#and unfortunately I had used splat and she was asking how long ago it was and I realized it would have been last summer

[missingsvnday]

Do you ever just love !!!!! Your friends !!!!! So much !!!!!!!

[velvett-tearss]

Black Tea & Blushes — L. Ackerman

summary: The two of you never got along, but there were times that even fire and ice made a perfect pair.

warnings: cursing, no spoilers for anything past early s1, Levi’s a little shit at first (surprise, surprise), mentions of blood (they’re fighting titans :-) lol) gn!reader (no pronouns mentioned)

genre: semi-canonverse, fluff, enemies to lovers (?)

word count: 3.3k

a/n: this was very self-indulgent lmao, sorry if it’s a bit messy 😭, <Hange, Connie & Sasha3 make an appearance bc I love them and you should too, hope you enjoy it <3

"Couldn't you have gotten a cadet to do this?"

You raised a sharp brow at the man, trying to keep yourself from flipping his desk over. "Would you have yelled at them like you just yelled at me?"

The man's grey eyes didn’t meet yours, but there was a scowl on his face. Despite his steely eyes, he didn't say anything back. Instead, he pursed his lips and turned back to continue his paperwork.

You huffed in an attempt to ground yourself after being yelled at for the past two minutes. You took a sip from your own cup of the tea you had prepared for him, letting yourself savor the taste.

     "I don't understand." you said, tasting the earthy, black tea. "You said it was too cold last time, so I made sure it was extra warm. What's wrong with it? Is it too sour for you? I only added a few drops of lemon this time."

Levi remained silent, but you stood your ground, tapping your boot against the pavemented floor as you waited at his desk for an answer. You wouldn't let him win, not this time. Day after day, it seemed like he only grew ruder and ruder.

Your dislike for Levi Ackerman started the day you met him. He was still just a soldier when you joined the Survey Corp, and it wasn't long after that he become Captain.

He was mean, and he never seemed to care about anything, but God forbid you make a reckless move out in the field. It was as if all hell broke loose if you used a bit too much gas when slicing the nape of a Titan's neck.

     "Not everyone is Humanity's Strongest." you had spat at him when he scolded you on the way back to the walls. That only earned you a glare, seeing as Hange managed to secure your safety. If it weren't for them, you were certain you would've gotten stuck with stable duty for a month's end.

     You were glad he was nice to them, at least.

     At some point, you got promoted to Captain as well. One would think that since you shared the same rank, he would grow warmer to you, but that was another one of your mistakes.

     Everything about him rubbed you the wrong way, from his disagreeable manners to his awful way of speaking to soldiers. And, it was your disdain for him that got you stuck in this mess.

"A cadet could've done this." Levi stated again; you felt like you were being patronized. He raised a brow at you, holding the teacup in his hand. "A cadet could’ve made better tea than you.”

"Obviously not, Captain." you threw back sourly, snatching the cup from his hand. "A cadet could not have done this because if I hadn't interfered two weeks ago, who knows what you would've done to the poor man. And, all he did was make your tea wrong!”

Levi blinked at you, appearing bored with your conversation. "If you hadn't interfered, that soldier would be back with those good for nothing Military Police Officers doing what they're best at."

     You gritted your teeth. "And, what are they good for, Captain Ackerman?”

     His brow twitched slightly. “Absolutely nothing."

You let out a bitter laugh, placing the white ceramic teacups back on the tray you had brought in. "Now that you say it out loud, that reminds me a lot of someone I know."

     "What an awful way to talk about yourself.” Levi threw back with ease.

     The urge to roll your eyes at him was weighing on you, but you were stronger than the immaturity he seemed to bring out in you. "Captain, you must be growing old if you've already forgotten we're the same rank."

     Your decision of keeping yourself calm in his presence payed to be of use when you noticed the slight pause in his pen strokes at your words.

     But, you were well aware of how trustworthy Levi was in the sense that you knew he could always come back with something even worse than what he's told you before.

      "If you were of any use, you would know what's wrong with your tea. I'm sure even King Fritz could tell good tea from awful tea, and he's the most useless of them all." Levi told you, pen moving over the papers in front of him swiftly.

     "He could probably also tell a grown man from a spoiled brat," you told him, taking the tray with you as you left his office. "But, you make even that task seem impossible."

     You had to stop the triumphant grin from growing on your face when you heard his faint scoff from the other side of the wooden door.

Even if you managed to snag the last word of that argument, it didn’t feel as good as it usually did. The only reason you involved yourself in Levi Ackerman’s nightly tea was because 1) you didn’t like the way he spoke to the poor soldier who got stuck with job of handling it, and 2) Erwin asked that you try and be a bit nicer to your fellow captain.

You only did it to keep your job, really, and you would never let your Commander think less of you, even if he did favor Levi. Even Hange had tried to coax you into not letting The Ackerman’s sharp tongue get to you, but that didn’t seem to work.

Levi and you would never be friends, if that’s what Erwin meant when he pulled you aside at supper a few nights before. It was a lie to say you didn’t admire the man’s impressive skills, because you did.

But, admiration and respect were two separate things.

The two of you were jagged edges of broken glass that didn’t fit together, and that was perfectly fine. You didn’t mind being Levi being a sharp piece of glass, just as long as he kept his corners to himself and far from you.

Erwin, as observant as usual, caught on to the solution to your problem, and he even made sure you and Levi would rarely ever cross paths when the Scouts were out on an expedition. The two of you worked on opposite sides of the formation.

The only time you would ever work together would be if there were no other options, but both of you were reliable in your own senses: him with his... whatever he called it, and you with your wits.

You didn't mind being farthest from him, and if it were up to you, you'd go even farther.

     “Hey, you got new glasses.” you stated, noticing the new pair of brown frames that Hange wore the morning as the Scouts waited for the signal to begin the expedition.

“Oh, don’t remind me.” they said with a frown, holding the glasses in their hands. “Last night, Moblit and I were doing some research, and someone must’ve stolen my glasses because I couldn’t find them this morning.”

“Stole? Isn’t that a big accusation?”

They let out a hearty laugh. “It is! That’s why I’m saying it!” Hange replied, golden eyes widened at you in exasperation. “I’ve been stuck with these, and they’re too big for my face. All they do is fall off.”

“So maybe don’t wear them?” you wondered as you caught a glimpse of the dark head of hair you knew too well. “What’ll you do if you lose them out in the field? Better safe than sorry.”

“I wish, but I’m as blind as a bat without them.” Hange reasoned with a sigh before quickly composing themselves. “But, now that you mention it, I never did mind a challenge.”

The smirk growing on their face was one you didn’t quite like. Before you could talk some sense into them (if that were even possible) the signal went off to begin the mission.

They gave a wide smile and a thumbs up as a good luck token. "Don’t do anything crazy!” you called out when the two of you parted ways, taking your squad with you. “I mean it, Hange!”

Hange waved you off, charging in faster in their horse. It was up to poor Moblit to chase right after them.

Your squad remained close together for the majority of the mission. There wasn't much to do on your end of things, which was a relief. At some point, you decided to stop for a quick break before pushing forward.

If you were able to see five mintues into the future, you would never have let your squad talk you into taking a lunch break. Just as you were relaxing a bit, there was an Abnormal coming from the thick trees.

Your sense of smell wasn't as skilled as Miche, and if it weren't for one of the younger cadets on your squad who had a keen sense of hearing, you all would've been Titan food.

It didn't take long for you to spring into action, your squad following suit. You made sure to use the plans Erwin had issued out on previous Scout meetings.

When the Abnormal finally made it to where you and your squad stopped, the beastly creature managed to catch one of your soldiers in midair. As the young boy was raised in the air, his stomach couldn't contain his recent lunch.

Gravity works in wonders, you thought when his earlier lunch fell onto you with a splat! You couldn't blame the poor boy; it was better upstairs than downstairs. As terrible a feeling it was to have chunky vomit all over you, you knew it would be as even worse feeling if the boy died under your care.

Your squad got to him before any damage was permanent, at least physically. When the killing blow was done, you tended to your soldier. He muttered out apologies for having thrown up on you, but you were merely in the line of fire.

"It's okay, Connie." you reassured him after pulling off your green cape that had been soiled in aid to shield you. “I’d rather it be your lunch on me than your organs.”

You ordered that he ride with your other cadet, Sasha. He let out a pained laugh at your words, leaning against her on her horse. She scolded him for “wasting so much food,” to which lead to their silly banter, which you didn’t mind as long as they were safe.

     As unfortunate as it was, that incident wasn't the last of it. There wasn't much time between Connie getting his ribs crushed by a Titan and the numerous amount of red flares that were being shot into the air.  The amount of red powder in the sky was enough to cast a shadow of worry over you.

     By the time your squad made it to where the red flares had been signaled, it was a mess. Abnormal and Pure Titans were ambushing the rest of whatever was left of the Survey Corp. Your squad wasted no time in following your orders as you made a beeline for the trees where a group of Abnormals were huddled together.

     When you finally got a good look at the scene in the forest, your sight was met with Titan smoke and blood of fallen comrades. It was a disaster, as it always was. But you knew, where there was smoke, there was definitely fire.

And, that fire was Humanity’s Strongest Soldier.

He looked ablaze, nothing but a flash in the distance. Slicing Titan limbs as if they were merely flowers in his way, Levi Ackerman was kicking ass. It was in moments like this — where he looked like the answer to all the prayers of the people inside the walls — that you wondered if you truly hated him all along.

“Section Commander!” Moblit cried, chasing after Hange as they swung on the highest tree of the forest. It seemed as though they forgot all about how loose their glasses were as they did a number of twirls in the air. His voice was enough to snap you out of your trance and assist your fellow comrades.

You managed to fight off three Pure Titans and two Abnormals for what seemed like forever. It might’ve been even worse if not for Connie Springer’s lunch all over you that acted as Titan Repellant.

Perhaps you would tell Hange of your new discovery, but every time you managed to get close to them while fighting off the Titans, all they did was badger you with questions upon questions.

“Are you sure you haven’t you seen them?!” Hange cried for the fifth time, eyes squinted at you from their branch opposite you. Moblit was fighting off a creepy Abnormal with ugly teeth a few feet from you.

“No, I haven’t! And, didn’t I tell you your glasses would fall if you took them with you?!” you shouted back from your place on the tree before taking a breath to try to slice the neck of your second Pure Titan. “Go back to the wagon, Hange, before you get yourself killed!”

They huffed and puffed, but they let Moblit guide them to the wagon to wait until the rest of the Scouts could find a moment to retreat back to the walls.

After finally slicing the nape of your final Titan, you looked over to where you had last seen Levi. Only, he was nowhere to be found. A panic set in when you couldn’t find any sight of him.

“Captain?” you called out from your place on a tree branch where you were catching your breath. You squinted your eyes to get a farther look, but it didn’t help that much. “Captain Ackerman, are you there? Do you—”

But, that’s when you felt a jostle of wind hit your back. You turned quickly to see the dark-haired man swinging through the trees, holding an unconscious Oluo.

You followed him, figuring if you took his squad member off his hands that Levi would have a better chance of taking down more Titans. Maybe even with a man who weighed far more than himself in his hands, Levi could still have a better chance than you.

“Captain, I’ve got him. I’ll take—”

But, Levi wouldn’t budge. It was like he wasn’t listening to you, and you didn’t know if it was by choice or coincidence. You huffed and rushed quicker to help him in carrying Oluo.

Maybe it was just your luck, or maybe it was just his, but right before you managed to reach him, a Titan’s jaw came from below him, wide and ready for lunchtime.

There was nothing for him to do, not with his hands full. Surely he knew that from the way his grey eyes finally broke through from that awful void he’d placed you in, the one where all you ever got from him was scoldings and insults and cold stares that often made you wonder if he actually did hate you.

And, for the first time, you saw panic flash through his grey eyes, his life flash before his eyes.

“Levi!” you cried, using the rest of your ODM gear’s gas to catch up to him. You knew if he were to survive such an event, he would scold you for wasting your gas on an old lump like him.

But, for once, Levi had something to say about you that didn’t regard your incompetence to make decent tea or your recklessness that spurred you to use all your gas just to save him and the bullheaded, baboon by the name of Oluo.

It was your astonishing speed.

You got to the two men right before the great wide jaws of the Titan could snap closed and swallow the three of you for its meal, which Levi had to admit (but probably never would) was quite impressive.

“Shit!” you hissed out when the three of you landed on another tree branch. As quick as you got to the branch was as quick as Miche was to come and ensure your safety, slicing the Titan’s nape with ease.

Oluo was still unconscious and a little bloodied up and battered, but he was safe.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Levi yelled, voice slightly hoarse from everything that had just happened. His hair was a mess, and you held back a laugh at the sight of him. “Why— why would you? I mean, what— and, why do you smell like—”

“A thank you is perfectly fine, Ackerman.” you coughed out, catching your breath from the overexertion you just forced yourself through. Carrying two grown men was tough, especially when it was between life or death. “As for the smell, one of my soldiers threw up on me.”

Levi blinked at you, his expression consisting of disgust and confusion. “What?”

“My soldier. He threw up on me earlier.”

“I heard you the first time.” he told you, blinking quickly as if it were going to grant him some clarity. You didn’t know if his confusion was from your act of saving him and his squad member or from not knowing what to say to you after.

He looked funny, with his hair that of a bird’s nest and his cheeks flushed pink.

“Did you hit your head on the way down?”

“W-what?”

“Your head? Did you hit it?”

“No, I-I’m fine.” he scrambled upright, finding purchase on the unconscious Oluo’s shin. Your eyes flickered to where his hand was placed, and he snatched it right off immediately, burning a deeper shade of pink.

“Oh.” you muttered, holding back a chuckle. There was no way Levi was without a concussion, not with the way he was acting all of a sudden: stuttering and turning pink on you. It was a wonder you caught up to him before he collapsed.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Captain?” you asked again, fixing your uniform before getting to your feet. You wobbled a bit; Levi raised a brow at you. “You look sick. Why don’t you sit in the injury wagon for a bit on the way back? Just in case.”

He waved you off, standing on his two feet as well. You didn’t want to cause a fight, not right after what had just happened and not outside the walls, so you decided to say nothing about his seeming concussion.

The two of you lifted Oluo off the ground, blood seeping from the side of the man’s mouth. “Is it his ribs? Was it an Abnormal? They were awful today.” you questioned, looking to Levi for answers.

“He bit his tongue, again, before ramming into a tree.” Levi told you, averting his gaze from you as he shifted the man against his shoulder for a better grip. “He said something f-fell from the sky.”

You nodded, letting yourself chuckle. “What could it’ve been? Bird shit?”

Levi shrugged at your words.

He was far too quiet for your liking. Maybe he did have a concussion. It wouldn’t be good if he rode back like that. Perhaps if you spoke to Erwin or Hange about it, one of them could convince Levi to get checked out once you got back to the walls.

The two of you managed to get back to the rest of the Scouts safely. You helped Levi placing Oluo in the wagon with the wounded and the fallen while everyone else was getting accounted for.

All the while, Hange was trying to persuade Erwin into letting them form a search party for their glasses that had fallen while they were swinging on the trees.

Though you were straining to listen to their conversation, you were more than certain that Erwin would never allow such a thing, but you had to admire Hange’s efforts, as fruitless as they were.

“Thank you.”

You snapped your head to Levi.

He refused to meet your gaze again, busying himself with readjusting his soldier’s cape. If not for the obvious step into uncharted territory between the two of you, you would’ve commented on the rosy blush he adorned.

Suddenly, you were overcome with a laughter, waving him off with your hand quickly. “I was just joking about that, Captain. Sorry, I don’t mean to laugh, but I’m just surprised you actually—”

He scoffed, the expression on his face shifting to one of impatience. “Don’t be a brat. Just take the compliment.” Levi huffed out, visibly annoyed with your chatter.

A look of shock overtook your face. “Oh, so you’re complimenting me? Why didn’t you just say so, then?”

“Oi, that’s not what I meant—”

“No, it’s fine. I heard you, loud and clear.” you interrupted, smiling widely at him. “You’re oh-so very welcome, Captain Ackerman, and if you ever need me to save your ass again, you know where to find me.”

Levi opted to say nothing back, merely shaking his head at you when you gave a lazy salute and started back to the other side of the formation where your horse and squad awaited you.

“Besides,” you shrugged, turning back for a moment to catch him looking at you. “Who else would teach me how to make tea?”

note: I don’t think I specified it, but Oluo was knocked unconscious bc some object (Hange’s glasses) fell from the sky lmao 🐸

[elisaphoenix13]

Malibu Vacation

Waves crashing, salty sea air that sent a light breeze over him, his kids laughing and talking...and one of them gurgling nearby. It was a change in scenery they all desperately needed, as well as the warmer weather. Every once in a while a furry tail would brush against his leg since Athena laid next to him as he dozed on the cabana bed. Of course Tony had one on their private beach. They weren't much for sticking their toes in the sand but they did so every once in a while. More likely than not to indulge their children.

"Juice?"

Stephen opens his eyes and looks to the side to find Valerie standing next to his bed in her one piece light blue bathing suit and her feet covered in sand. She smiles and lightly pats Athena's head who yawns and wags her tail a little faster as Stephen sits up. Before the sorcerer could wonder why Valerie was disturbing him instead of Tony (besides the obvious), he looked over and found him busy with Lucy.

Diaper change.

Better Tony than him.

"What kind of juice darling?" Stephen asks as he gets up and walks over to the ice chest.

"Apple."

The sorcerer digs through the ice chest as quickly as possible to fish out the box of apple juice and then closes it. The less time his hands were in ice, the better. Fortunately they didn't flare up in pain from the cold exposure and he was even able to stick the straw in the box for Valerie before giving it to her. She thanks him softly as she sits on the steps and Stephen stands next to her to look out at the other kids. Thomas and William were helping Diana build a sandcastle, and Harley and Peter were in the middle of a splash war with Cassie. She asked if she could join them when they went to Malibu and of course he and Tony said yes. Cassie even made the joke that it would give her parents time to get some of their...horniness out of their systems.

Tony laughed and told her that was impossible.

"Think it's about time to head back to the house?" Tony asks as he stands next to Stephen and wraps his free arm around his waist.

"Probably best. Peter and Thomas will be complaining that they're hungry soon." Stephen nods and closes his eyes when his husband kisses his temple. "I think I'll order pizza. It's a little too hot to cook and I'm feeling lazy."

Tony laughs. "As you wish, Duchess." He gently takes Lucy's hand when it reaches for his sunglasses. "No Lulu. I still have to order more. I have no idea what you do with them once you get a hold of them."

"Maybe she eats them." Stephen laughs and looks back at the other kids. "Time to call it a day!" He calls out.

"Up." Valerie says and holds her arms up to Stephen and he picks her up.

The rest of the kids grab their things and follow Tony and Stephen back to the mansion. The moment they get inside, Stephen carries Valerie up the stairs while Tony puts Lucy in her swing. The kids were told to shower to try and get as much sand off as possible, and Stephen got Valerie in the bath. It didn't take too long, but they still had to take turns, and by the time they were all going back downstairs, the pizza had arrived.

"Ugh. I think I still have some sand on my--"

"Harley!" William interrupts with a blush.

"You could have helped you know." Harley waggles his eyebrows and William pushes his face away.

"You're going to ruin everyone's appetites. No one wants to hear about that." Peter makes a face of disgust before shoving a slice of pizza into his mouth.

"At least leave that talk for when there aren't small ears around and your parents can't hear you." Stephen says and puts their drinks on the table.

"Don't worry honey, we'll be getting our own later." Tony winks and Cassie makes a face.

"You know I was trying to get away from that." She groans. "You know I have to cover my eyes every time I open a door?"

Tony cackles. "The laundry room too?"

"Especially the laundry room! I'm going to start banning certain activities in certain rooms!"

"What? You mean you haven't yet?" Stephen asks with a snort.

"I love my dads. Unfortunately the only time they don't act like adults is when they have 'fun'." Cassie then shrugs. "I don't really mind all that much to be honest. They deserve to destress however they can with all they do."

"So do we." Tony says.

They all nod in agreement and finish their dinner, and Harley and Thomas do the dishes while Peter and William clean up the table. Cassie takes Diana to the living room after grabbing some things from the newly minted craft room which used to be Tony's rarely used office, and Stephen walks over to the piano once Valerie's hands are wiped clean. He hardly had time to play with how busy he always was, but he tried to use the piano back in New York to help improve movement in his fingers. It was sometimes a little painful to play, but he missed it so much that he powered through any pain he may have.

Today was not one of those days. His pain was always there but it was minimal when he sat on the bench and opened the fallboard. Stephen was able to play with no problem and he enjoyed the music that filled the air. He did look over in surprise when Valerie crawled up on the bench next to him and watched intently as he played. She even gave in to her curiosity and reached out to play a few notes herself and Stephen chuckles.

"Do you want to play too?" He asks and she nods.

Stephen showed her as much as he could in a way that a two year old would understand and eventually they stopped playing and Valerie looked behind them at the indoor pond. It was a lot like the indoor waterfall Tony had in the previous floorplan years ago but he made some adjustments so they could have a koi pond at the bottom of the waterfall. Valerie loved feeding the fish whenever they came to Malibu, and of course Tony thought of the children's safety so there was a feature that Friday activated in case a baby got too close without supervision. He also built an automatic feeder for when they weren't there and someone only had to come every once in a while to refill it.

"Go find Daddy and see where he put the food." Stephen smiles as Valerie climbs down from the bench and runs off to find Tony.

While he waits, Stephen closes the fallboard and gets up to stand next to the pond where Athena joins him. She sits next to him and watches the fish with him and rumbles happily when he pets her head.

"Are you done nannying the cubs?" He jokes and she wuffs in response. "Did you clean Lucy's ears?" Another wuff. "That's not sanitary you know."

"Mama!" Valerie runs back over to him with a bag of fish food. "Fish eat?"

"Yes. Just like I showed you."

He sits on the edge of the pond and she hands him the bag of food so she can take out a handful while he holds it. Valerie turns to face the pond and tosses the handful of food into it and she giggles when the koi swim around frantically to eat it. Stephen decided she was ready to try something new and carefully poured some more food into her hand.

"Don't throw this. Here." He gently leads her hand toward the water and smiles when she whines nervously. "It's okay. They won't hurt you."

Once the fish realize that Valerie is holding the food, they all gather around her hand and eat straight out of it.

"Tickles!" She giggles again.

When the fish finish and start swimming away, Stephen closes the bag and hands it to Valerie after having her dry her hands. "Go take that back to Daddy so we can feed them tomorrow."

"Kay. 'Thena! Come!" She walks away and Athena follows dutifully much to Stephen's amusement.

"Don't worry Duchess. She'll be back to warm your feet tonight like always." Tony chuckles as he takes the bag of fish food from Valerie when she holds it up.

"I'm not worried." Stephen rolls his eyes and gets up to join Tony at the couch when he sits after putting the bag away and watches Cassie and Diana with their crafts.

More like hobbies. Diana was painting on a small canvas and Cassie was embroidering. Stephen didn't know why Diana wasn't painting in the craft room but he figured since they had put some plastic on the floor as a precaution, he wasn't going to say anything.

"You're improving." Tony compliments and throws an arm around Stephen's shoulders. "I remember when you stumbled. Now it's like your hands don't tremble."

Stephen smiles. "I think part of that has to do with the fact that I'm having a good day."

"I've heard you play on a not so good day. You're still playing great."

"It's true." Peter says as he sits on Tony's other side eating an apple.

"Are you eating again?!" Cassie asks.

"It's just an apple. Pre-dessert." Peter grins.

"He eats like a hobbit." Thomas laughs.

"So do you." William says and Thomas sticks his tongue out.

"This family alone eats like a small army." Stephen huffs.

"This family is a small army Mom." Harley points out.

He had a point.

"Maybe you boys should take a page out of the girls book and try crafting something." Tony says.

"Hey, I have my Legos." Peter says. "Speaking of, I have a new model to build." He tosses his apple core in the trash on his way to the stairs.

Harley and the twins shrug and walk into the craft room to find something to do and Stephen looks over at Lucy when she starts babbling and playing with her plastic keys. They were her favorite toy since she liked swinging things around that made noise. She even liked her little activity chair with the toys built in. If she wasn't "helping" Tony in the lab, she was in the chair. Now she was in the swing. It was a way to help her wind down and get ready for bed later.

"Telling a story there Lulu?" Tony asks and the baby looks up at him as she drools on the keys she put in her mouth.

"Bah!" She responds loudly and tosses her keys with surprising force.

They land with a splat in Diana's paint, sending splotches of it everywhere and making Tony laugh. Both Cassie and Diana were covered in reds, yellows, and greens and they sat in surprise until Diana finally sighed heavily and used her magic to clean up the mess.

"I think we found our pitcher." Tony laughs.

"Here Daddy." Diana holds out the plastic keys and he takes them as he gets up. "It's a good thing I can rewind time."

"Yeah, well, you know you have to be careful with that--" he replies but Diana sighs dramatically.

"I know. Mommy and Uncle Wong tell me all the time!"

"We do." Stephen confirms as Tony walks over and retrieves Lucy from her swing.

"We still need one more kid to make a baseball team." Cassie says as she works on her embroidery. "Unless the Barton's come over."

Tony smirks. "Just give Mom a little longer. He's already jealous that Lucy likes me more. His baby fever will kick in soon enough."

"Yeah, probably." Cassie shrugs and Stephen gapes.

"Don't agree with him! You're grounded!"

"From what exactly?"

Stephen stares at her for a few seconds and finally gets up.

"I'm getting my sling ring. I'm sending you back home to your parents."

Cassie's eyes widened. "Oh my god! Please, no! Last time I went home unannounced, I saw more of Papa than I wanted to!"

"Now you know how I feel!" Peter yells from upstairs and Tony bursts into laughter.

"I completely forgot about that."

[itstheimpossibledream]

The Siren

Sorry for taking so long to write a new story!  Again always feel free to request pairings or plot lines/lmk what you think. Feel free to follow!Please don’t use my fic without my permission.

Summary : A siren lives a double life as a performer, until the Winchester brothers interfere. 

They dimmed the lights after your number and you take a step back as the curtains close. You reach back and feel the step with your foot and you step down one foot , then another then- SPLAT! "Ow!Oh fuck!......Oooo!" you hear sound techs and stage managers run to you from every direction but all you can focus on is the pain in your ankle. Two guys in suits rush up to you. The one is putting way too much pressure on your foot as he lifts it. The other rushes to your side "Hey are you okay? You really missed the step." You heard the slight chuckle in his voice but decided to ignore the shame you felt rising in your chest. Awesome. Great, you fell in front of this very beautiful man,you check the man at your feet to see if he's also hot but mostly because if he is you've most likely died and gone to heaven. He is, but it's somehow in a different way, you throw your head back to look at the ceiling "It just really hurts" you say, refusing to remove your gaze from the ceiling. Well, I guess they heard the song, they have to come to your aid regardless. "Thanks, thanks okay excuse me." you say trying to continue avoiding eye contact while you push yourself up against the man who was asking you questions. 

"Ummm I don't think you can stand on that -" You cut off the man at your feet with a "OW!" great. So, now you're embarrassed and have a broken ankle. 

"Hi- ummm Robert Plant FBI ." he says flipping his badge open and shut. " You may want to give us a few seconds to take a look at that."

You slump back into the stairs he now had you propped up against. You make eye contact with the young man who is in charge of your quickchange. He shrugs at you, so he has no idea what the FBI is doing at a Broadway rehearsal before opening. Interesting. Someone rushes in to drop off a first aid kit and you allow them to patch you up and bring you back to your feet with a few jokes about being clumsy, and not being coordinated. The ankle was sprained, not broken but still hurting with every step. The officers sat you down in your dressing room chair. 

"So-(Y/N) You're like one of the biggest broadway performers under 30.That's pretty amazing." Says the one with the long hair, this is the one who rushed to your side. 

"Yeah- unfortunately we're not here to fangirl but we were wondering if you've noticed anything strange in the theatre recently.Ahhh that's what the foot guy's face looks like you think. He is definitely not hard on the eyes either. 

"Why are your mirrors covered?" the longhaired one asks.

"I prefer the darkness." you say cooly hoping neither of them read too much into it. 

"So ummm-  there's been accidents happening in this theatre for years and they're suddenly getting much worse, what can you tell us about that?"

"Well, I'm not so sure- I'm a replacement in the cast. The woman who played the role before me only said that this place was driving her crazy and she had to leave.......I'm not sure if that helps but, that's what I was told." you shrug

" Do you think other cast members have heard about some strange things going on ? Or felt anything?"

"Felt anything?" you asked 

"Felt chills or seen smoke or anything out of the ordinary ?"

" Ummmm .... maybe ask Ryan- our stage manager, he mentioned something weird like that around their first rehearsal in the theatre I think. "

"Okay. Thank you !" the small one said, as he stood up and adjusted his suit jacket.

"I'm gonna uh- ask some more questions." the tall one grumbled moving in his seat, "Whatever." the short one rolled his eyes and left the room.

"So - how does a broadway performer prefer the dark ? I thought you guys were all lights, camera action?" 

"Well obviously that's tv/film."  you chuckle.

" Sure, but you know what I mean."

"You mean why would someone who lives for applause be comfortable in the dark and silence?........ We're all different I guess. I do it for the love of the art. Not for the people." you shrug out of the top half of your costume as the theatre's medic rushes in. He doesn't look away from you which at first makes you shift under his gaze but, then you somehow settle under his stare. 

"Guess I should go and let the real doctors tend to you" he sighs.

"Guess so." you smile timidly, watching him standup and rebutton his suit jacket. You found it strange that for a moment you didn't want him to leave."Well- um let me know if you need help with anything else." you smiled knowing you shouldn't have offered up your time, knowing it would put you more at risk of being found out but, what did you really have to lose. 

"We will(Y/N)" he said, handing you a card from his inner breast pocket with a wink. Okay, so he felt it too. weird. He disappeared into a cloud of stage managers and health care workers all hypothesizing about your health and how soon you would be able to perform again. 

The general consensus ended up being soon but not, soon enough. The average human would need a guaranteed two weeks off of the ankle but, you knew you would be healed by tonight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lock clicked as you closed the door to your apartment. Maybe the two weeks of relaxation wouldn't be so bad. You heard a crash in your kitchen and before you could move in that direction you felt an arm around your neck, holding you in a headlock until you passed out. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you woke up , you were tied to your kitchen chair. Great, you should have known they were hunters. They were way too smooth to be law enforcement. Did you really let a pair of hunters beat you at your own game? You flipped your hair back, staring up at the ceiling and rolling your eyes. How could you have been so stupid. 

"Missing your spotlight now huh sweetheart?" the shorter one asked. 

"I'm bored with bad cop where's the good cop." you winked doing your best to get under his skin. 

"Good cop choked you out ten minutes ago but, ask and you shall receive." he extended his arms sideways motioning for his brother. The tall one now sits in the chair in front of you. He crosses his arms and flatly says "We know you're a siren, what we don't understand is why these kills don't match up with your usual MO. 

"What do you mean ?" you ask.

"I mean there's no love/lust connection to be found.Just murders."

"Woah woah woah I don't murder people." 

" Then what do you call it" quips the short one.

"Putting them out of their misery." you respond quickly. 

"Fine. why are so many people being put out lately?"

" That's the thing, " you say" I don't know. It's not me.I know you won't believe me but it's not. I didn't do it."

"Dean." the tall one motions to the smaller one to meet him out in the hallway.

What the fuck was this??? Two seconds in town and they already got the jump on you and were currently deciding whether to kill you or not. Awesome. So, the tall one liked you, maybe you could talk your way out of it. They spent  a while in the hallway, and while you could feel your progress of pulling against your restraints , you knew it was not enough for you to be free anytime soon. Eventually , they reentered the room and you were met with silence. 

"So?" you ask. They look from one to another refusing to share the verdict.The short one exhales and uncrosses his arms saying " We believe you, we don’t think you did it." 

"Thank you!" you exclaim"Now, untie me."

"Woah woah. Not so fast" The tall one quips. "We need to make sure it's not you, ya now just to be on the safe side."

"What does that mean ?" you ask

"It means I'll be watching you here for the two weeks of your healing house arrest , while Dean checks out the theatre."

"O.okay..." you said, not upset at all by that plan. They shared a look, obviously surprised by how easily you were accepting their punishment. 

"Just......okay?" Dean asked 

"Yeah I'm fine with him staying here- could use the company actually." you smile up at Dean.

"Ooooookay he says, backing toward the door. Sam, come here." The tall one quickly closed the space between the two of them and lowered his head so his brother could whisper to him. He must not have liked what he said because he pushed him towards the door and said "just leave" .

He steps out of your line of eyesight and you can hear him let out a light sigh. 

"Sooooo that's like your bestfriend or something ?" you ask.

"Brother" he responds wryly

"Ah..........So am I staying tied up for these two weeks orrrrrr."

"Ha.Sorry." he laughed moving toward you to loosen your restraints. Hands first, he let you go. When he finally got to the last tie on the bottom of your right leg you were considering how to make your move. You watched the muscles in his shoulders move as he untied you. "Fuck it." you sighed not realizing you'd partially spoken aloud. "What?" he said turning his face up to you.You grab both sides of his face and pull him in, kissing him hard.  He wastes no time decoding your move and immediately responds by kissing you back, wrapping his hands around your ass and lifting you up. He replaces your spot on the chair sitting you on top of him. You straddle him and grind into his lap kissing down his neck and then unbuttoning the top of his shirt to reveal his chest. He doesn't seem to have time to watch you struggle with the buttons and simply pulls the flanel from both sides, just ripping it off. You sit back on his knees as he peels it from his shoulders and throws it to the ground next to your cat's water dish. You admire how ridiculous his body is, just endless muscles, strength, force all of it wanting you in this moment. 

"what?" he asks, trying to decode your face you just smile and respond with a flippant "nothing". He was perfect in this moment. He kisses you sweetly, pulling your arm above your head, he hadn't been this assertive before but, you liked it. Then, you felt the rope again. The rope he had just untied you from, he brought your other hand up and wrapped it in with the rope, and easily looped you through a metal hook that jutted out from your ceiling, you had just bought a chandelier to go there but, assumed this was just as good a use as any. He pulls your tube top down to your waist and immediately latches on to one of your nipples, sucking it until it stands at full attention. You didn't intend to be naked in your kitchen, hanging from your ceiling when this started but shit now who cares? Once he gets both of your nipples hard he steps back to admire his handy work.

"god you are fucking gorgeous." he exhales. You look up at your tied hands and try to figure out where he is going with this. He notices your look and moves in close to you.

"You didn't think I'd just trust you automatically right?" He lowers his mouth next to your ear "You're still a monster."

That wasn't exactly what you were expecting but, it had never happened that someone knew who you really are - what you really are and still had an interest in you. You didn't even know that that could happen. 

"Why would you still be willing to be with a monster?" you ask as he shimmies you out of your pants.

"We're all monsters" he smiles looking up at you, looping your foot through the fabric and then tossing it aside."Some of us are just better at blending in." Somehow, that answer did even more to catch you off guard than you had expected and you immediately wanted him more. He reached up and shook the hook you were attached to, checking to see if it was sturdy enough to hold you but, completely rattling you in the process. 

"Yellow is a good color on you." he says motioning to the lace thong you have on.

"Seems a bit unfair that you still have pants on doesn't it ?" you chide. His heavily lidded eyes come up to meet yours.

"As the lady commands" he says, pulling at his belt,you watch the muscles move in his forearm as he quickly undoes the button at the top of his jeans. He steps in towards you, and you take note of the outline of his cock that you can see clearly through his boxers.You had figured he might be proportional for the height but this is way more than you had expected. You see a smug smile play at the corner of his lips but, this is way more satisfaction then you're willing to give him. He begins to touch you and you're shocked by how gentle those large hands can be. And god does he know how to use them. His green eyes shine with pride as you whine and writhe on his fingers. You buck your hips on his hands and he chuckles to himself.

" God,I knew you were a little slut." he let's escape his lips before you feel him pull his fingers out of you. You let out a pained whine at the fact that he hadn't allowed you to come. He lifts your chin and says "Don't worry baby I'm not done with you yet." He kisses you again, harder this time. You feel a sting as he goes in to smack your ass for a second time. If that's how he wanted to play it fine but, he could only tease you for so long. You hook a leg around him and pull him in the short distance between you. You look him directly in the eyes "If you're going to fuck me, fuck me." his hand immediately flies to your throat and you hear him pull down his jeans and boxers further while you become acutely aware of the heat at your entrance. You can feel his head slowly pushing in and you gasp at the full feeling. He chuckles to himself "Long time since you actually enjoyed it huh?" You bite down on your lower lip, controlling your ragged breath and feeling yourself pulsing hard all over him. That obviously had an effect on him. He moans and it only makes you want more.He grabs your leg, pulling it up a bit higher, and starts slowly pulling in and out of you, you watch as his brow furrows " Oh my god, you feel so fucking good." You lean in to kiss him and he pulls his head back moving his hand up from your throat to your chin "You are not in charge anymore baby." he says firmly pulling your face in and giving you the kiss that you wanted but, under his terms. His tongue is soft as it slides into your mouth and you begin to move your hips more, grinding into him as much as you can. He starts moving again, fucking you slow, painstakingly slow. "This isn't going to be quick like your victims, I want you to feel me." he pushes in and out of you , never breaking eye contact and you can feel your resolve waning. Your breathing becomes ragged and his muscles are starting to glisten with sweat. You let out a noise as you feel the pressure build for you. "That's right baby, cum on this fucking dick." he growls. You can't hold it anymore and you feel his hand move to your ass. Just feeling his hand was enough to send you into a string of curses and heavy breathing. He grabs your chin with his other hand and draws your face close to his, practically breathing into your mouth. " I'm going to make you come again okay?" he breathes lightly in between kisses. You can't even say anything, you just nod. He moves his other hand to your ass and picks you up. You're suspended in the kitchen, him holding you up your arms wrapped around his neck , just trying to hold on. You grab a bit of his hair at the nape of his neck and tug, his eyes roll back and he lets out an extremely masculine grunt. He breathes out a low "fuuuuuuck" and the way your body responds is so quick. You're close again, panting and digging nails into his shoulders. You can hear yourself allowing different versions of "yes, Sam.Oh my god yes." escaping your lips. He grabs you tighter, fucking you more and more until you can't stand it. You come on him again, crying his name. "Oh my god, oh my god." he says  and can feel him slowly pumping into you. He shakes as he comes and you're so grateful for the release, for the euphoric feeling. It pushes you over the edge again and you dig your nails into his shoulders and whisper his name.Eventually, you’re able to come back down. You stand there like that for a moment, just intertwined in each other. He kisses you again, when he pulls back you feel the need to remind him that there's still a lot of time before Dean is supposed to come back. He looks up to meet your eyes and smiles. "I guess there is."

[delicatelyherdreams]

*shudder* Finals

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Finals have got you a little stressed and with stress comes strain and forgetting to satisfy your basic needs. [University AU]

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1651

A/N: This is for @peaky-shelby​ as a part of the lovely @bucky-smiles​‘s Secret Santa! A little birdy told me that you loved the Univeristy AU and I figured that nothing screams “UNIVERSITY” quite like finals. I hope you like this and I’m sorry if it’s not everything you were hoping for. Merry Christmas!! 

You hated pulling all-nighters and you hated being tired. 

Unfortunately, you’d had to pull an all-nighter the night before and you were exhausted. A lone cup of coffee sat on the table beside you, just one of the many you’d already consumed—and it wasn’t even 10:00 yet. 

But this was finals.

And you had

so

much

studying to do.

There were statistics and there was literature. There was physics and there was psychology. And then there was more. So many classes to study for and write papers for and prepare for and not nearly enough time for it all. 

To say you were stressed would have been a gross understatement.

You hunched over your psychology textbook, trying to hammer the difference between “catalepsy” and “cataplexy” into your mind, but it just wouldn’t go. No matter how many times you read the definition or used the mnemonic devices your teacher had suggested, you still couldn’t get these and other terms down into your mind. The words wouldn’t stop swimming, getting mixed up and tangled with numbers and formulas from math and other definitions for other classes. Reading this textbook was simply like dumping a glass of water into a swimming pool: utterly pointless.

The groan that escaped your mouth was purely animalistic and you shoved your book away before grabbing your coffee and slamming it back.

A soft chuckle was heard behind you and you didn’t have to look over your shoulder to see who it was. You would know that sweet-as-honey and warm-as-a-fireplace voice anywhere. 

“I thought I’d find you here.” You could hear the smile in his voice.

You weren’t smiling back. You were too stressed to smile. “I’m always here, Steve.”

“I know you are.” He pulled the chair next to you back and slid in. Instantly the air around you lightened with his presence. 

You felt a small weight lifting from your shoulders, though it was quite minuscule and hardly made a difference. His presence was odd. “What are you doing here, Steve?”

“I came to see you. You’ve been studying nonstop for weeks. I wanted to check up on my girlfriend.”

“Your girlfriend is fine. She just needs to finish these finals.” You tore your gaze away from him and turned back to the notebook before you. 

“She needs a break,” he murmured, reaching over and placing his hand on your upper arm. “You’ve been studying nonstop for like the last week and it’s not healthy.” 

“What’s not healthy is how unprepared for this I am.” Your head was swimming with numbers, vocab words, and important ideas and topics but you were still so out of it. “I’ve covered maybe half of my classes, and I still have two final papers to finish writing. I mean, I’m halfway done with one of them, but I don’t even have my thesis statement for the other.” Your head was heavy. 

His hand found a home on your back and he began to rub small circles. “It’s okay. You’re going to be fine, I promise. But for right now, I think you need a break. You’re going to end up crashing and burning if you continue at this rate.”

“No, I’m going to fail if I don’t study. Please, Steve, just let me do this.”

He shook his head. “I won’t. You’re running yourself into the ground and it’s not healthy. You’re taking a break and going to brunch with me.”

“No, Steve. I’m not. I’m staying here with my books and I’m studying.”

He went quiet for a bit, those darling blue eyes of his growing dark and ponderous. He was devising a plan, you could see it building up behind his eyes.

You frowned. “Steve? What are you planning?”

“Nothing. I… I’ll be back.” He stood up, leaned over, and pressed his lips to the top of your head. Then he was gone. 

You were left alone once more, silence overtaking you. Suddenly, it was very lonely. Steve was gone and you were on your own with books as your only companion. But you didn’t have time to focus on the silence. You had studying to do.

You got lost in the words on the page. The words committed themselves to memory after a while, their meaning being branded on your brain. You had this, you realized. You could do it. You were memorizing these and—

*Splat.*

Your concentration was broken with a heavy thud as something crashed onto your textbook. It was a plastic bag, just one of several that had made their home on your desk. 

You jumped back, your chair creaking loudly as you fell, and your head snapped up to the source of your disruption. “Steve! What the fuck?��

He didn’t even flinch at your shout. His cheeks were rosy from the cold outside and he still held a bag or two. He moved with a purpose as he set them down. His shoulders simply shrugged. “I got us food. You need to eat, and if you won’t go out with me to get food, then I’ve got to bring the food here. Simple.” He unloaded the bag that was sitting squarely on your textbook, pulling out foam to-go containers. “I’ve got hashbrowns in this one, pancakes in this one. I’m pretty sure there’s some French toast here, but I could be wrong. I don’t know what all they gave me, I just ordered the biggest meals they had and brought it here so you could have options.”

“Steve, you’re gonna get grease all over my books!” You quickly shoved the bag off the precious textbook, fit in a pencil between the pages and closed it. “Are you crazy?”

He snorted. “Like you even have to ask.” He pulled out the chair next to you and slid a container over to you. “Now, eat. I didn’t buy all this food just so it could go cold.”

“I didn’t ask you to buy all this.”

“I know, but I need you to eat something. You’ve been holed up here for days and it’s not good. Now, if you don’t eat willingly…” He reached into the bag closest to him, pulled out a fork, opened a container holding some French toast, stabbed a piece, and held it up. “I’m going to feed you. You can’t study if you don’t have your strength and you don’t have your strength if you don’t eat.”

You rolled your eyes. “This is stupid. Just let me get back to work.” 

“No.” He moved the fork closer to your lips. “Now either take the fork or say ‘ah.’”

You cocked an eyebrow. 

“I’m not kidding, (y/n). You’ve got to take care of yourself and if you’re incapable of it, I will do it for you.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m your boyfriend and I love you and I want you to be happy and healthy. I can’t help with the happy part until after finals, but I can do my best to satisfy the healthy part. Okay? Just do me this one thing and eat and then I promise I’ll leave you alone. Well, I’ll leave you alone until next mealtime, that is.” He spared you a small smile as he motioned with the fork again. “Please?”

You wanted to refuse him, to tell him to leave you be so you could get done with this, but a grumbling in your stomach stopped you. You had to admit that the food did look really good and, although you really needed to get this done, you did need to eat. Maybe a small break wouldn’t kill you. Swallowing thickly, you leaned forward and took the bite from the fork. 

Once you started eating, you couldn’t stop. You let Steve feed you until you were full and satisfied, leaning back in your chair with a lazy smile on your face and listening to Steve talk absently.

“...and then I said, ‘I can’t do it, man. I’ve gotta survive until next year at the very least.’” 

You’d lost track of what he was saying long ago, simply opting to just listen to him as you reveled in your mental break. You didn’t even notice him stop talking until he called your name. “Hm?” You turned your head to look at him.

He had a small smile on his face. “You feeling better yet?”

“Yeah… Much better.” You weren’t lying as you smiled softly at him. “Thank you, Steve.”

“Hey, don’t mention it. I only did what any good boyfriend would do.” He sat up in the chair and turned to you opening his arms wide. “Now, come here.”

You didn’t hesitate to fall into his embrace, nuzzling your face into his chest and inhaling his scent. He smelled really freaking good.

His hand found the back of your head as he pet your hair, humming as he did. “You’re doing amazing, I hope you now that. And don’t worry, finals are almost done and when they are, we can do nothing but relax for a week.”

You hummed through the face full of sweater. “You promise?”

“I promise. Now, I’ll get out of your way so you can finish studying.” He pulled away from you, untangling your limbs and standing up. He grabbed his coat from the chair and started to leave you.

“Wait!”

He paused and turned, his face inquisitive. 

You stared at him, your eyes pleading. “Will you come back for dinner?”

“Do you want me to?”

You nodded shyly.

“Then I will.” He smiled softly.

A small weight lifted off your chest and you let out a breath. “Bring some dumplings for me? We can do Chinese from that place you like.”

“Of course.” He shrugged on his jacket and smiled at you. “I’ll be back around five. Study your little heart out and I’ll see you then. Just don’t kill yourself with stress.”

You chuckled and nodded. “Aye aye, Captain.”

[playbucky]

Smoke Jumper

You and your best friend, Peggy own a famous bakery in New York, having started from the small building where you worked long hours to now owning a few staff members and loving it. Unfortunately an event leads to smoke and flames billowing from it as the fire department work to put the flames out, but maybe one flame lights itself. Characters – Reader, Firefighter!Bucky, Firefighter!Steve x Peggy. Word Count – 1289. Part One / Part Two.

‘What are you guys doing here?’ You asked, blowing the loose strands of hair out your face, the sweat was covering your forehead. ‘Well it’s our day off and someone told us that you were decorating your new place.’ Bucky said, you looked to Steve and then to Peggy. ‘Of course you did, come in.’ You said, moving to the side slightly so their wide shoulders could squeeze past you. ‘So what are your plans?’ Steve asked the pair of you, they were both removing the hoodies. You and Peggy shared a look when they rode up and showed off their toned stomachs, before you shook your heads and focused on the question but you noticed Peggy’s stare linger a little longer. ‘Painting the walls, ceiling and front of the building, we’ve got the kitchen appliances coming tomorrow, and if we have time we’re going to placing the shelves.’ ‘We how about we split into two then? Bucky and you do the front of the store, Steve and I do the walls in here?’ Peggy suggested, you narrowed your eyes at them before ‘Sure.’ Bucky replied, he was having a silent conversation of his own with Steve.

The pair of you grabbed the tins, brushes and tapes before making your way outside, lining the window with the masking tape, Bucky shook the paint tin before opening it. You dropped the masking tape onto the pavement before grabbing the brush packet and opened it, grabbing the medium one, you let Bucky chose his own as he set it on the ground. ‘Why did you start the bakery?’ Bucky asked as you both focused on the painting the edges, your backs to each other. ‘I had just came out of a job, and met Peggy through a friend and she was looking for a partner to persuade her business with and I thought why not.’ You told him as you shrugged your shoulders, ‘always loved cooking and baking to take my mind off of things.’ You continued. ‘That was ten years ago, and now we have, did have a successful store.’ You informed him, he nodded. ‘Now about to open our second one.’ You said, motioning to the store in front of you, using the back of your hand to brush your hair out your face before turning to Bucky. ‘You’ve got a little something on your face.’ Bucky said, you looked at him confused. ‘Where?’ You asked, he raised a hand and stopped. ‘Am I allowed?’ He asked, you nodded. ‘Just there.’ He said, before you felt coldness spread over you nose and cheek. You gasped as you looked at him before your eyes dropped to his hand that was covered in the baby blue. ‘You didn’t.’ You said, your hand reaching to your face before stopping, you tuned quickly and looked at your reflection before seeing the blue smudge across the side of your face, you turned back to him looked crossed. You then looked down the paint brush that was in your hand. ‘No, don’t.’ He warned, holding his hands up, he was trying his hardest not to let you see him smiling. You tilted your head to the side, before you sprinted forward, he tried to move out the way but you managed to grab his shirt and pull him towards you. You lifted the brush and smudged it across his cheek, managing to cover it all and some of his chin. He pulled you close and tried to drag his brush down your face but you successfully pushed it away and it slipped out of his hand and dropped to the ground, splatting the blue paint up your legs. He felt you tense up when the loud bang sounded from across the street, his hands on your hips suddenly felt too tight and you had to step back, his hand dropped to his side as he watched you. ‘You okay?’ He asked, you looked back at him and let out a deep breath before nodding. ‘Yeah, just don’t like loud bangs.’ You told him with a tight lipped smile, he nodded. ‘Do you want to go inside or stay out here?’ He asked you, bending down and picking the brush up. You looked across the street and took some deep breaths before looking inside. ‘I think we should stay out, the love birds are in full swing in there.’ You said, motioning to the window. He looked inside and shook his head as he noticed Steve, lifting things out the way whilst sending flirty smiles to Peggy, and she was tucking her hair behind her ear as she laughed, flinging her head back at something he had said.

‘Are you ready?’ You asked Peggy, she fixed her floral shirt as she nodded her head. ‘As I’ll ever be.’ She said, you smiled at her before the door opened and some regulars walked in, telling you how nice their place was before two tall men came in the door blocking any of the light from outside, sending sweet smiles to the other customers, before looking at you and Peggy. ‘Do we get a free cake for being your first customers?’ Bucky asked, you and Peggy turned around to them as they smiled. They were in there yellow trousers, and the yellow jackets were hanging open and by the smoke smell that was faint on them they had rouble just came from a call. ‘You aren’t the first ones.’ You said, they both pouted. ‘Why are you here?’ You asked. ‘Thought we’d support you on your grand day.’ He said you nodded. ‘So is it just you two, or is the whole truck coming in?’ You asked as you looked at the truck that was parked outside, sending a wave to the ones sitting inside it. ‘We didn’t want to over whelm the shop with us all, but everyone want to buys something.’ Steve informed the pair of you, you both smiled. ‘Well stop lingering in doorways and get in here.’ Peggy said, motioning for them to enter. They smiled and walked over as another handful of people walked in behind them, you smiled at the boys before turning your attention to the other customers. ‘How’s it been?’ Bucky asked as he stood the other side of the counter since he couldn’t get any closer. You were busy cutting slices for the other firefighters. ‘Busy, we’ve had some of the regulars and some new people.’ You informed him, not being able to spare a glance at him. ‘Bet its go easier if someone wasn’t flirting.’ Bucky commented, you looked at him and he motioned his cake to the other side. You stopped and looked at the pair of them. ‘God, you better control him.’ You warned Bucky, he smiled as he took a bite of the cake. ‘It’s easy watch.’ ‘Steve, you better stop flirting and get your ass back to the truck.’ Bucky called across the shop. You watched as Steve tensed up before slowly turning around to Bucky, his cheeks got redder by the second as his whole truck turned and watched them, Peggy looked at you before lowering her head as you smiled widely. Steve looked back at Peggy before looking at the group and sharing his head. ‘At least I have someone interested in me.’ He retorted back, the group snorted and oohed as they turned to Bucky to see his response. He opened his mouth to say something but then all their radios went off and they stopped carrying on before listening. ‘We’ve got to go doll, we’ll drop by later.’ Bucky said, you nodded. ‘Good luck.’ You told him, he smiled and nodded before letting the men and woman out before him.

Tags - @reniescarlett​ @ilovesupersoldiers​

[starryviolentine]

Camp Paya (A Pre-Apocalypse Story): Chapter 3/?

Part three of the “Pre-Apocalypse Adventures” Series

Chapter 1 (here)     Chapter 2 (here)

Strangely enough, Violet, who insisted that she was feeling sick and had been rushed to the infirmary by Therissa and tagalong Brody, makes a miraculous recovery right after Sam drops by to let them know that the tour has ended and they have a bit of free time before having to meet at The Pit. It’s too coincidental, but because Violet keeps dismissing their concerns, insisting that she’s okay and that there’s nothing else wrong, Brody and Therissa drop it, deciding that it’s not worth the fight. Besides, Violet really does seem to be feeling fine again—the color has returned to her face and she leaps energetically off the cot, grabbing her roommates by the arms and pulling them towards the door. 

At the meeting, all of the campers and cabin leaders are given a seven-day time schedule with blank boxes for each time slot that they’re free to choose their own activities. Ms. Pam gives them their first assignment. They’re to spend the next hour thinking about which activities they want to try and plan out their schedule for the first week of camp, starting with their very first activity slot happening later that afternoon. 

Brody, who has always taken her work seriously and is ready to get right to work, unzips the fanny pack around her waist, pulls out two pencils—one blue and one purple—and hands the latter to Violet. “So, what are we gonna do this week?”

Reluctantly taking the pencil, Violet slides off the log bench onto the ground, stretching out her legs and leaning her back against the wood. “Do we have to do this now? Can’t we, like, take a break or get a snack, or something?”

“We have our first activity this afternoon,” Brody reminds her. “I was thinking, maybe we could learn how to make those friendship bracelets. Remember? The really pretty ones they showed us in the art studio?” 

Violet scrunches up her nose. “Really? There are a billion cool things to do here, but you wanna sit in a room and do arts and crafts?”

That hurts Brody’s feelings a little, but she tries not to show it. “Well, okay, what do you wanna do first?”

“The rock climbing wall looked pretty cool.”

“But… didn’t you think it seemed kinda scary? It’s so high up,” says Brody, wearing her fears on her sleeve. “What if you fall?”

“They tie you to a rope, Brody. You’re not gonna fall.”

This isn’t going quite like Brody had imagined. “I just, I thought that we could start off with something simple and relaxing, you know? Since it’s the first day and all. Like, arts and crafts, and then tomorrow we could—”

“Simple and relaxing? More like lame and boring.”

Before Violet can stop herself, the words slip from her lips. She didn’t intend to sound so mean, but she’s getting a little annoyed at the thought of being stuck indoors making jewelry instead of literally any of the other, way more exciting activities. 

Unfortunately, the damage has already been done, and Brody, balling her fists, responds in a defensive tone that’s just as sharp as her friend’s. “Art is not lame or boring, Violet!”

“Oh, sorry,” Violet says crossly, voice dripping with sarcasm and making her sound an awful lot like their older roommate when she’s in a bad mood. “I thought this was supposed to be summer camp, not bummer camp.”

Brody narrows her eyes and bites her tongue to hold back a frustrated yell. “Well, we have to agree on something, or else… or else we won’t get to do anything together this summer!”

“Yeah, well, then maybe we shouldn’t.”

Before Brody realizes what’s happening, Violet slams the pencil down on the seat of the bench and gets to her feet. Without another word, she storms away in a huff and doesn’t look back, leaving Brody to fume and froth all by herself. 

And she does, for a while. 

With burning hot in her eyes and trembling fingers, Brody furiously shoves her pencils back into her bag and folds her schedule in half, tucking it inside the cover of her diary. A walk and a change of scenery should help clear her head. In a few minutes, Brody finds herself standing on one of the docks overlooking the lake. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply, filling her belly and lungs with each breath of fresh air. As she breathes, she focuses on the heat of the sunshine on her skin until her arms and legs tingle under the warmth of the sun’s rays. 

Shedding her shoes and socks, Brody takes a seat at the edge of the dock and lets her legs dangle over the side, submerging her feet ankle-deep into the cool water below. Ever since she was a baby, Brody has loved the water. The way it soothes her and puts her heart at ease even on the worst of days is almost magical. Before long, Brody is calm enough to continue working on her schedule, and she fills each box with the activities she wants to do the most. Arts and crafts. Swimming. Hiking. Gymnastics. Horseback riding. Just because she might be flying solo doesn’t mean she can't have fun.  

Violet isn’t her only friend, after all.

Brody finishes her schedule right on time, then stops to double check that her handwriting is neat and perfectly centered in each of the boxes, erasing and rewriting where needed. After careful consideration, Brody has decided to start in the art studio after all. She hasn’t figured out what, exactly, she wants to do yet, so she starts off by wandering around to see what there is to see. The first room she peeks inside turns out to be the jewelry station, and all the supplies to make those colorful, woven bracelets that Brody admires so much are spread out across a table in the corner of the room. As much as she wants to make one, however, in her eyes, this is something that best friends have to do together. There’s only one person she wants to exchange friendship bracelets with, and even though she happens to be upset with said person at the moment… and even though said person might never agree to make one with her at all, Brody’s not going to do it without her. 

During her search for something else to do, Brody finds herself in the doorway of a spacious room with a row of paint-splatted easels along one wall and matching paint-splattered tables in the center of the floor. Stretched out on one of these tables is a long, blank piece of banner paper, and the way the edges are curling inward is a telltale sign that it has most likely been cut from a giant roll. The paint studio is empty except for one other girl, who is so absorbed in whatever she’s doodling in her sketchbook that she doesn’t notice Brody come in. Curiosity getting the better of her, Brody creeps toward the girl, inching ever so slowly her way, until she’s close enough to peer over her shoulder at her drawing.

Finally feeling someone’s presence, the redhead’s hand stops, pencil hovering about an inch above the page. She holds her breath, already expecting whoever’s standing behind her to comment on her art, maybe ask what it is or what it’s for, and then, without fail, ask for a self portrait. The life of an artist sure can be troublesome sometimes!

“Wow, that’s so pretty! You’re really good.”

“Thanks,” the girl replies softly. And then she waits for it. The inevitable “Can you draw me?”

But it doesn’t come. Instead, the auburn-haired girl takes a seat in the chair next to her and gives her a warm smile. “I’m Brody. What’s your name?”  

“Sophie.”

Brody’s smile lingers even after their exchange comes to an end, although it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. After a moment, it fades and a tiny flicker of sadness appears on her face. “Is it okay if I sit with you?”

“Sure,” says Sophie, shrugging. “The paint stuff is in the cupboard by the sink if you need it. They said we could help ourselves as long as we don’t make a mess. And the paper’s in those drawers.”

For the third summer in a row, Sophie has been entrusted with the important task of designing the banner for the Camp Paya Talent Showcase. She really enjoys working with the drama department and getting to witness everything that happens behind the scenes. But most of all, she loves getting to see one of her original creations hanging right above the stage for everyone to see. It’s her own way to shine without having to step into the spotlight. Unlike her sister, who sings in the show every year and usually gets the most enthusiastic round of applause out of all the performers, Sophie prefers to display her artistic prowess in subtler ways—just enough for people to appreciate and admire what she does without being the center of attention. 

After several more minutes of erasing and adjusting her sketch, Sophie lays her personal set of colored pencils out in front of her and picks out a few different shades of purple, red, orange and pink, already having a color scheme in mind. Ever since Ms. Pam mentioned that this year’s talent show was going to be in the evening instead of after lunch like it had been in the past, Sophie’s been unable to get the image of the gorgeous sunset she saw a few days ago out of her head. Her godparents had taken her and her sister out for a birthday weekend treat. They went to the mall to see a movie and even got to play around in the movie theater arcade afterwards. They ended the day with dinner at their favorite restaurant, and, as they walked through the parking lot back to the car, the sun was setting and the sky was the most incredible palette of colors Sophie has ever seen.

While her sister has been recreating the opening scene to the movie they watched every morning since then, dancing and lip-syncing to the catchy song playing in her head while getting dressed, Sophie’s been thinking about the colors of the sky. And it’s the greatest feeling to know that she’s going to get to paint with them very, very soon. 

Just as soon as she copies her sketch onto the banner, of course.   

“Hey, do you think this looks okay?” Sophie stands and turns to her left, wanting to show her sketchbook to Brody and get her approval, but she stops when she realizes that the other girl is just sitting there, resting her head in her arms on the table and looking really upset. “Oh, um…”

“It’s beautiful,” Brody says, complimenting Sophie’s drawing nonetheless. “You know what it makes me think of? Sitting in the sand on a tropical island… and looking out at the line where the ocean touches the sky… and it’s that time of day when the sun’s going down and everything’s just glowing in the low light. Sunset halfway underwater… Silhouettes of palm trees against the clouds...” Even though she sounds a little sad, there’s a soft, dreamy half-smile on Brody’s face as she runs her fingertips across the colors. “I imagine the sky would look just like that.”

As Sophie listens, the girl’s voice turns into the bubbling of salty waves rolling onto the sand and the gentle rustling of leaves in the breeze. The young artist’s face starts to feel warm, as though she was actually there on that island, basking under the setting sun on that beach in Brody’s imagination. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too.”

“Are you gonna make a big version of it on that?” Brody points at the large, white sheet of paper on the table. Sophie nods, and Brody’s smile grows wider. “Oh, it’s gonna look so nice!”

“Do you wanna help me?”

Eyes widening, Brody shakes her head fervently. “Oh, I couldn’t! I’m not that good. Not like you. What if… what if I mess up and ruin it?”

Sophie grabs her pencil and sketchbook and moves around the table to the opposite side. “Don’t worry, it’s not like I’d make you do anything hard. Just easy stuff. That’s why you’re here, right? ‘Cause you wanna make art?”

“Yeah, but I’m not really an artist...”

“Anyone who makes art is an artist,” says Sophie, smiling reassuringly. “I’m gonna outline the letters first, but then you can help color them in.”

The other girl is still worried. “Are you sure?”

“It’ll be fine. I promise,” Sophie insists. “Can you hold a brush?”

Brody slowly nods her head.

“And can you do this?” Pretending that she’s holding a paintbrush, Sophie sweeps her hand back and forth in simple but exaggerated brush strokes. The redhead tries her best to keep a straight face but ends up dissolving into giggles. 

“Well… yeah, I suppose.”

“Perfect! You’re hired!” Sophie holds out her hand for Brody to shake. “Just think of it like a giant coloring book. All you need to do is try to stay inside the lines.”

Maybe it’s because she really loves coloring books, or maybe it’s because there’s just something so kind and sincere about Sophie that makes Brody feel right at home, but that’s all the convincing she needs. After everything that happened today, Brody doesn’t know if she’s going to get a chance to make friendship bracelets with Violet, or if she’s even going to spend any time with her best friend while at camp. But she does know one thing, at least. She very well might be the luckiest girl in the world to have already found a new friend.

[w-k-smith]

Welcome to “Don’t Go to the Netherworld!” a Beetlejuice the Musical the Musical the Musical AU.

Beetlejuice - half-ghost, half-demon - has spent his entire afterlife in the Netherworld and works as the beleaguered assistant to Juno, his demonic bureaucrat mother. He thinks he’ll be stuck and miserable until doomsday, then a living girl breaks into the Netherworld in search of her dead mom. Beetlejuice promises to help Lydia Deetz, so long as she summons him to the living world once they’re done. Unfortunately, the best-laid plans of goths and ghosts often go downhill toward sandworms, dead boy bands, family drama, and worst of all, introspection.

It’s showtime!

Hey - feel free to check this out on AO3, where I’m w_k_smith. The original version of this post included links, but tumblr hides all my posts that have links in them, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Chapter One: “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” (6/19/20) Chapter Two: “Worm Welcome” (upcoming) Chapter Three: “Ghost to Ghost” (upcoming) Chapter Four: “To Beetle or not to Beetle?” (upcoming)

Warning: This story contains depictions of, references to, and discussion of topics like suicide, untimely death, abuse, and body horror - you know, like the musical does (though this probably has more). Know your boundaries, and stay safe.

First chapter under keep reading!

He was so relieved when the red alert exploded through the office, making every demon caseworker jump. He’d spent the past few hours cutting up the files Juno had given him into paper dolls, but even yards upon yards of multiheaded creatures got boring after a while. He magicked the dolls into running out of Juno’s office into the caseworker bullpen, and when that got no reaction, he’d made the dolls stand in crude positions and then cannibalize each other, but even that barely got a few snarls of “Get back to your own work, Beetlejuice.”

But red alerts were like fire alarms. Not only did they break up the day, but you also got to look at a fire.

“What asshole let the living person in?” he yelled, walking out of Juno’s office. He got his own too-small desk in a little reception area in front of her inner office. Officially, he was the Assistant to the Director of Netherworld Customs and Processing, but he was a glorified secretary. Most of his days were spent spinning his wheels or making the whiners who came to see Juno sit and wait until they gave up and went away.

He guessed his position as Juno’s half-demon assistant should have felt like a privilege, if he didn’t otherwise hate every aspect of the Netherworld. He got a desk and walls, while the full-demon caseworkers crammed their knife-fingers, pumpkin heads, flippers, and musty burlap bodies filled with bugs into an open-plan workspace. And the dead people who hung around had to make themselves busy wherever they found the space.

Right now everybody, demon and human alike, had scattered

“Out of the way, Beetlejuice!” the receptionist snapped, sprinting by in the high heels she’d died in, making them her only footwear from now until doomsday. She’d had another name once, but the MISS ARGENTINA sash across her torso had become a nametag a long time ago.

“Yeah, Miss A, better get to ’em before Juno does!” he said, yanking up his sagging pants.

“Care to help?” she snapped before rounding the corner.

He didn’t bother to respond. She’d asked knowing the answer would be “no.” Even if he thought it would make a difference, why should he? Sure, the living didn’t know crossing into the Netherworld meant they’d be chased down and probably killed by a screechy demon with a neck slit and horrible fashion sense. But hey. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

He didn’t see Juno around. Not yet, anyway. He was sure he’d hear her, once things went south for the trespasser.

Someone he didn’t recognize crept around the corner Miss Argentina hadn’t turned. The living girl stuck out like a raw steak at a vegan salad bar. Her face was flushed, and sweat glued her bangs to her forehead. Geez, he missed sweating. She walked without the weight of the underworld on her shoulders. And she was goth, with a dyed black bob, a black dress, and chunky black boots – very overdressed. Most of the recently deceased turned up in hospital gowns, sweatpants, Greek life t-shirts, or, best/worst, nothing at all. Few had the right combination of luck and irony to die in funeral garb.

He ducked behind a pillar in the bullpen before the living girl saw him. She licked her lips, looked left and right and left again, obviously no plan in mind…

And she ran into Juno’s office.

Oh. Oh oh oh this was just too good. Today was not going to be boring. Today might be his luckiest day of all.

He strode to Juno’s office door, walked through, and slammed it shut behind him.

“Do you have a death wish?” he asked the kid.

He was aware of the effect he had on living people…and a lot of dead people…and anyone and anything with even the memory of a digestive system. Today his hair was a dark green that verged on purple, his moss and stubble blended together nicely, and the caterpillar behind his right ear was busy spinning a cocoon.

The kid didn’t act freaked out or disgusted. She straightened her shoulders and said: “You have to hide me.”

He leaned against the door. “Do my ears deceive me?” He pulled his left ear out to arm’s length, and let it snap back like a rubber band. “Or is the girl running for her life making demands?”

“I came here for my mom. I can’t leave until I find her.”

“She isn’t here, Siouxsie Sioux. You’re the first living person who’s snuck in for the past decade.”

“My mom is dead. She died a few months ago. I have to find her, and bring her home. Well, to Connecticut, because my dad made us move to Connecticut, but then when he sees her, he’ll snap out of it, and we’ll go back to our actual home!” Desperation, denial. Maybe she was prepared to blend in with the newlydeads.

“Lemme get this straight – you, still alive and kicking, jumped into hell to find someone who has been dead for a while and bring them home with you? And you thought you could just do that? That this kind of violation of the natural order wasn’t going to rain down all kinds of shitfire and brimstone?”

“I knew there might be trouble.” She set her jaw. “I just didn’t care.”

He grinned. “Ah. Moxie. You’re pretty luck you decided to hide in my office.” He floated over his desk, crossed his legs, and pressed his fingers together. “I have a proposition. Quid pro quo, if you will.”

The kid gave him an extremely skeptical look. “You want me to make a deal with a demon?”

“Half demon, and what I’m asking for is a favor. Just a little, bitty thing.” He held his fingers a millimeter apart. “I’ll hide you. Keep the heat off. Distract the fuzz and frame your dog for eating your homework and tell the collection agents you aren’t home. And then, when you get back to the world of the living…you’ll say my name. Three times.”

She put her hands on her hips. “I’ll…what?”

“It’ll summon me. So I can be a part of the living world! At least for a while. And not be stuck in this trash fire.” He grimaced. “No, that’s not fair. Sometimes trash fires are fun. I should know; I’ve set a lot of them.”

Her frown deepened. “I don’t know…”

“Beetlejuice!” came a familiar roar. “Get out here right now!”

“Under the desk!” he told the kid, jumping to his feet.

“Don’t talk to me like –!”

“UNDER THE DESK!” he roared, drawing himself up a few extra feet, and opening his mouth to show multiple rows of teeth.

That did the trick. The kid dove under the desk, and he was glad her dress was black, because it blended in with the shadows and the dark stone of the floor.

Juno opened the door a second later, smoke and steam trickling from her neck slit. Her beehive quivered. Per usual, her red skirtsuit hung off her like loose skin, and she was pushing the walker she didn’t need ahead of her.

“Lawrence Beetlejuice Shoggoth, do you have anything to do with this?” she growled.

“To do with what?” he asked. “The red alert? It sure brightened up my total lack of morning. I won’t name names, but someone in the bullpen jumped out their skin. Literally, the scales are still on the floor.”

A bony finger was extended his way. “I know about your little obsession with the living world. Why do you think I watch you so closely? You are one more misstep from being banished between life and death, how do ya like that? Do you want to spend eternity watching your precious breathers without anyone able to hear or see you?”

Ah. That old chestnut. “No, Ma,” he said, settling onto the floor.

“If I hear that this was your handiwork…”

“…My entrails will decorate the lobby. Yeah, yeah, heard it all before.”

She flicked her wrist, and knocked him over the desk. He tumbled head over heels, and landed on his face. It goddam hurt, because his mother could always hurt him. He made sure he hit the ground with a comical splat sound so the kid wouldn’t panic and give the game away. When he looked up, the girl’s eyes were wide and fearful.

“How about this?” He stood up, and brushed his sleeves off. “That red alert was because some dumbass living human came into the Netherworld, right? And I can tell you didn’t catch them, because there’s more steam coming out of you than usual. I’ll go looking for the human. I’ll prove to you I didn’t do it.”

She crossed her arms, and drummed her fingers on her elbows. “Hmm…when you put it that way…this would be an excellent way for you to demonstrate the potential for more responsibility, and – I DON’T CARE. Just stay out of the way.”

Coming from Juno, that was a sappy “I love you.” She stormed out of the office, and he waited until the rattling of her heels faded out of earshot before he bent down to check on the kid.

“You have to get the hell out of here,” he told the goth girl curled up under his desk.

“That was your mother?” she asked.

“She’s my boss, too. She’s a demon; she doesn’t get me. I’d take my considerable skills elsewhere, but, y’know, it’s toe the line or get wedged between life and death forever. How did a living twelve-year-old wind up in the Netherworld, anyway?”

“I’m fifteen!” she said, standing up. “And that’s none of your business.”

“It is so my business, if we’re going to get you to the land of the living so you can take me with you. What did you do? Black magic? Séance?”

“I, um…” She gave him a hard look before continuing. “I found a book.”

“A book? Really? Which book?” Most living world books wouldn’t tell you jack about the Netherworld. Concepts like limbo or the bardo came close, but…

“Handbook for the Recently Deceased,” the kid said.

For several seconds, all he could do was stare at her. Her expression became grossly fascinated.

“Your eyeballs are falling out of their sockets,” she said.

He shoved them back in, and shook his head to clear it. “How did you get the Handbook, kid?”

She crossed her arms. “My name is Lydia. And I found it.”

“Found it where?”

“Your sister’s sock drawer.” She glared at him. “Look, it doesn’t matter where I found it, but I found it, and the first chapter said you could get to the land of the dead by drawing a door and knocking three times. So I did that, and I tried to blend in by joining this line of dead people, but we went through a metal detector or something, and all these alarms started going off, so I ran.”

Her story had a gaping hole in it in the shape of the fact that she couldn’t have opened the Handbook unless she was recently deceased, which she wasn’t. A ghost had to have shown her the book and let her through the door, which was a big no-no. Obviously, she wasn’t going to give up her source.

He didn’t care. In fact, he was delighted that they were still teaching living teenagers that snitches got stitches.

“Fine,” he said. “I can get you back, but when you do –”

“I have to say your name three times?”

“You have to say my name three times.”

She sat on his desk. “Which name? That Juno lady called you a lot of things.”

And Juno had cursed him so he couldn’t say it. For the same reason people on house arrest couldn’t unlock their ankle bracelets.

“I’ve got a card somewhere,” he muttered. He reached into his jacket, and handed her the little business card.

“ ‘2nd Street Dermatology – You’ve Got Us Under Your Skin’?” she read.

“Wrong card!” He grabbed it back, and plunged his hands deep in his pants pockets. There was so much junk in the way. “Hold this,” he said, handing Lydia a skull, a xylophone, a planchette – “Here!”

He took his stuff back, and she read the card. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?”

He nodded.

“If I say this in the living world, it’ll bring you there?”

“In two shakes.”

“So you’re like a demon.”

“Half demon, half ghost.”

“Have you been here a long time?”

He nodded.

“Then you know how to find my mom!” she said. “You can be my guide! And as soon as we’re back in the living world, I promise I’ll say your name. And you won’t have to deal with your terrible mother ever again!”

It was a nice thought.

“You can’t get your mom,” he said. “That’s just a no-go.”

Her expression soured. “No-go with you, you mean,” she said. “You don’t really want to help me? Fine. I’ll manage by myself, I guess. That’s all I’ve been doing since my mom died, anyway.” She went for the door.

He scurried after her. “Lydia, wait! We can make a deal!”

Juno would kill her. That death wouldn’t be clean or fast. And then Juno could spend as long as she wanted punishing the newlydead girl for breaking the rules.

It wasn’t pleasant to discover there were still ideas that could make him want to vomit. Besides, if she went out by herself, he’d be losing his ticket to the living world. Another few centuries slogging around the office until the next stupid, lucky teenager came by. There was no point in not seeing this through as long as he could.

He forced a grin. “OK. I’ll be your guide.”

“You’ll help me find my mom?” she asked. “That’s really possible?”

“It’s really possible.”

It really wasn’t. He could try to argue with her, and eventually, she might listen and just go home. But if he was the one who burst her bubble, she’d be less inclined to do him a favor.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ll help you find your mom. And I know exactly where to head. But first – we have to make you blend in.”

*

He smuggled the tiny goth out the back way, into the empty, rocky fields where the newlydeads lined up to head into the infinite Abyss that awaited them. No poor, unfortunate souls were hanging around just then, though you had to figure that people died about every second in the living room. He had given up trying to figure out the Netherworld’s relationship with time.

He made the tiny goth sit on a crag so they’d be eye-to-eye, and started rooting around his jacket for supplies. She looked skeptical, and he couldn’t blame her.

“How do I blend in?” Lydia asked.

“You have to look dead,” he said. “If you don’t go through the sensors – nice job, by the way, hopping right in the nearest line, very subtle – no one will automatically be able to tell you’re alive. But! If anyone gets within arm’s length, you’ll get caught. You have to stop flaunting your beating heart and functioning liver.”

“So I have to look recently deceased…” she said, and chewed on her bottom lip. “Should I put fake blood all over my face? Pretend I got poisoned?” She made a choking sound. “Maybe a noose?” She yanked one hand over her shoulder and let her head loll forward.

He tried not to flinch. She didn’t know that she’d just punched below the belt. Especially since he was wearing suspenders.

“Only newlydeads carry their wounds around,” he said. “That’s a good way to tell someone’s inexperienced. Have you seen the receptionist? She acts like she knows everything, but she’s still got those slit wrists, and the carbon monoxide skin.” He snorted. “Suicides.”

“I was going to jump off the roof of our new house,” Lydia said, very quietly. “Just yesterday. I wrote a note and everything.”

“Well, then, congratulations,” he said.

“For what?”

“For outdoing yourself. Running into hell wasn’t the dumbest idea you had this week. Have some grave dirt.” He tossed a handful of mud in her face.

She coughed, and tried to brush the dirt away, but just ended up smearing it across her forehead and cheeks. “What the HELL?”

“You have to make people believe you’ve been in the ground a long time. Get some of that under your fingernails, there you go. Now slouch!” he ordered. Her shoulders sagged. “Lower! Everything in your previous life is gone! No one cried at your funeral! Stoners are making out behind your head stone!”

“I’m deeeeead,” she said, stretching out the word and adding some vocal fry. She slid off the crag, and raised her arms like a zombie. Her eyes were half-closed. “Woe is me. How I long for one more breath.”

“Very nice.” He considered, then reached out and messed up her hair. “There. Dial it back by 30% and you’re golden.”

Her eyes lit up with a fervor only living teenagers had. “Does that mean we can go?”

“Yes. But you have to follow my lead, capeesh?”

“Capeesh,” she said, and he didn’t believe her.

He snapped his suspenders. “It’s showtime! Let’s go to Saturn!”

[wristic]

Now You’re a Real Criminal (Part 5)

Pairing: Edward Nygma X Reader Word Count: 2900 Warnings: Dark imagery? -Part 1- -Part 2- -Part 3- -Part 4- -Part 5-

“Ed, ED, there’s something I need to tell you.” Quickly you pressed up right behind him, Ed going rigid as you interrupted his speaking with patrons.

You told yourself you’d pretend like the threat didn’t happen. That you let the rest of the week play out and maybe Oswald would forget. But last night you saw the same car drive past your street no less than five times, pausing by at your apartments before going on. This morning you almost took the bus you were so frightened your brakes were cut or there was a bomb under the hood.

“I’m busy~” He hummed quietly at you while keeping his fake smile to the others deep in conversation.

“It’s important. It has to do with Oswald.” You looked around the big room for emphasis, feeling your skin crawl thinking he was watching from some hidden part of the room.

“Just stay out of his way.” Ed shrugged off.

“But-”

He snapped, turning back to your eye level, giving you a warning glare. “Stop distracting me and go write up some transaction papers. Whatever it is we’ll talk about it later.”

But you whimpered, showing as much fear in your eyes as you could, begging him to listen. The dark look started fading the more he struggled to keep maintaining eye contact. In an agitated huff he straightened himself, looking around the room with you. Hopefully wondering what his friend had done.

“Is something wrong?” One of the posh rich men asked, leaning to get a look at you.

“Nothing at all gentlemen.” Ed started pushing you back. “She’s a doltish girl, part of an outreach program.” He whispered, the men all nodding and starting conversations of how they do the same sometimes, generously of course. You didn’t glare like you wanted. Ditsy you was an upstanding girl, Ditsy you had a really good heart and didn’t deserve to be call stupid. Unfortunately she was too simple to know what that word meant. You gave a soft smile, looking about with big innocent eyes while he ushered you.

Away from prying eyes, Ed tried again to tell you off, “This can’t possibly-”

“Oswald doesn’t approve of our… of the more risque part of our partnership.” The news rendered him speechless. The most Ed could do was blink. You came to him ready to tell him everything, lay down all the terrible things Oswald threatened you with. But something about the shock in his eyes, his mouth slightly ajar told you Ed might deny it. Even worse, he might go and question Oswald. That look was the last you wanted or expected. You’d hoped Ed being the smart guy he was, would teach you how to dodge and manipulate Oswald. It was a rule of thumb villains didn’t actually have friends, right?

Taking a deep shaken breath, you tried to actively rearrange your plan for safety. “He uh, you know I think he’s just worried cause he doesn’t know me. He’s-he’s sending people to spy on me.”

He hissed, all shock gone in a stand. “That does sound like him.” Ed bemused. For long moment he thought off, making you ansty, hoping he’d come to the same conclusion you had. The act needed to be more platonic and he needed to stop talking about you with Oswald.

Abruptly Ed lit up, giving his hands a clap. “Well then it’s clear how we solve this! I’ll invite us to dinner tonight!”

Your heart fell right out of your chest. Splatted dead on the cold dirty floor. “Oh, no, that’s not-”

“You’ll get a tour of his mansion. His chef is pleasantly wonderful, you’ll have a great time! Be ready by eight and I’ll take you there!”

You reached out to stop him but those long legs of his sent him too far too fast, leaving you alone in the corner. Your hands tangled in your hair, giving a quiet long whine. Tandy appeared suddenly and pointed, “You are on fire girl! Getting in with the mayor!? You gotta tell me how you’re doing this because you are a master of manipulation.”

You whined louder.

On opening the door for him, Ed’s face fell in disappointment. “I’d thought you’d dress up more.”

You hadn’t changed from the day, too busy with your head running a mile a minute on what you should do and not do, what you should say, what Oswald might have access to do to you. Imagining everything you ate and drank was poisoned. Just dropping dead right there at the table and they’d laugh. “Yeah, I was in the bathroom.”

“...for three hours?”

“Uh, well,” You instinctively started shrinking, closing the door. “well maybe we should do this another time. Maybe I’m not-”

“Stop being ridiculous.” He grabbed your coat and grabbed you. “There’s no need for you to be nervous. This will be delightful I promise. You work beside the man everyday, you should know.”

You knew Oswald as a demanding entitled brat of a boss. No one ever did a good job but you’d hear if you’d done a bad one. Though you supposed he would show Ed a much different side. Don’t we all play up our strengths in the eyesight of our desire?

The car might as well have been silent (it wasn’t. Ed talked the whole way.) your heart was racing so fast your ears were ringing. And the Mansion, the mansion was a terrifying sight. It loomed, dark and dank above you, the black metal bars screaming open to welcome you like only anguished ghosts could.

Ed dragged you to the door, his grip on your wrist solid to keep you from running away. His knuckles only tapped the door once before it was flung open, a sour looking woman staring you two down. “Olga! Good to see you again!”

She said nothing, pulling aside to let you both in. Ed smiled to you, you trying hard to return it before being lead through badly lit and tightly cramped halls. Only candles to illuminate the reaches of bored and disapproving portraits, all looking down, all judging. Glancing in a room here and there felt so strange. Picture perfect for a century ago. Untouched but... molded, in spirit at least. Ed could have at least taken you in the daylight.

At the sudden end, the room opened up wide for a mix between a dinning hall and living room.

Oswald sat alone, hands folding on his stomach and he stared brightly, smiling. “Right on time as always, Ed.” Part of you wondered if you were hiding so far behind Ed that he couldn’t see you. But slowly Oswalds eyes fell on you. “And Y/N, I hope I’m not going to be treated to more of your absolute moron of a persona.”

You held back your huff, opting for a pout instead. “No. I won’t be acting tonight.”

“Good. Because it’s unbearable.”

Ed let go of you laughing and crossing the distance, pulling up his chair on Oswald’s right hand side. “It is, isn’t it! The other day she pretended to not know the word expeditiously and had the man explain it four times. She wasn’t even talking to me and I wanted to strangle her.”

Gloomily, you were about to take the seat beside Ed’s, furthest away from Oswald. But Oswald of course stopped you. “No, over here.” He pointed with a smile to his left. A rush of terror went through you and you looked to Ed, silently pleading for him to defend you.

He didn’t, motioning for you to move as if you were being impolite. Stiffly, holding your breath the whole way, you walked the long way around the table. Slowly releasing your breath and slowly sat down. They both watched you, smiling, making you nervous enough to force a grin back.

“She’s nervous.” Ed pointed out, you aghast he’d just call you out like that. He wasn’t even giving you a chance!

Oswald chuckled, “Well of course she is!” He turned to you, a mean leer in his eyes. “It’s not often someone just stumbles into the deepest depths of crime.”

Ed seemed to be pretending he had zero situational awareness, like the tension in the air was just apart of the appetizers he was stacking on his plate. “Actually she already had a foot in it. She was stealing hundreds every week.”

“Ed.” You hushed, feeling your chest clutch and burn.

“From who?” The way he said it. It was that high air of innocence that was only a drag into the leading answer.

There came a crinkle in Ed’s brow. A surprise Oswald didn’t know. “You, of course.”

“Ed!” You harshly shrieked. Under the table your nails were digging into your palms, clutching for dear life cause Oswald was definitely going to take it from you by the end of the night.

In a slow smug turn, Oswald looked to you, eyebrows jumping high and placid smile straining. “Really?”

“I-I had been mistaken.” It was the truth, it was the truth damn it! An honest mistake you shouldn’t be held accountable for. Oswald only tilted his head in confusion. “It-ah, it was just habit!” You shrugged, “To steal from my employer. It hadn’t occurred to me to worry about who my employer was.”

There was this deafening pause before he made you jump out of your skin with loud barking laughter. Ed joined him but you were so in the grips of terror, the most you could do was start shaking.

A drink would do you good, something to calm the nerves instead of thinking about painful slow death all night. When Ed grabbed his personal brand and began pouring it, you held your glass to him. You didn’t care what kind it was, it could be pond water at this point as long as it had alcohol in it.

“Let me get that!” Oswald grabbed the bottle right next to him, Ed stopping before he could share with you. You didn’t move, pleading to the high heavens that Ed would just fill your damn glass. He didn’t, Oswald grabbed your wrist, pulling your stiff and trembling arm in his direction as he poured the deep red wine. “This is to die for.” He winked.

Would it be inappropriate to start crying? There was no way you were going to drink this. Not until he did and, well, his glass was empty. “Thank you.” You mumbled.

Ed was the only one eating and he didn’t seem to notice. What was wrong with him tonight? Was he waiting for something? Was he... nervous? 

You glanced at the table and honestly nothing looked appetizing. And that had nothing to do with thinking everything was poisoned. Grey porridge’s and smelly stews, the pork roast with the apple in its mouth looked pale and sickly in the low light.

Breaking the silence, Oswald pointed out. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but it kind of sounds like you’re in my debt.” You turned to him like a deer in the headlights. He only smiled. “Unless you paid back everything you stole of course.”

A fraction. You gave Ed a fraction of what you stole and you weren’t sure that would even count in Oswald’s eyes. All together, Ed said you had stolen thirty-five thousand and nine hundred dollars.

Slamming both hands on the table, you stood up, “I have to go to the bathroom!”

To the bathroom. Out the window. Escape Gotham and change your name. Become a lonely and quiet shepard in the rolling hills of Scotland.

“Allow me to show you the way.” A loud shriek came from Oswald’s chair as he pushed himself back, like he was waiting for you to try and escape. His self-satisfied eyes certainly said he had been.

“I-I’m sure your maid could-”

He waved you off, taking a stand and gripping your arm with his nails. “This way.” It wasn’t until you two were deep in the halls when the smile dropped and quietly chided you. “I didn’t take you for the tattling type.”

Gulping, you tried to sound resolute, though you were sure he could feel your trembling. “I was inclined not to say anything at all, but you’re sending people to spy on me.”

“Didn’t sleep all that well last night?” He chuckled. “Yeah, I was told it took you twenty minutes before you got into your car.”

You sighed slowly, face burning knowing there was an audience to your whimpering and fearful step by step to make sure your car wouldn’t kill you.

Oswald wasn’t leading you to the bathrooms. You were taking a tour through the maze of a house, reaching the top of the spiral stairs before he asked, “I want to know something, how much to do you know about Ed’s killings?”

Of course. Of course this would take the most morbid turn. You felt so cold, so sick being forced through this dusty mansion. “Only what the papers said.”

“Which, no doubt, was the bare bones of it.” He was smiling now, yanking you to him so you’d look him in his delighted eyes. “Allow me to tell you his version.”

He turned into a room, somewhat small with only one lounge chair, and the walls filled with huge scenery paintings you could barely see the rusted burgundy wallpaper. Before you was a large window overlooking the city, Oswald stopping to gaze out over it, you still firmly in his clutches.

“Have you seen a pair of feminine glasses by his bed stand? Glasses that clearly are not his?” You shook your head. The answer seemed to ease Oswald, smiling a bit easier. “Well! They used to belong to the love of his life-”

“Kristen Kringle?” You muttered, a chill running up your spine.

“Yep, that’s the one! You see, after strangling her to death, Ed started playing a little game with himself. It was back when he was a little more shattered, in the head. He chopped her up. Left the pieces in random places, and little riddles for himself to find the rest. A morbid, follow the clues when instead of prizes, he got her body parts back.” He snickered.

All you could manage to do to appear composed was stare off into the city, so close to glowing in a low yellow light if it wasn’t for the thick smog clouds hazing it dry and grey. Dreaming of running back into it was the only thing to keep your stomach from flipping, from you slipping to the ground in a faint.

In a happy sigh he continued. “The Ed you see now is the one who set out to bury her in the woods. All crammed in a suitcase, a cute woodsy picnic all laid out for him and Mrs. Kringle to cheers with.”

You gave a small start as Oswald pulled you back, taking you into the halls. His tone was darker, far more serious than he had been. “I know Ed. I know and admire him at his truest nature. Seeing that terrified drained look on you tells me you haven’t even scratched the surface.”

He stopped you a moment, eyes trained on the teardrop diamond necklace hanging above your pounding heart. His cold fingers brushed against your skin as they curled around the jewelry. “You’re afraid of me for sending a few guys to watch you, imagine what he’ll do to you if he ever grows bored and let’s face it, Ed gets bored real easy.”

Oswald ripped the silver chain clean from your neck, a sting left there as he examined it in the candlelight. With a mischievous look he pointed, “Consider this a first payment to all that money you stole from my campaign. With interest of course.”

“Of course.” You ground out.

Happily you were lead back to the dining hall, Ed having finished his meal and wine. For the first time, he showed interest in what was happening, his glass nearly empty and his eyes staring at the foot of the stairs. When you and Oswald drew close he stood up, straightening his coat.

Oswald looked between you and him, you a bit confused on what was being exchanged here. “You know what, you were right Ed. I think I do like her. She behaves well.”

The ‘compliment’ had you glowering at the floor, but Ed’s reaction was revealing. A great sigh of relief fell from him, a big smile blooming as everything in him relaxed and lightened. “I knew you would if you’d just gotten a chance to meet the real Y/N.”

Approval. This whole game was to get Oswald’s approval in his choice of lackey. It mattered that much and yet the truth of it was you would never have approval from Oswald. You were an obstacle, one that could be bled dry in the meantime.

Thankfully you weren’t forced to eat and drink and stay longer. The two gave you a few more backhanded praises before calling it a night. You couldn’t escape the mansion fast enough, stepping out faster than Ed and waiting impatiently for him to lead you to the car.

The black iron gate loudly closed and you ripped the car door open. The fear was subsiding and all that was left was anger.

Yet before you stepped in, your shoulders were grabbed and spun back around, lips crashing against yours. Ed came at you so passionately. Cupping your face and caging you to him. You stumbled back against the car, pinned there as he kissed you again and again. Each deeper than the last until you could taste the dry wine he had at dinner.

When he broke away, even in the low light of the night he was clearly smiling down at you, an adoring appreciation in his eyes as his thumbs trailed down your cheeks. The look had you weak, knowing he was happy with you, knowing he was proud of you. 

Without saying anything, he gave you a peck on the nose and took to the other side of the car, leaving you to form a little knot in your chest staring at the  looming mansion. It felt good to have approval from him, like it was good for him to feel it from Oswald. Perhaps what Ossy felt wasn’t as one-sided as you assumed.

Though the sympathy died as soon as you caught a gaunt face seething at you from the window. Gripping the door and pulling in you whispered to yourself, “Shit.”

@badbitsh13 @musingsby-night @gotham-dumpster-fire @goddess-of-silvers @slither-in-a-half

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark One:  The Dark Curse

Chapter 37:  The False Prince Charming

The time had finally arrived. He'd been watching the little shepherd family for over a month now. He'd been watching as things had slowly gone from the happiest day of Robert and Ruth's lives with the birth of their sons, to the worst. The boys were sick. But because they hadn't started out as bad as they were now, they'd spent precious money on doctor visit after doctor visit. Ruth had spent the first two weeks of their lives trying to convince the doctors that something was wrong. Now that they'd finally found it, just as planned, the medicine to fix the infection that dwelled within the boys' lungs was too expensive for them to afford; especially since they'd needed to spend money only a week ago to fix the sheep peen after a tree had magically fallen on it. Or two weeks ago when the grain shed had caught fire taking most of the food they needed as well as the wagon poor Robert needed to take his wool to market to sell. It also didn't help that the two most prominent spinners in town had suddenly and uncharacteristically come across a vast fortune and decided to take a little time off and were no longer buying wool from the shepherd. All these things one right on top of one another…one might say it was almost magical.

The time had come. He'd pushed and pulled and bribed and poked and prodded all to make sure everything that could go wrong in the last month had and now, as he watched Robert beg and plead with the apothecary for the medicine behind the counter that would save his boys' lives he knew the time was right. If he didn't believe in this plan, if he didn't have the assurance that one of the babies was going to live the best life possible and that he was going to get to see Baelfire again, he might have regretted the stubbornness potion he'd slipped into the apothecary's drink. But he didn't. Robert's pleas were enough to make even the hardest of hearts go soft. He couldn't have an apothecary with a conscious screw this all up for him now. He had to act tonight. He was quite certain that Robert would tray again tomorrow and the day after that and the day after. And he could keep giving the apothecary the drug and remain hidden among the shadows throughout all that time, but unfortunately, a potion of stubbornness could have wicked consequences that someone was bound to notice if taken too often. The time was finally right to make the deal.

But not now. Timing was everything, even when time was limited. His date with the King loomed tomorrow morning, and he'd love to swoop in now and take one of the boy's, but this had to be done delicately. While Robert was depressed, being driven to absolute poverty with no hope of recovery or even a penny to go to the tavern for a drink to drown his sorrow, he wasn't the only parent in the equation. Ruth needed to reach a point of understanding too. In order for this to work correctly, all parties had to agree and be present.

So he followed Robert home. Thunder crashed and lightning flashed overhead, and he kept his cloak up to keep him dry as he followed him back home to the farm and then magically transported himself inside their home. He hid in the shadows, a place he would be undetected in the small place. He'd been here so often in the last month he knew all the best places to hide. Of course, an illusion charm didn't hurt either. Not that it mattered, the parents were so focused on the boys he could have stood there in a bright yellow cloak, dazzling as the sun, and they woudn't have noticed.

"Well?" Ruth inquired once the door was shut. "What happened?"

"I couldn't get any money for the medicine," he heard Robert admit. "I'm sorry, Ruth. I've failed my sons. I failed David and James."

The couple were grief-stricken, but Rumpelstiltskin smiled in his shadowy place. Those were the magic words. Failure. Rock Bottom. Complete despair. In answer to King George's previous question, that was exactly the mindset of a man who would give away his own flesh and blood. Especially if he promised him a much better life than this for the boy. That was just what a father did.

"David and James!" he pronounced, breaking the charm and emerging from his corner to make his presence known. Ruth, their dear mother, was quick to shelter behind the body of her husband, hoping perhaps he'd protect the three of them, but he'd been watching the family long enough to know that wasn't going to happen. If he wasn't drunk and could stand on two feet, it was a miracle, pitiful man. Besides, there was nothing to be protected from. He made that clear by having the pouch of medicine in plain view right away.

"Such strong names," he smiled. "But yet...such weak lungs. And good medicine is so expensive nowadays. Perhaps... I can help."

He tossed the bag of medicine onto the table by the boys. It landed with a splat as the strings slapped against the wood. Robert and Ruth stared at it like hungry wolves. They knew what he was offering. They knew what was in that bag even without opening it. It was simple enough. Use the medicine, and suddenly all their problems went away. Their sons would live, their money could go back into the farm, it was all so simple. With the exception of the fact that he was widely known in this area and now Robert was looking at him with suspicion. He knew. Nothing came without a cost.

"We have nothing to give you for that," he commented.

One of the boys coughed, David, he suspected, but he wasn't about to look now. He had to keep his eyes on the weakest link. He had to appear to them now as a savior and present his options perfectly—father to father.

"Do your boys like bedtime stories?" he asked, moving closer. Neither responded, but he hadn't really expected them to. "All right, here's one. Once upon a time, there was a king named George. He had great riches, but no son. And then there was a farmer named Robert, poor as dirt...yet he had two sons. Can you guess how this story ends?"

Suddenly quiet, meek Ruth transformed in front of his eyes into the mother bears he'd sometimes seen in his life. She grabbed a knife from the small kitchen behind them and brandished it out in front of her as if it was a threat. Of course, he didn't flinch at such a thing. It was the wrong knife entirely if she wanted to threaten him.

"Get out!" she cried! "Our sons are not for sale."

Everything was for sale. Everyone could be bought for the right price.

"Then they won't survive the Winter, dearie," he pointed out, purposefully looking down at them now to draw her attention back to them. Whether he knew it or not he and Robert were bound together by the bonds of paternal parentage, Ruth, on the other hand, needed to look at her boys. She needed to see things the way he did. He wasn't doing this to hurt the boys. He was trying to save them and give them both good lives. Two failing sheep farmers raise two boys? It was laughable! They hadn't the funds. They had enough to deprive both boys of everything or give one boy just enough. And as for the other, growing up in a palace was hardly a punishment. Together they would each continue to be a parasite for one another. Separate, they'd both have good lives. This was, what they called it in the deal-making business, a "win-win".

"Look, you can either have one healthy son…or two dead ones," with his last words, he'd glanced at Robert. He was thinking. His eyes were no longer glaring at him as though he was a threat, in fact, he wasn't even sure he was seeing anything in the room, he was deep in thought, processing this the way that he wanted him to. Robert was going to come around. He moved away. Giving the illusion of privacy to the couple to make the obvious choice.

"There's no other way," he heard him mutter to his wife. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Robert force the hand that was curled around the kitchen knife back down to Ruth's side. He saw things just the way that he wanted him to. It was perfect. "We have to do this, Ruth."

"Wise choice," he exclaimed, rejoining the conversation before he had too much time to think about it. He was on the clock, after all. It was nearly midnight, and he wanted to have the child, healthy and cured, to his new father by first light. But still, the question remained: which child? The Seer was oddly quiet on that front. It must have been his own choice.

"All we have to do now is decide which son goes to the king!" he pronounced as Ruth put her hand to her mouth and began squirming as though she was going to be sick. She may very well be after something like this. It was easy to believe after how many times he'd been worried sick over Baelfire. But at the moment, he didn't need to be here to see Ruth's response. And he didn't need to risk fate by having them make a wrong choice. It would be a gift, removing the decision from their hands and placing it into the hands of the future. "An impossible decision, I know, so let's make it simple."

From up his sleeve, he produced a florin, more money than they saw in six months of solid profit, and presented it to Robert. Yes, the pair saw eye to eye.

"Heads, I take David. Tails, I'll take James."

He offered the coin to Robert, and with a gaze that was equal parts disgust and desperation, he took it. He didn't do a traditional flip so much as simply tossed it onto the table, where it landed with a what he imagined must have been a heart-wrenching clatter. But he couldn't show it. He wouldn't show a sign of weakness now; he only kept the image of seeing his own son again in his head as he leaned over to check.

"Tails! Prince James it is!" he proclaimed before quickly reaching into the crib and grabbing the nearest infant, James…or Prince James as he was soon to become. But before he could pull him away completely, his parents reached out for him, not to grab just to touch.

"Your father loves you so much!"

"Oh, my son."

He pulled him out of their grasps easily and stepped away. A long drawn out good-bye was not going to make things better for the couple. Not by a long shot. And it was obvious to him with their actions that moving forward he had to make one thing very clear. Afterall, for this to work James had to be the King's son. He didn't know what he planned on telling his wife, but he certainly couldn't have the boy's parents pounding on the door, demanding to see their son or rumors spreading throughout the Kingdom that James was an imposter. From this moment on, the boy was a prince. Their son had to be dead.

"Careful with your words. This deal must stay a secret, which means this boy...is no longer your son."

It was a kindness, he knew, to leave at that moment, to not draw it out any longer or force them to contemplate what they'd just done. He took the boy from them at that moment, left them with more than enough money to get the farm back on track, to undo everything he'd done, and care for David. He'd left them with the magical cure that would see all that money go right to profit. He'd been more than generous.

Back at the castle, James squawked and squealed, surprised by the magical mobility they'd used, but his lungs, like his brother's, were just as unhealthy. In no time at all, his cries became shadowed by tears of pain. He coughed and sputtered and tried to breath, but unlike David, who would be cured of his illness in a week or two with the medicine, James needn't wait long. Within him he stirred up his magic and placed his hand on the infant's chest. He found the contagion that he'd left there and used his magic to pull it out before pushing more into him that would strengthen his lungs. Another spell put the boy to sleep for another couple of hours until he could take him to George. From the recesses of the castle, a room he was certain he'd never been in, he summoned a crib. Then he set the boy inside of it to sleep for the night before staring down at him.

It was overwhelming. Everything was coming to fruition, every last bit of that prophecy that he'd seen had come true! The Swan and Regina, it all hinged on the pair of them. Now Regina was around, her mother doing her best to form her into the perfect woman so that she might climb the ranks through marriage. As for the Swan girl, both of her parents had now been born. He had, what…another twenty or so years to wait? That was certainly less than the hundreds he'd once seen before him.

"Prince James…" he smiled as he watched the child sleep. "What a life awaits you, what a future. King James and Queen Snow and…"

He paused as something rippled through his body. Something wasn't right. Something about the words he'd said wasn't right, not like they usually felt when he put the future together. Having James, taking him to the King, that felt right! It was what he was supposed to do. But his name next to the future Queen's name…

He felt the ripple again and cocked his head to the side as he stared new information came to him.

"Prince Charming…you're not the one…"

And yet he was the one! This was correct! He felt this in every bone in his body. James was the one he was meant to take, the one appropriate for this deal, to become the False Prince and yet…he wasn't Prince Charming.

It was David. He was Prince Charming.

But how? How could he be, and how would it come to pass when the Seer's voice whispered in his head that they were still both one and the same?

It was another puzzle, another riddle of the future to figure out, one that only time would solve. And in the meantime…

"Well now…that's very…interesting…"

[tcswritings]

Biochemistry.

Patti waits for Orla in the Dirty Deed and finds herself in the company of another friend.

***

6:32.

‘Two more hours.’ Patti thought to herself as she pushed open the weather-beaten green door, carefully stepping into the pub and unbuttoning her coat on her way in. Warmth came towards her, as well as murmur and friendly laughter and chit chat and all of it made her smile.

Patti had liked the little pub from the first moment on. For some reason, everything here felt familiar and the owner, Rosamund (albeit giving off a rather feisty vibe on first glance) radiated a warmth that she had never experienced before, at least not from anyone who wasn’t her own mother. The Dirty Deed felt like home, and Patti could understand just fine why Orla and her friends loved to spend a lot of their free time here. She had been rather excited herself when Orla had suggested earlier that they could meet up here for a drink before they would eventually hit up the theatre.

Unfortunately, Orla was still on her way home from the tattoo studio and she was stuck in traffic. She had called when Patti was already almost at the pub which meant that she would spend a while here all by herself, which was still new, and Patti couldn’t help but feel a little nervous although she knew that it was silly. She still hoped that she would get one of the seats at the bar so she could at least talk to Rosamund a little.

“Hello!” she called at the barkeeper, a little shy but with a smile, as she stepped through the archway. Rosamund turned around and when she recognised her, she smiled right back.

“Oh why hello, dear! Come in!” she greeted her new guest. Patti felt how the tension left her body and she smiled a little wider as she now approached the bar.

“You look frozen, dear. What can I get you?” Rosamund asked but before Patti could answer, the barkeeper looked into another direction, pursing her lips before making a little face of disapproval.

Patti followed her gaze, curious about what had caused that miffed little expression, and she squinted a little before she eventually spotted Mick and Mina in one of the booths to her right.

Well, at least she assumed it was the two, as it was hardly possible to see their faces. She could merely make out a tall and slim figure with a mop of light blonde hair, tied back in a messy ponytail, who had his hands all over a petite brunette sitting in his lap and it seemed as if the two were determined to never catch a bit of breath again.

“Good gracious.” Patti’s eyes went wide.

“They’ve been doin’ that for the past hour, more or less.” Rosamund grumbled. “I mean, I get it, it’s young love, it’s exciting, it’s sexy and all but what those two are doin’ over there is nothin’ short of what happens in those movies-”

“Get a fuckin’ room, you arseholes!” a somewhat familiar, husky voice from the other side of the bar interrupted and both Patti and Rosamund simultaneously turned their heads.

A bespectacled young man with long and messy red hair was glaring directly at the booth where Mick and Mina couldn’t leave their hands off each other. Daryl’s expression was just as crabby as Rosamund’s and Patti had to bite her lip to prevent herself from laughing at the sight of the two and her urge to giggle got even worse when she saw that Mick merely held out his long arm to the bar, showing Daryl his middle finger, not even bothering to look his way, as he was still preoccupied with his girlfriend, apparently not intending to change that in the foreseeable future.

“Oy, you little shit!” Rosamund hissed as she swiftly grabbed a wet cloth from under the bar and flung it at her niece and her sassy boyfriend.

Whow. Patti blinked in surprise. Any time she had been to the Dirty Deed has been pure entertainment and today was no exception.

The cloth did the trick - it hit both Mick and Mina in their faces with a little splat!, causing the two to jump apart immediately. Some murmur went through the pub as other guests turned around now, chuckling at the scene. Rosamund smiled with grim statisfaction and Daryl let out a rather dirty cackle.

“What the fuck, Rose!” Mick cried out, wiping his face with his hand, while Mina gingerly picked up the cloth from the wooden table with two fingers, giggling at it’s sight. “Eeew.” she laughed, her mood apparently not affected in the slightest.

“You two either do what Grumpy McSmartarse over there just said or you stay but behave from now on! This isn’t a whorehouse!” Rosamund barked. “And don’t you dare throwing that fuckin’ cloth back at me!” she warned when she saw that Mick snatched the cloth out of Mina’s hand with a determined movement.

“We’re sorry!” Mina gave in with another giggle and she placed her hand on Mick’s hand that was still holding the wet cloth. “We’ll behave, of course!”

“Fine!” Rosamund nodded. “That’s what you said an hour ago, but alright.” she added quietly, more to herself, and she eventually looked back at Patti. “I’m sorry, dear. Didn’t mean to be rude. What can I get you, now?”

“Uhm, just a Ginger Ale.” Patti ordered, still a bit thrown off guard by the unexpected scene.

“Comin’ right up. Go and sit down somewhere, c’mon!” Rosamund encouraged as she pulled a clean glass from under the bar.

“Hey Pat, come over!” Patti now heard Daryl call. “You got better sight at the two idiots from here.”

Patti shrugged and tottered to the other side of the bar, taking the seat next to Daryl. “I don’t know if I wanna see that, to be honest.”

“Ah, it’s fun, actually. Rose and that guy over there at the tap have been dubbing them for the past hour, it was hilarious.”

Patti laughed and she thanked Rosamund when she brought over her drink. While she took a sip, her eyes wandered to the notes and books that Daryl had spread on the bar in front of him. “What’s all that?” she asked curiously, putting her glass a bit further away from the paper sheets as a precaution.

“Oh, just some, uh, stuff.”

“Principles of Biochemistry With a Human Focus.” Patti read one of the books’ headline out loud. “What on earth...?”

“Just tryin’ to educate myself a little further.” Daryl shrugged as he took off his reading glasses and started gathering together his notes, putting them all on a pile next to him.

“It’s 7 PM and it’s Friday... other people use that time to go and see a movie or somethin’ like that, y’know?”

“Is that so?”

“Mh-hm.” Patti nodded and smiled. “Orla and I are gonna go and watch ‘It’ again later. You wanna come?”

“Nah, I’ll pass. Got plans.”

“Oh, you have a date?”

“With Biochemistry, yeah.” Daryl smiled.

“Come on!”

“It’s really not as boring as it sounds. Besides, I’m doin’ a tutorial on Monday and I gotta prepare some stuff before tomorrow. That’s when I go out, y’know.”

“So you do have a date!” Patti beamed.

“Yeah, with that overgrown creep over there!” Daryl nodded towards the booth in which Mick and Mina were now behaving in an exemplary manner, at least for the time being. “When he can stand being away from her for an evening, that is.”

“Wait, what, you don’t like Mina?”

“Hardly know her.” Daryl shrugged. “She’s nice, I guess. It’s just - I dunno.”

“It’s what?”

“Uh. Let’s just say I’m a bit, uh... concerned.”

“Why?”

Daryl shook his head. “Nah, not important. Anyway, we have that concert comin’ up tomorrow. I’ll be damned if Mina likes that kind of music, so I guess it’s just gonna be the two of us. Unless you wanna come, in case the two can’t part.” He looked at Patti and smiled.

“It’s one of those weird bands with some guy screaming in pain again, right?”

“Maybe.” Daryl laughed.

“Ugh.” Patti made a face and shook her head. “As long as it’s not Jason Derulo, Billie Eilish or Florence, I’ll pass.”

“Jason Who?!”

“Not your jam, don’t worry.” She took another sip from her Ginger Ale. “Hey, what did you mean when you said that you’re concerned?”

Daryl rolled his eyes. “Ah, it’s nothing. I dunno. Okay.” He made a little pause. “It’s all going so fast? It’s been merely a month and she already pretty much fuckin’ lives at his place!”

Patti let out a perplexed little laugh. “That’s it? That’s what you’re worried about? Oh god! Come on, you know what it’s like to be in love. The first few months are pure heaven, you can hardly part ways and when you do, you already miss the other one the minute they leave you.”

“Really now. Sounds, uh... pathetic, actually.” Daryl scoffed.

“What?” Patti blinked in disbelief. “What are you talking about? It’s just the way these things are! I mean, you have been there, right?”

Daryl looked at her and raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like I’ve been there?”

“Wait. You’re not tellin’ me that - you never -”

“No, never.”

“No way. You must have been in love at some point?! You never met a, dunno, cute science girl or so?”

“Couldn’t you think of a better cliché?” Daryl groaned.

Patti rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“I’ve actually had a cute science girl once.”

“There you go? And?”

“Spent some amazing nights with her. Wasn’t in love with her, though. ”

“Daryl, that’s sad.” Patti blurted out.

“Psh. Why? Because I didn’t turn into that guy over there?” Daryl pointed at Mick again. “I’m sure I’m not missing out. Hey, you do know that it’s all just chemicals in your brain goin’ wild anyway, right?!”

“So? It still feels great?” Patti smiled.

“Whatever. This is not about me. Thing is... okay, how am I supposed to say it without sounding like an arsehole?”

“Just say it? I’ll try not to think of you as an arsehole, I promise.”

“Mick is stupid.”

“Wow, ouch. Arsehole!”

Daryl laughed. “Ah no, not stupid, y’know, as in ‘dumb’? He just doesn’t think shit through. He’s gaga. That’s it, that’s the word. Gaga. And he’s even more gaga when he’s driven by hormones.”

“Everyone is gaga when driven by hormones.”

“Yeah, right, maybe, but you haven’t known him for as long as I have. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell you all this anyway... whatever, I think he’s just one breath away from going mental.”

“What?” Patti frowned and looked at Mick again. “He looks perfectly happy to me?”

“No! No, you don’t get it. It’s not about here and now.” Daryl sighed and he paused. “If he takes one more blow to the heart, he’ll crack. I don’t want him to crack.”

“Maybe he won’t. Maybe the two are good for each other. Only time can tell.” Patti shrugged.

“Whatever you say, Pat. I’ll stick to what I said. He should get some shit in order before the two go off and pick wedding decorations.” Daryl crossed his arms, resembling a schoolboy who just got punished with detention.

Patti snorted. “I think you should stick to Biochemistry. You’re paranoid and cranky.”

“Huh. That be it, then.”

“I’m sorry. I’m cheeky.”

“Yup. You better stay that way, it’s fun.” Daryl smiled.

(... to be continued!)

[currebunz]

Wearing nothing but a smile Ch 1

AO3 link

A simple life was all you wanted. A few friends, maybe a pet, and a few trips would be enough. You already had doting parents, granted they were a bit abnormal in their own sense. Even amongst the superhuman world, they were slightly odd. Thus, making you an odd offspring. Your father's quirk allowed him to stretch his arms, making it easier for him to work and help around the house. Your mother, bless her heart, had a quirk that allowed her to consume anything and release energy.

Unfortunately, you were given the short stick. Instead of acquiring one of their quirks, you were given a combination. Your arms had become an extension of your self, able to destroy and release like your mother. As cool as the quirk sounded, the reality was grotesque. Your arms changed into large sanguine and black appendages with razor claws. They looked like any child's nightmare ready to drag them under the bed. Because of this, you were very secluded.

Despite the support of your parents, you chose to use your quirk as little as possible. You wore bandages to keep your arms out of the public eye. Unfortunately for you, the rest of the world was on a different page.

You walked along the street with your earbuds in, ignoring the world around you as you went. You were only a middle schooler at this time, awkward and friendless. Being alone didn't bother you, at least while you were walking. You were so submerged in your own thoughts, you failed to notice the crowd of people thining out. Everyone scurried off to the side streets, some running into nearby establishments.

It wasn't until a dark shadow loomed over you, did you look up. A tall person, if you would call it that, stared down at you through a gaudy mask. His body was covered by a long cloak, but you could make out hulky muscles and what appeared to be barbed wire, "Are you afraid?" he asked. You stared at him, pulling your buds out slowly. "Beg pardon?" you asked him, not catching the beginning of what he said. "Are you afraid?" he repeated in the same gurgling voice. You paused, that was a good question.

Any normal person would be afraid, yet you felt unreasonably calm. "No" you couldn't stop your reply from leaving your lips. The tall creature cracked a wide grin.

"Well, you should be"

A simple life was not one of a hero. Togata had long ago established that and welcomed whatever abnormality came his way. He supported his friend, Amajiki, to do the same. However, the latter found it hard not to overthink his next class. Despite their contrasting views, they were the best of friends. Best friends who help each other out, look out for one another...

Help their friend with a crush.

Amajiki was taken back by this new responsibility. Togata came to him out of the blue talking about his encounter with a girl on the train. "She left before I could say anything, but we take the same train so I see her often!" he laughed. Amajiki frowned, keeping his head low. "Then, just wait for her on the train..." he trailed off, already feeling exhausted at the idea of talking to a stranger. "Ha,ha! Right! But I don't know what to say!" Togata laughed offed his nerves as the two walked along the street. He honestly didn't know how to start a conversation with you. 'Hey, I've been watching you the past week!' didn't sound like the best choice of words.

"But really, if you saw her you'd understand..." Togata trailed off, leaving Amajiki confused. He followed his friend's blank gaze to a girl walking ahead of them. "Your right, she has a nice back" Amajiki jested, giving Togata a playful shove. "N-no, oh you know what I mean" Togata snapped out of his daze to berate his friend. The two hadn't noticed the large figure approach the girl until they heard a crash.

A large hand wrapped in barbed wire destroyed a part of the sidewalk the girl was standing on. She had jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. "She's in trouble!" Togata felt his blood boil, a villain was attacking now of all times. Amajiki grabbed his arm, holding him back. "L-let the pros take care of it!" he urged. Togata looked around, gesturing with his free hand. "What pros?!" he argued.

You were too busy processing what happened to hear the voices around you. This man, thing, just put a crater into the ground next to you. Alarms had gone off in your head, you had to get away. "How about now?" the gurgling voice sounded entertained this time around. Before you could reply, you heard someone yell.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Togata sprinted toward you, leaving Amajiki behind a distance away. The creature lifted his fist and swung at Togata. "Get back!" you warned him, but it was too late. He would be a splat mark on the wall at this rate. Imagine your surprise as the fist passed through him, taking his middle school uniform. Your eyes went wide, so did the villains'.

Togata took this chance to approach you, panting loudly as he came close. "Hey don't worry, he couldn't hit me if he tried!" he laughed. However, you couldn't hear him, you were trying to hard not to look at him. His lower half to be correct. Following your gaze, he suddenly went red. "Well, this certainly wasn't how I expected our first meeting to go" Togata nervously covered his crotch, searching for his clothes out of the corner of his eyes.

"Are you mocking me, boy?" the villain appeared less than amused by Togata's intrusion. The villain wound it's hand back, preparing for another attack. "You! Get some clothes and get back!" you shouted at Togata. Your bandages unraveled as your arms became vicious claws. You extended your left arm to cover Togata's lower half and extended your right into the villain's face. You latched onto the villain's face, claws digging through and shattering his mask.

He let out a howl of pain, doubling back and falling to the ground. You retracted your arm, preparing to guard or attack. "I'll take it from here!" a loud voice boomed from above. The Pro Hero, Death Arms, fell from the second story of the building, slamming his fists into the villain. The villain had been knocked unconscious instantly, the crisis was over. "That guy looks like he was all talk, couldn't even handle a bunch of kids" Death Arms sighed looking over the area.

You glanced back to Togata, who was now smiling at you. "That was amazing! You've got a powerful quirk!" he praised you shamelessly. Your quirk, now you remembered. Your other hand was currently close to Togata's-

Your face bloomed red as you realized what you had done. You could hear the onlookers gossiping and taking pictures. You had to get out of there, you needed a distraction. You quickly removed your hand and took off running. The crowd's attention turned to Togata's naked body, causing him to become flustered. "Mirio! Here!" Amajiki tossed the abandoned uniform to Togata, providing him with little coverage. Both middle schoolers quickly made their escape, going opposite your direction.

"What did I say? She's amazing!" Togata laughed while he hopped into his pants. "Get dressed first, please!" Tamaki held his stomach as he ran, feeling a twist of anxiety in his core. He hadn't even met you yet but he already knew Togata was in way over his head.

You had run home and shut yourself in your room. Your parents decided to give you privacy, allowing you to run over the past event. It wasn't uncommon for a villain to attack, it wasn't the first time you had witnessed such an event. But it was the first time you'd seen a boy nude like that. Your face still felt hot as you recalled him. Your hand was an extension of your body, which meant you had grabbed 'him'. You felt you heart ram against your chest as you recalled you quirk. Like your mother, you could destroy things by consumption. However, there was a taste barrier you had to overcome.

Your hand had touched him, you hade tasted him. Salty, bitter and-

You dived into your bed and screamed into your pillow.

[iamapoopmuffin]

Victims With Numbers

Fandom: Nanbaka/Corpse Party (crossover) Genre: Horror Characters: Hajime Sugoroku, Samon Gokuu, Kiji Mitsuba, Kenshirou Yozakura, Jyugo, Uno, Nico, Rock, Tsukumo, Liang, Upa, Qi, Honey, Trois, Musashi, Sachiko Shinozaki, Ryou Yoshizawa, Yuki Kanno, Tokiko Tsuji, Yoshikazu Yanagihori, Yoshie Shinozaki, Takamine Yanagihori, some OCs to take the role of Kizami later on instead of actual Kizami Includes major character death.

Chapter 8 of ?

Also available on Blogspot

Liang gave a slow nod, and hesitantly left, leaving Rock alone with the ghost of the weeping girl, crouched just by her own body.

Well, okay, they weren't really alone if Rock was honest. There were other ghosts in the room, but none of them were as expressive. None of them paid anyone or anything else any mind. The weeping girl, however, caught his eye for some reason. Most likely because she wasn't wandering aimlessly with a dull look in her eyes. He couldn't actually see her face from here, as she was curled over, face buried against her legs as she sobbed and mourned her own passing.

Before anything else, Rock decided to be true to his word, and write a message. He tore a small piece from one of the class notices and picked up a pen that someone had left on the teacher's desk - some cutesy purple thing with a bear head on the end and pink hearts all over it, he didn't know how long it had been there, but after a test scribble or two, it wrote with no difficulty - and simply wrote 'We'll spread the word if we see anyone. See you here later. Rock and Liang.' That was good enough. It was enough to just say 'someone else is here, someone else has seen this'. He wouldn't be sure if the others knew about the whole closed spaces and different dimensions thing. He didn't think he could explain it himself anyway, so he turned away from the desk, and from the notes, and found himself approaching the ghost girl.

As if she could sense his approach, the girl tensed, then looked up, seemingly frightened of the man approaching her. Rock carefully walked around the body on the floor, and crouched down beside the ghost.

"Hey..." He didn't ask if she was okay. It was clear she'd been stabbed to death, and it was very clear that she wasn't ever going to be okay again. The girl stared at him for a long time, and then said

"You can see me."

"I can see all the ghosts here." He answered honestly.

"They stole my pen."

Huh? "Who did?"

"Those two boys from before. They took my favourite pen. It was a gift, and they took it!"

"The...the purple one with the bear on it?"

The girl gave a slight nod.

"Well, it's still on the desk, they just wanted to borrow it to-"

"They didn't borrow it, they didn't give it back! They didn't think they had to, because I'm not alive like they are. Living people can be so selfish..."

"Everyone here is scared. Sometimes, we don't think about people who are dead when we might die too." He got up and fetched the pen, bringing it back to the girl. "I'm sorry they didn't bring it back to you. Here you go."

The ghost stared at him, and he frowned before pressing the pen into the corpse's hand, careful not to touch the body with his own skin. The ghost now stared at the pen, and Rock began to think he should just leave, and then the girl said, in a quiet voice "Thank you."

"Don't worry." He stood up and raised a hand to wave goodbye.

"You're nice."

"...Yeah. Sorry."

The girl watched him, and then said "I don't want anyone else to see me like this."

He looked down at the body. He wouldn't want to be seen like that either. "Can I...do anything?"

"...Hide my body..."

Okay, no. Not if it involved moving the body. No way. "I...I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you. I know it's not a nice thing to ask, but you're the only one who can hear me, and you're nice..."

"...It's okay, I...I understand." And if he thought about it, he guessed he did understand. The body wasn't pleasant to look at, and he wouldn't want random people staring at his body if he were to die...

Bad thought. Rock should not think about the possibility of his own death. "I'll see what I can do." He promised again, looking around as if something he could cover the body with would just suddenly appear.

"Are you lost?" It was the sound of Liang's voice, somewhat muffled through the door, asking that question that pulled Rock's attention away from the ghost. He slowly walked over and opened the door.

"Liang?"

Liang barely spared him a glance. "Wait! Um...young lady?"

Young lady? Rock moved to stand beside him, trying to see who he was talking to. Again, ghosts milling around the room blocked his view. Despite this, he did see one of the especially young figures in the distance, not milling around aimlessly like the others. A little girl in a tattered red dress. Standing there, looking around with her back to them, like she wasn't sure where she was.

"Why don't you just go up to her?" Rock asked.

"I don't want to scare her. We're strangers to her, and much bigger than she is. She turned away from me when I called out to her. I think she's wary of me."

The girl glanced back. Her dark hair covered her face, but Liang could see one eye peeking through the greasy curtain. She looked him straight in the eye, then turned and ran down the corridor. Not as if she were scared of them, but more like..."She wants us to follow her." Liang took off after the girl before Rock could say or do anything. With a sigh, he followed.

The little girl didn't once look back to check they were following, or respond to them calling out to her. Rock assumed she was a normal little girl, trapped here just as the two of them were. She was probably leading them to someone who was hurt or stuck, hoping they'd help her. Why she wouldn't talk to them, though, was another point entirely. Rock supposed it was because she was shy or afraid. She looked no older than eight or nine, if he had to guess, so he could understand her being terrified. The little girl led them around a few corners, and with one more turn, the girl disappeared from sight.

Instead of the girl, they found themselves in a thin, foul smelling corridor. Of course, the whole place smelled foul, but something about this place smelled of fresh death, a smell Liang could, unfortunately, distinguish. At the end of the corridor, at another turn, someone was crouched, peeking around the corner.

"Tsukumo!" Rock called out, running to the other inmate, who jolted to attention before turning and placing a finger over his mouth, a universal signal for 'shut the hell up'. Frowning, Rock crouched next to him. "What's up?"

Tsukumo wasn't quite sure how to respond. He was naturally very tense, and after a moment he turned back to the corner, to whatever he was looking at before. "They're...playing with it." He managed to choke out.

"Playing with what?" He moved forward just enough to see around the corner, and saw what Tsukumo was staring at. Three children, stood by a red splat on the wall. Two of them were playing a game of tug of war with some kind of rope, while the third was dipping her hands in the red and then smearing them on the one clean patch of wall. Finger painting.

"What's that they're pulling on?" Rock asked, still not entirely sure what he was looking at.

"Intestines." Liang replied softly from somewhere over his shoulder. And as soon as he said it, Rock began to make sense of the scene. The red was blood, the unidentifiable lumps were bones and organs, and indeed the thing the children were tugging between them was the intestine of whoever that person used to be. For a brief moment, among the milling ghosts, he thought he saw someone he knew, but before he could be sure, he had turned away from the scene to vomit over the opposite wall. Of course, he'd seen the other dead bodies there, and they'd been horrific - he'd felt quite ill earlier as well - but there was something about this one, it being so much fresher, and so unrecognisable as a person, that really made reality crash down on him. They were in a place where people had died, where people were dying. It wasn't just haunted with old spirits who had died long ago, people were dying here and now, as they spoke. They were in a situation where they themselves could die at any moment, and finally accepting that as the truth was a cold and maddening thing.

Behind him, he heard Tsukumo and Liang talking. They kept their voices low.

"I...I don't want to see it, but I can't look away."

"It might be for the best to keep the spirits in view. Did they do that?"

"I don't know. It wasn't there before, and then it was...I didn't see it happen, but..."

"...Have you seen anyone else from Nanba?"

"Other than you two?" He heard a shuffle as Tsukumo moved away from the corner of death. "I haven't seen anyone. No-one alive, anyway...and no-one from Nanba."

"I see. Same with us. Well, we've seen a note from Upa." He heard more movement, and then there was a hand on his back, and another brushing his hair away from his face. Liang's next words were spoken from right by his ear. "He said we should meet him in the classroom...um...which one was it? 2-A?"

"1-A." Rock corrected. Then frowned. "I think. Did we go up or down after there?"

"No, no, I think you're right. It was on the first floor. Are you okay?"

Rock took a deep breath through his mouth, made sure he wasn't going to vomit again, and nodded.

On their way back to 1-A, they discovered that Tsukumo hadn't really learned much about where they were. He couldn't find a way out, or any windows that opened. Liang did his best to explain the multiple dimensions thing in a way Tsukumo would understand, and stated that it was a good sign they'd found each other, considering they'd been told they were in a different dimension to anyone they knew to begin with. As long as they stuck together and kept moving, kept looking, they'd figure it out. He was still trying to be optimistic, at least for the others. Rock had to try the same.

No-one new had been in 1-A, and nothing else was added to the messages. They collectively considered waiting there for a moment, but decided against it. They needed more information about this place. They didn't feel comfortable waiting around. They needed to be sure no-one was in any danger.

Also, Liang needed to use the bathroom.

After a little bit of pretty aimless wandering, the three of them found themselves on the top floor, stood outside the bathrooms. The door on the right was boarded up and sported an 'out of order' sign. The door on the left opened with no resistance, and Liang didn't bat an eye as he stepped inside.

"Uh...Liang?"

He looked back over his shoulder. Neither Rock nor Tsukumo seemed willing to enter the room.

"What?"

"...That's the girl's bathroom."

"It's also the only bathroom. It doesn't matter anyway - this place is abandoned, aside from the people who trapped us here and their victims. People might be hiding in here. We might find someone we know. Especially those two perverts from Building 3."

The others seemed to agree, but still didn't follow him in, and he shut the door behind him before walking to the stalls.

There were five cubicles. Three were smashed in, and under the rubble of the second, he could see an arm. The remaining two, the doors had been torn off, and over the toilets lay piles of bodies. Teenage girls, mostly, in varying stages of decay, flies and maggots crawling across their flesh and buzzing in the air nearby. A quick look over confirmed that it was very unlikely that anyone Liang knew was among the deceased here, and he decided to walk out again, not wanting to spend more time than he had to in the presence of all that death.

"That was quick." Rock commented when his friend came back into view.

"Is there something wrong?" Tsukumo asked, taking in the expression on Liang's face.

"...No. It's fine. These ones are out of order as well, though." He doubted those two would react well to 'there were hundreds of corpses in there and I'm pretty sure the one with no face was a kindergartener'.

"So where do we go now?" Asked Rock

That was a good question. With the exception of the hallway with the splattered body, and things otherwise inaccessible without going through there, they'd explored just about every part of that school they could get to, or at least Rock and Liang had. It seemed their only real options were to wait at the classroom for someone else to turn up or walk down that path, provided the ghost children were gone. Wandering aimlessly wouldn't be much help any more. Perhaps it was time to come up with a plan. "Back to the classroom. We'll try and figure out a proper action plan from there, think properly about our options and priorities."

"What are our options?" Tsukumo asked as the three hesitantly walked to the stairs.

"...Not great. Our options are not great."

As they reached the top of the stairs, another earthquake shook them. Liang, already taking a step down, overbalanced and barely avoided tumbling headlong down. Behind him, Rock and Tsukumo also had trouble keeping their balance, and the former found himself falling against the latter hard. They landed in a tangled heap on the floor and stayed there until the shaking stopped.

"Damn earthquakes..." Liang muttered as he got to his feet. The last time there had been one like that, they'd been shunted into a different dimension.

Wait.

"It's over..." Rock sat up.

"Rock, does anything look different up there to you?"

He cast a look around. "There's a flyer on the wall now...

"We've jumped dimensions again. We may need to check around old places again."

Rock groaned. "So where are we going now?"

"We should stick to the plan of going back to 1-A."

Tsukumo tapped Rock on the shoulder. "You can get off me any time."

When the group made their way back to classroom 1-A, they found the biggest difference between this dimension and the previous one. Where there had previously been a solid wall was now a hallway ending in a door. "That wasn't there before, was it?"

It was a moment before Liang responded. "That first ghost said there was a second wing."

"You think that's the second wing?" Rock asked, walking toward the door.

"It must be. Question is, why is it only visible now?"

Rock pushed the door open with a shrug. "You think it might be a trap?"

"I think here, everything could be a trap."

As the door opened, the sound of the rain became all that clearer. Beyond the door was a walkway leading to another building. The second wing. The walkway had high rails either side, presumably to keep the children from straying into the forest. The rails came up to Liang's chest, and were connected to a canopy or roofing above them, keeping the rain mostly off the walkway, but for a leak or two.

"We're outside..." Tsukumo muttered, sounding surprised and relieved. "There's a way out of here."

"The ghost we spoke to said there was no escape. He also knew about the second walkway though..."

"Guess he wasn't right about everything, then."

Rock slid open the door to the second wing and let Tsukumo enter before him before glancing back and realising Liang had stopped about halfway across the walkway. "Uh, Liang? You coming?"

"I'll join you in a moment." He was stood at the rail, looking out at the forest.

"Why? You see something?"

"Nothing useful." He shifted his weight, looking uncomfortable. "I still have to go, is all."

"There's...there's probably a bathroom in the second wing."

"...I...can't hold it. I'll go out here and join you in a moment."

Rock looked out at the forest, and ghosts of people who had died out there glared back at him. "Don't go into the forest."

"Hmm? Why not?"

"I just...I think it would be bad."

"What can you see?"

"...More ghosts. They look really angry."

Liang nodded. "I'll stay close to the building." He would rather have been able to find somewhere a bit more secluded than by the school walls, considering he would have to remove almost his entire jumpsuit, but it honestly didn't matter that much. Plus he hadn't really wanted to go into the forest to begin with. He could see some of the corpses on the edge, and certainly didn't trust it. "You two see if you can find anything. I'll join you in a moment."

"Okay. Yell if you run into any murderers. Or ghosts. Or murder ghosts."

"I will."

With that, despite not feeling okay with it, Rock went inside and the door shut behind him. Liang took another look at the railing. A more normal person, a person who hadn't undergone such intense physical training, would have had a lot of difficulty climbing over it, but for him it was an easy vault. He landed without difficulty on the grass on the other side, then something caught his eye. Movement. When he looked, he saw a figure at the edge of the forest. A little girl with her hair in pigtails. She had a sort of blue light around her, and it didn't take a genius to realise what that was. She sported some brutal-looking injuries, most notably the complete absence of her right eye, and was almost certainly not actually alive. She had been one of the children playing tug of war with someone's entrails before.

He hesitated. Took his eyes off the girl for a second, and suddenly, they were nose to nose. She'd covered all that distance in the blink of an eye, her small hands reaching for his shoulders as she screamed something at him. A question he couldn't work out.

She didn't have a tongue, he noted as he saw her mouth open. He stepped back, thinking the best thing to do would be to get back inside, and his foot slipped against the wet mud. He fell back, hitting his head hard against the railing. He reached up blindly, grabbing part of the rail and using it to haul himself up as the ghost watched him and reached for him again. He was pretty sure he'd let out an involuntary yell when he'd fallen, and wondered if that had alerted Rock and Tsukumo or not. The girl repeated her mournful question as he pulled himself back over the railing. It was garbled, presumably because of her missing tongue, but the more she repeated it, the more he could understand.

'Where is my eye? Give me back my eye'

She was reaching for his eye. That was what she wanted. He observed her for a moment as she stood just beyond the rail. And then she stepped forward, and stepped through the rail as if it wasn't there.

Of course. She was a ghost, after all.

Liang walked calmly to the second wing, shutting the door behind him. The entryway of the building was empty. "Rock? Tsukumo?" He walked to the middle of the room, trying to figure out where they might have gone. There were two doors leading out, one to the left, one to the right. "Guys?" They had to be in earshot. Rock had said to call out if he needed help, so he needed to be able to hear. Unless he was too stupid to think about that. Sighing, he decided he would just have to go looking for them. He went to the right, and heard the front door open and shut behind him. Logically, that was most likely the ghost girl giving chase. He picked up the pace a little. He couldn't exactly drop-kick the ghost kid in the face if she presented a real threat to him or anyone else.

The second wing was three storeys high. The bottom floor held nothing special. Shoe cubbies, a girls' toilet (unusable, of course), a few cabinets, and some dead bodies. The second had some classrooms and the boys' toilet, though that was also blocked up, this time with protective charms. The other doors, he opened long enough to see if the others were in there, then moved on. The third floor was nothing but a locked door that claimed to be the principal's office. No sign of the others. They can't have gone back to the main building, though. They would have had to have passed him to do that. He found that walking through the second floor allowed him to loop around to the left door from the entryway. He'd not seen the ghost girl, but he was sure he'd heard footsteps behind him the whole time. Feeling nervous, he walked to the door again, startling when a cabinet fell behind him. Shaking away the nerves, he tugged at the door, and it didn't budge. Frowning, he pulled again. Nothing.

Unusual. That door opened without any issue before. With a sigh, he took a step back, aimed a kick at the door, and cursed when all that achieved was a sore foot. 

It looked like he was trapped.

[selenecrawford]

Selene Crawford: War

Warnings: Gun Violence, Blood, Cursing, Kidnapping situations, graphic descriptions of wounds.

Selene stood up facing Tobias as he took off his trench coat off. Taking a couple of steps Selene steady herself taking a deep breath. All her life was a lie, fabricated tragedy by them. Another one twisted joke from destiny. Anger, so much anger and resentment began to spread thru her body like a plague. But instead of losing control Selene waited. If they wanted her they will have to seek her out. This it was time to end this once and for all.

Tobias started first to walk to her then to run, ready to strike. He wanted the pleasure to kill her with his bare hands. No guns, no knife nothing but only his hands. The first blow didn't connected, as Selene barely dodge it to the left. Still Tobias, slide next to stand in front of her and connect a knee to the chin. Selene blocked with the palm of both hands pushing the knee down. Taking one step she shoved Tobias as hard as she could to put some distance between them. Having him too close was a bad idea. His specialty was close combat, crawling on the body of his opponent to then crush it. She knew, she had to think fast or she be killed. Looking around was a wall of fire as high as 10 or 12 feet give or take. She needed a way out. Another blow came, Selene this time dodge to the right , but Tobias this time took one step back and do a sweep kick to her legs taking Selene down. Before, she could move and get up Tobias kick her on the ribs so hard that lifted her two or three feet in the air.

“You are no match for me Selene. I can toy with you as long as I can and there is nothing you can do about it. By the time your precious dragon arrives you will be dead, unless you change your mind.” Tobias still tried to convince her. “You are special.”

“Shut the fuck up Tobias. How could you do this to me?” Selene cough trying to get her air back into her lungs. The kicked knocked the wind out of her lungs. With trouble she got on her feet holding her right side. The kick might had slower her a bit, yet she kept moving. Trying to put more distance she started walking to put distance, but Tobias went running again against her. This time, he first threw a knife then started running behind it. Selene looked at the knife coming at her at last minute she dodged grabbed it on mid air catching it. Once in her hand, she went to met Tobias and struck a blow on the horizontal line aiming for his chest. Tobias protected with his left arm. Tobias maneuver was effective but it was too late. The knife cut along the arm exposing the skin and cutting it. Selene didn't stopped there on the corner of the  eye she went and threw the knife at Ian. Taking the trench coat on the floor she darted running to the other side and used it  to break free of the fire wall by using it as shield and getting out . The knife never reached Ian since one of the members of the clan took it down the knife on time. Tobias got  startled for a few seconds, before pulling out his gun and shooting Selene, while she was breaking the wall of fire. The bullet got her left thigh making her fall on the ground. Selene struggled to get on her feet when the barrel of the gun was aiming to her forehead. A cold sweat started running down her back. The pain she felt moments ago was gone at the sight of the gun. Her heart was stammering on her throat. She gulp down a lump not able to move.

“Any last words?” Tobias face was emotionless, cold and expectant. A subtle smile started to draw on his face.

The explosion at the front of the castle send a tremble through out the building starting the chaos. Three mustangs RTR entered thru the ball of fire drifting in different directions. Each one of the occupants started raining bullets around them scattering the people and taking all who dare to attack them. Hell simply broke loose around the castle. Kenshin charged head on with his katana and gun. Honoring his nickname of the God of war Kenshin started taking members of the clan out like if he were harvesting wheat by hand. Either cutting or shooting them no one couldn't stand in his way without meeting their demise. Nobunaga and Hideyoshi run to the second floor taking guards the dared to get on his way.

“SELENE!!!!!????” from time to time Hideyoshi will shout her to no avail.

“Mai any luck finding her?” Nobunaga asked keeping an eye to his surroundings.

“One of the drones located her going to the North tower. She is injured and Tobias is trying to get to her.”

“Masamune?”

“I'm on it.” his pain was controlled still it didn't meant it was gone. Running like if all the demons were behind him Masamune went to the North Tower as soon as he could.

Ieyasu on his part had an unfortunate encounter with Ian. The man tried to run without being detected until the contrarian found him. Ieyasu was dressed very much alike the members of the clan, which made Ian believed he was one of his subordinates.

“You! Get one of the cars and let's get out of here.”

Ieyasu blinked several times before asking. “Yes, sir.” Letting Ian trying to inside the car, he took the back of the rifle and knock him out unconscious. “Mai I got Ian. Where is Selene?”

“Masamune, is going to the North Tower to get her and Tobias.” Mai replied visibly worried.

“I'm on my way also,” said Ieyasu after trying Ian and leaving him unconscious on the floor.

Selene felt her body getting slower, she made a tourniquet for her tight and tried to stop the bleeding. Panting she managed to find a space under the stairs. She cleaning the blood and and tried to lower her breathing to not make any noise. A few minutes later Tobias went running up the stairs. Selene's heart was beating so hard she thought Tobias might hear her. Tears of pure terror streamed down her cheeks. Taking a couple of deep breath she limp out of her hiding to get out of the building when she heard the sound of the gun detonating following the sharp pain on her right shoulder, her left side her back. Losing balance she fell on the floor.  The pain was unbearable but she push herself to keep going. She needed to live even if that mean crawl all her way back home. A boot stepped on her wounded shoulder making her stop and biting a cry of pain.

“Well, well, look what I found. A cockroach.” pressing the wound even further Tobias kick her face rending her unconscious.

Holding her by the hair Tobias went to the roof of the tower. In there he throw a bucket of water to Selene and slap her until she recovered.

The pain shooting thru her shoulder and thigh were intense. Tobias was observing her opening her eyes while making pained expressions.

“To think that you were special, that you might be my queen. But all I got was a worry some excuse for a woman. You betrayed me, you are just a whore. But rest assure that once I'm done with you I will find your precious Dragon and I will kill him.” getting up he aim the gun towards Selene's head.

The bullet hit the hand making a hole on the wrist. Selene closed  her eyes when the blood splatted on her face. A shout of pain echoes at the same time the waves crashed against the based of the mountain.

“I'm here and you are going to hell  bastard.” Masamune didn't waste any time and shoot Tobias several times. Falling on the ground. Masamune run toward Selene and hugged her.

“Selene are you OK? Selene?” Masamune's fear grew to see the extend of her wounds.

“Ieyasu where are you?”

At that moment Tobias raise to shoot Masamune and Selene when another bullet hit Tobias head killing him instantly. Looking to the distance Mitsuhide talked thru the line.

“Are you guys OK?”

“Selene is in bad shape, she needs to go to the hospital now!” Masamune was panicking something they never had seen before.

“Bring her outside the castle, we can get you guys to the hospital right away.” this time it was Shingen's voice.

“On my way.”

“Nobunaga you and the rest need to leave the cops are on their way with Kincaid.”

“Got it. Hideyoshi, let's go.”

Everyone move as fast as they could. Shingen arrived on the helicopter to pick Masamune and Selene. Ieyasu went with them while Yukimura stayed to get one of the cars. Ieyasu was working on stabilizing Selene and kicked Masamune out of the way. Sitting with Shingen, Masamune tried to calm himself down.

“Don't blame yourself, you saved her.” said Shingen looking at Masamune's grim expression.

Masamune didn't say anything and prayed in silence that Selene could be saved. The trip to the hospital seemed longer than one would had thought. Once inside Ieyasu went with the other medical staff and participated on the emergency surgery.

Soon everyone was at the waiting room this time for Selene. Meanwhile, Kincaid took Ian into custody while police rule the incident as one in which was a gang war related. Masamune kept walking around the room impatient. Nobunaga stood up and took him outside.

“She is far stronger that we are giving her credit for. She'll make it.”

Masamune kept silent, his own stress was getting him also and his own wounds were still fresh. Feeling his own breath leaving him he collapse on the floor unconscious.  At that moment Ieyasu arrived from the operating room to find Masamune on the floor.

“These two, definitely belong together. Come on help me get him a bed.”

Masamune was put on a room while Selene remained on critical condition. The surgery was a success but something was wrong when Selene didn't woke up from the anesthesia. As per Ieyasu's view of the case something might had happened to Selene during her imprisonment that might had affected her. Ieyasu felt it was a speculation but without knowing what happened no one knows if his suspicions were correct. Masamune refused to give up on her. Each day he will sit and hold her hand while speaking with her. He will tell her many stories about his childhood or his adventures at work. He will always finish his visits with a kiss on the lips. It was on one of those days after he kissed her that he whispered softly on her ear. “ I love you Selene Crawford and I can't live without you.”

After saying those words Selene opened up her eyes.

@elievalentine @unstoppablelinda @datemasamunemaiwaifu ​ @colivara @epicdragonlady @xathia-89 @masa-little-kitten @shouta-bakugou @kimi00twin @kouei116 @jennacat84 @notsafefortum-blr @yeshasays @cailannuesugi @la-piperina @pirateprincessyuki @serenity-writes @sengokuotaku82 @mikamiw @blue-bean-exe

[cephalo-trio]

Deepsea Escape Part 4

A Splatoon 2 Story written by Splat-Tendency

Starring: Lexi Camellia (POV)

((Lexi was on her way to deliver the last mail at first, and then she wakes up in the underground subway station. She has no clue where she is or how is she going to get back to the surface. She has no choice, but to venture through this abandoned station alone.))

I stared restlessly at the Mem Cakes that I've collected so far. I was back at the main station to buy something out of the vending machine. The tests are rather tedious at first, but they were enjoyable to pass. Either if it's pushing the 8-ball to the goal or a Ranked mode, I had no trouble. I managed to find one of the four thangs in Line B. The telephone seemed pleased that I brought it over to the Deepsea Metro.

As I continued snacking on a bag of BBQ chips with a cold bottle of water, one of the passengers in the train stepped out for some fresh air. He was tall and well-groomed. Pretty much like a businessman.

"Excuse me, young squire. I can't help, but notice the little trinkets you were carrying." The suave isopod sat down next to me. ("I hope, I'm not too off putting to the young lady.")

"Huh..? Oh! Yeah, these Mem Cakes are like collectables.." I was startled a bit when the isopod caught a glimpse of a Mem Cake that I collected. "These memories of mine are from my visit to Inkopolis.. Some memories are from 3 years ago..."

The isopod strokes his whiskers and nodded. "I see.. I used to be an applicant like you.. Riding through the deep underground and hoping to taste sweet freedom. Unfortunately, I discontinued the thrill of collecting memories.."

"Sorry to hear that, Mr. uh....." I paused mid-sentence to the tall isopod.

"Call me Iso Padre, young squire. That's what everyone calls me, nowadays. A pleasure to meet you." Iso Padre shakes hands with me. "If you find anymore Mem Cakes, you know where to find me where I keep my stuffed toys." He got up from the bench and went back inside.

I stared down at the Mem Cake in my hand. "Guess, I better get back to completing those tests.." I finished eating my chips and went back to the train.

I returned to meet Cuttlefish until I heard his conversation with Pearl and Marina. Just what are they talking about while I was returning that thang.

"I hope Agent 8 is doing okay.. After a few tests, she didn't say much.." Cuttlefish looked concerned for me.

"Maybe, the tests are a bit hard on her.." Marina responds through Agent 3's walkie talkie. "If she does come back, try to cheer her up. She's having a hard time.." Marina was analyzing the new lines that I will be heading too.

I remained silent and avoided eye contact with the captain. They shouldn't be worried about me all the time whenever I pass half of the tests. Cuttlefish's attention was fixated on me as I walked passed him.

"How was your short break, Agent 8?" Cuttlefish got up from his seat. "You did a great job collecting one of those doohickies. Just three left and we'll be outta here in no time!" Cuttlefish was concerned at first, but he is putting on a smile.

"Yeah.. Thanks a lot, Captain.. Even though I'm a tad hasty.." I turned around and faked a smile. "Is Marina still keeping tabs on the system..?" My back was facing against the sliding door. I just needed to get through Line D and move on from there.

"She still is! She said if you need help passing the test, she'll use her tech skills to hack the system an-" As soon as Cuttlefish finished, I interrupted him.

T-That's not necessary, Cap'n.. I don't need her help to hack in order to pass.. It's pretty much cheating your way out.. Besides, I'll find another way to pass.." Even if Marina hacked the system, I won't be able to prove to have what it takes to live in Inkling society.

Cutterfish stares at me for a few seconds until he nods in agreement. "Understandable, Eight. Just be careful out there." Cuttlefish let me off the hook for now.

I responded with a salute and walked to the next train cable where C.Q is standing. He's waiting for me to travel to the next test in the D-Line. "Can you take me to err..." I checked the map on my CQ-80 and noticed the station in between Line D and J. "Girl Power Station..?"

C.Q Cumber nods in response. "Understood. For this test, you must defend the orb until time runs out. Be weary because they are other enemies trying to destroy the orb. Are you up for the the challenge?" He asked before making the call.

"I have no time to waste.. I must pass the rest of the tests in order to escape.. I'll be fine out there, kay? How bad can it be?" I gained a bit of confidence before CQ gives the operator the signal to the next station.

Meanwhile in the surface world, Marina looks rather worried. "W-What..?! She's alright with this..?!" The tall octoling kept tabs on the map.

"Afraid so, Marina.. She's going to the stop at the next station. Which is between Line D and J.." Cuttlefish was peeking through the sliding door window while speaking to Marina through the phone. "Agent 8 is her way to Girl Power Station.. If she's in trouble, you know what to do."

Suddenly, Pearl swiped the phone from Marina's hand. "Don't sweat it, Cap'. You have seen Eight kicking ass out there! She'll be fine on this one!" Then, Marina took the phone back and scowls at Pearl until she sighed.

"Yeah.. I'll still keep in touch with you, Mr. Cuttlefish.. I'm just worried about her, y'know.. I'll call you, later.." She hung up the phone and went back to her laptop.

2 minutes later..

"Whoa.. That's a lot of weapons to choose from.." I stared through the glass and saw the entire weapon category in front of her.

"You may choose any weapon that is suitable for you. Once you're finished, step on the launch pad." C.Q will be keeping an eye on the battlefield.

There are 9 weapons to choose from. Something that Sheldon keeps in his display shelf everyday. "I can do well with dualies, but I'm might be comfortable to use a melee weapon..." I looked at the two melee weapons: the Splat Roller and the Octobrush. I stared deeply at the Octobrush, feeling a bit uneasy after what I horribly did in the past. "This is the weapon that Fynn uses most of the time... I hope, I didn't hit him too hard to get a concusion..."

I grabbed the Octobrush in my hands and made it towards the launch pad. "Now, I have to defend the orb and I'll pass this test. But, what am I defending the orb from...?" That was when a couple of sanitized Octolings appeared. They seem to be waiting for me to land. "Shit.."

Suddenly, Marina immediately contacts me through the phone. "Eight, it looks like you're in for the fight for your life.. I will be contacting you while Cuttlefish is away." Marina started analyzing the test on her personal laptop.

"Ms. Marina, right..? You said that there are no vital signs..? If so, then how are they moving..?" Along the way, I've encountered a number of those guys including the Octotroops in the chamber. They must've been trapped down here before I fell in.

"I have no idea.. Maybe, they're under control by someone.. I'm trying the best I can to get to the bottom of this. Right now, you need to pass this test." Marina has a bad feeling about this, but she still has faith in my abilities.

I arrived into the battlefield where the orb is located. Around me, there are also a number of special weapons and 2 armor cases. It didn't take too long to choose a special weapon. If they doo get too close to the orb, I can try to push them away from me with Splashdown.

As one of the sanitized octoling landed on the other side of the field, I quickly went for the two armor cases. I have to be fully equipped before they arrive. "I-I'm sorry for what I have to do...." I charged into battle, regretting my decision. They're not themselves anymore.

A few strokes from the brush caused the poor octoling to burst into a puddle of my own ink. My body felt cold when she screeched in a glitchy, yet eerie tone. I just want to get this over with and finish the job.

I looked up at the number of octolings. They're all staring, dead at me as I'm defending the orb. I felt a cold sweat, running down my cheek. I wish I could look away, but it feels like they're staring into my soul. I slowly backed away to look out for more intruders, but someone's blocking my path. As I turned around, there are two octolings right behind me.

"You seem nervous..." The octoling on the left speaks as I yelped in suprise. There was two octolings behind me and I was careless about my surroundings.

"H-How did you get here so fast..!?" I cried. She must've got here so quickly, while I took out one of the attackers. Something about her looks vaguely familiar. The sanitized octoling was sporting a white ribbon around her ponytail.

"...If I were you, I'd check the orb..." She pointed to the direction to the orb in the middle. I could hear a loud pinging.

I looked over at the orb and my eyes widdened in panic. "S-Someone's attacking the orb..!!" I quickly ran past her and caught up to the orb. There was another octoling. Just like the white ribboned octoling, she has two black ribbons on her twintacles. She continuously hammered down on the orb with her roller.

"Hey! Knock it off!!" I lunged at the attacker and started to flail around with the Octobrush. Suddenly, the octoling looked at with a grin on her face. That was when I hesitated again. I have no idea why, but it feels like I've known them in the past.

"Tooooo late~" She responds as she immediately destroyed the orb. She giggled as she watched the orb explode in a huge puddle of unstable ink.

Then C.Q spoke through the intercom to me and said: "The orb is destroyed. You have failed the test, No. 10008." For those who have failed the test, C.Q will detonate the air bag that is strapped to my ink tank. This happened to me, 3 times already.

The air bag started to inflate. The beeping started to get louder in my ear as was panicking. "N-No!! C.Q, wai-!!" I was cut off as the air bag exploded and splatted me in a puddle of their sanitized ink. All was left was my clothes and weapon on the ground. I could hear the twin tailed octoling was applauding for the quick fireworks show.

"Agent 8!! Are you alright?!" As soon as I respawned, Marina cried in my ear. I groaned and dust myself off.

"I'm fine.... Turns out that two sanitized octolings are keeping me from protecting that orb... ow...." I felt a sharp pain on my back after the inksplosion. "That damn cucumber...." I hissed as I felt my backside. It left a huge mark on my back.

"Maybe the weapon you're choosing isn't going to help.. You might need some weapon to protect yourself with.. Like the Splat Brella!" Marina suggested. "You've heard of it, right? If you hold your shield longer, the sheild will launch itself but it leaves you vulnerable.."

I found the Splat Brella can in front of me. If Marina's right on this one, I might have a chance to clear test. "I did use this weapon before, but I'm no good at it..." The can opened and I see the Splat Brella in my hands.

"It won't hurt to try, 8. Maybe someday, you'll become a pro with this weapon once me and Pearl get you outta here! I hope you survive the inevitable.. I... No... Me, Pearl, and Cuttlefish are counting on you! Good luck." Marina ends the transmission for now.

I proudly nodded. At least this test is kind enough to give me only five tries for this kind of test. "The twins.. I'm starting to recognize them.. I can't let them get into my head.." I went back into the battlefield and tried again.

The sanitized twins both stared at me from afar. "....It looks like she chose another weapon.. No matter... She'll soon fail..." The first twin with the white ribbon is the calm and collected of the bunch. Her go-to weapon is the Octo Roller.

"I don't have all damn day, y'know...." I hissed in response. The twin octolings are about to make their move and I have to focus on the objective. I still have a minute to protect that orb.

"Try as you might, but you can't win....." The white-ribboned girl lunged at me with her own roller. The other twin is trying to cornered me. "I got her blind spot, sis~!" The other twin cackled.

I sighed in annoyance. If they're trying to get me to fail, then it won't work twice. Without doing anything, I morped into an octopus and snuck out of harm's way. As a result, they both crashed into each other.

I morped back to see the twins on the ground. They were both stunned from the collison. I wonder if they still feel pain from that impact since they have no vital signs.

Before they could get up back up, I splatted the twins with a wide spread of ink. My eyes widened when I first fired that thing. "So, this is the power of the Brella that Marina was talking about.. Not bad.." The orb is still unharmed for now, I still have enough time to prepare myself for the other guards to attack the orb.

It was their queue to charge into the battlefield, now that the twins have been dealt with. It appears that I'm not the only one who uses special weapons. Nonetheless, they're doomed either way as I splatted them one by one. I just want this test to be done with, so I can lay down in the train.

30 minutes later of protecting the orb, Marina contacted me through the phone again. "I think, that's all of them.. You can rest now, Agent 8.." Marina felt relieved. "So, how's the Splat Brella treating you?"

I stared at the new weapon as the timer ran out. "It feels different.. It's not something to get use to, yet.. But, I did like it." Since the orb is safe and sound, I can finally go back.

"Great! Cap'n will be back, momentarily. Get some rest while you still can, mkay?" Marina ended the transmission.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my back like before. The explosion from earlier made it worse on my back and was unable to keep my balance. I reached hand to feel my back and something wet touched my fingers. At first, I thought it was the cyan ink from the airbag, but it wasn't. As I stopped feeling my backside, I stared at my fingers. Instead of the ink from the explosion from earlier, it was my own blood.

"M-My back is bleeding..." I trembled at the sight of my own blood. The impact must have wounded my back and I didn't notice it during my 2nd attempt. I felt really light-headed as my back won't stop bleeding.

"A-Agent 8..!! What's wrong?! Please, answer me..!!" I could hear Marina contactating me through the earpiece.

"I-I... can't move... So.. tired.." I'm starting to lose my balance. All Marina could hear was a loud thud as I collapsed on the ground near the orb.

"AGENT 8!!!!" Marina screamed as I laid there, still bleeding from my back.

I don't want it to end like this. If I hadn't fell down that hole in Mt. Nantai, I would be still safe and away from the underground subway. But still, my father would be still missing for decades. Before I slowly closed my eyes, the sanitized twins stared at me as I lost consciousness. "H-Help...me.." I called out for help as my vision fades to black.

The twins were hesitant at first until they decide to carry me to cod knows where. If only my friends were here to get me out of this mess.

To Be Continued...

[masterweaverx]

Running Ink

Chapter 4: Backup plans

“No.”

“What?”

“No.”

“Oh come on Spyke,” Yuu wheedled. “It’s not like I’m asking for anything permanent, we just need a fourth for one turf war caturday. You don’t have to do much, really, us three have got this down, you just need to--”

“Look, mate, I have wot ya might call some serias ob'gations these days.” The urchin glanced at her with a green eye. “And unlike some people, wot can dis'pear weeks on end and turn up right dandy, my ob'gations are the kind that can atch’ly end up tangled if not kept up day to day.”

“You’re just sitting here typing on a laptop,” Yuu said flatly.

“I am in the middle of org'n'zing a very important bis'ness transaction ‘tween the people wot have money and the people wot have gear.”

“But anybody can do that, right? I mean, it’s not like it’s illegal to go into a shop and buy things.”

Spyke gave Yuu a flat look. “Ya really don’t know wot I even do, do ya mate?”

“Okay, seriously,” Anh said flatly, “how the heck do you two know each other?”

“Spyke and I go waaaaaaay back. He was one of my first friends in the city you know. We swapped a couple favors, traded a few stories... hey Spyke, you remember what happened during the Pokemon Splatfest? You know, when that one jelly--”

“The one wot got sloshed and started screaming ‘bout the floor?”

“Yeah, that guy! Man, that was... actually pretty terrible. But what I was talking about was how he knocked over that crate--”

“Aaaaah, yessss. And it sprang open--”

“--and all the springs went rolling--”

“--right as Marie and Callie had swapped their verses for the song, yes.” Spyke shook his head. “And Callie started singing out spring puns.”

“Yeah, that was great. Man,” Yuu chuckled, “I was standing right at the best spot, I got to see Marie’s expression through the whole thing. At first, it was like ‘What the?’ then she was like ‘okay, real funny Callie’ and then, this look of horror came on her face when she realized she’d have to follow that up in less than a minute.” She smiled. “Man, I wish I’d snapped a pic of that.”

“What are they talking about?” Agent 8 murmured to Anh.

“Something that happened before my time,” Anh grumbled. “Look, you’re old friends, I get it. And I’m... actually kind of surprised at that, because... I mean, I get how you and the Squid Sisters got to know each other--”

“Wait.” Spyke gave Yuu a look. “Ya know the Squid Sisters, mate?”

“I, uh... did their grandpa a favor this one time... a lot of favors, really. And we sort of met up and chatted. We’re friends, yeah. Well, kind of, their lives got in the way, but... we talk sometimes.”

“Aaaaah. ‘Friends’ she says.”

Yuu sighed. “Alright, fine, don’t believe me. Seriously though... are you sure you’re not available for--?”

“Yes, I’m not 'vail'ble for turf war, that is a completely 'diculas idea.”

“Fine, fine, we’ll get out of your spines. Yeesh. Come on, guys.”

The other two followed her out of the cafe. Anh glanced back. “Seriously, though, was that your plan? Get the famous Spyke to play turf with us?”

“That was the backup plan. My first plan was to get Ostap to join up, but I haven’t got a text back. Probably in another Geek-Out Lockdown or whatever.”

“Ah.” Anh crossed her arms. “So tell me, do you have a plan C?”

“I will!” Yuu assured her. “I will, just give me a moment.”

“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”

The yellow inkling glowered at her. “So I’m flexible. Not everybody needs every little detail planned out for them, you know.”

“Having some idea of what to do is usually better than just rushing in and getting splatted,” Agent 8 noted.

“Look, I’m the one that got us all into this, and I’m the one who has experience with the whole... team making... thing. So I’ll just figure this out, okay? Unless either of you knows somebody.”

Agent 8 rolled her eyes. “I do not.”

“Yeah, I was always a rando picker...” Anh frowned for a moment. “Although... actually, hold on. I might have an idea.”

Yuu tilted her head. “Really? This I’ve got to see. Lead the way.”

Yuu jumped when they entered the shop, glancing around wildly before, awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head as she noticed the bell above the door. Before either of the other two could so much as quirk an eyebrow, though, a warm voice warbled from the sea slug woman resting on the rug.

“Ah, hello again my little inkfish! And to you as well...” She peered at Yuu and agent 8. “Oh, my. You poor dears... Craymond, can you get the mullein and the amaranthus essences?”

“YES I CAN AND I AM GOING TO I WILL BE RIGHT BACK!” Something pale and spindly jumped from her head, rushing into the back chamber.

“Come on, then, come in my little inkfish.” The woman waved a hand at a small smattering of pillows. “You are perfectly safe here, I promise.”

“Uh... thanks?” Anh glanced at the other two, who seemed just as confused as she was, before shrugging it off and walking over to the cushions. “So... hey Flow, I don’t mean to bug you while you’re at work, but um... Have you ever, uh, played turf war or anything like that...?”

“Have I ever... Oh, my little inkfish!” The sea slug tittered, languidly slipping behind a small table with a pair of ottomans. “That takes me back... I used to play street turf all the time.”

“Wait, really?” Yuu gestured at her. “But you’re so... uh...”

Flow gave her a wry smile. “So...?”

“...sooooooooooo, uh... Yeah, I’m just going to say it, you look like a hippie flower child.”

“Yuu!” Anh snapped.

Flow gave her a wry smile. “Well, you wouldn’t be wrong.” She reached down and produced a long metal tube, a boxy canister mounted in the middle and matched on one end by a thick handle with a metal and hose attached. “Of course, just because I’m one thing doesn’t mean I’m only that.”

Yuu nodded. “Alright, fair enough. What, is that an E-liter?”

“Not just an E-liter, my little inkfish. This is a Krillshot.”

Anh shot up. “What? You have a Krillshot?”

“Mmm, yes. She’s the... thirty-seventh one made, I think.”

“Oh wow, that’s...” The girl approached reverently, her eyes roving over the weapon. “That’s incredible...” She reached out--and stopped, flinching her hand back. “I’m sorry, I--”

Flow chuckled indulgently, extending her arms. “It’s alright. You can hold her.”

“I... oh... wow.” Anh took a delicate grip of the gun, making sure she held it firmly before she lifted it from the sea slug’s grasp. “I’m just... wow. Where... where did you even get her...?”

“I’m a lit-tle bit older than I look,” Flow admitted wryly. “I played street turf back before there was even a league, you know. Used to crawl up to the highest perch I could find and rain down burst bombs on our unsuspecting foes. And, well, when I heard somebody was making a long-range weapon, I went right to the shop and asked for one.” Her eyes grew distant. “That designer was one handsome squid... his tentacles flowed like rivers--”

“I’m sorry, I get this is a cool gun and all,” Yuu interjected, “but... why are we treating it like a holy relic?”

“This... this is an E-liter Krillshot,” Anh managed, staring at Yuu in shock. “This is, literally, the first charger ever made for street turf. For nonviolent turf war. I mean, the Krillshot lawsuit is what convinced the league to open the doors for custom weapons. I am...” Her eyes roved across the barrel. “I’m holding a piece of history here.”

“She’s a great performer,” Flow added. “I can splat somebody at thirty-five feet with her.”

Anh’s beak dropped open in shock. “What? But even the 4k scope only goes to twenty-eight!”

“Regulations,” Flow explained simply. “This girl predates the league by a nice, oh.... five weeks?”

“OLDIE BUT A GOODIE!” proclaimed the pale thing scuttling in from the back room.

“There you are, Craymond!” The sea slug held out her arm, taking the small bowls of ground petals as he crawled up onto her head.

“Sooooo....” Yuu smiled. “What would you say to, I don’t know, joining us three for a casual game of turf war on caturday?”

“Oh, sorry dear. I’ve got a business to run these days.” Flow took the bowls, opened the lids, and pressed them together, shaking their contents. “Can’t leave the shop during business hours and, unfortunately enough, that puts me out of the running for the turf these days. But I can give you this.”

She put the lids back on the bowls and held them out, one to Yuu and one to agent 8. Both took them, somewhat hesitantly.

“...so, um...”

“Essence. You put it over a candle and let the smell fill your room. Don’t try to burn it directly though,” Flow admonished, “keep it in the bowl. There’s a shop that sells little cradles in the Reef if you need them.”

“Ah.” Yuu nodded vaguely. “Okay then.”

“IT’S VERY RELAXING!” Craymond shouted.

“...sure thing lil’ guy.” Yuu put her bowl in her pocket. “Me and Hai there will... totally do that sometime. Yeah.”

“And if you ever want to talk about anything, my little inkfish, my doors are always open.”

“Riiiiiiight.” Yuu glanced at Anh. “So... should we get moving?”

“Huh? Oh!” Anh handed the gun back to Flow. “Right. Right, sorry, we’ve got to... Really sorry, didn’t mean to be a bother--”

“It’s alright, little inkfish, it’s a slow day. Just...” Flow glanced at the other two. “Look after them, will you?”

“Uh... sure thing.” Anh nodded, walking toward the door. “Good seeing you again!”

The three of them stepped out into Inkopolis Square. Yuu threw up her hands. “Well, that was a bust.”

“I mean... I heard she used to play, but I didn’t know she had a Krillshot.”

“We still need a fourth. And unless 8 here has some mysterious blot friend up her sleeve, that means we might have to scrounge for a rando.”

Agent 8 rolled her eyes. Then, for a moment, she paused.

“....Actually...”

"Of course I’ll join on!”

“Absolutely not!”

“What?” The squid turned to look at the objector. “Why not, girl? I’m as good as any of you young’ns, and it’s just a game anyway.”

“A game based on the war you fought more than a century ago!”

“Marie’s right, gramps.” A black-tentacled inkling put her hand on her hip with a flat look. “If you start getting war flashbacks in the middle of a game, things could get bad, fast. Also, let’s be honest: You’re old. Ancient. You have literally lived through history and shaped it a bit.”

“What Callie is saying is that you are in no state to exert yourself, gramps. I mean... look at you.” The grey-tentacled inkling gestured at him. “You’ve got scalloping on your face.”

“Listen, young ladies, I might be old, I’m a lot tougher than I look. I can take a full blast to the face without getting splatted, and soldiers of the Squidbeak Splatoon never let each other down.”

Marie crossed her arms, scowling down at the old inkling. “The answer is still no, gramps.”

“Hrmph.” The old squid leaned on his bamboozler as he shambled toward the hut. “You two never let me have any fun.”

“....So, that was captain Cuttlefish,” Yuu deadpanned. “Great idea, 8, I’m so impressed.”

“You asked if I knew anyone. I know him. And you and Anh... and Pearl and Marina, and that’s pretty much it.”

“This is not what I had in mind when I suggested a Squidbeak Splatoon gettogether,” Callie muttered.

“I didn’t plan for this either,” Anh pointed out. “Heck, this whole thing is Yuu’s crazy idea.”

“Hey, I just thought we could show off our skills in a socially acceptable way. I mean... come on. You’ve saved Inkopolis, I’ve saved Inkopolis, 8′s saved Inkopolis, and apparently, nobody cares? That’s just... wrong.”

“I didn’t save the city to get accolades,” Anh said flatly.

“I didn’t either! It’s just...” Yuu sighed. “That’s... besides the point. I don’t know, I just...”

“You decided to take up this challenge for your own ego, is that it?”

“If it were just for my own ego I wouldn’t have brought the two of you in!”

“Alright, enough!” Marie stepped between the inklings. “This was supposed to be a casual, friendly meetup. Just friends, relaxing. No need to get competitive about this.”

“Mmmm,” Callie mused, “I could bring up any number of splatfests...”

Marie rolled her eyes. “Takes one to know one. And besides, that was all for show.”

“Was it though?” Callie teased.

“...it was mostly for show,” Marie allowed. “My point is... we’re all friends.”

Yuu and Anh crossed their arms with a simultaneous huff, pointedly not looking at each other. Agent 8 gave Marie a flat, unamused look.

“...We’re all friends,” she repeated firmly. “Or we should be, anyway. So let’s just learn to get along. Alright?”

“Fine, whatever.” Yuu slumped against a wall. “What about you two? Either of you up for caturday?”

Callie sighed. “I would be, except I... I’m still trying to get over the, uh, thing with Octavio. Get my tentacles back under me after, you know, vanishing for a bit. What about you, Marie?”

Marie shrugged helplessly. “I’m actually scheduled to record a new song then...”

“Right.” Yuu began counting off on her fingers. “Ostap, Spyke, Anh’s strange sea slug friend, the captain, you two... that’s six. Pearl and Marina make seven and eight, if they’re not busy... and they probably will be, with Inkopolis news and all. Sheldon... way too busy with the NILS statue. I guess there’s Annie if I can even get a hold of her... and if she even cares to play...”

She looked at her opened hands and sighed.

“We could cancel,” Anh pointed out. “It’s just a game, I’m sure your old friends would understand.”

Yuu dropped her hands, focusing on her shoes quietly.

Anh opened her mouth, paused, and shut it. She turned to the Squid Sisters with a helpless expression, gesturing at the other inkling.

“... soldiers of the Squidbeak Splatoon never let each other down,” Callie murmured.

Marie gave her a long look. Then she sighed, turning back to the others. “This is just a casual game? You need a fourth, that’s it?”

“That’s it,” agent 8 confirmed.

“I... might know somebody,” Marie admitted. “A lot of free time on his tentacles, these days. Probably would love a chance to show off, but...”

She paused.

“...Just... how desperate are you?”