her entire unit and had Gabe locked in a pursuit, and yet Dagon was treating it like it was her pet.

“Yes, I named him. And I was training him—”

“Well, phenomenal work, Your Highness. Do you know how much destruction it caused last night? Or within the span of the last three months? Do you know how many friends I’ve lost? Do you even care?”

“Of course I care!” Her snakes snapped along with the sharpness of the words. “I’ve been trying to redirect you and Gabriel for months now to pull your unit out and focus on repopulating the marine life population. If you’d just listen—”

“If you’d just told us from the beginning we—”

“You’d what, Andromeda? Every step of the way today you and Gabriel have been in over your head and underestimating me the whole way through. I’m supposed to believe what? That you’d let me have any agency or control of the situation? That you wouldn’t shut me out? It was your best friend…the person you consider a brother, lied to my face about my best friend and the person that I consider my sibling. And you expect me to trust him just because some time’s passed?”

“Beelzebub did the same fucking thing and yet—”

“I’ve made Beel suffer for his bullshit plenty. And if you haven’t noticed, he didn’t get dragged into this until today for the exact same reason. Trust is earned, Andy. It’s not given.”

Andy stared at Dagon with calm composure but Dagon could feel the storm of emotions brewing underneath the surface. “You’re right,” Andy replied a bit too calmly. “Trust is earned. And you haven’t earned mine.” Andromeda rammed her shoulder into Dagon’s which sent Dagon sideways long enough for Andy to start swimming in the direction of Beel’s voice. She wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines and lose another brother. She hadn’t been there for Ramiel, but she could be here for Gabriel.

Dagon sighed and collected herself. Her form shifted again, still maintaining its bioluminescence but her snakes were now of the more deadly variety. Andromeda had taken off in the direction that Beel went, but Dagon took a different path that she knew would lead to the same destination. She arrived just as Andy entered the cavern where Beel was. It was just about that same time that Gabe came into view. Andy was relieved to see him. The shark didn’t appear to be following him. He just needed to make it over the—she screamed as the shark bit down on Gabriel. Andromeda lurched forward but Dagon’s snakes shot out and coiled themselves around Andy’s arms and legs. They pulled the angel further away from the scene so as to give Beel space to handle the situation in front of them.

“Let me go!” Andromeda demanded but Dagon’s snakes didn’t budge. The more Andy fought against them, the tighter the coil got. Andy felt helpless as she watched the shark swing Gabriel around like a rag doll. She wanted to scream and throw up and cry all at once. The scene was brutal enough that even Dagon had to look away. It was worse once Gabe stopped screaming. “Dagon please!”

Dagon felt for Andy but she couldn’t let her go. She’d only get in the way and make it harder for Beel to save his brother. “Andromeda, I know that you’re scared but I need you to listen to me.” She wouldn’t ask her to trust her because that ship was not in the dock today. “He can wound an Archangel. That’s not a fight Gabriel wants you in…”

“Oh fuck off!” Andy yelled at her. “What do you know about what Gabe wants?”

“I can make some educated guesses.” Mainly that he wouldn’t want his friend to die. “What’s your plan? I let you go and then what? You ram the shark? You’ll bounce off of him like a rubber ball. There are limits to what we can do, Andy.”

There were apparently limits for what Beel could do to stop Suds too. Dagon’s attention turned away from Andromeda for a moment when Beel called her by name. She saw him pull out his Archangel blade. The bioluminescence faded slowly from Dagon’s form and her snakes released their grip on Andromeda. Andy was relieved to see the blade and slightly annoyed Beel hadn’t used it early. He was finally going to put an end to this. She grabbed Dagon to keep her from intervening just as Beel stabbed the shark through the chest. Dagon’s scream echoed through the chamber like a loaded gun releasing with it a wave of depressive energy that forced Andy to let go. Her chest felt hollow as Beel brought Gabriel’s limp body forward. She was crying as she collected him. He was alive but barely. “He’s going to wish he was in hell when I’m done,” she muttered. Now that there wasn’t a risk of bringing a killer shark home, she opened up a portal to Heaven. She was done with this trench and its caverns. She walked through the portal and sealed it behind her.

Dagon had gone to Suds the moment Andromeda let her go. Her emotions were elevated as she stared at his lifeless body. It wasn’t just Suds there. It was Honesty. It was Courage. It was Belgirel. It was Belphegor. It was everything and everyone she’d ever loved and lost. She wasn’t going to lose him. She couldn’t. She pulled off her power dampening rings and dropped to her knees beside the shark. She placed her hand firmly on the wound and began pushing her power into him. She was able to bring smaller animals back to life, but she never tired with anything this size. She let out a ferocious scream as she unleashed a wave of healing energy. “Come on…come on….” she grunted, black spidery veins crawled up her arm. She was pushing too hard. “Come on…please, Suds. Please wake up.”

BEELZEBUB: Beel felt the depressive forces not long after he stabbed Suds. He knew it was coming, but there was nothing that could really prepare you for that level of overwhelming depression. As an archangel, he had more defenses against it, but when he was already feeling guilty about what he had to do, it made those emotions ten times worse. It was a miracle he was able to stand (or swim as it was), let alone carry Gabriel back to Andromeda. They were all crying, except for Gabriel who was too unconscious to feel anything, lucky for him, though he wouldn't be so lucky when he woke up and Andy had her way with him. Beel might've felt guilty about Suds attacking him, but he didn't feel guilty about him having to experience that. He deserved it, but at least Andy would make sure he got the help he needed as she left with his body in her arms.

Beel felt like he was going to collapse once they were gone. Dagon was still radiating depressing energy, but he didn't feel like he could do anything about it. Normally he would help her. He would've drawn up a ward to stop some of the power she was emanating, both to protect everyone else and protect her from the guilt over the damages. The problem was that he had no energy. He was covered in injuries, and the energy Dagon was radiating wasn't held back by her power dampeners this time. He felt so guilty. He felt heartbroken for Suds. He might not have known the shark long, but he'd felt connected to him. It felt like killing family or tearing out a piece of himself. He should've found a way to save him. Now, he suffered, and Dagon was suffering too. He pushed himself through the pain and the sorrow to swim back to Dagon and Suds. He let himself slide down next to Dagon and he put on arm on hers. "Dagon, you need to stop. I'm sorry. He's gone. You're just hurting yourself."

DAGON: She only became aware of Beel once he was kneeling beside her. She shook her head when he told her she needed to stop. She didn't care if she was hurting herself. She wanted to hurt. She led Gabe and Andy here. She was the reason Gabe threw his spear. She was the cause of the pursuit. Suds was gone and it was her fault. She pushed her healing magic a little harder, but it only made her sick. She let go of Suds as she turned in the opposite direction of Beel and puked. "It's my fault," she whispered. “You deserved so much better. I’m sorry.”

She rested her forehead against Sud’s snout. He didn’t respond or nuzzle her back. He was so cold. She was sobbing profusely, and she could feel her power building. Normally she kept a tight leash on it. It had been a very long time since she had a meltdown, but this one was a long time coming. “You need to go, Beel,” she heaved. It wasn’t that she was angry at him. Her anger was directed at herself and at Gabriel and Andy. She couldn’t contain the grief. He was already hurt and she didn’t want to add to it but she also knew Beel. It was pointless to ask him to go. No matter how hurt he was, he wouldn’t let her ride out her grief on her own. “I can’t—I can’t…”

She felt Beel’s hand on her back and the dam walls broke. Her grief exploded through the room causing the sea floor to quake around them. Dust and debris kicked up and a few of the caverns around them caved in. Dagon’s grief traveled on and upward. On the surface of the ocean, sailors began diving off of their ships and into the treacherous, stormy waters to be ripped apart and drown by the sea. The quaking of the sea floor triggered a tsunami that was now making its way to a nearby island. She was right when she said it looked like it was going to rain. A typhoon was building up in the atmosphere with the trench as its point of origin. There was no warning give and there was no time to prepare. Many lives would be lost as the demon mourned her losses.

BEELZEBUB: Beel felt ready to give up. He knew it was the depression talking, but it didn't sound like such a bad idea at the moment to let these cavern walls crumble and bury them all. He would've deserved it, but Dagon didn't. "It's not your fault, darling. You're not the one who killed him. I did. If you need someone to blame, blame me. I should've found a way to save Gabe without hurting him." The problem was just that his methods hadn't been working, and while he didn't want to hurt Suds, Suds seemed to have no problem hurting him. He was already hurt enough as it was. If the fight had gone on much longer, he probably would've been hurt as much as Gabe was, and if they were both out for the count, Suds might've gone on to hurt Andy and Dagon. He couldn't let that happen. 

"I can't go, Dagon." He couldn't leave her like this. Someone needed to be here for her, not just because she needed company but because he was scared of what might happen if someone wasn't here. If he left, and she killed herself, he would never forgive himself. Beyond that, he could barely move. Aside from the depression weighing him down, he was hurt bad. He didn't think he could get back up right now. His body would start healing a little at a time, but right now, he was stuck. "I'm not leaving you," he promised. As her grief exploded through the room again, he felt even worse. Everything hurt, emotionally and physically. He knew that this was going to cause massive damage, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything. He only leaned forward, letting his upper body tip over Dagon, so he could lean on her and wrap his arms around her. "I'm sorry. We'll get through this. I'm here for you," he said as they both rode out the waves of her depression. / END

[nerves-nebula]

NEXT ONE #3: She Listens.

I'll do this one too before I gotta go. This one doesn't require much backstory so it'll be a lot shorter!

So I wasn't well liked in school but in some grades I managed to have a friend or two, and every once-in-a-while I was able to have sleep overs. I usually tried going to other people's places since it was usually wayyyy better but sometimes people came over to wherever we lived at the time.

Not only do my adoptive parents have an EXTENSIVE process to even allow me to go somewhere outside of school (after we moved from a forest I wasn't allowed outside. There was cameras on my windows and all doors to the outside, plus their office had the view to my bedroom)

And that process deterred most people from trying to be friends with me because who wants to set up a meeting between parents, have phone calls, state exactly where you'll be and who will be there, etc? While most people got more freedom in high school I got wayyy less. I basically had no friends, or at least friends are "supposed to know each other outside of a specific class" so.. Their monitoring continued into highschool before covid hit, and now that we're in a pandemic it's impossible to make friends IRL

But the few times I was able to have sleep overs at my place, my adoptive mother would be somewhere out-of-sight but listening to everything said. You know how people try to have deeper conversations during sleep overs? I had to try to get my friends to not say anything too bad or anything that she would think is too ""corrupting my star-nature because the humans are infecting me"" sorta stuff.

Which lead to some awkward situations, and probably made people like me less tbh, but after the sleep overs ended she'd kinda "test" me on what was talked about. If there were things she didn't like she'd try to "cleanse me" so that "I would stay connected to the universe".

If she heard us up too late she'd also suddenly appear and be like "HEY. Aren't you all supposed to be sleeping?" because she didn't want to stay up too late listening to everything we said.

Outside of sleep overs if I ever laughed or anything in my room (next house had her office right beside my room so she could hear any conversations I had in online school or anything like that) she'd come to the door and ask me what I was doing lol. I'm still paranoid about how much noise I make though because I still feel like someone's always listening in or watching.

anyways that's that story! Nothing like a little bit of enforced paranoia to spice up your day xD <- you can laugh I am saying this to be funny with it

wow you weren't lying. That She do be Listens.

funny enough my mom also didnt want me going to sleepovers. Not that I was ever invited, but she also insisted on meeting the parents of the kids and all this stuff and I just didn't want to bother cause I had, DEBILITATING anxiety as a child :D

God I can't imagine how bad quarantine must have been for you. tbh not much changed for me, because I kind of never left the house anyway, but it was still Not Great cause my older brother was there.

I'm not super paranoid about how loud I am (outside of my awareness that I'm not very good at controlling my volume, like I'll get louder and louder until I suddenly realize I'm shouting and then stop) but I do get like, the opposite thing. Like, people shouted a lot in my house to call each other, right? It's a small house. But sometimes I get a sudden jolt cause I think I just heard my mom shouting for me, or my older brother stomping his way up the stairs, and then I realize I'm like 5 states away from them right now.

also, one summer my dad stayed home with us and got really annoyed that I was laughing with my girlfriend over call. I don't know why but I guess my constant JOY was grating on him or something cause it got to the point that once I noticed he was around I would stop talking/laughing entirely. But it didn't work cause he'd hear me before I could stop, and one day he came out to me while I was on the porch and said something like

"Just because you don't have a life doesn't mean nobody else does"

which was really hurtful but also very confusing??? Like I'm literally laughing, I'm having A Social Life right now, why are you mad at me??

MORAL OF THE STORY. fuck your parents and fuck mine to!

[myplushheart]

- FRANK -> “Oh, yeah, he’s my cousin. I annoy him a lot- for funsies. It’s good for him. It’s healthy for a family to bug each other. Heheh.”

- JULIE -> “Oh, I love her. She’s always got something new going on, with those games of hers. I don’t know how she does it, but it gets me out of the house, that’s for sure. Good for me. Good for us.”

- SALLY -> “I love participating in her plays. I don’t always get the part, but she always does.. it’s kind of annoying but also kind of charming, in a way. She always makes sure to invite me when there’s a new production of hers. She’s nice!”

- POPPY -> “I don’t talk to her much, honestly. I mean- she’s always nice, I just.. don’t have much in common with her. Sometimes I scare her by accident.”

- EDDIE -> “Hehehe. I love bugging him cause of Frank. If you think I can’t see two messes from afar, you’re horribly wrong. I might’ve planted some stuff into some mailboxes or gardens on purpose, in the past.. don’t tell ‘em, alright?”

- WALLY -> “..Walls is nice. I mean, I don’t know him well, but he seems nice. He doesn’t do much, like me, and I don’t really blame him, but it also.. kinda puts me on edge? I don’t click him with him well. But.. he’s nice. He’s fine.”

- HOWDY -> “Howdy’s a fun guy! I always like talking with him at the counter whenever I meet him! We seem to opposite eachother pretty well, somehow. It’s weird! But fun!”

- BARNABY -> “Oh, my good friend Barnaby. What a clown around town! I love him to bits. I’m probably not as close as Wallaby over there, is, but it only stings a little! Those two are charming to watch. Two peas in a pod, I tell ya. Barnaby’s actually been the one to encourage me to try new things and actually succeed, like one of his home famous hotdogs… fun stuff! Fun flavors.”

smthn i did for funsies

[wongyuseokie]

Posy Bee | k.m.g

Summary: Mingyu is your colleague and the walking definition of pretty privilege. His clumsy thumbs have broken more vases than you can count, yet he brings in the most orders to your shop. It's all thanks to his handsome face, it’s annoying and unfair, and you’ve vowed that if this week he breaks another vase, you’ll feed him a cactus.

☆ 18+ minors dni |☀︎fluff | ☁︎ angst | ♥ completed works

Word Count: 3081 words

Age: 18+

Pairings: Kim Mingyu x Female Reader

Genre/Trope(s)/AUs: Fluff and angst. Friends/Colleagues to lovers.

Content Warnings: Fluff, Mingyu being the most adorable and clumsy human. Who let him work in a flower shop, honestly? Mingyu is so flirty it is painful. All those fan calls where he’s flirting with carats did a number on me. Yelling, Mingyu’s clumsiness causes the reader to snap quite rudely at him. Reader snaps and yells at him, and Mingyu sulks A LOT. Swearing.

Smut Warnings: Mentions of arousal, but it’s mild, but still. Bed-breaking mentions. Sexual banter, but that’s it, really.

Authors Note: Thank you @here4btsfics, I can't thank you enough for always just letting me go on and on about Seventeen and Mingyu in general. You're such a delight, thank you for reading and beta'ing this and being an absolute angel 💕. Thank you also to @missgeniality, thank you for letting me drag you into the Seventeen stan life, it's been an absolute pleasure watching you simp along with me. Thank you for reading and giving me live reactions. I adore you too my bubs 💕 Banner Credits: @classicseffects Cross Posted to AO3 © wongyuseokie 2022. All rights reserved.

“Ah, shit!” You heard your coworker Mingyu swear, and you groaned, knowing that this was the second vase he broke today, and it wasn’t even lunchtime.

“Uh…Y/N, where is the vacuum cleaner?” You heard Mingyu ask nervously, and you counted to three, breathing deeply before walking over to him, carefully, of course.

“Mingyu, why don’t you let me do it?” You offered, trying to keep your composure.

“Do you not trust me?” Mingyu joked with an adorable pout on his handsome face.

“No, I do not. This is the second vase you broke in a day and the fifth this week, and it’s Tuesday,” you snapped, and Mingyu pouted more, nodding.

“Sorry,” Mingyu mumbled, looking down at the ground. Seeing how a 6-foot-tall man would shrink when scolded to the size of a puppy was cute. Damn Kim Mingyu and his sweetness. It was hard to stay mad at him.

It’s fine. You didn’t mean it. Why don’t you take orders from the two ladies who walked in? I’ll clean this up.” You suggested, and Mingyu mumbled a ‘sorry’ and headed over to wait on the ladies.

“You are such a sweet, handsome, kind man, and you know your flowers. Are you single?” You heard one of the ladies speak as you placed the vacuum cleaner behind the counter and smiled at their words. It was not uncommon for patrons to compliment Mingyu. He was effortlessly charming, kind, and easygoing. He was everything you ever wanted in a colleague; sometimes, you’d wonder how lucky you’d be to have a man like him.

That daydream was broken each time Mingyu broke, spilled, or knocked over something. So your days consisted of you daydreaming about him for 40 minutes until he broke something, and then you were rudely awakened.

“Ah, I am,” Mingyu responded to the order, and you turned to face him in surprise. You didn’t think he was. How was he single?

“Well, what about your lovely manager? She’s smiling so fondly at you,” the lady pushed, and you were starting to get annoyed, not just because she called you out. While the elderly were usually well-intentioned and meant the best, they often didn’t understand boundaries.

“I’m sure a wonderful person like her has someone. She isn’t someone you ever want to lose,” Mingyu said smoothly, and you were so tempted to smack him.

“I’m single, but I do not flirt with my employees. It is unprofessional, and I also don’t encourage or invite such nosey conversations either,” you answered.

Making sure to send a deathly glare to Mingyu and a softer glare to the lady who understood and gave you a gentle smile, quickly paid, and left the shop.

“That was kind of rude,” Mingyu mumbled.

“I’ll apologise, but you could have just stopped. What was with the whole wonderful person thing?” You countered, and Mingyu shrugged.

“I think you’re pretty cool, so I complimented you?” Mingyu said, unsure.

“Fine, thank you, but it was not your place,” you pushed, and Mingyu nodded.

“But really, I meant it. Anyone would be crazy to let you go,” Mingyu elaborated, and you sighed.

“Why, you’d keep me around?” You joked, and Mingyu nodded.

“You’d just keep me around to clean up your mess,” you mumbled, making Mingyu blush shyly.

“Possibly, you see, Y/N, I break a lot of things, but a heart is not one of them,” Mingyu claimed proudly, making you grin.

“Get back to work, Kim,” you mumbled, trying to fight off the smile on your face as you walked back to your office.

“Morning sunshine!” Mingyu greeted you the next day; he may as well have yelled it. It was too early in the morning. It was 10 am, but it was before your morning coffee, so it was too early. Way too early for him to be so chirpy.

“Oof, rough morning?” Mingyu asked when he saw the scowl on your face, and you shook your head at him.

“It’s early. How are you so happy?” You asked, making Mingyu laugh.

“Sunshine, it’s 10 am, not that early,” Mingyu said between giggles.

“Any time before my morning coffee is early,” you whined, and Mingyu laughed.

“It’s a good thing I grabbed you one then, right?” Mingyu chirped as he placed a brown bag in front of you. You immediately recognised the bag’s logo; it was your favourite coffee shop.

“Oh, my goodness, how did you know?” You asked excitedly.

“Simple, you always get this brand, and if you ever get anyone else coffee, you get it from here too, so yeah. There’s also a chocolate and a blueberry muffin inside. I got you both because I didn’t know which one you liked, actually,” Mingyu babbled, and you smiled fondly at him.

“Mingyu, thank you, you didn’t have to,” you mumbled shyly.

“I know,” Mingyu started to say as he leaned forward, his handsome face inches away from yours.

“I wanted to.”

“How are you single?” You asked later that evening. You had just put the closed sign in the window, and you were bored and decided to pester Mingyu instead.

“I’m sorry?” Mingyu asked, taken aback by your sudden question.

“The ladies, yesterday, you mentioned you were single. I’m just wondering how?” You elaborated as you plopped yourself onto his workstation, making him grin.

“Simple. I have no one to call mine, so that is how I’m single,” Mingyu teased, making you pout at him.

“Not satisfied with the answer?” Mingyu joked, and you shrugged.

“You’re tall, handsome, sweet, and give free food. How are you single?” You explained your question further, and Mingyu only smiled as he cleaned up his station.

“I don’t know how. I know I am. I could say the same for you. You’re pretty, funny, and sweet. How are you single?” Mingyu countered.

“I don’t give out free food,” you shot back with a smile.

“Right, that must be the winner. Free food, does that mean if I keep buying you breakfast, my single life will be a thing of the past?” Mingyu suggested as he inched closer to you.

“Uh,” you squeaked, unable to speak.

“I, um,” you stuttered. Was he always this handsome? Did his lips always look this soft and kissable? You thought to yourself.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a sudden wet sensation that fell on your trousers, and you knew it wasn’t arousal. Instead, it was the bottle of cleaning solution that Mingyu, while flirting, accidentally emptied onto your pants.

“Oh my gosh,” you both yelled in unison.

You hopped off the counter, cringing as the cleaning solution ran down your trousers. You felt it start to seep into your shoes.

“Y/N, I’m so sorry,” Mingyu apologised as he moved closer to try and help you, and you inched away.

“This isn’t how I’d ever want to get you wet,” Mingyu mumbled, and you glared at him.

“Do you think this is funny?” You asked, and Mingyu shook his head immediately.

“No, I was just trying to lighten the mood,” Mingyu defended, and you glared at him.

“Well, don’t. These trousers are new, and ugh. I’m going home. Can you lock up?” You said quickly, not wanting to get mad at Mingyu and not have a meltdown over trousers.

“Y/N,” Mingyu started to say until he saw how tired you looked and nodded quickly.

“Yeah, go. I’ll lock up,” Mingyu hurriedly said, and you nodded at him before grabbing your things and heading out.

You walked into the shop the following day to find a small teddy bear on your workstation, a brown box with cutlery on it, and your favourite coffee on the side. You turned to see Mingyu pouting from his workstation as he worked on another bouquet.

“Mingyu,” you spoke as you approached him. For a man so tall, he shrank so much when he was sulking that he looked like a puppy, just as cute and just as difficult to stay mad at.

“If you’re buying me breakfast because free food is a way to get my heart,” you started to say, and Mingyu shook his head furiously.

“No, I got it because I feel like a fucking fool, and also, how much did those pants cost? I’ll pay for the cleaning,” Mingyu babbled, and you placed a hand on his arm and squeezed gently to stop him.

“It’s okay,” you assured Mingyu as he continued to pout.

“A wash, and they’re good as new,” you continued, and Mingyu smiled softly.

“I feel horrible. I didn’t mean to,” Mingyu spoke as he tried to apologise again, and you squeezed his arm again.

“It’s okay, but if you want to make it up to me, maybe you can help me stay back and clean up tonight?” You asked, and Mingyu nodded eagerly.

“Of course, anything.”

“So, what did you mean when you said that wasn’t the way you’d want to get me wet last night?” You questioned later that evening as you two were cleaning up.

Your question made Mingyu hit his foot against a shelf in surprise.

“Uh, um. Nothing,” Mingyu mumbled as he shook his foot.

“Really?” You questioned with a grin, and Mingyu smiled shyly.

“I think I see it now,” you mumbled as you smiled fondly at him.

“See what?” Mingyu asked.

“Why are people so drawn to you? You’re hot and all, but also endearing—kind of hard to stay mad at you. You’re like a golden retriever. No matter how much you destroy the furniture, it’s damn near impossible to stay mad at you,” you explained, making Mingyu laugh.

“I’ve never broken furniture!” Mingyu protested, making you giggle.

“Not even a bed?” Your question with a smirk.

“Is that even possible? I haven’t had someone willing enough to test the theory with,” Mingyu said nonchalantly, making you gulp. Clearing your throat, you stood up and walked over to another shelf.

Standing next to Kim Mingyu was dangerous, not because he was devastatingly handsome, but because he could break something next to you.

“Can you grab the vase? I need to clean it.” You instructed, pointing to a peach-coloured vase left at Mingyu’s workstation.

“Yeah, sure, here you go,” Mingyu answered, his eyes widening as the vase slipped from his fingers and shattered onto the floor.

“Damn golden retriever,” you mumbled with a grin, and Mingyu let out a deep exhale.

“I’ll clean up. I know the drill,” Mingyu offered sheepishly, and you grinned at him as he bent down to pick up the bigger pieces of glasses. You leaned down carefully so that you were next to him.

“Thank you,” you said, leaning over to place a soft kiss on his cheek, immediately tinting his cheeks and ears pink with the action.

“It’s easier to kiss you like this, I guess, height advantage and all,” you mumbled as you stood back up, making Mingyu smile again as he stood in front of you.

“So, do I get a kiss from now on? If I break things?” Mingyu joked, and you shrugged.

“I don’t see why not, as long it’s not my heart,” you mumbled, and Mingyu stepped forward to close the gap between you two.

“Never your heart,” Mingyu repeated as he bent his head to press his lips against yours, making you melt. You had never experienced a tender, gentle, yet passionate kiss.

Mingyu pulled away, and it was your turn to look down, flustered.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Mingyu asked, and you nodded.

“Don’t forget to lock up, Kim,” you mumbled as you leaned up to place another kiss on his cheek and finally made your way out of the shop.

Today was just a bad day, a horrible day. You were slammed with orders left and right, all because Mingyu managed to charm more customers into buying more. While you were eternally grateful for the business, you weren’t so appreciative that he wasn’t helpful.

It wasn’t entirely his fault, his clumsy thumbs ensured that he wasn’t part of making a lot of the floral arrangements, but it was getting ridiculous. You needed to hire someone else, and just because you liked to kiss him didn’t mean you should keep him around, especially if he couldn’t make any arrangements.

You were putting the finishing touches on one of the more lavish arrangements when you heard a muffled crash at the front of the shop, and you lost it, but you knew there were customers outside, so you’d keep it together until the last customer left.

“Mingyu,” you said quietly as you approached Mingyu that evening, he was writing something in the order book, and you snapped.

“Stop taking orders, we can’t accommodate,” you snapped, and Mingyu placed the pencil down and looked up at you.

“But I can help. I’ve told you before I like art and decorations,” Mingyu argued, and you scoffed.

“You break everything you touch; I can’t keep you around or trust you to handle orders. I’ll worry that you’ll fuck up somewhere. Either it’ll be the vase that breaks, or it’ll break during the delivery,” you rambled, and Mingyu shrank with each accusation.

“You’ve never given me a chance. I wouldn’t screw up if it meant that much,” Mingyu countered, and you shook your head.

“You keep taking orders because all you have is charm, and that’s it. Mingyu, you don’t do any of the necessary work. Being charming isn’t enough,” you continued to hurl insults at him.

“Then why keep me around?” Mingyu asked, and you sighed.

“Because I thought you’d be responsible or, I don’t know, learn not to be a fuck up,” you ranted and bit your lip as soon as the words left your mouth, and you took a deep breath.

“A fuck up?” Mingyu repeated, looking down at the floor and then up at you.

“Mingyu, I didn’t mean it,” you tried to rush, and Mingyu shook his head.

“We don’t say things that we don’t mean,” Mingyu started to say. “At least I don’t. I told you I wouldn’t ever break your heart, but you just broke mine. You let your emotions get the best of you and let the best thing ever happen to you walk out the door. Consider this my one-week notice Y/N,” Mingyu stated as he stormed out of the flower shop, leaving you frustrated.

You’d fix it. You were determined to. You had to.

Over the following week, Mingyu barely spoke to or glanced at you, but he offered to lock up every night, so you let him. Today would be his last day at the flower shop, and you hadn’t managed to speak to him, let alone convince him to stay.

“Y/N, Mingyu, I must thank you both for the flowers,” you and Mingyu turned around to face the same lady who had been nosy about your love life a couple of weeks ago.

“You two love what you do so much. It translates in the service you give to each other, always top notch,” the customer complimented, and you both nodded, giving her stiff smiles.

“Ah, I apologise for overstepping, but Y/N, my grandson’s about your age, quite handsome too. He’s new in town and could do with friends his age. Would you be able to meet him for a coffee, maybe? Unless Mingyu here minds?” The lady asked with a wink, and Mingyu shrugged.

“Not a problem to me,” Mingyu said, even if his voice was strained.

“Unless your heart belongs to someone else, dear?” The lady asked, and you smiled softly at her.

“It does, but I think I broke his heart,” you admitted, and you noticed Mingyu turn to face you for a second before walking off.

“Was it his heart, my darling?” The lady asked, and you nodded.

“If it’s any consolation, he looks like a sad puppy, nothing a kiss and a hug can’t fix. He looks at you so adoringly. I can’t imagine him staying upset for long,” the lady advised, and you nodded, thanking her as you helped her with her purchases.

You were holed up in your office the rest of the day, unable to face Mingyu, and you certainly didn’t fancy saying goodbye to him either. Still, you had to, so you begrudgingly got out of your office and were Mingyu working at his station.

“Mingyu?” You spoke, making him turn around to face you.

“Oh, my goodness, Mingyu,” you said in awe as you took in the stunning bouquet.

“I told you I am creative,” Mingyu mumbled, and you walked closer to the arrangement.

“When?” You asked.

“Every night, when I told you I’d lock up, I’d add a bit to this and then lock up,” Mingyu admitted, and you turned around to face him again.

“Mingyu,” you started to say, and Mingyu shook his head.

“You’ve said enough. What you said that night wasn’t entirely wrong, a bit unkind, but I get it. You lashed out. I can be quite unhelpful, but I can do things right, and if you keep me, any damages I’ll pay out of my pocket, and I’ll help however and wherever,” Mingyu explained.

“You’ll stay?” You asked, and Mingyu nodded.

“The minute I implied it’d be my last week, I regretted it. I acted out of emotion, just like you,” Mingyu added, and you pouted at him.

“How can I ever make up for how I treated you?” You asked.

“Go on a date with me,” Mingyu answered.

“That simple?” You teased, and Mingyu shrugged.

“I just want to be with you again and steal more kisses and not break as much,” Mingyu admitted, making you smile as you nodded, and Mingyu moved forward, pulling you into his arms and moving his head to place his lips against yours.

His soft lips met yours. He used his full lips to his advantage, sucking your bottom lip, making you hum softly, and allowing him to deepen the kiss by slipping his tongue into your mouth.

Mingyu pulled away with a grin, and you smiled at him.

“You never broke my heart, by the way. I was being melodramatic,” Mingyu admitted, making you giggle.

“Is that what I can look forward to?” You asked, “Melodrama?”

“Yes, but I want to test out the bed-breaking theory. I promise you I am very serious about it,” Mingyu spoke.

“You know, with your luck, I’m sure you will break it.”

[yandereturningred]

Hey can I request a yandere Jesse?

Doesn’t he have a kid 😭😭😭

Been in the drafts for a while, so here it is

Tw: Yandere, Dubcon/Noncon [Mentioned]

He loves to draw you

You're a huge muse for him

When he first met you, you were both in highschool and he had been talking about starting a band with some of his friends

He was always a bit of an arrogant prick

You were both pursuing the arts, so you spent quite a bit of time together in high school

While you thought he was attractive, you didn't like the way he held himself above other people, acting better

Though one night your relationship changed, against your will

He had invited you a party that he and his friends were throwing, cause his band had potential

There were drinks, and you must have gotten a little drunk and handsy and Jesse took that as a sign to hook up with you

Then you ended up pregnant

You had cried, but it tied you and Jesse together

You feel inlove with your child instantly, feeling the spark, though you hated seeing him hold your kid

It made Jesse want another, which ended up happening a few years later

He had been so kind, so nice, and you feel into the trap and you hated yourself

A few months after having your second kid, the band just took off

Lucky [or unlucky] you, the band loved your kids and absolutely adored watching and hanging out with them

With him being so famous now, you feel like you're constantly being watched and everyone hates you

But that could also be Jesse's fault

"No one will ever love you"

"I'm the only person who loves you"

"You've had two kids, who would want you?"

"You can leave, but they're still my kids and I WILL be apart of their lives"

"I will always be your first and no one will have you like I have"

Though, when he loves you, damn does this man love you

The other members will tease you both over how annoying the PDA is or that you guys are loud

If you ever need a break, Jesse will take the kids, so you can rest

It almost makes you love Jesse

Well that is before you realize he baby trapped you and forced you in a relationship

[boop-le-snoot]

@buckyownsmylife hey babe! Remember that one time you threw that cool challenge? Here's my entry. Prepare to get absolutely ruined because daddy!Bruce is exactly that sort of man.

main masterlist ☀️ taglist

emotional support nerd

Your best friend's dad, Dr. Bruce Banner, is hotter than you thought he would be. 6k words, NSFW. Kind of Alt!Reader - she refers to herself as 'goth' in one instance. Tony Stark makes an appearance because God forbid I write a fanfic without him in it.

This is filthy pron, ft. age difference (reader is college aged) daddy kink, throat fucking, dirty talk, praise kink, cream pie, possessiveness, belly bulge and ending with a hint at a threesome. I really crammed all I could from Eyre's wheel in here, didn't I. Oh well.

"How much longer, dad?" Lyra's annoyed voice struck a chord within me. I tried to hide my snickering - unsuccessfully might I add - causing my best friend to shoot me a hurt look, equally fed up with me as she was fed up with her forgetful adopted father. "You know what, we'll take the subway."

Lyra's father's voice, both agitated and apologetic, reached my ears in bitten-off phrases as the traffic noises around us grew in volume, NYC rush hour rapidly approaching its peak.

With a sound huff, Lyra removed the phone from her ear, staring me down with the most amount of petulance I've ever seen on her usually reserved, placid face. "It's twenty more minutes. Apparently he's driving Tony's car," she offered in the way of explanation, like it actually did anything to better the cold, wet situation we found ourselves in. "Please, and I can't stress this enough, please don't be weird."

I felt a flood of amusement at Lyra's pleading tone. "Darling, if you wanted a normal friend, you should have looked elsewhere," I gestured to my outfit. I looked like a goth boy's wet dream: chunky platformed boots, fishnets, heavy eyeliner. Of course, all in black.

"You know what I mean," she whined, waving off my pointing hand and fixing me with a hard stare. "The least my dad needs is someone that is terrified of him just because sometimes he turns into a big green monkey. It's not as exciting as internet thinks, anyway," the last part of the sentence was mumbled but I heard it nonetheless as Lyra stared out into the traffic, clever eyes looking for a particular car model.

What Lyra didn't know was that I was not at all considering to be terrified by the man who dosed himself with radiation and developed an advanced version of split personality disorder. I could be intimidated by him, sure, because he was incredibly intelligent, a world class scientist with more PhDs than I had zeroes in my bank account, but even despite his green problem, Dr. Bruce Banner was about as far away from 'scary' as a man could be.

The few scarce pictures of him on the internet showed a short, stocky man with kind eyes and salt-and-pepper curls, always dressed in un-ironed, crumpled button-ups with dorky patterns. Looking at him, I mused that there was a high chance he spoke with a stutter and that fact amused me to no end. Jekyll and Hyde, alright.

Lyra was much the same way. Shy and reclusive, with curly brown hair and doe eyes, she spent a good chunk of her first semester in college being avoided by everybody because of her last name; I, on the other hand, avoided everyone out of habit, I'd never been a social butterfly, but the way people subtly made sure to exclude Lyra from all the activities filled me with quiet, seething rage, and I stepped over my general distaste of people and removed my bag from the seat next to me so Lyra could at least study in relative peace.

Yeah, yeah, you've heard it all, I'm sure. Weird goth chick adopts a socially awkward, shunned nerd and they become best friends forever. I had to admit that under the shy exterior, Lyra was smart, witty and even funny sometimes. She was willing to entertain my crude jokes without moaning, at least, and I was perfectly okay with listening to her rant about science every now and then.

Rain banged on the slanted roof of the café we were hiding in, the autumn wind howled, making both of us shiver at the prospect of having to go outside, even if it was for a short moment to run to Lyra's dad's car. The day had started out warm and sunny, but much like a badly calculated chemical formula, it all went downhill a split second after we had set out to leave campus.

"There he is," the grouch in Lyra's expression had me once again unsuccessfully attempting to conceal my snorting.

Nonetheless, I followed her out into the rain, struggling to keep up with the brisk running in my platformed shoes, unceremoniously crawling into the car behind her without sparing a glance at the driver in my eagerness to get out of the freezing downpour.

"Hi, dad," Lyra's tired voice spoke up at the same time as I angrily shook out my hair.

"I've just about McFuckin' had it with New York," I was afraid the dye in my hair would bleed out into my clothes, or even worse, the nice, cream-colored car seats.

"Hello, ladies," the voice that greeted us was low, gravelly and apologetic to boot.

My eyes shot up, meeting an expression full of surprise and amusement. I stared at the shockingly handsome face of Dr. Bruce Banner like a deer in the headlights.

The fine mimic wrinkles had stretched into a resemblance of a smile, soft, plush lips revealing a set of straight, white teeth. The five o'clock shadow framed his jaw, giving it a sharp, defined edge, his clever brown eyes slid down my form, faltering on the pentagram on my belt and my fishnet-covered legs, settling on my chunky boots before hastily snapping back up to my face.

"Dad, this is..." Lyra's voice was full of suspicious bewilderment as she attempted to dissipate the sudden awkwardness.

"Oh, yeah, I'm Dr. Bruce Banner, but you can call me Doc or Bruce," he cleared his throat, turning himself towards the windshield and starting up the car.

"Nice to meet you," I busied myself with putting away any stray hair just to occupy myself with something during the time I needed to recuperate from being just... Looked at by Lyra's dad.

It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I was so taken aback by his handsomeness and his aura of a gentle but powerful man that the ride to Stark tower, however swift, went on in slightly awkward silence. The streets outside were, thankfully, noisy, and the lack of an attempt to have a conversation could easily be attributed to Bruce's need to focus on the road, but Lyra's increasingly concerned looks did very little to settle the sudden racing of my heart.

"C'mon, I'll give you some sweats so you can let your..." Lyra's vague gesture towards my upper body disappeared behind her side of the door. "Hey, Tony," she suddenly interrupted her sentence, very obviously addressing another person who I managed to miss as Bruce parked in the spacious garage.

"I've been told you're finally bringing your friend, Green Pea," a voice I'd heard a thousand times on the TV poked fun at Lyra.

She bent down to retrieve her bag, shooting big eyes at me and mouthing an exaggerated "Sorry!"

Tony Stark looked about a week in debt on sleep, a contrast to the way he usually appeared in public. The exaggerated eyebrow raise made me shuffle awkwardly in my spot; the Led Zep tee caught my eyes as I lingered on it, aware of my own Mötorhead top on display. He noticed it too, causing his face leave the snide territory.

"Wow, I didn't expect kids these days to have any resemblance of taste in music but you've surprised me, Corpse Bride," he gave me a quiet wolf-whistle, watching me through lidded eyes.

I felt my eyebrow crawl upwards at his attitude but Bruce spoke up before I could say anything: "Tony, no," so firmly, I had to raise both of my eyebrows. I felt a smile tug at my lips, the situation strikingly familiar in it's essence. Like father, like daughter...

"No," Lyra's identical expression, fond and annoyed, topped up with an accusing finger pointed in my direction had everyone snorting a giggle at the situation.

"Lyra," I whined, just so I could coax her grin that she was very obviously trying to conceal. "See, I told you, every crazy genius needs their emotional support nerd," I fixed her with a pointed look.

She promptly grabbed me by the arm, leading all of us to the elevator as the two men behind us shared a hearty laugh at my well-timed joke. It was either that or I would have completely embarrassed myself by gaping and drooling over both THE Tony Stark and Lyra's father.

The rush didn't stop there. I was promptly and generously offered not only a spare pair of pants but also a whole room to stay in after an invitation to dinner I simply could not refuse. Dr. Banner firmly coaxed me into staying overnight with his pleading eyes and a hearty seasoning of guilt tripping, softly crooning how he simply could not let a young woman to wander the cold, rainy night in NYC alone.

Tony added something too, in a tone way too surefire and patronising. I guessed he noticed my eyes lingering on Dr. Banner, being a genius and all.

In a short amount of time, I found myself seated at a dinner table next to a happy, giggling Lyra who'd downed a glass of wine and was well into her second. I found it adorable how much of a lightweight she was; not hesitating in the slightest to point out that fact when she made hands for a pitcher of water.

Tony was the first one to snark back something vague about his college days and all the wild parties he used to throw, booing Bruce upon discovery that he, in fact, actually studied in college in favour of partaking in various illicit activities. That had both me and Tony giggling with Lyra promptly joining in, both of us losing it over the running joke or her being either a test tube baby or the result of immaculate conception.

Bruce's face blushed scarlet. He sputtered, a few stray drops of his lemonade landing on the (ironed!) collar of his purple shirt, cough disappearing in the wake of Tony's truly amused cackling. Dr. Banner was well on his way to either choke on his Lo Mein or turn green; thinking quickly, I decided to defuse a situation by sharing a harmless, funny story that happened to me as a freshman.

"I went on a date with this guy who said that music was the most important thing in his life, and I thought, wow, that's so beautiful!" I began my story over Lyra's incessant snickering. "So we had dinner and went back to his place because I'm a whore," the whole table erupted in laughter at my deadpan remark, Tony reaching over to give me a high five.

"And as we got there, he put on one of his demos which was just a bunch of sampled and remixed Guns'n'Roses songs, and I thought wow, that's gotta be one of the worst things I've ever heard," I pointedly looked away as Lyra's cackling grew in volume, having heard the same story several times by now and the outrage I expressed at the situation first hand.

"But instead of that I said, wow, that's so cool! Then we did the thing and his whole bedroom was covered in Axl Rose posters and I'm sure at some point Mr. Rose stared right up my asshole," there were tears streaming down Lyra's face as Tony flopped his upper body onto the table and Bruce convulsed helplessly in a silent fit of giggles. "And then I thought to myself: wow, I would have to pretend to like his music if I dated this guy and I just couldn't do that..." I breathed out, succumbing to the mirth at the dinner table. "It was good but not November Rain good, y'kno?"

Bruce snorted loudly, sliding down his chair with a hand over his face. The table shook with the force of Tony's cackling; I didn't see his expression but the howling, rasping noises sent me into another fit of laughter, right on par with Lyra.

"Is this..." Tony rapidly inhaled the much-needed oxygen. "Is this why you keep wincing whenever I play the 'Roses in the lab?" Tony wheezed and Lyra nodded.

"I just... I can picture it, and I-" she made a vague, encompassing gesture and a face.

"Please, don't," I urged with a snort. "There are better ways to get disappointed."

Dinner went on by smoothly after that, everybody happily making remarks on my dating fail, the topic of Lyra's birth and Tony's college shenanigans dismissed.

I caught Dr. Banner's pointed look as we finished our dessert - he was studying me, eyes searching for something that he very obviously wished was there. From the damp roots of my hair to the soft, cotton top clinging to my chest, I wasn't left unscrutinzed and unexamined. Like one of the many specimens he studied on a daily basis, Bruce lingered on the many characteristics that made me stand out in the grey crowd.

"Would you like to see the labs?" He asked, appearing behind me without a single sound.

The freshly cleaned dishes clattered in my arms. I'd almost dropped them, startled, but Bruce's hand landed on the top of the stack right before the top plate would have slipped off and shattered into pieces on the cold tile of his kitchen.

Blood rushed to my ears. "I'd love to," my brain had briefly returned to reality, the rush of meeting both Stark and Banner succumbing to logic and reason. My and his fields of study briefly overlapped, the question he posed was more than reasonable. In fact, many people would cheat, lie and steal to be in my position.

Bruce smiled, opening a cabinet and taking half of the dishes I was holding to stack them up in their proper place. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, exposing wide, muscular forearms littered with dark, coarse hair.

I was sure my face was flaming. After waving off Lyra's attempts to put shoes on me and leaving her to watch her TV show, a wide, warm palm rested on the back of my waist, gently steering me towards the elevator.

I tried to keep my eyes off Bruce in the large mirror on the walls of the car as it swiftly moved down, scrutinizing my appearance instead. My throat bobbed, the elevator car suddenly too small and too hot.

His eyes left marks on me - invisible ones, the kind that I knew were there just from the scorching heat sizzling on my skin.

There was a certain je ne sais quoi about him. Perhaps, it was in the way he was acting - a polar opposite of what I'd had expected, Dr. Bruce Banner possessed a quiet confidence and his patience appeared to be endless, heartily doused with an appreciation for his closest ones. The way his eyes lit up in response to people smiling around the dinner table was hard to miss.

When Bruce spoke about his research - whatever wasn't classified, anyway - the spark expanded into a mischievous fire. I could hardly understand the nuances in his work, scratch that- I could not understand a single word he was saying, at all. The individual syllables registered as they should, but my traitorous brain could only focus on the way he licked his lips in between quickly inhaled breaths.

"You're not... Following, are you?" The corner of his mouth lifted upwards, clever brown eyes fixed on my face.

God, I hoped I wasn't drooling. But to deny the obvious would have been a stretch. "No, not really," I swallowed, willing my eyes to lift from the large veins on the hand that was pointing at a set of equations. Reasonably good at math any day, they looked like the scribbles of a madman to me at the time.

Dr. Banner sighed, letting silence creep among the whirring machinery in the lab for a brief moment. "I don't scare you?" He removed his glasses, cleaning them with the corner of his shirt.

The question reeked of self-doubt and, perhaps, insecurity. "No," I answered simply, not giving him the slightest chance to find doubt in my words. I was barely holding my voice from shaking, afraid he'd misunderstand my reaction to the sudden change in atmosphere.

He was closer to me than I recalled. My hip was almost brushing his, the bulk of his shoulder millimeters from touching against my bare skin, the smell of something herbal, like tea, and sharp chemicals clouding my senses. It was such a contrasting experience.

Bruce turned to me, an expression between hunger and regret forcing me to shiver and look him straight in the eye. A hand landed on my waist, holding me in place with gentle firmness. "I'm a monster, I could hurt you," he whispered, leaning into me like a touch starved kitten. The man screamed contradiction. "We shouldn't."

Vivid images of the Hulk and the rampages years prior flashed through my mind; the rubble, the collateral damage in the form of many lives. I barely remembered it, having been too little to really understand what was going on. One thing, though, I knew for sure: ever since the world became aware of Lyra's existence, there had been no incidents. Sure, the Hulk still appeared when there was a threat, but there were no documented incidents of the green creature running amok, accidentally.

"You won't hurt me," I spoke with conviction. Perhaps, I was bluffing just slightly but I wouldn't lie like that to myself. The variable, the... Twelve or so percent chance of things going... Awry, it made a small, malicious worm inside of me rejoice and fill my limbs with familiar adrenalised yearning. "You're not a monster. Far from it, actually," I used the hand that was not supporting me against the desk to gently cradle the side of his face, letting my fingertips brush over the rough five o'clock shadow on his cheek.

Bruce emitted a sound somewhere between an agitated grown and a pleading whine, sagging with the sound exhale, pressing himself flush with my chest. His face slipped from my palm, the warm tip of his nose running a steady line up my neck, sending goosebumps running wildly down my back as his hot breath tickled the arch of my throat.

"Baby," the nickname punched a stuttered gasp out of me with the intensity contained in just that one word. "I've been hearing all these amazing things about you," his voice dropped, low baritone rumbling straight into my ear. "I won't be able to hold back. I'll want you all to myself," his bicep flexed under my hand.

My knees would have bucked if I wasn't grasping onto Bruce for dear life after those words. I had some sense of personal pride in me, so while my body was an easy, traitorous thing, my mind was more than eager to participate in this game, to ping pong a little bit before... "Yeah? What things?" I breathed.

Teeth briefly closed around my tender skin, nipping for just a second. "You're kind, beautiful," his hand took a steadfast hold on the back of my neck, exposing my throat to his mouth. More skin to mark, more time to whisper. "Intelligent, bright and clever," the more he spoke, the fiercer he became. Bruce's grasp tightened until I was pliant in it, willingly following his silent commands. "A bit of a pain in the ass," a healthy dose of humour was added into the mix as my ass was roughly grabbed, our fronts pressed together at his insistence.

"That sounds about right," I didn't resist the sudden urge to snark, thoughts lazily floating in my head, like clouds on a bright sunny day, fleeting and sparse. None of them caught on. I was focused on feeling the need, on my need to feel.

A sharp smack landed on the plump of my ass, the sound resonating in the eerily quiet lab. The sounds of machinery had dulled at some point, leaving just the two of us panting our lust into each other's space. "I know you can be a good girl. Will you, princess?" His fingertips dug into my flesh, surpassing the soft sweatpants as if they weren't even there.

I could only nod, dumbly, overcome by the sudden rush of blood to my body. The life coarsing through me sang, demanding a release of the pent-up tension.

"What's that?" Bruce removed himself from my neck, catching my unfocused eyes with a crooked smirk on his lips.

"Yes," I swallowed, breathing through my mouth.

"Mmm," he hummed, running both hands over my sides, over the frayed edges of my Mötorhead top. He admired it, briefly, setting his eyes on the band logo that was right over my breasts. Having decided something to himself, Bruce promptly removed it, lifting it over my head with ease and leaving it right on the science lab table.

Taking hold of my hand, he walked over to a hidden set of sliding doors that revealed a rather large, frequently used bed, shutting them just as I walked in, wearing only my bra and borrowed sweats. My back was pressed to the door in mere seconds, hot palms chasing away the chill of the lab as Bruce slotted his lips over mine.

He tasted like something I've never had before. His lips - so plush and supple, took hold of the kiss with practiced gusto, sucking me in without a chance or the desire to escape. I drank from him, sucked on the bottom lip as his tongue explored my mouth, danced with mine.

The room was spinning, the ringing in my ears growing in volume. I was only partly aware of the sensation of sliding down the wall; our knees thudded on the carpeted floor simultaneously, heavy breathing the only noise I could distinguish.

"Breathe, baby, that's it," Bruce coaxed, gently stroking my nape. The soft cotton of his shirt crumpled under my fingers where I held onto him, desperately searching something to ground myself with.

The buckle of his belt clattered and then clinked again as he wrapped the worn leather around my wrists, bringing them together in front of my chest. I exhaled sharply at the intimate gesture, a whine bubbling up from my chest when Bruce used a single fingertip to raise my chin.

My eyes met his; a brown iris tinged with the faintest of green around the outer edge. "This okay, princess?" He sought my face for confirmation, for agreement, for anything.

I nodded, stuttering mid-gesture, remembering our previous interaction. My mouth did not want to cooperate but I forced it to, even if it came out as little more than a pitiful mewl. "Yes, daddy," the word, sweet and sticky like fruit syrup, poured from my lips.

My eyes slid shut as my conscience - or was it common sense? - took hold of the situation. I was on my knees in front of my best friends dad, a virtual stranger, and I'd just-

Bruce's soft chuckle stopped the negative spiral of my thoughts. "That's my girl," he sounded a tad more breathless now, a hairliner in his perfect façade of self-control. As if he'd sensed my indecisiveness, he tugged on the makeshift restraints, pulling me closer, closer and into his lap.

A warm, solid chest with a healthy amount of fluff greeted me. Bruce let my lax, pliant body fall into his arms, catching me effortlessly and bringing my face to his lips. "You have nothing to be ashamed of, you're my good girl," he peppered soft kisses all over my flaming cheeks, my twitching nose, my fluttering lashes.

"Please," I begged, shame giving way to the flood of arousal that seemingly hit me all at once. I was aware of the dampness collecting in my panties, the stiffness of my limbs from holding back the ravenous desire to paw at Bruce like a wild animal. "Please, daddy..."

"I know, I know, baby girl," he soothed, not stopping his tender assault on my face. "Daddy will make it all better. I know just what you need," Bruce finally pulled away. I heard the sound of him undoing his zipper and then the awkward shuffle of him shucking off his pants.

Somewhere in between of all that, he'd ended up sitting down on the bed, wearing only his boxers, his shirt hanging open. The red crawled down his chest, partially masked by the coarse salt and pepper hair; his lips were cherry red and his hair was sticking out in odd directions. Bruce looked sinful.

My eyes inadvertently landed on the impressive bulge in his boxers; in response to my widened eyes, he reached out for it, stroking the outline of his thick cock through his boxers. "Like what you see, baby?"

"Yeah," My mouth watered.

"Baby wants a fat cock?" He teased, sounding like he knew exactly what he was doing, testing my self-control like that. With a flick of his wrist, it sprang free, slapping against his tummy, coating the fine hairs with drops of clear, musky fluid.

I swallowed, feeling the taste of him from afar and yearning for more where I was parked between his spread legs.

In a gesture almost loving, he tugged on the belt still wrapped around my wrists, bringing my face to his leaking shaft and my hands to the base of it, letting me feel the weight of his balls in them. The cock throbbed, neglected, weighed down by the heaviness of his full balls.

"Go ahead, baby, suck my cock," the encouragement came with a gentle push to my head.

I obediently followed, wrapping my lips around the pink, moist crown of it, a hum beginning in the back of my throat. My God, Bruce tasted heavenly... I whirled and slipped my tongue a around his head, I dipped into the slit to drink the nectar right from the tap, idly coming to awareness of the broken, choked moans coming from the man above me.

Raising my head got me a view of his chin; head thrown back, the lax O of his mouth glistened in the meager light. My eyes slid lower, to the flex of his abs. Bruce fought hard to stay still. The desire consumed me, a sudden rush of power at having Dr. Bruce Banner's cock in my mouth and the man at my mercy; I inhaled, sliding my mouth further and further down his throbbing length.

"Fuck," I heard him mutter before his hands gripped the sides of my face. "Hungry, baby, are you?" His eyes glowed a faint green; I shuddered at the power he held within himself. Held back for me. "Tap my thigh twice," he spoke and I had no choice but to obey. "Okay. Do that if it gets too much, alright?" I nodded. He gave me a wide, beaming smile. "Good girl," he praised, experimentally bucking his hips into my mouth a few times.

In and out. I focused on my breathing, sharp, little inhales: his girth took up all the free space in my mouth, the tip of it barely fit into my throat. The burn, the stretch; I felt every tenth of an inch, every bulging attempt of my body to accommodate Bruce's huge cock. It was delicious, I couldn't help but crave the same stretch in my neglected, sopping wet pussy.

"Fuck, you're taking it so well," Bruce moaned wetly. "Your mouth... S'like heaven... Could fuck it all day, that's my good girl," the rambling increased in it's intensity as the pace of his hips hastened. Drool and tears flowed like a river; my chin was dropping with it, spit connected my face to his pelvis. "Oh," there was a brief pause to his movements; suddenly, he pulled out, fisting the base of his cock, staring me down with a ferocious gleem in his eye.

I must've looked a straight mess; my face like a crime scene, my clothes disheveled, covered in fluids and most of all - I was desperately grinding against my own feet, too focused on the glorious cock in front of me to notice the weakness of my own flesh. "Daddy?" I questioned, wincing at the grating of my own voice.

Without a word, the belt was tugged once more; in a set of movements just slightly north of acrobatic, I found myself laying on my back in the middle of the bed, my sweatpants suffering a haste demise in the corner of the room.

Bruce crawled atop me, leaving a trail of sloppy kisses on every inch of my skin he could reach, mouthing something inaudible into every pore of my body. As he drew closer, I discerned bitten-off phrases, stringing my desire into sticky, tangy mess at the apex of my thighs.

"My perfect baby girl," the words reached me; all tongue, he kissed me once more, arching into me as much as I arched into his hot grasp. A brief inspection of my face - he was satisfied with what he saw - and Bruce crawled back, settling in between my spread legs, breathing hot air on the lips of my sex still covered by a sopping wet piece of fabric.

"Oh fuck," I yelped, feeling him smooch it soundly, the hot wetness of his tongue penetrating the meagre lace barrier with ease.

He moved it aside anyway, with a single finger, giving my pussy a broad lick, moaning into my cunt like a man gone mad. It took a few more licks for him to feel sated enough to surface, all the while holding my hips down. I was so sensitive, I felt even the tiniest flicks to my clit, I was sure if I didn't cum then and there, I would explode.

"Such a pretty pussy, princess," his heavy breathing paused briefly. He nipped my thigh. "So wet, is that all for me?"

"Yes, yes, daddy," I rasped, pushing my cunt into his face, losing all shame and trepidation.

"So tasty," he continued the torture, outlining my lower lips before taking another nosedive right into it, swirling his tongue around every fold, sucking onto my clit.

Bruce ate my pussy until my thighs shook, until my core quivered and I could no longer hold back the choked, ragged screams starting somewhere in the low of my belly and coming out as unholy, all-consuming yowls filled with unadulterated lust.

"Louder for me, baby," he inhaled rapidly, and then, he sucked on my clit.

The world stopped, halted on it's axis, every muscle going rigid in my body and every nerve ending simultaneously coming alive. Faintly, I heard a chant, repeating two syllables over and over, it sounded like my voice - but I had no control over myself. All I could do was weakly grind my hips against Bruce's mouth, faltering when the crashing waves of my orgasm began to recede.

The infuriating overstimulation stopped; blinking hazily, I saw Bruce's eyes glimmer brown and green in front of my face. His nose and his chin was glistening with a thin coat of sticky fluid; disheveled and red, he looked a man on the verge of a revelation.

Something hot and blunt nosed at my cunt, bringing back the moment to me - I realized, with a great deal of impatience - how empty I felt. The decision was minute. "Daddy, fuck me, please, I want your cock," the words came easily.

"That's my girl," his eyes fluttered shut as the first inches squeezed through the snug of my cunt. I was sopping wet and as relaxed as I'd be, but even then, it was a stretch. "Good girl, good baby," the mumbled praise made me whine and my pussy clamp on his cock. "Relax, let daddy fill you up." Breathing through it, I consciously unwound myself around him, letting my palms rest freely on his shoulders. "Let daddy take care of you."

Like melted sugar, his husked words stuck to me inside and out. Short, sharp thrusts; Bruce was patiently burrowing himself inside of me, making his way to reach the deepest parts of me I didn't even know existed. His cock head pressed against something hard and spongy inside of me; stars burst behind my eyes I'd clamped shut on reflex.

I moaned weakly, tugging on his arm, pressing myself closer. It felt so, so good. Like a raw nerve had been exposed and he was stroking it, pushing that little switch with every stroke of his hips.

"I'm not gonna last," he muttered as once again, my cunt squeezed him snugly in place, just as greedy as I was to feel that tiny explosion spark up within me again.

"I want..." I panted. Bruce set in a punishing pace after that, a palm under my ass, squeezing it so hard there would definitely be bruising. I craved it, I needed to see the evidence this was not some elaborate fever dream. "I want... Daddy to fill me up," words came out garbled; it sounded like gibberish to my ears but Bruce - they spurred him on.

"Oh yeah?" That breathless, boyish cockiness was back in his voice again; despite how fucked out he sounded, I prepared myself for something truly out of this world. I just knew.

He sat back on his shins, dragging me by the hips with him, making me shiver and moan and twitch and clamp onto him again as his throbbing cock hit that special spot again. And again. And again.

"Look at me, baby," a hand on my belly and his eyes burning right through me. As they slid down, towards the apex of my thighs where he was still moving within me almost lazily, I saw it.

"Oh fuck," I couldn't utter much more than a two-syllabled profanity. There was a bulge in my belly, just above my pelvis, moving in rhythm with Bruce's hips. And then he pressed on it and I-

Something, someone, somewhere was screaming. The noise was loud and pitched, but even then, I could barely hear it though the neverending waves of bliss that enveloped my whole being. Gold and silver at the edges of my rapidly darkening vision; I was drowning in something that smelled and felt like Bruce. The safety of his arms, the warmth of his heated body, the rapid snapping of his hips-

Oh.

"I'm gonna, fuck," the last word was but a ghost of a human speech. Growling low and filthy, Bruce leaned into my ear, his breath hot and moist. "Mine," his hips stuttered, his cock nestled deep, the sensation bordering on painful, forcefully extracted pleasure. It throbbed with every spurt of his seed; each one felt like a solid punch in the gut to my abused pussy.

"Daddy," I mewled, my body jerking away from him but my mind and my soul yearning for more. His rapidly softening flesh made the idea of being separated unbearable.

"S'good, s'my good girl, m'so proud," he mumbled, looking slightly disoriented as he removed himself from me, immediately pressing me to his side and interwining any free, flailing limbs.

We laid in silence, each of us slowly coming back to Earth after the completely unreal experience we just had. I didn't know what to think, didn't know what to do as the realization set in, the post-orgasmic haze giving way to a sudden rush of clarity.

"I can hear you overthinking," Bruce's voice was fond.

Before I could muster up the courage to snark back, the divided doors opened, one very concerned Tony Stark standing there, armed with a tranquilizer gun in one hand and a pack of cookies in the other. His mouth, previously open to (probably) yell at us, remained as open when his eyes had registered the scene in front of him.

I stared at Bruce. Bruce stared at Tony.

"The noise," he offered in the way of explanation, dangling the pack of cookies, looking, for once - speechless. He recovered quickly, however, even if the remark was a thin ghost of his usual sass: "You pick the nerd over me? I'm hurt," he scoffed in mock irritation, although I was pretty sure I saw some satisfaction in there, too.

Bruce looked at me. I looked at Bruce.

A mischievous grin slowly crept up his face, an identical one beginning to appear on my own face seconds after.

"Hey, two nerds is better than one, right?" My response is what did it; or, rather, it was the evidence of my previous throat-fucking clearly audible in my voice... Tony dropped the cookies and then, the tranq gun.

Bruce Banner taglist: @pilloclock @mikariell95 @letsby @sleep-i-ness @toomanyrobins @persephonehemingway @mostly-marvel-musings @schemefrenzy @lillsxd @bluecrazedandbeautiful @slothspaghettiwrites @sapphicnoodle69 @couldntbedamned @xoxabs88xox @marvelsbanner @tripleyeeet @tatestripedsweater @stuckybarton

[shititbe]

Anyway, Peter Parker is Bi, and I Won’t Be Convinced Otherwise.

Firstly, we have to get our bases covered. What exactly is Bi-sexuality? What is sexuality? 

Sexuality is defined as a persons identity in relation to gender(s) they are attracted to. Why is this important? Peter’s sexuality has never been specifically stated in the comics, nor in any other form of media. It’s assumed that he is straight because of his popular relationship with Mary Jane Watson in the comics, and the movies. 

Now that we have a bases for what exactly sexuality is and how it’s defined, let’s go over Peter’s partners. 

Obviously Peter and Mary Jane are a piece of comic book history. They eventually get married, though sadly, during the events of Civil War II (I think, don’t quote me) Peter and Mary Jane sell their marriage to Mephisto in order to save Aunt May

They later had their memories of their marriage restored, they have yet to get back together and it’s been a few issues if I remember correctly. Next we have Peter’s first, and most unfortunate love, Gwen Stacy. 

They dated in high school where she later died. Of course, Peter has dated other people (namely, Black Cat, Betty Brant, Carol Danvers, Anna Maria, Cindy Moon, Lian Tang, and so on). Since we have his known history of heterosexuality out there, we need to move onto another important part of Peter’s Bi-sexuality. An important implication in any media, especially queer media though, and that is the homoerotic subtext. 

Homoerotic subtext is important part of queer culture, a lot of the time it’s used to portray a characters queerness without saying it out (see: Dorian Gray by Oscar Wild or Great Gatsby By Fitz). In current decade, homoerotic subtext is often used for queer baiting or creating more realistic male friendships. 

So what’s the difference between someone creating a health male friendship (or a character comfortable in their heterosexuality) and implying a character is queer? 

Here are some examples of a healthy male character, both with himself and his friendships.  

Clearly he’s just taking the shit, and messing around with Reed. He’s comfortable enough (or as I like to see it, so traumatized because good god this guy has been Spider-Man since he was 15 good god that’s awful. He probably doesn’t care anymore). Here are some examples of Peter a little more than just a straight man shooting the shit. 

This has three meanings. Two of which I will take, one of which is just deeply embarrassing. Despite Peter’s history with humiliating events, I don’t think he would get his own spunk in his eyes. Leaving the other two options, he has experience getting spunk of - some kind - in his eyes, and/or he’s taking the shit again. Which is very likely. 

Kissing a cop? For....no reason? A little not so hetero of you Peter. 

You can practically hear his disappointment in his voice. Also could be read as taking the shit, but why would you. 

Making out with The Thing? Gay. 

This one is the most important. Peter is clearly tired, annoyed by his teammates (see wolverine being wolverine in the corner). Shits on fire, its mid battle, and Peter has the audacity to mutter “I hate men” to himself. The only people I have every heard say this in that was are lgbt and straight women, and lgbt men. This kind of expression only comes from people who date, or deal with men in a completely different world than straight men. Straight men use this phrase as an endearment, “Oh have you seen Bill today, I hate that guy.” “Man Jerry can do so many push-ups, I hate that guy.” Very different language, and implications (I also, obviously don’t know how straight men speak). 

 Now that we’ve gone over our bases, and homoerotic subtext. How else could we gather that Peter Parker is Bi? There are many tropes in media - queer media - that allure to a characters queerness. Like homoerotic subtext, there are ways to tell an audience something without specifically saying it. 

This is a gay wedding Peter went to in the recent comics. I don’t know if any of you have been to a gay wedding recently, but Peters face (the first panel above the wedding) is the same exact face I made at my first gay wedding. It’s the face of excitement for not only the couple, but for yourself. The hope that maybe, you too can actually be in a same-sex relationship. 

I’m also going to allure to queer tropes as stated previously. Such as the real, and fictional trope of lgbt people sticking together. Thousands of years of belittlement and oppression will make groups of people not want to wonder out, and subconsciously look for others like them. 

Johnny Storm (and Wade Wilson since he comes in later but I couldn’t find a picture of the confirmation) is cannon Bi-sexual (Pan-sexual). 

Their friendship is deeply homoerotic as most queer friendships in media and real life are. Johnny flirts with Peter on many occasions (saying his ideal women is a female version of Peter, inviting him over to watch is sex tape, and so on) and of course oh my god they were roommates. 

Some other popular queer tropes are: Found Family, Soulmates, and Enemies to lovers. Because it’s superhero related, this includes the Identity Porn tag as well.  

Peter Parker and Wade Wilson have a famous Love/Hate relationship. I mean, how could you expect anything less when your first meeting with this known mercenary is him throwing your civilian persona out the window of a car. Now, Wade still doesn’t know Peter is Spider-Man in the current run of comics, but that doesn’t make anything about them any less gay. 

For the Found Family Trope: 

Because it’s Peter and Wade, their whole development can be read as Enemies to Friends to Lovers, so I wont bother backing that up because, uh, it speaks for itself. One panel really does to add that cause though 

I’m not going to explain what a free-pass list is.

The Soulmates part I know I have to back up. 

For SoulMates:  

Now this panel requires a little explanation. Wade kills Peter, not knowing he’s Spider-Man. Weasel takes over for Peter (they don’t know its him) so no one suspects he’s dead. Deadpool begins to feel guilty he killed his best buds best bud, so he tries to bring Peter back to life. Losing his stunning good looks (switching back to how he looked before Weapon X making his wife Shiklah estranged (then she married Dracula but thats beside the point)). Spider-Man is Peter’s “true self” or patronus for Harry Potter fans. Wade is stupid and hasn’t connected the dots yet, effectively making him the biggest simp in history. Seriously, who destroys their marriage for the c h a n c e for getting some with their idol? A Simp, that’s who.

Peter forgives Wade for killing him (and for saving him from killing their genetic daughter itsy-bitsy). If someone killed me they better be hot as fuck before I even thing about forgiving them. Ignoring Peter’s super sexy forgiving nature, uh, he’s kinda simping. 

Died in each others arms. Nothing else is needed. 

They’re heartmates. From what I read, the feeling has to be mutual in order for it to work. The witches (long story, comics are hard to explain) that captured deadpool were expecting his wife so they could get the headmistress back. Instead, they got Peter. Basically Heartmates = soulmates but chosen for you instead of chosen by you. 

To conclude my point: 

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. 

[snoopdoodle]

OMG!! Snoop, it was amazing! I’m a little sad that, I didn’t find about you until now. Your writing is so great! And are your request open or are you not taking request right now because of the collaborative. (It’s ok if there not)You can make a part 2 of Ranboo dad Reader. 🏳️‍🌈 Anarchy [I say this with all of my favorite authors, but if I’m bothering you tell me please tell me]

Ahh!! Anarchy the beloved!! Of course you can have a part 2!! The link for part 1 is right below !! Also, if I had spaced this out like I was taught in english, this would be hella long-

FIRST PART \\ THRID PART

--------

Dad, but not // pt. 2

platonic!ranboo x male!reader, platonic!benchtrio x male!reader

pronouns: he/him

summary: kinda angsty second part to my story

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

You cackled in the background as your son was blown up by a creeper. Your laugh was contagious as Tubbo started laughing with you. You slapped your knee from laughing so much. Tubbo tried to stand up, but he fell, which made you all laugh harder. “Don’t get an aneurysm, dad,” Ranboo told, and this just made you suffocate more. “Holy sh-i-i-i-t, hehe..” you spoke between laughter. “‘Don’t get an aneurysm’- heh-HEH” You tried to quote, but it just turned into a coughing/laughing fit. You groaned as your throat felt sore. “Dad, please don’t die,” Your son worried, and you pat his shoulder. “Not dying any time soon,” You started, your smile kind of turning forced.

You’d yet to tell the boys, Ranboo and his friends, that you would be leaving soon. You were happy and upset. You were only in England to do work. You could rent out a place here and leave it to one of your English friends who works in England as well. Maybe you could just buy a house here… no that would cost too much- “DAD! Are you ok? You’re zoning out.” Ranboo asked. You hadn’t realized it yet, but you had been ignoring Ranboo speaking to you. When Tubbo tried, you didn’t even reply. The both of them and chat had started to get worried. Ranboo ended up grabbing your shoulders and shaking them a few times.

“Y-yeah, I-I-I’m ok boys, I think I need to sit down for a second,” you informed. Now they were even more worried. You sat down on the couch and put your face in your hands. You had a killer headache. ‘I’m overworking myself.’ you thought, annoyed. You had asked your boss for a break multiple times, but he hadn’t responded. You thought about it for another second before deciding. You would skip a few days of work, hang out with the boys, then you would tell them. Or you’d tell them, then have your fun day…. days. Telling them after seems better. “Alrighty, I think we’re gonna end stream now, folks! Have a good day, bye!” Ranboo spoke. That was what snapped you out of your ideas.

Ranboo turned to you and sadly smiled. “You doing ok, pops?” He asked, He rarely used that name for you. Of course, you felt bad. You stood up, ignoring the sharp pain that came to your head. “Don’t worry about be kiddo… and I’m sorry for making you worry. I was thinking of stuff,” You answered, smiling as you felt Ranboo un-tense and lean into the hug. Tubbo huffed and walked into the hug as well. You moved your arm so it was wrapped around both of the boys. “By the way, Tubbo, do you have any Tylenol… or Aspirin?” You asked, ruining the mood, but making the 2 laugh.

“Yeah, we do. I’ll go get you some,” He spoke as he left the hug. Ranboo let go so Tubbo could get you some meds for your headache. Ranboo smiled, asking you s question. “So, what were you thinking of that had you so…” He stopped, as he couldn’t think of the word. “Disassociated?” You replied, “Yeah, I was thinking we could do something together. Me, you, Tommy, Tubbo, and maybe someone else if you want to invite someone.” You informed. Ranboo’s smile widened and he nodded his head. “Y-yeah! That sounds awesome!” He grinned. He hadn’t taken off his mask or glasses, but you could feel the happiness radiating off him.

“Ok, ok, kid. Let me get it planned, alright?” You spoke, chuckling. You had ford a smile onto your face as Tubbo came back into the room. He handed you the meds and a glass of water. You nodded a silent ‘ thank you ‘ to him. Ranboo grabbed Tubbo’s hand and dragged him to watch a movie. “You coming, dad?” he asked, you shook your head no and pointed to your phone and he gave a look of understanding. You walked outside and took note of the stormy clouds. You dialed the number and gave a smile when she answered. “Hey, Kristin,” you greeted into the phone. You smiled as she gave a polite hello back. “I need to ask you something,” you started. “Hm?” She hummed. You could hear her cooking in the background.

“I have to tell the boys that I’m goin’ back home soo, and I don’t know how..” You ranted, frowning into the phone. You heard a creak and turned around. The door was open. “Hm?” You questioned. You closed that door, didn’t you? Oh well. You walked back to the door and shut it firmly. “Well, I’d say you just flat out tell them. You should see how they take it, and then do something with them,” You laughed into the phone and shook your head. “That was my plan already!” You exclaimed with a grin. She laughed into the phone and you could hear her tap the counter. “Well I say you just go with your plan,” She told you. You grinned and nodded.

“Alrighty then, have a good day, Kristin,” you chuckled. “You too, [Name],” She told before hanging up. You held the phone, taking a deep breath. You walked back to the door, opening it softly and stepping inside. You could hear the thunder roar from outside so you were lucky to make it in soon enough. You walked through the halls. You heard a sniff and you stopped. “Hello?” You asked before stepping into the living room. Ranboo tuned to you and you could see his puffy eyes. “Are you really going back home soon?” He asked. Your eyes went wide and you sighed, putting your head down. You nodded to him and he sniffed again.

You walked back to the boy and pat his back. Tubbo sighed and put his head down, starting to tear up as well. He enjoyed having you here as much as Ranboo did. “I-Is that why you wanted to have a fun day?” He questioned and you nodded. “I was actually thinking of how I could stay longer.” Ranboo and Tubbo’s eyes widened as they listened to your explanation. “I want to stay longer, I really do kid. My company had only paid the hotel for the 2-week stay I have, so I couldn’t stay longer than that,” You told them with a frown. You sighed again and put your head into your arms.

“I’m sorry. Let’s just have a fun day together. You can invite that Tommy kid, if your parents’ll allow it Tubbo,” You sadly chuckled. Ranboo and Tubbo smiled at how you were trying to make things better. Ranboo called Tommy as Tubbo called his parents. Tubbo and Tommy’s parents agreed, so he walked on over. You all decided to have a sleepover-type thing. Tommy would stay over for the next 4 days that you are over. You all would stream, cook, vlog, and watch a couple movies. This should be fun. The first day you all hung out, you decided to do a cooking stream. You made a great bowl of pasta… besides the fact that Tommy spilled the sauce multiple times and Ranboo dropped the pasta noodles, breaking them into bits.

The second day, You all streamed a ‘you laugh, you lose’ stream. You didn’t laugh once, although you were very close. People had found it funny when you clapped to the song “Two Trucks” on beat. Ranboo’s hand had flown to his mouth, Tubbo had busted out laughing, and it took Tommy a seconds since he didn’t know what the song was. Chat had busted out laughing, and you only knew to do that because of how many times you had heard it from Ranboo. The other funny part was when someone donated a clip from the song “WAP”, and you had sung it word for word. Yeah… you successfully made the boys lose 2 lives… each.

On the third day, you all didn’t stream, but instead watched a movie. You decided to watch the Toy Story saga. All of you cried since you are all children. On the fourth day, you all went to a Halloween store that had opened early and vlogged there. It was all fun and games… till you all got kicked out cause, out of surprise and fear, you punched (and broke) one of the animatronics. The vlog was about 20 minutes long, so you thought it was pretty successful. Although, in the end, since you had run out of footage, you decided to do some small clips of you telling stories from America before your met Ranboo’s family.

And then you had the last day, today. Tomorrow you’d be going home. It was about 2 in the morning as you layed down. Captain America was playing in the background as the boys slept. Ranboo was cuddled up to your side, as was Tubbo. Tommy, however, was resting on the other side of the couch. Earlier in the night, he claimed that he didn’t need affection, but you knew he just didn’t want to get ‘picked on’ by Ranboo and Tubbo. You smiled as the boys shifted in their hold. Yeah, you’d miss them like hell. But hey, you just had the best 5 days of your life and, honest;y, you think you might be coming back soon.

[miekasa]

homecoming (levi ackerman)

↯ pairing: levi ackerman x (fem) reader

↯ genres and warnings: college au, how many ways can i fit levi’s captain status into the modern world, fluff

↯ notes: i love levi :// and i’m out of gifs to put at the top of these, so when i learn how to make headers i’ll let you guys know. also this isn’t proofread rip in peace 

↯ summary: there’s a pretty well known homecoming tradition, and levi’s hoping you’re willing to partake in it. 

“So,” you hum, wiping away any crumbs from your mouth, “Are you going to tell me exactly why you wanted to have a picnic at 2:30 in the afternoon on a random Thursday, or am I supposed to wait for a grand reveal?”

Levi rolls his eyes, and sips on his wine, ignoring your incoming giggles. “Can’t I want to take you on a date?” he clicks his tongue, setting his, now empty, plastic wine cup onto the picnic blanket, “Ungrateful brat.”

You smack him on the arm, mouth open in offense; but Levi’s chuckling, shoulder’s shaking at your reaction. “I am a very grateful brat,” you correct him, “But I am also very suspicious one.”

Levi hums, not bothering to reply. Instead, he separates the two halves of his sandwich, wraps one half around a napkin, and hands it to you. You accept it, albeit a little hesitantly, and watch as Levi pays you no mind, biting into his half neatly.

If it were any normal situation, you’d probably try to snap a picture of him—you have somewhat of an ongoing collection of sneaky pictures of Levi on your dates, particularly when he looks cute munching on his food, much to his disdain—but this was not a normal situation.

Levi is acting strange. It’s not just the nature of this date itself—it may be out of character for Levi to want to go on a picnic of all things, but could be quite the romantic at heart, and often planned very quaint dates for the both of you. It was everything that happened since you set up your picnic that was truly out of the ordinary.

Like the way he seemed distracted, getting lost in thought in a way you hadn’t seen before; and how he kept sweeping his hair out of his eyes, and readjusting his small silver earring. If you didn’t know any better, you would think he’s nervous about something.

“Seriously,” you say lightly, carefully setting your half-eaten portion of the sandwich back onto the blanket, “What’s this all about?”

Levi looks at you for a beat, once again using his free hand to brush his dark hair behind his ear, then with suspecting eyes, “You don’t like it?”

Your eyebrows draw together at his questioning, confused by the lack of sarcasm, or even hurt in his tone; like he was genuinely surprised.

“What? No, Levi, that’s not what I meant,” you assure him, “I just mean that this isn’t really us. You hate eating outside—you always make us wait for indoor seating—and, if I’m being honest, I’ve never seen a couple go on a picnic in real life.”

Levi reaches to pour more cheap wine into your faux glasses, “I guess romance really is dead.”

You squint your eyes, carefully tracking his movements as he hands you a plastic cup before refilling his own. Levi isn’t one to dodge questions, or any kind of confrontation. Now you know for sure that something’s up.

“Levi,” you call gently, feeling like you finally have his full focus when his eyes meet yours, “What’s going on?”

His gaze softens at your question this time, and you finally see a hint of the Levi you know behind his expression. He sighs, carefully closing the boxed wine, and taking his cup into his hand. With a slight head nod, he motions for you to come closer, and you obiiently shuffle closer to him, until you’re sitting side by side.

You take the liberty of resting your head on his shoulder, cheek soft against his coat. You can hear him take a deep breath, feel his exhale deflate his shoulders, before he speaks.

“Homecoming is next weekend,” he starts, “You’re going, yeah?”

You hum in affirmation, watching as he takes a careful sip from his cup before continuing.

“There’s this tradition. It’s stupid as shit, if you ask me, so you don’t have to say yes,” he mumbles, lips barely off of the plastic, before he takes another sip. “But, if you’re dating someone, they’re supposed to show up to the game in your jersey.”

You snap your head up from his shoulder, blinking at Levi and the implications of his words, as you begin to piece together the mystery of his actions from this afternoon. Levi—your Levi—took you on a picnic, complete with homemade sandwiches and cheap wine, to ask you to be his date to his homecoming game.

Your stunned silence is filled with light breeze that brushes past your hair, and makes Levi return to brushing his away again. He drinks in your expression, grey eyes growing cloudy as he assumes the worst of your silence.

“Like I said, you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” he explains cooly, bringing his cup to his mouth again for a bitter sip, “I didn’t know if you were going to stick around for the whole day anyways, you’ve probably got other shit to—”

You kiss him quiet. Levi is surprised at first, jolts a little bit when your actions cause him to spill some of his drink, but he kisses you back, a small wave of relief washing over him. At least he didn’t make a complete fool of himself just now.

“Of course I’ll wear your jersey, Levi.”

Most parents and alumni stuck around for the traditional football game, but the boys’ soccer team was always popular amongst students, and for good reason.

Not only did the university’s team have an exceptional record, but they had no shortage of eye-candy playing for them, either. Even the team’s managers were pretty cute. You were certain players like Armin Arlert and Eren Jaeger were not plastered all over the university website solely for their soccer skills.

Though, good looks aside, they were undeniably good, and made a damn impressive pair on the field. However, most of the crowd would agree that Jaeger, Arlert, and the entire team, could thank their captain for their win today.

You step onto the field with a wide grin as you watch Levi’s team wrangle him into the middle of their circle and toss him up in the air unceremoniously. You almost want to capture the moment for yourself, but to your left, Hange is already recording a video you’re certain Levi would threaten to have deleted.

Most of the mob had fizzled away after the exciting win, leaving behind the team themselves, and a couple of students—likely friends or family of the athletes. After their final huddle, the boys begin to dissipate, greet the remaining crowd. Hange leaves you to badger Erwin, who had been sitting out due to an injury.

You spot Levi carefully picking up his duffel bag, and take the opportunity to run up to him, encase in a sudden and warm hug. You wrap your arms around his neck, and Levi has but a moment’s notice to secure his hands around your back and steady your bodies, lest you both fall to the ground from your uncoordinated momentum.

“You played so well!” you exclaim, pulling back from your hug, but keeping your palms on his shoulders, bouncing excitedly, “I knew you were good, but I didn’t know you were that good! You’ve never played like that before!”

Levi admits to tuning out your praise in favor of drinking in your appearance. The green of his away jersey looks good against your skin, the fabric somewhat loose on your frame. His eyes trail down to the sleeve, a minuscule smirk growing on his lips as he reads his last name in all capital letters underneath his number.

“Come on, Hange and I are taking you guys out for lunch!” your words snap him back to reality, “Anything you want, it’s on me, Captain.”

Levi rolls his tongue against his inner cheek. That’s a promise he’d have to take you up on later. For now, he plays along with your childlike enthusiasm, agreeing to your plans.

He motions for the two of you to get going, but his stride is blocked when you refuse to move from in front of him. Instead, you let your hands crawl from his shoulder to his neck, fingers tickling the hairs at his nape, before you pull him forward into a gentle kiss.

“You really were great, Levi,” you tell him again, pressing another kiss to his lips sweetly.

Levi hums, indulging you one more time, before he hears gasps and not-so-subtle exclamations of “Captain has a girlfriend?!” coming from his annoying teammates. He scoffs when he pulls back to see Jaeger looking at him with his mouth open so wide he could catch flies.

“You’re kind of ruining my reputation,” Levi tells you, but there’s no real bark to his tone.

It’s your turn to scoff, slowly trailing your hands down his arms, and eventually back to your side. You turn and the both of you begin to walk, not before you note, “You ruined your own reputation when you invited me and Hange here.”

“I’ll drink to that.”

“Hey!” you whine, frown deepening as Levi chuckles at you, “You’re not supposed to agree, asshole.” 

Levi doesn’t stop laughing, but gently wraps his arms around your shoulder as the both of you follow behind Hange and Erwin, and back to your car. 

“Don’t think your unusual displays of affection are going to make me forgive you,” you pout, but reach your hand to wrap your fingers around his anyways; Levi doesn’t even bother to hide his smirk, “I don’t care if you scored the winning goal or not, just for that, I’m only buying you one appetizer.”

Levi hums noncommittally. That’s fine, he could think of at least three other things he would rather you do for him instead when you both got home. With and without that jersey on.

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

In Times Past

Character: Bruce Wayne x Fem!Reader

Summary: Bruce Wayne’s life doesn’t exist beyond the fake storylines he performs for the media and citizens of Gotham. Maybe the only person that can change that is someone who knew him before Batman ever even existed. 

Word Count: 8,200+ [One Shot]

Warnings: Violence, mentions of sexual harrassment

A/N: As I teased before, this was inspired by this scene from Batman Begins. 

Bruce could sense Alfred’s tension when he walked into the kitchen that morning. The man was not one to hold back his thoughts and feelings. It was both a blessing and a curse. But Bruce sensed it was the latter today.

Before Bruce could even get a sip of coffee in, Alfred tossed the Sunday newspaper in front of him.

On the front page was a photo of Batman, far too high of a resolution for Bruce’s liking. ‘BATMAN: SAVIOR OR MENACE?’ the headline read.

“A little too close for comfort, don’t you think?” Alfred asked with a hint of sass.

However, Bruce controlled his reaction.

“Not the first time I’ve been photographed, Alfred.”

“You’re dancing with the devil, Master Wayne.”

“So, what? You want me to lay down the cape because everyone in America has the ability to take a photo on their cellphone?”

“Of course not,” Alfred retorted. Though Alfred secretly wished every day that Bruce would say goodbye to the Batman. “I just thought perhaps you should be putting a bit more effort into Bruce Wayne’s life if you really want to throw Gotham off your trail.”

Then he tossed another newspaper. This one of Bruce Wayne, the other mask he wore.

‘Bruce Wayne Lights Up the Room at Charity Ball.’

Alfred points to the date…it was 9 months ago. And it was unfortunately the last time Bruce Wayne was in the press.

“You better start creating alibis, Master Wayne, or the dark web will start to putting two and two together…”

Bruce sighed. He knew Alfred was right. But he hated all that went with what he had to do. He’d rather face off with Gotham’s deadliest criminals than go galavanting around the city as the self-absorbed and reckless playboy persona that he’d created.

“There is a birthday party for Eaton Elliot next weekend. Naturally, being old family friends, you received an invitation,” Alfred explained. “Plenty of press will be there to note your attendance. Seems rather convenient."

Bruce recognized the name. It was the older brother of Thomas Elliot, a childhood friend that he slightly lost touch with. He’d see him or his parents at various events, and things were always cordial.

But it didn’t really matter how absent or quiet Bruce was when it came to maintaining such relationships. Everyone forgave such behavior when it came to saving face with the only living member of the Wayne family. Bruce could spit in the faces of Gotham’s elite and they’d probably thank him for it.

“Black tie affair, as always,” Alfred added as he slipped the invitation to Bruce. “Perhaps you could bring a date…”

Bruce glared up at the butler. “Dates make it harder to make a quick and quiet exit, Alfred.”

“Well, maybe that’s the point, Master Wayne.”

————

Just like he was on patrol or working on an op, Bruce had prepared for every single scenario. He made a plan that would be the most effective in the shortest amount of time. He didn’t want to torture himself any longer than absolutely necessary.

When Alfred asked him again if he was planning on bringing a date, Bruce had only replied with a mischievous smirk.

Because he walked in with a girl on each arm.

It wasn’t the classy or gentlemanly thing to do. And that was exactly the point.

Conversations paused, attention was turned, and flashes went off.

Bruce Wayne made his entrance.

He carefully fell into the groove of being the spoiled brat everyone had painted him out to be. It had been awhile since he played the part, but Bruce always found it easy when he was surrounded by these kinds of people.

Bruce made sure to slightly slur his words. He would get too handsy with his dates. He would rudely interrupt people to share his own useless opinion on whatever topic was leading the conversation. He never looked waitstaff in the eye.

But now it was time for the finale.

Bruce whispered a certain suggestion into the ears of his dates.

They shared a look that proved they were both game.

The three of them stumbled into a bathroom – one out in the open that most of the guests would be steered toward.

The kissing began and clothes were quickly shifted.

There was a split moment when Bruce wondered what this would feel like for a man who actually wanted to be in this situation.

The two woman managed unbuckle his belt, the clanking metal echoing in the all-tile bathroom.

But just as they unbuttoned and then unzipped his pants, Bruce’s cellphone rang loudly.

Right on cue.

“Ladies, ladies, ladies,” Bruce whined. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” his words stumbled out. “But I just have to take this call.”

“Aww. Brucie. You’re no fun,” one of the women fussed.

But Bruce gave off enough dominate energy that they didn’t try to fight him on it.

Hair disheveled, mouth swollen and pink, lipstick stains on his skin and his pants and belt barely put back together, Bruce stumbled out of the bathroom first.

The two women didn’t bother to stay back and spread out their exits, making it very clear what had just happened – or what it looked like just happened.

It didn’t matter that Bruce didn’t actually have sex with them, every woman in Gotham wanted to say they’d shared a bed with Bruce Wayne. His two dates would lie to save face and get street cred. Bruce hated that he knew that, that it was guaranteed.

Dozens of people, who were socializing near the bathroom, stopped what they were doing and watched with judgmental looks. Some men looked jealous. Some women looked disgusted and eyed the two women up and down.

Then there was the flash of a camera.

Bingo.

Bruce wouldn’t have to linger much longer now.  

He played up being somewhat embarrassed.

But just as he put his phone to his ear to take the fake call that Alfred dialed, he saw the last person he expected.

It caused him to do a double take and freeze. 

His focus fell for a moment as they made eye contact.

Why did she have to be here?

Why did she have to be one of his witnesses?

Why did it hurt so much to see how she looked at him as if he were a stranger?

And why did she have to look so god damn beautiful?

Y/F/N Y/L/N.

The Y/L/N family were another one of Gotham’s elite – well, they used to be.

Y/N’s father was once worth billions. But being born into wealth didn’t guarantee intelligence or the skills to properly run the family business. When Bruce and Y/N were in high school, Y/N’s father filed for bankruptcy and confessed that the family was about to lose everything. With the announcement, the press also exposed Mr. Y/L/N’s many lustful affairs.

What came next was a messy and brutal divorce that the media ate up.  

Out of spite, Y/N’s mother remarried her ex-husband’s biggest competitor, maintaining her status and wealth, and making sure she still came out on top. It was the greatest revenge and even Y/N had to give her mother credit for the ingenuity of it all.

Bruce remembered how terrible it all was for Y/N, who was used as a pawn in her parents war against each other.

Having had enough of it, Y/N fled Gotham and chose to live with her eccentric great aunt in London and finished her last year of high school there.

But Y/N didn’t run away from Bruce. They emailed, texted, video chatted, called.

They had always been good friends.

The elites of Gotham always suspected the two would get married. But both Bruce and Y/N pretended to ignore such whisperings.

But when Bruce shifted his life, when he changed his life’s purpose, when he started becoming a vigilante…he stopped taking Y/N’s calls and he stopped returning them.

He told himself it was better that way. He couldn’t handle any distractions. Batman didn’t have time for personal relationships, so neither did Bruce Wayne. But more importantly, Y/N deserved someone who would prioritize her – even just as a friend.

Now Bruce needed to get actually drunk.

Putting the phone back to his ear, he broke eye contact and made a beeline for one of the bars. 

“Did you forget to tell me about the guest list, Alfred?” Bruce muttered evenly to the phone, knowing that Alfred would easily be able to hear his anger and irritation.

“How was I to know who RSVPed yes or no…” Alfred bit back. But he knew exactly who Bruce was looking at.

Bruce frowned as he ended the call abruptly and asked for a whiskey.

“I don’t know, man. She’s not my type,” a man said to his friend.

The two of them were just a foot or two away from Bruce.

“What do you mean ‘not your type’? She’s fucking hot.”

“Don’t get me wrong, she’s beautiful. But she’s so stiff and uptight. Look, she’s had a resting bitch face all night.”

Bruce’s grip on his face tightened as he easily put together who they were talking about. It was moments like these that Bruce hated being lumped together with men like this.

“You’re an idiot,” the friend said with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah? Alright. If you’re so obsessed with her, why don’t you go over and talk to her?”

Bruce saw his window. 

With a sloppy haste, Bruce turned right into the two men and just happened to spill his drink over the man who was about to make a move on Y/N.

Bruce laughed and spilled another drink on the bar as he tried to grab some nearby cocktail napkins. “Gentleman, gentleman…I so dearly apologize.”

Both of them were clearly annoyed, but then realized who he was.  

Bruce gripped them by the shoulders and made sure his eyes were struggling to stay open. “I could be wrong…but it’s possible…that I have been over served.”

He broke out into a chuckle and both men forced their own laughter.

Bruce subtle glanced over to where Y/N had been standing. She’d disappeared.

He’d spared her…for now.

“I think it’s time I go home,” Bruce told them too loudly. “Do me a favor? Wish her congratulations for me?”

The two men looked at one another. “Congratulations? To who?”

Bruce frowned in confusion and looked around. “Isn’t this an engagement party?”

They tried to hide their laughter. “Wayne, this is a birthday party. For Eaton Elliot.”

Bruce’s brows shot up. “A birthday party? Look at that!”

Then he turned around, zigzagged his walk, and threw a wave over his shoulder.

But Bruce wasn’t that lucky.

Because when he made his way to the valet, he found Y/N waiting patiently with her back to him. 

Her fancy dress and gloves seemed to do nothing to help protect her from the cold night. 

Bruce could’ve left. He could’ve left her alone, gone back into the party, and made more of a fool of himself.

But next thing he knew, he was walking forward.  

“Waiting for your car?”

Y/N didn’t turn to him, but it was clear that she heard his question and recognized who it had come from. “I didn’t drive. They’re getting me a cab.”

Bruce nodded slowly even though she wasn’t looking at him.

All charm had left his body now that he had quit the act. It wasn’t going to do any favors for him. He needed to do this on his own, as his real self.

Y/N finally turned with a slight attitude and Bruce was taken aback at how she was even more beautiful up close.

“What are you doing here, Bruce?”

He smirked. “I’m here for the party, of course.” He didn’t want to play the part anymore – not with her. But it was second nature at this point.

Her lips pursed at his response.

“Leaving so soon?” He asked.

Y/N sighed. “Between you and me, I’m only here as a favor to my mother. She wouldn’t get off my back about coming. I tried to leave sooner, but…”

One of the valets hopped up the steps. “I’m sorry, Dr. Y/L/N. It can take awhile to get cabs in the area at this time of night.”

Y/N gave him a sympathetic smile and opened her mouth to say she’d walk home.

“I’ll drive her home,” Bruce spoke before she could. Then he handed the valet his ticket.

Y/N looked at him with confusion and a bit of annoyance. “You really don’t have to do that.”

Bruce just gave her a look that said he absolutely did.

Then Y/N gestured back to the party. “You’re just gonna abandon your dates?”

The way she asked made it clear that Y/N had seen Bruce stumble out of the bathroom with the two of them. He also didn’t miss how she emphasized the plural.

“They’ll be fine,” Bruce told her.

He took a step toward her. “Let me give you a ride, Y/N.”

She took in a deep breath.

She knew she needed the ride. Only an idiot would walk home at this time of night, even if the walk to her apartment was a relatively safe one for Gotham standards.

Y/N just nodded.

A minute later, an Aston Martin drove up.

Bruce offered his arm to Y/N and helped her down the stairs before opening the passenger door for her.

He handed the valet a few bills, not even noticing they were all hundreds.

“Where to?” Bruce asked her.

“Oh, umm…” Y/N quickly gave him her address.

“I know you’ve been gone awhile, but you definitely shouldn’t be walking around the streets of Gotham at night.”

Y/N scoffed. “I’m aware. I moved back awhile ago.”

“Oh. I didn’t know…”

“Yeah. Well, why would you? It’s not like you kept in touch.”

The car filled with silence.

Y/N stared out the passenger window, looking at the skyscraper lights of Gotham

It seemed Y/N had no issue with staying silent for the whole car ride.There was nothing awkward about it for her.

But Bruce knew there were things he needed to say. “I’m sorry.”

This was the last thing Y/N expected and her head whipped to him.

But Bruce kept his eyes on the road. “For disappearing like I did.”

Y/N slowly turned back to the passenger window and said nothing.

Bruce didn’t expect to win her forgiveness. He would have to deal with that. But at least he could apologize.

“Y/N.” Bruce said it ever so quietly, like he was forbidden from speaking it. “This isn’t…I’m not…” Dammit. What was he even trying to accomplish right now? “Back there–”

“Back there?” Y/N interrupted his fumbling. “Oh, you mean the threesome you had in a bathroom at a party?”

Bruce’s jaw tightened.

Everyone bought his performance. Unfortunately, even Y/N.

Bruce pulled over and Y/N realized they were at her building already.

“You can say whatever makes you feel good, Bruce. Have at it.” Then she threw open the car door.

She put her hand on the handle to help herself out.

But she hesitated.

No. She wasn’t going down without a fight.

Y/N spun around to face Bruce, his blue eyes already waiting for her.

“You used to be kind. Strong and brave. You were better than all of them.”

And for the first time, Bruce really saw the damage he had done.

“Is that boy really gone?” She searched his eyes for the answer. “What is the act and what is the truth?” She whispered. “Huh, Bruce?”

He wanted to tell her.

Bruce had never felt the urge to expose his secret ever before.

But right now? Right now, he wanted to take Y/N back to the manor, drag her down to the cave, and show her all of his secrets – every single one.

But he couldn’t. And he knew that.

Bruce kept his face reserved.

His brow furrowed for just a second as he took Y/N in. All of her. Her eyelashes. Her lips. The styling of her hair. The dip of her neck.

“You became quite the woman, Y/N.” He told her. “And a beautiful one at that.”

Y/N blinked at the statement. Her mind desperately tried to decipher the hidden message in his words, in his actions from the night. But she came up with nothing.

She wanted to say that she knew he was using flattery to divert her attention from what she wanted to know. But it was also clear that he genuinely meant what he said as well. His eyes seeming to be taking in every moment of being in her presence.

If Y/N weren’t so irritated, she probably would’ve been more taken aback by his compliment, feeling vulnerable and almost embarrassed.

There wasn’t any point in pushing.

So Y/N took in a breath. “Thank you for the ride, Bruce.”

He just nodded. Then he watched her walk to the door of her apartment building. He probably lingered a few moments too long, but he couldn’t bring himself to once again put distance between them.

————

Alfred brought down food and an espresso to the cave.

When he looked up, Y/F/N Y/L/N’s face was on the giant screen.

“Working on a case, Master Wayne?” He asked with his usual sarcasm.

Bruce ignored the question. “She attended undergrad in Metropolis and then went to grad school in New York City.”

“Yes, I can see that…considering you have her student records exploited all over the screen,” Alfred responded with a smirk. “She’s been living in Gotham again for a few years, working as a psychiatrist. Even volunteers her services at Arkham – pro bono.”

That caught Bruce’s attention. He turned away from the screen to look at Alfred.

“I found no record of that,” he argued.

“Yes. Well, her mother is rather embarrassed by it. Thinks it gives the family a bad image. She insisted Y/N’s philanthropy was kept secret, even approved the NDAs herself.”

Bruce gave him a look, utterly confused how Alfred had access to such information.

Alfred raised an eyebrow. “Never underestimate the power of gossip, Master Wayne. Most family secrets cannot be found on the dark corners of the internet.” Then he smirked. “You would gain quite the knowledge if you didn’t turn your nose up at it.”

Bruce smiled at that and turned back to the computer.

“So, I take it that it was good seeing her?” Alfred pressed.

Bruce tensed at the question. “Not entirely. I’m certain that she hates me.”

“Hates you or hates the character you’ve so carefully created?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m just Bruce Wayne to her.”

Alfred opened his mouth to say more.

“Leave it, Alfred.” Bruce cut off before he could.

“Well, it appears I’m not the one struggling with leaving it alone, Master Wayne.”

Like many of Gotham’s elites, Alfred had humored the idea that Bruce and Y/N would make a marvelous couple. Like Bruce, Y/N didn’t let money and power sway her morals or damage her good and kind heart.

Alfred had always enjoyed having her over and listening to her and Bruce’s laughter as they caused trouble around the manor and entertained themselves.

But he also saw how her departure effected Bruce, no matter how much the teenager had tried to hide it at the time.

Maybe Alfred was an optimist or a romantic, but he still believed there was a chance for the two of them. But Bruce, quite frankly, would have to get over himself and his stubbornness.

————

Bruce was looking down at the city from yet another rooftop. It had been a quiet night. And he hated nights like that. It was always ended up being the calm before a storm.

“Batman?” Alfred spoke into his comms.

“Yes.”

“It appears there’s been a breakout at Arkham. The media hasn’t caught wind of it yet. But law enforcement has already been dispatched.”

“I’m on my way,” Bruce announced as he slid down a fire escape and made his way to the batmobile that he’d hidden in the shadows of an alley.

“Master Wayne…” Alfred knew to only use codenames on comms.

Bruce tense. “What is it?”

There was hesitation from the butler. “Y/N was scheduled to work a shift there tonight…”

Bruce said nothing. But his foot pressed the gas pedal down further than necessary.

—

Y/N was sitting with a patient when the alarm went off.

The people that worked there called them inmates, and corrected her every time she chose not to use that title.

Harleen Quinzel had been sitting across from Y/N for almost 30 minutes when they were interrupted.

“Oh, fun!” Harley clapped and giggled as the sirens filled their ears.

Harley and Y/N had formed an interesting relationship. The criminal seemed to like her and looked forward to her visits. She never threatened Y/N or tried to manipulate her.

Y/N believes she won her over by addressing her as Dr. Quinzel and often asking her professional opinions on trends and news in their industry. 

Most people there only referred to Harley as if she was property of the Joker, no matter how many times Harley clarified that she wasn’t his anything anymore.

“Does this happen a lot?” Y/N asked her, trying to remain calm.

“Not enough, if ya ask me!” She laughed.

Y/N made the mistake of opening the door and seeing that the majority of the cells had been opened and prisoners were slowly making their way into the hallway.

“Not good,” Y/N muttered.

“Don’t worry, doc. I’ll protect ya! Us gals gotta stick together.” Harley said from behind her shoulder.

Y/N whipped around and looked at her and then at the table she’d been sitting at. “Dr. Quinzel! How did you get out of your restraints?”

“Oh, I’ve always been able to. I just leave ‘em on to be polite.”

Y/N sighed. No one had explained any sort of protocol for such a situation.

“Where the fuck are all the guards?” Y/N asked.

Suddenly the lights shut off.

“Yippy!” Harley cheered.

Y/N turned to her and softly grabbed her shoulder, but gave her an insistent look. “Harley, we need to get somewhere safe.”

Her face did dip to serious for a moment. “You don’t need to worry about me. But you’re right. Not everyone in here appreciates a shrink…”

To her surprise, Harley starts pulling her through the darkness with a purpose.

Y/N had no idea where she was planning on taking her. It seemed all the doors were in lock-down mode, leaving her stranded. If she survived tonight, she’d definitely be bringing that up to the board.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Y/N yelped at the sound.

Someone had either gotten a hold of a gun or security guards were opening fire.

Either way, it caused chaos to erupt.

Suddenly the dark hallways were being filled with a stampede of prisoners. Either they wanted to take down the guard who was shooting or they were getting an adrenaline rush at the concept of their peers attacking their wardens.

The crowd ripped the two women apart. Y/N was shoved up against the wall and her head slammed against the cement.

Y/N swore under her breath from the pain.

“Is that…No, it can’t be…”

A voice called out over the madness.

A chill went up Y/N’s spine. She’d know that voice anywhere.

The Joker.

He wasn’t one of her patients. All researchers and doctors were forbidden to speak with him – especially after what happened with Harley.

But that didn’t stop the Joker from knowing who Y/N was. He whined and whined about feeling left out. “All my pals get to chat with her and all I get to do is look!”

Now, Joker was free from him isolation.

Y/N suspected he was behind the breakout.

And he was going to make a slight detour. A detour that was doing whatever the hell he wanted to with Dr. Y/L/N.

Y/N didn’t even bother hiding her fear. With a new found strength and endurance, she started shoving her way through the mob.

“I hear you and my pumpkin’ pie have gotten close.” Then his smile dropped. “Too close, if ya ask me.”

Y/N ignored him as another prisoner shoved into her shoulder.

“I don’t appreciate you putting ideas in her head!”

Y/N stopped, realizing she had miscalculated her escape and had come to a dead end.

So she slowly turned around to face him, putting her back to the wall. “And what ideas are those?”

“Independence. Self respect. A life beyond crime and incarceration,” he spat.

Y/N realized he had his goonies flanking him, only making her odds that much worse.

“Those aren’t ideas. They’re a reality, a possible future,” she defended.

Joker didn’t like that answer one bit. He threw himself against her, once again slamming Y/N into the wall.

He gripped her chin roughly and smiled with his yellow teeth. “You know…she’s not the only doctor I’d like to break in. And in more ways than one, if you catch my drift,” he giggled.

Then his eyes raked over her body, up and down. His hands slid down her hips and the side of her legs until they got to the hem of her pencil skirt.

Y/N shoved him away with all of her strength. 

But that earned her a slap across the face from him.

Joker gripped her waist tightly pressing her between the wall and his body. “I’m in charge now, doc. And I’ve got a few lessons to teach you.”

His hands grabbed at the buttons of her blouse and with one jerk, he ripped open her her blouse.

But before he could go any further, a few of his lackeys cried out in pain. 

Y/N swore she heard the sound of objects whipping through the darkness. 

She didn’t want to let herself feel any relief. But she hoped Harley had made her way back to her. She’d probably pack an even heavier punch once she realized Y/N needed protecting from her asshole ex.

But when Joker turned around and Y/N followed his gaze, Harley was nowhere to be found.

Yet three men were on the ground, unconscious.

“Well, well, well,” Joker muttered in amusement. “Has Batsy come out to play?”

Next thing Y/N saw was a shadow dropping down out of nowhere and taking out even more of Joker’s men.

Joker seemed to be prepared for such an interruption. Because he grabbed a knife from somewhere hidden on his body and ripped Y/N off the wall. He pressed Y/N’s back to his chest and put the tip of his knife to her throat.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Joker sang.

To Y/N’s shock, Batman stepped into what little light was in the hallway.

“Long time, no see!” Joker screamed so loudly that Y/N flinched. “Did you miss me, Batsy? And you came all this way to see little old me?! How very sweet!”

“Your attempted escape was a failure,” Batman stated. “There’s nowhere for you to go. All the exits are blocked. Arkham has been contained.”

“What a shame! I really felt this one was gonna work!” Joker laughed.

Batman took a step toward him. “It’s over, Joker.”

“You’re probably right,” Joker shrugged. “But I really wanted to have some fun with doc here. So, if you could give us some privacy.”

Batman’s eyes flickered to Y/N’s for a brief moment. “Let her go,” he warned.

“How about…no?” Joker laughed.

Just as Batman was about to make his move, Y/N grabbed the wrist of Joker’s arm that held the knife. She twisted it and dived in such a succinct motion that it was obvious Y/N had been trained.

Whipping herself out of Joker’s grip, she twisted Joker’s arm so roughly and quickly behind his back that he had no choice but to drop his knife from the pain.

Then Y/N was now facing him, and with one swift swing of her leg, she kicked him right in the groan.

Batman saw his opening and rushed forward, cuffing Joker in place.

While Batman neutralized him, Y/N stumbled for the knife that Joker had dropped, still not feeling safe and out of danger.

She looked around, realizing that the police had filtered in and apprehended all the escaped prisoners. Some were already locked back into their cells. Other’s were in handcuffs with guns being pointed at them in warning.

“Dr. Y/L/N,” his voice made her whip back around.

How the hell did Batman know her name?

She squinted wearily at him.

“You can drop the knife,” Batman told her quietly.

Y/N blinked and looked down at her hand, having forgotten that she even grabbed the knife. And she now had a vice-like grip on it.

Her hands were shaking when she dropped the knife and the clatter echoed in the hallway.

She eyed the Joker, not trusting any sort of weapon to be in his vicinity, despite being handcuffed now.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Batman noted, as if he could read her mind and hear the concerns she was thinking.

Police officers surrounded them now.

“Until next time, doc!” Joker sang loudly.

Batman stepped between him and Y/N, shielding her from even being seen by the lunatic.

Y/N eyed him, wondering if he did that on purpose.

“This way,” he directed lowly as he led her out of the hallway.

Y/N was surprised when he escorted her all the way out of the building.

Wasn’t this supposed to be Gotham’s Dark Knight? A disappearing act? An urban legend that some people still didn’t believe in?

When they got outside, there were even more officers. The night was flickering blue and red from all the patrol car’s lights still being on.

Commissioner Gordon was having a field day with Arkham’s warden, yelling at him about lack of protocol and no protection for the volunteers and workers that had gotten caught in the crossfire.

But finally, the reality of what just happened was starting to set in for Y/N. And she realized that her entire body was shaking.

All of a sudden, a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders.

She looked up to see that Batman had draped it over her. When and where he’d grabbed it, she had no clue. But the warmth was helping, so she didn’t question it.

“Thank you…for saving me back there.”

Was that a smirk on his lips? Was Batman amused by her?

Why was it so comforting when he was a mere stranger?

And his eyes, even when they were surrounded by a cowl and dark paint, they still felt familiar. Y/N had a similar feeling to deja vu.

“Looked like you had it handled,” he replied.

“Oh, I definitely didn’t. But thank god for those self-defense classes.”

They looked into each other’s eyes for a second.

“Make sure you get checked out by the paramedics,” he told her gently, but insistent.

It was far too gentle for his Batman alter ego. But she caught how it sounded like it personally mattered to him.

Y/N looked behind her, where the ambulance was.

But when she turned back around, Batman was gone.

Next thing Y/N knew, she was being surrounded by two paramedics and Commissioner Gordon who was careful not to push her by asking too many questions at once.

“Does he always do that?” She asked him in a daze.

“Do what?” Gordon asked.

“Disappear like that?”

Gordon smiled and nodded. “Annoying, isn’t it?”

———

“What’s the gossip of the privileged this week?” Bruce asked Alfred at breakfast a few days after the outbreak.

“Something specific you’re looking for, Master Wayne?” Alfred asked as he poured Bruce a big mug of coffee.

Bruce glared at him, knowing he was playing coy with him.

But he put his pride aside. “How is she doing?”

Alfred took pity on him. “She took some time off work. But seems to be handling it better than expected. Makes quite a bit of sense, doesn’t it? Her being psychiatrist and all.”

Bruce just nodded with a dazed look.

“You could always see for yourself…” Alfred added.

Bruce snapped out of his daze and looked up him questioningly.

“You could go see her,” Alfred confirmed.

“Alfred, don’t you start.”

“Start what, Master Wayne? Pushing you to form any sort of relationship?”

Bruce sighed and got up from the breakfast nook. He didn’t want to fight with him, so he’d made his exit before that happened.

“Batman has plenty of friends,” Alfred stopped him. “But what about Bruce Wayne, hmm? Who are his friends?”

“You saying we’re not friends, Alfred?”

“I’m all you’ve got, Master Wayne. And that’s my point.”

Before the discussion could go on any further, the doorbell rang.

The two men shared a look. 

No one stopped by the manor.

Alfred made his way over.

Bruce figured he’d wait where he was. But the front entrance was too far away from him to overhear any conversation.

A few minutes later, Alfred walked in with an unreadable expression.

“Dr. Y/L/N is here, Master Wayne. She is waiting for you in the drawing room.”

Bruce opened his mouth to tell him to make an excuse and get her to leave. But Alfred was already disappearing, making it clear that he would do no such thing for him.

When Bruce walked into the drawing room, he found Y/N’s back to him as she looked at the family heirlooms and trinkets that were displayed on the shelved.

She was dressed casually, which caught Bruce off guard since he’d only see her in formal wear and professional outfits since their reunion. Her hair was in a messy bun and she didn’t appear to be wearing much makeup, if any at all.

“Hi,” he greeted softly, making her quickly turn around.

“Hi,” she replied.

Bruce stepped further into the room. But neither of them moved to sit in any of the many seats that surrounded them.

“I heard what happened. How are you doing?” He asked.

She nodded and shrugged. “Alright.”

“I’m surprised to see you here,” Bruce admitted.

Y/N ignored his comment and her eyes went around the room. “I missed this place,” she thought aloud. Then her eyes fell back to his, softening. “I missed you.”

Bruce was taken aback from her confession. Seeing as the last time they were together, she was rather blunt about how disgusted and disappointed in him she was.

The energy between them felt so different than last time.

To his surprise, Y/N stepped toward him. And she didn’t stop until she was at a proximity that most would call rather intimate.

There was a voice in the back of Bruce’s mind, urging him to close the last bit of distance and place his lips on hers. But he managed to ignore it. That didn’t stop his heart from beating faster, though.

Y/N stared into his eyes for a few seconds, almost like she was searching for something.

“I have something that belongs to you…”

Bruce waited, not sure what she could possibly have to give him.

But then she pulled out one of his batarangs from her coat pocket, offering it to him.

She had found it embedded in the wall when she had gone back down to grab her personal belongings that night. 

Bruce kept his face composed. “I’m not sure I understand.” 

But he grabbed it from her anyways.

“He’s you,” she whispered. “Or I guess…you’re him.”

Bruce let out a breath, “Y/N…”

She took step away from him. “Don’t lie to me, Bruce.”

So he shut his mouth and said nothing instead.

“I’ve been doing some research. Things started lining up,” Y/N explained. “The first Batman sightings were right around when we stopped talking. The more Batman was in the press, the less Bruce Wayne was. And when he was, it was never positive – like it was meant to be a distraction.”

Her eyes went sad. “I never understood how the boy I used to love could grow into the man I’m so disappointed in. It never made sense.” She paused. “But when you wonder if the man himself is the mask, it all fits.”

“I’m sorry.” Bruce hung his head slightly. “I couldn’t tell anyone. Not even you.”

“I’d never share your secret.”

“I know,” he answered instantly.

Y/N couldn’t hold back her emotions any longer. Her eyes welled with tears. “Bruce…living like this has its consequences.”

Bruce said nothing.

She stepped forward and grabbed his hand. “You can’t change the world on your own. You don’t have to do this alone.”

Y/N wasn’t giving him advice. She was offering him something.  

Her trust.

Her secrecy.

Her love.

He shook his head, but gripped her hand tightly. “You would just end up in the shadows with me. And I…I can’t do that to you.”

“I’m stronger than you think,” Y/N defended.

“I’ve always known how strong you are, Y/N.” His jaw tightened at even the thought of being selfish. “You deserve more than what I can give. Gotham will always come first. That’s the sacrifice I made. That’s what is required. I can’t be what you need.”

Y/N studied his face, knowing that there would be no winning with him.

She nodded once, not even slightly hiding her heartbreak and disappointment.

Then she stepped closer and gave him a slow kiss on the cheek.

“It’s not a one time offer, Bruce.”

Bruce couldn’t move a muscle. He was rooted in place.

He heard Y/N have a short conversation with Alfred, then the door closed, and she was gone again.

———

Bruce Wayne was a fool.

Alfred could probably make a list, in seconds, with a hundred reasons why.

But, no, Bruce Wayne was a fool for believing Y/N would give up so easily.

Two weeks later, Y/N was at Wayne Manor again.

Bruce knew something was going on when Alfred didn’t seem surprised in the slightest.

In one of her arms was popcorn seeds, twizzlers, sour patch kids, and chocolate covered pretzels. In the other arm was a case of beer.

Y/N barely said hi to Bruce as Alfred helped her out of her coat and took the things out of her grasp so she was no longer struggling to hold it all.

“I’m here to use your theater,” she announced.

And with that, she walked right past Bruce like she owned the place.

Bruce looked at Alfred and silently asked, ‘What the hell is going on?’

“I believe you have a guest to entertain, Master Wayne.” Then he looked at the items in his hand. “And I believe I have some popcorn to make.”

Bruce still didn’t move.

“You successfully closed yet another case last night, it’s Friday night, and you have a beautiful woman who decided she wants to spend her time with you. Best you don’t keep her waiting, Master Wayne.”

Bruce narrowed his gaze as if telling Alfred they’d discuss this matter at another time.

“I presume you shouldn’t go empty handed,” Alfred added quickly and handed Bruce two beers from the case in his arms.

Bruce chuckled, but started walking away. “I’m surprised you even let this stuff in the house, Alfred.”

When Bruce reached the theater, Y/N had already started a movie.

He watched her a for a moment before she could realize he'd joined her. 

Y/N looked like she belonged there. Even after all this time apart, she just burrowed herself a cozy nook in Bruce’s life.

It was something she had been able to do even when they were kids. When Bruce had his mood swings or his depressive episodes, Y/N didn’t scare. She just found her way to stay at his side without upsetting him further.

Bruce grabbed the seat to the left of hers.

They weren’t really seats, more like small beds. A dozen were placed in the theater.

A couple could easily share one, but Bruce wasn’t planning on even approaching that fine line.

When Bruce sat down, he didn’t look at Y/N. But she gave a shy smile at his joining.

It was a long movie – almost a 3 hour run time.

And Y/N almost made it.

Without only 30 minutes left, Y/N had fallen asleep. Meaning Bruce’s attention was now taken from the movie.

He got up and grabbed one of the many blankets in the trunk hidden in the corner and placed it carefully over her, before silently leaving.

This was not a one time thing.

These type of visits continued.

Bruce knew Y/N and Alfred had to be in cahoots together. 

Y/N seemed to always come to the manor when Bruce needed her most. 

Alfred would force Bruce out of the cave and moments later, the doorbell would be ringing.

On the bad nights, she wouldn’t make him talk. She wouldn’t ask questions or try to make him magically feel better. Sometimes she would talk – mostly about mundane things. She’d tell Bruce about her day or how her neighbor always left baked goods at her door or about the new show she started watching. Sometimes she wouldn’t say anything at all, just sit there silently and make sure he wasn’t alone.

Sometimes she would bring coffee and pastries.

Sometimes Bruce would just walk into the library and find her reading.

Sometimes she would sit and chat with Alfred as if he was the reason she was visiting, and not Bruce.

Bruce couldn’t sleep one night. Nothing specific was causing his insomnia. Just the overall weight of being so many people.

It was 3AM when Y/N texted him to open the door for her because she didn’t want to wake Alfred.

When Bruce did so, Y/N was standing on the other door in sandals and a slightly transparent coverup that barely showed the outline of the bathing suit underneath.

He said nothing, but his face clearly showed that he wanted to know why the hell she was there in the middle of the night.

“Couldn’t sleep,” Y/N told him quietly. Then she shrugged a bit,“I decided I wanted to go for a swim."

Whether she was lying for his benefit, Bruce wasn’t sure. But he followed her to the indoor swimming pool like a sailor would follow a siren.

Without hesitation, Y/N kicked her sandals off and tossed her coverup on the nearest chair. And the next second, she was diving into the pool.

Bruce smirked at her nonchalance, but made sure to hide it when she breached the surface once again.

“Doesn’t your apartment building have its won pool?” He asked.

Y/N smiled and tilted her head back to get her hair wet again and out of her face. “They put too much chlorine in it.”

Bruce crossed his arms, “I see.”

“Coming in?” She asked teasingly.

He shook his head.

“At least keep me company,” she requested.

Bruce glared playfully at her, knowing the game she was playing.

But he finally sighed and nodded.

He was in cotton shorts and a t-shirt. But he decided to sit on the edge of the pool and dip his feet in.

He watched as she swam around, looking as natural in the water as a mermaid. She had always loved swimming as a kid and it appeared not much had changed.

“Why couldn’t you sleep?” He finally decided to break the silence.

Y/N swam to him and crossed her arms on the edge of the pool to rest and tilted her head to look at him.

She shrugged, “The usual: stress, nightmares, insomnia, too much caffeine.”

 Bruce’s concern spiked instantly. “Nightmares about what?”

She watched him for a moment, seeing how quickly her subtle comment triggered him.

“You’re not the only person who’s seen fucked up things, Bruce.”

An hour later, Y/N asked for a towel.

When she climbed out, she was taken aback by Bruce wrapping it around her shoulders and rubbing her down gently. It was innocent, but subtly intimate.

As their eyes locked for a prolonged time, and he seemed to realize what he’d done accidentally.

Y/N cleared her throat. “I should head home and let you try to get some sleep.”

“You could stay,” he offered. “I mean, we have plenty of bedrooms here,” he quickly added and saved himself a bit.

“Is that…what you want?” Y/N asked slowly.

Bruce knew what she was trying to ask. He didn’t trust himself to answer the way he should, so he didn’t answer.

“Let me drive you home,” he asked as they left the indoor pool and started toward the front entrance.

Y/N ignored the request until they were at the door. She turned to face him with a smug look, “I’m perfectly capable of driving myself. Thank you.”

She hesitated before kissing him on the cheek. “Get some sleep, Bruce.”

————

Months after Y/N’s visits started, Bruce was doing some research for a case on his tablet as he ate dinner.

“Margaret Caulfield’s engagement party is tonight,” Alfred broke the silence of the manor as he took Bruce’s finished plate.

Bruce looked confused on why he was supposed to care.

“Y/N will be there,” Alfred added.

But Bruce still didn’t understand what he was trying to say.

“Master Wayne, when you attend all those sufferable parties, what is the first question people ask you?”

Bruce thought for a moment. “When I plan on settling down, I guess.”

“Now imagine that, but magnified by about 100…and that is what Y/N’s experience is at those same parties. That young woman is one of the brightest people in Gotham and all those people care about is who will put a silly ring on her finger.”

Bruce leaned back in his chair, now understanding what Alfred was getting at. “I’m not her boyfriend, Alfred.”

“And you’ve made damn sure of that,” Alfred said a little too harshly.

Bruce watched him carefully.

“Y/N has fought off every one of your attempts to be a miserable recluse.”

Bruce opened his mouth.

“And don’t you dare try and tell me her efforts are wasted,” Alfred cut him off. “I’ve seen a change in you. And she has asked for absolutely nothing in return. She’d never ask you to pick her over Batman. Though she bloody well should!”

He wasn’t done.

“You’re not living, Master Wayne. And I won’t apologize for wanting more for you.”

Bruce just sat there and took it.

Alfred took in a breath, calming himself down. “There’s a suit waiting for you in your bedroom. I’ve decided I’m going for a evening walk.”

——————

Y/N didn’t know how many more champagnes she’d have to shrug to start feeling the buzz she so desperately needed.

Not even an hour of being at the party and she’s already been asked 15 times if she was seeing anyone. And when she answered no, half of those ended in them trying to set her up with someone.

As Y/N was trying to think of an excuse to escape, an old family friend approached her – a friend of her grandma’s unfortunately.

“Y/N, dear, let me see those hands!”

Y/N wanted to roll her eyes and snap, but she did as requested.

“No ring yet,” the woman teased, but she was also genuinely disappointed.

“That would be my fault, actually.” A voice said behind Y/N before she felt a hand on her lower back.

“Oh, Mr. Wayne, how nice of you to come!” The woman beamed. “Now, Y/N, why wouldn’t you tell anyone that you and Bruce are an item?”

“My fault again,” Bruce chuckled, “I’ve always enjoyed a good secret.”

Before she could ask more, Bruce smiled politely. “If you could excuse us for a moment.”

He steered Y/N to a private area of the party.

“What are you doing?” Y/N hissed at him. “The press are gonna have a field day. You and I will be every headline tomorrow.”

He smiled at her frantic concern.

“Why are you looking at me like that? I’m serious!”

Bruce captured her lips, silencing any further panic from her.

Y/N was completely caught off guard, but he wasn’t letting her go so easily. And soon, her hand went to the back of his head and she kissed him back. 

Damn all the people who were probably watching them.

When Bruce finally let her pull away, he smirked at her dazed look and cupped her cheek. 

She matched his smirk.

But then reality set in like a splash of cold water and she frowned.

“Am I – Is this your new cover?” She asked shakily, so scared that the answer was ‘yes.’

She could tolerate being Bruce’s friend for the rest of her life. But she wouldn’t survive being used in such a way. She couldn’t live in a fake relationship with a man she actually loved. She’d rather watch his sloppy persona with girls hanging off of him.

“No cover-up,” he muttered to her. “Just me and you – the real me.”

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I worked so hard on this 😩  Please let me know your thoughts.