#and go 'okay now write down 10-20 things that were confusing or challenging about this book to you personally :)'

[hiimcanadia]

I remember in high school a lot of english teachers would make us write down words that we didn't know when we were reading novels for class, but they would require at least a certain number of these words, so whenever I was reading I was forced to use some of my focus searching for words that I could believably pretend I didn't know for points.

And so now when I'm reading books for fun and I actually find a lot of words I don't know, I get a little bit annoyed. Cuz if it's this easy to find books that are actually challenging when I'm not even looking, why did teachers keep giving me books where I had to pretend that I, as a 17 year old, didn't know what "envy" or "resilient" meant.

[sammyboyimagines]

Can I request a possible fluffy/smutty fic between Billy and plus-size reader where they've been together for quite a few years and Billy finally gets the courage to propose after many failed/interrupted attempts and they celebrate in the best and most magical way possible after dinner with friends?

//I love this request thank you anon!!! I got really carried away and I think I stayed with the request. I actually like writing for Billy much more than I thought I would.

Summary: Billy finally gathered to courage to propose after a couple failed attempts. After a great dinner, you celebrate with your new fiancé. 4.5k words

Warnings: established relationship, 18+ MINORS GO AWAY, small praise kink, swearing, oral (f receiving), facesitting, idk what else.

"Hold on. Y/n! It's your clingy boyfriend!" Steve called out through the video store, making you cringe inwardly as you set down the poster you were hanging up.

"Y'know, you don't have to yell. I'm like 20 feet away." you grab the phone from his hand and hold it to your ear. "Yes?" Billy often called you at work. It annoyed the hell out of Steve, who had to yell across the store every time. He knew he didn't have to yell to get your attention. He just wanted to embarrass you.

"Hey, sweetheart," Billy's deep voice was just what you needed during a challenging day at work. You could feel yourself soften after hearing him call you sweetheart. "Hey! I'm so glad you called. I've been having the worst day ever." you heard his chuckle through the phone. It made your heart soar.

"You can tell me all about it tonight, doll. I just have a couple questions. Do you still have that red top that I like?" you looked at Robin, who was sitting next to you trying to listen in. 

"Uh, yeah. Why?" you were thoroughly confused now. It wasn't unnatural for Billy to ask obscure questions but nothing like this. You heard him sigh through the phone. "No reason. You still have that skirt that I like?" you furrowed your brows in confusion.

"Yes, but why? Is everything okay, babe?" you were actually concerned at this point. 

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, doll. I want to take you on a date tonight. Can you wear those?" Billy wasn't usually this direct, he'd tease you into oblivion about the tiniest things. He always knew how to make up for it though.

"Oh, yeah sure. Where are we going?" you heard nothing but silence from the other end for a good 10 seconds. "It's a surprise, but I think you'll like it." it was very cryptic of him.

You didn't like it. It wasn't his norm.

"Okay, I gotta get back. I'll see you after work, I love you." you hung up, your confused expression worrying Robin.

"Did he break up with you? I'll walk right up to him and slap him if you need me to." you laughed and grabbed a stack of films to put back on the shelves. "That won't be necessary, Robin. Thank you. He's being very weird. He asked me to wear something special.." you were oblivious to the implications of that request. Robin, however, was not.

She nodded her head quickly, "I'm gonna go...fix something...be back in a minute." you took her departure as your moment to restock. You heard faint whispering, making you look over to Steve and Robin, who were smiling and whispering to each other. You couldn't hear what they were saying, and you had a rough day, so you didn't really care.

Billy was at home, running his hands through his soft curls. He was planning on proposing to you, and he was absolutely lost. "Fuck, this is gonna go terrible. Just like last time. Maybe I shouldn't.."

He had proposed two times last year...well, almost proposed. Last year, around February, he took you out to go stargazing just a little outside of Hawkins. He began his speech, his hands grasping your hips as he pulled your soft body towards his. "We've been together for years and it still feels brand new. You make me feel so good, you're so special to me and I want you to know that. I want you to know how much you mean to me. A-and that's why- Hargrove!" his bashful smile disappeared. He looked away from your gorgeous eyes and saw his friends pulling up in a pickup truck with some drinks. 

Assholes

"Saw you drive out here. We're gonna get a fire started and have some beers. Want in?" He stuffed the ring back into his pocket and helped you off the bed of his dad's truck, grabbing the soft blanket you had been sitting on. "Let's just go home," he told you, and you were blissfully ignorant at that moment. You agreed.

Proposal ruined.

He was very close that night. He had been grumpy the entire week afterward, feeling terrible for not going through with it. He wanted the moment to be perfect. He wanted to be uninterrupted when he proposed. He desired to see the teary smile on your beautiful face as he asked you to be his forever. That's why he refused to propose that night.

Or last October, he had you over for a home-cooked dinner. He frowned when looking back on it because it was Halloween night, and the kids were ruthless. "Y/n, this night couldn't have been more perfect. You're perfect. I don't think I could ever find someone who makes me feel this happy. You make me want to be a better person- *knock, knock*" he slammed his fist onto the table roughly and made his way to the door.

"Son of a bitch, what do you want?!" he swung open the door, only to be greeted by Dustin and his little friends in their Ghostbusters costumes asking for candy. (pretend this fits in the timeline pls). Max waved shyly, to which he smiled awkwardly. (no bad sibling relationships here)

"Woah, you look very angry. Oh, hey Y/n!" Dustin waved at you through the doorway, to which you waved back, a precious smile across your face.

"Get your candy somewhere else. We're kinda busy." Billy had the ring box in his hand still, his brain moving too fast for him to process it being exposed. Dustin gasped dramatically and laughed. "Oh shit! Better luck next time, douchebag." He shrugged and stumbled off the porch.

The little shit. 

So, after those two attempts, Billy was terrified to propose again. With each failed try, it broke his confidence that you would say yes. He knew you loved him. That much was clear by the way you'd greet him with a kiss whenever you saw him. But, he wanted to spend his life with you, and he was unsure that you wanted the same thing.

So, he bought gifts. Chocolates, flowers, and a dress you'd been eyeing every time you passed the store while on a walk. Part of him bought them just in case you rejected his proposal. He desperately wanted everything to go perfectly.

"Stop worrying, she'll accept. If any asshole tries to interrupt, just ignore them." he was trying to soothe his nerves. He still had 3 hours until the date. He had been talking to himself for an hour trying to psyche himself up for this important moment.

Back at the video store, Robin and Steve were onto him. "He's gonna propose, I bet 50 bucks." Robin was beyond excited for you, and Steve was too. "Do not tell her, do not hint at it. I swear I will make Keith give you longer hours." Steve threatened Robin gently. He was aware of Robin's habit of rambling, and he was very worried that she'd spill the secret.

The phone rang, making both of them jump. Steve rushed over and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey Steve, I need you to do something." Steve's eyes widened as Billy told him about the plan. He didn't want to mess up the proposal and face the terrifying wrath of Billy. "I'm taking Y/n to dinner tonight and I'm inviting you and Robin, her best friends. I'm planning to propose to her. I know I should have told you in advance but I'd really like you both to be there. Do you think you can do that?" Steve sighed and ran his hand through his hair. How could he refuse?

"We'll be there." Steve usually kept his promises. Especially, big ones for his best friend. Billy thanked him profusely, shocking Steve. Billy wasn't the nicest guy but Steve put up with him for your sake, otherwise, he would have kicked him out every single time he walked in to visit you on your lunch breaks.

You finished up your shift, which ended an hour earlier than Steve and Robin's because Keith wanted you to open up that day. Billy wouldn't tell you this, but he pulled several strings to pull this proposal off. That included threatening to punch Keith if he refused to let you leave early. So you said goodbye to Robin and Steve. They were practically shivering with anticipation. (i love making this reference pls tell me you get it antici....pation)

You drove yourself home, thankful for finally saving enough to buy a car so you didn't have to get a ride from Steve anymore. After hearing their lovely conversations about boobs and god knows what else, you didn't know how much you could take. You loved them to death though.

"Billy, I'm home!" the house was eerily quiet, even though you saw Billy's car in the driveway. After saving enough money, you both decided to rent a small house until the point came when either of you wanted to move out to something bigger. After hearing your voice, Billy panicked and shoved the gifts into a closet.

He shuffled down the stairs and greeted you with a big hug, making you yelp quietly against his shoulder. "Oh! Is everything okay? You don't usually go in for hugs.." Billy wasn't a hugger, his favorite thing to do was to kiss you. Anywhere and everywhere.

"What? I can't hug my sweetheart?" he held your waist, admiring your body in your work uniform. "Now, tell me what happened at work. Who do I have to talk to?" he let you rant on as he gently trapped you against the wall. Billy kissed your neck as you talked about your day. Suddenly the asshole customer seemed like a forethought.

"Are you trying to get me to forget about it?" you ran your hand through his soft locks, smiling at his hum in response to your question. "You just give me a name and he'll never bother you again, sweetheart. I'm sorry you had to deal with him. I think work needs to stay at work, it's just us right now. That's all we need to worry about, doll." He held your chin, admiring your face. Your soft jawline that he loved to press soft kisses against, your chubby cheeks that he loves to squish while you're asleep next to him in bed.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So why do you want me to wear that outfit for our date?" Billy froze up, he wasn't expecting questions about the date. "No reason, doll. Let's take our time getting ready." he was desperately trying to make you forget about it. He starts to unbutton your work uniform, watching the fabric fall from your body. "I think a nice shower will make you forget all about your worries." he loved being intimate with you, he wasn't the best with his words so he returned the affection with kisses and sleepless nights.

You stepped into the shower, with him following. "You're acting very aloof today Billy. I don't like it. What's going on?" Billy frowned, he didn't realize that he was becoming the stressor.

"I just have a few fun things planned for us after the date. I promise everything will be fine. Do you trust me?" his hands ran up and down your soft body, massaging your hips and ass. You giggled and grabbed his hands. "That's very inappropriate, Mr. Hargrove. I thought this was a relaxing shower.." you smirked. He held your cheek.

"Fine, but you're in for it tonight." He knew you would be upset with him for lying about his intentions about your date, but he hoped his proposal would make up for it.

After your shower, you both got ready for your date/his proposal. Billy watched you getting dressed, not in a creepy way, just admiring you. The restaurant you were going to wasn't a fancy place. It was where you had your first date with him. It was one of the best nights of his life. He met you, you talked for a couple hours over a hot meal, and then went back to his place and stayed the night. He remembered it like it was yesterday.

During the drive over to the restaurant, Billy kept sneaking glances at you, his heart in his stomach as he tried to keep steady on the road. He was hardly nervous during the relationship. He was the strong one, your rock. But now he couldn't look at you without feeling the need to pull over and get it over with. However, he thought that it had to be perfect. He owed it to you.

You helped him get through tough times and he wanted nothing more than to make you his wife so he could give you everything you could ever possibly want.

He opened the door for you, smiling through the unbearable nerves that were racking his brain. He looked over and saw Robin and Steve at the table and he let out a sigh of relief. "I invited your friends, I hope you don't mind." you saw Steve wave a little too enthusiastically and Robin grabbing his arm from the air to scold him.

Lovable weirdos.

You giggled. "It's fine with me but doesn't complain when they talk the entire time." you teased him as you took a seat across from them in the booth. "Hey, guys! Why are you here?" Billy's eyes widened as he watched them start to fumble for an answer.

Robin cleared her throat. "We've been stressed and we asked if Billy would let all of us hang out. Sorry for third wheeling, well third and fourth wheeling?" Robin smiled widely in hopes to sell the lie, you nodded and looked at the menu. "Sure sure."

Billy felt like he was going to have a heart attack, his mind was traveling a mile a minute. "So why did you have me wear this outfit? Not that I'm upset, just curious." Billy held your thigh under the table. "This is what you were wearing on our first date, I'll never forget it, sweetheart." He kissed your head as you chuckled. "Wow, you're much more romantic than I thought you could be," Steve smirks.

"I've never seen you like this. Never knew how soft you were, Hargrove." Steve chuckled, taking a sip of his drink. Billy took his eyes off of you. "Shut up, Harrington." he gently held your jaw and pulled you in for a sweet kiss. "You look so beautiful." he was putting himself out there, desperately trying to show how genuine he was. He was terrified of rejection.

After a delicious meal, and a shared dessert between the two of you, he was holding the ring box in his pocket, near hyperventilating. Luckily, the booth wasn't around many people in the restaurant, so there wouldn't be too many eyes on him at the moment. Steve looked at Billy and got the message. He started talking to Robin about work, something that he knew would deter you from caring about their conversation.

"Y/n, tonight has been great. I want you to know how much I love you. I look at you and I just can't believe how I ended up with someone so beautiful, so angelic." He was surprised at himself for not falling apart after the first sentence. "Aw, I love you too." you giggle at his words. They were so sentimental and so unlike him.

Steve and Robin were talking quietly, both ignoring each other to listen in to the proposal.

"Let me finish, doll." he chuckles and takes your hands in his own, his palms slightly sweaty. "After our first date I just couldn't wait for what the future held, and after spending years getting to know all about you, I know what I want." He was hinting at it, but you were still oblivious. He was thankful for that.

"I want you. I want to wake up each morning knowing you're next to me. I want to kiss you goodnight every single night. I want to be yours. We've been together for a while but it feels like we aren't close enough yet. I need to be closer and connected. You've changed me. I was a hothead, and I had so many issues I didn't know how to face. But you helped me, you got me to open up, be vulnerable."

Billy recalled the first time he cried in front of you. He had a rough night with his father and he came over to calm himself. That's when he opened up about it all, he cried on your shoulder as you comforted him. It was the first time he realized he was in love with you. 

"You're my everything, and I want a future with you." He stepped out of the booth and got on one knee, pulling the ring box out of his pocket. His heart was thumping so hard in his chest that he could barely hear you gasp when you realized what he was doing.

You felt tears prick at your eyes as you watched him gather the courage to speak. It was endearing. You looked over at Steve and Robin, who immediately motioned for you to watch Billy. 

"Will you marry me?" Billy sighed in relief, he finally said it. After two failed attempts, he finally got to say it. Whether you rejected him or not, he finally gathered the courage. 

"Yes! Yes!" You pulled him in for a tight hug before you kissed him softly, and tears started to run down your face. Bily put the ring on your finger, his shaky hands holding your own.

"Took you long enough." Steve smiled. "We're gonna get out of here. Congratulations to you both. Hargrove, I'll beat your ass if you hurt her." This was the second time he'd given the "don't hurt her" speech, and Billy had yet to disappoint.

Once they left, Billy sighed in relief. "I've been trying for a year, doll. I know it took me a while to propose." You shook your head. "It doesn't matter, we're engaged now. I'll be Mrs. Hargrove, your wife, yours." Billy's eyes lit up.

"God I love you."

You hardly got in the door before Billy was tearing your shirt off, popping quite a few buttons. "Hey! I thought you liked that shirt?" Billy chuckled and unbuttoned his own shirt. "I'll buy you a new one. I can't wait any longer." He grabbed you by your waist and pulled you to him. He kissed you. The kiss was desperate, hot, and longing. 

"Wanna know why I love this skirt so much?" he slaps your ass, pushing you forward against him. "Your ass looks fucking amazing in them, love watching you walk away baby." he chuckles and picks you up, to which you protested.

"Relax, I'm a man. I can hold up my girl. I wouldn't carry you if I didn't think I could." He wrapped your legs around his waist. "Jesus your thighs feel so good." He strokes your soft plush thighs, groaning to himself. He carried you to bed and set you down. 

"Take your bra off, sweetheart. Wanna see those gorgeous tits." He took his jeans off, admiring your stomach and arms. It drove him crazy every time he held you to him. He often traced your stretch marks in your sleep, loving the feeling of your bare skin under his fingertips. He hums and lays you down, kissing your breasts and neck. 

"Keep the skirt on." he lifts up your skirt and his jaw drops. "No panties? Are you serious?" He was incredibly turned on now.

"Well, if I had known you were proposing I would have worn them. You said to wear a skirt.." you giggled when you saw his face turn red. "Such a dirty girl, god I love you so much." he was gushing over you. 

He smiled at you. "I'll get to that later." he sucked on your boobs, his hands grabbing yours and putting them in his hair. "Pull my hair, sweets." You obeyed, pulling his hair gently as you moaned his name softly. He could listen to your noises all day. He loved pleasing you so he could hear your sweet perfect little moans and whimpers.

"You've got such perfect tits, I don't know what I did to deserve you. I get you underneath me every night. Fuck." he groans into your breasts, pushing them together and humming. "Billy please.." you didn't know what you were begging for, but you wanted his mouth on you.

"Mm, want me to go lower? Maybe you should sit on my face, sweetheart." You held your moan when Billy reached down to rub your clit slowly. "Billy I'll suffocate you." you suddenly felt a little insecure. He frowns and sits up. "No sweets. I'll be fine, sit on my face please." he was practically begging now. "Fine, but don't let me suffocate you." He rolled his eyes and laid down, pulling you closer.

"You look so pretty in this ring. Can't believe you're mine." He hums and looks up at you as you hover over his face, holding up the skirt you were wearing. Billy clicks his tongue. 

"Don't hover, sit." he pulled you down by your hips. He immediately got to work eating you out. His tongue worked magic as you moaned his name followed by a string of curses. Billy's hands held your thighs, groaning against your pussy as he felt your soft thighs clench around his head. You dug your fingers into his hair, pulling a little harder with each swipe of his tongue over your entrance.

"Fuck, don't stop please-" you could feel a pressure building at the pit of your stomach as you got closer to your release. Billy could feel it too while he fucked you with his tongue. You tore your hands away from his hair and held the headboard of your bed, rolling your hips as Billy ruthlessly ate you out, his nose rubbing perfectly against your clit. Your loud moans were drowning out the quiet groans that Billy let out. He was getting pleasure from this too. 

And he did, he kept going. "Gonna cum for me, sweetheart? I can feel it," he mumbled against your hot skin. He got to work faster, his large hands grabbing your thighs tightly, the pressure only turning you on more. "Oh shit.." your body shuddered as your orgasm hit you suddenly. Billy held you down on his mouth, his hands holding your hips letting you ride out your orgasm.

He lifted your shaky figure off of his mouth. "See? Told you I wouldn't suffocate." He chuckles and takes off his boxers. "God you're so pretty when you come, so fuckin' gorgeous." he pulled you towards the end of the bed, his hands caressing your inner thighs.

"Think you can take me? Such a good girl, I know you can." he hums as he presses soft loving kisses along your neck. "Please fuck me, I need you.." you took Billy's hair in your hair, tugging lightly. He laughs quietly.

"Mm, so desperate.." He hid it, but he was so fucking close. If you moaned his name one more time he'd be a goner. He grabs his dick, pumping himself a few times and lining himself up with your pussy. 

"I can't believe you're mine, baby. Fucking say it. Say you're mine.." he pushes in slowly, inhaling deeply to keep control. Your eyes rolled back in pleasure. No matter how many times you slept with him, it always felt like the first time. "I'm yours, fuck me I'm yours." you moaned out, half whining.

He pushed all the way in. "Fuck it sounds so good when you say that. God, I love you so much, princess." he thrusts into you, taking a moment to wrap your legs around his waist as he pounded into you.

You moved your hips to match his thrusts, making him groan on top of you. Billy put your legs on his shoulders, his hands holding your thighs as he fucked you better than any other time previous. "It feels so much better knowing you're all mine. We're fuckin' engaged, I love you so goddamn much." he was letting his emotions pour out of him as he got closer to his own orgasm.

His fast thrusts made you moan his name repeatedly. While he was pouring his feelings out, you were too fucked out to form a single thought other than his name. He loved it. He loved seeing the fucked out look on your face while the only word coming out of your mouth is his name while you beg for anything he'd give you. You looked up at him while he pounded into you. He was biting his lip while he focused on the way your thighs and stomach moved with each thrust. It turned him on. He groaned your name, "I can feel you clenching, sweetheart. Come for me please, please baby. I don't know if I can hold back much longer." You didn't have to be told twice.

He kept up the pace, listening to your sweet moans as your orgasm washed over you. "Good girl, good fuckin' girl." he shudders, desperate to hold off his own orgasm. "I love you, Billy. Can't believe I'm your fiance.." you were smiling blissfully to yourself, but the thought of being yours drove him crazy. He stopped, spilling himself into you as he slowly collapsed onto you, kissing your neck lazily.

"Oh my god, you're too good to me, sweetheart." he pulled out and laid next to you. "Wanna take a bath with me? I'll clean you up." he pulled you to him, kissing your head.

"Mm only if you behave.." you knew Billy better than anybody, you also knew that he couldn't go through an innocent shower or bath without being extra touchy. You ran your hands through his soft hair, admiring the tired, stupid smile across his face.

"Fine, I'll try. No promises. I just can't keep my hands off you. You're my fiance." he was trying to hide the fact that he was so giddy, so excited to finally make this big step. 

"Remind me to thank Robin and Steve." you yawned. Billy nodded and sat up next to you. "I've been trying to propose for a year. I tried twice." he watched your jaw drop in shock. "How? You never asked me!" you frowned.

"It was never the right time. But this was definitely the right time tonight. Did everything go okay for you?" you laughed at his question.

"Are you serious? It went perfectly! You did everything right." you watched his eyes light up. "Okay, thank you, sweetheart. Now let's go have that bath." He held your hand as he helped you off the bed.

Your legs felt like jelly. Billy laughed. "Happens every time, huh?"

You rolled your eyes. "Shut up and help me."

[dollslayer]

Sweeter Endings

Sugar Daddy!Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Still reeling from the financial realities of losing your mother you turn to a lucrative website for help and get more than you could have bargained for.

W/C: 5,325

Warnings: Smut (no minors 18+ only), light D/S dynamics, brief mentions of alcohol consumption, unprotected sex, swearing

A/N: NO MINORS, I wrote this for @donutloverxo 's Sugary 4k Challenge (Congrats!!) I love sugar daddy AUs so I was really excited to write this!! If you like it then please like/reblog/comment I'm all ears! Also maybe check out my other stuff if you want! Cheers!

Main Masterlist

____

The saying ‘desperate times call for desperate measures’ was truer than you’d ever imagined and you found out the hard way. Life had hit you hard last year. You had watched your mother succumb very quickly to cancer. A cold that just wouldn’t go away turned into a doctor’s visit turned into three months left to live. Having no one else in her life, the cost of her funeral and medical bills fell to you. The bills outweighing the inheritance you had no choice but to drop out of school.

One year later you were hanging on by threads to keep yourself off the streets without turning to a loan shark or selling yourself. Stocking shelves at a bougie grocery store in Soho by day and bartending in Tribeca by night had you working six days a week. What free time you had you were too exhausted to do anything with. Something had to give or you were going to collapse from the stress, you just didn’t know what.

A couple weeks ago you had been casually venting about how broke you were with a coworker when she jokingly suggested signing up for one of those Sugar Daddy sites. You laughed along with her but it sounded better than getting a third job. You had quietly asked one of your roommates to borrow their laptop saying you needed to look at job postings only half a lie, really and locked yourself in your room.

You were just gonna check out the website, maybe sign up and poke around, it didn’t mean you were committing to anything, just looking. You remembered first looking at the website once your shitty wifi loaded it, promising ‘beautiful and successful people making mutually beneficial connections’. You balked after reading that but you couldn’t look at any profiles without making one yourself so you had set to work.

After making your profile you hadn’t gotten any hits in about a week so you shrugged it off. You couldn’t keep hogging your roommate’s computer anyways so you set off back to work. Your days at the store wore on into endless nights at the bar and you wondered what other options you really had when you had no degree and no experience in any relevant field.

___

6 o’clock on a Thursday night, the typical after work crowd begins to roll in. The bar you work in is upscale, classy. Definitely trying to lure in the businessmen that worked in the area and their wallets. It annoyed you to deal with the same type of customers you did at the store all over again but with the high end crowd came good tips so you couldn't complain too much.

It was busier than usual when a group of men in suits walked in together asking for a booth. You saw a lot of business meetings take place over whiskey sours in this place so you didn’t think much of it. You tried your best to keep tending to your regulars when a pair from the group came over.

One of the men had deep brown eyes and a sly grin that when split gave you the perfect view of the gap between his teeth. He was confident but he had a kind look to him. His friend had dirty blond hair and a beard that clung to his perfect jawline and you’d be lying if you said you hadn’t snuck a second look. You turned your back and continued filling orders to distract yourself when one of them cleared their throat behind you.

As you turned to face them you found it was the blond calling after you. His face held a hint of surprise but it was quickly replaced by a look of amusement as he smirked and one brow lifted, like he knew something you didn’t. He was like any other typical customer for you, professional and handsome, probably over-confident in himself. You returned his smirk and prepared your best charming banter. Time to earn those tips.

“Something to drink for you, gentleman?” You offered.

“We’d like a round of scotch for the table over there. You don’t mind bringing it over, do you sweetheart?” the brown-eyed man asked.

“Of course not” you answered. Pricks.

“Good girl” the blond said with a wink. Creep. A hot creep but still. Before you could ask he took his card out of his wallet and put it on the counter for the tab.

____

A round had come and passed, soon they’d asked for another but this time it was just the blond that approached you. You lifted your eyebrows in anticipation of an order.

“You here often?” he asked. Ugh, not even a good pick up line.

“Am I here at my job often?” You retorted with a playful smile.

The man’s shoulders shook as he chuckled. “Sorry you just uh, you look familiar that’s all. What’s your name?”

You supplied him with it and asked him if he wanted another round of scotch. He nodded.

“Smart girl, I’m Steve by the way.” He laid down his business card which you picked up with a look of challenging curiosity. Steve Rogers, CEO of Shield inc.

Oh. You didn’t recognize the name but you definitely knew the company. It felt like a quarter of their employees stopped in for a drink throughout the week and it was prominent enough of a company that you read about it weekly. Play it cool, these types want to feel like an every-man at the bar but still wanna feel important.

You raised your eyebrows again in recognition. “Nice to meet you, Steve, I’ll have your round right out.”

“Good Girl” he winked again at you. Okay so it’s hot, but he’s a total stranger and you don’t even know him. Stay on your game.

___

10 o’clock came around and things were thinning out slightly, regulars made their way out, awkward Tinder dates and rowdy young 20-somethings made their way in. The party of businessmen was still around but they were hopefully wrapping up after the 2 more rounds they’d had. Steve approached the bar once more and you preemptively picked up the bottle of scotch.

“Whoa, easy, girl! I’m here to pick up the tab” He said, taking out his wallet.

“What’s the name on the tab?” You decided to play dumb but based off the grin on his face he knew you were playing with him.

“Steve. Rogers.” He replied, his tone was stern but his eyes told you he was in on the joke.

You cashed him out and left him to sign his receipt so you could make more drinks. You saw him move in your peripheral and turned your head to see his face.

“Have a good night, sweetheart. I’ll be seein’ ya” he promised.

“Take care!” You smiled back.

A few minutes later you circled back to collect his receipt and found three $100 bills staring back at you. You blinked dumbly in disbelief, who the hell leaves a 200% tip? Looking around to see if Steve was still here he was nowhere to be found. You had no choice but to pocket the money.

____

Another week went by and left you wondering how much energy and concentration it would take for you to just evaporate, since that seemed easier than going to work today. Sadly still in solid form, you punched in at the store and stowed your things in your locker.

Your upscale customer base was a mostly pretentious and successful group of yuppies so even though you were grateful to not be on the streets you were constantly reminded of the professional success you couldn’t help but feel that you were missing out on. Stuck instead to listen to incessant whining ‘is this organic? I won’t eat it unless it’s organic’.

The upside of this job was that the time went by quickly because you always had so much to do. Plus with how monotonous the work was it was easy enough to zone out. So much so that you hadn’t heard someone calling your name and approaching you. A hand softly touching your shoulder snapped you into the present.

You looked up, startled to find a pair of blue eyes staring back into yours. You took a step back and processed who it was. “CEO guy?” Steve?

“‘CEO guy?’ I thought I recognized you, ‘barmaid’ or should I say… ‘stock girl?’” He joked using his fingers to make quotations.

Now that you thought about it, the store isn’t that far at all from the bar, it would make sense if he’s in the area. You smiled and tapped your nametag in response.

“I just came in on my lunch to grab a few groceries” looking down at his basket it held some protein powder, some eggs, and one lonely banana. “Clearly, I’m single. But you’d know that already, wouldn’t you?”

Your brows twinged together in confusion. What is that supposed to mean?

“Excuse me?”

He edged a little closer to you and lowered his voice “SeekingConnection.com?”

Your eyes widened in shock. The fucking Sugar Daddy site! I forgot about that! Surprise was quickly replaced with humiliation. You looked down and away as you felt your cheeks heat up.

“I don’t mean to embarrass you” Steve placated, “But I gotta say, I’m pretty hurt you never responded to me. I sent that message weeks ago and let’s just say I’m not used to rejection.” He kept his tone light, letting you know he wasn’t mad.

“I-I um, I’m sorry, I don’t have a computer and they don’t have an app, I was using my roommates’ computer and I guess I forgot about it…” You admitted.

Steve nodded in acknowledgement. Please say something to salvage this conversation. Please.

“Well,” Steve rummaged in his pocket for another business card. “You got a pen on you?”

You dug around in your apron and came up with one. Handing it to him you watched as he wrote on the back of the card. He held the card and the pen out to you.

“That’s my number, I’d ask for yours but I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, you already look like you wanna sink through the floor” Not helping, but I do. You took them from him and tucked them away in the pocket of your apron.

“You do have a phone right?” You only glared at him in response. “Well, if you check your profile, you would’ve seen I asked you out to lunch, offer still stands. Just text me when you’re free”

Should I even say yes? I mean, the winking the other night was weird but he’s good looking and at least somewhat considerate. I mean, it’s not like I had any other intention when I signed up for that site. What the hell. right?

“I… usually work mid shifts so I don’t know if lunch is doable, they only give me half an hour but, maybe we could do coffee? I’ve got tomorrow off from the bar I could meet you” you suggested.

If Steve felt pity for you he hid it well behind the wide smile he made when you offered coffee instead.

“There’s a place around the corner from here, just up a block, you know it? I’m off tomorrow at 6, why don’t you meet me there?”

“Sounds like a plan.” He winked at you again and started walking away. What the hell just happened?

____

You did end up borrowing your roommate’s computer once again when you got home to look up Steve’s DM. Sure enough, there he had been in all his internet glory. ‘Steve, 33, CEO. likes: art, conversation, whiskey. Digging around further on his profile you found that he owned several houses here and in Europe, he had a dog that was cuter than he was, and that he was ‘Seeking deeper connection’. All of these things piqued your interest.

‘Hey, Doll. Saw your profile and I had to ask, what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this? Kidding, of course. But maybe you’d care to tell me your story over lunch? Your profile says we’re both in New York. - Steve’ Sent three weeks ago. Fuck.

You had texted him earlier to confirm, which is how you found yourself walking up the sidewalk towards the shop with a mind running rampant with nervous thoughts. What if he just wants to feel big about himself in comparison to me? What would I even really have to offer the relationship? A college dropout working two dead-end jobs with no social life. You needed to snap yourself out of it. You were just meeting for coffee doesn’t mean anything.

Pushing open the door you found Steve waving at you from a quiet corner. He was still in a suit, presumably coming from work himself. Even the buttons on his shirt looked expensive. You were wearing dirty jeans and a worn pair of work boots paired with a flannel. You couldn’t have looked more different if you tried.

“I waited for you to order,” He said. You smiled up at him, only now realizing how tall he was in comparison to you. He ushered you both towards the counter where you both placed your orders. You moved to take your wallet from your purse but he had already beat you there.

“Really? As if I’d let the lady pay, and on the first date no less?” He said playfully.

“Oh, so this is a date now, is it?” You kidded.

Steve shoved his hands in his pockets and gave you that boyish grin and a shrug. The pair of you made your way back to the table and waited for your drinks to be brought over.

“How was work?” You asked, “What exactly is it that your company does?”

“We offer security and surveillance software domestically as well as international. Stadiums, airports, other government buildings. Things of that nature. And work was fine, thank you for asking” Steve said with a genuine smile. “How was your day, doll?”

“Oh, my day was fine, more of the same but y’know,” You answered half-heartedly.

“You know, you never answered me, what’s a funny, pretty gal like you doing on a site like that?”

Embarrassment hit you again, this time maybe accompanied with a hint of shame. You were saved momentarily by your drinks being delivered. He seemed truly interested and since he was paying you supposed you owed him an answer.

“I was going to Columbia and I had a pretty good internship when my mom got diagnosed with cancer. She died three months later and since it was only always just the two of us I ended up footing the bill. I was on partial scholarship but between the hospital and the funeral I can’t really afford the rest of tuition on top of working for free so here I am” you explained, “Oh my god, I’m sorry I’m totally oversharing aren’t I? You probably don’t wanna hear about a bummer like this, sorry”

You tried to laugh to ease the tension you thought you’d created. Braving a look at Steve, he looked thoughtful and only a little bit like he pitied you. You could live with that.

“I’m really sorry about your mom, mine also got really sick before she died, I know it must’ve been hard. What were you in school for?”

___

You and Steve talked for hours, trading anecdotes of childhood and talking about each other’s interests. You had a similar sense in humour so you got on swimmingly. The evening seemed to be coming to a close as the night sky sent in through the window.

Being with Steve was probably the most relaxed you’d felt since before your mom was diagnosed. It became difficult to focus on anything but your financial situation and even though that’s what brought you here in the first place you had managed to forget all about it.

“So look, us getting together wasn’t exactly the most conventional on meet-cutes but to put it bluntly,” He said, “The CEO life makes it hard to meet real people and it gets kinda lonely, I mean, you saw my grocery basket” You both laughed at that. “You need money and I need company, I feel like we could help each other out. Whad’ya say? Think you could put up with me?”

You knew what this was but hearing it put so plainly was a little surprising. At least he was to the point.

“So if I said yes what does that mean, exactly?” you inquired.

“Well,” he started, “We take care of each other. Let me cover some of your bills at the very least, make it so you’d be comfortable quitting at least one of your jobs. And you’d keep me company, we go on dates, maybe you could come over, there’s the occasional work event or charity gala I’d need you on my arm for. Thoughts?”

God I can’t even imagine what it’s like to work only one job anymore. Maybe I could even save up and go back to school. He’s cute and he seems sensible, why not?

“Could we maybe take things slow? What you describe is something I’m down for but I don’t want to make myself completely dependent on you. But I’d love to be there for you, and I have to admit, the thought of only working one full time job is pretty crazy to me” You laughed.

Steve swallowed and placed one of his large, warm hands over yours.

“I can do things the old fashioned way, if that’s what you’d feel good with. I gotta say though, with looks like that it’s not gonna be easy” he jested.

You smiled shyly and looked away. You both stood to leave and he held the door open for you.

“I’ve already got your number from when you texted me earlier but I’ll talk to my assistant about my schedule and maybe I could take you out to dinner this weekend?”

“I um, I’d really like that. It’s a date” You stated.

“Oh, so you think this is a date now?” He jested.

You lightly punched him in the arm and he took the opportunity to pull you closer to him. You looked up to find his face inches from yours. You could smell his aftershave and his deep voice gave you goosebumps when he spoke next.

“I kinda want to kiss you goodnight, would that be okay?”

You could only nod as he shut his eyes and closed in. Your lips met in one perfect, chaste kiss. You sighed and leaned into his hand as it briefly cupped your face.

You broke apart and made promises to see each other soon. You felt like you could’ve floated home as you boarded the subway, caught up in the swarm of newly forming feelings.

_____

You sat in the break room when your phone buzzed to life, ‘Saturday at 7?’

You were about to type out a yes when you forgot you worked closing at the bar. Your thumbs moved quickly to tap out the reply ‘Working, sorry :/ the pitfalls of bartending. Sunday at 7?’

You were nervous telling him no and asking to change plans. You hated not being able to make things work but you only just met the man and the weekend tips were killer, it’s not like you could turn the shift down.

‘Ah yes, almost forgot. Sunday works too, I’ll text you the details. What’s your address? I’ll pick you up’

Oh, God. Steve can’t see my building! His cufflinks probably cost more than my rent!

‘I’ll just meet you there, don’t worry about it’

‘Not a chance, doll. Just tell me where and I’ll come get you’

You let out a worried sigh but knew you had to let it go. You sent him your address and went back to work.

____

Saturday was maybe the longest day in your entire week, in fact you loathed it. Mornings at the store followed by running immediately to the bar. Last call in New York was 4am so it’s a good thing you didn’t try to make brunch plans with Steve for Sunday. But ultimately both your shifts passed without major incident and now it was Sunday and you tried to ready yourself the best you could.

The place Steve mentioned was fancy, you knew that much from a quick search. Panicking instantly upon realizing you don’t really have any nice clothes you turned to your most fashionable roommate for help. She loaned you a cocktail dress that was revealing enough to draw interest without giving everything away. You just hoped Steve would like it.

‘Downstairs, doll. Silver BMW’ you exhaled. Hoo boy, here we go.

____

Steve handed his keys to the valet and rushed around to open your door for you. You held his hand and you clambered onto the sidewalk in your heels. His warm hand on the small of your back as he steered you towards the doors was a comforting weight.

Dinner has been lovely so far, he chose a place that wasn’t completely white-glove but was upscale enough to make you feel only a little underdressed.

You joked back and forth with him over the course of the meal, talked about your lives, and even found out you both have a guilty pleasure for cheesy rom-coms. It wasn’t until dessert and your third glass of wine came that you realized how much time had passed. You frowned slightly thinking of the early morning ahead of you followed by a long night at the bar.

“What’s wrong, doll?”

“Oh, nothing I just didn’t realize how late it was, I’ve got both jobs tomorrow it’ll just be a long day that’s all” you tried to wave it off but Steve frowned in response.

“Quit the bar” he stated.

“What?”

“Quit the bar. This is your card, I’ve already loaded $3000 on there. Put me in touch with your landlord and I’ll get you taken care of.” He slid the card across the table to you. Your name printed on the front. This got real very quickly.

“Steve, that’s.” You were in shock, a loss for words almost “that’s too much, I don’t know what to say.” You felt embarrassed taking the money. You knew that was the essence of your arrangement but actually taking his money had you feeling uneasy.

“Honey, this is what I’m here for. Let me take care of you. Give up your late nights. I wanna take you out on the weekends and you’ll need to be available for events. You can stay at the store if you want but quit the bar, you don’t need it.”

You took a deep sigh. He did say he wanted you to be comfortable quitting one of your jobs; it's just making the change that scares you. But something about Steve felt safe so you nodded and looked up to him.

“I’ll put in my two weeks”

“Good girl” he patted your knee and you involuntarily clenched your thighs. He smirked at that but let it go.

____

A few months had come and gone since that night and your time with Steve had been great. Only working the one job gave you so much more free time. You'd spent a good chunk of it just trying to form a normal sleep schedule but all the time you spent with Steve made it difficult. Not that you minded especially since your allowance was monthly but he’d showered you with gifts here and there.

They started off small, perfume, chocolates and flowers, or a simple pair of white gold hoops that reminded him of you. They gradually became pricier and more elaborate. You’d felt guilty accepting it all at first but he was insistent you deserve the best. He had even mentioned you moving out maybe finding a better place but you reminded him you needed to go slow.

He’d also been nothing short of a gentleman. Out in public at least, you’d learned the hard way that he was an absolute animal in bed. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep your hands off of him.

Something you had appreciated about Steve is that he never made you feel bad or less than for being broke. Never held his money over your head like leverage. You’d felt equal to him in all aspects, understanding you had just as much say as he did.

Still, there was a small nagging voice in the back of your head that reminded you Steve is not your boyfriend. This isn't a relationship and he's looking to get something out of just like you are. But if you were being honest you were catching feelings, it was hard not to when the man was giving you the fantasy. You decided to push that voice aside whenever it came up and let yourself be swept away. Maybe that would bite you in the ass but for now you were happy.

____

You were buzzed into Steve’s building and on the elevator ride up to his penthouse your phone buzzed. ‘I have to make a quick call- I’ve got a present waiting for you in the living room.’ You couldn’t help but feel giddy.

The doors opened and Steve was nowhere in sight but as you entered the living room a bag from Chanel and the Apple Store sat on the table. Oh god, what this time? I swear this man is too much.

You opened the smaller bag from Chanel first and found a beautiful black and white evening bag. It was sleek and simple, very much to your tastes. You were nervous to open the Apple bag, Steve always went overboard. Shakily removing the paper you pulled out the slim case in disbelief. A MacBook Air and a pair of AirPod Pros. The man well and truly spoiled you.

“You said you didn’t have a computer.” His voice came from behind you and startled you.

“Steve, this is too much. You’re too much.” You swung your arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Nothin’s too much for you, doll.” He kissed the top of your head.

“Think you could take a couple days off of work? I just got off the phone and confirmed plans for my house in Nice.”

A trip? France?? Oh my god. How is this my life? You felt so overwhelmed that you grabbed Steve by the collar and brought his face down to meet you in a kiss. His tongue swiped your lips and you granted him entrance. Moaning into his mouth your hands traveled up into his hair, pulling softly and coaxing a groan out of him.

He guided you to sit on the couch and brought you down into his lap. You ground down onto him and felt his hard-on through his slacks. Your hand moved slowly to undo the buttons of his shirt as he kissed down your jaw towards your neck. You sighed softly when he found your sweet spot and started sucking.

He helped you take off his shirt while you got started on his belt and undid his pants. He lifted himself off the couch slightly to move them down to his knees, taking his briefs with them. His cock stood proud and an angry red, leaking at the tip.

“I wanna ride you, I can’t wait.” You pouted as you writhed against him in need.

Steve tutted at you “that’s no way to get what you want. Ask me nicely, baby. Beg to ride my cock,”

You ground down even harder and whined. “Please, sir, please let me ride your cock. I need to feel you, I can’t wait any longer please.”

“Good Girl” Steve's hands flipped up your skirt and found your panties, ripping them to shreds. They were La Perla and had cost a pretty penny but he didn’t care.

He lined himself up and brought you down harshly gripping your hips. You moaned loudly in surprise and satisfaction and wasted no time moving back and forth. Steve made you feel so close and connected to him whenever he fucked you but he still made you feel sordid and dirty. You couldn’t get enough of the feeling, you’d gladly chase it.

His eyes were hooded as watched you chase your own pleasure and giving him some in return. His hands kneaded your ass and smacked it just to get a gasp out of you. He grabbed the back of your head and brought you in for a searing kiss that was all teeth and tongue. He’d nip at you and lick the pain away.

His hips met yours, finding your rhythm and speeding you both up when he gripped your hips.

“Can’t wait to have me, you had to fuck me on the couch huh?” Steve panted, “my dirty girl. So fuckin’ gorgeous.”

You put your forehead against his and went harder, pushing your clit to grind against the muscles of his abs.

“Only yours, sir.” Your orgasm was building. Steve was a pretty relaxed dom but you still needed permission.

“Sir, please let me cum I can’t wait any longer” you tried your best to slow your movements a bit.

“I think you can hold it baby, I wanna enjoy you a little longer”.

You could only whine in response and tried to slow your pace but his grip on your hips and his own movements pushed you further and further towards the edge. You tried to squirm out of his grasp but his hands only tightened. It felt like forever until Steve finally gave you permission.

“Go on baby, cum for me you earned it. Fuck your self on my cock and cum all over me”

Your movements were frantic, desperate to chase your orgasm when finally the perfect angle of his cock inside you and your clit against him set you free. You cried out above him and dug your nails in deep.

Steve held you firmly in place and started slamming into you from below, finally letting himself think about cumming. All you could do was hold on for mercy. Moments later he brought you down onto him one final slam as he came inside of you with a cry.

The only sound in the room was both of you trying to catch your breath. You sighed again and collapsed against him, nuzzling your face into his neck. He kissed the side of your face and let you make yourself at home while he caressed your back.

____

One shower and two more orgasms later you were both clean and made your way to the kitchen. Steve was gathering the ingredients for dinner when you hugged him from behind. Your head resting against his back. Steve twisted around and hugged you in full. You both stayed like that for a moment until you looked up at him.

You were so content. Moments like this where you were just domestic were some of the best between you. It wasn’t about money or material, it was just the two of you making dinner and enjoying each other, no barriers.

“Are you really going to take me to France?” Your voice came out muffled against his chest.

“Of course, doll. After dinner I want you to use your new laptop to buy some outfits for the trip. I left my card in your new purse.”

You lifted onto your tiptoes and kissed his nose.

“You really do think of everything, don’t you?”

“What can I say? I’m a planner” he retorted.

You didn’t know it yet but Steve was going to ask you to become official while you were there. He wasn’t worried in the slightest. In fact he’d never been so sure about something in his life.

[scorpionyx9621]

Do you think Jason Todd fandom is kinda toxic? Because it seems like NO MATTER what DC do, there'll always be complains. Forget the bad adaptation like Titans. Even Judd Winick cannot escape the criticism with how he potrayed Robin!Jason. They just never satisfied.

SORRY, IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO RESPOND TO THIS. I just moved from Washington D.C. to Seattle, which, for my non-American friends, that's 4442km away. And I DROVE THERE ALL BY MYSELF. And now I'm trying to find new work in a new city and trying to stay mentally healthy and positive. Life is exciting but hard and scary.

*sighs*

As someone who was a fandom elder with V*ltr*n. I've seen some of the worst when it comes to fandom behavior. I'm talking people baking food with shaving razors and trying to give them to the showrunners. I'm talking leaking major plot details and refusing to take it down unless they make their ship canon (I am looking at you, Kl*nce stans) For the most part, DC Comics has had a decades-long reputation of treating their fans like trash and not caring what they think so from what I've seen, we all just grumble and complain in our corners of the internet about how we don't like how X comic portrays Jason Todd.

The challenge with Jason Todd is that he's your clinical anti-hero, the batfamily's Draco in Leather Pants, he's a jerkass woobie, and on top of all of that, he's a Tumblr sexyman. It's a perfect storm for a very fun but frustrating character to be a fan of. It doesn't help that every writer decides to re-invent the wheel every time Jason comes up so his canon lore is confusing at best and inconsistent as a standard.

I guess starting with a general brief on who Jason is and what is uniform about him with every instance he's appeared in comics/media.

Grew up in a poor family in Gotham with a dad who was a petty-mid-level criminal, and a mother who dies of a drug overdose.

Survives on the street on his own by committing petty crimes and potentially even engaging in sexual acts to keep himself alive.

Is cornered by Batman and taken in after Dick Grayson quits/is fired

Becomes the second Robin, but is known for being the harsher, more brutal Robin.

Is killed by Joker after being tortured, but somehow comes back to life and regains senses through the Lazarus Pit

Resolves himself to be better than Batman by basically being Batman but kills people.

Where there has been a lot of conflict in the fandom is the fact that Jason Todd is not a character that is written consistently. DC Comics loves to go with the narrative that Jason was "bad from the start" and was the "bad robin" when, yes, he has trouble controlling his anger, but he also still is just as invested in seeing the best of Gotham City and trying to be a positive change for the world as any other DC Comics hero.

Where I get frustrated with the fandom is its ability to knit-pick every detail of a comic they don't like while completely disregarding everything that makes the comics great and worth it to read. My example being Urban Legends. To which most people had pretty mixed reactions to. I was critical of the comic at first but as it went along I ended up really liking it. I have a feeling DC Comics went to Chip Zdarsky and told him he had 6 issues to bring Jason back into the Bat Family, and honestly he didn't do a bad job. Did it feel rushed? Absolutely. I wish there was more development of Jason and Bruce's characters and their dynamic as a whole. However, where I see a lot of people being angry and upset with Urban Legends is that they feel Zdarsky needlessly wrote Jason as an incompetent fool who needs Bruce to save him.

Whether or not that was the intention of Zdarsky is up to debate. However, and this may be controversial, but I don't think he wrote Jason Todd out of character at all. For as fearsome, intimidating, and awesome as Red Hood is. Jason is a character who is absolutely driven by his emotions. Why do you think he donned the role of Red Hood? As a response to his anger towards The Joker for killing him, and towards Bruce for not taking action against The Joker and for seemingly replacing him so quickly after he died. Jason didn't care about being the murderous Robin Hood or for being the bloody hammer of justice against N*zi's and P*d*ph*les. He only cared originally about making The Joker and Bruce pay. It wasn't until he trained under the best assassins in the world and realized most of them were horrific criminals who trafficked children and were p*dos that Talia began to realize that the teachers that she sent Jason to train under started dying horrific and painful deaths.

The entire story of the Cheer story in Batman Urban Legends was started because it finally forced some consequences upon Jason. Tyler, aka Blue Hood's father was a drug dealer who gave his supply to his wife and kids. And when Tyler's father admitted he gave the drugs to Tyler, it immediately made him fall within the self-imposed philosophical kill-list of Jason Todd. And Jason, well, he proceeds to kill Tyler's father. When this happens, Jason is in shock. Tyler's dad fit the bill to easily and justifiably be killed by Jason. We've never seen Jason having to deal with the consequences of being a murderous vigilante on a micro-level. When Jason realizes what he's done in that he's murdered Tyler's dad, he's shocked. He tells Babs the truth. He does a rational thing because he's in shock. He doesn't know what to do, he never has had to face the consequences of his actions as Red Hood and now the gravity of befriending a child as a vigilante hero who kills people just set in when he killed the father of the same child he was just introduced to.

(Oh here's a little aside because it had to be said, Jason would not have been a good father or a good mentor to Tyler and absolutely should not have been his new Robin. Jason is a man who is in his early 20's (not saying men in their early 20's can't be good fathers at all) who is a brutal serial killer using the guise of a vigilante anti-hero to let him escape most of the law. the complications of having the man who murdered your father adopt you and make you his sidekick are way too numerous for me to explain in a long-winded already heavy Tumblr essay post. There's a reason why we don't advocate for a story where Joe Chill adopted Bruce Wayne or one where Tony Zucco took in Dick Grayson.)

The next biggest argument is that they feel that Jason is giving up his guns as a means to just be invited back into the Bat-Family. To which I will tell anyone who has that argument to go actually read Urban Legends. Already have and still have that argument? Please re-read it. Don't want to? That's okay, I will paste the images from the comic where Jason specifically says that he doesn't want to give up his weapons for Bruce and his real reasoning down below since the comic isn't exactly readily accessible.

Jason gave up the guns because he felt the gravity of what he had done and knows how it'll effect Tyler. Thankfully his mom is alive and in recovery. But Tyler doesn't have a father anymore. And Jason killed Tyler's father. It may have been in accordance to Jason's philosophy, but it was a case where it blurred the lines. Jason Todd isn't a black and white character, just very dark gray. He doesn't kill aimlessly like the Joker. If you are on Jason's list you probably have done something pretty horrific, and also just in general, being in his way or being a threat to him. Mind you, in early days of Red Hood and the Outlaws (Image below) Jason almost killed 10 innocent civilians in a town in Colorado all because they saw him kill a monster. That being said, Jason isn't aimless in his kills.

(Also can we just take a moment to appreciate Kenneth Rocafort's art? DC Comics said we need to rehabilitate Jason Todd's image and Kenneth Rocafort said hold my beer: It's so SO GOOD)

That being said, the key emphasis in the story of Cheer asides from trying to introduce Jason Todd back into the Bat Family and give an actual purpose for him being there, other than him just kind of being there ala Bowser every time he shows up for Go Kart racing, Tennis, Golf, Soccer, and the Olympic games when Mario invites him, is that Jason and Bruce ultimately both want the same thing. Jason wants to be welcomed back into the family and to be loved and appreciated. Bruce want's Jason back as his son and wants to love and protect Jason. Both of these visions are shown in the last chapter of Cheer while under the effect of the Cheer Gas. It's ultimately this love and appreciation they both have for each other that helps them overcome their challenge and win.

Jason Todd is a character who, just like Bruce, has been through so much pain and so much hate in his life. The two are meant to parallel each other. While Bruce chose to see the best in everyone, giving every rogue in his gallery the option to be helped and give them a second chance, hence why he never kills, Jason has a similar view on wanting to protect the public, but he understands that some crimes are so heinous they cannot be forgiven, or that some habitual criminals are due to stay habitual criminals, and need to be put down. But at the end of the day, the two of them both try to protect people in their own ways.

I am aware that through the writings of various DC Comics authors such as Scott Lobdell and Judd Winick, the two have had a very tumultuous relationship. And rightfully so, I am by no means saying that Scott Lobdell writing an arc where Bruce literally beats Jason to within an inch of his life in Red Hood and the Outlaws, nor Judd Winick's interpretation of Under the Red Hood where Bruce throws the Batarang at Jason's neck, slicing his throat and leaving him ambiguously for dead at the end of the comic is appropriate considering DC Comics seems to be trying everything they can to integrate Jason back into the family. That being said, a lot of these writings have shaped the narrative of Jason and Bruce's relationship and have an integral effect on the way the fandom views the two. It doesn't help that Zdarsky acknowledged Lobdell's life-beating of Jason by Bruce at the very end of Cheer by having Bruce give Jason his old outfit back as a means of mending the fence between the two of them. That does complicate a lot of things in terms of how they are viewed by the fandom and helps to cause an even greater divide between the two.

Regardless, I want to emphasize the fact that Jason Todd is a part of the family of his own accord. Yes, he's quite snarky and deadpan in almost every encounter. However, Jason is absolutely a part of the family and has been for a while of his own will. There's a great moment in Detective Comics that emphasizes this. Jason cares about his family because it is his found family. Yes, they may be warry about him and use him as a punching back and/or heckle him. At the end of the day, we're debating the family dynamics of a fictional playboy billionaire vigilante whose kleptomania took the form of adopting troubled children and turning them into vigilante heroes. Jason Todd wants a family that will love and support him. This is a key definition of his character at its most basic. This was proven during the events of Cheer and is being reenforced by DC Comics every time they get the opportunity to do so.

Now, none of this is to say that I hate Judd Winick. I do not, I don't like the fact that in all of his writings of Jason, he just writes him as a dangerous psychopath, and Winick himself admits to seeing Jason as nothing much more than a psychopath. Yet Winick is the one who the majority of the fandom clings to as the one true good writer of Jason Todd because 'Jason was competent, dangerous, smart' Listen, friends, Jason is all of that and I will never deny it. However, what I love about Jason isn't that he's dangerously smart of that writers either write him as angsty angry Tumblr sexyman bait or that they write him as an infantile man child with a gun. There's a large contention of this fandom that has an obsession with Jason Todd being this vigilante gunman who is hot and sexy and while I definitely get the appeal. It is very creepy and downright disturbing that all of you hyperfixate on his use of guns and ability to be a murderer. It is creepy and I'm not necessarily here for it.

What I love about Jason Todd is that despite all of the pain, all of the heartache, all of the betrayal, and bullying, and death, and anguish. Jason Todd is one of the most loving and supportive characters in all of DC Comics. Jason has been through so much in his life, but he still chooses to love. He still chooses to see the bright side in people. Yes, he takes a utilitarian approach and chooses to kill certain villains, but at the end of the day he wants to see a better world, and he wants to be loved. It takes so much courage and so much heart to learn to love again after one has been abused or traumatized. I would not blame Jason at all if he said fuck it and just went full solo and vigilante evil. He has every right to, but he still chooses to be with the Bat Family of his own accord. That's something that I see a lot of in myself. I have been through a lot of trauma and yet I try to be a better person myself in any way that I can. It is extremely admirable of Jason to allow love back into his heart when he really doesn't need to. He kills and he protects because he has this love of society. It may have been shaped by anger and hatred, but Jason has found his place amongst people who love him and value him. I think Ducra, from Red Hood and the Outlaws put it best in the image given below.

To end this tangent, I love Jason Todd and all of his sexy dangerousness, but it's far more than that. As much as Jason may be dangerous and snarky, he loves his family without a shadow of a doubt. I look up to Jason Todd because despite all of his pain and all of his trauma, he still choses to love. Jason Todd is a character who is someone I love because despite all of his flaws and having a very toxic fandom, he still serves as a character filled with so much heart and so much passion. I wish more writers would understand that. But for now I will live with what I have. Even though the fandom may be vocal about it's hatred for his characterization, I choose to love Jason regardless because he is a character who chooses love and acceptance regardless of his pain. Jason Todd is by no means a good person in any sense of the word. He has easily killed upwards of 100 people by now. He is a character who is flawed and complex but ultimately is one who powers forwards and finds love and heart in a place from so much pain and anguish. That is what I love about Jason Todd. After all, to quote a famous undead robot superhero, "What is grief, if not love persevering?" Jason Todd chooses to love despite all of the trauma and pain and grief. Yes, he is hardened in his exterior, but inside there is a man with a lot of love to give and someone who deserves the world in my eyes.

[creatingnikki]

What 2020 has taught me

1. Those things that seem like content for sci fi or pure fiction are actually things that can happen. To the entire world. Like a pandemic. And to you. Like a seizure.

2. Everyone is sad. Everyone is struggling. In different ways and in different measures. Makes no one special. But you still get to feel sad for yourself and be compassionate towards others. But it's also okay to draw boundaries because you're everyone too. Remember, not special? You're sad and trying to deal with it too.

3. Every job you have will not add value to your life. It will not teach you new things or give you people you'll want to stay in touch with. Sometimes some jobs will only be a season of your life. Even if the season lasts for over a year. It's okay.

4. You know how you thought picking a college and picking a major and picking your first job and picking a specific industry were all the career decisions you had to make? Yeah, no. It's never a one time thing. You could have a job as a marketing strategist for two years and then want nothing to do with it. And then you'll have to make another decision and work towards it. So I'd like to call it moves. It's like chess. You always have to make a move. And it always has to be strategic, yes. But the truth is in your 20s it probably won't. Even if you try. And as long as you're trying, you'll be fine.

5. You may have different sorts of friends like the one you only talk to about kdrama with or the one you met when you went book shopping alone and the friendship is all about books really. That's normal. But irrespective of why and how you became friends with them, if you consider them a friend then there has to be this basic sense of care, respect and empathy for each other. I don't care what people want to say. If you're faced with the worst trauma of your life, the least your friends can do is check up on you regularly. On text. And if they don't even do that then guess what? They aren't friends. They are acquaintances. Social media and quick promises make everyone seem like your friend. But they are not. They are just nice people who will be nice to you for specific periods and then wander away like you are a speck of dust floating in their journey.

6. You speak a lot and write and you express yourself and you’re emotionally mature but oh my god. You still hold in so much. You’ve known that at a subconscious level and over the last year people - experts - have told you that. You have also realized that you make your pain and sadness about pettier things because dealing with them, admitting about them, sharing that with your friends, is easier. You do that so that you don’t have to deal with the real stuff. Because it’s so damn painful. And you don’t know how to do it. Yet. Acknowledging is the first step anyway right? I know you’re confused about how exactly to let go of all this pain and sadness and feel lighter, and you know that talking to people really isn’t the solution, but I also know you’re smart enough to figure it out. 

7. Talking about being smart...you know you’re different than others. Better. Special. Smarter. None of these are the right words. And you never voiced this out until this year because you knew it would make you come across as narcissistic. Some would say it’s because you’re an INFJ. But my mother once said that this may be the first time we are consciously living life but our souls are old and so our instinct and the things we know but can’t explain are because this isn’t the first time for our souls. The connections we feel with certain people, the reason we are so different from our siblings who grew up in the exact same environment with the exact same opportunities, our sense of right and wrong...it’s all because our souls learn and grow with each time and that’s why we are who we are. I think that’s probably how I can explain what I have always felt. That I am living in a different universe than everybody but I have to pretend to be in this one and dumb my emotions and thoughts down. Maybe that’s because my soul has lived through thousands of years while most around me are living their 100th life. Or maybe I’m just narcissistic, who knows?

8. You shift between talking in first person and second person but that’s because that’s how you think in your head and talk to yourself and live your life. You ask yourself things and you accuse yourself of things and you apologize to yourself and you comfort yourself. I think that seeps into your writing and the changing of the voices. 

9. You always genuinely thought that you’d not be afraid of dying. And then what happened this October proved you shockingly wrong. I know it’s not so much being afraid of dying but the unbearable pain of knowing what that would mean to your family. So you have to be more prudent and less reckless with your life and the choices you make. 

10. Regret is not something that plagued you but this year the realisation and pain of giving away your favourite books from your own personal collection to people you care about as a show of affection and them turning out to be ass holes or losers has hit you so hard. So, yes. No more of that shit. I really fucking want my copy of The Perks Of Being A Wallflower back. UGH. With the childhood picture of me inside it! 

11. Sleeping at 5 am in the morning stops being fun or romanticised when you realise just how much harm it does to your body and mind. Literally every single disease and disorder can be traced back to a shitty fucking sleep schedule. It’s not just the hours you sleep but also the quality of sleep and the time you sleep at. So yes sleeping for 8 hours is healthy but not if that 8 hours is from 5 am to 12 pm. ‘Not a morning person’ is just another construct of capitalism and you don’t realise how many industries profit from having you believe that and staying up late or all night. Entertainment. Food. Alcohol. Pharma. Biologically and naturally you are a bloody morning person. And you don’t need 3 cups of coffee to begin your day or your phone notifications to get you to open your eyes and brain to wake up. 

12. Sometimes you really have to stop taking people so seriously. I know the idea of treating people as casual friends or entertainment makes you want to fight that concept but you know what? Some people like Pineapple are ever only going to be good for that. No matter how much they ‘grow and change’. So keep them in the background for whenever you want some entertainment or drama. But please don’t clear up your busy schedule to meet them or send them gifts on their birthday. 

13. If you don’t have the fruit juice or green juice within half an hour of making it then you are losing out on its most optimum health benefits. Or when you remove the white stringy stuff from oranges. That’s where all the actual nutrients are.

14. I am privileged and so are most of the people I interact with. The global pandemic has been hell for a lot of people around the world. Health wise. Financially. Losing people they care about. But I was blessed enough to be safe at home and have a job that I could smoothly do from home and not have a pay cut or 4-hour long Zoom meetings. So honestly when my friends tell me 2020 has been bad I have to stop and ask them why? Yes, the crippling uncertainty and anxiety is not something that can be undermined. But most people I know had very great positive life-changing milestones this year like moving away to another country for college or taking their first solo trip or getting married. So I have to ask them. Because I am not going to agree that everybody’s 2020 and pandemic narrative is the same. 

15. Money gets spent really quickly. When I left my job earlier this year because of personal issues, I thought I had enough savings to last me a year. Full disclosure - I mean to last my personal expenses because I live with my parents. But it didn’t even last me 3 months. And so to use money wisely and buy things that provide utility than instant gratification is something to follow. Also buying one pair of really expensive but quality shoes is better than buying 5 pairs of affordable but low quality shoes that will have a very short life and force you to buy more. I know that higher price doesn’t always mean better quality but sometimes it does. And as an adult now I want to do the whole quality > quantity thing even with things and not just people. 

16. Everyone in their 20s went through a crisis of what they should do with their lives and their careers and it’s not unique to the 21st century and the challenges of today. Whether it was Vincent Van Gogh in the 19th century or Sylvia Plath in the 20th, every single person, as brilliant as them went through the torture of making these decisions and living with their consequences. You may think I picked wrong examples for they both killed themselves but you know what? They were the people who really want to live more than anyone. They knew what life meant. And maybe if mental health help was more accessible back then their lives would be longer and more peaceful. 

17. Telling people everything is overrated. You don’t have to talk about every single thing that’s on your mind or that’s going on in your life. The good and the bad and the mediocre. You have to be mindful about how much of yourself you’re giving away. 

18. Re-watch Suits when people at work feel intimidating because the confidence + negotiation tactics that they show can actually work irl cos at the end of the day no matter in what position you’re dealing with people who have emotions and fears and insecurities and desires. You understand how to leverage that nobody can get the better of you. 

19. You belong to yourself. No matter how much you love someone or how much they have done for you or how much you owe them - you belong to yourself. You can’t live your life for someone else. Everyone belongs to themselves first. No relationship, no promise, no circumstance should make you feel like you have to give up your life and make it all about them. If and when the time comes to die for them, go ahead. Take a bullet. Donate that kidney. Write them in your will. But live your life for yourself. And let them live theirs. 

20. Twenty three was a challenging year. When it started you claimed the age 23 sounds boring and insignificant. Guess it proved you wrong. It hurt so much now. But that only means you’ll look back on it later and see how it added so much wisdom and resilience to your being. It doesn’t mean that it makes all the bad things that happened to you okay. Or that you should be grateful to them. Fuck no. It means that you should be kinder to yourself because at the end of the day, your mind and body find it in themselves to deal with whatever is thrown their way. They have your back. It’s time you learn to sit straight. 

[randomideasmybrainhas]

Flying rocks and kisses

Trying to gain inspiration through power outages, and got prompted for a Suyin request, which I’m actually pretty excited about, gives me a bit of a challenge now. Since they didn’t choose which prompt, I’ll start with 3, and I’ll just play around with a few different people. While, I’m a le $ bean, I’m open to also writing for my boys- so you can request anyone, not just the lovely ladies of ALTA and LOK (but lets be real, they’re the important ones and deserve more love). Here goes nothing, let me know what you think, and hope you enjoy!!

Prompt #3: “Shit, watch out!” She screamed as a large boulder was flying at her crush at an extremely fast pace, fast enough all she could do was jump in front of it, and prepare for the sudden pain.

Word count: 2,973

Requestor: @Helplesslesbean

—-

Having grown up in the lovely city of Zafou for all my life, and following the guards around the city has made me grown accustomed to all the ins and outs of the city and especially the large mansion which resides my personal favorite human, Suyin Beifong. Granted yes, she is the same age as my parents, and I should definitely not be major crushing on her, but I mean… How can you not? Look at her, she’s the fiercest woman I know and would do anything for her family and she made this entire city from nothing, and she’s a Beifong! Her mother literally invented metal bending, which is our entire city. She also started a dance troupe and has worked countless of tiresome hours to perfect her dancers for their plays. I go to every performance and practice.

Speaking of the lovely, perfectionist of a woman, I sat outside helping Kuvira, Suyin’s adoptive daughter practice her dance routine since I’m always at the practices, Kuvira has me help her practice, because like mother, like daughter, she’s also a perfectionist. Something about being abandoned as a child… As we were going over how to jump from the bottom to the top to interlock her ankle with Lucy’s, Su walked up and instantly I started getting nervous, and Kuvira knows my little secret, but finds it weird and childish. Which is probably is, but I ignore her, and keep my little crush on the matriarch to myself. 

“Aww, wonderfully done Kuvira and (y/n)!! That was performed beautifully! I should create a routine without metal bending, so you can participate (y/n)! You’d be such a lovely dancer, might even steal the show!” Su exclaimed in joy while walking up to the two of us, with my pale complexion becoming as red at the Fire Nation. 

“It could’ve been better. Again.” Kuvira said while getting back to the starting position. I just sighed, we’ve been going at this all morning. Usually Su would come by earlier on to watch the practice, but with the Avatar being in town, she’s been preoccupied , which works out for you, since every time she watches you, you get nervous and mess up, and especially when Kuvira trains with you, that usually has you ending on your ass, with a lot of bruises. Kuvira isn’t easy-going, and will use your crush on Su to her full advantage. 

“Oh, Kuvira, you need to learn to take a break, it looks like (y/n) could use one, here have some water.” Su said while pushing Kuvira back down with a water bottle that she brought up. She then handed me one, and I quickly grabbed it, trying to ignore the slight spark of electricity that went off between our fingers when the brushed each other, and quickly downed half the bottle in one go. 

“Wow, you must be thirsty (y/n), I can get you another if you’d like.” Su said, which made you choke on the second half of the bottle, and had you sputtering out that you were okay. Kuvira just scoffed and pushed Su out of the way to go over the form again, she didn’t think it was strong enough. You got back up and started to practice again, ignoring Su’s lingering eyes on you. You kept up with the routine, and eventually Su had to attend to some other things around the city. 

—-

After you finished up, you got cleaned up and ready for bed.You were brushing your teeth when you heard a knock on the door. Confused because Kuvira has a strict sleep schedule that is not to be interupted, and that even means as soon as it’s after dinner, you never hear from her. You finished wiping your mouth and opened your door. Standing there was Su in her long, luxurious emerald green gown with her metal plates and you could smell her fresh perfume she always wore to bed and light green slippers. 

“Su? How can I help you?” You ask, while trying to keep your blush down, or at least not blistering red. You were also trying to ignore the fact that while normal people who don’t crush on others twice their age, they also don’t wear just a large t shirt to bed, with NOTHING underneath. 

“(Y/N), I just wanted to check in with you about a few things, do you mind if I come in?” Su asks. You let her in, but try to ignore that her perfume has you leaning in closer and wishing you could just curl up in bed with her forever. 

As Su walks in, she slightly brushes you with your arm, and the hair on your arm stands up as you clear your throat and close the door behind her. You follow Su into the room as she sits on your bed and you awkwardly stand there. You just look down at the floor, and wait for her to speak. She just sits there and stares at you, and you’re quite confused what she’s looking at, and why she isn’t talking yet. 

“Are you not going to sit?” Su asks. You shuffle and sit next to her, but trying to keep some space between you, for your benefit so you won’t do anything too stupid. This crossed Su’s mind, and she completely ignored it and scooted closer to you and rested her hands on your forearm and knee, which prompted you to swallow loudly, as you tried to ignore your pounding heart. 

“I’ve talked with Kuvira before, and she always says how great you are at talking things through, and I have some concerns.” She starts with, causing you to die a little inside, thinking she knows your little secret. “With my sister being here, and being so resentful against me and my family, I don’t know what to do or say, and my husband is well… we’re not how we used to be, and I feel like you’d have good insight.”

“Uhhh yeah. Um. You’re not?” I squeaked out, not really sure to answer that. She’s not how she used to be with her husband? But they always seemed to be the perfect duo. How is she not doing well with him? Are they splitting up? What happened? Okay (y/n), focus. She’s starting at you. I need to concentrate on what she’s saying. I hear her speaking, but nothing is coming to my ears, I’m just staring at her perfect lips, and wow. They’re so kissable. I wish I could, just…

“(Y/N) are you okay? You seem out of it. I knew this would be too much, just forget I said anything, and have yourself a goodnight.” Su rushed out as she got up to leave. I didn’t know what to do, because now she thinks it’s her fault. I did the only logical thing to do. I grabbed her retreating hand and yanked her back down to me and before she could question anything, I grabbed her face pulled it closer and slammed my lips on her lips. I instantly wrapped my hands into her hair pulling her closer and enjoying this moment. 

She was completely frozen. That’s when the panic started, and I soon realized this was not where she was going with this, and I’m an idiot. Just when I started to pull back, there was a loud bang that shook the mansion, cause me to fall to the floor and Su to stand up immediately. Horrible timing, but I could always just stare at her from this angle. Any angle to be honest. Thats when another loud bang shook the walls, and before I could get up, Su grabbed my hands to lift me up, surprisingly quickly and strong. 

“I need to investigate, stay here (y/n).” Su said eyes piercing through mine. 

“But I-“

“I mean it, don’t leave your room in any circumstance until I come get you.” Su said, then looked at my lips, gave me a quick peck on the cheek instead, and ran out of the room, metal bending the door behind her so I couldn’t get out. Damn metal benders. Though, joke is on her, because Kuvira used to lock me in my room all the time for dinner as a joke. I carved out some hollowed areas to crawl through that gives me outdoor access through the vents. Granted this was 10 years ago, when I was much smaller, but will have to do in a pinch. I wiggled through and I don’t know if its all the training I’ve done with Kuvira to stay toned and made this a piece of cake, or all the sweat I’ve gathered from thinking about the kiss I just shared with Su. Of course she didn’t want to kiss me, I’m her adoptive daughter’s friend, why would she me as anything else? Welp, time to move out I suppose. You know, Fire nation looks lovely this time of year. Another loud bang followed by shouting was heard, and I got back to focus and busted the vent and crawled out. 

When I got up, I see about 20 guards, Su and her twins, team avatar, and Lin. I can’t specifically spot out Kuvira, but I’m sure she’s somewhere amongst the guards. Who I can’t find oddly is the avatar. Isn’t this her thing? Investigation loud bangs? Then I spotted it. The giant metal plates in the center of.. lava? Well that’s new. Some buff, bald man had the knocked out avatar over his shoulder, and everyone was firing metal at him. But some of the guards were fighting a woman with water arms, and a guy who was lavabending?! Who are these people?! My training with Kuvira kicked in, and while I don’t have some super fancy bending like these people, or really any bending, I know how to throw a punch and dodge cheap shots that Kuvira loves to throw at me. 

I run into the action and I spot Kuvira bending her plates at the lady with water arms, but miserably failing. I run up to her and push her behind a pillar. 

“(Y/N)! You can’t be out here, these aren’t normal people. Go call back up!” Kuvira shouted while protecting you from an explosion near by. 

“Idiot, I’ve trained with you, I can help. But you’re such and earth bender. You’re only thinking within the box of fighting. These obviously aren’t normal people. You need to outsmart them, not out bend them.” You shout over all the commotion and duck your head into Kuvira’s arms while splinters of metal go flying a little too close to your face. Kuvira puts up a shield next to you to protect you, and you continue on you theory. “If you can distract the water bending with set up 12-4, then I jump off your back and go and electrocute her. Water hates electricity.” You shout over the loud bangs.

“That could work, but if you get injured, Su will kill me.” Kuvira shouts, while contemplating. 

“That’s okay, I think she already wants to kill me now. I kissed her earlier.” You shout/whisper to Kuvira. She just stares at you with large eyes, and punches your arm. You just shake your head and nod to her. Kuvira get the guards to line up in 12-4, a common move they do to surprise an attacker, with surrounding forces, and my added presence should hopefully hit it home. I waited for the right moment and then when I saw Kuvira was ready and water lady spun around I ran and jumped on Kuvira’s back and she launched me into the air, and thankful for all her dance routines, I flipped next to water arms lady and with the baton fully charged with electricity, I went to electrocute her to take her out, and it was going perfect, except we didn’t account for mr. lavabender to have heart eyes for her, and jump in, and shoot the ground from underneath me, and shoot me into the air, and given it was unpredicted, I was flying far, and crashed into Lin. And man, if I thought Su was strong, her older sister is earth itself, and pure muscle. I groaned from the not so soft landing. I think the ground would’ve been a better landing than Lin. 

“Watch it kid. This isn’t a circus.” She grunts roughly and tosses you aside. Ahh, so now you see the resentment Su was talking about from earlier. You roll off and sit up brushing the dirt off you. That didn’t go as planned. Before you could think of another suggestion, you looked up and saw Su fighting with her twins and you see combustion bender (how did I miss her earlier?!) Directly aim for a rock pile near by Su, to throw all of them at her at once, so she couldn’t dodge it, and before you knew what to do, your body was running full speed at Su, screaming, “Shit, watch out!” as a large boulder was flying at her crush at an extremely fast pace, fast enough all she could do was jump in front of it, and prepare for the sudden pain.

You know those moments when everything slows down, and you just embrace what is happening, but it gives you a chance to look around? This was one of those moments, and you thought you were toast. For sure, going to be flattened out into nothing. Though while you looked around, you see guards running all over, team avatar helping Lin get the avatar, and the twins under the protection of their mother, who is shielding her body to protect them, and staring at you. You feel the wind of the the boulder about to hit you, and you ready yourself for the impact…. That never comes? You look in front of you to see all the boulders that were flying towards you at full speed are now hitting the combustion lady and Lin escaped with the avatar. What really surprised you was the air being blasted from your hands. I’m an airbender????? 

Then the bald man took his staff and the other 3 talented benders into a gust of wind and they were gone. Okay, if I am an airbender, I need to learn that trick. You look back to see if Su is okay, but are instead greeted with arms instantly wrapping around you and the intoxicating smell of Su’s perfume and a bit of mix of burnt earth…You awkwardly return her hug and bury your face into her shoulder, even though she is about an inch or two shorter than I am. 

“You idiot, I told you to stay put! And why would you jump in front of those boulders? I’m an earth bender, I can handle it!” Su screams at you, and you wince.

“Yeah, but I couldn’t see you get hurt, and that was a lot. Even the best of us need help sometimes.” You say as you rub the back of your neck. She just shakes her head at you and brings you in closer. 

—-

After all the crazy moments and discovering the bald man named Zaheer, had all the airbenders, team avatar went after him, and though you wanted to join in on the fight, Su asked you to stay, and while you do love her, you aren’t sure if you can. 

She pulled you aside after the meeting into a small room that was almost never used. “(y/n), I can’t have you in danger again, especially now that you’re an airbender, you’re a bigger target for Zaheer. Please don’t go. I can’t have you getting hurt.” Su says quietly while holding your hand and searching your eyes. You really struggled, you wanted to say okay to make her feel better and happy, but you had to help. 

“Su, I-“

She stopped me by kissing me on the lips, and I think I just died… Is this the spirit world? Sparks shout out from my closed eyelids, and I pulled her in closer to my body as if this was a dream I was hoping to never awake from. Eventually we both pulled away for air, and searched each others eyes while resting our foreheads together. I eventually spoke up, “okay… I’ll stay back.” 

Su visibly sighed and relaxed against my body, and I held her tight and kissed the top of her forehead. I’m not comfortable with the idea of her going out alone, but I heard Kuvira can’t go, and someone needs to stay back to keep her from taking over the kingdom. 

—-

I hope you all enjoyed this, and sorry it went so long!! I just ramble a lot in my head, and it kinda comes out as word vomit, and this is what you get… Please leave a like and comment for support!! 

Also side side note: I know you choose #6, but I wanted to switch it up!!

[snowdice]

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 48]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18

Ugh I have so many boring things to do today, so have this.

Chapter 19

Thomas sighed in relief as the door to the royal wing finally came into sight. He was exhausted from his journey to Lamir for many reasons. Beyond just the physically taxing journey, he’d also had to deal with the emotions of loosing someone he had thought of as a friend while also trying to help her young daughter who had just had the crown thrust upon her.

Now he just wanted to see his own child and curl up into bed. He smiled at Owen and Kalani as he approached. “Is Logan here?” he asked.

Owen nodded. “The prince and his royal advisor are having a slumber party.”

Thomas smiled. “Of course, they are,” he said.

 He said goodnight to the two guard as they’d be getting off duty soon even if he did manage to drag himself out of his room again tonight and walked past them into the hall.

He walked past the room where they kept the jewels, though was unsurprised to see that the room was unlatched as Patton loved playing around with the different jewelry and had probably left it open when he grabbed them. He was however surprised when his son’s room’s door was thrown open, as Logan usually couldn’t stand for the thing to be open with or without him in it.

 Thomas didn’t think much of it however, and simply walked over to look inside. He was surprised when he didn’t see his son or Patton and instead saw that the only person in the room was a young boy that Thomas did not recognize. He was seated in one of Logan’s chairs and had his head tilted looking at himself in the mirror. He seemed to be trying to get a look at the ornament on the back of his head, and Thomas felt his heart seize a little bit when he recognized the hairpin.

He hadn’t recovered from that gut punch when the boy’s eyes drifted and met his in the mirror. There were a couple of long seconds where the two of them stared at each other in silence.

“Hello?” Thomas finally managed to get out.

Panic. There was suddenly horribly intense panic in the child’s eyes, the likes of which Thomas had never seen before. Thomas could only blink dumbly as he hopped to his feet like his seat was suddenly made of hot coals and then threw himself across the room to the opposite side from Thomas.

He looked around himself, back to the wall and considered Thomas with wildly spooked eyes. Clearly, he realized that he was pinned in Logan’s room by Thomas being in the door.

The boy dropped suddenly and disappeared under Logan’s bed.

 “Uh,” Thomas said, confused and shocked and still a bit in pain from seeing that piece of jewelry in use. He crossed slowly over to the bed and bent down to look under it, moving the bed skirt slightly to the side. He saw a small shaking blob curled up into itself under the bed. “Um, hi,” he said softly.

The blob did not respond except to continue shaking.

Thomas frowned and settled himself onto the floor. “It’s okay,” he said softly. Had he been here stealing things? Thomas had to wonder as he wasn’t sure why someone here for legitimate reasons would be acting so terrified of being caught. Though, that posed the question of how he’d gotten past the guards, and why Logan hadn’t noticed him. “I’m not mad,” Thomas said. “You’re fine.”

The boy looked up briefly from his knees looking terrified. Thomas tried to smile at him gently, but that just made him hunch into himself more, his breathes coming faster. That wasn’t good.

“No, shh,” Thomas said softly. “It’s okay. I promise it’s okay.” He did not seem to believe him, and Thomas winced. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t just leave him here but trying to talk him down himself didn’t seem to be working.

Luckily, a familiar voice spoke from behind him then. “Dad?” Logan asked.

Thomas looked back at him. Both Logan and Patton were standing at the door, a couple of pieces of jewelry in their hands. They seemed very surprised to see him.

“You… seem to have a guest,” Thomas informed them.

 “I…” Logan said, beginning to edge into the room like he was expecting something to blow up at any moment. “Yes.” He got to Thomas and squeezed himself between him and the bed, putting a physical barrier between Thomas and the boy. Confused, Thomas took a couple of steps away without challenge. “That,” Logan glanced behind him. Patton had moved to the opposite side of the bed from Logan and Thomas and had gotten to his knees to look under it. “That is Virgil.”

Thomas blinked at him. “Virgil?” he asked.

“He’s… new to the castle,” Logan explained. Patton started speaking softly the boy, but Thomas could not make anything he said out. “Patton and I… invited him to a sleepover.”

“The guards didn’t mention anything,” Thomas said, sure that they would have warned him if there was a stranger in the royal wing.

“Uh, well, Virgil is… shy and we didn’t think you’d be back for another week. So, we snuck him past them.”

“Shy?” Thomas asked doubtfully. That was a lot more than shy.

“Particularly of adults,” Logan said.

Thomas took a moment to let that sink in. “Oh.” He was… scared of adults. Thomas could imagine many reasons why that might be the case and none of them set well. “I see.”

“Hey, no, sweetie, stop that,” Patton said, sounding distressed. Patton had managed to draw Virgil out from underneath the bed, though they were both still mostly hidden behind it and Thomas had no question in his mind that if he went to step towards them, Virgil would be back underneath it in a moment. Currently the boy seemed to be clawing at his own head. “No, baby shh,” Patton said, trying to stop him from tearing the pinned in hairpiece out, Thomas realized. “I’ll get it out,” Patton promised him. “Just calm down and let me do it.” He sounded close to tears, and Thomas couldn’t particularly blame him with the way the boy was acting. “You’re hurting yourself, baby.”

He must know, Thomas realized. If Logan had known he was here, then he must have allowed him to use that hairpiece. He’d probably even told Virgil that it belonged to his dead father. Now he was probably terrified that Thomas would be mad at him for touching it, especially when he’d come in to find Virgil alone without Logan to explain.

Patton managed to get all the pins undone and placed the piece delicately on the bed before wrapping himself protectively around the boy and hushing him.

Logan was looking back at them as well. He looked between the puddle of upset on the floor and Thomas. “Could…” he said. “Could I maybe come and see you in a few minutes, Dad?”

“Of course,” Thomas said. “Of course, I’ll go wait in my room. Take as much time as you need.”

He was careful to move slowly as he stepped towards the door, so the poor thing didn’t notice him move and mistake it for him approaching. He closed Logan’s bedroom door softly behind him feeling even more drained than he’d been before as well as anxious and a bit sickened. He went to his own bedroom to wait for Logan.

  Chapter 20

Logan let out a slow breath as his father closed the door behind him. That could have been very, very bad. He turned his attention to Virgil and Patton. Patton had curled himself around Virgil as much as physically possible and had tucked the boy’s head under his chin.

Logan slowly rounded the bed and knelt in front of them. “It’s alright,” Logan said, cautiously moving to put a hand on his shoulder. Virgil didn’t pull away. “I asked him to leave. It’s alright.”

Virgil tilted his head slightly too look at him. Logan rubbed a circle into his back as he slowly got control of his breath.

 Logan smiled softly at him and reached out to touch his cheek with a gentle hand. “You… didn’t hurt him. You didn’t even try to hurt him.”

Virgil shook his head.

“Why not?” Logan asked curiously. “It was a perfect opportunity.”

“Promised Patton,” Virgil mumbled, and the idea that perhaps the thing that had saved his father’s life was a pinky promise just about gave Logan a migraine, but then Virgil ducked his head. “And it would make you sad.”

“I see,” Logan said, heart in his throat.

Virgil kept looking towards the floor, his eyes starting to fill with tears again. “Are you going to turn me in now?”

 He was shaking and barely holding back a fresh wave of tears. Logan knew of course that no one would hurt him here if he turned him in to his father and the guards, but he also knew that Virgil would be terrified if he did so. He was already terrified. Logan didn’t want to know what he thought the fate Logan would be condemning him to.

“No,” Logan said before he could even truly think it through. “No, I’m not.”

“You’re not?” Virgil asked.

“Well, there wouldn’t really be a point, would there?” Logan asked. “The reason we planned to turn you when father got back in is because you posed a danger to him, but you have just demonstrated that is no longer an issue.”

 “Really?” Virgil asked, sniffling a bit and Logan saw Patton’s arms tighten even more around him.

“We will have to figure out a better cover for you than just that you’re new to the castle, but I believe it will work fine. No one besides the two of us would ever guess your origin anyway.”

“S-so I can stay?” Virgil asked, “and you won’t throw me into prison or execute me?”

“I promise you were never going to be executed Virgil,” Logan said. “Even if we turned you in, but yes you can stay with us. We’ll figure out a backstory for you that doesn’t involve assassinations and you’ll have to keep up the lie, but I doubt anyone will question it.”

 “I’ll do whatever you want,” Virgil said, chocked up. “Thank you. I really didn’t want to go.”

“Well, you’re our friend now so there will be no going anywhere,” Patton said kissing him on the cheek. Virgil relaxed back into his hold, pleased with the affection.

Logan smiled at them both. “Can I see your wrists, Virgil?”

Virgil blinked but offered them and Logan tapped the restraints doing a quick incantation. They popped off after a moment.

“You’re letting me go?” Virgil asked, eyes wide.

“Of course,” Logan said. “We’re not just going to keep you prisoner for no reason.”

 “That’s…” Virgil said, eyes watering as he clearly was trying not to cry. “You’re the best people I’ve ever met.”

“I wish that was not so clearly the case,” Logan replied. He slowly reach up and set a hand on his shoulder. “I’m going to go speak with my father. Patton will stay with you.”

“Okay,” Virgil agreed, seeming a bit hesitant.

Logan smiled softly and leaned forward to gently touch their foreheads together. “I will be right back,” he assured. “We will finish our slumber party, though perhaps we will table the rest of the dress up activity for another night.”

 He stood then, leaving Virgil in Patton’s capable hands to exit his own bedroom and cross the hallway to his father’s. He took a brief moment to compose himself before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” his father called.

Logan opened the door to see his father sitting on one of the armchairs in his room. Despite the almost disaster that had taken place a few minutes ago, Logan found himself smiling at the man. It was nice to have him home.

“Sorry about that,” Father said.

“It was more my fault than yours. If I knew there was a risk of you coming home today, I wouldn’t have left him alone.”

 “Is he alright?”

“I believe so,” Logan answered. “Patton is with him and will certainly smooth out any lingering distress.”

“Good,” his dad said. “That’s good.” There was a pause and then he gestured at the seat beside his.

Logan settled himself down on it. “How was your trip?” he asked. “You’re back a week early.”

“Yes,” Father said. “The trip went better and worse than anticipated.

“How so?” asked Logan curiously.

“Well,” Dad said. “The purpose of the trip was to convince the new queen of Lamir, Cecil not to ally with Mocnejsi, but by the time I’d arrived there wasn’t really a risk of that.”

 “Why not?”

“After investigation, it turned out that Cecil’s mother had been poisoned by an assassin from Mocnejsi.”

“Oh,” Logan said, mind already racing.

“They figured out that one of the young women who had been hired on in the kitchen for the winter had done it, and had learned her origin when they questioned her,” Dad informed him. “Considering Cecil was immediately approached for an alliance with Mocnejsi, their aim was likely to manipulate her going forward because of how young she is. Luckily, Cecil is a smart girl and has the help of her mother’s advisor as well as her own. By the time I got there, my only real role was to extend my condolences and reaffirm out alliance. I would have stayed longer, but the possibility that Mocnejsi may think to attack us in a similar way hastened me home.”

 “That…” Logan said. “That is wise. I assume you are going to institute more security.”

“I am, yes,” Dad replied. “I would like your input on plans in the coming day.”

“Of course,” Logan agreed.

Dad smiled at him, “But for now,” he said, “I think it’s time you get back to your slumber party and I get to finally go to sleep.”

Logan nodded and got to his feet. He leaned over to hug his father perhaps a bit longer and harder than was strictly necessary, but Dad did not seem to mind at all. “Goodnight,” Logan said.

“Goodnight, son.”

  Chapter 21

Virgil woke with something soft but kind of stringy in his face. That was weird. He didn’t know what in the closet would feel like that. In fact, as he woke more he noticed more things that he couldn’t sus out the origin of, particularly the warmth curled up against his side. Curious, he blinked open his eyes. Oh, right. Patton.

The soft stuff in his face was Patton’s hair and the warmth next to Virgil was the rest of the boy’s body. Patton had all but refused to let Virgil go last night after Logan had taken off the restraints and Virgil hadn’t minded the attention. They must have fallen asleep together in the piles of pillows and blankets on the floor.

 Virgil brushed his hair gently away, internally (for fear of disturbing him) shaking his head at him. He’d fallen asleep hallway on top of an assassin. He had no self-preservation instincts. He looked at his wrists. It seemed no one had any self-preservation instincts. This of course, included himself as instead of running off when free in case they decided to turn him in after all, he had fallen asleep on the floor with Patton too.

He looked to the side and saw Logan was already awake, reading on one of his chairs. He seemed to sense Virgil’s eyes on him because he looked up after a moment.

 “You can get up if you like,” Logan said. “He is a heavy sleeper and won’t wake up if you squirm out of his grip.”

Virgil frowned, unsure if he wanted to risk it.

“I have breakfast ready for you.”

Okay, Virgil was going to risk it.

He carefully squirmed out of Patton’s grip, leaning down to press a kiss to his forehead in apology for leaving him before getting to his feet.

Logan handed him a plate of eggs and toast when he walked over and gestured to the chair next to him. Virgil sat there to eat while Logan continued to read.

 Virgil ate his food quickly, and then glanced over at Logan once he was done. Virgil was honestly at a bit of a loss. Usually, they came and got him out of the closet only once they were ready to do something, but Patton was still sound asleep on the floor and Logan looked engrossed in his book.

Virgil fidgeted slightly, unsure what he should be doing or even if he should be doing anything. Considering Logan hadn’t given him any instructions, he should probably not do anything. He didn’t want to screw up the first day of… whatever this was now.

 Logan glanced over at him after a few minutes. “Don’t forget about the potion,” he reminded.

Virgil nodded and stood, walking over to the closet since it would still be in there from the previous morning. It was about half gone now and it had gotten to the point where Virgil didn’t feel any immediate affects from it anymore other than some warmth. It basically just felt like drinking tea.

He said as much to Logan when he walked back over to him.

“That’s good,” Logan said, “it means it has been working. It has healed any damage it can from malnutrition. Any internal organs that were damaged should be mostly healed. You may even notice your eyesight getting slightly better. Your immune system should also be boosted. You will likely also find it is easier to gain muscle and while you likely will never be as tall as you could have been, you will likely still grow a few inches during your next growth spirt.”

 Virgil studied his hands where they were sitting on his thigh now as though he could see the changes that allegedly had already taken place in his body. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Of course,” Logan replied, eyes already back on his book like it was some normal thing and not a huge kindness he’d bestowed on Virgil before even really knowing him. As though Virgil didn’t just owe him more than just his life going forward.

They sat in silence then for a few more minutes, before the was a soft sigh from the floor and Patton started to wake. He sat up and looked around. His eyes landed on both Virgil and Logan sitting together and he seemed to light up.

 “Good morning!” he chirped.

“Good morning, Patton,” Logan said as Patton popped to his feet, “I have breakfast for you.”

“Thank you Lo,” Patton said, throwing his arms around Logan’s neck, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Virgil presumed from the lack of surprise on Logan’s face that this was normal for morning Patton, not that the fact surprised him considering how night Patton acted.

He still managed to be somewhat surprised by the fact that Patton turned to hug Virgil a second later. Patton’s lips were pressed briefly to Virgil’s head and then he turned to grab the plate Logan had saved for him.

 “So, what are we doing today?” Patton asked.

“I was thinking Virgil and I could continue our reading lessons if he is not opposed,” Logan said. Virgil nodded, happy with that prospect. “Other than that, I have no plans. I have already spoken with my father before the two of you woke. He is going to spend most of his day catching up on things he missed and said I could take the rest of the day off royal duties.”

“A whole day to relax then!” Patton said, happily chewing on his toast. “Reading sounds fun, but we should do something more active too.”

 Logan hummed. “We can show Virgil the courtyard after the reading lessons,” he said.

It took a moment for it to register, but then Virgil froze. “Wait,” he said. “We’re going outside?”

Logan raised an eyebrow at him. “Yes.”

“So, we’re leaving your room?”

“Are you alright with that?” Logan asked cautiously.

Virgil nodded quickly.

“Oh,” Patton said at his enthusiasm. “I guess you have been cooped up a while, haven’t you?” He smiled sadly and turned to Logan. “Maybe we can do reading lessons in the garden.”

“That would be satisfactory.”

“Great!” Patton said. He looked over at Virgil. “If we’re going out, we should probably put your hair up and get you in some clean clothes.”

 Logan nodded. “You finish eating, and I will help Virgil find something to wear.”

Logan found him an outfit, though it was a bit baggy on Virgil and the hem of the shirt went halfway to his knees. When Patton finished breakfast, he sat Virgil down and carefully worked a brush through his hair.

“Can I braid it?” Patton asked.

Virgil hummed his consent. Having his hair brushed and done up by another person was a lot more enjoyable than he’d anticipated. He’d liked it when Logan did it the night before, though he had to very firmly push away thoughts of where that led.

 “Okay!” Patton said after a few moments. “You look good. Ready to go?”

Virgil nodded and they both led him out into the hall. He paused before they got to the door. “What about the guards?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’ve already given them the same story as I did Dad,” Logan replied. “They know you’re here.”

Virgil still hesitated.

“It’s okay,” Patton promised. “Here, hold my hand?”

Virgil took the offered hand immediately, and Logan stepped in front of them both. Virgil felt himself relax a bit knowing the prince was between him and the guards.

They led him to the door.

 Logan greeted both of the guards at the door, and they said good morning back. Both of them glanced at Virgil curiously for a moment making him shrink into himself, but they quickly averted their gazes.

Patton pulled him past them without incident and soon they were in the small dining hall Virgil had passed through his first night here. He remembered how he’d snuck around at the edges of the room in the shadows with the aim to kill the king, but now he was being pulled through the middle with the prince having just wandered past the royal guards in broad daylight like it was nothing.

 It was so strange, and Virgil still couldn’t totally believe this was happening. The retraced his exact steps back down the spiral stairs near the kitchen and out of the door he and the nice gardener had came through. He could even see the shed he’d been hiding in from here. With a blink, he remembered they were going to the garden, and he wondered if he’d see the man again.

For now, he just looked around them as Logan and Patton led him past the garden shed towards an area with many trees. Orange and yellow leaves were starting to fall from many of the trees.

 They made a satisfying crunching sound under his feet as he was led to a tree. He had seen the group of trees when he’d first arrived here and had even thought about hiding amongst them instead of in the shed, but they’d seemed scary in the dark. They were pretty in the daylight, however, and Virgil found himself tilting his head to watch the branches sway in the slight wind.

Logan sat down under it and pulled out a book and some writing materials from the bag he’d brought. Virgil settled down next to him so they could both look at the book at the same time and Patton flopped down on the other side, immediately setting to work tying fancy knots in the yarn he’d brought with him. Patton shuffled slightly to the side so they bumped shoulders as Logan opened the book and started Virgil’s reading lesson.

  Chapter 22

Patton bit his lip to keep from laughing or awing. “Do you like the flower, Virgil?” he asked.

Virgil glanced up at him briefly and then his eyes returned to the flower he’d found. “It’s nice,” he said.

They’d finished the reading lessons and let Virgil explore the garden a bit. He’d found a dark purple and yellow flower (a pansy, Patton thought) and seemed to be endlessly fascinated by it. He’d been staring at it for minutes now, almost as though he expected it to do something. Patton did not quite understand his interest, but he was still adorable.

 Logan sat next to him and the flower, smiling at him softly. “I imagine you’ll enjoy the garden in the spring,” Logan said. “There are many more flowers then. Of all types. We’ll have to show you all of the best spots. Mr. Deknis has a particularly good eye for colors, and it is always quite beautiful.”

“Who is Mr. Deknis?” Virgil asked.

“He’s the head gardener,” Logan said. “He’s a nice man, though a bit prickly when it comes to his garden. We may see him today if he’s in this part of the garden.”

“Would he have been the multrum I saw in the gardening shed when I hid there?”

 “Ah, yes, that would be him. I was unaware you interacted with anyone in the castle.”

“He caught me in his garden shed, but he wasn’t mean,” Virgil said, he tilted his head curiously at Logan. “Why…” he trailed off.

“Yes?” Logan asked.

“Why is he the gardener?”

Logan looked confused, “Well,” he said, “I guess because he wants to and is good at it.”

“No,” Virgil said with a frown. “I mean. Shouldn’t he… he’s…”

Logan seemed to think hard for a moment. “Right,” he said. “You’ve been under a blood compulsion. I’d guess you would have only worked with multrums in the military.”

 “I guess I didn’t realize that they could be other things…”

“Of course, they can,” Logan said. “Their abilities don’t make them any less of people. Mr. Deknis likes to garden so he gardens.”

Virgil blinked at him.

“…Of course, all things considered, that may not be a familiar concept to you.” Virgil turned back to look at the flower instead of answering. “Right,” said Logan.

There were a couple of awkward beats of silence. Patton bit his lip and happened to glance up. “Oh,” he said. “Speaking of Mr. Deknis.” He gestured to the gardener who was coming up the path between the trees.

 Logan sat up on his knees as Patton waved at him. He saw Patton and turned to walk towards them. “The two of you had better not be up to mischief in my garden,” Mr. Deknis called, his voice a bit gruff. He clearly did not see Virgil who had laid flat on his stomach to stare at the flower.

Logan rolled his eyes automatically. “We were just reading Mr. Deknis,” he said. “Your piles of dirt are safe.”

“No mud cakes?” Mr. Deknis asked skeptically still coming towards them.

“It has been a literal decade…”

Patton saw when Mr. Deknis was close enough to see Virgil.

 He stopped in his track and looked down at Virgil who was already watching him a bit warily. “Hello,” he said, his voice a lot softer than it’d been a few moments before. His expression completely flipped in a moment to something very gentle when he saw Virgil and the cautious look on his face. Virgil did seem to have that effect on people.

“Hi,” Virgil replied.

Mr. Deknis looked at Logan and then at Patton and then back at Virgil. “This is our new friend, Virgil,” Patton offered.

“Hello, Virgil,” Mr. Deknis said with a nod.

“Virgil, this is the gardener Mr. Deknis.”

 “He’s not nearly as grumpy as he sounds,” Patton assured.

“Well,” Logan said, “yes he is.”

Mr. Deknis shot him a look that only served to prove Logan’s point if Patton was being honest. Logan just smiled back. Mr. Deknis apparently decided to let it slide because he turned back to Virgil.

“It’s good to see you again,” Mr. Deknis said. “Are you feeling better?”

Virgil nodded. “I’m a lot better,” he said. Mr. Deknis considered him for a moment, clearly reading how true that statement was. Patton was glad he seemed satisfied with the answer.

“I see you’ve met these two.”

 “Yeah,” Virgil said.

Mr. Deknis smiled slightly. “Be careful with this one,” he said, pointing to Logan. “He’s a bad influence.”

Virgil frowned in confusion. “He’s the prince,” he pointed out.

“And a bad influence,” Mr. Deknis repeated. “He’s a beacon of irresponsibility and mischief and he corrupts that one,” he nodded to Patton.

“I am completely responsible,” Logan replied.

“Need I remind you of the cucumber incident.”

“I was 8,” Logan said.

“I know how old you were,” Mr. Deknis replied, “and you are hardly any older.”

“I resent that.”

Mr. Deknis just smiled and turned back to Virgil who was watching the interaction with pure curiosity.

 “I just picked a few more of those apples for Patton’s mom to make into apple sauce. Would you kids like some?”

Virgil glanced over at Logan and Patton.

“That would be nice, thank you,” Patton replied for them all, standing up. Seeing that, Virgil also climbed to his feet.

“It’s back this way,” Mr. Deknis said, inclining hid head back the way he’d came and then turning to lead them that way. Patton followed him. He glanced back to see Logan put his hand on Virgil’s shoulder and give him a gentle push to get him going. “So, what are you kids up to today?”

 “We wanted to show Virgil the garden and courtyard,” Patton said. “He’s been cooped up inside for a bit.”

“I see,” Mr. Deknis said. He glanced back at Virgil. “Feel free to come out in the garden anytime you like. As long as you don’t go about purposefully destroying stuff, I don’t mind you being out here.”

“I won’t destroy anything,” Virgil promised instantly.

“Well I hope you manage to keep that attitude even while befriending the large upright groundhog behind you.”

Virgil looked a little bit nervous. “He’s just teasing Virgil,” Patton assured. “He loves Logan.”

Mr. Deknis glanced back again and seemed to read the same thing Patton had read on Virgil’s face.

 “Yes, of course,” Mr. Deknis said. “I have simply known the prince for a long time and joke with him in that way often. Logan is aware of that.”

“Indeed,” Logan agreed, his hand squeezing a bit on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil relaxed a touch.

Mr. Deknis stopped and reached down into a bucket next to a tree. “I wouldn’t offer my apples to people I don’t like,” he said, tossing an apple underhand to Logan. Instead of trying to catch it, his eyes widened and he dodged out of the way.

“You would however throw apples at them despite knowing they have never been able to catch things.”

 Mr. Deknis just rolled his eyes fondly, but Virgil frowned and turned to Logan. “You don’t know how to catch things?” he asked scandalized. “You should know how to catch things. What if someone throws a knife at you?”

Mr. Deknis looked… probably the right amount of concerned about that statement coming from a 14-year-old’s lips.

“Haha, yeah,” Patton said awkwardly. “Maybe you can teach Logan how to catch things Virgil, but later. Right now, why don’t we just get the apples and then show you the courtyard.”

Virgil was still frowning, but he did not argue with Patton’s suggestion.

 Thankfully, Mr. Deknis did not push, though Patton did have to dodge many a meaningful side eye. He might… need to make sure he did not get cornered by the gardener in the coming days… or brush up on his lying without lying skills.

For now, though, he just handed out the apples, not tossing them this time. Virgil thanked him softly and Patton could see the way the usually fairly gruff man went all melty at that. He even slipped an extra apple to Virgil for later which Virgil perked up at.

Patton and Logan pulled him away gently after that so Mr. Deknis could go back to work, but Virgil seemed happy with the apples and copied Patton at waving goodbye to him cheerfully.

Despite the fact that he liked Mr. Deknis and he’d been nice, Patton still took a calming breath when they were no longer at risk of lying about something and getting caught by the man’s powers. They went back into the castle towards the courtyard.

  Chapter 23

Logan was unsurprised that after showing Virgil the large courtyard, Patton almost immediately decided to instigate a game of tag. They were, after all, here with the goal of getting Virgil a bit active after having had him only in Logan’s room for weeks.

He was also unsurprised that Virgil seemed confused about the concept of tag, and Patton had to explain the game in detail to him.

It made him wince, but he still was unsurprised when Virgil went about inquiring after the consequences of losing the game.

He was, however, very surprised when, after getting all of the facts about tag settle, Patton was chasing after Virgil trying to tag him and suddenly the boy disappeared.

 Patton almost ran into a wall in his confusion. He stared at his hands stretched out and just a couple of inches from touching the wall for a moment, before slowly looking up.

“Virgil!” Patton exclaimed. “What?”

“What?” he asked.

“…What are you even hanging onto?”

“The wall,” Virgil replied.

Logan walked closer to the two of them and tilted his head up to look at him. Virgil had jumped up and somehow managed to find hand and foot holes on the seemingly smooth wall. He climbed about 5 meters above their heads and was peering down at them curiously.

 “Okay,” Logan said. “New rule. Virgil is not allowed to scale walls during tag.”

Virgil frowned down at him. “Why only me?”

“Because Patton and I cannot do that anyway,” Logan said. “We would not be able to actually play if you remain up there.”

Patton glanced over at him and reached over to touch Logan’s shoulder. “No tag backs,” he said. Logan glared at him. “Why don’t you come down sweetie?”

“But Logan will tag me,” he said.

“Well, honey, that’s part of the fun,” Patton reasoned. “Don’t you want to try being it?”

Virgil seemed to consider this for a long moment. “Okay,” he agreed.

 To Logan’s terror, he simply let go of the wall, falling straight down and landing crouched. He blinked at Logan. Right. With a start, Patton took off, so he’d have a head start. “No tag backs means a 10 second head start for me,” Logan reminded. Virgil nodded, and Logan reached out to poke him in the arm before immediately running off in the opposite direction as Patton.

Logan’s strategy worked out since, knowing he couldn’t go after Logan for a few seconds more, he chose to turn and go after Patton. After finding one of the statues to hide behind on the edge of the courtyard, Logan risked glancing back.

 Virgil was faster than Logan (and likely Patton) had accounted for. Patton had gotten a good head start on him, but Virgil closed it quickly. Patton shrieked as Virgil barreled into him, bringing them both to the ground.

“Virgil!” Logan heard Patton giggle. Logan figured he was more than okay despite the tackle. “This isn’t how you play tag!”

“I combined tag and tackle hugs,” Virgil declared, making Patton giggle more.

“That’s very innovative, honey,” Patton said. “Now are you going to let me up?...Virgil… I’m counting down your 10 second head start in my head, and if you don’t let me up I’m going to tag you again.”

 This did not seem to have the intended effect as Virgil did not remove himself from Patton’s person. Patton laugh when it became clear he was not going to move and began counting down “7, 6, 5, 4, you’d better let me go sweetie, or you’re going to get tagged again.” Virgil did not seem to care. “3, 2, 1.” Patton reached up and bopped him on the nose. “Tag!” he declared.

Logan was surprised when Virgil instantly jumped off Patton at that. He whipped around.

‘Oh,’ Logan thought as the boy’s eyes narrowed in on Logan immediately, ‘I see.’

 “Virgil was already halfway across the courtyard towards him before Logan could even think about running away. There was no way that he was fast enough to outrun him. Perhaps he could outthink him, he thought. His eyes scanned his environment in the seconds he had left and landed on a large square piece of stone that held flowers in the spring. It was just full of dirt now, but it was still about waist high. Perhaps if he kept that between them, he could outmaneuver him. He sprinted towards it and scrambled to the opposite side from where Virgil was heading.

 He really should not have been as surprised as he was that Virgil did not even slightly slow as he approached the planter box, instead grabbing ahold of the side of it and vaulting over it. Logan stumbled back, bracing for impact, but instead he just got a quick tap on the shoulder.

Logan blinked at him.

“I don’t know if you would be okay with tackle hugs,” he explained.

Logan considered him. “I would be okay with a nontackle hug.”

Virgil happily jumped forward to hug Logan, pressing his nose into Logan’s shoulder. Logan chuckled and patted the top of his head. “Six,” he said, “5, 4, 3…”

 Virgil bolted away suddenly, actually making Logan stumble a bit. He paused just out of reach of Logan, looking at him with anticipation. “2,1,” Logan finished with a raised eyebrow. He already knew he was being played with, but he indulged him by starting towards him. Virgil danced out of the way, eyes alight. Logan sighed. “Is this truly how it’s going to be?” he asked.

Virgil didn’t answer, but to watch him with wide, excited eyes.

“Fine,” Logan said. He dashed towards him again, only to have him continue to maneuver just out of Logan’s reach each time Logan went forward. He’d call it taunting if there was any sign of malice in it.

 They ran around the courtyard in spirts of Logan charging at him and Virgil expertly dodging. Eventually Patton came closer to them. Logan could tell that Virgil was aware of his presence, by how he glanced back at him briefly, but considering he was not ‘it,’ it seemed he chose to disregard him. However, he was not aware of the way Patton winked at Logan as he walked up behind Virgil.

Logan, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening. He went to spring for Virgil again, and Virgil again moved to dodge, but this time Patton grabbed him around the waist, allowing Logan to actually tag him.

 He turned slowly to face Patton who started to giggle immediately at the perplexed look on his face. It cleared into something else as soon as he heard Patton laugh. “Traitor!” he claimed. “We were on the same team and you betrayed me.”

“I just thought we should probably have mercy on poor Logan,” Patton replied.

“Hmm,” Virgil said, eyes again full of that playful mischief Logan had not seen until today. “Plea for mercy not accepted.”

Patton once again half-shrieked half-laughed as he was pounced on. The two of them went rolling across the grass, Virgil clearly keeping the rolling going longer than it should have as they made it a good few meters.

 Virgil sprung off of him a few moments later.

“Oh, is it my turn?” Patton inquired with a huge smile. He slowly got to his feet. “Hmm, I’m probably at about 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!” He took off after Virgil, but Patton had a bit more endurance than Logan, so instead of doing quickly calculated lunges at Virgil as Logan had done, he just ran at him full tilt without stopping.

Virgil ran from him, though Logan was pretty sure he was intentionally slowing himself down a bit so Patton had some amount of a chance. He kept turning to check behind him and make sure Patton was still somewhat close as he ran.

Which is why he didn’t see the imminent disaster in time.

  Chapter 24

Thomas should have been paying more attention, but his mind had been on the meeting he’d just had with the castle guards about increased security in the wake of the possible threat from Mocnejsi. He’d decided to take a brief walk around the courtyard to clear his head but was still distracted with mulling over the options that had just been presented to him. He stepped into the castle courtyard and did not have time to step out of the way of the much smaller body rocketing towards him. Virgil slammed into his front, but not before Thomas got a good look at his face.

 Virgil’s expression changed dramatically in the few seconds between him registering Thomas was there and running into him. For the briefest moment, Thomas could see that he must have been having a lot of fun. He’d caught the wide smile and sparkling eyes as Virgil turned his head back from looking at Patton who was chasing him across the greenery. He’d looked very happy which made it all the more painful to see that happiness die in and a few instants. When his head had turned back towards Thomas, there was a flicker of confusion at something being in his path.

 Then, clearly everything about the situation registered, because his eyes blew wide in horror as he tried to stop himself, but there was no way he’d be able to in time. Thomas saw that fact register on his face the moment before he hit. Gone was any trace of happiness or joy in that split second. All that was left was dread that had no place anywhere near a children’s game of tag. It was the expression Thomas would expect from someone who felt ice give way under their feet in the middle of a lake they had thought was frozen solid.

 He hit hard, but he wasn’t nearly big enough to actually harm Thomas. Thomas was thrown slightly off balance but managed to stay on his feet. He reached out a hand to his shoulder automatically to steady the child. There was a moment of pseudo calm where they both absorbed the impact and stilled.

Then, the boy’s shoulder slipped out of Thomas’s grip as he went crashing to the ground in a move that made Thomas wince for the state of his knees. Thomas couldn’t quite grasp what was happening for a moment as Virgil face planted onto the ground in front of him, but when he did, Thomas couldn’t help but flinch and take a step back from him.

 Thomas had been bowed to before, of course, seeing as he was a king, but this was not out of respect or courtesy or even just tradition. This was out of terror. He was begging for mercy and it made Thomas feel sick.

“I’m sorry,” he said, meek and shaky into the ground, and there was almost something worse about the fact that he did not beg for forgiveness with his words, but only his posture. The way his breathes came far too quick and shallow said he was likely on the verge of a panic attack, but he was not blubbering through apologies or even not speaking at all. He gave a clear, if shaky, apology, and waited for whatever he thought Thomas planned to do to him. There was no way that was not learned.

 “You don’t…” Thomas stuttered. “You don’t have to do that. It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again, but he reacted in no other way. He did not even react when Patton made it to his side and knelt down next to him. Patton’s hand hovered over his back, clearly wanting to touch down, but he pulled back on that instinct.

“Virgil, honey,” he said softly. “It’s okay. No one is mad. It was an accident.”

Virgil did not react to this at all.

Thomas caught Logan’s eye as he hurried over to them himself. “Sorry,” Thomas mouthed. Logan just nodded and turned his attention to his friend.

 “There is no reason for any of that,” Logan said, his voice firm, almost clipped. “You are not in trouble. Now sit up.”

Virgil did respond to that, slowly shifting back on his knees. He kept his head down looking at the ground. “Sorry,” he said again.

“I…” Thomas said, surveying the three kids on the ground in front of him. Thomas slowly sunk to the ground to be at their level. Virgil was tracking his movements out of the corner of his eyes, his head still bowed and his shoulders tensed. “Hey,” Thomas said softly. “Were you three playing tag?”

 Virgil hesitated, eyes flickering as he debated whether he should respond or not.

“Yeah, we were,” Patton answered for him after a moment of stressful silence.

“Well that’s fun,” Thomas said. “I’m sorry for interrupting the three of you. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

Virgil glanced up at him for just a moment before looking away again. Patton apparently felt it was safe enough to touch Virgil, because he settled a hand on the boys shoulder.

“Yeah, we’ve just been having a fun day,” Patton said, carefully matching Thomas’s light tone. “We went to the garden and did some reading. Then, Mr. Deknis gave us some apples.”

 “That’s nice,” Thomas replied. “He’s been talking about the new apples he’s been growing. He’s been working on them for years and they’re just beginning to bare fruit this year. I haven’t gotten a chance to try any yet. Are they any good?”

“They’re very good,” Patton told him. His hand rubbed slowly on Virgil’s back. “Isn’t that right, Virge?”

Virgil nodded a bit, a little less tense now, but still nowhere near calm.

“Well, I’ll have to try them soon,” Thomas said with a smile. “Thank you for the information. Now, I’ve got to get back to what I’m doing, but I hope you three have a good day.”

 “I’ll see you later, Dad,” Logan said.

Thomas nodded and pushed himself to his feet. “Goodbye you three,” he said before turning away towards the door back into the castle. He paused to take a breath when the door closed behind him, cutting off the courtyard. There were a lot of thoughts to shirt through in regards to that conversation. He hated that Virgil was so obviously terrified of him. Both of their two interactions had ended with the poor thing panicking on the ground. He wished he had some idea of how to help him or at least someone to talk to about it.

Maybe he’d go visit Mr. Deknis himself and not just for the apples.

  Chapter 25

“Alright,” Patton said, pressing a kiss to Virgil’s forehead. “I’ve got to go back to my room for the night. Will you two be okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” Logan said. “It won’t be particularly different than the last two weeks.”

Patton nodded and leaned to the side to squeeze Virgil in another hug. He’d been clingy since the incident in the courtyard, and Virgil had been appreciative considering he was still pretty shaky from it. He was still surprised he’d touched the king of Prijaznia (let alone ran into him) and lived to tell the tale.

“Goodnight, Pat,” Virgil said because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t leave if Virgil didn’t.

 “Night Virge,” Patton said with a smile before standing up from where they’d been sitting on the ground. He reached over to hug Logan who was sitting on a chair. “Night Lo! Put the book down and go to bed.”

Logan looked up from his book with a frown.

“It’s almost midnight,” Patton scolded.

Logan sighed and set his book down. “Very well,” he agreed. “We will get ready for bed.”

“You better! I’m going to come and wake you up early in the morning.”

“Early in the morning for you is 9am,” Logan scoffed.

Patton stuck his tongue out at him as he walked backwards out of the door.

 Logan gave his book a mournful look once the door closed and Virgil almost giggled. “I won’t tell on you,” he said.

Logan thought about it for a few moments. “No,” he finally said. “We should probably get some sleep.”

Virgil nodded and pushed himself to his feet.

“We should probably both take a bath after sitting in the dirt today,” Logan said. “Do you want to go first or should I?”

“Don’t care,” Virgil answered.

“You can go first,” Logan offered.

Virgil felt himself smile. “You just want to finish the chapter in that book,” he accused.

“Perhaps,” Logan conceded.

 Virgil just grinned and walked over to his closet to grab one of the outfits he’d been given for pajamas. He chose a pair of baggy shorts that went past his knees and the huge soft black sweater Logan had found in the back of his closet. He headed into the bathroom, noting Logan had already picked up his book again.

Logan may have declared the both of them dirty enough for bathing a few minutes before, but Virgil was cleaner than he thought he’d ever been before coming to the castle. Logan had taught him how to use the tub and what soaps to use for what a couple of days after he’d arrived and had suggested he clean himself regularly.

 Virgil didn’t mind. The tub was enchanted to warm the water inside of it and Virgil loved it. Though, that had the negative affect of making it very difficult to leave.

He cleaned himself up quickly, so he’d have a few minutes to just sit in the water before he felt like he needed to get out and let Logan have a turn. He changed into his pajamas, pulling the crescent shaped protection charm out of his day clothes pocket and storing the warm to the touch stone in the short pocket. He used the clip Patton had made it to pin it to the cloth to make sure he wouldn’t lose it.

 Logan was engrossed in his reading by the time that Virgil exited the bathroom. He did not look up as Virgil approached.

“Your turn,” Virgil said to him.

Logan clearly just barely managed to tear his eyes away from the book. “Right,” he said. “Yes.”

“The book will be there in the morning,” Virgil reminded.

“I know,” said Logan sadly as he set the book aside.

Logan never took much time in the bath, so Virgil quickly went about getting ready for bed the rest of the way. He put his day clothes in the basket Logan had for that purpose and started to straighten out the blankets and pillows in the closet.

 He heard Logan come back into the room a few minutes later.

“Virgil,” Logan said. “What are you doing?”

Virgil looked over at him. “Getting ready for bed,” he answered, confused.

Logan frowned at him. “You don’t sleep in the closet anymore,” Logan said. “That’s only for when we were worried you might escape.”

“Oh,” Virgil said blinking over at him. “Right.” He felt a slight pulling at his chest. He liked the closet. It was warm and soft. Patton had taken a lot of care with how he’d arranged all of the pillows and blankets. It was the best place he could ever remember having to sleep in his life. Yet, he did not argue. He knew getting to sleep out in the open was supposed to be a reward and he wasn’t about to reject it.

 Virgil stood and closed the closet. He tugged on the bottom of his sweater, stretching the fabric between his hands as he watched Logan pull down the covers of his bed and settle down onto it. Cautiously he walked over towards the bed. He wasn’t sure where he should lay down exactly. He dithered for a moment before bending down to sit on the floor near the right side of Logan’s bed and then laying down.

There was shuffling on the bed above him and then Logan’s head popped over the side to squint down at him. “On the bed Virgil,” he said.

 Virgil looked up at him in shock. “But it… I’m…” He trailed off and there were a few seconds of silence.

“It is just a bed Virgil,” Logan said.

But it wasn’t ‘just’ anything. Virgil was pretty sure touching the bed of a royal family member without permission would be considered a capital offence. At least, it would in Mocnejsi. Yet, Logan was expecting him to just… crawl into it?

“Please just get up here,” Logan said. Virgil’s caution at touching something he was definitely sure he should not be allowed to be touching wared with his resolve to repay his literal life debt to Logan by doing whatever he wanted.

 Feeling honestly a bit sick to his stomach, Virgil slowly pushed himself back to his feet. Logan scooted back over to the left side of the bed, and Virgil cautiously sat down on the empty side of the bed. After a second of hesitation he slowly laid down, his head hitting a soft fluffy pillow. He jumped when Logan flopped the covers on top of both of them.

Virgil took a long moment to absorb the situation while Logan took off his glasses and reached over to turn off the light next to him. He’d never slept in a bed before, or if he had he’d been too young to remember. In the orphanage there was a lack of actual beds due to overcrowding and there had always been someone bigger and stronger that Virgil didn’t dare fight for the use of them. During training, none of the kids had a bed. Only a few of the higher ups had ones at the more permanent training sites. There were very few situations where any of the assassins, at least a Virgil’s level, would be allowed to touch a real bed.

 The light switched off, plunging them into darkness.

“Is this…?” Virgil said, eyes still pointed towards the ceiling even though his eyes had not adjusted to the darkness enough to be able to see it. “Do you want… things?”

“Things?” Logan asked.

Virgil did not move his head, but he did reach over and put his hand slightly above Logan’s knee. Logan didn’t move, so Virgil slid his hand up.

Virgil’s wrist was grabbed immediately and pulled firmly away from Logan’s inner thigh. He did not let go afterwards, his fingers squeezing hard, but not quite painfully. “Never,” Logan said, his voice harsher than it had ever been even on the day when Virgil was nothing more than an intruder with deadly intent. “Never offer anything like that to anyone ever again.”

 “I was just…”

“I know what you were doing,” Logan said, voice icy, “and it inadmissible. Never offer that again for anything. Do you understand me?”

“I... yes.”

“Promise me.”

Virgil took a short moment to think. “I promise,” he agreed.

“Good,” Logan said, releasing his hand. His voice got softer too. “Good.”

They were silent for a long time after that, though Virgil had no delusions that Logan had fallen asleep. He could almost feel the tension.

“Sorry,” Virgil finally said softly.

“It’s not something you should be apologizing for,” Logan replied. The bed moved as Logan shifted and a hand lightly touched the top of his head. “Just… never.”

 “Okay,” Virgil said. He shifted slightly after a moment until his head was in the crook of Logan’s arm. Logan brushed the hair out of his face with the hand that had been on his head.

“Goodnight Virgil,” Logan said.

“Goodnight,” Virgil responded. They were quiet after that, though Virgil was still awake for a while yet and Logan’s hand slowly stroked through his hair for a while. Eventually though, Virgil relaxed into mattress. He stuck his hand into his pocket and curled it around the charm in his pocket. The bed was nice, he thought. It was soft and warm… and safe. He finally fell asleep.

  Chapter 26

Patton did their new special knock on the door so Logan and Virgil would know it was just him and they didn’t need to hide the fact that Virgil was sleeping in the prince’s room. He didn’t wait for a response, however, and just shoved open the door. He was surprised to see that Logan was not already out of bed and wondered for a moment if he had broken his promise stayed up way too late reading like he was sometimes known to do. Yet, then, Logan spoke from the bed. “I’m awake,” he called.

Confused, Patton stepped into the room. Logan wasn’t one for lazing around in bed; usually he was out of bed the moment he woke.

 He stepped over to the bed and had to stifle a smile when he recognized the problem. Logan was awake, but Virgil was still sleeping, and he was half on top of Logan, his arms wrapped around him.

“Why don’t you just squirm out of his arms like you do me?” Patton asked, keeping his voice low.

“He isn’t like you,” Logan said. He did not bother to quiet himself at all.

“What do you mean?” Patton asked amused.

In answer, Logan started to move as though to squirm out of Virgil’s death grip on him. In response, Virgil made a pitiful mewling sound in his sleep that landed like a piercing blow straight to the heart. Logan stopped moving immediately and Virgil shifted to grip Logan tighter.

 “Aw!” Patton said.

“It’s not cute,” Logan insisted. “I’ve been stuck for hours and I have to pee.”

Patton chuckled. “Alright, alright, I’ll save you.” He rounded the bed to Virgil’s side and crawled up on it. “Virgil, honey,” he entreated softly. “I think it’s time for me to get cuddles so Lo can get up.” Patton softly touched Virgil’s shoulder and pulled at him gently. He reached forward to carefully pry Virgil’s arms off of Logan.

Virgil made a more confused than heartbreaking sound this time, turning towards Patton so Patton could wrap his arms around him. Logan managed to scoot towards the edge of the bed.

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Logan made it off the bed and dashed towards the bathroom as Virgil’s arms came around Patton and squeezed. Patton laughed and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. After a few moments, Virgil’s eyes started to flicker a bit.

“Good morning, honey,” Patton said softly. “Did you sleep good?”

He hummed sleepily. “Beds are nice,” he said. Patton felt a slight pang at that because it implied he didn’t get to sleep in beds very much, but he chose to shove that aside.

“They are,” Patton agreed. Virgil’s eyes started to close again. “Honey,” Patton laughed. “I think it’s time to wake up now.”

 Virgil made a sleepy whining sound, squeezing Patton tighter. “Don’t you want breakfast?” Patton asked. That question managed to make Virgil open his eyes again. “I was thinking we could go down to the kitchen to eat that way it’s nice and fresh and I can introduce you to Mama real quick.” He neglected to mention the fact that they really did not have a choice. Mr. Deknis had blabbed to Mama about Virgil, and worse, had apparently mentioned that Virgil was skinny. As soon as he’d gotten home yesterday, he’d been met with an already worked up Mama firmly insisting that she meet Virgil sometime today.

 He wasn’t going to tell Virgil that though, because he thought it might scare him away from both Mama and Mr. Deknis.

Virgil thought about the prospect of breakfast for a long moment. “Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll be awake.”

“Good,” Patton said. He reached up to bop him on the nose. Virgil narrowed his eyes and then bopped him back making Patton giggle. He sat up then, and Virgil let him. “Let’s get you something to wear and do your hair,” Patton suggested. Virgil nodded and reluctantly got out of bed, just as Logan returned to the room. “We’re going to go downstairs for breakfast,” Patton told Logan. “That way Virgil can meet my mom.” He gave Logan a significant look and Logan nodded once in understanding that this was not a choice.

 Logan and Virgil got dressed, and Patton did Virgil’s hair up nice, before Patton led them out of the royal wing. They went down the main staircase instead of the spiral staircase that went right to the kitchen, mostly because it would be very busy, and Patton thought they should probably eat in the main dining room anyway. He could feel Virgil getting more anxious as they entered the busier part of the castle, and he stuck close to either Patton or Logan from the time they hit the top of the steps all the way to the main dining room.

 There were a few people in the dining room already eating breakfast when they arrived. Virgil’s curiosity seemed to temporarily overwhelm his anxiety as he looked around the large hall and at all of the people there. Patton looked around trying to see it through his eyes. He’d been running around this place since he was little, so he never really thought about how big the room was or how grandly it was decorated, but Virgil was just seeing it for the first time. Patton smiled at him as he guided him to one of the seats. There was already muffins on the table so Patton grabbed one and plopped it in front of Virgil.

 Virgil frowned down at the muffin dubiously. “You just… keep food out in the open?” he asked.

Right.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Patton promised. “No one here would have put anything in it.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes and looked around at the other occupants of the room suspiciously.

“Honestly,” Logan said. “No one even knew we would be down here for breakfast. Nobody would just put something in random people’s food for no reason.”

Virgil gave him a look like he’d just told him people could in fact breathe under water. Virgil was really from a… whole different world, wasn’t he?

 “It’s really fine,” Patton said. “Logan and I have eaten things on the table like this a lot.”

“I’m surprised your not dead yet,” Virgil said.

Logan rolled his eyes and reached for a muffin. Virgil slapped it out of his hand and onto the floor. “Really?” Logan asked.

Virgil narrowed his eyes at him. “No eating unsecured food!”

“Virgil,” Logan groaned.

“I bet you don’t even know what common poisons taste like.”

“No,” Logan said. “I don’t because I don’t worry about being poisoned on a daily basis!”

“You should!”

People were starting to look over at them. Patton shot an awkward smile at the woman a few chairs down.

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“Just don’t eat the muffins Logan,” Patton said under his breath.

“I do not understand why-”

“Because it’s stupid as he-”

“Shush,” Patton commanded out of the corner of his mouth, “people are watching, and Virgil is just a normal castle resident.”

That shut the both of them up at least.

“No muffins for now,” Patton said. “I assume it’s okay to eat the things they bring straight from the kitchen.”

Virgil looked a bit leery of this still, but he nodded.

“Good,” Patton said, “then we’ll just wait for that to get here and then everyone will be happy, right?”

Logan opened his mouth and Patton turned to glare at him.

“Right?”

 Logan closed his mouth, though clearly, he did not want to give in so easily. They’d be doubtlessly rehashing this conversation once they were alone again.

Patton caught sight of one of the kitchen workers he knew fairly well come out of the kitchen and deliver food to a group of people who were there before them. She caught sight of them and walked over likely to ask them what they wanted for breakfast. Patton watched out of the corner of his eye as Virgil tensed, eyeing her approach suspiciously and she slowed under his glare.

This was going to be a long breakfast.

  Chapter 27

After an, honestly quite aggravating, breakfast full of Virgil’s cognitive distortions about the likelihood of being poisoned, Logan was relieved to finally be able to leave the dining area. In consideration to those serving breakfast, Patton did not lead them through the door in the back of the dining room that went directly to the kitchen, and instead took them out of the room and down the hall to a different entrance. This one had a guard stationed across from it as, despite what Virgil may believe, the castle workers did consider the possibility that someone would want to sneak into the kitchen for nefarious purposes.

 Said guard, of course, saw nothing wrong with the prince and the head chef’s son entering the side door even with the bonus stranger. In fact, he may even have known Virgil could be coming through this door if Ms. Heart had mentioned him.

Though Virgil hadn’t managed to catch it, Logan knew enough about Patton’s mother that he’d surmised that she had insisted Patton bring the boy to meet her. It was bound to happen at some point anyway, Logan knew, and he wasn’t particularly worried. After all, this was Patton’s mother. Virgil himself didn’t even seem particularly concerned.

 Logan had seen him panic and, while he tugged a bit at the sweater he was wearing, the motion was not particularly fervent, so he was likely just slightly nervous.

Of course, that may be because he did not know Patton’s mother specifically wanted to meet him and just assumed that they were starting the necessary process of introducing him to castle residents with a low risk person.

When they entered the hallway, Logan could already hear the usual noises of the kitchen: the clattering of plates, the bubble of conversation, and the sound of Ms. Heart’s voice calling out instructions.

 He did see Virgil hesitate, but Logan couldn’t sus out why and Patton was already ahead of them and opening the door into the kitchen. It was fairly calm for the kitchen considering it was meal hours. Logan imagined that Patton had chosen the time between when the day guards ate breakfast before their shifts and the night guards after their shifts on purpose. There was still a bit of chaos as dishwashers attempted to catch up during the lull and a few orders were still being made, but overall the mood seemed, to Logan at least, to be light as Ms. Heart ordered her kitchen around.

 Yet, Virgil clearly did not see the situation the same way that Logan did. He froze when the kitchen door swung open and some of the workers turned to look at them. He took a step back, bumped into Logan, startled violently, realized it was Logan, and then side stepped to hide behind him. Logan looked back at him in confusion, but Virgil said nothing, proceeding to mutely peer over Logan’s shoulder.

Patton had moved over to greet his mother as she wiped her hands off on a rag. She glanced over at Virgil and Logan and Logan saw Virgil shrink back a bit.

 Logan could see Ms. Heart’s eyes soften as she tracked his movement. She turned to the woman next to her and said something before moving to remove her apron and hang it up in its designated area. Virgil’s hands clenched in the fabric of Logan’s shirt when she turned back to him.

“It’s fine, Virgil,” Logan told him, but Virgil didn’t seem to believe him. Luckily, Patton had turned back and seemed to realize something was amiss.

He stepped back over to them. “Hey, honey,” he said. A plate clattered in the kitchen and Virgil just about ripped Logan’s shirt.

 Patton frowned sympathetically. “Too loud?”

“Virgil,” Logan said. “You are digging your fingernails into my skin.” Patton shot Logan a glare. “What?”

“How about,” Patton’s mom suggested. Virgil’s fingernails dug more into Logan’s skin. “We go to my office.”

“I think that’s a good idea, Mama,” Patton said. “Come here, Virgil.” He reached over to touch one of Virgil’s hands and had to pull a bit to get him to release Logan. “It’s back that way, away from the kitchen,” he said when he managed to twine their fingers. He stepped around Logan, probably so there was still a buffer between Virgil and the kitchen and tugged him in the correct direction.

 Ms. Heart shot a glance at Logan and Logan felt irrationally like she was trying to read his thoughts. Logan smoothed his features out and turned to follow Patton and Virgil towards her office.

As head chef, Ms. Heart had a small office where she could plan menus without the hustle and bustle of the kitchen and have meeting with people who needed to discuss dietary needs and restrictions. It was very well organized, but still looked fairly messy because of the numbers of decorations she had in it. She had a tendency to keep everything that Patton made her, thus she had his childhood drawings on the wall and little projects stacked on her desk and on the shelves. A lumpy cat statue acted as a paperweight on a stack of papers on her desk and there was a vase of fake flowers (as it could not actually hold water) sat near the window.

 By the time Logan entered the room, Patton was trying to coax Virgil into sitting down on one of the two mismatched chairs, but Virgil was having none of it. He had turned to face the door and was yanking at his sweater in nervousness.

Logan noticed that Ms. Heart did not come far into the room, instead pausing near the door. She did, however close the door to give them privacy, and that seemed to distress Virgil more.

She seemed to contemplate him for a moment. “Hello,” she said, her voice softer than Logan was used to hearing. “You must be Virgil.”

 It seemed as though he were willing himself to magically shrink, but he still replied. “Yes, ma’am,” he said quietly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said. “I’m Patton’s mom.”

“I know, ma’am.”

“There’s no need to be formal, Virgil.”

He hesitated. “Okay,” he said somehow quieter.

Her eyebrows drew together in concern, and it seemed that she decided to result to her default way of making people more comfortable. “Would you kids like some candy?”

Logan saw Patton’s hand squeeze Virgil’s lightly. “That would be great, Mama.”

She nodded and walked forward towards her desk. Virgil turned so his back was never to her. If she noticed, she didn’t react. She just grabbed a small tin off one of her shelves and took the top off. “How about a peppermint candy?” she asked.

 She offered the tin out to them. Virgil stared at it like it was a venomous snake. Logan decided to act, stepping forward and taking three of the pieces of peppermint candy from the dish. He stepped over to Virgil and Patton and held out his hand, offering Virgil first choice out of all three.

He hesitated before glancing between Patton and his mother. He must have decided that Patton’s mom wouldn’t risk poisoning Patton and took one of the pieces. Patton took another one of them and popped it into his mouth. Logan ate the last piece.

“Thanks,” Virgil said to Ms. Heart before placing his piece in his mouth.

[alexseanchai]

Fanfic 2020 in Review

I got tagged by @kasienda @noirshitsuji and @marvelousmsmol and I am tagging whoever wants to play!

1) List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

*filters own works to complete and updated in 2020*

1 - 20 of 57 Works by AlexSeanchai

nope. *adds filter to include only works of at least 1000 words*

unless otherwise indicated, these are all Miraculous Ladybug:

“don’t bake it lying down”, post-reveal Marichat vs Felix Graham de Vanily

“veracity”, canon divergence from “Ladybug” featuring Mister Bug and Verity Queen (so also Marichat, I guess)

“(no request is too extreme, if) your heart is in your dream”, in which Hawkmoth wins, for the thirty seconds or so before Emilie saves Ladybug and Chat Noir’s lives

“tell me you love me and make me believe it”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire ropes Ladybug into helping plan her civilian self’s escape slash social transition

“kingmaker, oathbreaker”, in which Hawkmoth wins and Emilie watches her son remove himself from the family

“stay and let me watch you break it down” (Twelve Dancing Princesses), a modern setting

“set a course for winds of fortune”, in which trans girl Chatonne Noire has already escaped and Gabriel and Nathalie are trying to bring Gabriel’s son home

“we ground love in a hopeless place”, in which post-reveal Marinette’s attempt to remain resolutely not in love with her partner dissolves like sugar in coffee when they start a pun war

“ring the bells that still can ring”, in which Alya is deeply confused about why Adrien and Marinette are planning a wedding when last night both were single

“burning wishes at both ends (the cold wind and long loud wail remix)”, in which Gabriel made a monkey’s paw wish and Emilie makes another

“words cannot espresso”, in which Marinette’s OC roommate is justifiably worried for Marinette’s safety, and meanwhile Adrien takes care of Marinette

“the compromise of truth” (the chronologically second-earliest part posted to date of nine lives, snake’s eyes), in which Adrien tells his friends how he won some freedom and respect from his father

“At The Present Time”, the Ladrien/Ladynoir marriage proposal follow-up to @art-deco-shrimp‘s  “Your Presents Required”

“j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”, in which the events of canon must just have been a series of dream sequences, Marinette and Adrien both think, until they both arrive at Chloe’s Halloween masquerade dressed as themselves from the dreams

2) Number of words written:

ahahaha no. I am not counting all my scattered fic drafts and trying to figure out what I did and didn’t write in 2020. I refuse.

AO3 says I posted 162K in 2020. it is counting all of keeps you guessing (like any real love), which (a) I started posting in 2019 (b) is co-written by @galahadwilder​; it is counting all of my meta snippets collection, much of which was written in 2019; it is counting the Vimeo passwords for my vids. but I probably cleared 150K by a safe margin.

3) Your most popular fic:

“veracity” has a four-digit kudos count, wow, when’d that happen? this is also the 2020 work with the most hits and the most bookmarks, but “tell me you love me” has four-thirds as many comments as its nearest competitor.

4) Your personal fav:

“cannot break us, not with a thousand swords”, no question about it. this is the one in which Ladybug proposes marriage to Chat Noir via Princess Bride meme on Tumblr. (if you intend to download the work or otherwise to consume it with creator style off, you want the accessible version instead of the primary version.)

5) Your fav scene:

aaaaaaaaa

—okay so this is cheating and I know it, since Uncertain Humors (the one where Marinette/Adrien is both Orpheus/Eurydice and Theseus/Ariadne) is nowhere near finished, never mind posted (maybe I'll get “Sanguine” done to post on my birthday?)

but it is still my favorite of the year. as you might guess from that description of the story, this scene has content notes for character death:

Hell is a maze. Marinette walks.

This acrid passage has little to see but damp stone, seeming blood-stained in the dim carmine light. At about the height of her heart, the faintly glowing thread cuts through the not-clammy air; it ought to be pulsing at the same rate as the heart it's bound to. She might be able to see her own reflection if she looked down at the open sewage pipe, or at one of the puddles that now and again she splashes through, dampening the canvas of her shoes. She might see reflected what's behind her.

She remembers Mme. Mendeleiev lecturing on human physiology. In healthy humans old enough to have learned how, urination is a voluntary action: one may not know which muscles one tenses and relaxes in order to do so, and probably isn't paying attention to those details when one is doing, but one has conscious control over whether one does. Usually. Stress and anxiety mean some people are unable to relax the relevant sphincter muscle and others are unable to stop themselves. It's voluntary for cats, too: it's one way they mark their territories. Cat-boys have other ways.

There is a moment in every human life when all one's muscles relax at once. Some Parisians have had several such moments.

The thread is braided with itself around her left fourth finger, rows of tiny red half-hitch knots, and falls loosely over the back of her hand to loop twice around her wrist. She holds it wrapped between the fingers of her right hand to keep it at a constant tension, as though knitting with this insubstantial thread, so fragile for something two (two dozen, two million) lives hang from—too thin to sew with, no thicker than one strand of his hair. As she walks, she winds it around and around and around her wrist.

Between her ring finger and her right hand, it loops twice.

Marinette's shoe lands in a puddle she didn't see. The rainwater splashes soundlessly onto her bare ankle and on the stone.

(With cat-like tread, upon our prey we steal— It's a very loud song.)

She walks on.

6) A fic or scene that challenged you:

where the firelight fades, no contest. this is the second story I’ve ever been able to stick with more than a couple hundred words past the 20K mark, but it’s easily the twentieth novel-length I’ve begun. (though also, you know that kedreeva post? well, 90K later, I’m less than 15K from completing this 10K fic! I think.) and I have been learning so much about long-form fiction.

there has also been a lot of weeping and tearing my hair. case in point: I just trashed the chapter 15 draft because I figured out the reason it wasn’t going anywhere! I can probably keep the first few hundred words of that draft without any editing, and another few hundred with some revision...

7) A line of writing you’re proud of:

from “j'ai rêvé (so I don't have to dream alone)”:

Everything about their partnership is fragments of sentences in the dream diary Adrien writes in ultraviolet pen. Disjointed flickers of thought even when examined under the black light he hides in the snack cabinet under packets of Super Yoyo sandwich cookies and bags of cheesy Monster Munch potato chips and boxes of petit écolier butter cookies (chocolat noir)—none of which explains the gym-socks smell. All fleeting incoherent flashes, invisible between the mundane lines of La Modification shelved at his bedside between Leroux and Dumas. None of it is solid. Adrien has more proof his room's haunted.

okay let me break this down for you!

* Adrien started a dream diary to make sense of the memories

* in invisible ink, in a book that (according to Wikipedia) is thematically appropriate and won’t (if Gabriel sees it) look like anything other than Adrien developing an interest in French literature

* shelved between Phantom of the Opera and The Three Musketeers

* look I didn’t come up with the name “black light”

* or “chocolat noir” for what English speakers call “dark chocolate”, or “petit écolier” (that is, “little schoolboy”) for that sort of butter cookie

* also not my fault that “chocolat noir” sounds remarkably like “Chat Noir”, which, attentive readers may have noticed, is not a name that appears in the story after the header and before Miraculous Cure

* I found the website of a store in Boston, Massachusetts that caters to French expats, and the yo-yo cookies and the monster chips were right there in the photos, y’all

* the snack stash and the black light live in the cabinet where, in canon, the Camembert lives; yes, that cheese smells in the real world like gym socks

* this story’s akuma was not able to affect anything but squishy human memory: nobody affected remembers anything about Ladybug or Chat Noir or Hawkmoth, not in any solid way, not even when they read news articles about the subject, and this includes Marinette and Adrien not being able to see or hear or remember their own kwamis—but you know what Adrien’s Insta post about his poltergeist and Adrien’s Insta post with the floating sock don’t show and don’t explicitly refer to?

* I love this paragraph so much (my housemates may have been lovingly mocking me over it)

8) A comment that touched you:

there are people (y’all know who you are) who said y’all are studying my style. I ded of blush.

9) Something that inspired your writing:

by volume of fic drafts that can be blamed on any particular person, the winner is probably @norakwami​

10) Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc):

so that longest-story-ever-written record I set in 2007 with the 89.5K story that, till where the firelight fades, was the only story I’d gotten much past 20K?

I broke that fucking record!

and then I deleted the draft of firelight chapter 15 😭

11) Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

I’m starting work on a fantasy novel, a Sleeping Beauty retelling in which I explore (among other things) the economic consequences of the king’s ordering all the spinning wheels burned, and I want to make significant progress on that. and I want to not make my hands any worse; I kind of need those!

(breaking news alert: bodies fucking suck. so does giving yourself repetitive stress injuries in doing one and a half to two people’s worth of work for an organization that was never ever going to pay you more than one person’s worth of pay.)

[ramblefang]

TOH s2 ep3

I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep up the liveblog thing, but the first few seconds of this episode already has me thinking things I want to write down.

But really quick: some post-episode 2 thoughts. Nothing too big, just follow-up thoughts on Luz learning alongside Eda and Lilith given how the episode ended. Seems like Luz being the teacher is pretty much done already, and the adults—with their experience and wisdom better contextualizing what they’re learning about glyphs—may more solidly have the edge at teaching. Though, Luz may still have plenty to contribute; she’s proven to be mighty creative in her own right, so she’ll likely pick up on “glyph writing” pretty quick.

00:06 - So these first few seconds seem to be a flashback. I was initially tipped off by the, like, blue tint and the, like, hazy effect at the edges of the screen. But I also rewinded since I started writing, and this hooded figure does have Eda’s staff and the hand grasping it certainly looks like hers.

00:14 - Oh, it’s all confirmed just seconds later. Okay then.

00:27 - An intriguing cold open that was. My first guess is that that was how Eda met King. But it could also be introducing a new character.

01:10 - Looks like Lilith explained things to Luz between episodes. These notes (especially the confusion) reminds me of trying to wrap my head around Homestuck shit.

01:38 - Huh. Lilith looking a tad unhinged. Last episode left us with the impression that she had a decent direction when it comes to these glyphs, but maybe exploring this uncharted territory is a bit much for the rule-obsessed perfectionist

01:49 - I must say again that I really appreciate Hooty having a good relationship with someone.

02:53 - Demon lore! Sounds like this might really be about King and Eda meeting, based on this King focus and the title having something about the past (didn’t commit the title to memory)

03:53 - Hmm, so King’s story doesn’t match up with the expert’s understanding of history. I wonder if it’ll turn out that King was just the big fish of a very small pond. Alternatively, King’s story might be prehistory. Eda did appear to have found some ancient ruins in the cold open.

04:20 - Ooh, indeed, this could be dealing with delusions. The appropriate way to handle someone experiencing delusions isn’t really something I’m familiar with. And it’s still uncertain if that’s really where this is going; King’s story could still be real (at least in a fashion)

04:25 - But in the moment, I do appreciate Luz’s approach to things. Delusion or not, it’s not like King is hurting anyone. Well, it is correlated with some toxic behavior (like that time King took credit for the story that he wrote together with Luz), but I’m unsure if I’d pin that stuff on delusions. Those things can be addressed without necessarily stressing King out over his “delusions”.

04:55 - Uuh. I have no idea what to expect from Hooty coming with. I’m honestly kind of scared.

05:00 - And based on those sounds and the pulsating flesh left behind on the door, yeah, I was right to be kind of scared. But the “Porta-Hooty” is cute.

05:30 - “Again” Eda says. Huh. Quick guess is that Eda manages an elaborate charade to keep King happy.

05:37 - A flying bathtub huh. That caught me off guard. I guess that’s the back-up for when Luz takes the staff (whose name I do not recall at the moment.)

(Apparently it is Owlbert.)

06:18 - This does appear to be the location from the cold open, so it’s probably real. I wouldn’t expect that young Eda was already orchestrating an elaborate charade for King. It’s also uncharted, so more credence to King’s story being at least partially true—but it also works for my idea that King was the master of a very small pond.

07:07 - Not sure if significant, but that door is keyhole shaped.

07:27 - Ooh! Prehistory! Or, well, prehistory as known by Lilith. Pretty sure actual prehistory is, like, “before history was recorded in a way we could dig up.” And this is literally language that could, probably, record history

08:30 - Hmm, so there’s something sneaking around these ruins, reminiscent of something sneaking up on young Eda in the cold open. I had thought that would be King, but it could be something else. It could also still have been King in the cold open, and it’s just something else now—it could even be Eda.

09:20 - Oh, so “apple blood” is basically an alcoholic beverage. It’s practically just a euphemism here.

09:30 - And the positions have flipped. These ruins are enough evidence to fully trust King’s story, despite his hazy memory. Luz still sounds the way she did earlier in the episode: simply humoring him.

My present theory is that the true extent of King’s story is that he lived here. But that does not mean he was the ruler of this place; he may have just used the art in these ruins to incorrectly fill holes in his memory.

10:20 - Hmm, the mummies of a bunch of vaguely insectoid...soldiers? The main thing I’m getting is that they don’t look much like demons. Also one is skittering around still, so maybe they aren’t exactly living? Like, maybe they were automatons in the first place?

10:50 - Ooh, a surprising fleshiness to this “monstrosity”. But, I mean, zombies are a form of automaton in my book. Or they can be at least.

11:12 - That sort of flesh warping ability is always fun. The kind that means you can never be pinned (especially by impalement) and also functions as a healing factor

11:24 - So now I’m guessing that by Eda’s exclamation of “Again?!” before, she’s had to protect/save King from these things before. Not only from the cold open, but other times that King has decided to visit this place.

11:40 - Eda has fought this thing before and knows, with certainty, that it can’t truly be defeated. I wonder why King wasn’t aware of it though.

13:02 - I was right about it being King in the cold open, but oh my God I wasn’t prepared for how cute baby King would be.

14:10 - A fair enough explanation for King’s memories. Though, it doesn’t explain the art in the ruins which does, indeed, bear a resemblance to King.

14:43 - Again, I’m not familiar with how real delusions are handled, but I can say that this probably wasn’t the safest place for this conversation

15:09 - Considering I initially agreed with Luz, it’s appropriate for me to reflect as I did agree with her approach. Perhaps there is more nuance to dealing with delusions. Luz theoretically could have been honest while still avoiding outright contradicting King’s delusions; in the bluntest terms, she could have outright said she doesn’t believe that he’s the king of demons, but would be willing to treat him as if he was anyway. The main thing I still agree with is Luz not pushing King on his delusions: more because it wasn’t her place to than anything else—Luz simply doesn’t have the full picture for her to be able to. Eda did though, so if anyone was going to challenge King’s delusions, it was her. Still could have been done somewhere safer though.

16:28 - Establish something that is true and positive regardless of the delusion: the delusional person having support. It can act as a safe foundation when one’s reality otherwise seems uncertain. Provide something that is at least as comforting as the delusion.

16:55 - Curious. The “monstrosity” is restacking the stones, King’s make-believe soldiers. It’s true enough that it didn’t attack baby King, as King was already in the ruins before Eda arrived. It specifically attacked Eda. Even on this latest excursion, it had never attacked King directly: it was simply imposing enough for King to agree to run from it.

18:30 - Eggshell? Was King born here? Maybe, rather than having been king himself, he is an heir?

20:32 - I would let him keep it. Yes. I like the monster.

20:42 - I like the symbolism of the horn as, like, King’s memory? It was damaged by his delusion, but now it’s whole again. King is more complete than he was before.

20:49 - Oh, they did bring the monster! Right there in the background. And King named it “Jean-Luc”? At least that’s how I’m assuming it’s spelled, after Jean-Luc Picard. I wonder if, coinciding with King’s further development, they can revive it to work outside of the ruins.

Closing Thoughts

Through season 1, I had thought that King trying to live up to being “the king of demons” functioned well as an analogy for toxic masculinity. He was trying to be tough and controlling, because that was how he thought he ought to be as a demon king—much the same things that toxic masculinity pushes on men to be “real” men. So making it through these his delusions makes room for King to mature and be more genuine to himself.

[im-hqlover]

Arranged marriage/Royal AU - Chapter 3 - The next day.

A/n - And here's another chapter from one of the fanfics that I'm most loving to write, and I hope you are also enjoying it =) 

Enjoy!

(none of the images used on the aesthetic belong to me, credit to their creators) 

Warnings: arranged marriage, maybe some bad words, sex mentions, anguish, fight, war mentions, maybe discomfort?, cry (Idk if it is necessary, but I will put anyway), maybe english errors/mistakes. (I hope I haven't forgotten anything) 

important details to mention:

-This is kind of a Royal AU, but time kinda mixes with middle Ages and current time, so some technologies exist and others don’t, it’s kind of confusing, maybe, but I hope this isn’t a big problem.

-The reader is 20 years old, Jason is 22 y/o

-The reader is female.

Pairings: Jason Todd x reader

Y/n = your name

F/c = Favourite cake

F/fd = Favourite food 

Words count: 6013 

Previous chapters: Chapter one, Chapter Two, Chapter two's Alternative ending 

Next chapters: coming soon 

Tag list: @sarcasmismyfirstlove​​ 

Y/N's INFO:

Gender: Cis-Female

Sexuality: Straight

Height: Shorter than Jason

Weight: Not Defined 

Skin Color: Not Defined 

Hair Color: Not Defined 

Eyes Color: Not Defined

Other details? Y/n is myopic

(I hope I have put all the information, let me know if i forgot something) 

The sun's rays from a beautiful autumn day filled the bedroom, leaving it fully lit, everything was at peace, and I was still sleepy, so I just try to sleep again, but my sleeping plans went down the drain when a bird appears and decides to sing right on the windowsill, I take a deep breath placing the pillow in my face to drown out the sound of singing, but it was useless, did that damn bird follow me from my kingdom to here, only to disturb my sleep? 

I take a deep breath, giving up trying to sleep, I remove the pillow and look at the ceiling for a while, the moment I woke up I found that place strange, and I wondered where I was, until I remember the wedding and everything, and of course, remembering that didn't improve my day, in fact I seemed to have forgotten Jason's little gentle acts and only my anger remained, anger at my parents, anger at having married a stranger who killed people, anger at me. I was clearly not in a good mood, and I found it very difficult for that to change, although it could have been simply a dream, or rather a nightmare.  

When I looked to my side to see my husband, he wasn't there, and then it crossed my mind what did he think of me, was the anger reciprocal? I thought so. I got up from the bed and sat down, I looked at the clock there and realized it was almost 10:00 am, I wonder why I managed to sleep for so long and didn't wake up when Jason got up… in fact, I’m not surprised, I was dying of tiredness yesterday/today's dawn, so I think it’s natural that I’ve slept for so long. 

I go to the bathroom, wash my face, comb my hair that was a mess and do my other needs, when I left I thought about what I would do at that moment, until my belly growled and thought it would be better to find something to eat, but not before changing those clothes, I didn't really want people to see me like that, but there was a little problem, in fact two, I had no idea where my room was located neither the kitchen. 

I tried to remember the path that that sir had taken until we got here, but I couldn't remember, because at that moment I was so nervous about what was about to happen that I completely ignored how I got there. 

As I didn't want to be bothering other people and wanting to do things a little by myself, I decide that maybe by exploring the castle somehow I could find the kitchen or my room, but guess what?  I was wrong. I walked through so many corridors, but nothing there seemed to be near the kitchen or my room, that castle was a complete maze and I thought I would need a map to be able to locate myself there. And I take a deep breath when I arrive in a dead-end corridor, turn around and end up getting scared because not far behind me there was a boy with maybe 10 or so, he had black hair as dark as coal, there were emerald green eyes, and he had his arms crossed for me. 

- Huh, hi - I say awkwardly and soon I feel my face heat up when I realize that that boy was seeing me in those clothes. 

- Hello Sleeping Beauty, you look lost. - He said with a serious face, I vaguely remembered him as being one of Jason's younger brothers, but I couldn't remember his name... maybe it had D? I had no idea.

- Huh, well, I was exploring the castle to get to know a little. - I rub my hand on my arm nervously. 

- It seems to me that you are looking for something, not "exploring". 

- Huh... well, maybe... I was looking for the kitchen. - I look away from him and he ends up laughing. - What's it?

- You'll never get there like that, the kitchen is practically on the other side of the castle. 

- And… by any chance… did you take me there? - He sighs not seeming to want to do that much. 

- Just this once. - He says with a tone not too friendly to be honest, he turns and starts walking, and I follow him. 

He really wasn't kidding when he said the kitchen was on the other side of the castle, I don't know how long it took to get there, but I can say that it was a long way to go, as we get closer I can smell food in the air, maybe they were already preparing lunch, when we got the boy to stop and say. 

- Is here. - He spoke and started to leave before I could even thank him. 

- Thank you. - I thank him in the same way, but I didn't know if he heard me, I knock on the door and it doesn't take long for one of the tall and thin cooks, perhaps an apprentice for his age, would answer the door. 

- P-princess y/n - He bowed when he realized it was me who was at the door, I just give a small shyly nod in response.

- Huh, could I come in by any chance? I would like to eat something if it were possible. - He nodded quickly several times and allowed me to enter the kitchen. 

- W-what would yo-you like to eat your highness? 

- Please just call me y/n, huh, sorry, but what's your name?

- J-Jeremy.  

- Nice to meet you Jeremy. - I say to him smiling until an older woman, maybe 50 years old because of her gray hair, she approaches us with a wooden spoon and stares deathly at the youngest.

- What are you doing bothering the princess, Jeremy? And why is she here? - She said while pointing the wooden spoon at me. My impression is that the woman wasn't very friendly, especially when it came to strangers in her kitchen. The woman wearing chef's clothes looks at my clothes with a disapproving look. 

- Huh, it's just... I was hungry and I thought if I could get something to eat here, it doesn't have to be fancy or anything, I'm happy if I can just eat a piece of cake with coffee. - Her expression seemed to have softened slightly, but her face was still not very friendly. - If it doesn't ask for much, of course, otherwise I can wait until lunch is ready.

- Jeremy! Get what your highness wants, immediately! - The lady said while pointing the wooden spoon again at the boy who quickly nodded in agreement. 

- Y-yes, ma'am.

The lady soon asked if I would like to go to the royal dinner table, but I refused and said that I could eat right there if I didn't bother, she seems to have found this strange, but she didn't disagree and let me stay there, I soon found out that her name was Constance. 

It didn't take long for Jeremy to come back with a plate with f/c and a cup of coffee, Constance said that I could sit at the staff table so that I didn't have to eat standing up, I agreed and sat there. When I finished eating I thanked them both and went out to the kitchen, now the new challenge, find my room, but this time, not to waste time I asked one of the servants who passed me, and she said she unfortunately didn’t know but that I was supposed to wait there and she would call someone who knew, and in little time the same man who guided me to Jason's bedroom came and guided me to my room. 

- Huh, I don't want to disturb you, but could I know your name? - I say to break the silence while we walk. 

- Alfred Pennyworth, your highness. - He replied gently and calmly.

- Please, call me y/n. - He turned to me briefly with a questioning look.

- Why?

- I just prefer to be called by my name only. - I shrug. 

- I must excuse you princess, but I think that will be a difficult task for me, calling a noble without their title seems wrong to me. - Well, I kind of expected this, many said the same thing, and even if they didn’t say it out loud I had the feeling that they thought that, everyone was taught to refer to each other, mainly for nobles, as a form of respect, but I hated it, it was like people could be superior to each other just because of a damn title, and that's why I always say it's just to call me by my name, but I know that didn’t change things, since everyone always kept calling me princess or your highness, or something like that, but I don’t blame them. 

- It's okay, I understand. - I look at the corridors we were passing through, in many of them there were several pictures of different things, from important people to things like a landscape, in addition to the corridors having giant windows to which they had equally large curtains to which they were in a way so that the sun could enter and illuminate the place. I didn't even notice when we got to my room, and I could see that there was a movement there. 

- What is happening? - I tell Alfred who turns to me. 

- They are taking your belongings to Prince Jason's room, since you will share it from now on. - I smile a little sad, my plans to avoid my husband were going down the drain, because now I would literally have to share the same room with him. 

- Are you all right, your highness? - I look at Alfred and shake my head negatively. 

- N-no, everything is fine. - He didn't seem to believe my answer, but said nothing more. 

- I have other commitments at the moment your highness, so I have to leave you alone at the moment. - I nod and he makes a little bow.

- Thank you, Sir Alfred.

- You’re welcome, y/n. - I give him a small smile and he returns, and then leaves there.

I look at the servants there and tell them if they could wait a little while to take everything because I would like to change my clothes, they agree and leave me alone in the room. I look in the suitcases and choose torn jeans and a black short-sleeved shirt to dress, in addition to my underwear and sneakers of course, I take the clothes to the bathroom and a bath towel too, I take a long shower, after getting dressed I dry my hair with the towel and comb them, and decided that I wouldn't use the dryer and let the hair dry naturally. 

Upon leaving my room the servants were waiting in the corridor to be able to continue their work, for a moment they look at me but for some reason they start to look away, which intrigued me, but I try to ignore that fact. 

Walking down some corridors I reach the main stairway which I descend, reaching the great entrance hall. 

- Y/n! - I hear my mother's voice coming back from me, and then I turn to see her, my father, my brother and some other nobles that I recognized to be some of our allies. - I finally found you, why didn't you show up for breakfast?

- I, huh ... I was very tired because of the night, you know. - I say looking away, maybe she believed that I and Jason did that, because in no way I wanted her to find out we didn't do that, she nods in agreement.

- And what clothes are these? You are no longer at home, daughter, you have to wear appropriate clothes. - She scolded me while trying to be "kind", when I knew she wanted to yell at me for wearing those clothes, but of course she wouldn't argue with me, not in front of the other nobles. 

- When I went to my room they were already carrying my bags, those were the only clothes I could find. - Of course it was a lie, there were other clothes and others more "appropriate" as she said, but I decided to wear that outfit because I liked to dress like this, and she knew very well that it was a lie, but because we were in front of others nobles she just scowled at me. 

- So it's better to change your clothes as soon as possible. - I cross my arms so that she sees that I refused to do this, as she didn't want to freak out in front of everyone she just changed the subject. - Lunch will soon be ready, join us and let's go to the dining room. 

Well, it's not like I have a choice to refuse, but I also knew what time or other I would have to go to lunch, so it was better to follow them than to be lost again, so I say yes quietly and start following them in silence, while they talked about political things.

It didn't take long before we got to the big dining room, with a giant table made of some very expensive and chic wood, when we arrived we were the first to be there besides the employees who was preparing the table, and  they indicated the places where we should sit, I sit in my designated chair and my mother sits on my left side, while on the right side there is a chair which I already had a brief guess of who would sit there. 

At the end of the table which was closest to me was a chair that stood out from the others, and I assumed it was King Bruce who would sit there, on the sides of the table, next to me and the different chair there were five other normal chairs but these were empty, three on the side opposite me and two on my side, and I soon thought it would be the chairs for each of the princes. 

My assumptions didn't take long to materialize, because soon the king along with the five princes came to the table while laughing at something. They all wore casual clothes but appropriate for a prince, their clothes were almost identical, white flax shirts, vests made of leather or some similar material, black pants that stayed inside his boots of practically the same color, and of course, there was a belt that served to hold their sword, the only thing that differed in their clothes was the size and colors of their vests, the oldest of the five wore a bluish vest, Jason’s was dark red that looked like it was blood, the boy who thought he was the third oldest wore a red vest too, but besides being a lighter red his vest had some golden details, the fourth wore a golden yellow vest with black details, and the last and youngest of them all, who was the same boy he had met this morning, wore an emerald green vest, and of course, the king dressed in the same way as his sons, his vest being black. 

They all stopped laughing when they noticed the presence of other people there, and soon took their seats in silence, the king sitting on the end, the oldest sitting next to the king and Jason, who had sat next to me, the other three sat on the other side, and the youngest sat next to the king, the third oldest sitting next to him, and the other who wore the yellow vest sitting in front of me. 

For a moment the place was in an awkward silence, until little by little the conversations were resumed, other people also appeared, both noble allies of my kingdom and Gotham's allies. After a while the employees finally bring the food to the table. My mother nudges me with her elbow and whispers to me "look at the posture", I immediately straightened up in my chair with the right posture, I kept watching all the food there, and I must say, none really made me want to eat because they were all those fancy, expensive and extravagant foods that I wasn't a fan of, I just stand there, watching the food and my empty plate, making no move to get anything to eat. 

- Aren't you going to eat daughter? - My mom asks me while pointing to my empty plate. 

- I'm not hungry. - I say in a low voice and still looking at my plate. 

- You need to eat something, you didn't even have breakfast. - I look at my mother, but just shake my head negatively, I look at my plate for a while longer, until I get up from my chair, catching the attention of everyone present. 

- Where are you going? - My mom asked, but I didn't answer her, and I just left the room and walking around the castle, I just wanted to get out of there, no matter where, just anywhere. 

I didn't even look at where I was going, I just know that when I realized I was passing through the warriors' training yard and not far from there I ended up in the stables, where there were several horses, all of them very tall and ready for battle, I looked at them in awe, I loved horses so much, but it had been so long since I had galloped in one, I was a little afraid to get too close to them, because being someone they didn’t know they could very well end up attacking me, I walked slowly in the corridor, watching each horse, until I stopped in front of one that caught my attention, unlike the others he wasn't so tall, and his body was more rounded, and his legs were thicker and stronger than the others. But there was something different about him, not just his structure, but he looked at me differently, which through his eyes even looked like he was talking to me, I didn’t even notice when I approached him until I was stroking his muzzle, it was so cute. 

- Hey! Caution! - I turn scared in the direction of the unknown voice and see that it was a boy who had called me, he should be the same age as me, or more or less close, he wasn't very tall as the other men here, he had tanned skin and dark brown hair. He approached me, and he didn't look very happy, in fact he looked like a mixture of anger and fear. - This horse is treacherous, it isn't good to be on his side. 

- Are you sure? He looks so tame. - I say while looking at the short, golden colored horse with white details. 

- Yes, I'm sure, I am the caretaker of all these horses and this is the most problematic, and I say, it is better to get away. - He spoke stiffly, I look at him and then at the horse. 

- By the way, why are you here? I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to be here.

- I-I was just exploring the castle, and when I realized I got here, and I couldn't help myself and see the horses. - I say looking away. - I thought I could see them.

The horse caretaker didn't seem to know exactly what to say, he sighs and speaks. 

- As long as you're careful, I think it's okay to see them. - I smile happily, finally someone wouldn't stop me from doing something. - I really need to get some things and then take care of one of the injured horses, just don't get hurt while I'm out. 

He warn me while walking away from me, I nodded and said I would be careful, and so he left the stable. I approach that short horse again and pet him, I didn’t understand, he didn’t look bad, I look in his stall and notice that he has a small gold plate with a name carved in it, "Apollo". 

- I don't think you're that bad Apollo. - I say as I continued to pet him.

An idea came to mind, I look around and realize that there was no one there besides me and the other horses, I smile at Apollo and say. 

- I think you don't like it here much, do you? 

He shakes his head to affirm my question, I look around the stable and see some saddles and reins, I take Apollo out of his stall and I take it close to where the items were, and soon I put all the items in him, before mounting Apollo I stand in front of him and say looking into your eyes.

- I don't know how we will get out of here, but I know that together we will be able to get out in a way. 

His eyes seemed to say: "I know a way", I smile at him, open the door that was closed in the stable and realize that there it goes out into an open field where I supposed the horses to graze, I ride in Apollo and without delay he start walking towards exit. I looked around the field, I knew that that field would at some point be a limit for the horses not to leave. 

- So, do you know a way to get out of here buddy? - He turns his head to me and neighs, his eyes say it is for me to leave it up to him. 

- Then move on. - I talk to him, allowing him to start walking, I held the reins tighter when he started walking much faster. I just hope that after so long I still know how to ride a horse.

We both walked through the open field, Apollo seemed to know very well what he was doing, but it didn't take long for a problem to arise, there was a wall which prevented the horses from escaping, it was not so high, but I found it impossible to get past it, and I started to worry when the horse didn’t stop its pace. 

- Apollo, what are you doing? - I tried to make him stop using the reins but it didn't work, what was I doing now? 

It was then that Apollo went towards a rock that was there, he increased his speed even more and used that stone as a support to jump over the wall. I was unresponsive, I swore I was going to die at that moment, either from a heart attack or falling off the horse. I was paralyzed, and I was not released from this trance state until Apollo stopped and neighed at me.

- You could have warned me earlier! - I say to him and he just looked at me saying: "I'm just a horse, how was I going to warn you?" 

I take a deep breath trying to calm myself down again, it was all crazy. Then I pressed Apollo's flanks to make him walk, I knew I would have to get out of there before the guards came after me.

Apollo trotted for a while, until I could hear the sound of the nearest sea, so I directed him until we reached the beach, I was enjoying the scenery for a while until I got off the horse. 

Unlike most of the beaches I had already seen, a part of the beach was rocky, and the part that had sand wasn't that big. I watched it for several minutes, and even though I wasn't holding or riding Apollo, he didn't seem to want to leave my side. 

I took a deep breath, letting the scent of the sea enter my nostrils and the icy wind ruffle my hair. I looked towards where the castle was supposed to be, and then I looked at the sea, and then at the woods behind me, I had a chance to escape with Apollo, but I knew that even if I did it, at some point someone would find me again, and worse, the war, the only thing that kept me from running away was this damn war, I knew everything would come back again, and knowing that it would happen and because of me, it made me very bad, I didn't want innocent people to die for my recklessness.

It might not have been a long time of freedom, but just riding and being there on the beach had already made me a little happier. I turn to Apollo and tell him. 

- It's time to go back. 

He turned his head immediately surprised by this, and he seemed to say, "but you said that we would run away!" 

- I-I know what I said, but... but if I really do that, very bad things are going to happen because of me. But you can be free Apollo, there is no one who can stop you now. - I pet him and when I would take his halter off he turns his face. 

- Hey! I just want to take this away from you, so you can be free! Isn't that what you want? - He shakes his head negatively, and I am confused, he approaches me and puts his head on my shoulder. 

- Do you... want to stay with me? - I say as I walk away and look into his black eyes and pet his head, he seemed to say yes. I smile at him. 

- Okay, so let's go back to the castle, but this time, without crazy jumps it looks like I'm going to die halfway. 

He neighed and I think I should think of it as a laugh. Apollo then takes me towards the castle again, but then I guide him to the entrance, because I knew we had no way to get back the same way we left, and even though I knew that my parents would find me sooner to scold me, I knew it would happen sooner or later, so the sooner the better. 

As we approach the big gate I soon hear a guard shout from above the walls: "PRINCESS Y/N! SHE'S BACK! PRINCESS Y / N IS BACK!"  

It didn't take long for the gates to be opened for me to cross and I also saw that people started to leave the castle and they went to meet me, and of course one of the first to approach was my mother with her face of anger and disappointment. 

- What were you thinking y/n?

- Riding a horse? - I speak pointing to the horse. 

- Enough of your jokes y/n, you know very well what you did. - I look at her angrily too, I thought for a few seconds until I told her. 

- Yeah, I know. And? 

Her anger was so great that I could see that tears started to form in her eyes.

- Do you want to ruin everything? Do you want the war to return? This is what you want? 

- If I wanted that I would have done a lot worse, by the way, I didn't run away, I'm here, am I not? What's more, what are you going to do about it? punish me putting me in my room? 

My mother was quiet for a while, the other people who were there were also quiet, just watching the circus catch on fire. 

- What did I do wrong for you to become that way? - She asks as tears fall, even after everything, she was still my mother, and I won't lie, knowing that I hurt her, hurted me, but when she hurt me before, she didn't seem to care. 

- Want me to make you a list? - I say with anger still running through my veins, even if she was my mother, it does not undo the things she did.  

She just looked at me with sadness and anger, and left, other people looked at me with disapproval, and I just ignored them and took Apollo towards the stable, I knew the stable/training area should have a path that connected with the castle entrance, so it wasn't too difficult to find the location.  

Unlike before, there were almost no horses in the stable, and I also saw no sign on the caretaker, I leave Apollo and take him to his place again, I remove all his equipment and put it in place, I give him one last pet before leaving.

I know that everyone there would disagree with my actions, but I didn't care, but I was slightly worried because I knew that anything good that was in the relationship between me and Jason, or anyone in the royal family would now be negative, and that could be a bad sign, because with their distrust of me, it could indeed cause revolt against me, against my family and my kingdom, that is, in some way the war could return. 

I sighed angrily, again I had been such a reckless and selfish big asshole. 

I walked through the castle, trying to find the bedroom that I would share with my husband from now on, but as I searched I was stopped by an angry voice coming from behind me, I shrunk but I turned to see Jason approaching me. 

- What the fuck do you think you were doing? Did you know that you could not ride alone without protection, let alone without permission? - I shrunk and I stepped back at his increasingly angry voice, unlike my mother, Jason still scared me, and I feared what he might do to me or someone else for my actions.

- I-I... I thought I would have a little mo-more freedom here, but... but of course it wouldn't be any different here. - I say turning around to ignore him and also so he doesn't see the tears that started to form in my eyes and soon I leave there, going anywhere. 

- Where are you going?! - He says and I can hear his footsteps approaching me. 

- And does it matter? - He goes ahead of me, so that I could see him, but I try to ignore him. 

- Yes, it does, and from now on I won't take my eyes off you. - His voice was still irritated, and I could feel his eyes pierce me with anger. - Now tell me, where are you going.

I hesitate for a moment, until I answer him. 

- I-I think where our bedroom should be from now on.

- That's the wrong direction. - He answers, his voice was still not very friendly, but he was not as angry as he was seconds ago. - Do you even know where mi-, our room is?

I shake my head negatively and he sighs. 

- Follow me. - I did as he was told, and then in a few minutes we got to our room. 

- Huh, could you tell me where my clothes were put? - I say when I enter the room and he points to the wardrobe. 

- They must have put it in the wardrobe. 

I agree, and then I look at him and I ask. 

- Could I be alone for a while? At least until I showered and dressed. 

He agrees and leaves me there alone in the room, I look for my clothes in the wardrobe and then go to the bathroom to take a shower. When I finished dressing in leggings, a short-sleeved shirt and a sweatshirt as it was starting to get cold, I left the room and came across a guard. 

- Do you wish to go somewhere, your highness? - The man should have been in his thirties, he had brown hair and beard, and black eyes, he wore chainmail along with half his armor, and next to him was a scabbard in which his sword was kept.  

- Huh, where's Jason? 

- The prince is in a meeting at the moment, but if you need to go somewhere, I will accompany you, since from now on I will be your bodyguard.

Hmf, how great, a bodyguard, was everything I wanted most. I held back to keep from rolling my eyes, and then I smile at the guard and say. 

- So, huh, if you will be my bodyguard could you tell me your name? 

- Scott, Scott Dankworth.  

- Nice to meet you, Scott. - I half smile and he makes a little bow. 

- It's an honor to be able to protect you. 

We were silent for a few seconds until Scott asked. 

- Would you like to go somewhere, your highness? 

- No, I… I'm going to stay in the room anyway. But thanks for asking. - I shake my head negatively as I enter the room. 

- Alright princess, if you need to leave or anything, please let me know. 

I agree slightly and then close the bedroom door and lie down on the bed, honestly I had no idea what to do now, so I just lay in bed, looking at the ceiling, the hours passed like that, until I realize through the bedroom window that the sun had started to disappear, in a little while it would probably be dinner. I looked at the ceiling for a while longer, until I heard a knock on the door. 

- Who is it? - I say without emotion in my voice. 

- It's Scott, your highness. 

- You may come in. 

- I just want to warn you that dinner is on the table and they are waiting for your presence.

- Could you please tell them that I am too unwilling to attend the dinner? 

- Of course, Your Highness. 

He closed the door and I can hear the sound of his boots hitting the floor moving further and further away, but after some time I can hear the sound of his footsteps approaching. 

- Your Highness? - He said while knocking on the door. 

- Come in.

- They told me that you didn't eat anything for lunch or eat breakfast, and that you should go to dinner for the sake of your health. 

- I'm fine Scott. I already told you, I'm unwell for that dinner. 

The silence prevailed for a few seconds until the bodyguard started to speak again. 

- Wouldn't you like me to bring you something to eat? That way you won't have to attend dinner. 

I was thinking for a moment, I would be lying if I said I wasn't hungry, as the only thing I ate today was a piece of cake and a cup of coffee, and my stomach was now completely empty, begging for it I would eat something soon. 

- Can be… 

- What do you want me to bring, your highness? 

- Hmm… if maybe there was f/fd, I would be very happy.

- I'll see what I can do, your highness. 

- Ok. Thank you. 

When he left my room again, he came back after a some minutes saying that there was no such thing at dinner, but that lady Constance said she could do it as long as I could wait to be ready, and I agreed. It took some time, but the whole wait was worth it because the food was delicious. 

- Scott, tell Constance that the food was magnificent and that I thank her very much for her kindness. 

- I will. - The guard left with the tray with the empty plate in hand, and when he returned he said the following. - Your family is leaving for your kingdom, I will guide you so you can say goodbye to them. 

But I stayed in bed, I didn't want to say goodbye to them, not just because I hated goodbyes, but because I was still angry with them, and I didn't want to see them. 

- Tell them I said goodbye and have a nice trip. 

- Aren't you going to tell them personally? 

- No. - I just say that and he must have understood that it was better not to insist, and so he left. 

As soon as he left I couldn't stop the tears from falling. I don't know how long I was looking at the ceiling like that, but soon I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and ended up sleeping. 

A/n - Well, I thought this chapter would be bigger than the second, but in the end it was almost the same size. I hope you enjoyed, by the way, I don't know if at the beginning, Damian's personality was similar to his or not, and I also know that aesthetic doesn't seem to match, but I couldn't find images that matched and related to facts in the chapter, so sorry for that. (and the knight in the aesthetic is the bodyguard, just so you know) 

Btw, if in case it have anything confused or with English errors, please let me know. 

I think that's it, I really hope you like it =) 

Until the next chapter!

See ya!

- Ina -

Masterlist

[queenieloveswriting]

Little orange bottles

A/N unedited little thing from a while ago, found loads of bits in my notes on my phone read this and though id post it let me know your thoughts ////hella old ngl sounds like shit srry ladsssss xoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxTW--Abuse//Blood//Bad thoughs ig sorry not good w warnings sorry if this triggers anhyone 

*beep     beep     beep*

Your alarm rang through the room for what seemed to be the fifth time this morning.It was now 6:30am and school began in two hours unlike the majority of students in kildare county you enjoyed school and, your (only) friend pope definitely made it worthwile.You both loved school,people like his friends jj and John b didn’t like school.

Why are you awake at 6:30 again?....right!

You look over to yourself in your mirror and glance at your schedule sticky taped to the corner; 

*DAISYS SCHEDULE*

6:30-wake up

6:45-shower

7:00-get ready

7:20-read

7:50-breakfast/pillz 

8:00-head to Heywards

Obeying the list, you hopped into the shower and got yourself prepared for the day, brushing your teeth washing your face and applying a light amount of makeup. A tinted moisturiser, clear mascara and brow gel, In attempt to tame your wild hair you collected into a cute messy ponytail, breaking three hair bands in the possess. Putting your glasses on you choose your outfit, due to the heat you opted for something casual, a blue denim skirt with a black crop top and a oversized blue flannel top  covering  just to the bottom of you skirt 

You went downstairs and packed some fruit into your bag. Opting to take your breakfast as today's lunch, knowing Mrs. Heyward would invite you in for ‘leftovers’ from their breakfast. Shouting  goodbye to your mum who was no doubt still in bed exhausted from her night shift.

Running out the door grabbing your phone, headphones and favourite book ‘to kill a mockingbird’. I plugged in my headphones playing my ‘reading playlist’ and read as i walked up to heywards,occasionally looking up so I don’t walk into any unwanted attention. The third time checking your surroundings you realise you made it to popes in record time, because his mom came out ushering you and him in in for ‘leftovers’ .Pope rolled his eyes sending you   a silent apology. You didn’t mind though she was more a mother to you than your actual blood.

“Hey nerd "pope greeted you pushing your glasses up your nose 

“Hey geek” you replied, slapping his hands away, he pulled you into a quick hug and followed h8im and his mum into the kitchen.

“Whatcha reading this time?”he asked making you laugh slightly “Harper lee my friend” you replied  holding up your book as he rolled his eyes “why am I not surprised ,you know the book doesn't change right every time you read it "he asked playfully “I know pope, but it’s a classic and i don’t have enough to get a new book until my shift next week so I’m not complaining “you sassed

“Yeah you're know that I’ve said you can borrow my books anytime “he asked

“Yeah but you won’t let me write notes in the margins pope! "you explained “because what about MY notes “he exclaimed and you both erupted into laughter.God,you're such geeks you mentally sighed.Mrs.Heyward scolded at us both for arguing and gave us some pancakes and fruit.

Mr.Heward barged through the doors shouting about some ‘arrogant snotty kook man’ and turned around shily when he heard you and pope laughing. "daisy hey sweetheart you need me to save you or you alright?” he asked, referring to his wife’s overwhelming mothering. You shook your head quietly declining his offer, smiling you replied “no sir it's fine, "you laughed "Heyward you need any help with deliveries?” you asked hopeful as you needed to buy some things for school. Being a pogue you tended to have to fend yourself, plus it gave you something to do. “Sure do doll, tomorrow morning,7 sharp you’n’my boy can help out and pope make sure you ask that Maybank if he's helping out too, need to know who goes so y'all come back alive”he joked”thank you sir”you shouted as he was halfway out the door.Turning back round to pope “maybank?” you asked, raising your eyebrow hinting you had absolutely no idea who he was talking about,”my friend jj you know the blonde who gets into all the fights i told you about”he answered and you nodded,still searching for an answer ”he's coming tomorrow?” you quizzed “yeah probably,plus i think it's about time you met my friends they all think i made you up”he laughed”c'mon we've gotta eat then go”

As if on queue Mrs Heyward shouted at you from across the hall telling you to eat before it got cold.After scoffing your breakfast down,it was time to leave.After regular smothering from your second mother you left.

“Sorry about them”he mumbled 

“It’s fine it’s nice having the whole parents as parents thing you know”you said .Pope knew about your mom not being around or well really a mom.He said you could come round whenever assuring his parents you were just friends,they loved you.

He nodded”you know your welcome whenever”he said and you nodded again

“Yeah but anyways how you feeling today about mrs.spiky hairs test smartass”you joked “we gon ace it y'all ready know her tests are easy”he dragged 

“True I’ve got all a’s every time”you smirked 

“Yeah same but to be fair even my friend John b could pass them and he didn't know that there were two different there’s until junior year so....”

You laughed “wait I though that jj was the the dumb one”you asked “there both delinquents but gotta love em.I’m brains of the operation anyways it’s my thang ”he sang causing you to laugh at the way he pinched his shirt and pingged it brushing dirt of his shoulders “you should come to the party tonight and meet them if you want?”he asked and you shook your head “i dont know pope,party’s and me aren’t really a good thing you know how my anxiety gets in groups”you said and he nodded “i know it’s fine don’t worry about it but offers there when you want you could even come out just us on the pouge if you wanted “he offered “they really wanna meet me?”you asked “well they wanna meet MY competition “he challenged “not really a competition there bud” you teased patting his shoulder “but I’ll think about it yeah?”you offered “sounds good and here we are” you turned facing each other then back at the school making your way inside.

“Hey i told jj I’d meet with him just before first  lesson give him his homework see you there”you gave him a confused look “they go here?”he laughed “yeah didn’t i tell you”you shook your head no “sorry see you in 10 nerd”he waved “in 10 geek”you repli,ex

Waiting for class to start,you set up outside your classroom and put your headphones back in continuing your book. The vibration of the bell and stampedes of teenagers scurry to their first lesson , you ended up waiting for pope who practically ran down the hall and laughed when your eyes met.

 You went in taking your seats next to each other this happened up until break. then lunch you’d go to all your lessons together hang out at break,being antisocial in the library, but at lunch he’s always go off,with the pogues you assume,now knowing they go to your school.At lunch you go outside and walk to the bleachers and sit reading basking in the sun.

After your  last lesson with pope you both headed home together dropping him off at heywards halfway.

“Mom I’m home”you shouted slamming the door dropping the keys on the sideboard .After no reply you expected her to be at work so you got started on your homework so you could”relax” on the weekend.

It was now 6:30,and pope texted you telling you the party started at seven and the offer was still up before you could reply,you heard your door slam shut and you ran downstairs hoping you could talk to your mum,and catch up.

You see her figure reach for a cupboard that hasn’t been opened in years  left. this was bad.

“Hey mama how was work”you asked with a shaky breath 

She glared swigging the bottle 

“You know what sweetie “she spat “Mama don’t have to go to work an more you wanna know why because i got fired from work apparently they couldn’t handle me anymore,took to many people on,so sweetie work was fucking awful OK”she shouted 

“Oh mum I'm sorry what are you going to do i mean i think the heyw--“

“Oh shut up you’re so pathetic you know,I mean you inside on a Friday night? should you be out like a normal teenager huh?god”she scoffed 

“What mom I-“by now half the bottle was empath,being drank with such desperation 

“I’ll get another  job I’ve already got the heywards they can give me more time and an I-I’ll  get a side job we’ll be fine w-we have dads money too”

“Sont talk about hijm!It’s your fault your father left you fucking incompetent piece of shit you make everyone want to leave,no wonder you have no friends. I mean look at you your pathetic  you know these people in your books there not real DAISY god why can’t you just be normal you drove everyone away.this is your fault”

Tears were now threatening your eyes,but as you looked into the person infront of you,you didnt see sadness,you saw anger,you saw red. 

“Mum Im sorry i-ill-“

Before you could say anything she downed the rest of the bottle and threw it at you.glass smashing everywhere cutting you up.your whole arm started to bleed as you cried out in pain your mum hit you,ran out and slammed the door shut.

she hit you.hit you.you ran upstairs not bothering to protect  your arm wrapping  it up in an old shirt.you needed your best friend,you didn't have many friends but he was yours you knew that nothing anyone said could change your friendship 

So you called him running out of your house in todays clothes covered in blood like you’d been in a fucking horror movie 

“Heyyy daisy you change your mind”he answered the phone 

“Hey pope I-I need some help my mom a-are you still at a-at the p-party”you stuttered 

“Woah woah breathe daisy where are you I’ll come get you okay”

“I’m near the boneyard you still there I-I’m sor-ry f-for calling i didn’t kn—“

He cut you off “no shut up it’s fine where are you,are you hurt what happened?”

“My arm s-she h-hit b-bottle “

“Fuck where are you daisy “

“Oh-oh my god there’s so many people here”you were sure you were having a panic attack by now,-you could barely breathe

“Wait daisy I-i see you I’m coming okay wait there”

“O-okay”

Hanging up the phone you were now just balling your eyes out in pain and hurt. You curled up into a ball only looking up when you  could hear pope shouting in the distance.

“Shit daisy”he shouted 

“I’m sorry I didn’t know where to go,my mum she she my arm I- I”

Pope wasn’t unfamiliar to your panic attacks,usually being  the one to calm you from them,/

“Daisy breath okay”he stroked your hair making you look into his eyes 

“What happened “he asked and you showed him your arm “shit daisy that’s close to a main artery your losing loads of blood C'mon let’s get you cleaned up back at the chateau “you just nodded following him his hand holding yours hiding you from the people as you walked past. Arriving at a group of people probably his friends,the pogues,. As your vision begins to go hazy you think that maybe your mum was right you are pathetic .He was out on a Friday night ,I looked like the whole damn school was here.he has his life maybe he didn’t want to be your friend maybe he didn’t want to just hurt you .realizing you were fading out he shook you “shit daisy no no no “he cursed“John b keys I need the keys”you heard him say and they were saying something about him getting some “dude shut up this is daisy she’s hurt “you heard him say and all of them looked at you,but you couldn’t bring your eyes too meet them.Soon enough pope was dragging you away and towards a shack,the chateau.

He dragged you inside and you were sitting on the Island In the kitchen/living room,this was a home.

where was your home now?.

“Here lemme see ''he pulled your arm and started to work. It didn’t surprise you he was so good at this he was always good at first aid but this?

Lucky it wasn't on a actual artery but the blood made it look worse,acknowledging the fact you'd been so quiet,he spoke up “hey D look at me “he said pointing your chin up,looking at you straight in your eyes”what happened,when your ready”he asked.As your breathing steadied,you began to speak “my mom,she got back from work sh-she just lost her job a-and”you stuttered,pausing to collect your breathe 

“hey it’s okay take your time okay”he calmed you”she hasn’t drank since..”you stopped and he looked in your eyes.Pope knew all about your dad,leaving you when you were about to go into junior year,you never knew why but one day he was their next he wasn’t,pope helped you through it,when you began to get closer.

“Your dad?”he answers for you 

You nodded

“She said that it-it was my fault that he left and that she lost her job an”you gulped,recomposing yourself“How I push everyone away and that’s why I have no friends I mean let’s face it”laughiing a breathy laugh “she’s right”popes head snapped up “Daisy!you have me,D its okay I’m you best friend and you know she’s wrong okay now this is going to hurt”he assured you,before you could ask questions your arm burned up from the straight alcohol he’d put on your arm “FUCK POPE SHIT WARNING PLEASE FUCK”you shouted and he laughed,frowning when he came too “Sorry,shit this is bad daisy,like really bad,I dont know what to do,I can just wrap it up But ii think you should go to the hospital“he said and before you could fight,a deep voice filled the room.

“What the fuck is going on pope”curse from the back of the room.After observing the heaps of bloody tissues and your T-shirt laying next to you“What the fuck happened to her man,who is this?”he asked pope who looked up at you,asking the silent of’should i tell him’ you shook your head with pleading eyes 

Pity took over popes vision as he answered JJ’s question“Jj this is  daisy,daisy jj”he introduced you and you sighed,finally meeting the blue eyed boy with watery vision“hey,sorry we,urm, woke,you”you stuttered “oh i wasn’t sleeping princess”he winked causing you to furror your eyebrows at the boy you heard stories about ,following up to the elephant int he room.”what happened”he asked,re-observing your surroundings,eyes finally meeting your bloody arm “holy shit you gotta fucking c-cat or something”he demanded .Before you could awnser,a half naked girl stumbled out of his room,pouting

“oh you really weren’t joking when you said you weren’t asleep”you giggle then pope accidentally pressed to hard into your arm making you scream “fuck pope Jesus fucking shit”you cursed 

“Fuck I’m sorry but its clean and the plasters won’t do much but I’ll wrap it up anyways i still think you might have to go to hospital”you shook your head “no no no no  I can’t pope you know that”he sighed “look nerd you know where she cut look how close that is daisy okay” pointing to your bandaged arm jjs eyebrows furrowed in confusion

You tore away from his gaze to the the floors 

“Hey jj,what's taking so long sweets”his guest said,in a thick country accent causing him too sigh turning around going back into his room.You don’t know what he said but five minuets later she was storming out the rusted doors,huffing and puffing, and left and he walked back to you two 

“Sorry”you looked at him and his eyes softened.You were gorgeous and so innocent who would do this to you?.he asked himself”don’t be she was to Whiny anyways you saved me”you smiled ,slightly rolling your eyes at the player you'd been warned from.

“Daisy”pope snapped you back to reality “hospital?”

“Pope I can’t I-I’ll just go home and-“you babbled

”no no way you're not going back there daisy okay not if your moms like she is right now”he said under his breath in attempt to be secretive

“Your mom?”jj thought out loud and you just looked at him,mentally cursing yourself 

Ignoring the blondes “you know i can’t do that pope”you mumbled looking down. 

“Why”he snapped

“Because I live there pope”you paused,forgetting the blonde”you know and it’s not like this is new, you know it’ll blow over”you urged,trying to convince yourself 

“And what if i doesn't daisy”he quizzed” what are you going to do then”he asked causing you to freeze and stand in silence. 

You walked up and hugged him,stifling a sob.Skilfully dodging your arm,you let go of him and held his stare. 

“Pope,your my best friend, okay?Well my only friend. You know that, but you gotta understand why I’ve gotta go home,Besides, she’s probably not even in,she left straight after, she’s probably out okay”you insisted”I’ve got that job with you and your dad tomorrow I’ll see you okay”you insisted

After some silence he looked at you,”I’ll drive you home okay and if she’s there your coming back to mine”he hissed”You can crash in the couch like you did last time okay “he urged”let me just go talk to jj okay”he said leaving you in the kitchen ,now only realizing the blonde had left the room.After overhearing some not-so hushed whispers,pope came out followed by a blonde who carried an angered but also slightly pained expression that left you wondering what pope said in there.Did he tell him about your mum?

After snatching the keys from the side,where you left them,he led you guys into the van.You and pope got into the back and he and just hugged you there it was nice he calms you and you calm him .“Hey pope”you break the silence“Yeah”he returned“Sorry”you apologised“Stop”he spat.

You looked up to him,eyebrows arching up in confusion“What?”you pleaded,provoking him to roll his eyes and your tendency to apologise after any slight inconvenience“Doing it”he grumbled“Doing what”you urged,oblivious to what was annoying him“You always apologise,after everything”he answered letting out a slightly breathy laugh“Sorry”you laugh realising you already subconsciously apologised.“See what I mean”he tutted“Right but thank you”you pushed“Always nerd”he promised“Geek”you sassed,falling into a comfortable silence,enjoying who you considered your family now

“Hey daisy” he broke the silence

“Hm”you humed

“Did you take them today”he asked,you sighed

“I thought I’d be okay pope,i was i promise”you pleaded

“Daisy”he sighed

“I hate them pope,they make me feel so deflated,they make me feel  like a monster”you mumbled into his shoulder

“You have to take them daisy you know that”he scolded

“I’m know i Just”you paused

“I know”he cut in 

“I don’t want to be a monster anymore pope”

“Your not a monster daisy,i promise,you're amazing bub”he praised

Finally pulling up to your house,met with a cleaver driveway you turned back to pope who was checking for the same thing you were “see”you deflated”i'll be fine see you in the morning,7 sharp kids” you teases in his dad's warning tone 

“Daisy i still think you should come back to mine  i don't think you’ll b--”

You pleaded his anxious babbling with a kiss on the cheek”see you in the morning”you demanded and he sighed

You popped your head through to the front

“Thank you for the ride jj sorry about interrupting your night” you apologised and he smiled at you”no worries princess,we oughta be seeing you in daylight too though”he asked “maybe blondie”you winked giving pope one last hug before you made your way through the door,treading carefully,just to be safe.

[amanda-teaches]

I think this challenge is going to be one of the best I’ve ever run, because both writers and readers will get to participate in both the Supernatural and Marvel fandoms. That’s something for everyone! Sounds amazing, right? Well, here’s how it works:

Below the cut, there will be 50, yes 50, dialogue prompts. I may have gone a little overboard, but that just means more people will get to play along!

For any prompt, you can choose whether you’d either like to write that fic or read that fic.

If you want to WRITE it, send me an ASK with the prompt and fandom/pairing. So, for example, “Hey! I’d love to write “How could you?!” with Bucky x Reader in Marvel” or “Can I have “I’ve never stopped loving you” with Dean x Reader in SPN?” Basic writing challenge stuff, huh?

If you want to READ it, send me an ASK with the prompt and fandom/pairing asking for me to write it. I’ll write it and tag you in it to read. Here’s an example: “Could you please write “You’re such a dork” with Sam x Reader in SPN? I’d love to read that!” 

If you don’t specify that you want me to write it, I’ll assume you’re writing it, and things will get confusing, yada, yada, so please be clear you want to read! 

I WILL ONLY BE TAKING 10 REQUESTS FOR ME TO WRITE, for my own sanity, haha. If the 10 spots fill up before all the prompts do, I’ll be closing requests to read and only taking writer sign-ups.

Some minor rules before we get to the prompts:

You do not have to be following me to participate, since I’m only just starting in the Marvel fandom, but I’d love it if you did!

It can be fluff, smut, angst, crack, or any combination of the four, Supernatural or Marvel. No ships please, for this one. Whatever you choose to write, please make sure you use proper warnings. :)

There is no minimum or maximum word count. But, if it’s over 500 words, you need to use a keep reading, or I won’t reblog it.

The due date for this challenge is Tuesday, June 30, because I want to give everyone plenty of time. If you need an extension between now and then, though, that is totally fine! Just send me a message and let me know. As long as you communicate with me, I’m flexible! Full disclosure, I very probably won’t get all my fics written and posted by the deadline, especially if I’m doing all 10, but I’ll get them out as quickly as possible. :)

When you post your fic, please tag me in the A/N so I see it and mention that it’s for my Writer + Reader Challenge. If, for some reason, I haven’t liked your post within 48 hours, just shoot me a message with the link. I will reblog and leave feedback on every single fic.

Okay, now to the fun part- the prompts! Just jump down here:

Disclaimer: I did not come up with these prompts. I took them from a prompt list by @wegunnateachemhowtosaygoodbye that can be found here. I want to give full credit, so you all know I’m not stealing anything, because this creative genius was not mine.

“Am I supposed to be scared of you?”

“Before I do this, I need you to know that I have always loved you.”  WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @adventureisoutthere98​ Bucky x Reader

“BOOM! That oughta show you not to mess with me!”

“Crocs? Who hurt you so much in this life?”

“Damn. You clean up good.” 

“Delete that immediately.” @deans-baby-momma​ Dean x Reader

“Did I just say that out loud?”

“Do you…well…I mean…I could give you a massage?” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @foxyjwls007​ Dean x Reader

“Either ask her out or I will do it for you!” @hardcoresupernatural​ Dean x Reader

“Everyone keeps telling me you’re the bad guy.” @allandoflimbo​ Bucky x Reader

“Game’s over you son of a bitch! Tell me where she is!” @supernaturallymarvellous​ Steve x Reader

“Go on then, tell me. Tell me you don’t love me.” @wi-deangirl77​

“I am not losing you again!” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @deans-baby-momma​ for either Winchester

“I beat you at Mario Kart and now you’re banishing me to the couch for the night?” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @spngeek7983​ Dean x Reader

“I came home to a Nerf gun on the front porch and a note that says ‘Here is your weapon. I have one too. Loser cooks dinner. Good luck. xo’” @princessmisery666​ Steve x Reader

“I can’t explain right now, but I need you to trust me.” @atc74​ Lee Webb x Reader

“I can’t get you out of my head.” @softboibarnes​ Bucky x Reader

“I don’t snore, do I?” “Like a chainsaw.” @wayward-and-worn​ Dean x Reader

“I had a nightmare about you and just wanted to make sure you’re okay.” @devotedwaywardangel​ Sam Wilson x Reader

“I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I first laid eyes on you and – Oh, screw it!” @fk12b​ Loki x WinchesterReader

“I saw you staring at each other, I just wasn’t sure if it was sexual tension or murderous rage.” @katymacsupernatural​ Dean x Reader

"I see the way you look at me when you think I’m not looking.” @cap-winter-barnes​ Dean x Reader

“I’m like 20% sure this plan will work. The other 80% means we could die horribly and violently, but honestly it’s a really solid plan.” @hannahindie​

“I swear if you weren’t so attractive, I’d have punched you in the face nine times by now.”

“I’ll sleep under the sheets, you sleep on top of them.”  @herfalsegod​ Dean x Reader

“I’m so stupid to make the mistake of falling in love with my best friend.” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @deanwanddamons​ for Dean x Reader

"I’m sorry, what were you saying? I keep getting lost in your eyes.” @pinknerdpanda​ Steve x Reader

“I’ve been in love with you my entire life.” @carryonmywaywardcaptain​ Dean x Reader

“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before… and it scares the shit out of me.” @wingedcatninja​ Dean x OFC

“If I die, I’m going to haunt your ass.”

“Is… that my picture in your wallet/as your home screen?” @arrowsandmixtapes​ Clint x Reader

“Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…”

“Mind if I cut in?” @waywardbaby Dean x Reader

“Oh, my God! You’re in love with her!” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @adoptdontshoppets​ Dean x Reader

“Please, take me instead!”

“Remember our first date? When you took me to Starbucks and it took me 15 minutes just to choose a flavour of Frappuccino? I was never sure about anything, never. But I was so fucking sure about you!”

“Shit, are you bleeding?!”

“Since when do you drive a motorcycle?” 

“So, I found this waterfall…” 

“Stop taking pictures! I’m fucking stuck. Be useful and help me!!” @cleighwrites​ Dean x Reader

“Stop talking about love for a minute and help me with this bullet wound.” @deanwinchesterswitch​ Dean x OFC

“Teach me how to play?” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @dolphincliffs​ for Dean x Reader

“The skirt is supposed to be this short.” @thoughtslikeaminefield​ Dean x Reader

“This is by far the stupidest plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in.” 

“Twins? We’re…we’re having twins?!” @kickingitwithkirk​ Dean x OFC

“We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you wanna stop and feel the rain?”

“You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @dean-winchesters-bacon​ Dean x Reader

“You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you.” @waywardnerd67​ Dean x Reader

“You’re my one exception.” WRITTEN BY ME! requested by @hannahindie​ for Bucky x Reader.

“You’ve only heard his side of the story. You never asked mine.”

[paganinpurple]

A Feline’s Family - MariChat May 2019

This is literally the longest it’s ever taken me to do MariChat May before. Sorry. I had a slipped disc in my back which caused me severe sciatica and I was just in so much pain for such a long, long time that writing was just never going to be feasible to focus on. I slowly tried to start writing again when my disc issue resolved and it reduced to my normal levels of pain again about a month ago, but it’s still slow going because I’m out of practise now. I’m not abandoning this story though.

Buy Me A Coffee?

AO3

Chapters (If there’s no link, it’s not written yet)

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10

11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19  20

21  22  23  24  25  26  27  28  29  30  31

Day 19 – Flowers 

Sabine would not have been surprised if her daughter had actually flown through the bakery, considering the speed she was moving at. She watched with barely concealed amusement as the girl dashed straight past her to the door at the back of the bakery before deciding to speak, “He’s not here, dear.”

Marinette froze, one hand still resting upon the handle and turned to face her mother with a confused and mildly irritated expression. “He hasn’t come back yet?” she asked, moving back to the counter to join Sabine.

“Oh, he came back,” she said as she finished serving one of the regular customers, who –to Marinette’s increasing annoyance– seemed far too interested in her conversation with her mother to go anywhere yet, “But he had to leave again right away. His first appointment with the new doctor is today, remember?”

“Oh.” She had remembered, honest, but Marinette’s brain was feeling a little burnt out and it must have slipped her mind momentarily. “Did…did he say how things went?”

“He mentioned some things,” Sabine continued, maintaining uncomfortable eye contact with the woman in front of her while a menacing, yet somehow sweet smile challenged her nosey nature. Marinette knew the look well and remained silent until the woman left, unnerved by the opposition to her earned eavesdropping rights as a daily visitor to the bakery.

Although Adrien had always been pulled out of classes for as long as he had gone to school, it had always been for photoshoots and other business relating to Gabriel’s brand. Things he was no longer required or expected to do, given the man’s lack of control over his life these days.

So, when the Principal had knocked on the classroom door and asked that Adrien be excused for the afternoon, her attention had immediately switched to the people standing behind him.

Police officers.

Clearly, they had questions that couldn’t wait and had managed to clear it with her parents and his advocacy worker. That didn’t mean she couldn’t worry about him and the fifteen unanswered text messages she had sent.

Sabine waited until the solitary echo of the bell above the door had died out before she turned to face her daughter. “They asked him a lot of questions about Nathalie,” she said, softly “and he’s quite shaken. He almost cancelled his appointment because he didn’t feel up to it.”

“But you made him go anyway, didn’t you?” Marinette asked with a sad smile.

Her mother mirrored her, and her eyes betrayed the sympathy she felt. “He needs to talk to someone who isn’t as close to all of this as we are. I didn’t make him do anything, but I did suggest he go, even if it’s just to get to know the woman. And he’s a good boy; he listens.”

Marinette frowned a little, biting her bottom lip as she glanced back towards the door that led to their apartment. “I guess I’ll have to wait till he gets home to see how he’s doing.”

Sabine’s expression morphed from compassionate worry to something much more mischievous and Marinette couldn’t help but feel that the look would be better suited to a much younger person than her mother. Or maybe Plagg. She regarded her suspiciously.

“It didn’t look like he came straight home though, honey. He brought something in and left it for you upstairs before he headed back out.”

Marinette tried to enquire further, she really did, but Sabine was determined not to give away anything that might cushion the reaction her daughter would have to finding her gift herself.

Shooing the girl away as a couple entered the bakery to steal her attention once again, she watched as a pair of pigtails swept through the door, catching sight of the girl taking the stairs two at a time in her hurry to find out what waited for her upstairs.

***

Marinette burst into the main room of the apartment upstairs, giving it a cursory glance to ensure her present -whatever it was- wasn’t there before she exploded into the room above. She was barely in the room when she found she was irresistibly drawn to the large pot sitting by the computer on her desk.

She found herself gently touching the large leafy plant before she was even aware that she had moved towards the desk. Her fingertips electrified where they brushed the soft, fuzzy texture of the long catkin flowers, warmth spreading along her hand as she was reminded of little Trash Bag and his cosy, soft fur.

The long and thin downy flowers were so oddly shaped and stained such a bright shade of red, that Marinette immediately compared them to chilli peppers in her mind. Of course, their resemblance to spicy food brought with it an accompanying heat, which drew forward a blush to her cheeks. Or, at least, that’s what Marinette told herself as she stroked the plant with a fond smile adorning her expression.

Tucked in amongst the leaves she spotted a small plastic stake, the kind with the name of the plant and the care instructions printed on it. She reached for it and for the folded slip of paper secured to it with an elastic band, a frown marring her features.

The stake informed her the plant was known as an Acalypha hispida, a fact she quickly forgot as she flattened out the creases of the note Adrien appeared to have left her.

“Hey Buginette.”

It started innocently, Marinette’s guard slipping down a little, leaving her heart vulnerable to the impact of his following words.

“I felt my phone buzz about a million times this afternoon and I haven’t had time to read all my texts yet, because I’m kind of on a time limit here. But from what I skimmed on route home, you've been worried about me.

I probably shouldn’t like that, because I don’t want to worry you. But it makes me feel warm and happy when you do. Almost like you’re still right there with me when I’m trying to deal with some of this crazy stuff without you.

You’re amazing.

So, here's some Cat's Tail for the hero of this cat's tale.”

Marinette’s next breath froze and lodged in her throat, icy shock hitting before the inside of her chest burst into flame at the way he had signed the note.

“Love,

Your partner, in every and any way you’ll have me.”

Marinette reread the last line several times. The words, ‘every' and ‘any' had been written over several times with the dark pen, the ink leaving smudges and dirty marks where his hand had rubbed over them in his repetition. It was an odd thing to see on a note from him, considering his usual stance that the appearance of what he had to say was important. She sniffed, biting her lip in an attempt to stifle the dampness gathering on her lower lashes.

“Marinette? Are you okay?” Tikki asked, flying up to her young charge's shoulder, simultaneously watching her expression for a sign of what was wrong and avoiding the sudden teardrops falling down her face. Drawing a blank, the kwami turned to read the note in Marinette's hand for herself.

Reading Adrien's casual words, she sighed heavily, rolling her eyes in fondness for both children. Only her current Ladybug could forget how little thought it required for her Chat Noir to speak of how much she meant to him and how highly he held her opinion of him. Given that Adrien was fully aware of his feelings for both sides of the girl before they were shown to be one and the same, it made sense for him to be so open with her in a less pressured way.

And since this was written and he wasn’t present, there was literally no pressure on Marinette to acknowledge it at all if she chose not to. So Tikki would have to be more encouraging in the next hour or so to try and convince her not to ignore it out of her utter fear of the unknown.

Buy Me A Coffee?

[callunavulgari]

YEAR-IN-BOOKS | 2020

So. Last year I read 112 books. The year before that I read 89. The year before that I read 39. This year I have (thus far) read 87 books out of my goal of 75 and will likely at least one or two more before the end of the year. So, click below if you want rambly book recs!

1. a book you loved?

This year has been rough. Like, I’m looking back at the books I read in January and am genuinely horrified to realize that I read them a scant twelve months ago when it feels like I read them at least three years ago. I’m glad I kept my limit lower this year, because enjoying anything this year has been harder than usual. I did read some decent books though, and I think the one I loved the most was Gideon the Ninth (and it’s sequel, Harrow the Ninth). They’re both fantastic books, and so deeply unexpected. Reading the first chapter or so of Gideon’s book is like getting whiplash. You go into it expecting angsty lady necromancers and get a crossdressing bee that secretes hallucinogenic substances and pulsates in time to the music in your head. Literally, Gideon’s dialogue is so out of left field that I spent half the book delightedly confused. But it is genuinely funny? And lesbian necromancers in space is just.. such an underutilized concept. Harrow’s book was a little harder - her head space is weird and everything is intentionally fucking with you so you really are confused for 90% of it, but I think the pay off was more than worth it.

2. a book you hated?

I was deeply, DEEPLY disappointed by The Secret Commonwealth. I finished it near the end of January and was just so fucking mad for days. Because the thing is, my expectations were not super high. I was excited for it, mostly because a grown up version of Lyra is something that I thought I would only ever experience in fanfiction. Now, I wish I’d only experienced her in fanfiction. Graphic attempted rape, retroactively confirming a rape happened in a previous book (one where it was implied that the victim got away in time), retroactively raping a character from the previous trilogy... like. I’m sorry. But fuck that noise. Fuck Philip Pullman. Fuck any douchebag asshole who thinks a woman has to be raped in order to write compelling fiction. I was riding the high of the new HBO series (which was good) and I guess I just... thought the author would have some goddamn integrity.

3. a book that made you cry?

We Are Okay was a really gorgeous, tender little book about grief that I read in one sitting in my bed when I really should have been sleeping. I read this book in March, when things only kind of hurt for me. When things were still largely okay. Before the bulk of covid hit my side of the world. Before self-isolation was an every day thing, not just something in books. Before Mal. Before getting covid. But ultimately, this was a book about healing. It aches, yes, but it also soothes.

4. a book that made you happy?

Both Beach Read and Written in the Stars made me pretty happy. Both romcoms done right, the first is a book about a romance writer falling in love with a thriller/mystery writer. They’re staying at neighboring beach houses and spend a summer getting themselves out of their comfort zones by challenging the other to write in the other person’s chosen genre. It’s sweet. It’s sexy. Over all, a really fun read, with enough depths to keep me engaged.

The second book is a meet-cute that involves astrology, fake dating, and lesbians. It’s written phenomenally well, and gave me a brief surge of happiness when I needed it most.

5. the best sequel?

Probably Harrow. The Dragon Republic is a great second choice though. Again, it’s a hard book, and I wouldn’t have been able to read it any later in the year than I did, because it is... not a happy book. But it is, in my opinion, a good one. And I am still excited about the third.

6. most anticipated release for the new year?

I am hoping to get the as of yet Untitled sequel to Ninth House in 2021. I am also hoping to actually be able to read The Rhythms of War in the new year, since I doubt I’ll get a chance in 2020. I’m looking forward to Mister Impossible, the second book in the Ronan trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater. I’m looking forward to the Hourglass Throne, which I think is coming in 2021? A Desolation Called Peace in March. The Thorn of Emberlain might actually be out in October, which will be wonderful it doesn’t get pushed back again. Rule of Wolves, the King of Scars Duology in the Grishaverse will also be March. One Last Stop by Casey McQuistion in May!!!!

7. favorite new author?

Defintely Tamsyn Muir. I will also be keeping an eye out for Alexandriua Bellefleur’s stuff...

8. favorite book to film adaptation?

Uh, can I say MDSZ/The Untamed without actually having read the original text? Well, I’ve read a few chapters, but damn.

9. the most surprising book?

Taproot. It’s this little graphic novel about a gardener who can see ghosts. And like. It still makes me warm to think about how tender it is.

10. the most interesting villain?

Does Loki: Where Mischief Lies count? Since Loki is technically a villain, even if he’s only villain adjacent in this book.

11. the best makeouts?

I... don’t know? I didn’t real read any of these books for makeouts. Not this year. 

12. a book that was super frustrating?

Boyfriend Material. It has great ratings! It has fake dating! But the story was very so-so for me. 

13. a book you texted about, and the text was IN CAPSLOCK?

I think I yelled at Nick a few times about how pissed I was at the Secret Commonwealth.

14. a book for the small children in your life?

The House in the Cerulean Sea is a book about a case worker at the department in charge of magical youth and he is charged with traveling to an island and making a very important decision about the children living there. It was adorable and I wish I’d had a book like it when I was young.

15. a book you learned from?

That is not the sort of book that I was reading in 2020.

16. a book you wouldn’t normally try?

I read a couple mysteries. Some were good. Most made me remember why I don’t read mysteries.

17. a book with something magical in it?

Call Down the Hawk, because all of Maggie’s books are at least a little bit magical. And while this definitely didn’t hit quite the same vibes that the Raven Cycle did, it was still very, very good.

18. the best clothes?

Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth have the best goth aesthetic I have ever seen in a book. Also, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, because Addie’s clothes always sounded cute and comfortable.

19. the most well-rounded characters?

The City We Became had some fantastic characters. It was really interesting to see Jemisin get out of her typical fantasy setting and this novel was so out of this world. 

20. the best world-building?

Deeplight! It’s described as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea meets Frankenstein and that is pretty accurate. Old gods that traversed the sea tore each other apart and now the world tries to get a hold of their corpses for amazing powers. It was really, really cool and probably the best book I could have chosen to read at the beach.

21. the worst world-building?

Eh. Most of the books I hated I didn’t keep reading this year.

22. a book with a good sidekick?

I really like all of the characters in the Tarot Sequence. There are some solid characters, even if there’s basically no women. Also Graceling.

23. the most insufferable narrator?

I was not a fan of The Mysterious Benedict Society, mostly because of the narrator. It was so boring and I quit halfway through.

24. a book you were excited to read for months beforehand?

Return of the Thief. Which... was still mostly good. But the ending felt lackluster for me. I may go back and reread the series and see if it feels more genuine after I’ve read them all together.

25. a book you picked up on a whim?

I literally picked up Written in the Stars because the cover was pretty and it looked like the romance was between two girls. And it did nooooot fail me.

26. a book that should be read in a foreign country?

Shrug emoji.

27. a book cassian andor would like?

I still don’t know what to make of this question.

28. a book gina linetti would like?

Shrug emoji.

29. your favorite cover art?

Gideon and Harrow, honestly. I also really liked Under the Udala Trees.

30. a book you read in translation?

I genuinely don’t know.

31. a book from another century?

Teeeeechnically The Great Hunt?

32. a book you reread?

I reread the Diviners and the Captive Prince series near the beginning of the year. They were still delightful.

33. a book you’re dying to talk about, and why?

Into the Drowning Deep was fucking amazing. I love Mira Grant’s work anyway and there’s this scene where a character pilots a submersible into the Marianas Trench and experiences your first face-to-face encounters with the sirens and like. AHHHHHHHHHH. It was so spooky and beautiful and just genuinely amazing.

TLDR; 2020 sucked, most books still couldn’t pierce through the depression, but there were a few bangers.

[justoneday-namjoonii]

It burns, doesn’t it? [Pt. 18] | sneak peek: millions burning

 Genre/au: Mafia!au, Mature, Fluff, Angst…so much angst. Violence and all that good mafia stuff. Warning: This story contains graphic imagery, mature subject matter, improper drug usage, self-medication, including but not limited to crude/unnerving behavior, intensity, bloody, v slight-gore, etc.

Members: Jungkook x Yoongi x Namjoon x Jin x Hoseok x Jimin x Taehyung Feat. Got7

→ Pairing: Jungkook x reader x ( ? ) →Summary: Why am I hurting alone? Why am I in love alone?

word count: TBA

author’s note: there will be a taglist for the next update! please comment on this post if u want to be tagged💜

release date: TBA

| Prologue | Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5 | Pt. 6 | Pt. 7 | Pt. 8 | Pt. 9 | Pt. 10 | Pt. 11 | P. 12 | Pt. 13 | Pt. 14 | Pt. 15 | Pt. 16 | Pt. 17 | Pt. 18 | Pt. 19 | Pt. 20 

FLASHBACK

A cigarette burns in the ashtray on the desk, smoke wafting in the atmosphere as he paces. His voice is resounding throughout the room and the person waiting to enter is waiting in the doorway.

“We imported two shipments last month. The portions have been distributed by now, tell me how the fuck sales went down 23% on the south side in less than a month. And don’t tell me clients aren’t buying, they kill for their sugar down there.” The person on the other end rambles on, trying to explain to his boss that he’s just as confused as he is and is looking into the matter. “If your dealer is fucking around with the product, I’ll make his life a living hell. Relay that message for me.”

He hung up the phone and calmly placed it on the desk. That’s when he looks back at the girl in the doorway, awaiting her granted entry.

“Come in,” He beckons her inside, walking behind his desk to take a seat an offering her the one in front of him, “does he know that you’re here?”

“He’s in Japan, that’s the only reason I’m here. If he were here, I would be nowhere near this fucking place.” She bites, eyes narrowing at the stack of papers next to Yoongi. “You know that…”

“It’s been three months since you’ve seen him, yeah?”

“Yeah, not since, you know-…” Her eyes lower and she fights the urge to cry, that’s not why she came here. She takes a deep breath and looks up at him. “I didn’t come here to talk about him, I’m here to ask you a favor.”

He looks up from the business proposals he received yesterday morning. “Okay, what is it?”

“But promise not to tell him about this.”

He gazes at her, expression unchanging, but interested in what she had to say nonetheless.

“I want to leave all of this. The group, the mafia, everything that has to do with it, and I don’t want any ties to me at all…I’m moving and I don’t want Namjoon to know anything about it. My parents swore not to tell him either, now I need your word.”

“Geongmin,” Yoongi disregards his papers to peer at her, “He made a mistake, the situation was fucked up. That’s worth cutting him off to you?”

“Don’t fucking judge me Min Yoongi. Getting my best friend killed was more than a mistake!” She abruptly stands to her feet, eyes burning with how much pain that reminder brought her. 

“If it wasn’t for him, she would still be here.”

“It wasn’t his fault that she ran in there, he may have been there when she died but that doesn’t mean he didn’t try to save her. He doesn’t talk about it, and that should be some indication that there was nothing he could have done. I don’t know if you realized this, but they were closer than you knew-”

“That’s bullshit. She was my best friend, and she never said she felt anything Namjoon.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “She would have told me something like that.”

“Geongmin, do you even hear yourself? Of course she never said anything to you, look at you.” Yoongi jeered, looking up at her impetuous posture decreasing as she stayed standing. “You’d go against Namjoon until your dying breath, why on earth would she tell you that she had feelings for him?”

Yoongi stands to his feet and walks around the desk to stand directly in front of her, but she doesn’t move an inch. Unlike many people who cross his path, he’s never intimidated her. That’s why she talks to him the way she does, she doesn’t fear him. She narrows her dark eyes, “What’s your point? I’m about 30 seconds away from walking out.”

“She made her choice, and you blame him for it.” He sighs, shaking his head in pity for the kid.

“He won’t talk about how she was killed exactly, not even with me. He told me how you ran in there after things settled down, and you went ballistic when you saw what had happened to her, they had to carry you out. And Taehyung, they said he wouldn’t even look.” Yoongi sighs, seeing that her frown was ever-present but he could tell she was biting her tongue to keep from crying.

Namjoon always said she hated crying in front of people, said it made her feel weak. But the longer they stare at each other, a tear escapes her eyes and she immediately turns away to wipe it.

“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret. Since I couldn’t make it to the funeral, I went the next morning to pay my respects and I saw you crying at her gravestone, I waited an hour for you to leave but you stayed there, I didn’t want to disturb you so I just left. I know that it hurt you…” Yoongi tilts his head a bit and wipes a stray tear from her eye with his thumb. She backs away, just as he expected and he goes back around the desk to sit down. “You don’t have to do this, I know you can’t stand him sometimes, believe me, I get it. But you can make it right between you two-”

“You know what?” She cuts him off coldly. “Are you gonna help me, or not? I didn’t come here for life advice.”

“Well, you sure as hell need some.” His remark doesn’t go unnoticed, but she could care less at this point. Yoongi has never been one to sugarcoat things for Geongmin.

“Look, I’ll help you because I understand what you’re going through. I’ll pull a few strings and get your name out of the system, but that doesn’t mean I agree with your decision.” He pulls out a form and writes his signature on it and a few other things.

“Lucky for me, I didn’t ask for your opinion, so you don’t have to condone any choices I make.” She pats under her eyes and waits for Yoongi to hand the paper to her.

“Fill this out and take it to Heize, she’ll take care of everything else.” She reaches for the paper but he snatches it away.

“Yoongi, what-”

“Take care of yourself, Geongmin.” He looks up at her, still seeing her as the rowdy little girl who was always challenging Namjoon in grade school. “You hear me?”

She holds a special place in his heart and she knows it, she knows that he sees her as a little sister—she’s family.

“Thank you,” Her expression softened, “I will Yoongi…”

She took the paper and left the room.

That’s the last time he saw her face-to-face and he kept his word. Namjoon never found out about their exchange and that’s about the only thing he’s ever felt guilty for until you came along.

* * *

[dailyaudiobible]

10/26/2020 DAB Transcript

Jeremiah 49:23-50:46, Titus 1:1-16, Psalms 97:1-98:9, Proverbs 26:13-16

Today is the 26th day of October welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it's great to be here with you today as we continue our journey through this week and approach the end of a month. Today is the 300 the day of the year believe it or not. What a year to remember. But we’re 300 days into this year since it's a leap year. So, we will continue our journey forward. We’re working our way well…well into the back portion of the…of the prophecy of Jeremiah but when we get to the New Testament today we will be encountering the third and final grouping of letters known as the pastoral epistles. So, we’ll, of course talk about that when we get there. But first we’re reading from the English Standard Version this week. Jeremiah chapter 49 verse 23 through 50 verse 46.

Introduction to Titus:

Okay. So, as we…as we were talking about when we began our time together today, we’re at the New Testament, so we are about to encounter another letter. This one is called Titus and as I said this is the third of a group of letters known as the pastoral letters or the pastoral epistles. And we…we’ve talked about this. Like, there's nothing new between first Timothy second Timothy and Titus in certain regards. They are personal letters. They are disputed letters, at least in terms of penned these letters. Obviously, they have been attributed to Paul for a very long time but for also almost an equally longtime scholars have…have questioned whether that's possible mostly because of the development structures of the church. So, one of the things in Titus that we will encounter that we also encountered in Timothy would be some characteristics to be looked at in a person who wants to seek ministry or ordination. Titus and Timothy are both still consulted until this day for that purpose as we'll see when we read it but there are other somewhat confusing things about Titus. One of the things is just trying to place it historically, trying to figure out Paul's imprisonment in Rome after he appealed to Caesar and what happened between, you know, the time that he sailed to Rome and the time that he was executed by…by being beheaded. Somewhere in there if this is within Paul's life, somewhere within there is when these letters were written. So, trying to sort that out has been a point of scholarly debate for a very, very long time. So, here's…here’s kind of the lay of the land. Titus was converted early in the apostle Paul's ministry. We find his name mentioned in many of the letters. It appears that once…once he converted or once he believed in Jesus he was a part of Paul's ministry from then on. And an interesting thing about Titus is that he…he accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem to attend the Jerusalem Council that we read about in the book of Acts, the first church council, the one that opened up the can of worms about who gets to be in and the Jew and Gentile debate that we've talked about so many times as we’ve moved…as we’ve moved through the letters. So, at that Jerusalem Council pretty big decisions were being made. Like do you have to convert to Judaism and then you can follow Jesus and you have to do all the stuff like circumcision and all that or what? And we know the outcome of that. What’s interesting is that Titus was at this Council as a Gentile. And that indeed would make a difference. It's way easier to marginalize or stereotype people when you don't know them, right, when you can just make assumptions about them and thrust them to the side which is the case here with the Gentiles. But when you are actually having a conversation with a Gentile who is full of the Holy Spirit then you too have to say, “well who am I to stand in the place of God on this?” And, so, Titus was there at the Council. Now, back to like “where did this fall in Paul's imprisonment? Or what's going on here?” There is a scenario that Paul was released from prison, his first imprisonment, the one that he appealed to Caesar, that he was subsequently released and was for a period of time able to move around again and so went on another missionary journey, this time to the island of Crete. The Cretans apparently had never heard the word of the Lord, the Good News. And that the Cretans were notoriously, you know, carnal but when…when the Good News was spoken it captured…it captured many of them a…a community formed as was the custom as happened so often when Paul traveled around to bring the Good News. And, so, this new community on Crete forms and Paul then leaves Titus to be the pastor of the church in Crete, not permanently but to stand in for him while he continued to move around. And, so, it was left to Titus to kind of form the leadership, form the community, teach the people, raise them up into leadership. And, so, then the thought here is that Paul wrote this letter after he had departed Crete. Probably if…if it were Paul, if we’re following that line than this would have to be like the same time, he writes like first Timothy he writes also Titus. And, so, a letter, like a personal letter from Paul to Titus would give Titus then this apostolic authority of Paul. Like he would have in writing, like if he…like if he’s being challenged in Crete by the Cretans about his authority then he’d have this letter to say like, you know, “Paul…Paul put me here. It's under that authority that I'm forming the church. It's under that authority that I'm saying the things that I've…I've said. It's under that authority that the decisions we’re making as a community are being made.” And, so, that's generally what we find in the letter to Titus. Of course, as I've said, most biblical scholars today would say, “no. These kinds of church structure things, these were outgrowths of what God was doing, but after Paul's lifetime.” And, so, that…so, this letter comes later and is written as a Pauline letter following kind of Paul's ethos but was written by somebody who was in one of these churches and as a disciple of Paul of some sort somewhere in the emerging next-generation this letter comes. So, there you go. There is some context which we try our best to keep before us at all times as…as we’re continuing our journey through the Scriptures. So, that’s the lay of the land. Let's begin. Titus chapter 1.

Prayer:

Father we thank you for your word. Every day we thank you for your word. That's why we're here, that’s  why we come around the Global Campfire every day, is to allow your word to come into our lives into our senses into our minds into our hearts challenging and correcting and rebuking and comforting and moving us forward in the way that we act, in the way that we determine our choices and decisions. We are so grateful. You've touched everything about us, and you continue to do that daily. And, so, we are so deeply grateful. And as we continue this journey move…moving further into new territory we are eager with excitement at all that you have yet to teach and tell us before this year is over. And we recognize that as we get to the end of the year, we encounter a lot of shorter and shorter books. And, so, we’re just…it’s gonna seem like we’re moving faster and faster, but we are out in front of it and we are asking you to help us slow down, stay focused, and not only finish this month well but finish this year well. And we finish this year well by starting now. And, so, come Holy Spirit we pray. In the mighty name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, it’s where you find out what's going on around here. So, stay tuned, stay connected.

The Community section at the website or in the app for that matter, if you’re using the app you just press the Drawer icon in the upper left-hand corner will Lead you to where the Prayer Wall is and lead you into different points of connection on social media. So, be aware of that. Check that out if you haven't already. The Daily Audio Bible Shop is available as well. There are resources there for the journey that we are on as I've said many times. So, check that out if you haven't. There’s also a new resource that we released earlier this year. It's not in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. You would get it from the iTunes store or Google Play or wherever you get music. It's called Heart, a Contemplative Journey and it's a guided prayer and musical journey that just…just allows us to take about an hour, maybe go for a walk, maybe lay down, maybe go for a drive, just get somewhere still, somewhere quiet where we feel kind of safe and open and then just begin to pray with the prayers that are in the Heart project. Just pray and kind of allow the music to kind of wash into the emotions that we’re speaking with the Lord about, opening ourselves to Him and His healing touch. That is at the Heart project and you can get that at iTunes. Now, you can’t stream that like on Apple music. You have to actually purchase it at the iTunes Store or the Google play store. But if you just search for…for my name, Brian Hardin or search for a Contemplative Journey…Heart, a Contemplative Journey you'll find it.

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And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can press the Hotline button it's in the app, super convenient no matter where you are on this planet and share from there, or if you prefer the telephone there are numbers that you can use. In the Americas 877-942-4253 is the number. If you're in the UK or Europe 44-20-3608-8078 is the number to call…I was trying to say dial and call at the same time…either one of those will work. And if you are in Australia or that part of the world 61-3-8820-5459 is the number to call.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.