#and just hearing her gush about this little dude with his special interest

[bluemoonrabbit]

I've been having such a nice time with my little online vintage shop 🥹 So many buyers share their stories with me, which I adore, and the other sellers/collectors are so supportive and fun to chat with. It's nice having people who get why it's so exciting to find this little 70's mug or that set of 60's placemats.

[waitimcomingtoo]

In Case You Don’t Live Forever

~chapter seven rewritten~

Pairing: Peter Parker x Venom!Reader

Synopsis: you are Peters greatest love and Spider-Man’s greatest enemy

Series Masterlist

Peter walked to campus that day with an extra bounce in his step. He couldn’t keep himself from leaping over the school gate, not caring who could’ve seen. He was in love. He walked past Flash with confidence, easily brushing off his backhanded comments. He walked up to Ned and felt oddly compelled to click his heels. Ned noticed the ecstatic expression on his best friends face and smirked.

“What’s got you so happy? Did a certain wall crawling superhero finally beat Venom in a fight?” He asked. Peter shook his head.

“Not yet. Something even better happened.” Peter said proudly.

“And what might that be?” Ned wondered. Peter could barely keep himself from screaming.

“Y/n kissed me.” He exclaimed. He got a few strange looks from passing students on their way to class, but Peter didn’t care. Nothing could ruin his mood.

“What? When? ” Ned gasped.

“This morning. She slept over last night after she had a nightmare. And guess what else?” Peter asked. Ned bounced up and down.

“What? Tell me!” Ned demanded. Peter looked around for who could be listening and smirked.

“She slept in my bed.” He smirked.

“Oh.” Ned said looked disappointed in the anticlimactic finish.

“With me in it.” Peter added and Ned looked amazed. His jaw hung open and he began to bounce up and down again.

“Dude that’s like the greatest thing ever.” Ned cheered. “She’s so hot! We have to tell everyone.”

“We’re not telling anyone just yet.” He shook his head. “She’s only been my girlfriend for a few hours. She’s really special to me, Ned. I don’t want to treat her like shes some prize I won by telling everyone. Girls are worth more than that.”

“Amen to that. What are you losers talking about anyway?” MJ said as she approached them. She was eating trail mix and looked extremely bored already.

“Peter has a girlfriend.” Ned blurted. Peter shot him an angry look while MJ looked impressed.

“Oh really? Who is she, your right hand?” MJ smirked. Ned looked confused while Peters face went red.

“It’s not my right hand. She lives in my building and she’s an angel. That’s all you need to know.” Peter grumbled, still annoyed that Ned spilled his secret. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of you, the exact opposite actually. He would shout it from the rooftops that you were together if he could. He just didn’t want everyone to know. You had only kissed that morning and Peter still wanted to keep the magical details to himself.

“Does this angel have a name?” MJ questioned, actually interested in something for once.

“No.” Peter said at the same time Ned said “Y/n L/n.”

“Y/n L/n from The L/n Report?” MJ was suddenly invested. It was the first time Peter or Ned heard emotion in her voice.

“You know her?” Peter asked.

“Duh.” MJ scoffed. “She’s the only investigative reporter I’ve seen who actually cares about the people she reports on. I read her articles all the time. We have a lot of the same opinions. I used to think she was the coolest girl ever.”

“Used to think?” Ned asked.

“Well clearly something’s wrong with her if she’s dating Peter.” MJ said flatly. Ned laughed and Peter looked at her angrily.

“There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s amazing.” Peter defended.

“I know she is.” MJ shrugged. “I’ve idealized that girl for year. Did you guy see what she did to Carlton Drake?” Peter nodded and smiled proudly at the thought of his girl kicking names and taking ass.

“She’s like my hero. She’s done so much for the homeless back in San Francisco. I was so excited when she said she was moving to New York to work for The Daily Bugle.” MJ gushed. Peter and Ned looked at each other, visibly confused.

“Have you always done that?” Ned asked her.

“Done what?” MJ asked.

“Felt things?” Ned said and MJ rolled her eyes.

“I feel very passionate about a lot of things. Those things just don’t happen to include you two or anyone else in this school. However, I am very passionate about your girlfriend.” MJ stated. She suddenly looked a little uncomfortable and unsure of herself, two things MJ never did. She awkwardly turned to Peter.

“Do you think I could meet her? I’d really love to talk to her about her article on fracking.” MJ asked slowly. She wasn’t used to asking people for things. Peters eyes softened at this new side of MJ.

“She’s picking me up after class today on her motorcycle. You can meet her then.” Peter offered. Then MJ did something very out of character.

She smiled.

“K thanks.” She blurted and then swiftly left. Ned and Peter laughed as she walked away.

“That was new.” Ned commented.

“Yes It was.” Peter agreed.

“She’s so odd.” Ned added.

“Yes, she is.”

“Did you do the hanky panky with Y/n?” Ned asked. Peter snapped his head towards Ned.

“What?” Peter flushed red. “No. And never say ‘hanky panky’ again.”

“It was worth asking. See you in orgo.” Ned said before walking towards his class. Peter shook his head in amusement before heading to his first class of the day.

At 3:30, you pulled up to Peters college on your motorcycle. You took off your helmet, shook your hair out, and scanned the crowd for Peter. You soon saw him, Ned following shortly behind him, and a girl you had never seen before. She wasn’t wearing makeup, which you gave her props for, and had her curly hair tied back in a pony tail. She was undeniably pretty and had a very cool vibe to her.

“Hi beautiful.” Peter said when he reached you. He wrapped his arms around your waist and hugged you tightly. “It’s torture not being with you all day.”

“I know. But the school year is almost over right? Then we can spend every second together.” You promised. Peter smiled happily. He leaned in slightly, as if asking for your permission, and you did the same. You pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He smiled into the kiss and held you closer. This time, there were no interruptions.

“Y/n, I’d like you to meet MJ. MJ, this is Y/n.” Peter said, gesturing to the girl. MJ smiled shyly at you and held out her hand.

“It’s really cool to meet you, Y/n. Your article on greenhouse gases is hanging on my wall. I’m uh, I’m a big fan.” She said timidly.

“You’re a fan? That’s amazing.” You smiled brightly at her. “I’ve never met a fan before. It’s really cool to meet you too, MJ. And if you’re interested in the environment, I have a bunch of scientists numbers I can give you. I had to interview a bunch back in San Francisco to write that article. They gave me some great tips on how to reduce my carbon footprint.” MJ’s eyes widened just a little. She looked baffled and gave you a thankful smile. You noticed one of her front teeth was slightly askew and decided you liked her already.

“Really? That’d be so cool. Thanks.” She said. You squeezed her arm and nodded.

“I think you and I are going to get along just fine. Can I get your number? I’d love to hear more about what you’re interested in.” You handed MJ your phone and she took it. She typed her number it and handed it back.

“This has been really amazing. Thanks for being so cool. I have to run though. I’m running a protest outside of Oscorp.” She explained. “One of their employees got seriously electrocuted and they’re to cover it up.”

“Really?” You gasped. “Is it okay if I tag along? I’m kinda busy with my Cletus Kasady story but I would love to cover your protest too.”

“You’d do that for me?” She asked as if she wasn’t used to people doing things for her.

“Gladly. Can I join? I can give you a ride there.” You offered. She smiled at you and toyed with the strings on her backpack.

“That’d be great. See you losers later.” MJ gave Peter and Ned a peace sign and climbed onto your bike. You gave Peter a quick peck on the lips and got on the bike as well. Peter watched as MJ wrapped her arms around your waist and smirked at him. You two sped off towards Oscorp, leaving Peter and Ned in your wake.

“Dude.” Ned laughed. “MJ just stole your girlfriend.”

“Shut up. No she didn’t.” Peter said. Did she though? You seemed to hit it off with her pretty quickly. Peter didn’t know MJ too well but he knew she was guarded and didn’t let people in easily. In fact, she didn’t let anyone in. And yet, you and her had become best friends in a matter of minutes.

Heading back from Oscorp a few hours later, you saw a familiar hat bobbing up and down in the street. You were about to call out Neds name when two guys came from around the corner. They looked mean and you could hear Ned’s heartbeat rising. You quickly ran over to him.

“Hey.” You panted. Ned looked relived to see you.

“Oh hey Y/n. How’d your date with MJ go?” He teased. You shoved him slightly.

“It wasn’t a date. She’s really cool though. I think we’re going to be good friends.” You said as you passed the two guys. You soon heard a whistle.

“Damn baby. Where you going with him? Don’t you wanna stay here and have some fun?” one of the guys called. You looked at Ned and picked up your pace.

“I know you heard me beautiful. Stop running before I give you a reason to run.” The man said again, louder this time.

“Keep walking.” You whispered to Ned.

“I said stop running.” The man shouted, this time, his threat was accompanied by the sound of a gun cocking. You and Ned froze in your steps. The two men slowly approached you, all while pointing the gun level with your head.

“That’s better.” One man said when he reached you. “Now, how about this. You come with me, or I shoot your friend. Does that sound fair?”

“I better call Peter. He’ll know what to do.” Ned panicked.

“No need.” You growled as your transformed into Venom. You marched up to the guy and grabbed him by the shoulders in a death grip. You spit at a nearby newspaper in the ground. The newspaper quickly disintegrated and left nothing but smoke behind. You smiled devilishly at the man, grateful for a chance to show off your acidic saliva.

“What was that?” The man cowered in your grasp. Meanwhile, his friend ran away terrified.

“Acid spit. Still want me to come with you?” Venom purred. The man whimpered and shook his head furiously.

“Didn’t think so. Now, if you don’t tell us the names of ten historical feminists who would be very disappointed in your sorry ass by the time I count to ten, we’re going to eat you. Does that sound fair?” Venom growled as the man shut his eyes in fear.

“One.” You began to count.

“Uh…” He whimpered.

“Two.”

“Um.” He raked his minuscule brain for answered but came up empty handed.

“Ten.” You said and bit his head off. You quickly ate the rest of his body before turning back into yourself. You wiped your hands and patted your stomach before turning around and making eye contact with Ned, completely forgetting he was there.”

“You’re Venom?!” He gasped as he pointed at you in horror. You ran up to him and covered his mouth.

“What? No.” You lied. “How do you know about Venom anyway?”

“It’s you. I can’t believe it’s you.” Ned exclaimed when you took your hand off his mouth. You were getting more and more confused.

“You’re Venom. You, Y/n, are Venom.” He repeated as if it all made sense now.

“Play dumb.” Venom whispered.

“What? I’m not Venom. What makes you say that?” You stammered.

“Not that dumb!” She yelled. Ned looked at you and laughed, still in shock.

“You and Peter are perfect for each other, you know that? You’re both dumb as shit.” He laughed. You had to laugh a little as well.

“You’re Venom and Peter is…do you know about Peter?” Ned suddenly asked.

“What about Peter?” You didn’t understand what he meant. Neds eyes went wide, and then filled with sadness.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” He shook his head. “Are you gonna tell him about this? Because I’m going to be very honest with you, I’m terrible at keeping secrets. I don’t know if I can keep this from him.”

“I’m gonna tell him eventually. So please, don’t say anything.” You pleaded. “He has to hear it from me. I’m sorry that I’m making you lie to your best friend but this is a very unique situation.”

“It’s a lot more unique than you think.” He muttered. “I won’t tell him.”

“Thank you.” You hugged him tightly, thankful that he was safe and keeping your secret. You walked Ned home and began to make your way back to the apartment building. You wanted nothing more than to cuddle with Peter and forget the day. After all, you missed him all day at school. It was bearable when you guys were just friends, but now that he was your boyfriend you never wanted to be apart.

When you were just a few blocks from your apartment, you felt a strong arm wrap around your neck and hold you in place. Suddenly, there was a knife to your throat.

“I saw what you did to my buddy, you little freak. Now, how about you get down on those pretty little knees before I kill you?” The man threatened. You turned your neck as much as you could and recognized your attacker as the mans friend who ran away from earlier. You sighed deeply. You were full and trying to keep your body count to a minimum, but he was just asking for it. You shut your eyes and were about to turn into Venom when you heard a voice from behind you.

“Now that’s no way to treat a lady.” The voice rang. You recognized it as Peters voice. The guy was quickly pulled away from you as if by some kind of rope. You heard some sort of webbing going on behind you and small cries of struggling from the man.

“Are you alright Miss?” Peter asked.

“I’m fine, Peter.” You said, finally turning around. Instead of seeing your boyfriend, you saw the friendly neighborhood pain in the ass. He had webbed your attacker to the wall and was now looking right at you. You had seen him so many times before, and he’d seen you, but never like this. You felt almost naked, standing before Spider-Man as Y/n instead of Venom.

“Oh.” You said, startled. “I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

“Yea. This is a pretty popular outfit.” Spider-Man joked, gesturing to his skin tight suit. You bit your tongue. He was funny, but you couldn’t let him know that. You were enemies after all. He just didn’t realize it was you.

“Thanks for saving me.” You blurted. “But I had the situation handled.”

“You’re right. You especially looked like you had it handled when he was about to stab and murder you.” Spider-Man said sarcastically. You found him oddly charming, despite your history.

“What are you gonna do with him?” You asked, pointing to the man webbed to the wall.

“I heard what he said to you. I’m going to register him as a sex offender and ruin his life. Unless, you had other plans. You know, since you had the situation handled.” Spiderman remarked. You playfully rolled your eyes. You did have other plans. Plans that involved eating him and digesting him while you cuddled with Peter. But Spider-Mans plan was okay too.

“Alright. I’ll see you around Spider-Man.” You said, giving the superhero one last look. There was something familiar about him. Spider-Man nodded.

“See you around. And please, be careful. Don’t walk alone. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” He said and turned back to the man.

You went home, showered, and got into some comfy clothes. You missed your boyfriend dearly and went to his apartment to see him.

After being let in by May, you went into Peters room and flopped on his bed. He was sat at his desk doing homework.

“Did you mean what you said about me sleeping over whenever I wanted?” You asked, voice muffled by his pillow.

“Of course I did.” He swiveled around to look at you and noticed your body language. “What’s wrong, love?”

“I’ve had a long day and I want to cuddle my boyfriend.” You pouted. Peter smiled at you calling him your boyfriend. He closed his textbook and climbed into bed with you. You rested your head on his chest, right over his heart. The sound of his heartbeat calmed you down and you felt sleepy.

“Did you make any progress on your story?” He asked. You shook your head as he began to run his fingers through your hair. You hummed in content and pressed a small kiss to his neck. He blushed at the affection and held you closer.

“No.” You groaned. “I’ve had the worst writers block all day. I was actually thinking of writing an article on Spider-Man until my writers block went away.”

After your encounter with the masked hero, you wanted to know more about him. You were originally against your boss’s idea to write about him, but now you liked it. Sure, there were plenty of articles on Spider-Man out there, but you knew him intimately.

“Spider-Man?” You felt Peters heart stop momentarily. “Why?”

“I think I have a pretty good shot at figuring out who he is.” You shrugged. “Like, think about it, he only operates from the hours of 4 to midnight ish right? Except, on weekends, when he’s seen all throughout the day. What’s he doing all day on weekdays? He can’t be at work because jobs don’t end that early. I think he’s in school. Either high school or college. Probably college though, right? I can’t imagine a high schooler doing what he does. Unless he’s been doing this since high school. That’s also possible.”

“Oh wow.” Peter said, dumbfounded. He was usually blown away by your intelligence, but now it was working against him. There were a million college students in New York, though. Surely you wouldn’t figure it out.

“And think about this, he’s only ever in New York, so he must live here right?” You continued. “But what about that one time he saved those kids in the Washington Monument? What was New York’s superhero doing in Washington? I looked into it and the kids he saved were on a field trip. What if Spider-Man was on the field trip too? If I look up all the schools that were there, I could create a list of suspects and go from there. Then, I could-“ you were cut off with a kiss.

“Let’s not talk about Spider-Man.” Peter said quickly, followed by a smile. “I want to hear about you day. How was Oscorp?”

“We had a really good time.” You smiled. “I interviewed her after I helped her with the protest and then we grabbed lunch. Oh, and I saw Ned on my way home.”

“You saw Ned?” Peter asked. Ned hadn’t mentioned seeing you.

“Yea.” You blew out a breath. “These two guys attacked us. One ran away and I took care of the other. But then the one that ran away came back and you’ll never guess who saved me.”

“Who?” Peter smiled. He knew who.

“Spider-Man. I don’t know. I was wrong about him. I used to think he was just some guy in spandex with a God complex but now I think he just genuinely wants to help people. And…” you trailed off.

“And?” Peter raised an eyebrow.

“He’s got a nice ass.” You admitted. Peter laughed loudly. You smiled into his chest. You loved that damn laugh.

“I’m serious.” You insisted. “I saw it as he walked away and it knocked me out. Spider-Man is dummy thick.”

“Please never say the words “Spider-Man is dummy thick” in my house again.” Peter pleaded. He secretly loved it though.

“I was actually thinking of making that the title of my article.” You joked. Peter laughed again. He chucked a pillow at you and you giggled.

“Let’s go to bed.” You yawned. “In a romantic, but still non sexual way this time.”

“Good night, my Nancy Drew.” Peter said with a kiss to your forehead.

“Goodnight, my whoever Nancy Drew was boning.” You yawed again.

“Ned Nickerson.” Peter laughed.

“Then goodnight Ned Nickelodeon.” You said, half asleep.

“Close enough.” Peter smiled.

[flamencodiva]

Hunter Encyclopedia: I’m a Fan

Description:  Y/N has traveled the world and faced every kind of monster imaginable which is why the nickname Hunter Encyclopedia, or H.E. for short has stuck.  She grew up in the hunting business and knew all about the Winchesters and read the Carver Edlund books before they came to ask her for help. Sam is the researcher and Dean is the action man, or at least that is what she thought, but could she have been wrong?

Pairing: Dean x Reader (eventual), Sam x Reader (Platonic Friendship) 

Warnings: Supernatural level Violence. 

A/N:  written for @spndeanbingo​ 

Square filled: Fangirl Moment 

Word Count: 5101

A/N 2: Dividers by @talesmaniac89​ Beta’d by @emoryhemsworth​ and a special thanks to @waywardbeanie​ for the amazing summary! 

Y/N Y/L/N sat in the corner of the hunter’s bar, her fingers curled around the glass holding her drink. She was nose deep in her book unaware of the world around her. She was engrossed in a bit of Greek literature; her trip to Athens had proven to be very helpful. Not only did she find very rare ancient tomes, but she was also able to find some new research on monsters that seemed to have become a new breed. Furiously writing in her already full journal, she failed to notice the two hunters who seemed to have been looking for her. 

“Y/N Y/L/N?” the voice called hesitantly. 

“Who’s asking?” she asked before looking up. Her eyes went wide with recognition as she studied the two hunters. 

“Hi, I’m—” 

“Sam Winchester,” she interrupted standing up to shake his hand. Y/N’s chair fell down from the force of her standing up in excitement. “Wow, I mean… holy… you’re a legend!” she gushed. 

Sam let out a small bashful chuckle as he blushed, “Wow, guess reputation precedes me, this is—” 

“Oh yeah, Dean,” she brushed off. “Right, another legend.” 

The older Winchester frowned slightly at the way she brushed off his introduction and looked between his brother and the so-called ‘Hunter Encyclopedia.’ At least that’s what many of the hunters they encountered had called her: Y/N Y/L/N, a hunter who not only was skilled in killing and maiming monsters and sending demons back to hell, but she was also a human hunter encyclopedia. He’d heard Bobby mention her before, once or twice, but he never really thought anything of it. 

“How can I help you guys?” She asked blushing at her own behavior. To be fair, she never really thought that she was famous for anything, or at least not anything that would attract the Winchesters, let alone Dean and his brother. 

“We were told that you could tell us about a new monster that seems to have popped up?” Sam asked as he helped her with her chair. 

“Depends,” she shrugged before taking a sip of her drink. “I just got back from Greece and made out like a bandit!” she smiled excitedly at the younger Winchester. If her own research was correct, he was the one who enjoyed research more than the older one. “I have this new tome I found! Well, not new, but it was discovered in an old catacomb.” 

“Really?” Sam’s interest was piqued. “Would it be alright if I took a look?” 

“Absolutely, I’m sure Dean can handle himself, I just saw a pretty blonde girl come in,” she said offhandedly. 

Dean let out a small scoff, “What is that supposed to mean?” 

“I didn’t mean to offend you,” Y/N rushed out. “It’s just, you aren’t really known for your enthusiasm for research. I figured your brother and I could do our thing and you could do yours.” 

Dean opened and closed his mouth at what she said, “I—” 

Before he could say anything more, he watched as Sam left with her and his frown deepened. 

“Research isn’t your thing,” He mimicked. “Who does she think she is telling me that—” his words fell from his lips as he noticed the blond at the bar smiling at him. “I mean she isn’t wrong, but I mean I can research. I’m not dumb,” he said to himself, pouting slightly. “I just like to have fun that’s all. Life isn’t all about books.” 

He licked his lips as he looked at the blond before sighing. Was that all he really was to the hunter community? A playboy who could kill monsters better than the rest of them? Shaking his head, he took a sip of his beer and sighed. He really didn’t feel like talking to the blonde. His mood was soured and he wanted to prove little Ms. Encyclopedia wrong. 

With Sam, Y/N had placed the different tomes she brought back from her trip on the small kitchenette table in her room. 

“Wow,” Sam marveled at their pristine condition, “I mean these are—these look to be—” 

“They are from around 400 B.C.E,” Y/N chuckled, “and the information they hold is astounding!” 

“So these are all—” 

“Accounts of the mythological heroes we’ve all heard about? Yeah,”  she gushed again. “I mean, I’ve heard about you guys saving Prometheus and meeting actual Greek gods, but wow!” 

“Well, I mean, we tried to keep it civil,” Sam argued. “All Zeus had to do was let Prometheus go,” Sam chuckled. 

“Have you read the stories about him?” Y/N giggled. “Dude thinks his cock is the best thing in the Pantheon of Gods. Guess he forgot that the Titans are bigger,” she laughed before pointing to a small line. “This right here states that Echidna, the mother of monsters, still creates new monsters almost every decade.” 

“Seriously?” Sam asked as he read the line. 

“As a heart attack,” she chuckled. “I mean, I’m sure it’s nothing like how Dean was able to kill Eve, but—” she paused when Sam looked at her. “What?” 

“Sorry, it’s just, back at the bar you seemed like you didn’t really care about Dean,” he clarified. 

“Oh! That, well I guess,” Y/N paused and bit her lip, “he’s a bit intimidating? I mean, don’t get me wrong, he is an amazing hunter, you both are! But with his knowledge of weapons and electronics and the fact that he went to literal Hell and back… I mean, he wouldn’t want to listen to someone like me drag on about books and research.” 

“I went to Hell and came back too,” Sam pointed out. “You know all this about Dean so, what gives?” 

“Oh,” Y/N blushed, “I-it’s just… You’re easier to talk to, and me? Well, I’m the ‘hunter encyclopedia.’ There is no way Dean ‘lady’s man’ Winchester would ever think to talk to a nerd like me.”  

Sam hid the smirk that came on his face, “Huh, so I take it you’re kind of a fan?” 

“I mean, who wouldn’t be? The stories that I hear from dive bar to dive bar,” she chuckled. “Want a beer?” She inquired walking to the fridge, reaching for one. He shook his head and she grabbed one for herself and shut the fridge door. “I mean, you two have been the epicenters of anything and everything that goes bump in the night.” 

“Yeah,” Sam sighed, “that’s been a bit of a struggle.”

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean to… It’s just you guys have encountered things that not many hunters ever encounter. The amount of research and documentation that you could do about what you’ve experienced alone could fill books for future hunters!” 

Sam nodded, “I bet it would.” 

Y/N was about to say something when a knock interrupted their conversation. She looked at Sam who shrugged before they both reached for their guns ready to attack whoever might be knocking. As a hunter, one could never be too careful with who or what could knock on your door. Looking through the hole, Y/N’s eyes widened as she looked back at Sam. 

“It’s Dean,” she told him before holding her gun firm. “You can check him if you want, you know him better than I do.”

Stepping back, she let Sam check him out before allowing him to enter. Y/N smiled at Dean and waved.

“Sorry, was I interrupting anything?” he asked, looking between Sam and Y/N. 

“Not really,” Sam chuckled knowing Dean’s meaning. “We were just discussing the fact that our lives should be documented for future hunters.” 

“Yeah, that would be an entire volume of encyclopedias,” Dean muttered as he looked at Y/N. “So anything interesting?” 

Y/N shrugged as she walked over towards the table and away from Dean. “I mean. nothing really. I just told your brother how these tomes are actually accounts of the heroes of Greek mythology.”  

“You’re shitting me,” Dean said as he walked over to the tomes and frowned when Y/N gathered them up. “What?” 

“You wouldn’t be interested in them anyway. They’re pretty boring for someone like you.” 

“What do you mean?” Dean’s anger rose but was interrupted by Sam. 

“We were wondering if you found anything in your research that could help us with some new monsters that seemed to have popped up?” 

“Oh yeah!” Y/N smiled at Sam, once again brushing off Dean. 

The older hunter clenched his jaw as he glared at the woman in front of him. Who the hell did she think she was? She fawned all over Sam and barely paid him any attention. Dean was baffled by it. He couldn’t understand why this girl only saw him as some sort of playboy meathead, who didn’t like reading. He could read; in fact, Dean loved to read when Sam wasn’t looking. It was how he knew about the Greek monsters and gods. He may not be well versed in different languages like Sam was, but he knew legends and stories better than his brother. 

“So what is it you guys are looking for?” Y/N asked as she grabbed her hunter’s journal. 

“Well, for now, all we have to go on are visual accounts,” Sam said as he pulled out his laptop. “They keep describing a ‘serpent-like dragon.’” 

“Serpent-like dragon? You mean a dragon that moves like a snake?” Y/N asked hurriedly as she flipped through a book. “I mean, for all we know, it could have been a huge ass snake and people are overreacting.” 

Dean smirked. “That’s what I said, but then if you think about it, there is Ladon,” He pointed out. 

Y/N snapped her head up and looked towards Dean. “How do you know Ladon?” 

“Jason and the Argonauts, not to mention the fact that the story of Heracles depicts one of his tasks as retrieving the golden apple which is guarded by Ladon,” Dean offered her a wink. “I tend to favor Greek mythology, sweetheart.” 

Y/N blushed as she moved her hair behind her ear. “Oh, right,” she cleared her throat and looked to Sam. “It might need some investigating, but I’m sure you two can—” 

“Come with us,” Sam offered. 

“Huh?” Y/N was taken off guard as she looked at the haze eyed hunter. “I—that sounds great, but I don’t think it’s a good—” 

“What is it, sweetheart? You scared to be hunting with the famous Winchesters?” Dean boasted as he smirked at her. 

Y/N frowned at him, wondering what he was trying to do. “Look, I may be the ‘hunter encyclopedia,’ but I’m not scared of anything. You two are more than capable of finding out if this thing is a glorified snake or actually Ladon. I would be dead weight.” 

“Y/N, you aren’t just known for being a researcher,” Sam interjected. “You’ve taken on a ton of different monsters, monsters even Dean and I haven’t heard of or faced.” 

“That was nothing,” Y/n argued. “You don’t need me, I’m dead weight.” 

“Tell you what,” Dean walked up to her, crossing his arms over his chest. “You can help with the research, I’m sure we could use your brains at some point.” 

“A phone is easy to use,” she tried to dodge Dean and sighed when he blocked her. “What happened to the blonde at the bar? She looked more like your speed.” 

Y/N was irritated that Dean was pushing this. Why was he adamant that she join them? Was he trying to prove something to her? 

“Nothing happened with the blonde at the bar,” Dean scoffed, “but if we have a monster and you can identify it, why not help us get rid of it?” 

Y/N bit her lip in thought. “Fine,” she decided. “Just let me pack up and I’ll follow you in my car.” 

“Dean?” Sam looked at his brother as he continued to shift his gaze from the road to the rearview mirror. “You okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Dean muttered, “just making sure she’s following us.” 

“She is,” Sam pointed out. “So, a quickie in the bathroom or the backseat?” 

“Huh?” Dean raised his eyebrow in confusion, “What are you—” 

“The blonde that Y/N pointed out to you,” Sam clarified. 

“Oh, I didn’t,” Dean huffed, “Didn’t want to give Hunter Encyclopedia the pleasure of trying to dictate who I am to me.”

“Dean,” Sam chuckled, “you always tap a girl at the bar if they catch your eye.” 

“Well, I wasn’t in the mood this time,” Dean huffed. “Besides, Y/L/N seems to be your fan more than mine, Mr. Researcher.” 

“Me?” Sam titled his head in confusion and laughed. “You think… You realize she knows about us and is a fan right?”

“Maybe that’s her problem, she listens to the stories,” Dean mumbled. 

“Are you not a ladies man?” Sam asked curiously as to his brother’s answer. 

“Of course I’m a ladies man Sam, look at me,” Dean defended. “Women can’t keep their hands off me.”  

“Wow,” Sam let out another chuckle mixed with a huff. “Then I guess you’re going to prove to her that what, you love research? Come on Dean, you only research if you have to.” 

Dean tightened his grip on the steering wheel. Of course, Sam would think that. He had kept the façade up for a long time. It just made sense to make sure that Sam had a better future than he did. Of course, he would never admit to going through the various books on Greek heroes in the bunker. Then again, Dean loved the ancient stories of the heroes. He wasn’t too well-versed in the world of the gods, that much was proven when Sam had to explain Prometheus. So to counter, Dean ended up reading everything he could find on the Greek gods and the stories they told. 

 “Doesn’t mean I’m just a dumb meathead,” he grumbled. 

“You’re mad she read you like an open book,” Sam realized as he turned to look at his brother. “You’re mad that she brushed you off.” 

Dean let out a scoff with a slight high pitched squeak, “No! I— I don’t— I’m not mad. Just—”

“Look, obviously I can’t give advice to a ‘Ladies Man,’” Sam said as he looked towards the road, “but if you want her to look at you twice, you better crack open a couple of books in front of her and talk to her about what you are reading.”

“I read, Sam,” Dean defended, “but you’re right, maybe reading in front of her will show her I’m not a dumbass.” 

“Well, I mean you’re a bit of a dumbass,” Sam jabbed. 

“Bitch,” Dean spat with a smirk. 

“Jerk,” Sam shot back as they sat in comfortable silence on their way towards their next hunt. 

Reaching their destination, Dean watched as Sam headed to the motel office to get two rooms. He saw Y/N in her car, scribbling in her journal. From the looks of the damn thing, Dean could tell she had filled it close to the brim. He wondered if she needed a new one. He couldn’t help but smirk at the way her nose crinkled when she read her journal. It made him wonder what she was reading that made her make that face. 

“Dean,” Sam interrupted his thoughts, “I got our keys.” 

“Okay, let’s settle in and see what we can find.” Dean climbed out of the car just as Y/N did. 

“I’ll go—” she stopped when Sam tossed a room key at her, “you didn’t have to—” 

“Consider it a way to say thank you for helping us,” he insisted as he grabbed his bags and walked towards the door to his and Dean’s room. 

“You know,” Dean licked his lips as he walked up to her, “you could get to know the real me and not just what you’ve heard in the stories.” 

“I’m good,” she breathed. “The stories are a good learning tool. Besides, I’m not your type, and Sam and I should start researching. You can relax and find entertainment.” 

Before Dean could counter her words, she was rushing to her room, closing the door behind her. 

“Son of a bitch,” he grumbled, running his fingers through his hair in frustration. What was it going to take to get this girl to talk to him?  

Dean adjusted his bag and made his way to his room, grumbling under his breath about taking a shower. Sam smirked a bit, wondering what transpired between his brother and the girl who was crushing on him but too shy to speak out. After a few minutes, Dean walked out fresh and ready to investigate. Sam was ready to head over to Y/N’s room to piece together any clues they could find. With Dean hot on his heels, Sam knocked on Y/N’s door to see her ready for action. 

“Let’s investigate and then you and I can read the tomes to see if we can find other clues to help us,” she dictated. “If it is Ladon, it should be an easy kill, clean shot to the head like the legends all say.” 

“And what will I do?” Dean asked, still annoyed at being left out. 

“Oh,” Y/N looked at him as if it was the first time she noticed him there. “I-I’m not sure, what do you usually do when Sam is researching? I’m sure there is a bar out there for you to find something to fill the void after we get some clues.” 

“I’m getting real sick of that,” Dean growled. 

“Huh?” Y/N looked at him in confusion. “Sick of what? I mean, you are a great hunter, you’re skilled in being able to analyze a situation and patterns, but I know you don’t like sitting in a dusty room reading book after book.” 

“Lady, you don’t really know what I’m like,” Dean continued. 

“So you didn’t spend four months in Hell, which is equivalent to forty years?” she asked, tilting her head in confusion. 

“No, I did that,” Dean confirmed. 

“Okay, what about your trip to Purgatory? I mean was that just a tall tale or—” 

“I’m not talking about everything I’ve done, I’m talking about you treating me like a dumb jock because I don’t enjoy reading as much as you,” Dean snapped.  

“I never said you were dumb,” Y/N glared at him, “you made your very own EMF out of a Walkman, correct?” she interrogated, walking up to him. 

“What does that have to—” 

“And didn’t you create an EMP device that wiped out the hard drive of a group called the Ghostfacers?” she asked, continuing her line of questioning. 

“Look, all I’m trying to say is—” 

“And how many times have you had to rebuild the Impala? Five? Ten? Fifteen times?” she pushed on, getting closer and closer to Dean with every question. 

“Look, whatever you’re trying to do—” 

“You are smart, Dean. But you aren’t the kind of guy to sit around and listen to two people talk about lore, myth, and other boring mundane things. You are someone who would much rather actually spend their time doing things with their hands and making sure that plans work perfectly. You’re an engineer; you may not be book smart,” she poked at his chest, “but you are mechanical smart. If my words hurt you, then I’m sorry, but you are who you are and you shouldn’t change that just because I was able to find more common ground with your brother than you.” 

Dean opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water. Most of the things she listed, he wasn’t even sure people had heard about, but it seemed that word of the many things he’d built over the years had made their way out there, much like the stories of his deaths and resurrections. He watched as she talked to Sam and licked his lips. Yeah, Y/N Y/L/N was going to be an interesting nut to crack. He wondered what having her as a friend would be like, and maybe Sam was right: maybe he could show her that he was more than just mechanical smart. He watched her walk away, leaving their small argument at that. She knew things about him. It made him smirk that she paid attention to his accomplishments, but he was going to prove to her that he was able to hold a decent conversation.

Making their way to the forest, Y/N had one of the tomes on ancient monsters. She and Sam had tried to find some specific clues that would lead them to the supposed Ladon. It wasn’t until Y/N grabbed Dean’s arm to stop him and to try and warn Sam that things took a dark turn. As they began to walk farther in, Y/N could see three figures dancing along the trees at dusk and it clicked: the Nymphs of the Evening; Aigle, Erytheis, and Hespere. 

“Sam,” Y/N whispered, “stop.” 

“Why does he need to stop?” Dean asked as he tried to reach for Sam. 

“Because those are Nymphs, and they aren’t just any Nymphs. They’re the Evening Nymphs, said to roam the garden of Hera or what the legend says is the Garden of the Hesperides, essentially—” 

“Hera’s Orchard,” Dean finished. “Sam,” he called out, “Sammy, get back here!” 

“But they’re singing Dean,” Sam gave him a dreamy smile. 

“Damn it,” Y/N flipped through the tome and sighed. “Here,” she gave Dean a bronze knife. “Prick his finger and let the blood  drop on the grass.” 

“Why?” Dean questioned, but took the knife nonetheless.

“I mean, a blood offering on grass,” Y/N shrugged. “They’re Nymphs taking care of the garden in a way, so a blood offering would make sense.” 

Dean nodded as he grabbed Sam’s arm and held out his hand, the point of the knife pricking his brother’s finger. The drop of blood began to pool. Pulling Sam down, Dean made sure that the blood landed on a blade of grass. It took a minute, but Sam began to shake out of his daze. 

“What happened?” he asked, blinking his eyes a few times. 

“Nymphs,” Y/N and Dean echoed. 

Dean didn’t see it, but Y/N blushed as they spoke at the same time. The way he knew they were in Hera’s Orchard made her wonder what other secrets the hunter was hiding. Every bit of information she knew about him pointed to the fact that he hated research, yet here he was reciting lore and understanding what was happening in his surroundings. 

Clearing her throat, Y/N pointed past the Nymphs to an area that seemed to give off a sparkling glow. “Seems we should head that way.” 

“You sure?” Dean asked. 

“If we want to solve this mystery, Fred Jones, we need to keep going,” she smiled. “Grab Shaggy there so we can keep going.” 

“You like Scooby-Doo?” Dean let out as he followed Y/N, making sure that Sam was okay. 

“Who doesn’t?” she chuckled, “I’m a Velma, so no Fred is ever going to look at me,” she whispered the last part to herself, unaware that Dean caught it. 

“So, what else do you watch?” Dean checked, keeping the conversation going. 

“I’m sure nothing you would be interested in,” she brushed him off as they neared where the golden glow was coming from. 

“Why do you do that?” Dean huffed in annoyance. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Y/N shrugged, “I’m only stating a fact.” 

“For the record, you’re making me out to sound like a shallow dick,” Dean whispered harshly as a movement in the trees made them freeze. 

“Well, I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure I have a good idea as to the kind of guy you are, okay?” Y/N spat back before holding out her arm to stop him. 

“What now?” Dean grumbled. 

“Ladon,” Y/N sighed. “He’s just doing his job. He’s guarding the Golden Apples.” 

“So he isn’t a threat—” 

“Unless someone tries to steal the apples,” Y/N nodded. “We should go before—” 

The loud dragon-like roar made the trio freeze. They turned towards the tree, but Ladon was no longer guarding it. Y/N began to look around only to feel a large, log-like object swipe through her ribcage sending her crashing towards a tree. 

“Y/N!” Dean yelled as he braced himself to try and defend them from another attack. 

Sam made his way towards Y/N, while Dean looked out for the creature. Dean tried to listen to the sound of the levees rustling. If Ladon was a snake-like dragon, that would mean it would be slithering between things. It was quick, but he heard it. The leaves rustled and Dean swiped trying to at least cut the creature. Not enough to kill it, just enough to stun it so that they could get away.  

He was surprised that he was successful, and smiled when the creature recoiled and backed away. Rushing towards Sam, he motioned for his brother to pick up Y/N and follow him out of the Orchard. Once in the Impala, Dean drove them towards the motel as fast as he could. 

“How is she?” Dean asked. 

“She’s got a gash on her arm, probably from hitting the tree and sliding against it,” he explained. “We’ll know more when we get back.” 

“Yeah,” Dean muttered as he glanced at the rearview mirror. 

===============

Y/N groaned as she tried to get up, but hissed in pain. She blinked a few times to adjust to the light in the room she was in and found Dean sitting on the edge with an ice pack on her head. 

“I got it,” she muttered, trying to grab the pack from him. 

“Hold still,” Dean ordered, as he checked her over for anything else. 

“Why does my arm hurt?” she moaned in pain. “I just got knocked out.” 

“Not entirely, sweetheart,” Dean flashed her a smile. “You got a nasty gash on your arm from when you slid against the tree trunk Ladon launched you towards, not to mention your abdomen is red and you’re going to have a nice bruise there for a bit.” 

“Yippie for me,” she grunted, “You don’t have to be here you know. I told you I was dead weight.” 

“You stopped us from confronting that thing head-on,” Dean argued. “You realized where we were and what it was doing,” he continued as he inspected the stitches he’d placed on her wound. “So you called me Fred back there.” 

“Yeah?” Y/N shrugged and winced. “So you’re the Fred Jones type: handsome, great with strategy, ladies man.” 

“Velma is pretty cool you know,” Dean said as he turned towards her. “She is logical and cool-headed, not to mention she helps Fred come up with the traps,” he pointed out. 

Y/N rolled her eyes, “But Freddy loves Daphne and I am no Daphne.” 

“You know, you still brush me off even though you know everything about me, things that I didn’t even know people knew. How come you’ve put me in a box and labeled me already?” Dean said as he tried to figure out the puzzle that was Y/N Y/L/N. 

She gave him a shrug. “Not hard to find the Supernatural books by Carver Edlund. I mean, I knew who you guys were because I was raised a hunter and my dad knew yours, but we never met,” she explained. 

“Oh no, you read those things?” Dean groaned as he bowed his head. “I hate those books.” 

“But they happened, right? Every story I heard from other hunters confirmed everything that happened in those books,” she pointed out, “and I have to say I got a pretty good impression of you through them.” 

“No, you didn’t,” Dean defended. “You know all these things I’ve done, but you don’t know me! Talk to me! Get to know me!”

“Why would you want me to talk to you?” Y/N shook her head, “I’m not your type, trust me. I know your type, and brainy ain’t it.” 

“You don’t know that!” Dean stood up in frustration, “I love Scooby-Doo, I watch Dr. Sexy. I’ve read The Odyssey at least five times in my life, along with the other epic tales that Homer and others have written, not to mention I love Greek heroes and their stories. I’ve read Vonnegut and Tolstoy,” he licked his lips and let out a huff before smiling. “So no, you don’t know me because those books and those people who tell stories about me only know what I show them, not who I am.”  

Y/N stayed silent as he finished his declaration and licked her own lips. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “You’re right. I don’t know you. I know of you. I just didn’t think that you would like to speak to me about mundane things.” 

“Like what?” Dean pressed. 

“Look, I know myself well enough to know that I can get extremely nerdy and people start to shy away from me,” she explained. 

“What if you’re wrong?” Dean replied. Let’s just start from the beginning. We can re-introduce ourselves.” Dean shook his body before rolling his shoulders. He turned to face Y/N completely and gave her his best charming smile, “Hello, I’m—” 

“Dean Winchester,” Y/N interrupted, chuckling at his annoyed expression, “Sorry, I would just recognize the description of the famous Dean Winchester.”  

“Famous?” Dean feigned shock, “I gotta say, sweetheart, you’re pretty famous too.” 

“Dean, I’m not—” 

“Y/N Y/L/N, an excellent connoisseur of lore and ancient myths,” he interjected, “kickass hunter who is known for taking down the Tulsa, Oklahoma wolf pack back in ‘09, not to mention the vamp’s nest up in Washington state near Kirkland.” He leaned in and gave her a wink, “Did I miss anything?” 

Y/N’s heart pounded in her chest at what he said, what he knew of her. Hell, he knew about her. Licking her lips, she offered him a smile. 

“You forgot my nickname, Winchester,” she whispered. 

“That’s right, they do call you the Hunter Encyclopedia,” he teased. 

That was the start of Y/N getting to know Dean on a deeper level, not from books or stories passed down from hunter to hunter, but the real Dean, and their story was just beginning.  

HE: 2 in the Morning 

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[tbzhours]

be my christmassy

kevin x you x eric, high school au, fluff 

[summary] the Christmassy dance is coming up and with both having a crush on you, eric and kevin try to show their love for you. who will you choose? [words] 5.4k  [a/n] are you still feeling christmassy? ♡ i didn’t know who you should end up with so there are two endings for this fic! also, there’s a lot of college talks in here so bare with me; enjoy! 

It’s usually exciting during this time of the school year because of the annual Christmassy dance. you would hear cheers randomly throughout the week of successful proposals for current and new couples. You honestly loved it, except the glittery decorations around the school that tend to stick onto you and your stuff. Other than that, it also meant that a lot of things are going to happen unexpectedly, like the snacks that keep appearing on your desk since the announcement of the dance. 

You and Eric had the same homeroom when another cheer was heard from the door. You were on your way to the class when you got stuck from the crowd. It was probably the fifth time this morning that you took a sigh then you made a detour, taking the longer way. 

“So, have you thought about who you wanted to ask to the dance?” Hyunjae started after their gaming discussions after hearing the cheer. He smiled excitedly at them then Juyeon answered him. 

“I’m asking my girlfriend out today. My teammates are helping on the field.” Juyeon revealed but Hyunjae slapped his shoulder. 

“At the game?” Hyunjae was surprised when he argued. “Dude, you don’t even need to do that. She can already assume you would go with her to the dance.” 

Jacob shook his head, looking at him without an expression, which slowly turned into a sweet smile. “You don’t know love at all, Hyunjae.” 

Eric wasn’t listening when they bickered, whispering a few names of potential dates then Hyunjae called Eric out, who was caught off guard thinking how he should ask you to the dance. All eyes were on him as he had his mouth open, trying to find words to say. 

“I have someone in mind. Not really sure yet.” Eric didn’t sound promising when he looked up and tapped on his chin. His friends shook their heads. 

“Anyway, if you can help out later, the surprise will be during halftime.” Juyeon mentioned then he pointed at them. “Don’t be late.” 

That was when you walked in, face full of annoyance like you went through a lot trying to get through all of the people in the hall from that successful confession. Eric’s eyes widened as if there was a bubble in his mind when he saw you.  

Eric walked away from the group to the empty seat next to you and sat down when he slid into it. It was a smooth move when you noticed him there. 

“Hey (Y/N), you wanna come watch our team play today?” Eric asked, almost whispering. You thought it was odd because obviously the whole school would go see them. He was on the football team like Juyeon so before you could greet him like the usual, you chuckled. 

“Of course I am. Everyone will.” You turned away from him to see the snack on your desk. You smiled and set it away inside your bag with a whisper of “I’m gonna eat that later”. You didn’t realize Eric heard it and it made him blush. His smile got smaller as he wondered if he got caught staring when you looked back at him. “You’re playing tonight?” 

“Yeah! All because of you.” Eric straightened up from his seat and his fingers fiddle in gratitude. “Thanks for helping me with physics.” 

“I’m glad.” You remembered how hard that class was but you did pretty well in it so you didn’t mind helping Eric study all week last week during your lunch time. “It would suck to not see you on that field.” 

“Thanks for always coming to our games too.” He, once again, felt the need to appreciate you for all of the things you’ve done for him even though it was just a favor. 

“Hey, I’m not the only one supporting our school team. The whole school is going to go see the game tonight.” You chuckled. “We have to win.” 

Eric nodded with a smile. His cheeks were burning up when he repeated your words, “We have to win.” 

You showed your fist to him and he was confused. “For good luck.” 

Eric pounded back at you then you got your textbook out to check the reading for one of your classes today. He admired how cool you were as his friends watched the whole scene and knew who he was going to ask to the dance. 

One of your classes after homeroom was a beginners piano class. Kevin was an student assistant for the class since he knew how to play the piano and took all of the advance classes already. 

There was about four minutes left until the bell rings when you came into the class early. Kevin turned to you from the teacher’s piano at the front of the class and he waved a hand at you. 

“Hey (Y/N), you’re early again.” He sneaked a smile, watching you set your things down at your assigned chair then you walked up to him. 

“Yes, I need to be here early so I can practice for a minute.” You sounded like you were out of breath. You sat down beside him and smiled. “The new melody last week.” 

“You want to try it again?” He asked and you nodded. He motioned his head to the keyboard for you to give it a go. “Go ahead.” 

You focused hard as you played the melody, though it was slower than it should be. His head nodded along each note. 

“By the way, do you need practice for the upcoming test?” He asked, his nod still complimenting at how your fingers pressed against each key. 

“I might, depending on how well this melody sounds to you.” You smiled, trying to not laugh because you could feel how long you were stretching the sound. Seconds later, you finally finished playing and you gave Kevin the side look. “Well?” 

“You’re a fast learner.” He started but you covered your laugh with your closed mouth so there were muffling breaths coming through your nose. “What? I think you did great!” He blurted out, almost laughing. 

“How so?” You asked with curiosity. 

“I’m just surprised at how fast you memorized the melody.” He had a cocky look on his face but it was a pleasant one. 

“Of course I am, I can recite all of my essays for the college applications right now.” 

Kevin held his palm at your boldness. “Hold your horses, I don’t want to think about that when we’re gonna have a test on Friday.” 

“Christmassy day!” You cheered with thrill. “Besides, you’re going to ace it anyways.”

“No, it’s going to be hard to grade everyone.” Kevin cried. You forgot he wasn’t taking the course and you giggled quietly to yourself as if you face-palmed yourself. He sighed and complained, “And all of this Christmassy fun is getting in my head. I just want it to be Friday already.”

“Same.” You agreed. “Except for that test.” 

You both laughed together as the room filled up with students and the bell rang. 

Later that night, you went to go watch Eric’s game with your friends. It was a little chilly but you had a warm coat and winter necessities as you followed your friends though the seating bleachers. It was already dark as the floodlights through the field lit up. The cheers were loud and in unison. When you found your seat, you saw Kevin with his friends, who were sitting in front of you. 

“Didn’t know you’d be here.” You said before you sat down. 

“Same?” Kevin had a judging look on his face, still turned back to you. 

“I watch the game every year.” 

“Uh, I knew that.” 

“Sure.” 

You bursted a laugh when he turned to the front and it got quiet after your nonchalant bickering. He was smiling after hearing you then he turned back to you. 

“This is going to be fun.” Kevin gushed, keeping his hands inside his coat pockets.

“Right. We’re playing against our rival school.” You explained. “Interesting how we get to see them play for our last year.” 

“I have a feeling our team will win.” Kevin smiled. “We got a good team this year.” 

He was right. Once the game started, your school team already scored more points than the opponent. You noticed that Eric was a really good runner. He was always near each end to get ready for a catch. Sometimes, you caught him looking at you after the ball touched the ground. You admired how well your team always played every year because you could tell they put their every ounce of sweat from practice into the game. Maybe that’s why you always go watch the winter game. 

Halftime quickly came as both crowds chanted in unison. Then all of a sudden, some of your school’s team members walked onto the running track in front of your school bleachers. They all had balloons and flowers, and you didn’t see Eric until you saw that he was holding onto a big teddy bear. Juyeon suddenly popped out behind them with a big ‘Will you be my sunshine?’ sign and sunflowers in his hands. 

Juyeon shouted his girlfriend’s name and asked, “Will you be my sunshine at Christmassy?!” 

Everyone looked around, asking where she was. Juyeon shouted her name again then when she came down, all of the crowd cheered. Juyeon walked up to her as they hugged and kissed in front of everyone and the cheers got louder.  

“I thought they’re already dating?” Kevin’s eyebrow rosed, smiling when he looked back at you. 

You shrugged. “I guess it makes it a little more special that way.” 

“I want that.” He suddenly confessed then he saw your judging face. “What?” 

“You want someone to ask you to the dance like that?” 

“I have big dreams.” Kevin chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind all of the balloons and cute stuff, except with an audience this big. Gives me chills.” 

Kevin shivered and you did the same. “I agree.” 

You both shared smiles before he asked you, “You want some hot chocolate after this?” 

“That sounds nice.” 

Eric saw you on the bleachers as he headed toward the bench where his team was at. He waved with his whole arm at you with the teddy bear still in his other arm. Your smile bloomed bigger as you waved back. 

“I never knew about this place.” You were amazed after you and Kevin sat down in the cafe. 

“You can almost say, it’s my secret place to go to.” Kevin chuckled, fixing his long strand of hair. He ordered the hot chocolate and turned back to you. You took a last glance at the antique wall behind the barista before you turned to meet his eyes. 

“The music’s nice.” You commented and he watched how your lips curled into a grin. “And it’s really calm in here.” 

“That’s why I love it here.” He smiled then he groaned. “It just sucks that I might not be able to come back here after we graduate.” 

“That’s right. The closest music school is like two hours away.” You recalled as you chuckled. “That really does suck.” 

“Right?” Kevin sighed then he gave a tiny glare at you jokingly. “I’m still mad at you for only taking piano just to fill an elective credit.” 

“Hey, I’m enjoying the class.” You argued back, still grinning. You rested your chin onto your fist as you set your elbow on the table. “Besides, I think I’m getting better at playing than you.”

“Yeah, and that’s stressing me more over all of these applications.” 

“How is that going for you?” You genuinely asked when the hot cocoa was served. You both thanked the barista and you looked back at him with a smile. 

“Applied for a few music schools already. Still have a few left before acceptances come through.” Kevin held onto his hot cocoa and smiled cheekily at you. “You?” 

“I’m on the same boat.” You sighed and took a sip of your drink. Luckily, it wasn’t too hot so you could drink it warmly. 

Kevin remembered about how stressful it was for you already about applying for colleges because it was about choosing your dream of studying out of the country or staying and finding a new dream. He assured you, “Whatever you choose, I’ll support you.” 

He took a sip of his drink and chuckled when he saw the foam on your upper lips. 

“You want to be santa so bad, huh?” Kevin tried not to drip any hot cocoa from his mouth when wiped your lips with a napkin. 

Later that night, you were getting ready to sleep. As you rested on your bed with the lamp on by your desk, you scrolled through your feed before looking at the stories at the top. You watched Juyeon’s story and saw how he proposed with sunflowers for his girlfriend like how you saw at the game. You smiled at how sweet it was before Eric appeared on Juyeon’s next story. Eric was seen practicing his lines to ask someone out for the dance while his team were taking a break from the game. You chuckled and turned to your side. You thought it was kinda cute as you sent the story to Eric. 

You set your phone down and went to sleep. 

The next morning, you drove a little late to school because you didn’t hear your alarm. You were rushing to school, trying to drive fast and luckily, you made it in time but you still ran as if you were late. 

You caught Eric by your locker but when you tried to come through the crowd, he stopped you by the wrist. He was gentle as he came close to your face to whisper. “Sorry you can’t use your locker yet.”

Eric smirked then he pulled you into the crowd to see the whole scene. 

Younghoon, someone you knew from all of your math classes, asked someone from your homeroom out to the dance so you had to wait. He was your math study buddy after you both unexpectedly took the same classes during your first year together. He was always talking smart so it was funny to see him standing by the lockers next to the formula letters of + U = <3, in which he was the letter I at the left. 

You didn’t know he would have such a big crush on one of your classmates. 

Your classmate came by and the two were obviously in love. They didn’t hesitate with their answer and hugged him right away. 

You cheered with the crowd, not realizing how Eric’s been holding your hand ever since he pulled you into it. Once the crowd scattered and Younghoon and his date walked away, you made your way to your locker quickly. You opened it, letting the + sign stay stuck on the door of your locker as you set some things away. 

Eric was watching your every move after leaning onto the locker on his back beside you. He tried not to laugh when he asked. “Why are you in such a rush?”

“I woke up late so I feel like I’m gonna be late to everything.” You confessed, still scrambling your things back and forth. 

“Well, you look fine, except this.” He fixed your hair to the side and smiled. It must have been from running too much. “There.” 

Your eyes met and you found yourself blushing a little. 

Eric’s eyes bloomed before he grabbed something from his pockets and handed it to you. “And here.” 

You gave him a laugh and took the snack from his hand. “So you’re the one who’s been giving me all of these snacks?” 

“Uhh did I get caught?” He tilted his head then you nodded at him. He quickly changed the subject, talking too fast that you couldn’t stop grinning. Eric started to walk backwards as he suggested. “Do you perhaps want some hot cocoa? I heard Younghoon’s homeroom teacher is making it for his class. They have marshmallows too. The big ones. Yes? Okay, I got you. I’ll be right back.” 

You could see his rosy cheeks before he turned and ran through the crowd. You shook your head and focused back onto your locker. You set his snack down on the top shelf and smiled as you shut it. 

During lunch, your friends asked if you were planning to go to the dance. It was already tomorrow and they were shocked that you didn’t have a date yet because it’s your last year already. 

“You should make it the best.” One of them said. 

Then another added, “I thought you were the one who’s always asking first.” 

You didn’t feel like joining in the conversation but if you had to explain, it was because you had one potential date last year. It’s funny because this year, you have two people in mind. You weren’t sure who you wanted to go with since you are pretty close to the two. For a second, you thought this was harder than doing your applications. 

“Well, at least you’ll get a card tomorrow, from I know who.” One of them teased. 

Ah yes, tomorrow was the day where a card and a chocolate rose get sent to people from their secret admirer by the student council. It was going to happen during your class before lunch. That was when you knew how loud the cafeteria was going to get with the guessing game tomorrow. 

You shrugged after getting playful eyes from your friends. 

You were walking alone in the hall after your teacher asked you to do an errand for them since you were done with your in-class assignment. Kevin was there but you didn’t see him because you were lost in your head while the printer was going. 

“(Y/N)?” You heard Kevin by the front desk. 

You looked to your side and almost jumped. “Did you have your head down or something? I forgot you have library duties.” 

You both chuckled softly in the silent room. Kevin stood up as you picked up the papers and walked to him. You set the papers down on the table between you both when you continued. 

“Must be nice to be in here where there’s no chaos.” You joked. Then you looked at the space in front of the computer screen he was sitting in front of. “What are you working on?” 

“Nothing.” Kevin’s lips twisted to the side with his eyes panicking where you were looking at. He shuffled the papers and tried to explain. “Uhh, it’s more like... I’m just making cards for some of the teachers before the break.” 

“I should do that too.” You nodded as you didn’t see the beads and strings under the cards. Your lips bloomed when you continued, “Anyway, aren’t you excited for tomorrow?” 

“I am.” He mused. “I can’t believe it’s going to be our last dance before we go to college.” 

“Same.” You sighed, “Time goes by too fast.” 

Kevin shrugged with a cheeky smile. “Next thing you know, we’re gonna be walking down with our gowns.”

“Noooo~” You groaned with your head down then you quickly got up. “Wait, I mean yes because you owe me a homemade cake.” 

“You still remember that?” Kevin was surprised because he made one for your older brother, who was also his friend. He graduated last year and Kevin dropped by your place to congratulate him with it. 

“Duh,” you pretended to be annoyed but you smiled after. You remember fighting with your brother just to get a taste of it. “I can still remember the taste. It was that good.” 

“Then I won’t forget to do that for you when we graduate.” 

“Thanks. I’ll let my brother know you're still a baker and you’re doing great.” You let him know then it got quiet with just your smiles. A few seconds went by before you picked up the papers and chuckled awkwardly. “I better get going.” 

Kevin grabbed some things on the table and handed them to you before you could make it to the door. “Here take some chocolate, just in case we don’t get any tomorrow.” 

Your eyebrow heightened as you assured him. “I’m sure you’ll have at least one secret admirer.” 

Yeah, you too.” You both exchanged smiles and before you walked out of the door, you turned back just in case. “Good luck tomorrow.” Kevin whispered, “With the test.” 

You could almost see him winking before you walked out. 

Right then, you saw Eric in the hallway quietly, as if he didn’t want to get caught skipping class. 

He didn’t even see you until the door of the library opened. His eyes widened. Good thing you didn’t open two seconds later because he would have hit the door. You shut it as he slowed down. 

“Where are you going, Eric?” You asked. You joined his walk while he tried to avoid your eyes. 

“I-I’m just helping Haknyeon with his date. You know, for the dance.” He chuckled awkwardly. 

“You’re always the wingman.” You laughed along and turned to him. “Will you ever do an event for your own date?” 

Eric blushed nervously and he hummed a weird sound. “O-of course. It just hadn’t happened yet.” 

“Well then, good luck with it.” You smiled at him when you stopped by the door of your class. It was just down the hall from the library. “Have fun being a wingman again.” 

“Thanks.” Eric smiled as you walked into your class. 

When you got home, you were conflicted over who to ask to the dance that you had decided it would be fun to go to the dance with your friends instead. 

You set some things back into your bag when the night got deep. You check one of the side pockets after remembering about the chocolate Kevin gave you, then you realized he gave you a bracelet too, as promised from a while back when he got into making bead bracelets. You remembered him making some for his friends and since your older brother got one, you wanted one too. You quickly sent a text of it after getting ready to sleep and thanked him for remembering. 

When you went back to your feed, you saw that both Eric and Kevin made a post. 

You liked both posts then you set your phone down and closed your eyes to sleep. Your heart was beating so fast that you didn’t know what tomorrow would be like. For sure, it was going to be a busy day. 

It was the day of the dance and the school was festive with all of the cheers and sweet giving and exchanges throughout the hall and classrooms as your heart was still rushed in excitement. 

You briefly saw Eric in homeroom but he left early to be another wingman for a friend’s proposal. He made sure to meet eyes with you with a smile before he left the room. 

As for Kevin, he seemed super nervous during your piano test. You gave him a big pat on the back when you both walked out of the class and complimented how great he did. 

“You still look nervous.” You commented, you peeked at him. 

“I do?” He moved his head back and scoffed with a confident smile. “Well, I’m not.” 

“I believe you.” You smiled, trying not to laugh at how funny he looked. “See you later. Hope you get something.” 

The secret admirer cards. Kevin just remembered. Actually, it’s been on his mind all morning. It’s just that he was one of your secret admirers and you were standing right in front of him where you both needed to part ways in the hall. He nervously smiled. “Right. You too.” 

You both parted, smiling away and when you got to your locker with only a minute left to get to your next class before lunch, Eric came by, shouting your name. A few students looked and some shook their head from being used to him shouting with his friends. 

“What are you doing? Shouldn’t you be in class already?” Your eyes were wide and your lips were opened in surprise. You couldn’t help to chuckle at how nervous he looked.

“I know. I just forgot to um…” He tried to think of something and blurted out, “Say hi to you.”

“Hi~” You played along then you rushed your locker exchanges and closed it quickly. “Better get going. I’m gonna be late to my class too.” 

“Take a run! You’ll get there in no time!” 

You didn’t know why he was encouraging you to run in school because it wasn’t allowed but you played along with a laugh. You took off and waved your hand at him. “You too! Bye!” 

You finally got to class right when the bell rang. Once you sat down, the announcement came on about the secret admirer cards. It was taking a while since the deliverers had to stop by each classroom. You tried to stay focused in class but it was really hard to, and when there was a knock on the door, your teacher walked to it and started to pass the cards to the correct receivers. 

For you, you got two.

card 1 i adore  how your mind speaks how your eyes shine, and especially how passionate your dream beats against your heart. if there’s room for more, will you be my christmassy?

card 2 roses are red violets are blue how about christmassy? at your side i shall be. (meet me at the parking lot at lunch?)

                           who stole your heart? 

                              card 1   /   card 2

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “Gotham Comic Con”

The Joker and his girlfriend decided to attend “Gotham Comic Con” this year dressed as The Batman and Cat Woman. It took Y/N some time to convince her boyfriend but here they are about to have fun and nothing could spoil the event. Right?...

“Oh my God, this is awesome!” you giggle entering the venue designated for the yearly special event “Gotham Comic-Con” dressed as Cat Woman.

The Joker is right behind you sporting The Batman outfit and he flexes his knees a few times, growling.

“What’s wrong?” you ask although you have a clue because J’s been complaining about since he got off the van parked on Lot B5.

“I hate these stretchy pants! I don’t know how that asshole does it!”

“You’re the one that insisted to come as Batsy,” you reveal point out the truth. “You could have been anyone else.”

“Like who?”

“Cinderella,” you elbow him and your boyfriend is not a huge fan of the concept.

“Why??!!”

“The drama, obviously,” you keep walking alongside him and he’s definitely ready to blow at your insinuation when you gasp. ”Baby, I think that’s Bane!” you gesture towards a massive individual flaunting a Sub-Zero costume.

“How can you tell?” The Joker squints his eyes and the bubbly Y/N has to say it:

“I would recognize his physique anywhere! Plus, he still has the scar between his eyes,” you pucker your lips and The King mumbles a bunch of PG 13 rated things regarding his business partner.

Why?

Last week they got into a brawling and almost killed each other.

The reason?

Y/N.

The Joker believes that Bane always flirts with you (which he does since he likes to refer to you as “a breath of fresh air”); stuff escalated until you had to break it up: J ended up with a busted lip, Bane with a cut between his eyes due to The Clown trying to stab him in the head and you ended up with an inflated ego.

“Hello Mister B.,” you tap the pile of muscles and he turns around to see who’s bothering him.

“Y/N!” he excitedly exclaims, immediately unhappy at the sight of his business partner. “Joker…” the low tone greets.

“Bane…” J sneers.

“What are you two doing here?” Bane inquires.

“Having fun; I finally convinced him we should do this and mingle for once. No better way to spend the day,” the bubbly comment pleases your conversation partner. “So we dressed up and here we are.”

“I must say you’re like a breath of fresh air,” Bane admires your skin tight costume and stilettos which prompts The Joker’s disapproval:

“If you want fresh air, go outside!”

“Make me!”

Oh no! Not again!

“Are you here alone?” you change the subject and distract them from getting into a fight. Not that you wouldn’t enjoy it, but… too many witnesses at the packed Comic Con, it could end up in a total disaster.

“With my niece and nephew. I lost them for a second and I’m searching the premises; they can’t be far,” Bane reports. “Which reminds me: I should get going and find them otherwise my sister will go ballistic. I’ll see you later, Y/N,” he acknowledges you and ignores your man.

“Bye Mister B.,” The Queen snickers at the evident teasing.

“Just her, huh?” The Joker grumbles. “What about me? Did you forget we have a meeting next week???”

“Too bad and super sad: I’m not talking to you!” Bane’s attitude emerges.

“I certainly could care less because I’m not talking to you either!” The King strikes back.

“Then what are we going to do?” Sub-Zero’s better judgement brings up a good argument.

“Y/N will translate!” J proudly states.

Oh no! Not again!

That means they will snarl and make weird noises and you’ll have to guess what it means; an absolutely excruciating task that even a breath of fresh air can’t accomplish without losing it.

Maybe you should let them kill each other. 

“Fine!” Bane decides and distances himself from the couple while the Joker shouts since he has to have the last word:

“Fine!”

“Mister Batman?” the 5 years old dressed as a hobbit shily tugs on J’s cape.

“Hm?” the fake vigilante looks down. The little boy suddenly sneezes and wipes his nose with the fabric as the mad man is less than lenient at someone ruining the outfit replica he paid a fortune to have.

“Goddamn…” and he can’t finish his sentence because a large group of screaming children surround him in a heartbeat.

“Batman! Batman!” they jump up and down hyped up to see their hero.

“Go away!” J attempts to reason with the sea of kids he has no patience for. Of course nobody can hear him over the deafening sounds that attract more offsprings and parents.

“That’s so cute!” one of the moms gushes and takes a picture. “It’s delightful seeing a guy dressed as The Batman performing such a public service for our town!”

“He loves people, especially babies, “ you lie without blinking and immortalize the moment yourself.

“Awww,” a few people sigh touched by your praises.

“He must be a nice dude,” a kid’s dad concludes and you sweetly smile from under your mask:

“You have no idea.”

Somebody from the crowd places an infant girl in The Joker’s arms and the mob goes ballistic!! Rosie cheeks keeps sucking from her binky, glaring at the interesting person.

Clapping, cheering and whistling intensify whilst J feels compelled by his increasing popularity to lift the 6 months old above his head for everyone to see how cool he is.

This is not bad, The King enjoys an endless string of applause and the sudden explosion occurring in the diaper followed by quite a foul smell puts an end to his exuberance.

“Jesus!” he crinkles his nose, appalled. “Whose kid is this?” he yells and the thrilled parent waves at him, taking back the stinky, adorable bundle of joy. “Uncle Batsy needs to run!!” J makes up a random plan although nobody can hear him: the noise is overwhelming after he hyped them all up.  “Let’s bail before they trap me again! Pretty soon I won’t be able to walk, Princess. Everything is crammed in there, a total mess! I hate stretchy pants!!” he addresses his woman and quickens the pace until an atrocious abomination stops him in his tracks.

A specimen mocking The Joker wearing a purple suit is getting quite the attention: over exaggerated red lips smudged over the lip line, tattoo on the forehead that spells “Cabbaged”, a bunch of cheap golden chains from the Dollar Store around his neck and a sloppy green wig complete the assemble in a cringy manner.

You are equally speechless and The Joker manages to utter:

“What… THE HELL… is that????!!!!”

“Ummm… a Clown?” your sassy remark doesn’t score high marks as expected; you feel his eyes burning holes through you.

“You’re hilarious! Would you like to share your standup comedy talents on the stage??!” his index finger points at the platform meant to host a guest appearance from Bruce Wayne in the next hour.

Courtesy of “Wayne Enterprise” sponsoring the event: free food and refreshments for everyone under 18 years old.

You don’t answer and pout, upset J’s pissed attitude is already ruining your mood.

“I’m going to kill that buffoon posing as me!” he inhales full of spite and reaches for the knife hidden in his left boot.

“You can’t…” you hesitantly halt his movement. “Dozens of people, that’s just asking for trouble!”

“I’m not going to let a prick disrespect me!”

“You won’t, we’ll figure something afterwards. We can wait for him outside in the parking lot and take care of it without drawing attention! Please?” you beg hoping he’ll listen to you. “Pleeeaaaase!!!!“ you insist, perfectly aware he’s about to commit murder regardless. “I have a bunch of VIP passes to take pictures with celebrities. You promised J!” you stomp your high heels, exasperated. “You promised we’ll have a fun date!!”

“Why do I have to take pics with celebrities?! I don’t like anybody!”

The look on Y/N’s face: sheer disappointment; most of her features are covered with the mask yet he can tell.

“But I like you so the most I’ll do is take a selfie with you!” The Joker makes amendments on his own terms.

The Queen sniffles, trying to bottle up her emotions and she can’t help it: she bursts up in tears at her boyfriend’s candor.

Oh no! Not again!

Why?

The King of Gotham says nice things maybe twice a year and each time you struggle not to cry but it’s impossible: how can one resist such charm?!

Your complete meltdown makes him roll his eyes while your shaky hand takes a picture of the royal duo.

“Ugghhh…” J’s grimace turns your attention towards him.

“What is it baby?” you wipe your tears with his cape.

He would probably criticize such affront still there’s a pressing issue taking precedent.

“Princess, these tights are making my legs numb. I can’t feel my crown jewelry anymore.”

“Huh?” you forget to weep, startled.

“Cursed stretchy pants! I think I won’t be able to have sex for a month!” The Joker stretches his feet, uncomfortable.

“What??!!!” you raise your voice, panicked. “A month???!!”

Hell no!

Y/N grabs The Joker’s right hand and starts dragging him after her, yelling:

“Out of the way! Out of the way, it’s an emergency!!” whilst everyone is wondering how can someone wearing those 7-inch stilettos can march so fast.

“Where are we going, Pumpkin?!” J is inquiring and you yank at his arm, alarmed.

“To the car!”

“Why?”

Y/N doesn’t have time for explanations: she basically flies across the parking lot to get to section B5, opens the van’s back door and shoves J inside. He lands on his abs as you relentlessly pull on his boots, accomplishing to take them off in record time. Then you heave at his tights, huffing a storm at the stiff garment:

“I’ll be damn if I’ll wait a month for a ride in Funky Town!”

A mother and her 11 years old son pass by and she covers his eyes, horrified at the indecency as she guides him throughout the maze of vehicles.

“There are children here!” the woman protests. “Get a room!”

Luckily, she wasn’t heard by The Clown and his girl because… victory! The stretchy pants are off, J only in his boxers now.

“How are you feeling?” you roll him and he exhales, assessing the damage succeeding Y/N swift actions.

“Not sure, same?... Sit on my lap,” J offers and you don’t need a second invitation.

“Well?” you hold in the anxiety reaching high levels under these dire circumstances.

“Dunno, kiss me and we’ll see.”

You kiss him and he purrs.

“Well?” you interrogate again.

“Kiss me again!” he orders and you put more passion into it since your future happiness depends on it. “Hmm…” J groans. “I believe things are improving.”

“Yeah?” Y/N is about to have another breakdown although J didn’t say sweet rubbish; it’s just that kind of occasion.

“U-hum!”

“Then… what do you say we go home and celebrate your recovery?” you whisper in his ear.

“What about Comic Con?”

“Screw it!” you hop off his knees. “I’ll drive, you focus on your convalescence, ok baby?”

“Ok,” The Joker agrees and begins to stride around the van as Bruce Wayne’s limousine happens to drive by, the billionaire preparing to attend the event he sponsored.

“Stop the car!” Bruce commands at the weird view in the distance: a man wearing a replica of his Batman suit-- helmet, mask, gloves, cape… but no pants or boots, the bottom part of his attire consisting solely of underwear. “Right when you think you saw it all…” he shakes his head in denial, oblivious about who the person is.

Mister Wayne should at least have some empathy for the man enduring those tights for as long as he could; it might not be a record, but who could ever beat the real Batman at wearing stretchy pants anyway?!

Also read: MASTERLIST   

https://diyunho.tumblr.com/post/153664676321/joker-x-reader-masterlist

You can also follow me on Ao3 and Wattpad under the same blog name: DiYunho.

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Birds of a feather, yandere together

Yandere Hizashi x Winged reader x yandere Keigo (Hawks)

I got the idea from reading the yandere purge ideas from Yanderemommabean. It really struck me with inspiration.

Finale- I am SO. GLAD. To finally have this done, and don’t think I should be as happy as I am for how it turned out. Enjoy 4,000+ words

warnings- some swearing and quick scene of death

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

It’s only two days before the Purge happens again. It was a disaster for the first time last year. Many of the people couldn’t handle it and there were way too many deaths on both sides. I was hidden away in my home since there was for sure no one that would be a yandere for me. All I had to do was stay out of the other yandere’s ways and everything would be fine. Just to be more on the safe side though, I’ve been building a small treehouse in the middle of the woods without telling anyone about it. The only way to get to the entrance was by flight.

I didn’t even tell my two best friends, Hizashi and Hawks. Still don’t know his real name, but that’s fine. It’s just much easier to make fun of him by calling him different types of bird nicknames. Hizashi is a part of it, and it’s a running joke between the three of us to call each other bird names.  

With the two of them being so busy, it’s pretty easy to never get on the topic. It feels wrong to lie, but no one can be trusted in the Purge, especially if my life is on the line. The only one I could really trust was good old ‘jean boy’ as I liked to call him. He recently went missing though. Can’t decide whether to hope he died, or he’s stuck somewhere with an overbearing yandere.

I shake the thought out of my head while walking to the destination to hang out with my two friends again. My enhanced hearing was problematic with all the chatter in the cafe. Some are talking about the two heroes hanging out, some saying how they hate one for one reason or another, and some just saying they hate heroes for some personal reason. There was an interesting conversation though. Two women who seemed to be in their mid-twenties gushing about the two men secretly being in a relationship. A smirk appeared on my face at the thought. The third at the other side of the table looking at the two like they’ve lost their minds.

“I swear they’re not normal. Their vibes feel yandere to me.” The two rolled their eyes at her. “Vibe? Seriously? That could TOTALLY be wrong though. You have been wrong about someone once or twice before.”

“But I’m sure about these two! They just don’t feel right!” The shorter of the duo rolled their eyes again. “You’re just jealous since you like Hawks.” She hid her face in her hands. “No, I got rid of that months ago when I first felt his vibe was off!” Both of them were doubtful. I decided to continue on before they realized I was creepily watching and eavesdropping.

… Why do they always insist to be in the hidden back part of the cafe? It’s always quieter at least. I stopped in my tracks before turning around the corner. “We can’t just clip their wings! I’d feel too bad doing it!” shrieked the familiar voice of Hizashi. Fear trickled in my stomach until I remembered Hizashi recently bought an unruly Cockatoo. He complains it keeps getting out of the cage and nearly being eaten by one of Shouta’s cats. He must be talking about that to keep the bird safe. Funny he bought a Cockatoo when Hawks and I like to call him the same thing.

“Calm down before we’re heard. Yeah, I have to agree though. Having fewer feathers feels so light.” Came the familiar voice of Hawks. I continued walking towards them. Hizashi’s eyes shined in happiness as they locked with mine. “Yo! You’re finally here!” Hawks is unamused as he looks at the clock on the wall next to him. “Big deal. They’re rather early.” He remarked. He looks at me and pats the empty seat between the two of them.

“Hey, little Chickadee. Come on over, we kept it nice and safe for you.” Hizashi gave him a “really dude?” look.

“That doesn’t even make any sense!” Hawks just replied with a lazy shrug. Hizashi gave him a stare-down and Hawks once again just replied by lazily staring back at him. For one odd reason or another, the sight made me laugh. Probably since they leaned close “glaring” at each other. Their faces weren’t even three inches apart. They both looked back at me with cheerful smiles.

After a bit of time to collect myself, I went over to the seat and sat between the two of them. Hawks wrapped an arm around my waist while Hizashi wrapped one around my shoulders. They then pulled themselves closer to me so our thighs were touching.

Sometimes I forget just how touchy they like to be. Well, Hizashi is predictable since Shouta warned me about it when we first became friends. He’s thankful I’m able to stop Hizashi from bothering him quite as often, but he still ends up making time to bother Shouta at the school. Hawks is a bit more unpredictable with his... I’m just going to say unique personality.

Hawks leaned back in the seat without changing his grip. It then struck me with a question as to how he wasn’t squishing his wing- I look over to see most of the feathers on a pile next to him. There were holes in the booth behind him. How have I never noticed that before? Moving my wings, there were two similar holes behind me.

He noticed what I was looking at. “Heh, it was done the last time we were here and you left. It was surprisingly cheap what they wanted for it to be done,” He looked over to Hizashi with a smirk on his face. “Guess it pays to be the number 2 hero.” He rolled his eyes at Hawks.

“Listen up, what ya dig is your business. For me? Doing what I do is much more fun than what you could ever do.” He then leans over me and pokes Hawks on the nose. He replied by having one of his feathers go to Hizashi and brush against his mustache. “Eh, whatever you say Cockatoo. I get paid more than you do with your three jobs combined,”

He then pressed his feather against the side of Hizashi’s mustache. “You’d probably do better without that ridiculous thing on your face. Why don’t I help you?” It was easy to tell Hawks was teasing and wouldn’t really do it. The smirk that grew on Hizashi’s face makes it known he knows it too. “Aw! Is a certain someone jealous of my beautiful face?”

“Beautiful isn’t exactly the word I’d use for it.” Hizashi let out a huff. “Well, it’s a good thing I never cared for your opinion, little Finch!” Shock went over Hawks’ face. “Wow, you finally came up with another one? Is it to mock my height? I may be smaller, but I can bet you it’s bigger than yours where it counts.” To say I choked on air is an understatement. I’m pretty sure I nearly suffocated myself with it in surprise at his bluntness.

They both started patting my back where my wings weren’t at.. “Easy there Chickadee/Mockingbird.” They said simultaneously. I remained coughing for a second. “Great, you broke them Hawks!”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have made fun of my height. I’m not even that short in the first place.”

Hizashi glared at him. “Well, I didn’t think you’d take it that way! Jeez, you’re really crampin’ the style of both of us!” Hawks blinked in confusion at him. “Sometimes I really don’t know what you’re trying to say. Right now is one of them.”

I was able to stop coughing, and just in time since the waitress came around the corner to us. She has the basic love-struck look at the two heroes. Honestly can’t blame her, they’re both incredibly attractive. Not going to lie, I did like them like two months ago, but it quickly went into the best friend feeling instead the more the three of us got to hang out.

She didn’t seem too happy to see me between the two. It’s clear she doesn’t know who I am since I prefer to stay more on the hidden side like Shouta. Only a few crazy fans have recognized me.

The guys’ grips tightened around me as she approached closer. She kept staring at Hawks in particular. She pulled out her notepad and pen. “Hello, I’ll be your waitress for today. Have you three figured out what you all want?” She asked, still not breaking eye contact with Hawks. Hizashi and I kept trying to hold in our snickers. Hawks removed his arm from around me to lightly elbow my side.

“Oh, we sure have!” We really didn’t, the three of us just always get the exact same thing we did before. I smirked at Hawks while Hizashi said what he wanted. “You’re obviously getting the chicken again, aren’t you? How in the world do you stay in such good shape?”

“You’re asking the wrong person, Chickadee. I have no idea myself, but I know I’m never giving it up.” I rolled my eyes. “Don’t doubt it for a second.”

“Did I hear that right sir? You’d like the chicken special I presume?” She questioned. Okay, that’s a little unprofessional. Even Hawks, the rather unprofessional man himself, seemed surprised at her act. “Yeah, that would be correct. I’ll take water with it.” I smirked at him. “So THAT’S how you balance it out, huh?”

He smirked back at me. “Aw, hush it Chickadee.” Hizashi seemed unimpressed with Hawks not changing his nickname. “Really, Seagull? Ya can’t just stick with the same nickname so often. Ya said the same nickname the last whole meeting!.” The feathers still on his back puffed up. “I am NOT near such a low kind of bird species!” The mischievous smirk formed on Hizashi’s face made it known what he might do. “Oooh! One that yanks your feathers! I might just have to keep it!”

Just hearing the name of that annoying bird reminds me of the time one ended up flying over me and taking a dump that landed on my wings. It took way too long to get it out. “Uh... I have to agree with Hawks on this one. I’d rather never hear that type of bird again. Remember that one time?”

It took them a second, but then their faces turned into sharp frowns. “Right! Sorry, I forgot about that, Mockingbird!” I deadpanned at him. The rapidly changing nicknames were getting confusing and annoying. I’m pretty sure I’ve heard at least half of the birds in the world by now.  “Can you two please just decide on a single nickname or something already? I’m getting tired of it.”

They both chuckled. “As you command, Chickadee.” Hizashi went into thought for a second with his right hand holding his chin. “You know what? I quite dig the Mockingbird one,” He snapped his fingers and pointed at me. Mockingbird it is!”

The woman cleared her throat in clear jealousy. I brushed it off and pretended it was just because she wanted to get our orders quickly. “Right! I’ll take the dark chocolate cheesecake with coffee, no cream or sugar.” The two of them still recoil at the thought of drinking coffee with nothing in it. I personally like the balance of the two. She nodded and walked off. I stayed quiet until she rounded the corner.

I then elbowed Hawks in his side rather roughly and looked at Hizashi. “He should have flirted with her! She seemed REALLY interested, didn’t she, Cockatoo?” He smirked as a reply.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what are your guys’ opinions on the Purge tomorrow night? Hopefully it won’t be as bad as last year. Picking up all those bodies was a nightmare.” I cringed at just the thought of it. Hizashi reached behind me and smacked Hawks on the back of his head.

“C’mon, now ya just ruined the mood! It shouldn’t be too much of a concern!” He then tried to comfort me by patting my back. It did little to help. “Nah, all I’m saying is I’m curious what little Chickadee is going to do.”

There was a dangerous glint he sent towards Hizashi that greatly unsettled me. Betrayal and hurt swarmed through my head for a second. Have they found darlings? Are they going to kill me to spend more time with them?  No! They must just be curious right? They wouldn’t hurt their best friend! I forced the thoughts down before they noticed my panicked state.

“Oh, just going to stay home and hide. Not like I have anyone after me, and it’s easier to stay out of other’s ways.” The two looked like they bought the lie. I felt too nervous to relax my wings. The two seemed to notice and share a look. “Why hide at your home? Since that will be going on, all heroes are off their duties. You could stay safe with us!” Hizashi joyfully implied. An edge in his tone made it not very believable though.

I pretended to bashfully rub the back of my neck. “That’s okay! I don’t want to be a bother for the both of you. Besides, it might be dangerous for me if people are after you two.” Hawks leaned back farther and looked up to the ceiling. “Wouldn’t doubt it. Wish them luck trying though.”

“Same here! Not every person can keep up with me! And they’re especially going to have a hard time if they’re,” He shivered. “A user of bugs.” I pat his shoulder reassuringly. That sounds like a nightmare. Probably is, especially for him. Hawks replied with a snicker. I glared at him and elbowed his side almost as hard as possible. That shut him up immediately, but it made Hizashi snicker instead.

“Ouch little Chickadee. You didn’t have to hit so hard.” He mocked.

“Well don’t laugh at that, or next time I’ll hit you harder!” I threatened. He rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you say, Chickadee.”

It didn’t take long after that for our foods and drinks to arrive. We caught up on other things before leaving. I stopped at my house and made preparations for tonight and tomorrow night.  I’m going to hide a day early just in case anyone has any ideas. Pretty sure that woman is going to come after me with how she kept glaring at me when Hawks and Hizashi bantered with each other. Of course, I have the upper hand, but I’m really not for hurting people unless it’s absolutely necessary.

It didn’t take too long to fill my needed bag for hiding. Okay, just to make sure...  Snacks? Yep. Drinks? Obviously. A flashlight? Yep. And also a few things to stay entertained for the nights. Can it really be night if it’s three in the morning? Last but not least, my phone is staying here. It could pretty easily be tracked.

I kept glancing around while walking to make sure no one was watching me. There was a familiar black-clothed male running up on the rooftops. Relief flooded through me, it was just Shouta. Wait… Hizashi usually isn’t-

“Hey, Mockingbird! Surprised to see you out at this time! Couldn’t sleep, huh?” I shoved my bag out of sight behind me. “Yeah, it’s also really nice weather. Thought I’d go for a quick walk.” Shouta stopped, and it was easy to tell he was glaring at Hizashi from here. He could easily tell too. “Well, gotta go before the grump gets worse! See ya later!’ He ran off to catch up below Shouta. Shouta and I locked eyes. He… nodded at me? He must know. Can’t thank him enough.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get to the hidden place. It’s just big enough for me and a little wiggle room. Blankets are already laid on the floor for better cushioning. One thing I stupidly didn’t think about was room for my wings. They’re just going to be really stiff later on. I reached for my pocket radio just to listen to Hizashi tomorrow. He’s able to broadcast at his home.

… Wait… Where is- SHIT! How could I have forgotten the radio!? Ugh, I have to go get it. Staying in silence will drive me insane. A thorough debate went through my head if it was worth the risk. I decided to just go for it and run as fast as possible back to my home. It was a quick trip and thankfully I didn’t run into either Shouta or Hizashi on my way home or back. As the adrenaline started to fade, sadness and fear enveloped my mind. Did… Was everything between the three of us fake? Did I know anyone they may be interested in? But they seemed genuine every visit we did together. Before it got too far, I decided to plug in my headphones and just listen to the radio until tonight.

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

Time flew by faster than I thought since it was already only a few hours before the Purge begins. I made sure to quickly run and use the nearest bathroom before coming back, and put new batteries in my radio. I’m really tired, but keep trying to fight it for fear of being found. Not likely, but possible. Listening to the same songs is maddening to the point I don’t know if silence would be worse or better. My wings are already getting sore, and it probably would have been better to layer the floor with one more blanket. Rather envious of Hawks with his wings right now. . . . . “Welcome dear listeners to the CRAZY time of year again!” I was jolted awake by the familiar loud voice of Hizashi through my headphones. Yikes, somehow fell asleep. “Now, there have been a few changes of rules from the disaster of last year. Nothing much! But one of the biggest changes will be the handling of your darlings! No harm can be done to them. Nor can any quirks be used for your advantage. If that is found to be broken, your darling WILL be able to be set free.

Another rule is they must be able to leave the house at least once a week. There will be occasional checks to make sure that is being followed,” My eyes widened in surprise. Man, they’re really cracking in new laws this year.

“And a final rule added, no more than two people can be killed per person. You can thank a specific person that killed fifteen people last year for that,” Well, that’s sure reassuring in a way. Looking at the clock on the radio, it was going to start in two minutes.

“I can’t deny, this is rather fun to think about finally having my darling as well! It’s so cut they think they can hide!” Heh, they sure got the right idea. I know he’d never treat them badly, on the contrary, the exact opposite. They’d be smothered. Being smothered definitely isn’t for everyone though. Thoughts swarmed in my head how it wouldn’t be that bad- no, he doesn’t see me like that.

Due to the volume not being very high, I was able to hear the sound of rustling leaves of the trees nearby. It sounded too big to be just a squirrel or raccoon, so my guard was up.

“Ready everyone!?  

In THREE. . .

TWO. . .

ONE. . .”

The sirens started blaring.

“GOOOOOO!!!” He then went quiet for a second while my anxiety started steadily rising, Him not talking for even a few seconds feels abnormally unsettling.

“See ya soon… Darling…” His voice was uncharacteristically calm and eerie. I don’t like it…

Almost instantly, there was a noise right outside the entrance. Looking over, sure enough, it was the waitress from that night. Next to her was someone else. A male with some type of clear wings.Some kind of insect. Welp, might as well know them before I fight in self defense. “I get why you’re here, but who are you?”

The man crossed his arms. “Her and I don’t like how close you’ve come with our heroes.” Fuck. Guess there really was a target on my back huh? “It sounds pretty impossible for Hizashi to like you because of your insect wings. You know how much he hates them.”

“I’ll make him love them and me! I’ll show him the beauty of bugs! But first, you have to go.” They both can’t get in here at the same time. He stood in front while the woman tried to enter to kill me. Before she can even try to enter, a giant red… Familiar… feather plunged through her chest. He must want to kill me himself huh? What a cruel world.

“Heh, he wouldn’t be too thrilled with that,” He raised a few feathers around him. “And honestly? Neither would I.” In the blink of an eye, multiple feathers went through the male.

Wait, he can’t kill me now since he already did the limit! He tossed the two dead bodies to the ground that left a sickening “thump” as they hit the hard ground below. He was still so nonchalant that it’s like he’s done it plenty of times before. He leisurely stretched. “You’re lucky Cockatoo told me to keep an eye on you this morning. Who knows what could have happened to you if I wasn’t here.”

I glared at him. “I can take care of myself.”

“Can you now? Did you know that villain’s quirk was to make you unable to move? If you could take care of yourself, why did you hide?” His tone had a hint of scolding in it. I wasn’t able to speak before he started again.

“Gotta admit, you’ve got a pretty good hiding place. Would be hard to spot for most. Your wings look really cramped though, so why don’t you come out of there before I make you?”

The warning in his voice activated my fight or flight reflex. I lunged towards him and passed before he could grab me, and took off in the sky. There’s no way to beat him physically, but believe it or not, I can fly faster than him. Never have I been so thankful for that. Guess being a Hummingbird has its advantages. I’m now regretting not using it to get home and back. None of them would have been able to follow me.

Hawks let out a grunt of annoyance. “Come on Chickadee, you’re just making this longer than it has to be.” He’s close. Too close… I kept flying and went towards the buildings. Hopefully the chaos around will end up hitting Hawks.

My breath was already starting to become uneven . I may be faster, but he has a lot more stamina. “Now!” Hawks suddenly yelled.

Something- someone jumped onto my back from the roof of a building which made me fall towards the ground. My wings are smaller than Hawks, so I can’t carry anyone while flying.

Panic hit me hard as I noticed one particular thing about who it is. Black leather. I brace myself for the pain to hit the ground. It never came though. Hawks caught up and used his feathers to slow down the fall. Hizashi refused to let go, and is hugging me in an almost bone crushing way.

As soon as my feet hit the ground, Hawks caught me in a bone crushing hug in the front. I could barely breathe while trying to get better from the flight. “So this is how you guys are going to kill me?” I asked between breaths.

They both froze. “What?” They asked simultaneously. Hawks lightened his grip and wrapped his wings all the way behind Hizashi and nuzzled into the right side of my neck.

“No, no, no, dear Mockingbird! Ya got it all wrong. You ARE the one we love!”

“And now that we have you?” Hawks started, whispering lowly into my ear.

“We’re not letting you go, little Mockingbird.” Hizashi finished, kissing my lips. Hawks then kissed my neck at the same time.

I should be a lot more concerned than I am about this, but I’m not. “By the way, call me Keigo.” Hizashi smirked. “So the mystery bird does have a name!”

“Yeah, just don’t go waving it around. I’d rather keep my mystery.” He replied, slightly loosening his grip. “Your secret is safe with me! Anyways, let’s go, this is no place to cuddle!”

“Can do Cockatoo. Just hang on.” He unwrapped his wings around us and used some of his feathers to get us in the air. This probably counts as using his quirk, but they’re people I care about and trust, so I won’t tell.

[eleanorbloom]

When You’re Ready Ch. 15

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x f! MC (Eleanor Bloom) x Ethan Ramsey.

Word Count: 4.9k

Warnings: Mentions of emotional abuse, specially gaslighting. Angst and some cussing words.

A/N: Hello! It’s time to know more about Eleanor’s story!

I wanted to post a new chapter on Wednesday but I’ve been sick all wee so I wasn’t able to write as much as I wanted. I’m sorry if this chapter is a mess, I’ve been sleeping all day and only eating water biscuits (I’m hangyyyy), but at least the most important parts in this chapter are comprehensible and you can decide now if you want to kill me or not hehehe.

A/N2: If I had written this series only from Ethan’s POV there’s no doubt I would’ve called Exile, because the songs literally talks about him and how badly he deals with the fact that Eleanor moved on and she’s with someone else (Maria, I’m talking to you, your guess was absolutely right!).  However, in this chapter I used Taylor’s POV, but what Ethan feels can be definitely described with Justin Vernon’s  parts. Okay, I’ve been gushing about this song for weeks, but I can’t help it,  it’s so fucking angsty and I love it too much!

Okay, okay. Enjoy today’s chapter!

  Taglist @utterlyinevitable @binny1985 @shanzay44 @choicesficwriterscreations @laiba-the-person @starrystarrytrouble @lahellacute @lucy-268  @cinnamonspongecake @romewritingshop @bratzlahela @hermosaofraleighcarrera   @mercury84choices​

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Chapter 15: Exile

I think I’ve seen this film before

And I didn’t like the ending

You’re not my homeland anymore

So I’m leaving out the side door.

 I love you.

Those were the three words she always wanted to hear from him, but ironically, she heard them from Bryce first, the person she wasn’t in love with. And now that she finally heard them, it wasn’t like she imagined it at all.

None of the several situations she fantasized about in her mind could anticipate these mixed feelings.

It was relieving, but, somehow, it also felt strange, distant. 

Eleanor thought maybe she was afraid of being hurt again, that even if Ethan was offering her everything, and saying all the things she always wanted to hear, there was still a chance that in the end, he might hurt her, just like the many times he did before.

When she felt his skin, his hand over her lips, it brought her memories of their first kiss in Miami, the beginning of everything. The moment she started embracing the possibility of being with him, despite how forbidden it was because he was an attending and she was an intern. Before that moment, she would’ve never guessed Ethan wanted the same.

Then she was transported to the first night together when he finally managed to open up about his feelings for her. The night she thought it was the beginning for them. But it wasn’t.

His skin made her react as a reflex, like she was reliving those nights, making her want for more. He had just become the sweet person she had been waiting for. He was apologizing, assuming his mistake, and telling her that she loved her. Again. Like there was nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. Like this time things would work. This time everything would be different.

But there was something wrong about that thought, but she wasn’t sure why.

So she kissed him, obeying her desires. She needed to remember how he felt. She had been holding back for so long that she felt like his words freed her, but the moment he placed his hands on her, everything faded. She froze up.

She woke up and realized where she was. Who she was. She wasn’t in one of her dreams, one of those moments she wanted so much to happen, where Ethan would confess, and they would kiss and be happy. And she wasn’t the woman who was dying to be with him

Things had changed. She had changed.

She wasn’t that woman anymore. The woman who dreamed that dream. Everything that she thought she wanted for so long, seemed to belong to someone else.

So she left as fast as he could. Something inside her was telling her that she had to run away, that she couldn’t keep with this. That it was wrong.

And now, walking outside her apartment, she was trying to understand why.

Why she was feeling so broken and guilty. And why that guilt was so familiar. Like she knew where it was coming from, but she was afraid of facing it.

A few minutes later, she slammed the door shut of her apartment, and ran straight to her bedroom, her breath ragging while tears streamed down her face. The guilt was growing and making her desperate.

“Eleanor is that you?”—She heard on the other side of the door.—“Can I come in?”

The sob didn’t let her speak until a few seconds later.

“Y… yes”

Aurora, wearing a gray and pink pajama, appeared behind the door, her brows furrowed in concern.

“Jesus, what happened?”—She asked, sprinting towards her when she noticed how agitated Eleanor was. She was red and her face shiny with tears.

“I…Fuck…”

It took her just a few moments to realize what was wrong.

“Eleanor, you’re having a panic attack, let me help you with your jacket.”

Aurora leaned toward her neck, zipped the jacket down, and then tugged it out.

“Do you want some water?”

Eleanor nodded.

After a few seconds, Aurora came back to her room and handed her a glass of water.

“There.”

Eleanor received the glass with both hands, trembling, and took a few sips. After a couple minute she felt how her heart started to beat at a more normal rate, the sobs had decreased, and she was able to think and talk with more clarity.

“Feeling better?”

“Yes, thank you, Aurora.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Eleanor hesitated. She didn’t know if Aurora suspected or knew anything about Ramsey and her, and if at this point would make sense to tell her. But she needed to talk to someone, she needed to get all out of her chest and understand why she was reacting like that, and she wouldn’t make Sienna come back from Donahue’s just to hear her misery.

“I… I don’t know if you know this but… Something happened between Ramsey and me in our first year.”

Aurora nodded silently, then added:

“I wasn’t sure, honestly. I had my suspicions because you were devastated after he went with the WHO to the Amazon, but I’m not a fan of snooping in other people’s lives, so I never asked.”

She gave her a humorless chuckle, wondering if the entire hospital noticed the shitty state she was in when he left. She knew she was pathetic in those weeks, but she had managed to forget it, all thanks to Bryce.

“Yes, well, we ended what we had the night before he left. And tonight, he told me he wants me back.”

“Aren’t you with Bryce?”

“Yes, I am, but the thing is…”

Eleanor explained the basics so Aurora could understand her dilemma. The agreement with Bryce, that it all started a little bit casual but after a few weeks things got pretty serious, because she started feeling things for Bryce, but she still loved Ethan, and Bryce knew all that.

“Are you saying… Bryce is with you even knowing you still love Ethan… and he will let you go if you choose to be with him?”

Aurora was shocked.

“Yes, pretty much.”

“This dude is insane, and a saint.”

“I know.”

“And why this has you this bad, this is not what you wanted? With, Ramsey, I mean.”

“That’s what I wanted at first. But then things with Bryce worked out better than I thought, so I truly wanted to be over Ethan, cause I got too hurt. But then I heard him saying all those things and I felt like he’s really going to change and do things right this time, and for a moment I considered that maybe things would work, but then I started feeling so bad, like guilty, like… like… Oh.”

Like someone used to make her feel years ago.

“What is it?”

“How stupid I’ve been.”

Even after all these years and that she swore to herself that she wouldn’t repeat the same pattern, she had done exactly that, and that night she had been about to do exactly that again, but luckily, she caught herself on time.

Eleanor took a breath. She hadn’t thought about it in years, let alone speak about it, and she didn’t know if she was ready to do it, considering how bad it made her react, but having Aurora by her side would make things a lot easier. It was something she needed to do to end the cycle.

“I had a boyfriend in Med School, Dylan.”—She started, trying to control her shaky voice— “He was a year older than me. At first, it was all good, he was cute, caring, and we shared a lot of goals, but then… he changed a lot. When he realized I was top of my class, he felt jealous, and he started diminishing me, telling me that I wasn’t spending enough time with him, that I wasn’t too committed to our relationship. What he was doing, was making me feel guilty for my success, just because he wasn’t as successful as I was.”

Aurora stared at her quietly, paying complete attention to what she was saying and prepared for any reaction that could trigger what she was about to say. She could sense it was a sensitive topic for Eleanor.

“After a while, I realized what was the problem. It wasn’t me, it was him. He was insecure and felt threatened by me, but he picked it on me. So instead of dumping him, I wanted to heal him, to show him that he couldn’t feel that way, that he was enough and all that. But it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t interested in healing and I got tired.”

She breathed heavily and then closed her eyes, large tears falling over her cheeks.

“We were more than a year like that, me asking for forgiveness for something he did, and then, when I was trying to heal him, it was him apologizing for tearing me apart and blame me for his failures. I stuck with him ‘cause I foolishly I believed I could heal him. I’ve always been like that, even with friendships, but with him, it reached toxic levels. He manipulated me so well that he made me believe I was the problem.”

She sobbed again, remembering the loneliness of those months, how he parted her from her friends and made her believe she was the problem, that she wasn’t trying enough for them. How at some point he made her believe she was selfish and she didn’t deserve anything, that she was lucky he still loved her.

“Until one day I opened my eyes with the help of some friends. They showed me all the horrible things he did to me, all the lies and manipulations. So I left him. I felt guilty for a long time, though. Thinking that I should’ve tried harder, but then when I saw all clearly, I let him go. And of course, after what I’d been through, it was really hard to trust in a man again. My next boyfriend was almost like a convenience, I was bored of casual hookups, so I started dating a guy just because I needed some stability, but I didn’t get involved much. But then I met Ethan and I couldn’t help but… Being involved with him. We had a strong connection. He understood me like no one just in a few weeks.”

And at that moment, remembering how it had been her story with Dylan, and how things developed with Ethan, it was evident for her that she had fallen in love with the idea of him. Because she didn’t know him at all. The only glimpses she got, were when he opened about Naveen, but she didn’t know him more than that. So she idealized the rest. She idealized him simply because he understood her, and she still believed at that moment that no one could love her. Dylan had branded her with fire.

“But then, when he acknowledged he had feelings for me, something stopped us from being together, and he pushed me away. I tried to make it work, but he thought our relationship was impossible. He didn’t want to jeopardize my career, and that was more important than what he or I want. And somehow I understood it, but I knew there was more than that. And effectively, it was. He healed from that and now he wants to make it work”

Eleanor shook her head, kind of amused.

“After all the hell I lived, he wants me back, and somehow I have to do like nothing happened. But I can’t. I won’t make the same mistake again. It would be like betraying myself, like coming back to my med school boyfriend.”

“I agree, this situation does seem a bit like what you lived with your ex-boyfriend.”

“Yeah, kinda. I’m not saying Ethan is like him, at least he didn’t do the emotional abuse this imbecile did to me, but he did hurt me, he hurt me before he left, when he left, he hurt me when he came back and acted like an asshole because I was with Bryce, and made me feel guilty for moving on. So, no, I can’t be with a person that made me feel so miserably, even if he didn’t do it consciously.”

After a few moments, Aurora slid an arm and pulled Eleanor towards her.

“I’m so sorry you had to live this, Ellie. I’m glad you could get out of that hell, and that you’re doing something for yourself now. Thank you for telling me.”

“Thank you for listening and helping me. I hadn’t thought about it in years. That’s why I reacted so badly.”

“It’s okay, I’m glad I was here to be for you.”

Eleanor pulled out and gave her a sad smile.

“And what about your feelings after this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you still love Ramsey? Because of what I understood, that’s the only thing that has parted you from Bryce.”

That was a whole different topic. But by this time, Eleanor already knew the answer: She wasn’t.

“I still have feelings for him, maybe I’ll never stop loving him in some way, but no, I’m not in love with him anymore.”

In the last months since he was back, she had been in love with the idea of him, and the person who could’ve wanted to know the real Ethan Ramsey, all healed and in love, didn’t exist anymore.

That person started to die the moment Eleanor looked into the golden eyes of the sweet and caring Bryce Lahela and told him she wanted to try with him. When she chose herself for once in her life.

And that person had died tonight when she opened her eyes and realized that she didn’t belong to him anymore. Ethan wasn’t her place anymore, he hadn’t been in a long time, but the illusion of him made her believe he was. And that illusion vanished with a simple kiss.

“And what about Bryce? Do you think things are gonna change after this?”

“I hope so. All this time I’ve wanted so bad to end this crap with Ramsey… But I never considered that maybe I’m still scared of what happened to me before. Like… I’ll live the same shit again, even if he has proved me enough that he would never hurt me.”

“I guess those scars take years to heal and is more difficult when you’ve been hurt again and so recently.”

“Yeah, it took me a couple of years to not think about it, and before now I had it completely blocked in my brain.”

“You know, I’m clear that you’re the only one who can decide this, but I think you have nothing to worry about with Bryce. I’m not a person who would stake my neck for anybody, but I can tell that he’s the one for you.”

“You really think so?”

“The way he looks at you, how he cares about you, how he treats you? God, yes, I’m sure. I’ve never seen a man so in love like him. He’s like a puppy with you.”

Eleanor chuckled, agreeing with Aurora.

“And the way your eyes shine with you’re with him? How happy you are? He makes me appreciate him even more just for the way he’s with you.”

“Awww, Aurora, that’s too cute”

“I’m just saying. I do hope you realize he’s the one. Maybe you’re completely in love, Eleanor, it’s just that you’ve been too afraid to assume it, and is understandable with all the hell you have lived.”

She nodded, thoughtfully.

“Perhaps.”

“In the meantime, you have to resolve this thing with Ramsey. After that’s settled, you’ll find out your answer.”

Aurora stood from the bed, and Eleanor followed suit.

“You’re right. First things first.”

“I’ll leave you to it, do you think you’ll be okay by yourself?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”—She replied, smiling, but after a few seconds, it faded.—“You’re not mad at me for what happened this afternoon?”

“No, are you?”

“No, of course not. I’m actually sorry for what happened. I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”

“I should’ve imagined Tobias would have second intentions.”

“Well, that’s how things are now, but we are good, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“Come here.”

Eleanor wrapped her arms around Aurora’s back and held her tightly.

“Thank you, Aurora, I’m so happy to have you in my life.”

“I’m happy to have you in mine as well.”

*

An hour later, after tossing and turning in bed, she was standing in front of Ethan’s apartment, feeling a pit in her stomach. What she was about to do it wasn’t easy. To a man she had love, and to a man just a few hours ago had spilled out his feelings for her.

But it had to be done.

She knocked on the door, but no answer. After a minute, she rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, he opened. He was disheveled and confused. Still dressed. Eleanor assumed he had fallen asleep on the couch.

He looked surprised when he recognized her. It was pretty late.

She had imagined in her head that she would speak the very moment he would open the door, but she couldn’t.

How do you start something like this? What are the kindest words to put an end to this?

He turned to her once the door was closed.

“It’s over, Ethan”

His eyes widened, but it was hard to know what he was feeling.

“W… What do you mean?”—He asked after a few seconds.

“Us. I… I’m not in love with you anymore.”

She saw how his world fell apart the moment her words reached his ears. It took him a while to placate his feelings, the sadness that was invading him.

“Can I ask why? What happened?”

"I'll never be able to forgive what you did. You hurt me too many times and I can’t let myself come back where I was so hurt. My love is not unconditional as yours, you made me realize that.”

He nodded.

“I’m sorry if somehow I made you believe we still had a chance, but the truth is… we never had. From the beginning. That day in your car, when you asked me if it was too late, I should’ve said that it was, but a part of me, part of me that doesn’t exist anymore, forced me to open the door. But the door has been closed since you left, since you pushed me away, and tonight when you said all those things, I could see it clearly.”

“I understand. Thank you for your honesty.”

“I know it’s not the most appropriate hour, but I needed to finish this as soon as possible. I’m sorry it had to be this way.”

“Eleanor, you have nothing to apologize for. It was my fault. You gave everything you had to make it work, and I ruined it. I missed my chance, I missed the one hundred chances you gave me. I’m the one in debt with you.”

Eleanor gave him a sad smile when she saw his eyes full of tears. She would’ve never imagined Ethan would exposer himself that way. But she was grateful for finally seeing some honesty in his feelings.

“You were brave, after all.”

“I thought I made a mistake saying all those things.”

“No, it was the right thing. I’m glad I could finally know what you feel about me. It was the least I deserved, don’t you think?”

Eleanor wiped the tears falling from his sky-blue eyes.

“Of course. I wish it could’ve been sooner, and that I hadn’t hurt you this bad. But that’s how things are. It was my mistake.”

He took her hand on his before she could pull them away, and he closed his eyes, losing himself in her touch.

It broke her seeing this way. But there was nothing she could do now.

He wasn’t ready when she was, and now that he was, she would never be ready for him. She was hoping to be ready for someone else.

She pulled away gently, and he opened his eyes, looking at her, shattered.

“I know this will be awkward for a while, but I really hope we can be friends someday. When we both heal. I don’t wanna lose you.”

He cleared his throat before speaking. His lips were quivering.

“That would be nice.”

He gave her the saddest smile she had ever seen.

“Goodnight, Ethan.”

It was a bittersweet goodbye.

“Goodnight, Eleanor.”

 When she came back to the open air, she breathed deeply. She felt lighter, happier, and somehow a lot more secure about her life than ever before.

She checked her cellphone and realized it was 3.35. There was no point in going home and grab a poor hour of sleep, so she requested an Uber to the hospital instead. Once there, she took a shower, changed into clean scrubs, and then she went to the on-call room and to take a nap until there was time to do rounds.

It was a busy morning, and she barely had the time to check on her friends or Bryce. She wanted to see him. He needed to know what had happened, but he would be in surgery all day, so she’d have to wait until the evening.

Her necessity for him increased critic levels when Eleanor found out Kyra’s cancer was worsening. She texted him to meet when he had some spare time, but he didn’t reply to her messages all day.

The afternoon went in a blur with her visit to Mass Kenmore to convince Senator Farrugia of going to Edenbrook to get treated.

By the end of her shift, she was exhausted. The fact that she only slept an hour in the on-call room was clearly manifesting.

She was about to go home with her hopes down when her pager went off. Bryce hadn’t responded to her messages and she had the feeling that he was hurt because she went to have dinner with Ethan. She couldn’t blame him.

When she entered Kyra’s room, he was sitting by her side, both laughing at each other’s banters.

Eleanor's eyes lightened when she saw him, but when he turned to her, she could decipher he wasn’t feeling the same, as his smile didn’t reach his eyes.

When Kyra told her Bryce would do a procedure that could save her life, her stomach fluttered violently. If she already admired Bryce for how talented he was, Eleanor felt her chest was about to explode with that news. She was so proud she wanted to cry.

About fifteen minutes later, after talking about the procedure and encouraging Kyra for her decision, they both left the room.

“How have you been?”—She asked softly, once Bryce closed the door—“I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”

“Yeah, I know”—Bryce scratched the back of his head, tense.—“Has been a hectic day, that’s all.”

“Can we talk?”

His eyes betrayed him a bit, exposing his fear, but after a while, he managed to act nonchalant.

“Actually, I have no brains for nothing more than to drive home and sleep. I’m drained.”

“Oh. Of course. Send Keiki a kiss for me, okay?”

“Sure.”

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and left.

Eleanor stared at him walking down the hall, fighting the tears that wanted to come out of her eyes.

Of course, it hurt her that Bryce was distant. She knew she deserved it, but never thought it would be so damn painful.

But why?

It was her ego? Or the honest feeling of not wanting to lose him?

The next day wasn’t any different. She hadn’t had the chance to see him all day until she bumped into him  in her way to the atrium, before going to the interview with the Senator.

“I’m going to A.N.B Studios with Ethan, Senator Furriaga invited us.”—She announced, trying to obtain a smile from him.

“Look at you, two TV interviews in one day. Next month they’re gonna give you a segment in Good Morning America.”

He teased, but his smile wasn’t the usual, again. And she could tell he was putting an effort into talking to her.

“Bryce… We need to talk. I know you’re crossed with me.”

He nodded imperceptibly.

“Yeah, I know we need to talk, but not now, and not tonight, at least. I have to focus on Kyra’s surgery tomorrow and I need time to study and my mind clear.”

He evidently was thinking the worse about their conversation, but Eleanor didn’t want to push him. He had every right to put distance between in a moment like that. Kyra’s surgery was complex, and she would respect the time and distance he was asking her.

“Of course, whatever you need.—She responded.

“Good luck with that interview.”

He was about to leave when she took him by the wrist.

“Could you give me a kiss, at least?”

Her words were soft and almost imploring, so were her eyes.

She tried her best to hide how she was feeling. How scared she was at the possibility that he hurt him so badly that he would push her away. She didn’t want this. She’d always been scared of this and finally was seeing the consequences of her actions.

Bryce gave her a half-smile and leaned to kiss her on the lips, chastely.

“Thank you.”

“See ya, Elle.”

And he left without looking back.

Eleanor continued her way to the atrium, thinking about Bryce and how scared he was. He was protecting himself. Eleanor knew he was just preparing himself for the worst, and trying to be ready to be on his own again.

But what she did not know, was the magnitude of his fears, insecurities, and his pain. Bryce never told her how bad he felt about all the Ethan thing, she just suspected. But it didn’t bother her. Since that moment she lost all fears. She realized she didn’t care what she had to face, or how hard it would be. She wanted to know every part of him, even the tough ones, and she would fight for him, to show him he has nothing to be scared of. 

Suddenly she saw herself standing in Leland Bloom’s yacht, thinking about the level of depth and understanding she had reached with Bryce, and that she hadn’t reached with anyone else.

And Eleanor knew in that moment that if Bryce decides one day to open the door to his fears and traumas, Eleanor would dive in, no matter what she might find in the depths. She wanted to know all his fears, his pains, insecurities, joys, and miseries. All the things that made him the man he was today, the man she loved. 

When she knew about Keiki and his family, she didn’t even have to think about it, she wanted to help him. She wanted to be with him and for him. Support him, accompanying him.

When they stopped talking for days, she understood he was hurt and scared, and she respected his space and time.

There was never anguish and desperation. He missed him, yes. But she knew he needed space, and that on time, they would talk through things. And they did. 

Eleanor smiled, noticing how different things were with Bryce, compared to what she had lived in pasts relationships. He had a way to always bring the best of her even in worst situations, just like now. Because she wasn’t desperate to fix things between them. She wanted to solve it and make it work out. And she didn't want to heal him. 

And, if she was honest, with him everything was different.

From the fact that he never hid his feelings, and he was always upfront from the beginning.

In the way she was in his first priorities, and he always managed to find the time to be with her, even if it were five minutes, or just to say hi or steal her a kiss.

In the way how protective and caring he was with Keiki, and how much effort he was putting in become a better person to give Keiki everything their parents hadn’t given her, and him either.

In the way he looked at her, always with love and tenderness, and his words always conveyed what he was feeling for her. Love and admiration. Passion and understanding.

In the way he respected her space, her times, her feelings and insecurities, and how he offered everything just to show her what happiness was, assuming that maybe he wouldn’t be the one in the end.

In the way he showed her what real love was, without hurting, without all the misconceptions she had thanks to past experiences. 

That and in a million ways more. All of them leading to the same conclusion:

Bryce Lahela was exceptional. Unique. The person who had made her the happiest in her whole life. And she wanted to be with him, through thick and thin, forever. Grow together, get to know each other, protect and support each other.

And she wanted to love him. God, she wanted to love him deeply and unconditionally. She wanted to make him happy, and give him everything he had given to her and more. 

A warm and evolving feeling coursed through her body, with the big and final realization. A revelation, something she snesed that had been inside her for a while, but only today she was abe to see it.

She was in love with him.

Eleanor had fallen for Bryce at last.

____

[scullyy]

Birthday Boy

Word Count: 2.8k

Summary: It's AJs' birthday! The kids have gathered around for another rockin' hootenanny!

A/N: brUH I’ve been working on this for agesssss and it’s finally dooooneeeeee ~~and it’s still not my best but I TRIED and perfection doesn’t eXIST-~~ it’s a VERY belated birthday gift for @bluebutterfly1 cause she’s been wanting this foREVER. SHE'S AMAZING OKAY-

so yeah this is based off a deleted scene from TFS where it was AJ’s birthday and what not anyways ily and enjoy x

-

It was hard being a kid sometimes, not having the words to describe how you're feeling, not even knowing what it is you are feeling was also a bummer. AJ had hoped he would know when he got older, especially by Clem's age. He would know so many more words and feelings and extra stuff about the world. He had already learned so much just from Aasims' teachings.

But Aasim hadn't taught him why everyone was giving him strange looks this one particular winter morning.

Clem was the first, she wasn't as good of a liar as she thought she was. There was this...odd smile on her face. AJ recognised it as the same smile Louis makes whenever he tries to get out of trouble. Ruby, Violet and Aasim had immediately zoomed off into the school once breakfast was done, only running out to share little whispers with Clementine. Omar was cooking something in his special big pot, more focused than AJ had ever seen, but he refused to tell the kid what it was.

He hadn't even seen Louis! Not even during breakfast! The only other person outside was Willy, still stationed at the watchtower. AJ's curious mind and talkative nature tried to squeeze as much info out of the young boy, but he was able to keep his mouth shut for once.

It all led him to sit beside Clementine in an unusual silence for the two, one that didn't sneak past her. Nothing AJ did - or in this case, didn't - could slip by her radar. "Why the long face kiddo?" Clem bumped her elbow into his shoulder, attempting to steal his attention.

AJ picked at a speck of dry skin on his hand, sporting a very obvious pout. "Did I do something wrong?"

That caught her off guard. Her leg trembled from both the cold and her deeply-bundled nerves. Keeping a secret, especially one she knew AJ was going to love, was tougher than she thought. "What makes you think that?" Her eyes moved rapidly from AJ and the school doors, keeping her crossed fingers hidden beneath her thigh. The other kids better be done soon...

"No one is talking to me. Like when I shot Marlon and everyone got mad at me. I didn't like that and I don't like this." He kicked at the air, his little legs still too short to touch the ground.

"I'm sure everything is fine-"

As her hand reached out to hold him, he pulled himself away, jumping straight to his feet. "Don't say that! I know you're lying!"

His desperation near broke her heart. She could never say no to his cute face, damn him. Heaving a sigh of defeat, she gave in. "Okay fine, follow me." The other kids would surely be pissed at her for letting on too early, but she would rather that than an upset AJ.

And boy did that remove the frown from his face. He bounded around her as she got her crutches in order, kicking up sparkling snow behind him. "Where are we going?"

"The music room-"

The young boy had bolted off before she could finish, reminding her of another young boy she used to know when this all started. "Slow down, kiddo! You're not the one on crutches!"

His eagerness outweighed Clem's command, which was usually his law. He could hear muted talking from within Louis' music room, a few giggles here and there too. He crept closer to the door, utilising his amazing ninja skills. His tiny hand gripped the tinier doorknob, opening the door just a crack to find...huh?

The doorknob was set free from his hand, which had now fallen loosely by his side as he took one quiet step into the room. "What's this?" AJ disturbed the other kids, finding them in compromising positions. Louis was on his very tip-toes, tying some blue tinsel around the fireplace, Aasim and Ruby were lighting the last of the candles as Violet was gently moving the gramophone back into it's original place.

It was a real life record scratch moment.

"Oh shit," Louis broke the silence first, drawing everyone's line of sight to the intruder. He chucked the last of the tinsel up onto the mantle in a careless manner before throwing his hands into the air. "Happy birthday AJ!"

The other kids all dropped what they were doing, raising their hands in line with Louis. "Happy birthday!"

Said child stood there with his mouth hung wide open, taking in the sight. "What?" It was the only word racing through his mind.

Louis kneeled down to his level, sporting one of the biggest smiles AJ had ever seen. "It's your birthday little dude, gotta celebrate it big time."

"My...birthday?" Whatwhatwhatwhatwhat-

Willy tugged on the thick tinsel that ran from the fireplace to Louis' piano. "We managed to scrounge up some decorations from the drama class."

"And we re-used the banner from the party back when these guys got kidnapped." Ruby pointed to the banner above the doorway. The original message 'We're getting them back' had been scribbled out and somehow replaced with 'Happy birthday Alvin Junior'.

AJ spun around, his eyes bouncing between all the bright decor; the flickering candles, the weird fuzzy stuff on the piano, it was all so new. "You did this..for me?"

A slightly puffed Clementine finally made her way into the room, smiling with pure glee at how well her friends decorated the space. She stood beside her boy, trying to decipher what he was feeling. "What do you think AJ?"

"It's awesome!" He threw his hands up into the air.

Louis looked between his friends, all of them sharing evil little smiles. "So, who wants to go first?"

"First in what?" AJ questioned, nearly vibrating at wondering what else they could have planned.

Clementine gently nudged him forward with her crutch, pushing him into the centre of the room. "Gift-giving."

"Gifts?" He continued to question. So much new knowledge in such a short span of time.

Louis dead-panned, merely wanting the festivities to begin. "If you keep asking questions we're going to be here all day. Of course, we got you gifts! It's a thing you give someone to show appreciation or celebrate, and today little dude we're celebrating you."

"I'll go first since my gift is the coolest," Violet was guided over to AJ by Ruby, her smile never wavering. From behind her back she presented a roll up parchment, the corners slightly ripped.

AJ pulled it open and blinked rapidly, taking in the faded faces and text. "Green Day? What's that mean?"

"They were a really cool band, before everything happened," Violet nodded to the outside world. "I figured you could hang it up in your room. If I ever find one of their records, you'll be the first to listen, little man." Slowly guiding her hand to the curve of his shoulder, she gave him a gentle punch.

AJ was still hung up on why a day would be green but appreciated the thought from Violet nonetheless. "They look cool...but what's on their eyes?"

Green Day was a rare source of joy from Violet's sordid childhood, a fleating sense of nostalgia washed over her as she came to realise it'll do the same for him.

Ruby skipped closer to AJ once Violet took a seat on the piano stool, thankful that she got to go next. "I figured since you've become an A+ gardener, you could have this little guy," She brandished from behind her back a small pot, with an even smaller plant inside. "If you take good care of it, he'll grow big and strong."

"Just like me!" AJ was near bursting at the seams; the flower was rather dainty, small and barely purple, yet ready to flourish.

She gently pinched his cheek, gushing openly. "Just like you," Ruby bounced away on her feet, feeling another sense of pride at impressing the tot. She patted Aasim on the back, which turned more into a push when he didn't catch onto her actions. "C'mon, it's your turn now!"

Aasim shuffled over, not bothering to hide his gift. He cleared his throat before passing it to AJ. "Here dude," In his grasp laid a tightly bound book, his name carved into the leather cover. His precious journal that he guarded so dearly the night they first met.

AJ took it gently, treating the book as if it were made of glass. "But it's yours?" He questioned, remembering their first encounter. How times had changed.

Aasim shrugged, unsure of what to say. Dammit, he had this all planned out beforehand! "It's ours. Think of it as 'Ericson's History Volume One', you can finish it off if you like."

"This is cool, I hope I can write as good as you." AJ was so captured by his friend's neat handwriting, he didn't notice Aasims' sincere smile.

"My turn!" Willy yelled, pushing Aasim out of the way in the process. His gift was the only wrapped one, albeit it was wrapped in old textbook pages. A tear in the paper revealed a small piece of wood shining through. "It's a slingshot! Mitch and I used to hit walkers with them all day, now we can!"

AJ hadn't even finished tearing the paper away, but his heart still soared. "That's cool, I wish Mitch was here." He added quietly.

Willy lowered his head, gently fidgeting with his own fingers. "Me too."

Their friend's passing left a forever space in every room, an unnerving emptiness that will never go away.

"Okay Willy, my turn," Omar butted in, wanting to steer the conversation back to the joy. He handed AJ a wooden spoon with a neat little bow wrapped around the handle. "It's my best spoon. You can use it to help me cook dinner tonight."

Louis whipped his head to Omar, shooting daggers from his eyes. "You never let anyone help!"

Omar kept a strong smile as he turned to his friend, unphased. "No, I don't let you help because unlike you the kid actually listens to instructions."

"I listen, just like to take a more...casual approach to cooking." He shrugged, finding a sudden interest in his shoes.

"If by casual you mean undercooking the fish, then sure."

Louis poked his tongue out at his friend before sauntering over to AJ, ready to present the greatest gift of all fucking time. "I figured it's time for an upgrade, say goodbye to that crusty knife," Louis whipped out a small bar stool from behind him, holding it out in front of the boy.  "I present...Stoolio! Get it? Cause it's a stool."

"Nope!" AJ beamed brighter than Clem had ever seen, despite the joke flying way over his head. Louis just had that effect on people. The stool was heavier than it seemed, as it immediately hit the floor when AJ took ahold of it. The faded wood declaring the weapons' age, AJ traced the deep cracks with his fingers. "I think I'll call it CJ, Chairles Junior, like my name."

"That's a much better name. It's strong like you too. It defeats monsters, protects people and looks super cool." He purred, selling the gift as only the best of the best.

AJ looked between his new weapon and Louis, letting the weight of it settle in his small palms. It was stronger than his little knife, though not as easy to hold as his gun. But if Louis could do it, so could he. "Sounds more like you."

Clementine noticed the hitch in Louis' breath, both their hearts thumping from the young boys' sentiment. Louis could feel his heart slip up into his throat, thumping faster than his breathing could keep up. "Uh, wow, thank you. It's both of us."

If only AJ was aware of how much his statement meant to Louis, how he would hold onto it during his weakest hours. If that kid could believe in him, he must be doing something right.

Louis cleared his throat, choking back a quiet sob as his heart settled back down. "There's one final surprise, from all of us." He hopped over to a box beside the ladder, dragging Omar over with him.

The boys reached into the box and began to lift something of great weight, as they struggled to keep a tight grip. "Just don't ask how we got it." Omar heaved, forgetting just how little muscle he truly had.

From the box emeregd something AJ could only imagine in his wildest daydreams. A...giant...Disco Broccoli!

The tot stood in pure disbelief, his jaw hanging wide open. "Is that-"

"Oh hell yeah it is," Louis sneered, maybe just a little more excited than AJ.

The boys set it down besides the dusty fireplace, with Omar wiping his brow. "You like it?"

AJ wandered closer, getting a better look. It was certainly Disco Broccoli, despite there being a hole in his cartoon hand. He had the cool glasses and everything! But he looked...funny. "What...what is it?"

Louis clasped the tots' shoulder, it was always a fun venture showing him something from the old world. Seeing the wonder in his wide eyes, made the hassle Louis went through to get the damn thing worth it. "It's a pinata, bro! You hit it and stuff is supposed to come out."

Omar tapped the side of the pinata, being greeted by a soft echo. "There's nothing in it, but it's still fun to hit."

"You can use Chairles Junior there." Louis was nearly bouncing at the idea as he handed the stool leg to the birthday boy, ready for the absolute carnage he was about to witness.

AJ gripped his new(ish) weapon tightly, eyeing down the funny looking Disco Broccoli. "Awesome."

Clem watched from the piano as AJ tried to lift the stool above his head, nearly tipping over from its' weight. Her thoughts drifted to a dream she had, Lees' words at the forefront of her thoughts. "Wanting to give him a childhood, but knowing what it takes for him to survive."

"You okay, Clem?" Louis bumped his shoulder with hers, breaking her away from her memories.

Nodding slightly, Clementine hoped he couldn't notice the tears in her eyes. "Yeah, thanks for this. It's amazing."

"No problemo, it's good to see him smile."

Clem continued to watch AJ laughing with his friends, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "He's been doing that a lot since we've arrived here."

Louis continued to gaze at her, despite her not noticing. "You both have."

-

Just as it had always been, Clem and AJ sat side by side together on the steps of the courtyard, appreciating the rare beauty of the sunset. The sky a gallery of purely blue and purple. Clem disrupted the silence first, after having spent a lengthy amount of time remembering Rebecca and Alvin, wondering if they would be proud of their young boy. "Can I admit something?"

AJ curiously turned to her, awaiting with an eager tap in his foot.

"I don't actually know if today is your birthday," She pouted. "I know it's at the start of winter, but that's it. There were no calendars, no way to check the date. I just kinda had to guess every year. I also don't know how old you actually are." If she had to guess, either six or seven. Without access to a calendar, all these years trying to keep track of the fleeting months grew tiresome and redundant. Each day was the same, a date made no difference. Hell, she wasn't even sure of her own age anymore.

"Maybe I'm a thousand years old!" He bounced like the truly giddy child he was.

Clem laughed openly into the chilly air. "Sure thing, Grandpa." She pushed at his shoulder before looking back at the sky, knowing deep within her gut that Alvin and Rebecca were smiling with her.

They remained in a balanced silence for a while, until AJ turned back to her. "I don't think it matters. I get bigger and stronger every day, no matter how old I am I'll always protect us."

Clementine wrapped her arm around him, pulling him in close the same way she always had and the same way she always will. "I know you will, forever," She pressed a firm kiss to the top of his head, smiling into his thick hair. "Wanna know what we're having for dinner?"

"What?"

"Beans with apple slices."

"BEANS!"

[kbmercer]

Ch.1, Part 3: Encounter

My Heroic Pokemon Squad (A Pokemon/My Hero Academia Crossover)

Summary:

After receiving an emergency call to assist in sedating the legendary pokémon of time and space, Top Ranger (Y/n) (L/n) gets caught in the crossfire of their rampage. Sent barreling into a world unknown, (L/n) must now navigate her new surroundings and somehow find a way home. Yet, the aftermath of a momentary rift between dimensions carries drastic repercussions, especially considering that pokémon had never existed in this place to begin with. Not only that, but it seems humanity here have powers of their own, not unlike that of the creatures she has grown to love.

The students of UA had a big day ahead of them. They’ve worked with the support class for the past week to modify and solidify their hero costumes in anticipation for the Provisional Hero License Exam. They’ve had a long day and have since returned to their dorms for the night, moving to either take a rest or stay up just a little longer for casual conversation in the communal lounge area. The girls of 1-A were doing the latter; the chatter among them being about the progress of their special techniques, the time they had left until the big day, and any other facet of interest in between. The conversation had gotten out of hand pretty quickly with Uraraka floating in the lounge out of embarrassment from the allegation of having a crush. The perpetrator, Mina Ashido was being reprimanded for prying by Asui and Yaoyorozu. The ridley hero did not let up.

             “I wanna hear more!! Over-bearing or not, I can make even the most unrelated stories relate to love! But…on a more related note about love, have you seen that super cute picture of those quirked creatures snuggling together??? They were totally in love!”

Leave it to Mina to know about the most recent things and talk about the most recent stuff. It was no denying that the news of animals having quirks held most of the peoples’ interest lately, but the pink girl was obsessed. She scrolls through her phone and shows her classmates the picture of two spiked rodent-like creatures. One was bigger than the other with its fur being a deep shade of purple while the one by its side was a periwinkle blue. They were snuggled close underneath the brush of an unspecified forest enjoying each other’s company.

“Aww. They look so cute together.” Hagakure pitched in, taking the initiative to bring Uraraka back down to earth. When the brunette was returned to solid ground, she rejoins the conversation catching a glimpse of the photo releasing a small coo of her own before Mina turns the screen. She starts scrolling through socials to see if there are any more photos and soon comes across an underwater photo depicting pink heart-shaped fish swimming together. She squeals.

“They’re underwater too!?” She was basically vibrating in place at this point. The girls invade space, gathering together to get a closer look and the newly searched photo. Wow, 365,000+ likes in less than 2 hours?

“They are pretty cute, kero.” Asui adds.

“I did a little bit of research on my own…” Yaoyorozu starts. “There seems to be equally as intimidating ones too. Like the one I saw that looked like a flying scorpion…”

“Or that one I saw from Russia that looks like the abominable snowman…” Uraraka chips in.

“Oooohhh. Or like this one!” Mina had entered a live stream which was currently underway. The location being filmed was a city, the bright lights of the streets was blurred by heavy rain. The cacophony of noise made by the crowd that surrounded the person filming also had their phones out trying to capture what was happening. The sound of an indistinguishable roar resonated through the area and boomed from the speakers as the peppy girl turned up the volume. Gushes of wind could be heard through the recording as if the currents were being moved by the wings of a flying bird. Though, the girls watching in anticipation doubted that any of what is transpiring was being caused by any sort of bird. The same roar booms through the speakers again and the crowds noise somehow grows louder. A silhouette of white is seen through the rain and the camera zooms in on the giant creature looming overhead. It was in full view now: a creature that looked to be three times bigger than the average human with a body of white and blue. The deep-sea colored spines that protrude from their back moved to favor the storm around them while its appendaged wings flapped at a steady, almost menacingly pace.

“WWWOOOOAAAHHHH,” the girls’ reaction to what they witnessed was on par with the crowd in the livestream, Yaoyorozu and Uraraka’s voices showing conveying more concern for the people filming. It when more of their classmate had entered the lounge room to see what all the fuss was about.

“Will you shut the hell up?! Some of us are trying to sleep!!”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” (Y/n) roars. The ranger was watching one of many news broadcasts from a tablet she was given. The voice of the on-scene commentator was drowned out by the worry the girl had for anyone in the vicinity. They lay witness to Lugia—a pokémon of legend—causing havoc in the middle of Musutafu. The pokémon looked confused, as if were searching for something or someone but their concern disappears when their attention is redirected.

Oh no.

The pro-heroes had made it on site. Through the lens of the professional camera, (Y/n) could identify Midnight, who had since made a wardrobe change, alongside three others that she had previously heard about…Kamui Woods, Gang Orca, and Eraserhead. If their names were anything to go by, it was easy to guess who everyone was. The man with a tight suit decorated in wooden armor is Kamui Woods; the whale man is Gang Orca; and Eraserhead is the plain-looking dude that looks very tired (of this shit). The four shared a brief moment of formality before engaging Lugia.

(Y/n) continued to watch and quickly noticed that the team of heroes wasn’t trying to defeat it. Rather, they were attempting to restrain it. A good move in prospect, but a difficult one in execution. The storm that continued to surge around Lugia would only make the tactic harder to accomplish.

Three out of the four had methods of holding the legendary creature down. Kamui Woods’ ability involved his limbs stretching and growing like a tree as he latched onto Lugia by its left wing. Eraserhead used the sturdy scarf he had as a tether on the right wing. Equipped with a whip, Midnight snaps the weapon forward to wrap around the pokémon’s left foot. Gang Orca uses his abundant force to assist in further bringing it down from the sky. Yet, their success in bringing Lugia down to earth didn’t take into account how they were going to keep it there. In a moment’s notice, Lugia had used its own power to break free from the heroes’ bind. As it rears back to let out another roar, (Y/n)’s breath gets caught in her throat.

It was as if everything was in slow motion. Lugia lifts itself into the air once more as its wings began to flap harder. It locks onto those who dared to ground it and the direction of the storm begins to change. The watered air current draws itself upon the white beast and concentrates to a finite amount. Finally, they bring their large wings forward to break the concentrated ball of pressurized air. In an instant, everything an everyone is blown back, the heroes taking the blunt of Lugia’s Aeroblast.

The news correspondent and camera man of whom were a great distance from the engagement were not safe either. The impact had recoil and knocked the crew off their feet. The camera lost focus and lay on the asphalt. Groans of pain could be heard in the background.

(Y/n) had seen enough. She clutched her duffel and sprinted out the doors of the police department. The call from the receptionist was lost on her as she hurriedly shuffled through her belongings to clasp three pokéballs. She taps the button on one and tosses it into the air. A bird of dark plumage is released. A ‘caw’ is let out in response to his summoning by the ranger as red eyes stare into (e/c) eyes.

“Alright, Honchkrow. We have a Lugia to take on…”

[prokitty101]

002 Iceberg because why not uwu

Hohooo! My number 2 RWBY OTP! Alright, strap in boys and girls, mama gonna tell you why I love this ship.

When I started shipping them/My thoughts/What makes me happy about them: (I’ve clumped these bullet points together to make it easier and sound less repetitive) I’m gonna be honest with ya’ll. I couldn’t stand Neptune the first time around, because he came off as another “The cooler Daniel” meme. However, what truly sold me to the ship was Weiss’s feelings towards Neptune. 

She is known as the Ice Queen amongst her companions (And Roman lol) and it is expected of her to act like that from time to time. Neptune’s appearance was the beginning of the trope subversion. She doesn’t just harrumph at Neptune because he slightly did a better job at flirting than Jaune, no, she downright falls for him, HARD. And that is NOT a bad thing for her character. 

I am all for character subversions because it adds another palette dynamic to their personality. Yes yes, we see her tone her tsundereness down a notch towards Ruby earlier, but that’s different. It was so damn refreshing to see Weiss openly express her attraction to Neptune; someone who didn’t utter anything about her background being an Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company during their initial meeting. He saw her for her, not her money or title. (like Henry Marigold did.) 

I enjoyed watching the build-up between Weiss and Neptune. It’s small but their mutual attraction had always been around. It was natural and (free to tell me if I’m wrong) Neptune was the first person she met who was actually nice to her. Granted he also didn’t say anything to piss her off.

Weiss crushing on Neptune is great because it is one of the very few things she has complete control over without her family’s interference, especially father. It is something Weiss wants and can do, not what her daddy told her to do. Her mustering up the courage to ask Neptune out was so freaking rewarding to me. Weiss is incredibly sweet and cute, and it warms my heart knowing there was that special someone she could just completely gush over. 

After watching RWBY the second time around, Neptune’s character grew more and more to the point he is my #1 favourite character now. He’s balsy, a tease, flirtatious and get’s straight to the point with his words, but he’s also hilariously unaware of how stupid he sounds sometimes. I LOVE dumbasses like that. Although, Neptune is quite similar to Weiss in regards of having to mask his true self for arguably the entertainment of others. Weiss is known as the Ice Queen so she begrudgingly sticks with it. Neptune is the cool dude and he keeps it up.

You can probably argue I’m giving the ship too much credit or thinking to deep into it and you’re probably right. This is not me saying there were some stupid “coding” or subtleties you need to dive in and search for, it’s just me having this thought about Iceberg makes me really happy that it could’ve been more. (If that makes sense.)

What makes me sad about them: The refusal to develop the ship and Neptune as a whole. It really cuts me deep because there is clear potential in Neptune to be a valuable secondary member of the RWBY gang. Like how Sun is to Blake, Neptune could’ve been that to Weiss. BUT NO. It feels like the backlash Neptune had gotten after V2 - 3 stunted the idea of making the ship work.

I’ve been told there were a lot of Neptune/SSSN scenes cut out for team CFVY and that saddens me. Even the Neptune & Sun vs Pyrrha & Nora fight was cut. Apparently, there was going to be a part in the fight where Neptune had to take off his jacket and reveal his inflatable armbands, then Weiss would go into a laughing fit. COME ON THAT WOULD’VE BEEN SO FUNNY AND CUTE.

Also, people saying Neptune didn’t care for Weiss, especially because he was teasing Team NDGO. C’mon man, the dude was clearly joking. Y'all saw how the crowd reacted when team SSSN entered the grounds. What would’ve been damn disrespectful if Neptune had continuously teased the girls throughout the match, spouting a lot of sexist comments. Despite his obvious distraction during the match, he does take his fights seriously.

Yes, Weiss’s reaction was slightly justified but it’s just the typical “I wanna beat my crush’s his ass because he’s stupid and useless” gag in anime. He’s basically a blend of Yuu Kashima and Mikoto Mikoshiba from Nozaki-kun.

Then there’s the whole Dance conversation with Jaune and Neptune. Some of y’all are so quick to assume Neptune was objectifying Weiss with the “She’s all yours.” line while conveniently ignoring “I don’t want to get in your way.” line that immediately followed up. Look, he knows Jaune likes Weiss too and was willing to back out believing it was the right thing to do, but Jaune is the one encouraging Neptune to keep going after his blunder, understanding how much Neptune indeed likes Weiss. Brofist.

Neptune reappearing in V6 and contributing nothing again got on my nerves. That was a great moment for the writers to put in a small moment between him and Weiss after the Beacon incident, BUT NO. The fuckers only remembered he’s Sun’s friend. Seriously what the hell man. Are they trying to bury the fact the ship happened in the first place? Mean.

And to make things worse, you make him talk to Ilia? For gods sake WHY.

Another is saying Weiss is better off with Sun or Jaune because Neptune doesn’t deserve her. If that ain't the definition of objectification then I don’t know what is. Also, that weird reasoning of Weiss isn’t interested anymore because she had a gay awakening IS SUCH A DAMN REAAACH LMAO BITCH WHEREEE?

Iceberg is truly underrated.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: You’ll be surprised to hear I don’t read a lot of Iceberg fanfiction. Just not in the mood right now. But I do hate the idea of fanfic writers amping up Neptune’s personality to make him seem like a complete douchebag. Yo, that title belongs to Henry Marigold. Quit mixing the two up, please.

Things I look in a fanfic: NEPTUNE AND WEISS BEING HAPPY WITH EACH OTHER, PLEASE. Or Weiss being a cute tsundere to Neptune. Just cute things!

My wishlist: Oh boy do I have whole buncha posts about that already.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Okay, this is a little tricky. I don’t like Whiteknight BUT I can’t ignore there was some potential between them. Especially after the abomination that is volume 5. Weiss and Jaune could’ve easily had a meaningful conversation about her injury and how he saved her. It’s never brought up again and it baffles me.

As for Neptune? I don’t know. Seamonkeys is my top OTP of all time but holy fuck am I against it becoming a thing. So maybe like during the Vacuo collaboration of SSSN and CFVY, Velvet genuinely stars crushing on Nep and he is adorably oblivious to it.

My happily ever after for them: Ahhh you know what I didn’t really get that far lol, get back to me on that.

[waitimcomingtoo]

In Case You Dont Live Forever - Chapter Seven

Pairing: Peter Parker x Venom!reader

Warnings: sexual harassment

Authors note: I changed the point of view. If it’s weird, I’ll change it back.

Masterlist

Peter walked into school that day with an extra bounce in his step. He couldn’t keep himself from leaping over the school gate, not caring who could’ve seen. He was in love. He walked past Flash with confidence, easily brushing off his backhanded comments. He walked up to Ned and felt oddly compelled to click his heels. Ned noticed the ecstatic expression on his best friends face and smirked.

“What’s got you so happy? Did a certain wall crawling superhero finally beat Venom in a fight?” He asked. Peter shook his head.

“Not yet. Something even better happened.” Peter said proudly.

“And what might that be?” Ned asked, adjusting his hat. Peter could barely keep himself from screaming.

“Y/n kissed me.” He exclaimed. He got a few strange looks from passing students who didn’t recognize the name. Peter didn’t care. Nothing could ruin his mood.

“What? When? ” Ned gasped.

“This morning. She slept over last night after she had a nightmare. And guess what else?” Peter asked. Ned bounced up and down.

“What? Tell me!” Ned demanded. Peter looked around for who could be listening and smirked.

“She slept in my bed.” He said.

“Oh.” Ned said. He looked disappointed in the anticlimactic finish.

“With me in it.” Peter added. Ned looked amazed. His jaw hung open and he began to bounce up and down again.

“Dude that’s like the greatest thing ever. She’s so hot! We have to tell everyone.” He exclaimed. Peter tried to quiet him down.

“We’re not telling anyone just yet. She’s only

been my girlfriend for a few hours. She’s really special to me, Ned. I don’t want to treat her like shes some prize I won by telling everyone. Girls are worth more than that. Y/n is my girlfriend, not a trophy.” Peter reasoned. Ned nodded in approval.

“Amen to that. What are you losers talking about anyway?” MJ said as she approached them. She was eating trail mix and looked extremely bored already. The first bell hadn’t even rung.

“Peter has a girlfriend.” Ned blurted. Peter shot him an angry look. MJ looked impressed.

“Oh really? Who is she, your right hand?” MJ smirked. Ned looked confused while Peters face went red.

“It’s not my right hand. She lives in my building and she’s an angel. That’s all you need to know.” Peter grumbled, still annoyed that Ned spilled his secret. It wasn’t that he was ashamed of Y/n, the exact opposite actually. He would shout it from the rooftops that they were together if he could. He just didn’t want everyone to know. They had only kissed that morning. Peter still wanted to keep the magical details to himself.

“Does this angel have a name?” MJ questioned. She was actually interested in something for once.

“No.” Peter said at the same time Ned said “Y/n L/n.”

“Y/n L/n from The L/n Report?” MJ asked. It was the first time Peter or Ned heard emotion in her voice.

“You know her?” Peter asked.

“Duh. She’s the only investigative reporter I’ve seen who actually cares about the people she reports on. I read her articles all the time. We have a lot of the same opinions. I used to think she was the coolest girl ever.” MJ stated. This was the longest conversation either Ned or Peter had ever had with the mysterious girl. It was also the most she ever said at one time.

“Used to think?” Ned asked.

“Well clearly something’s wrong with her if she’s dating Peter.” MJ said. Ned laughed and Peter looked at her angrily.

“There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s absolutely perfect.” Peter defended.

“I know she is. I’ve idealized that girl for year. Did you guy see what she did to Carlton Drake?” MJ pressed. Peter nodded and smiled proudly at the thought of his girl kicking names and taking ass.

“She’s like my hero. She’s done so much for the homeless back in San Francisco. I was so excited when she said she was moving to New York to work for The Daily Bugle.” MJ gushed. Peter and Ned looked at each other, visibly confused.

“Have you always done that?” Ned asked her.

“Done what?”

“Felt things?” Ned said. MJ rolled her eyes.

“I feel very passionate about a lot of things. Those things just don’t happen to include you two or anyone else in this school. However, I am very passionate about your girlfriend.” MJ stated. She suddenly looked a little uncomfortable and unsure of herself, two things MJ never did. She awkwardly turned to Peter.

“Do you think I could meet her? I’d really love to talk to her about her article on fracking.” MJ asked slowly. She wasn’t used to asking people for things. Peters eyes softened at this new side of MJ.

“She’s picking me up from school today on her motorcycle. You can meet her then.” Peter said. MJ did something very out of character. She smiled.

“K thanks.” She blurted and then swiftly left. Ned and Peter laughed as she walked away.

“That was new.” Ned commented.

“Yes It was.” Peter agreed.

“She’s so odd.” Ned added.

“Yes, she is.”

“Did you do the hanky panky with Y/n?” Ned asked. Peter snapped his head towards Ned.

“What? No. And never say ‘hanky panky’ again.” Peter said. Ned shrugged.

“It was worth asking. See you at lunch.” Ned said before walking towards his class. Peter finished getting his books and walked towards his own class. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He wondered what Y/n was up to at that very moment.

At 3:30, you pulled up to Midtown Tech on your motorcycle. You took off your helmet, shook your hair out, and scanned the crowd for Peter. You soon saw him, Ned following shortly behind him, and a girl you had never seen before. She wasn’t wearing makeup, which you gave her props for, and had her curly hair tied back in a pony tail. She was undeniably pretty and had a very cool vibe to her.

“Hi beautiful.” Peter said when he reached you. He wrapped his arms around your waist and hugged you tightly.

“It’s torture not being with you for 8 hours.” He mumbled.

“I know. But schools almost over right? Then we can spend every second together.” You promised. Peter smiled happily. He leaned in slightly, as if asking for your permission, and you did the same. You pressed a soft kiss to his lips. He smiled into the kiss and held you closer. This time, there were no interruptions.

“Y/n, I’d like you to meet MJ. MJ, this is Y/n.” Peter said, gesturing to the girl. MJ smiled shyly at you and held out her hand.

“It’s really cool to meet you, Y/n. Your article on greenhouse gases is hanging on my wall. I’m uh, I’m a big fan.” She said. You smiled brightly at her.

“You’re a fan? That’s amazing. I’ve never met a fan before. It’s really cool to meet you too, MJ. And if you’re interested in the environment, I have a bunch of scientists numbers I can give you. I had to interview a bunch back in San Francisco to write that article. They gave me some great tips on how to reduce my carbon footprint.” You told her. MJ’s eyes widened just a little. She looked baffled and gave you a thankful smile. You noticed one of her front teeth was slightly askew. You decided you liked her already.

“Really? That’d be so cool. Thanks.” She said. I squeezed her arm and nodded.

“I think you and I are going to get along just fine. Can I get your number? I’d love to hear more about what you’re interested in.” You handed MJ your phone and she took it. She typed her number it and handed it back.

“This has been really amazing. Thanks for being so cool. I have to run though. I’m running a protest outside of Oscorp. One of their employees got seriously electrocuted and they’re to cover it up.” MJ explained.

“Really? Is it okay if I tag along? I’m kinda busy with my Cletus Kasady story but I would love to cover your protest too.” You asked. MJ looked amazed.

“You’d do that for me?” She asked as if she wasn’t used to people doing things for her.

“Gladly. Can I join? I can give you a ride there.” You offered. She smiled at you and toyed with the strings on her backpack.

“That’d be great. See you losers later.” MJ gave Peter and Ned a peace sign. You gave Peter a quick peck on the lips and climbed back on your bike. MJ got on and held onto your waist. You two sped off towards Oscorp, leaving Peter and Ned in your wake.

“Dude. MJ just stole your girlfriend.” Ned said.

“Shut up. No she didn’t.” Peter said. Did she though? You seemed to hit it off with her pretty quickly. Peter didn’t know MJ too well but he knew she was guarded and didn’t let people in easily. In fact, she didn’t let anyone in. And yet, you and her had become best friends in a matter of minutes.

Heading back from Oscorp a few hours later, you saw a familiar hat bobbing up and down in the street. You were about to call out Neds name when two guys came from around the corner. They looked mean and you could hear Ned’s heartbeat rising. You quickly ran over to him.

“Hey.” You panted. Ned looked relived to see you.

“Oh hey Y/n. How’d your date with MJ go?” He teased. You shoved him slightly.

“It wasn’t a date. She’s really cool though. I think we’re going to be good friends.” You said as you passed the two guys. You soon heard a whistle.

“Damn baby. Where you going with him? Don’t you wanna stay here and have some fun?” one of the guys called. You and Ned picked up your pace.

“I know you heard me beautiful. Stop running before I give you a reason to run.” The man said again, louder this time.

“Keep walking.” You whispered to Ned.

“I said stop running.” The man shouted, this time, his threat was accompanied by the sound of a gun cocking. You and Ned froze in your steps. The two men slowly approached you, all while pointing the gun level with your head.

“That’s better.” One man said when he reached you. “Now, how about this. You suck my dick, or I shoot your friend. Does that sound fair?” He purred.

“I better call Peter. He’ll know what to do.” Ned panicked.

“No need.” You growled as your transformed into Venom. You marched up to the guy and grabbed him by the shoulders in a death grip. You spit at a nearby newspaper in the ground. The newspaper quickly disintegrated and left nothing but smoke behind. You smiled devilishly at the man, grateful for a chance to show off your acidic saliva.

“What was that?” The man cowered in your grasp. Meanwhile, his friend ran away terrified.

“Acid spit. Still want me to suck your dick?” You asked. The man whimpered and shook his head furiously.

“Didn’t think so. Now, if you don’t tell us the names of ten historical feminists who would be very disappointed in your sorry ass by the time I count to ten, we’re going to eat you. Does that sound fair?” You growled. The man shut his eyes in fear.

“One.” You began to count.

“Uh...” He whimpered.

“Two.”

“Um.” He raked his minuscule brain for answered but came up empty handed.

“Ten.” You said and bit his head off. You quickly ate the rest of his body before turning back into yourself. You wiped your hands and patted your stomach before turning around and making eye contact with Ned. You had completely forgotten he was there.”

“You’re Venom?!” He gasped. You ran up to him and covered his mouth.

“What? No. How do you know about Venom anyway?” You asked. You took your hand off Neds mouth.

“It’s you. I can’t believe it’s you.” Ned exclaimed. You were getting more and more confused.

“You’re Venom. You, Y/n, are Venom.” He repeated as if it all made sense now.

Peters Y/n he thought.

“Play dumb.” Venom whispered.

“What? I’m not Venom. What makes you say that?” You asked.

“Not that dumb!” She yelled. Ned looked at you and laughed. He was still in shock.

“You and Peter are perfect for each other, you know that? You’re both dumb as shit.” He laughed. You had to laugh a little as well.

“You’re Venom and Peter is…do you know about Peter?” Ned suddenly asked.

“What about Peter?” You asked. Neds eyes went wide, and then filled with sadness.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Are you gonna tell him about this? Because I’m going to be very honest with you, I’m terrible at keeping secrets. I don’t know if I can keep this from him.” Ned said. I nodded at him in understanding.

“I’m gonna tell him eventually. Please, don’t say anything. He has to hear it from me. I’m sorry that I’m making you lie to your best friend but this is a very unique situation.” I said. Ned blew out a breath.

“It’s a lot more unique than you think.” He muttered. “I won’t tell him.”

“Thank you.” You hugged him tightly, thankful that he was safe and keeping your secret. You walked Ned home and began to make your way back to the apartment building. You wanted nothing more than to cuddle with Peter and forget the day. You missed him all day at school. It was bearable when you guys were just friends, but now that he was your boyfriend you never wanted to be apart.

When you were just a few blocks from your apartment, you felt a strong arm wrap around your neck and hold you in place. Suddenly, there was a knife to your throat.

“I saw what you did to my buddy, you little freak. Now, how about you get down on those pretty little knees before I kill you?” The man threatened. You turned your neck as much as you could and recognized your attacker as the mans friend who ran away from earlier. You sighed deeply. You were full and trying to keep your body count to a minimum. You shut your eyes and we’re about to turn into Venom when you heard a voice from behind you.

“Now that’s no way to treat a lady.” The voice rang. You recognized it as Peters voice. The guy was quickly pulled away from you as if by some kind of rope. You heard some sort of webbing going on behind you and small cries of struggling from the man.

“Are you alright Miss?” Peter asked.

“I’m fine Peter.” You finally turned around but instead of seeing your boyfriend, you saw the friendly neighborhood pain in the ass. He had webbed your attacked to the wall and was now looking right at you. You had seen him so many times before, and he’d seen you, but never like this. You felt almost naked, standing before Spider-Man as Y/n instead of Venom.

“Oh.” You said, startled. “I’m sorry. I thought you were someone else.”

“Yea. This is a pretty popular outfit.” Spider-Man joked, gesturing to his skin tight suit. You bit your tongue. He was funny, but you couldn’t let him know that. You were enemies after all. He just didn’t realize it was you.

“Thanks for saving me.” You blurted. “But I had the situation handled.”

“You’re right. You especially looked like you had it handled when he was about to stab and murder you.” Spider-Man said sarcastically. You found him oddly charming, despite your history.

“What are you gonna do with him?” You asked, pointing to the man webbed to the wall.

“I heard what he said to you. I’m going to register him as a sex offender and ruin his life. Unless, you had other plans. You know, since you had the situation handled.” Spiderman remarked. You playfully rolled your eyes. You did have other plans. Plans that involved eating him and digesting him while you cuddled with Peter. But Spider-Mans plan was okay too.

“Alright. I’ll see you around Spider-Man.” You said, giving the superhero one last look. There was something familiar about him. Spider-Man nodded.

“See you around. And please, be careful. Don’t walk alone. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” He said and turned back to the man.

You went home, showered, and got into some comfy clothes. You missed your boyfriend dearly and went to his apartment to see him.

After being let in by May, you went into Peters room and flopped on his bed. He was sat at his desk doing homework.

“Did you mean what you said about me sleeping over whenever I wanted?” You asked, voice muffled by his pillow.

“Of course I did.” He swiveled around to look at you and noticed your body language.

“What’s wrong, love?”

“I’ve had a long day and I want to cuddle my boyfriend.” You pouted. Peter smiled at you calling him your boyfriend. He closed his textbook and climbed into bed with you. You rested your head on his chest, right over his heart. The sound of his heartbeat calmed you down and you felt sleepy.

“Did you make any progress on your story?” He asked. You shook your head as he began to run his fingers through your hair. You hummed in content and pressed a small kiss to his neck. He blushed at the affection and held you closer.

“No. I’ve had the worst writers block all day. I was actually thinking of writing an article on Spider-Man until my writers block went away.” You said. After your encounter with the masked hero, you wanted to know more about him. Sure, there are plenty of articles on Spider-Man out there, but you knew him intimately.

You felt Peters heart stop momentarily.

“Spider-Man? Why?”

“I think I have a pretty good shot at figuring out who he is. Like, think about it, he only operates from the hours of 4 to midnight ish right? Except, on weekends, when he’s seen all throughout the day. What’s he doing all day on weekdays? He can’t be at work because jobs don’t end that early. I think he’s in school. Either high school or college. But college schedules are very flexible. My best guess is he’s a high school student.” You said. You were very good at your job. You loved piecing together information and getting the full story.

“Oh wow.” Peter said, dumbfounded. He was usually blown away by your intelligence, but now it was working against him. There are a million high school students in New York, though. Surely you wouldn’t figure it out.

“And think about this, he’s only ever in New York, so he must live here right? But what about that one time he saved those kids in the Washington Monument? What was New York’s superhero doing in Washington? Well I looked into it and the kids he saved were on a field trip. What if Spider-Man was on the field trip too? If I look up all the schools that were there, I could create a list of suspects and go form there. Then, I could-“ you were cut off with a kiss.

“Let’s not talk about Spider-Man. I want to hear about you day. How was Oscorp?”

“We had a really good time. I interviewed her after I helped her with the protest and then we grabbed lunch. Oh, and I saw Ned on my way home.” You recalled.

“You saw Ned?” Peter asked. Ned hadn’t mentioned seeing you.

“Yea. These two guys attacked us. One ran away and I took care of the other. But then the one that ran away came back and you’ll never guess who saved me. “

“Who?” Peter smiled. He knew who.

“Spider-Man. I don’t know. I was wrong about him. I used to think he was just some guy in spandex with a God complex but now I think he just genuinely wants to help people. And…” you trailed off.

“And?”

“He’s got a nice ass.” You admitted. Peter laughed loudly. You smiled into his chest. You loved that damn laugh.

“I’m serious. I saw it as he walked away and it knocked me out. Spider-Man is dummy thick.”

“Please never say the words “Spider-Man is dummy thick” in my house again.” Peter pleaded. He secretly loved it though.

“I was actually thinking of making that the title of my article.” You joked. Peter laughed again. He chucked a pillow at you and you giggled.

“Let’s go to bed. In a romantic, but still non sexual way this time.” You said, your exhaustion hitting you finally as you yawned.

“Good night my Nancy Drew.” Peter said.

“Goodnight my whoever Nancy Drew was boning.” You yawed again.

“Ned Nickerson.” Peter laughed.

“Then goodnight Ned Nickelodeon.” You said, half asleep.

“Close enough.” Peter smiled.

Tag List 🏷

@monimiin @truthdaze @honeyccoated @constellationswithapurpose @condy-wants-a-cookie @zipp0flare @vxidnik @maddie-laufeyson @bubblegumholland @the-blindwatcher @pmvelez97 @deanismygodwiththatwhistle

[lilacmoon83]

Lightning in a Bottle

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 3: Hope Returned

Mr. Gold stared at the two hundred and twenty passenger photos on the large screens in the conference room.

"My superiors are breathing down my neck on this. They want answers and the NSA just let two-hundred and twenty dead people waltz back into the world," Vance complained.

"Keeping them against their will for doing nothing wrong would be very unethical," Gold replied neutrally.

"Each and every one of them could be a threat to National security. In times like that, ethics may need to be suspended," Vance said. Gold regarded him skeptically.

"That's your superiors talking and I know that wouldn't sit well with you. Besides, the only way for any of this to even begin to make sense is if we send them back into the world," Gold replied.

"I'm not sure how you figure that," Vance complained. Gold smirked.

"Relax, Director Vance. Sit back...and enjoy the coming attraction," he said cryptically.

~*~

Dr. Regina Mills pulled back from the hug she shared with an elderly man, who was crying profusely.

"It's okay Daddy...I'm home now," she assured.

"It's a miracle…" he gushed.

"You are everything to me, Regina...I was so lost without you," he cried. She frowned and hugged him again. Things were never good between her parents, but she was sad that her disappearance had not brought them together and since she saw her mother coming in separately, she guessed it had only made things worse.

"Mother…" she said.

"It's true…" Cora cooed, as she truly looked happy to see her daughter. Things were never very good between them, but Regina knew that her mother did love her, in her own way. They shared a hug and she saw an older man, about the same age as her father who seemed familiar, lagging back.

"Who is that?" she asked.

"Oh...that's Leopold. My new husband," Cora said. Regina's eyes widened.

"You divorced daddy?" she asked.

"It's okay Regina...you know it was a long time coming," Henry admonished.

"Yes...but now that you're back, you can come home with me. I've moved in with Leopold and his mansion is impressive. There will be plenty of room for you too," Cora said. Regina pursed her lips.

"No thank you, mother...I think I'll go home with Daddy," he said, as politely as possible. She took her father's arm and helped him to the car service that had brought him here. When she left, he was only using a cane occasionally when he got tired, but now it seemed that it was a full time thing. Her mother had abandoned him, but now that she was back, she would make sure he wasn't alone anymore.

~*~

The next day, despite her father's pleas that she take some time off, Regina returned to the hospital to stares of surprise and awe. She was eager to continue her research, but she was on the receiving end of some very surprising news.

"It's true…" a voice said, as she turned and found one of her colleagues there. She smiled and they shared a hug.

"Dr. Hopper...it is...and IT is looking at my damaged laptop now. I was on the verge of a breakthrough and I'm hoping they can recover my work," she said. He looked at her oddly.

"No one told you?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Told me what?" she asked.

"Regina...we got your research, including the breakthrough five and a half years ago. It's saved hundreds of pediatric terminal cancer patients," Archie revealed, stunning her to speechlessness.

"Really?" she squeaked and they shared a bright smile.

"You're quite a legend here and even more so now," he said, as he continued on with his rounds, leaving her to let that information sink in.

Curiously, she saw two people she recognized from the plane a short distance down the hall and they were with a woman and another young woman. They seemed to be apprehensive and she approached them cautiously.

"Can I help you?" she asked. David turned and remembered her.

"You were on the plane," he replied. She nodded.

"Dr. Regina Mills," she said, as they shook hands.

"David Nolan. This is my wife Margaret, our daughter Olive and our son Henry," he said, as she smiled down at the boy.

"What a coincidence...my father's name is also Henry," she mentioned. He smiled at her, instantly taken in by her kindness toward him.

"Really?" he asked. She nodded.

"He's very special to me and I bet you're just as special to your parents," she said.

"We...we were actually looking for someone to evaluate him. His doctor from five years ago isn't here anymore," David replied. She frowned.

"Cancer?" she asked, as Margaret nodded sadly.

"Terminal…" she whispered and Regina was struck by the pain in the woman's eyes. Had she really just gotten her son back only to face losing him again? But then she remembered what Dr. Hopper had said.

"Come with me...I think we have much to discuss and I don't want to get your hopes up," she said, as she turned back to them.

"But I think I can help your son," she said. They looked at her with hope in their eyes and she hoped that she wasn't going to end up letting them down in the end. They nodded and followed her to an exam room.

~*~

Emma sighed, as she got up from the bed she was crashing on in the basement. She managed a smile, as she looked through the boxes of all the things MM had kept for her after they had to let her apartment go. She looked through the photos and smiled at the one with her, MM, and little Olive. Then there was another. Her, Killian and...Lily. She pushed the box away and grabbed her new phone. She knew David and Margaret would be happy if she lived with them forever in their basement, but she needed her own place eventually again, so that meant getting back to work. With that thought, she cleaned up, got dressed, and went upstairs. She stumbled though, as she suddenly heard her own voice in her head.

"All Things."

Emma did a three-sixty turn, looking for anyone around, but found no one. Shaking her head, she continued on and looked at the keys on the counter to an extra vehicle that her father had apparently left for her. She picked the keys up, but then put them back down. She wasn't ready for driving yet, so she took off on foot to the nearest bus station. On the way, she dialed Killian's number nervously and waited, as it rang on his end. She was both relieved and disappointed though when it went to voicemail and she hung up without leaving a message. It made her fear the worst.

MM had come rushing to the airport for them the moment they had let her through the gate, but Killian hadn't come for her. And she knew it probably meant that he had moved on. She couldn't blame him though. Why wouldn't he? It's not like they had what David and Margaret had, as much as she secretly had always wanted that. How could she not? Growing up with them had left a hopeful impression upon her that she'd find the same, but now it was sinking in that she probably didn't have that. She still didn't blame him though. To him, she was dead and had been for almost six years now. She would have wanted him to move on if she really was gone, but she couldn't help remember the night that she had met him. It was girl's night out and as usual, her sister-in-law was being the person Emma secretly aspired to be and the person that her other friends thought was an oddity.

~*~ Flashback

"Oh...that's okay, you can take that back," MM said, as the waitress put another drink in front of her.

"Sorry hon, but that guy at the bar really, really likes you. You're adorable though...you should totally go for it," the waitress commented, as she left.

"She's not wrong...he's pretty good looking," Lily said.

"I'm married...happily," MM replied. The other girls giggled.

"We only live once, M&M. If you ask me, monogamy is way overrated," Abigail slurred.

"I'm sure Freddie will be happy to hear that," Emma said, referring to Abigail's own husband. The blonde was clearly drunk already and would be mortified in the morning at what she just said, which would be fun for Emma later.

"Maybe for you...but I have eyes for one man," MM said dreamily, causing the other girls to groan.

"Hey...it's sweet. I love that my mom and dad will always be together," Emma joked, as she hugged her best friend and Margaret giggled. Emma was clearly feeling a buzz herself.

"Besides girls...why would I go out for a hamburger when I have steak at home?" Margaret asked coyly, as she sipped at her drink.

"And then you go and make it weird by referring to my brother as a side of beef," Emma deadpanned, making the raven haired beauty smile.

"Fine...then a different reference. Why would I go out for some jerk at a bar looking for one thing when I have Prince Charming waiting for me at home? Better?" she asked, as the girls groaned again.

"It's so corny that you call him that," Lily complained. But Emma smiled at her. Secretly she loved it and she decided that she was going to tell the guy at the bar exactly where he could shove his drinks for her best friend, whom she was always super protective of.

"Hey dude...no dice," she said, as she put the drinks on the bar. He shrugged.

"Can't blame a guy for trying. Your friend is hot...looks sweet as sugar too," he leered. That burned her up, because he confirmed that he was exactly the type that only wanted one thing.

"Yeah well...she's not interested and happily married," Emma warned. He shrugged.

"How about you? Usually, I like that certain innocence that your friend seems to have, but for you...yeah I'd make an exception," the jerk said, as he looked her up and down.

"Hard pass," she quipped, as she started walking back to the table.

"Tell sugar hi for me...and that I'd love a taste!" he called. She stopped in her tracks and turned back, intending to punch him when someone got between them.

"Keith...shut your stupid mouth or I let the lass here have a crack at you," the man warned. She backed down a bit and regarded him for a moment.

"Is that idiot your friend?" she asked.

"Friend is a strong word...my brother owns this bar and Keith is regular. So I know him well, but friend...yeah not really. Killian Rogers," he said, as he put his hand out. She looked at him skeptically and then shook it in return.

"Okay Killian...just tell your brother's regular over there to keep his eyes off my sister-in-law. She's not interested and I'm not above punching him out if he doesn't stop acting like a creeper," she warned. Killian smirked, secretly enthralled by her spirit.

"Message received and I'll make sure Keith gets it too, though he's pretty thick, so keep those fists ready," he replied. She returned his smirk and went back to the table.

~*~

That meeting had led to drinks and then to dates. She had found out that he was going through the academy and she had just finished. After that, they ended up at the same precinct and as beat cops together. The rest had been history and she had intended to say yes to his proposal. Until the plane happened. And now, she had no idea where they stood, except that him not coming to the air strip spoke pretty clearly to her.

She got off the bus and walked into the precinct, only to have all eyes on her.

"Emma Nolan...as I live and breathe," Captain Graham Humbert greeted, as he approached her.

"Welcome back from the dead," he mused.

"Uh yeah...it's pretty surreal. I guess I decided to stop by and see if I could have my old job back," she said. He smiled and motioned her forward. Her eyes locked with Killian's, as she passed by and into the Captain's office.

"This is yours," he said, as he handed her a detective shield and she looked at him in surprise.

"Think of it as a posthumous promotion," Graham said.

"Uh...thanks Captain," she replied.

"But…" he said.

"I knew there was a but," she mused.

"Upon completion of a psych evaluation and physical," he said. She nodded and left his office, only to find Killian finally there in her path.

"I...I can't believe it. You haven't changed a bit," he mused. She snorted.

"Yeah...I'm getting that a lot," she replied, as she saw the ring on his finger and swallowed thickly.

"Who is she?" Emma muttered.

"Uh...her name is Milah. You don't really know her," he responded.

"Milah...didn't she work at your brother's bar?" Emma asked. He nodded.

"She...she was there for me after the plane disappeared," he explained. She nodded.

"I...I gotta go," Emma said, as he looked on as she did and felt his feelings for her reignite.

Emma boarded another bus and was lost in thought, until she heard her own voice in her head again.

"Slow Down," the voice warned.

"Hey...can you slow down?" Emma called to the bus driver. He gave her a weird look and ignored her.

"SLOW DOWN!" the voice screamed inside her head and she cried out, as she jumped out of her seat and yanked the pull cord. The driver slammed on his brakes and was about to lay into the annoying passenger when a toddler ran into the road chasing a ball. He was stunned and looked back at her. Had she not yanked the pull cord to slow him down, he would have hit and probably killed the child.

"How...how did you know?" he asked, but Emma didn't answer, as she hurried off the bus and tried to get her bearings. What the hell was happening to her?

~*~

"So...you think you can help Henry?" Margaret asked. The obvious hope in her voice made Regina hope that she wasn't moving this along too fast. This was a mother that had lost her son once and she'd never forgive herself if she gave her hope, only for it to be snatched away. She swallowed.

"Before the plane...I was on the verge of a breakthrough in treating pediatric patients. I thought I might have lost it all when my laptop broke during the turbulence we experienced, but it turns out that my colleagues received my research five and a half years ago," she explained.

"And this research can help Henry?" David asked.

"Apparently, it has been treating and successfully curing pediatric cases for almost two years now and since he's still in the age window...then he may be a candidate for the treatment," she replied. David and Margaret were stunned, as they looked at each other in surprise. Olive smiled and hugged her brother.

"Wait...are you saying that if Henry hadn't been on that plane that he would have been too old for the treatment by now...if we even still had him?" David asked. Regina nodded.

"That seems to be the case," she agreed.

"And this treatment...it has a very good success rate?" Margaret asked, almost in a whisper.

"An unprecedented ninety-three percent success rate," she replied. David was stunned. The plane might have saved their son's life. Was this why it had happened? Surely there had to be more to it than just their little boy...but he didn't care about any of that right now.

"I would like to submit his name for consideration for the treatment, with your permission," Regina stated.

"Yes!" Margaret exclaimed, as tears slipped down her cheeks. David was in tears too, as he clutched her hand.

"Please…" he pleaded. She nodded and they got up, as she saw them out of the room.

"Olive honey...why don't you go get a snack for both of you," Margaret suggested, as David gave her a few dollars. She knew her parents needed a few minutes to digest this information and so she took her brother's hand and led them down the hall.

"They are beautiful," Regina mentioned wistfully. Margaret and David lit up at that.

"Thank you...they're our world and I just got half my world back. It's a miracle," she gushed, as David held her and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I'll get the paperwork done right away and I'll be in touch," Regina said, as she handed her card to them.

"Thank you so much…" Margaret said and then surprised the other woman by hugging her. Regina was shocked, but then smiled, as she hugged her back.

"I'm sorry...you must think I'm a crazy person that goes around hugging strangers," Margaret said, suddenly a bit embarrassed.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I only hope I truly can save your little boy. I'm going to do everything I can," she promised, as she walked away. Up until this point, she had no idea what had happened to them and more importantly why. But now...perhaps this was why she had come back. Maybe she was meant to save little Henry Nolan.

"Oh David…" Margaret gushed, as she collapsed to tears against his chest. He hugged her tightly and cried with her, as hope filled them both.

"Can this really be happening?" she asked and he pressed his forehead to hers.

"It is...we're going to save our son," he replied, as he caressed her face.

"I blamed myself…" she squeaked.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"I blamed myself for you and Henry even being on that plane! I was the one that didn't want Emma to be alone. I sent you with her, because I couldn't go myself," she sobbed, as he gently moved her to a chair and then knelt before her.

"My darling...don't you see? You're the reason we might save Henry," he told her, as she sniffed.

"If we hadn't gotten on that plane...we might have lost him long ago," he insisted, as she cried.

"Maybe...but I was a mess after the plane. You would have been so ashamed of me," she sobbed.

"Never…" he refuted.

"I shut down...I was in bed for weeks. Your father took care of Ollie for me...I forgot her. She's been in therapy," she lamented.

"No...she knows you didn't. I can't imagine what you both went through," he said sorrowfully.

"Ollie...she always insisted that her brother wasn't gone. The twin thing and I wanted so badly to believe it...that you were out there somewhere. She was right," Margaret said. He smiled and looked up at their children, as they returned.

"She was…" he said, as he stood up and hugged her tightly.

"I'm so sorry that I wasn't there," he apologized.

"Dad...it's not your fault and Mom is right. Maybe this is why all this happened...so we can save Henry," Olive said.

"I know, but I am still sorry for what you went through and for you having to grow up so fast. But this is a second chance and I'm back...I'm not going to waste it," he promised, as they hugged again, as Margaret looked on and cuddled their son.

"Let's go home…" he suggested. She nodded and stood up, as he put his arm around her waist and she leaned against him, as they followed their children to the exit.

[red-and-blonde-moved]

I present to you: one free ticket to gush about someone, use it well and use it wisely, you don’t know when another will come along pal

I use it well by gushing about many people!!!!!

Anyone who knows me knows who they are I just feel awkward saying their names so you get 1 2 and 3 instead.

1. she's incredible she is straight up the funniest person you will ever meet and I'm not just saying this because I love her so much she makes me laugh constantly,

I met her early last year but we only really became friends when we started to talk about Les Mis and the fact that she puts up with my nonsense about that still is incredible, sidenote draw more Joly with his walking stick I like how happy it makes her.

And I'm sure she hears this so much but like she's actually really pretty like wtf who gave her the right?????? Also she's a fashion icon.

Also!!!!! She's just like, my best friend, she's my mum friend absolutely and I would kill to just live in a little cottage with her and 2 and 3 and curl up on the couch and cuddle her whenever I feel bad because she probably gives the best fucking hugs.

2. they're just perfect ok dude, not perfect, because that's bullshit and humans and shit but like they're getting very goddamn close bro!!!!

They're just really lovely I cannot stress this enough okay they're the most kind compassionate person I know they'll always make sure people feel okay and they're so gentle like everything they do feels so gentle and lovely like they're wrapping me in a fluffy blanket and giving me hot chocolate when really they're just like,,, telling me to eat dinner.

I've said this before and I'll say it again but they feel like my home or more like my dream home, like a nice cottage where it's always a sunny day and there's plants everywhere and I'm just there with them and 1 and 3 and yes I'm still talking about cottages but I want them to adopt me and take me to live in the countryside.

they're my big brother and just I genuinely cannot put into words how important my siblings are to me so like that's a lot y'know.

I don't think they quite understand how important to me they are but I'm trying fucking hard man.

3. You've gotten me started, and this is the point where my tangible "he did X and that meant a lot to me" things get seemingly smaller but they're more like examples of the kind of things he'll do for me and I'm particularly bad at expressing how much I love him so you're getting my very bad attempts.

First of all: he's really good at listening and doing things that make me happy, like he started calling me darling recently because I mentioned I love it and he makes my heart melt I swear he's so lovely to me.

He's a big dork, we have this really strange brand of jokes and stuff but like find yourself a man who'll go on a dramatic rp with you out of nowhere because he doesn't like you comparing GG the Giraffe to Gavroche or he wants to be philosophical and I refuse to let him without undermining it by saying he's Grantaire.

Sidenote he has this very cute was where he'll like go on wistful tangents about the way the world is and I'll just be sitting here like "sir this is a chilli's"

And speaking of tangents (I'm on a roll) he'll talk for hours about his interests and I'd listen to him no matter what, do I understand shit about doctor who or escape the night or rwby (or like spg until I decided to get into them because of him) absolutely not, but gosh darn it he's so fucking cute when he talks about this stuff that I don't care I just love him so much.

And like in return he lets me yell about my incoherent SPG highschool aus and Les Amis and how Grantaire realised he loved Enjolras as soon as he died and hadestown and not bat an eye and I am eternally grateful because I love yelling about my interests.

I just love him so much man he's the most wonderful boy I've ever met and I'm so lucky to have him, I wouldn't let him go if you paid me, I'll never really be able to say enough thing just how special he is to me, I cannot express my feelings In The SLIGHTEST but I try really hard because he deserves it!!!! He deserves to know how much I love him!!!!! And I love him so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[undiscoverable-words]

(Video Killed) the Radio Star  Pt. 3

TW: Mentions of suicidal thoughts/language

A/N: All this shit  I wrote about him needing Ariana to feel happy/stable is made up obvs bc there's that whole (extremely real, valid, important!!!) point that it wasn't her job to fix him or what-not, but I'm familiar with that kind of attachment to people and shit so I went with it (Does adding a disclaimer cheapen the writing? Idk (should I do more disclaimers/ author notes?))

FEELINGS PT 3

Pete's opinions of others always form quickly. He tends to rush into things and get attached to those he feels close to. He opens himself up easily, and thrives off of the amazing feeling he gets from being around those who make him happy. Those people help him forget all of the terrible shit he's been through, or the nuisance  of his nagging inner monologue. His friends and girlfriends make him feel good about himself– which is rare. He chases those good feelings and gets attached to those around him who invite those positive feelings.

This is nice, but it's very dangerous. Losing someone important has the opposite affect.

Pete fell for Ariana hard and fast. Everyone said they were being silly kids rushing into the rest of their lives. But for Pete, she was the rest of his life. She was what he wanted to wake up to and be around every day, and she was the one who could chase his terrible thoughts away without trying. He felt so good when he was around her, and he wanted to have her in his life forever. When she left him, it broke him. Her absence left him feeling hollow and useless. Everything she had chased away just by existing around him came crawling back menacingly. He thought he was trash, and he had to be a pathetic loser to lose a girl like her, and even think he could have someone so perfect in his life for an extended period of time.

When Ariana broke up with Pete, he spiraled downward, feeling more and more hopeless by the minute. He thought about ending it all. Trapping those terrible thoughts in his head where they couldn't hurt anyone else as much as they hurt him, making life easier for those around him who always feel the need to check in or reassure him. He didn't need to be babysat, and he didn't want anyone resenting him for his burden.

"You're awfully smiley today." John comments, watching Pete smile and occasionally laugh while on his phone.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm listening to Hunter's segment. It's fucking dope, dude. She's funny as hell."

John recognizes this gushing positivity and braces himself for anything that could come with it this time. The last thing he wants for Pete is more heartbreak, but it's inevitable for everyone. Still, he wants nothing more than to be a helpful mentor and guide for Pete.

Everyone thinks John was tasked with babysitting Pete because of his publicized suicidal thoughts– like Pete's on watch. That's a small part of it, but really John just wants Pete to feel safe and secure in his own life as his own person. John can tell how broken Pete really is, everyone can. John's not here to mend him, but to teach  him how to mend himself, and heal.

Falling for every girl he sets his eyes on is the last thing Pete needs. He cares too much and too deeply for any girl he might meet, and that just leads to a more painful ending when the girl isn't as invested as Pete. If John could in any way cushion the blow, or prevent the catastrophe all together, it would be a win.

"How did you meet her again?" John asks, eyebrows raised.

"She was talkin' shit about me on the radio so I surprised her with a visit." Pete explains, laughing at the end.

Pete's mind is slowly being flooded with thoughts of Hunter. He can't get her out of his mind. Ever since they exchanged numbers, he texts her at least once a day, and always makes sure to listen to her radio segment. He loves hearing her voice, and listening to her trash other celebrities and musicians. She makes him laugh, and he wonders if she ever thinks about him this much, or at all.

"Oh, that's interesting. She seems cool!" John offers, unsure of where to take the conversation. "Could I meet her?" He asks, and immediately regrets.

If Pete brings Hunter to meet him, and possibly Anna, that would cement Pete's intensifying feelings for her.

"Not sure. I can ask her though." Pete replies, not looking up from his phone as he types out that exact text to Hunter.

P:  Wanna come meet John and the gang?

H:  JOHN MULANEY?

P:  Yes lol

H:  WHAT

    WHEN

    HOW

    WHO

   WHAT

P:  Whoa calm down H

H:  Sorry he's just

    Like

   He's funny because he says the shit we're all thinking!

P:  Yes I know ha ha so relatable

   Anyway I mentioned your radio segments and he wants to meet you

H:  Fucking yeah I'll meet John and the gang

    Hell yeah

Pete laughs at Hunter's minor outburst, and her attempt at composure. Her authenticity is something Pete admires. He tries to keep himself as honest and authentic as he can within his comedy, and meeting someone who holds similar values is comforting and refreshing.

P:  Ok we'll be writing for the show tomorrow night you can come by

H:  FOR REAL

P:  Yeah it'll be cool

H:  COOL

    cool

"I invited her to the writing session tomorrow, she's psyched." Pete relays to John, still laughing to himself over Hunter's reaction.

P: Btw I'm a little offended you freak out over him but don't even know me

   Ok cool

H: Well, when you have a NETFLIX SPECIAL then maybe I'll remember who you are

   Who is this texting me btw, I don't have a number saved??

Pete laughs again.

"Uh, okay, hope Lorne is cool with that." John replies, worried that came off meaner than he intended. "I mean I'm pretty sure he's super strict about keeping our ideas under wraps..."

"Pf, yeah, I guess that makes sense. We can all get food together during a break then?" Pete suggests, scrolling through his phone.

"Sure," John nods, struggling to think of a way to protect Pete without directly sabotaging his relationships and feelings.

[shadows-twilight]

RWBY Volume 7, Chapter 1

What is up, FNDM!!! At long last we are back with an all new volume of RWBY, and thus I am back to gush about it! Let's just jump right in with my thoughts and opinions on Chapter 1 of RWBY Volume 7, "The Greatest Kingdom"

MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW:

I swear, the moon gets prettier and prettier every volume. This opening shot is incredible.

When we heard his one line in the trailer, I was blown away with how little I could tell that Qrow had a new voice actor, even though I was listening for it. Now that we get to hear more of it, the differences are admittedly starting to stand out a bit more. That being said, I don't think it will take long at all to get used to it, andJason Liebrecht is still doing an amazing job. I certainly look forward to his performance moving forward.

Looks like I was right in the finale in that the lower area is Mantle. I must say, it looks amazing. Everything about it just looks so dirty and industrial, definitely what I would imagine for the slums of the technological giant that is Atlas. Major kudos to CRWBY for this setting design.

Ooh, both Ironwood and Winter get new outfits. They look good, though something about Ironwood's beard looks off to me. Maybe I'm just not used to it, but something about the shading makes it look photoshopped on. Maybe it'll look better in the future.

Decided to pause on the newsboard that the purple haired dude is looking at, and I must say, while there isn't a lot there, what can be made out is...foreboding. The bottom middle headline I believe says "Outer Wall Damaged" which certainly seems like it will be important later, while the one to its left seems to be an opinion piece on the dust embargo. The standouts, however, are the top two. The first on the left talks about a journalist being found dead (always a good sign in politically charged climates) while the one on the right talks about an upcoming council election. Specifically, it talks about a "Mantle Hometown Hero" (whom I am assuming to be the woman on all of the posters that looks like she wouldn't look out of place in The Dragon Prince) going up against an "Atlesian Tycoon." Five Lien on who THAT could possibly be. Are Team RWBY and Friends going to have to go up against Jacques in a political arena? Because that could get pretty interesting.

I'd say that drone was too cute to die the way it did, but quite frankly it was far too funny for me to muster up that much compassion.

Yeesh, our first look at the Faunus Dust Miners, and it is not a pretty sight. Or maybe it's just the drunk asshole spouting casual racism. Either way, it's an ugly sight.

Thank you Weiss. We were all thinking it, put the trash where it belongs.

So did the drunk with the blue beanie know who they were? I feel like that was what he was trying to say before he decided to eat shit.

I don't know who the mouse Faunus girl was that exited the clinic, and we'll probably never see her again, but she was adorable as hell and I feel like that deserved mentioning.

Hmm, a robotics technician that resides in Atlas, has similar hair style and skin tone to the guy we cut to when Penny died, and is currently wearing a pink bow tie? Yeah, no idea who this is.

I love his chair. That is all.

"Days Since Last Nonsense: 0" I like the added touch of 'nonsense' being written down the side where room ran out.

If we never get to see Nora try Pietro's dancing shoes, this entire volume will be considered a waste.

So, seeing how incredibly obvious it is as to who this Pietro guy is, did anyone else perk up a bit when he referred to his daughter in present tense?

Hehe, convenient-reveal-delaying Grimm attack is conveniently-reveal-delaying

I see the Atlesian are as useless as always.

This score sounds like it's based on a song we'll be getting later, but even if it isn't I am loving it all the same

Even though his pose was completely different, when Oscar stabbed the Sabre Grimm in the head, it reminded me of Scrooge Mcduck's pogo attack in the old Ducktales game.

And there it is. The major even that they have been teasing us about for months, the big Vol 7 premiere surprise, the one, the only PENNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited to see our precious robot girl back! Now all we need is Pyrrha and I will be happy once more

Let's face it Ruby, any other greeting simply would not have done this reunion justice.

Plus side, the status of RWBY redheads just got a lot less endangered.

"We have so many things to catch up about" Oh, Penny, you have no idea.

Dangit, Qrow, you had to jinx it, didn't you. I mean, I guess that's pretty on brand for you, but still.

These Ace-Ops guys certainly seem...colorful (despite most of them wearing the standard boring Atlas white color palette). I'm particularly interested in who I'm assuming is the leader, who the credits name Clover Ebi. I don't know who or what his character allusion is, but I feel like him being covered in stereotypical good luck charms is a sign.

Woohoo! New intro time! Just like last time, there's a lot to unpack here, so let's get into it

-The opening silhouettes remind me a lot of the original trailers, and quite frankly I love it for that. Not sure how I feel about the more pastel color pallet, though. -The shot of Team RWBY flying through the sky and shifting throughout all of their main outfits? A stroke of genius. -They seem to have updated Yang's semblance effect from the Bees vs Adam fight. It looks amazing and I love it. -Ironwood alone in a dark war room certainly doesn't seem ominous-Hmm, now the Ace-Ops guys get there own silhouette portraits? I am certainly interested in getting to know these guys. -When we zoom out on Watts's computer, alongside the Ace-Ops we see something to do with Mantle's security network as well as an election map. This election is definitely looking like it's going to be a main focal point of this volume. -Nothing too special here, just a few character shots, a silhouette of Tyrian looking creepy, Ironwood looking angry and sad (though the effect of the snow and ice consuming him is interesting),  Jacques and Whitley looking smarmy, Weiss and Winter looking at each other (their facial expressions are certainly telling of what their relationship is going to be like this volume), Pietro and Maria, a group shot of Teams RWBY, Team JNR, and Oscar, and of course, Penny looking adorable. -Now that we're getting to see it in motion, I must admit that Jaune's new haircut doesn't look too bad. Also, I noticed his shield now incorporates hard light dust. I wonder if it just widens his shield a little or if it will manifest in other ways as well. -When the Mantle citizen threw a rock at the hologram of Ironwood, it briefly flickered to Jacques. That's concerning. -The action scenes are a lot of fun, with Oscar training with Ironwood, and Weiss and Blake in the dust mines, but the really interesting one is the Mantle Hero and Qrow going up against Tyrian. I wonder if Qrow knows her. -The group shot at the end is very My Hero Academia and I absolutely love it. -Wow, even Qrow gets a new outfit. It only took him twenty years. -Ooh, a brief look at the Relic of Creation. I admit, I was hoping that the relics would each have different color schemes, like having all of them be gold is fine, but I was slightly hoping where the Relic of Knowledge was blue, the Relic of Creation would be maybe green and the Relic of Destruction would be red, or something like that. Still looks cool though -There was not a single hint of Cinder or Neo in the opening, and that somewhat worries me.

Hehe, credits humor "Drunk Mann played by Joel Mann" Ah, once again, RWBY shows that it knows how to come out the gate swinging. They've set up a lot of interesting things in this first episode, and I can not wait to see how it all plays out.

[ichigopanhpff]

BNHA Fic: Blink! Ch. 2

Read Ch. 1

I swear, we’ll get to the good stuff soon.

--

Knock-knock.

Quickly gathering the paperwork back into the folder, Ren shoved everything back into the drawer. Taking quick calming breaths, she peeked opened the door to see most of the eager faces of 1-A.

“Ah! Senpai!” Aishido excitedly greeted. “We’re having a “king of rooms” competition right now and we wanted to include you in on it!” “That’s nice but my room’s a bit of a mess–” “Too late!”

A few of the students pushed their way through and stumbled in, wedging Ren between the door and the wall. Ah, the power of youth, she fleetingly thought as her back and ribcage reeled in pain.

“Ohhh! It’s so grown up!” Uraraka praised with her hands clasped, looking around in amazement. Ren’s wooden bed frame doubled as storage space and was lower than the usual frame. To the left sat a low desk and a wooden stacking shelves with her personal effects and drawers. “And simple!” “Everything’s so tastefully done!” Sero analyzed the simple star patterned charcoal gray drape curtain Ren put up and the scattered posters on her walls. A twine was hung on the far wall with clothesline clips holding photos. “Minimalist and stylish.” “As expected of a senpai,” Iida nodded with confidence. “We should learn from this.” “It’s modern Japanese...” Todoroki uttered out, impressed with the design. “Maybe I should’ve done my room like this.”

“You’re all really at your own pace, aren’tcha,” their R.A. blurted out from being pinned behind the door, promptly sliding down onto the floor and rubbing her back.

The class panicked and helped her out. She sighed and dusted herself off while everyone profusely apologized.

“It’s fine but just don’t get carried away, okay?” she dismissively stated, rubbing the back of her head. She didn’t have the heart to trample on the little fun they got to have. “Anyway, this is my room. Welcome.”

“T-Takahiro-senpai!” a young boy’s voice trembled out. Everyone in the room turned to look at a freckled boy with disheveled dark green hair looking at a photo frame found on one of the cubby shelves. “You know Melissa Shield?!”

“Whoa whoa! Who’s Melissa?!” Sero asked and suddenly threw Izuku in a headlock. “Midoriya, you sly dog! Havin’ a foreigner girlfriend over summer vacay!”

Oh, so that’s Midoriya... I think Melissa said he preferred to be called ‘Deku.��� He’s... smaller than I thought, Ren thought to herself as he was bombarded with questions by his classmates. The boy suddenly got flustered and embarrassed; his face blushing two shades of red. She couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oh, Melissa-san. From I-Island,” Uraraka suddenly remembered. “She was super nice. She showed us around I-Expo after everything happened.” “And knew so much about everything there,” Jiro chimed in.  “Melissa’s my childhood friend, Midoriya-kun,” Ren answered with a wide smile after the commotion died down. “From when I was living in California.” “Whoa, senpai! You lived in America?!” Hagakure enquired with excitement. “That’s so amazing!” “Well, I was born there. I’m a hafu*.” “It’s amazing how well you speak Japanese though,” Yaoyoruzu remarked.

“I’ve been here since I was 8 at an international school before I got into U.A.” ”How did you get into U.A.? Through recommendations?” Kaminari casually asked. “I remember Aizawa-sensei saying you were strong.” ”I took the exam to get in. And please don’t pay any mind as to what Aizawa’s saying: I’m really not that strong.” ”That’s totally somethin’ someone really strong would say though,” Kirishima commented and rubbed his chin. “Being humble about it is so manly!” “So how was it going to school overseas?” a boy with glasses asked while moving his arms like a robot. “Are the education systems as good as ours?” “I don’t remember much of it, to be honest...” Ren trailed off, her eyes downcasted at her feet. “But I do remember the school being big.” “As expected of America...” Iida gushed. “So if you and Melissa-san were childhood friends...” Izuku muttered and jumped up nervously. “D-Does that mean you know All-Might too?!” “We’re loosely acquainted, yes. I’m not as close with him as Mels and her dad are.” “Ah, is that so.”

The boy breathed a sigh for some reason.

“Deku’s a huge All-Might fan,” Uraraka whispered close to Ren. “His room’s fully decorated with his face.” “Oh, a fanboy.” “Uraraka-san! Please don’t say anymore!” the boy exclaimed in a state, blushing furiously. “It’s fine. Your room is supposed to show your personality and interests, after all,” the R.A. calmly said with a small smile. “Oh interesting. I never thought of our rooms that way,” Ashino said. “Anyway we should get moving,” Iida interrupted. “I’m sure Takahiro-senpai is tired after today and we should wrap up this contest soon.” “’Kay, class rep!” the rest of the students responded. “Sorry for the intrusion.”

As the commotion died down, Ren was able to shower and relax after a long day. As she walked to the elevator, muffled talking could be heard coming from outside. She slid her veranda window halfway open and peered through from the side to see 7 students standing by the lamp post by the entrance.

“–I hardened my heart and spoke so harshly...”

That quivering voice. Sounds like Asui.

She felt bad eavesdropping, but continued to in order to get a general idea of the dynamic of 1-A. After all, she’s coming into this dorm a stranger when they’ve had close to half a year to bond.

“The whole “King of All Rooms” thing happened because we all understood how Deku and the others must be feeling...” Ochaco’s voice said.

Ah so that’s it… They must be talking about Kamino.

Ren now understood why Aizawa didn’t expel anyone here.

They’re all special in their own way and have forged an ironclad bond with one another. It’s not something a villain or a saboteur can easily wheedle in and destroy. Her shoulders immediately jumped hearing Kirishima apologizing at the top of his lungs. All she could do was close her eyes with a lopsided grin and sighed through her nose.

They may be young, but their hearts and minds are in the right place. The makings of a great hero are there.

At that moment, Ren had a fleeting thought as to the other reason why Aizawa put her here, but it was of no importance for now.

–

Everyone’s alarms in 1-A went off close to the same time. Ren sluggishly reached around for hers with her eyes still closed, her hand hitting air and the night stand with a muffled thud. Groaning aloud, she let out a long sigh before propping her elbows up on her bed with her eyes halfway open. Finally shutting up the source of her annoyance, her heavy head flopped back down onto her soft pillow and groaned into it.

She forced herself to roll out of bed 5 minutes later and let out a long stretch of her upper body. Sighing again, she gingerly stood up and pulled back her curtains to let the sun greet her. Slumberously blinking, she scratched the back of her head and went to grab her items to wash up downstairs. She saw Ashino and Yaoyorozu walk past when she opened her door.

“Good morning, Ren-senpai!” the two girls greeted. “… Mornin’.” Ren muttered out and stifled a small yawn. “So who won last night? The King of Rooms?” “Oh, Sato did!” Ashino happily replied. “His chiffon cake was sooooo tasty!” “Aw I missed cake? Boo.”

She pressed the button to call for the elevator. “You should join us next time, senpai,” Yaoyorozu said with an inviting smile. “It’d be a lot of fun.” “I’d like that. Thanks.” “Senpai...” Ashino paused for a second looking at Ren, stifling a giggle. “… You have some gnarly bed head.” “Ah, yeah. It’ll sort itself out.”

The doors to the elevator dinged open while the three girls idly chatted on the way to the female communal bathroom. Everyone went about their business and grabbed breakfast after changing into their uniforms. Even though their living arrangements have changed, the day-to-day routine in school remained the same.

While the first years were working on their signature moves, the second years were refining theirs alongside battle strategies. Ren’s gym curriculum today was to fight close-range fighters with her quirk; there were only 4 in her class who fell within that range, one of which was her friend Tomoe.

“Alright, Ren-Ren,” Tomoe growled out and prepared herself to transform parts of herself into a porcupine. “Time to get stabby stabbed.” “Really?” she deadpanned and placed her hand on her hip. “That’s your one-liner?” “Please move your body, not your mouth,” their teacher, Snipe, scolded from the sidelines with his arms crossed.

Tomoe took the initiative on the attack by charging at Ren. As her friend got closer, she timed the impact and immediately disappeared.

“Ah this crap again...” the porcupine groaned out and immediately turned, swinging her claw to intercept Ren’s roundhouse kick. “Your moves are getting tiresome!”

Tomoe turned it up a level and decided to try out her new move: Claw Flurry. Going at max speed, she concentrated all of her energy and dove at her with barraging fast swipe attacks. Unable to escape the warpath, Ren pressed a button on one of her cuffs. Within seconds, a pair of clubs phased into her hands. Preparing for impact, she held her arms out in X-formation in hopes of slowing Tomoe down. The clash exploded in a barrage of needles and sparks.

“You’re gonna haveta do more than that!” her friend roared out as she pushed her friend across the ground. All Ren did was smirk and saw glimmer of a reflection. Next thing Tomoe knew, her friend disappeared again and she had a one-way ticket to the far wall.

The pink haired girl reappeared not too far behind, wearing a triumphant smirk.

“You were saying?” All her spiky rodent friend could muster up was a shaky right arm flipping her off.

The rest of the day went by in a flash and classes were over already. “Dude, you gotta do better with your moves. They’re too predictable,” Tomoe complained while rotating her right shoulder. Her face had a small bandage affixed on her left cheek from the collision. “I pretty much knew when you were gonna kick me.” “I can’t help it. It’s muscle memory at this point,” Ren groaned out. “I’m really trying.” “Well try harder or I’m gonna ask for a new sparring partner.” “How about sparring with the underclassmen?” Seri suggested. “I mean, they dunno your quirk and I’m sure you’ll be able to learn a thing or two.” “One of them already wants to 1v1 me.” “Is it the scowling spiky blond one?” Seri and Tomoe asked simultaneously. “I–What the?! How?!” Ren sputtered out. “We developed a psychic quirk,” Seri drawled out, pointing to her temple like some mental person with the tip her of tongue hanging off to the side of her mouth. All Ren did was playfully shove her aside.

After messing around a bit longer, she left her friends to head back to 1-A. As the dorm came into view, something that sounds like crackling lighting could be heard to the far right of the building. Curiosity peaked, Ren decided to check it out and saw a boy with wild viridian green hair glowing and practicing his kicks.

“No, it’s still off...” he muttered to himself, looking through his notes in a notebook he laid on the grass. “Midoriya-kun?”

His shoulders jumped slightly and turned around to meet her curious hazel green eyes.

“Ah, Takahiro-senpai!” he greeted with a lopsided smile. “Good evening.” “What’re you doin’ out here?”

Ren walked closer to Midoriya and sat down beside him, setting her bag down.

“Ah, I was just working on something related to my fighting style,” he shyly explained. “I asked Iida for some advice since he primarily uses his legs to attack due to his quirk.”

As he continued on, she studied the young boy’s features. Whenever he talked about something he’s passionate about, he really lights up more. Noticing her eyes on him, he suddenly got bashful again.

“S-sorry,” he looked down and rubbed the back of his head shyly. “I have a tendency to ramble when I get excited about something.” She softly shook her head. “It’s fine. It’s refreshing,” she replied with a small smile. “But if you really want to sharpen your Shoot Style, you should watch some videos on taekwondo.” “Tae...kwondo?” “It’s a Korean martial art consisting of only kicks,” she explained. “From what I could see before, you’re getting the speed. It’s your form that’s sloppy with too many openings. If your opponent is someone with a quick eye, they’d see through it immediately and your attack would quickly be nullified. This is also something you can look over with Iida, too.”

Midoriya could be seen madly scribbling her advice into the notebook, muttering intensely to himself. She couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it.” Ren stood back up and dusted the grass off of her skirt before picking up her bag. “Don’t stay out here too late, Midoriya-kun.” “You can call me ‘Deku’, Takahiro-senpai.” “And you can call me ‘Ren’, Deku-kun.”

Making her way back to the main entrance, random chatter could be heard from the common room. And for some reason, Uraraka is floating on the ceiling, blushing madly and covering her face. She removed her outside shoes and placed them into her designated locker before swapping to her slippers.

“Uraraka-chan,” Ren called out from below. “You okay up there?” “She’s just in denial she’s in looooveeee,” Aishino’s voice teased, followed by laughter from the rest of the girls. “Miiiinnnaaa!” she squealed out. “It’s not like thaattttt!”

She decided to sit with the girls a bit before settling upstairs for homework. “Ren-senpai!” Hagakure called. “Have you ever been in love?” “Me? Hmm…” she thought about it for a moment. “Would you even call it love?” “Ehhh??? So you have?!?!” Ashino excitedly clamored and climbed on the table. “Who is it? Who? Who? Who?” “No one you guys know.” “Whaattt? Booo~ Then have you had a boyfriend?” Jiro asked. “I did in junior high.” “Now this is regular high school girl talk!” Ashino shouted and air punched from all the excitement. “It wasn’t anything special. We only dated for a few months before we broke up,” Ren disregarded the event and rested her chin on her hand. “Our personalities and interests were just too different. Come to think of it, I gave him my first kiss.”

By this time, Uraraka landed back on the couch and all the girls were in squeal mode.

“So? How was the kiss?” Hagakure squeaked out the question, practically hopping out of her seat for the answer. “… Forgettable. And awkward.” She rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably. “Sorry to disappoint.” “Uwah, it was that bad?” Jiro groaned out. “It’s not that he was bad. He just… didn’t leave an impression.” “Well then, I hope your next boyfriend will leave a bigger impression then, ribbit,” Asui encouraged with her wide trademark smile. “That’s not gonna be anytime soon,” Ren chuckled and cocked her head at the brown haired girl with a curious smirk. “Buuuut, we can do something ‘bout you.”

She leaned into the brunette’s ear and whispered, “You like Deku-kun, don’tcha? I saw you staring at him when I was outside.”

Her face suddenly burned and turned as red as a cherry tomato. Were she a cartoon right now, she’d have steam coming out of her ears.

“Noooo~ Senpai, not you toooooo!” she shouted as she ran toward the elevator.  – The daily grind went on between practicing and studying. Next thing they knew, it was already the night before the provisional license exams.

“Uwah, I just can’t calm down...” Kirishima blurted out, holding his pounding chest and paced. “Can’t sleep either.” “I know right?” Kaminari agreed and crossed his arms. His right leg couldn’t stop shaking. “All we can expect are people with stronger quirks there.” “It’d be nice to have the upper hand so we can get a leg up on our opponents...” Tokoyami thought aloud. “I know I’ll be fine,” Bakugou blurted out. “I’m gonna murder ‘em all.” “If only there was a way we could get some sorta hint to...” Sero trailed off as his eyes wandered to a certain figure walking past them and into the kitchen, suddenly having an idea. “S-senpai! Ren-senpai!”

The girl slowly turned to the common room where the boys were hanging out.

“Hm? What’s up?” “You have your hero license right?” the black haired boy asked. “I do… Why?” “Well, we were wondering… if there was anything you can tell us about how the exams tomorrow so that we’re better prepared for it?”

Ren put a thoughtful finger to her lips, scanning her memories.

“I can’t say anything useful. They change it up every year depending on the examiner...” “Oh is that so...” the boys dejectedly claimed and sighed heavily. “So what did you have to do for yours when you took it, senpai?” Kirishima enquired. “We had to evacuate citizens from an office building that had a bomb threat called in,” Ren remembered. “We then had to find the bomb and deactivate it in a group of four within 30 minutes.”

A dark look suddenly emerged on her face, as if something was in front of her she wanted to kill immediately.

“S-s-senpai?” Kaminari squeaked out, feeling the intimidating aura seeping out of her. “It was a test from hell… Never in my life had I have to dye my hands with so much liquid crimson…” “The darkness she’s exuding...” Tokoyami commented with a slight quiver in his voice. “It’s so dense.” “Did you kill someone?!” Sero exclaimed. “No. The red dye from clipping one of the wires got on my hero costume…” The fingers on her left hand twitched. “It took three days to get the stain out.”

At that moment, the boys thought the same thing: Her aura felt like Bakugou’s whenever he was ready to murder something.

“But that’s all in the past.”

She changed back so fast!, they all thought.

“And you guys’ll be fine; you’re strong,” Ren encouraged. “Out of everyone in this school excluding some 3rd years, you have the most first-hand battle experiences. As long as you use that knowledge to your advantage, you can turn the tides easily.” “Any advice on how to do that?” Kaminari asked with a look of anxiousness.

The upperclassman stayed quiet for a second, trying to search for the best answer to quell his shaky heart.

“Remember the pain you experienced at your lowest point and carve that into your resolve.”

Those words left a strong impact on the boys and all they could respond with was silence. Suddenly remembering the recent events of Bakugou’s kidnapping and what went down at Kamino, the group already knew what they needed to do.

“I-I’m gonna go sleep now,” Kirishima announced. “’Night all.” “Same,” the others blurted out in scatters.

One by one, they filed out of the common room. Except for one person.

“Aizawa-sensei told you everything, didn’t he?” Bakugou enquired. “Not everything,” she calmly responded. “There were a lot of pieces I had to put together.” “So you know our lowest point...” he began. “What was yours?” “Sorry?” “I don’t like repeating myself,” Bakugou growled out with annoyance. “It’s not an answer you’re expecting.” “Try me.”

Ren stared deep into his crimson eyes with her hazel green ones; they were flickering with dark impulses.

“I’ll tell you if you pass the exam tomorrow,” she proposed. “Haah? Is that a challenge?” he cocked his head up. “Maybe.” “That’s not good enough,” the blond boy lulled his head back, staring. “If I win, you have to tell me that and everythin’ ‘bout your quirk.” “… Fine.”

Bakugou scoffed and slowly got off of the couch. Making his way to the elevator, he said within an earshot, “I knew you were the teasing type.” “And what’s that supposed to mean?” she asked with a curiously arched eyebrow, stopping him in his steps. “Whatever you want it to mean, senpai.” As he walked away, Ren suddenly remembered one thing: the U.A. hazing tradition at the exam. … I’m sure Aizawa will fill them in, she thought.

–

A/N: *Hafu: someone who’s born with one Japanese and non-Japanese parent.

Read Ch. 3