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gothic-aesthetic-gal · 3 months ago

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Old Scars (Part 1)

Ledger!joker x reader

Fem!reader is kidnapped by the joker and his henchmen while just trying to get a moment's reprieve from her boring, soul-destroying job ✨️

Tw: I mean, we all saw TDK, right? I'd say this is on the same level/rating. Kidnapping, violence, mentions of minor characters (not J) being misogynist/threatening SA, reference to past traumatic injury. Beyond this i'm not sure, i'll update these when I write more.

🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏🃏

I stared despairingly at the huge stack of paperwork my line manager had just slapped down on my desk. I sighed and bit the inside of my cheek. None of my male co-workers had to deal with her extra work. This was such bullshit.

"Ah, you are a life saver, (y/n). What would I do without you?"

Her own work, probably, I thought to myself, sighing in exasperation as she left me to my souless cubicle.

By the time i'd finished up, it was getting cold out. After taking a detour to try and stave off the inevitable return to my shitty apartment, I found myself in front of a particularly expensive shop. My feet were aching from the heels my backwards regional manager insisted on the female admin staff wearing and my head hurt from the tight bun my hair was scraped into. His smirk was etched into my brain, as were his vile words on his latest visit.

"You're a very attractive young lady, even with your face like that. Your body makes up for it."

I felt pure rage rising up again at the memory. It was the way he's said it as though he truly believed it was a compliment. The laughter of my coworkers rang in my ears. To them it was all a big joke and I was just too uptight to appreciate it.

What I wouldn't give to see the area manager humbled one day... but that was pure fantasy and I knew it. I wondered what he'd buy with his overinflated christmas bonus this time, while we were all given a meeting to explain why they couldn't justify a minor pay rise to ease the cost of living crisis in Gotham.

The twinkling lights of the high end window displays were a beautiful contrast to the bleary grey outside, and after another hellish day in the purgatory which was the cubicle farm, my heart warmed a little. Everything in the store was definitely well out of my meagre price range, but the inner child in me was drawn in to look at all the pretty evening dresses and jewellery. I shrugged to myself, figuring there's never any harm in window-shopping and a little indulgent fantasy. Even if I could afford any of the opulent dresses, half of them were really ball gowns, and what events was I ever invited to where you'd need a dress like that? No, those sort of parties were for Gotham's social elite - charity fundraisers, galas and that sort of thing, no doubt.

I was half expecting a staff member to immediately spot me in my regular civilian garb and herd me back out of the door like a stray dog but they seemed to be dealing with a particularly difficult customer at the tills. She was waving her arms around and pulling a "do you know who my husband is?".

I stifled a laugh at the image of her, in her ridiculous fur coat shouting frantically and looking like she was about to give herself a anyeurism, if the prominent vein on her forehead was anything to go by. I turned away from her soap operatics and back to the rails of clothes in front of me. I gently touched the fabrics, marvelling at the softness of the richest velvet. Gazing at cool silk like rippling water; nothing like the cheap imitation the rest of us were accustomed to. I got drawn into my own little world imagining who might wear each dress and for what occasion.

"Can I help you with something?"

The voice pulled out the rug on my little escape instantly. I felt anxiety rising in my chest but resolved not to panic completely.

"Oh, I was just browsing..." I said, faking the best dismissive tone I could.

"You're sure, I'd be more than happy to help. Do you want to try anything?" She pressed, a friendly tone rather than the suspicion I had anticipated.

Perhaps my work suit was giving a higher-end impression than I had realised... or maybe she was new here.

"This one is particularly lovely, don't you think?" She gestured to the garment I unknowingly had a hand on, pausing as she'd approached. She wasn't wrong, it was a rich purple, ridiculous really, with layers and layers of tule skirting, but somehow the fine cut and quality of the fabric, and the detailing made it look classy rather than like something out of 'my big fat gypsy wedding'.

When was I ever going to get the chance to try on a literal ball gown? I decided to play into it, after all, I could always say I needed to go away and review my options. They couldn't make me buy it.

"It is lovely," I murmured.

"Do you want to try it on?"

"If it isn't too much trouble..."

Before I knew it, I was being whisked into a dressing room. The shop girl came whirling in with the dress and began unfastening it for me.

"Shoe size?" She asked briskly.

I hurriedly blurted out my answer and she dashed back onto the floor.

I kicked off my uncomfortable work heels and removed my blazer, skirt and scarf. Somehow I felt even more like an imposter standing there in just my undergarments and a pair of tights. I hurriedly pulled the dress up and held it in place. Before I knew it, she'd returned and began fastening me up at the back.

I gasped, both from the air being pushed out of my lungs as she cinched the hidden corsetry, and in awe at what I saw in the mirror. I had never had particularly wonderful self-image, but since the accident, I'd really shrunk into the background. I had always been shy, but i'd become a total wallflower these days. I hated the public-facing parts of my job - if it was telephone or email correspondence, people couldn't react in their myriad shitty ways to my facial scarring, but sometimes I was on front desk duty. Those were the worst days for me.

She made a minor adjustment to my hair, pulling a few strands loose around my face. To my surprise, she hesitated as she saw my scars up close, but didn't recoil, or pull more hair out to try and hide them. Her delicate fingers lingered for a moment, hovering above where my eyebrow was split into three by the forks of red lightning which were still deeply scored into my skin. I had mostly made my peace with it, but it was other peoples' reactions to my face that caused me the most pain. The grimaces, the staring, looking startled, regarding me with pity, strangers asking me what happened, it could all just be too damn much some days. It was a rare and beautiful thing to have someone not react negatively in some way.

I knew I was lucky to still be in the land of the living, and that I was in remarkable shape considering what happened that day, but it had left an inescapable mark. I anxiously ran my fingers over my temple, over the metal plate holding my skull together somewhere beneath the skin. She pulled her own hand back away slowly.

"You look beautiful, miss," she smiled with a genuine warmth that made me begin to believe it. It seemed as though she could sense my sudden swell of insecurity.

The shop girl was young, couldn't be more than sevetneen or eighteen, and I prayed that she somehow retained her gentleness in a city as ugly as Gotham.

"Thank you," I said, tearing up a little.

The dress itself was surprisingly lightweight and not like some kind of Victorian horror complete with a hoop skirt. Instead, it looked quite modern, and had a lot of volume in the skirt due to the layers of tulle fabric, which meant that you could still dance with ease. I did a little twirl for good measure, watching how it flowed and moved around my form. The shop girl smiled at my childlike delight.

Unfortunately, my elation was shattered in an instant. A chorus of screams and panicked shouts, followed by a spray of gunfire hit us like a slap to the face. The shop girl's eyes widened in confusion and panic, and I grasped onto her arm to steady myself. We strained our ears, trying to make out what exactly was happening. My brain was struggling to make the jump from the moment I had just been experiencing to the very real danger we were now thrust into.

After a couple of agonising seconds, there was another round of shots, and I heard a gruff male voice shout;

"Everybody get down!"

"Try to stay calm," I whispered, my own voice shaking.

I herded us into the corner of the booth and desperately gestured for her to undo the corset, not wanting to have to run for my life in the stupid dress. I could hear crashing and footsteps, as though the place was being ransacked and bit the inside of my cheek as the girl shakily tried to loosen the cord for me.

"Check in the back, we don't want anyone calling the cops!" came a voice which sounded unsettlingly close by.

Suddenly, someone burst through the door into the dressing room. We froze, praying whoever it was, wouldn't round the corner, but sadly it was too late. The scraping metallic sound of the curtains of each booth being flung aside echoed around the room. I counted each one, feeling as though my heart had stopped beating altogether, sick with anticipation. They were going left to right, and would reach us soon enough.

The curtain to our booth was torn to the side, and an enormous man stood in the light. The shop girl let out a yelp of terror as she huddled behind me with her head in her hands.

"Found two hideaways!" He yelled out, lurching forward to grab at us.

In a blind panic, my body blocking him from the terrified girl behind me, I kicked and struck out like a feral street cat stuck in a trap. I got a few solid kicks in but was ultimately not match for the man towering over us.

"Quit struggling you stupid bitch," he spat, striking me across the face.

Dazed, and with my eye stinging already, I felt another pair of hands grasp me and haul me out into the open. The barrel of a gun was quickly jammed into the small of my back.

"Stop causing trouble if you want to live," he hissed.

A third figure appeared and roughly forced the girl to her feet as well.

"This one looks so scared she might piss herself," he chuckled.

"Leave her the fuck alone," I muttered through gritted teeth.

"Ooo, you got a mouth on you, huh, rich girl?" Said the one holding me at gunpoint.

"Mm the boss ain't gonna like that, maybe we should gag her," one of his companions snorted.

"Nah, leave it. I wanna see what he does if she gives him any back talk," crowed the third one.

They marched us out onto the marble of the shop floor. Both shoes had come off the moment i'd started to struggle against our attackers and the tiling felt cold as ice beneath my unsteady feet. I saw that there were three other men holding up the cashiers and the handful of customers as they huddled together in one corner.

"Look what we found in the back," announced the biggest of the three men, shoving us forward.

It was only then that I noticed everyone's attention seemed to be drawn to one man, a man who I couldn't yet see, on account of him facing away from us as he nonchalantly rifled through the nearest rack of clothing.

He was a fairly tall man, perhaps a little over six feet, wearing a long coat. It was well in need of a wash, covered in dirt and ashy, yet still obviously purple in colour - though perhaps not the vibrant purple it once was. His hair could best be described as messy; a straggly mop of green waves, with his natural brown hair showing through at the roots and in patches. His body language was odd, the way he held himself, with his shoulders hunched, unsettled me.

As he turned around, to see what his henchmen had brought in, I felt a pang of total despair. I recognised his streaky painted face from a recent news broadcast, and I knew instantly that we were in deep trouble. This was the man they called 'the joker'. I could hear the poor shop girl sobbing behind me somewhere, barely hiding her sheer terror.

"Ah more guests for our little party," he exclaimed, his voice and intonation seeming as erratic as his physical movements.

"What you want us to do with them, boss?" Grunted the shorter goon to my left.

"Put them with the others," he gestured, stalking forward.

I turned to watch as he approached the shop girl, my heart in my throat.

"And who do we have here?" He asked, in a tone mimicking gentleness, which was even more unsettling than his usual, more sinister way of talking.

"S-sarah," she choked out between sobs.

"S-sarah? What's wrong s-sarah? Are you s-scared?" He cooed, practically circling her like a big cat.

I felt sick watching him toy with her, and anger began to rise in my chest. Sarah nodded defeatedly.

"Please don't hurt me," she whimpered, unable to look him in the eyes.

"Oh now why would you think we are gonna do that?" He exclaimed.

She didn't seem to know how to answer.

"Just do everything we ask, and some of you will live," he grinned patting her on the head, "put her with the rest," he gestured dramatically to the others in the corner.

His goons did as he asked and shifted her to where the others were cowering in the corner. I bit my tongue as his attention now shifted to me.

"My my, what a pretty dress, I love the colour," he purred, barely three strides away from me now.

I said nothing, hoping he would somehow just lose interest. There was still the largest goon stood beside me, pistol jammed into my lower spine so I didn't want to antagonise either of them.

He got close enough to reach out and touch me, pulling off one of his leather gloves with his teeth. The red painted smile, already smeared and smudged, left its mark on his finger tips with the clumsiness of his action. I was trying very hard to keep a steady breath, refusing to panic as I knew it would only worsen my situation.

"What's the matter? Are you shy?" He asked, that fake empathetic tone creeping in again.

"No, I just don't find that a hostage situation lends itself to free and easy conversation," I snapped back, unable to suppress my anger fully.

He tilted his head to the side, a glint in his dark brown eyes as they searched my face, scanning, analysing. In defiance, I stared right back.

In my struggle with his henchmen, my face had become half obscured by the hair which had come loose from my bun, and my hands being behind my back, I had not been able to move it out of the way.

Suddenly breaking his stillness, he reached inside his coat pocket and withdrew a knife. The switch blade swung open with a characteristic clack. I bit my tongue even harder to try and subdue my panic.

He reached out his ungloved hand to rougly grasp my face. Everything within me was screaming to struggle free, to run for the hills, but I was stuck. I'd be shot down before I made it two steps, I knew that.

"You are beautiful," he mused, " tell me, does this," he moved the knife barely an inch from my face, "does this, scare you?"

I grimaced, unable to stop myself from recoiling at his skin touching my own.

"Do you ever wonder what life is like for the ugly?" He asked, flatly.

Undeterred by my shrinking away from his touch, he roughly used his fingers to comb my fallen hair back away from my face. Once the curtain of hair was lifted, my scars were revealed, and his face took on a curious, unreadable riot of emotion for a split-second.

"What's the matter, am I not as beautiful as you thought?" I muttered sarcastically, wanting to pre-empt his inevitable mockery.

He clearly liked to pick people apart, to try and tap into their biggest fears, so it seemed a sure thing that he would have plenty to say about my face. This only made me all the more dumbfounded when he put away the knife and his grasp on my face melted into something altogether tender.

His fingertips gently brushed over the deep valleys of my old wounds as though he was trying to read my story. I felt him follow the fork from my hairline at my temple all the way down, bridging my eye, down my cheek to the point mid way along the lefthand side of my jaw where it ended. As he did so, I saw for the first time up close his own grisly scars which formed a sort of permanent smile. The makeup he applied over the top made it harder to see from afar just how extensive they were. I knew from my own experience that the wounds had been more than skin deep, into deep muscle tissue. You could tell by how raised and pitted they were.

The man holding me at gunpoint seemed not to have picked up on this sudden change of pace, as he had plenty to say, even if the joker didn't.

"I shoulda warned you, she's a butterface," he chuckled, "you should do the other side to match, I already made a start," he gestured to the split eyebrow and puffy eye he'd given me on my good side.

The joker's body language rapidly changed again. I felt him tense up, even in his fingers against my cheek. It was as though every fibre in his body was taught suddenly, like he was a rubber band about to snap. His eyes seemed to darken, his irises almost like black pools against the black paint encircling them. I was suddenly very afraid.

He looked down at my face with an air of detachement, his tongue flicking against the inner corner of his lip.

"Would you excuse me for a second, doll?" He grinned, before his smile dropped flat again the moment he straightened up to full height.

"Give me the gun," he comanded of his goon.

"But boss..." the burly man protested, before removing it from my back and reluctantly handing it over.

There was a deafening crack and the smell of gunpowder filled my nostrils as my ears rang. Some of the hostages cried out in fear and for a moment I thought he must have shot me. I stumbled on the stupid dress, falling to the floor with a crash, dazed, my ears still ringing as I rolled onto my side, preparing for my seemingly imminent death.

Unexpectedly, my vision began to clear and the ringing dimmed down enough that I could try to collect my thoughts. I became aware of another figure in front of me on the floor. Someone was roughly pulling me upwards, trying to get me back on my feet.

"Up you get!"

Suddenly, I managed to re-engage my muscles enough to stand, swaying on legs that felt like jelly.

"There you go, see? You're fine," came a low voice to my left, practically right into my ear. I blinked hard as I began to make sense of what had just happened.

The joker shifted so that he was stood in front of me again, and gripped a hand under my jaw so that he could look me in the face. He turned my somewhat vacant face this way and that, as though he was checking I was still in there.

"Whoops! Probably should've told you to stick your fingers in your ears," he wheezed with laughter, releasing my face and waving the gun around casually.

My lingering confusion was cleared up when I realised the other figure on the floor was his own man. The others looked on, some unfased, some clearly very uncomfortable at this sudden decision to remove him from the equation entirely. He had shot him point blank, I couldn't bring myself to believe that it was in reaction to his insults. Surely this was just some kind of mind game going far beyond my comprehension... I didn't feel reasurred, I definitely didn't feel flattered, if anything it just showed the true unpredictability of the psychopath in front of me.

"Right, now that minor... detour is over, I want you all to stay calm, while we execute out little plan," he comanded, gesturing to the hostages.

Two of his men forced grenades into peoples shaking hands, pulling the pins so that they were forced to hold on to them, or risk them detonating. They produced a roll of duct tape and wound it around each pair of hands, so there was no chance of them tossing the grenades away from the group either. The others continued to stuff duffle bags full with the cash from the registers, and the jewellery from the display cases. I cursed the slow response time of the GCPD, although there was never a gurantee that their arrival wouldn't cause more of a bloodbath, since so many of them liked to shoot first and ask questions later. They had far too lenient of a threshold for 'collateral damage'.

I was expecting to be forcibly handed my own grenade, but instead the joker gestured to me. The way in which he waved me over was completely antithetical to the situation unfolding around us; it was so casual, as though we were long-time friends. Not seeing another choice, I gingerly approached him, and he, losing patience, roughly grabbed me by the arm and yanked me closer to him.

"These lovely people can stay here, but, uh, you..." he lingered on the word looking me up and down, as he taped my hands together in front of my body, "you, are coming along for the ride".

"Why?!" Was all I managed to get out as he shoved me roughly toward the front of the store.

He laughed, sending a fresh chill down my spine.

"Well, we have an opening, consider yourself the newest member of our operation," he said in a congratulatory tone.

Before I could respond at all, my head reeling in total panic, I was being tugged out of the door with my arms feeling like they were going to pop out of the sockets.

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 months ago

Text

Forevermore

Happily Ever After, here we are. This is part 20 of 20... The End.

The Mostro Lounge after hours is a shadow of itself in the daytime. With the lights turned down and the area empty, it transforms from a classy jazz bar to a lonely cavern, twisting with strange shapes. The sea overlooks it, coloring the lounge a lonely deep blue.

A cackling laugh rings out.

“Ahahahahah!! Jade got stood up,” Floyd sputters, pounding a fist on a table. He has a glass of juice in hand, has been chugging shot after shot of it to power his giggles. "What a loser!!"

“Floyd, you’re being so rude,” Azul sighs—though he is fighting a smirk. “Perhaps Jade is simply not as desirable as he might believe he is. We cannot fault him for that."

Jade, sandwiched between his twin and his dorm leader, wears a tight smile. "I am glad to see you two are being so very supportive of me during my time of emotional crisis," he says sardonically. “Where would I be without you?”

His biting comment doesn't stop Floyd from downing another glass of juice, from letting loose another round of laughter.

"She finally got her back at ’cha ya after you pushed her around for so long," Floyd teases. But he’s not on her side—no, not with that malicious jeer on his face. He knows his brother too well. “Oh, she is so dead.”

“I’m don’t want to be held liable for whatever stunt you decide to pull next,” Azul adds, quick with the reminder, “so be reasonable with your revenge, will you?

“I make no promises,” Jade says lightly. “I am very hurt by the what transpired. There’s no telling how far I may be driven to act on account of a broken heart.”

“Broken heart!!” Floyd gasps. In all his 17 years, he has never heard his twin make a claim more ridiculous. “Jade? Hahahahah!! More like hurt pride."

"More tea?" Azul offers, readying a pot. "To fill your cup and your 'broken heart'."

"My, you're so cruel to poor little me. Shikushiku, I'm being bullied so," Jade laments, rubbing at fake tears. "... But yes, more tea would be lovely. I could make do with a warm drink after being hung out to dry in that cold, bitter night."

"It's spring. It's not that cold," Floyd jabs.

"Oh, let him be a drama queen and air it all out." The tea is poured and slid to Jade. "Better that he do this now than during work hours."

Knock, knock, knock!

"... Now who could that be?" Azul wonders. He raises his voice so that it reaches outside. "The Mostro Lounge is closed for the day. If you wish to dine at our establishment, please consider coming back tomorrow afternoon..."

The knocking persists, louder and faster.

Azul opens his mouth to reiterate his message--but Floyd gets up and stomps over, yanking the door open.

"Didn't 'cha hear Azul the first time?" the eel growls. "He said to scram, or-- Oh." He abruptly stops. The anger he wears slowly morphs into a sly grin. "Oooooooh."

"Floyd? Who is it?" Azul demands. Then he, too, stops. "... Jade, I think you have a visitor."

He peers up from the rim of his teacup.

There, peeking out from between Floyd and Azul, is a small girl in pigtails and a feathered shawl. A very, very familiar girl.

Jade sets his drink down and rises to his feet. "Miss Raven?"

His dorm leader glances at Floyd, seizing him by the arm. "Dear me! It seems I've forgotten to run some payroll calculations! I'll need your assistance with that, Floyd. Come, to my office."

"Eeeeh? But I wanna stick around and wa--"

"My office," Azul presses. His grip is a powerful vice on Floyd. "NOW."

The octopus drags his subordinate off. They disappear down a corridor, but Jade knows they’re lingering behind the wall, ears pressed to it. He tuts and shakes his head. At them, at the raven that has found its way to him.

“… Welcome to the Mostro Lounge,” Jade recites, bending onto a bow. He speaks as though reading from a script. “Bar or booth, and how big is your party?”

“Hello,” Raven replies curtly. “Booth is fine. It’s just me today.”

He smirks. “Just you?”

“Well—” she falters. “Technically two, but the other person in my party is already seated.”

“Two it is then.” Jade indicates the table he sits at, and the seat beside him.

Raven carefully slides into it, but keeps about a person’s worth of distance from him. He remains where he is, respecting that boundary.

“Ordinarily, we would require a filled out punch card for a private consultation,” Jade attempts at a joke. It’s as dry as a cracker.

“For Azul-san, yes.” She folds her arms. “But you’re the one I wanted to see, not him.”

“Oya?” There is a thread of delight in his voice.

“Look." Raven hesitates, but she forces herself to swallow her pride. "I will speak plainly. You... have wronged me in the past. Lied to me, manipulated me, all for your own gain. In short, you're awful. Terrible. Absolutely THE WORST."

He does not disagree, does not profess guilt. Only smiles patiently.

A breath. "However, I have made missteps as well. I realize that you have attempted to approach me to make amends, yet I never paid any mind to them. I was so fixated on my own hurt, I shut myself off from the world and refused to listen to the calls that came from beyond my tower.

"I built up those walls. I locked the exit and threw out the key. I tamed a dragon to guard my tower. It felt safer to keep that distance than to push against it."

She produces an envelope and lays it on the table. Pale blue, ripped open. To My Dearest Raven scrawled on it.

Jade's eyes glimmer with recognition.

"There's still too many things that need to be said. I don't think there's enough time to get through them. At this point, I fear even an apology would not be sufficient. So..." Raven clears her throat and sticks out her hand--the bandaged one. "Let’s turn a new page and start over.”

Jade's brows scrunch together. "Miss Raven, surely you do not intend to..."

"Hello! My name is... Raven Crowley," she loudly announces. Her introduction bounces off the glass wall, fills the empty chairs and crevices of the lounge. "I am a first-year student in Class 1-A. I look forward to working with you!"

Jade stares at her, stunned at her aplomb. A moment skips by, then he chuckles, slipping his hand into hers and shaking.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Raven. I am Jade Leech, second year in Class 2-E," he greets. "I also serve as the vice dorm leader of Octavinelle. Please do let me know if you are ever in need of any assistance. I would be more than happy to help you."

His hand, she notices, is far larger than hers. He could easily crush her poor fingers—but his touch is gentle, as if he is handling a glass slipper for a princess.

Her heart pounds.

She can’t do this, not again.

“I’m glad we were able to sort this out. Thank you for your understanding.” Raven grants him a papery smile. “Please give Azul-san and Floyd-san my regards, since they appear to be predisposed at the moment.”

She begins to retract her hand, and suddenly his grip hardens, assuming a strength she didn’t realize he is capable of. Pain lances through her nerves. Raven laughs anxiously.

“Erm… You can let go now?”

“I think not,” Jade insists. He has a predator's smile, the sharp ends of his teeth showing. "Is there anything else you wish to say to me, Miss Raven?"

"Th-That was all I wanted to say..."

"That is all? Have you anything to say for standing me up the other night?"

"N-No, I never intended for that to happen...! Something unexpected came up, so I couldn't make it as planned," Raven sputters, cheeks turning pink with shame.

"I was horribly hurt when you never appeared." Jade frowns, sorrow causing his voice to tremble. "You toyed with my feelings so cruelly. I can find it in myself to forgive you, should you look me in the eye and provide an apology."

"O-Okay, if that's what it takes to make you feel better and set things right..."

With great effort, she forces herself to stare at him. At Jade Leech. He's still every bit as handsome as he was before. A straight nose, wistful lips, clever cat-like eyes that slant up--not matching.

A beautiful liar.

A flurry of complicated feelings swarms her.

She visibly shakes.

"What is wrong, Miss Raven? You are looking at me with such a fearful gaze. Yes, the very same fearful gaze from our very first meeting."

His left eye--golden--shines eerily. When he talks it is low and hypnotic. Raven cannot find it in herself to tear away from them.

“Don’t be afraid. I want to help you.

"Shock the Heart.”

“Eh…”

The light drains from her eyes.

Jade’s voice turns stern as he brings his face close to hers. “I will ask you a question, and you will answer honestly. Miss Raven, what exactly are your feelings towards me? Please state them very clearly and with your entire chest.”

Magic forces itself like a fisted arm down her throat. A harsh grip on her tongue, dredging up all the words she so often buries deep down. Her entire mouth feels like it is on fire.

“I-I…!”

Three words, eight letters.

They tumble so effortlessly from her.

The world stands still. It’s as though it, too, is in disbelief, freezing in its rotation to gasp.

No light. No sparkles. No poof.

But now she almost wants to go poof.

Raven goes from pink to scarlet. She covers her mouth with both hands and curls into a ball in the booth.

"Whoa, she said it--Black Pearly really, really said it," Floyd cries, poking his head out from his hiding place. “About time!!”

“F-Floyd…!” Azul hisses, appearing shortly after him. He pushes his glasses up. “T-To be clear, we were not eavesdropping! Not at all!! We just happened to finish our task and were returning to check up on you two.”

“Tsk, tsk… How naughty of you to interrupt this intimate moment between myself and Miss Raven.” Jade sounds disappointed, but he is grinning from ear to ear. “Fufufu, thank you for satisfying my curiosity.”

“Y-You…!!” Her voice revs up, squeaky as a dog’s chew toy. “You CHEATED!! You made me say something I wasn’t yet ready for…!”

“Oya?” He does not look the least bit apologetic about it. “What does it matter if I used less than conventional methods to arrive at the answer? In the end, the same results were achieved much more efficiently. And, on top of that…”

He reaches out and prods the tip of her nose.

“… I was able to see this charming reaction.”

“AHHHHHHHH, don’t remind me…!” Raven hides her burning face in her knees.

“Fufufufu. How adorable.”

Azul coughs stiffly, reminding them of his presence. “I think you fail to see the benefit of this move, Raven-san. It’s very benevolent of him.”

“What benefit?! Th-There is NOTHING beneficial about this situation unless you count Jade getting a sick kick out of this!!”

“My, that’s rather unkind of you to say. Amusing as it is, no. There is a real, tangible boon for you.” Azul taps at his temples. “Jade’s unique magic. Because he has used it on you once, he can no longer do so in the future.”

Her flaring temper cools for a few flickering seconds.

“Oh…”

He’s right.

Jade’s lip curls. “There. Isn’t that a weight off of your shoulders? Consider this my gift to you—reassurance that I will not be able to use Shock the Heart to pry other information out of you. As for what other underhanded tactics I may use… Fufu, well, I’m certain you can rely on your own best judgment to determine the truths and the lies.”

Raven glares at him. “You really are the worst.”

“Why, thank you.”

She angrily buries herself back in her knees. Jade looms over her, stroking her head and quietly fussing.

“Soooo…” Floyd scratches the back of his head. “Does this mean you guys’re gonna be a thing now? Like… a couple? You gonna make good-good eyes and make out now?”

“No way,” comes Raven’s muffled reply.

“Whaaat? But you basically confessed already. Quit bein’ stubborn.”

“I-It’s not stubbornness. I don’t feel like I’m… r-ready for that kind of a commitment!” Raven draws nervous circles on the booth cushions. “I’m still a newborn chick when it comes to m-matters of the heart… It’s embarrassing!!”

She takes a deep breath, then whispers, “B-Besides, I’m working on myself so I can be someone worthy of a love like that…”

“Bo~ring!” Floyd pouts, then turns to his twin with a much brighter tone. “Ne, ne, Jade~ Are you and Black Pearly gonna be together?”

“Don’t ask him just because you didn’t like my answer!!”

“Raven-san is correct,” Azul points out. “A couple it is not unless those involved mutually agree to the arrangement. Jade may say yes, but Raven-san may say no… thus annulling the terms.”

“Oh dear, what a predicament we find ourselves in.” Jade sighs, and he almost sounds tired. “There’s no helping it, I suppose. We must respect Miss Raven’s wishes. That is fine. As I said in my letter, a little black birdie once told me that I can be very patient. However, until the time comes when you feel you are ready to be fully embraced…”

She locks up.

Warm breath caresses her ear.

“How does this part go again?” Jade muses. “Ah, yes... And they lived happily ever after… The end.”

His mouth gently presses to her forehead. Soft, sweet, and smelling of the sea and the sky.

“W-What… a-awawawawah…” Raven goes from red to burgundy. Her ability to form sentences spirals downward.

“Oya, you’re quite flustered~”

“Wooow, they’re bein’ so mushy, Azul.” Floyd openly grimaces. “It’s kinda… gross.”

"Indeed, they are—and in front of onlookers.” Their dorm leader shrugs. “Shameless as it is, I do so love a happy ending.”

And it will remain as such, forevermore.

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst oc #twisted wonderland oc #Raven Crowley #Octavinelle #Azul Ashengrotto #Jade Leech #Floyd Leech #Tweels #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #Tale of the Cursed Raven

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the-dumpster-fire-of-life · 2 years ago

Note

I just found your blog and I’m lowkey screaming because all the Tokio Hotel fuss is bringing me back down memory lane in the best way possible. Your writing is such a treat i’m loving it ♥︎

Now my request, It’d be so cute for Tom to meet his ultimate celeb crush (max 2 years older tho lol) at an award show like the vma’s. I feel like he would try to play off the starstruck by acting sly and cool but miserably fail lmao

It could end with reader handing him her/their number

Have a nice day btw !! I’ll go read the entirety of your blog now

(hello! Thank you for requesting and I'm happy these brjng you memories and that you like my writing! I didn't really include reader being older as two years inst really a lot but everything else I included! Have a nice day and I hope you enjoy my blog and this!)

Tom Kaulitz x Celeb Crush

He'd be freaking out internally panicking

He just wanted to go to the VMA's with the band and maybe, MAYBE, flirt with people there

But no!

Actually he was pretty happy to see you there

He was frozen for a minute

You actually had to be the one to come up to him

He was frozen because you were so goddamn pretty

And also you were pretty much a reason he wanted to become famous

You were around the same age, and you were pretty and had managed to become famous

So he wanted to do the same

And he, his brother and his friends did

He wondered what it would've been like to meet you on occasion

But when he did he felt frozen

He actually had to take a minute and for Bill to practically shove him to get him to talk

He tried so hard to flirt and impress you

He failed though

He was awkward for a bit

You actually understood and made time to make conversation with him

After a while he eased up and actually got down to flirting a bit

It was funny because he didn't know what to do when you flirted back

You guys sat together for the awards and talked for he doesn't even know how long

Bill, Gustav and Georg were behind him doing fake makeouts

Y'know the ones where you hug yourself and move your arms while pretending it's someone else?

They were doing that

Tom tried so hard to focus

He barely did

But it all came crashing down when you handed him a napkin

With your number on it.

Stared down at it for a minute before looking between your smiling face and the napkin

He played it off the best he could with a smirk and laugh

Once you left he turned around and RAN to Bill, Gustav and Georg

He was freaking out and nobody even understood what he was saying

"I got her- I got the num- oh my god, oh my god- I can't breath-"

Bill had to support him

Imagine Bill holding him up as Georg tried to slap him awake and Gustav was fanning him with a plate from a table

Once he could finally recover he was beaming to them about it

But once he actually got the courage to dial the number?

Oh hell

He dialed it so many times and kept chickening out

Once he finally waited for it to ring, you answered!

You barely got out a hi and he hung. Up. The. Phone.

Bill almost slapped him

Gustav had to dial it and hold the phone as Bill held his arms not to have him hang up

He finally actually talked to you

And somehow, managed in hell to land a hangout with you

He tried to be sly, flirty and anything on the phone

But once it hung up he almost shrieked

Was shaking Bill by his shoulders

This may seem out of character for him, but he was having a mental crisis on what to wear

Deal with it.

#tokio hotel georg #gustav tokio hotel #tokio hotel imagine #tokio hotel x reader #tokio hotel #tom kaulitz imagines #tom kaulitz #tom kualitz x reader #tom kaulitz x reader #bill kaulitz imagines #bill kaulitz

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lulu-recs · 2 months ago

Text

the cadence of part-time poets by motswolo

“they’re… chaos,” remus said firmly. “and chaos is—”

“rock and roll.”

he looked at sirius sharply, and for once, matched his grin. “yeah.”

“maybe that’s my excuse then,” sirius said. “I cause a bit of chaos now, and maybe one day, it’ll turn into rock and roll.”

after losing his mother at age eleven, remus has spent the better part of the last four years bouncing from school to school or else running around london and pretending as though he wasn't the kind of well-bred boy his father brought him up to be. now, with his chances all run out, remus is sent to hawkings independent school as a last-ditch effort to clean up his act. there he meets the very people who will set up the rest of his life, and is forced to confront the pieces of himself he'd long thought had been lost.

cadence: the b-sides by motswolo

a selection of individual chapters written from the POVs of other characters featured within "the cadence of part-time poets".

all true affection by orphan_account

professional cuddling? how was that a thing? well remus lupin is about to find out first-hand when his best mate, peter, gives him three hours credit at stag an doe cuddling institute. after perusing the list of cuddlers, he queries Sirius Black. not sure what to expect, remus steps into a world far outside his comfort zone.

finally found my hallelujah by orphan_account

remus lupin had always been good at sorting out dates and special occasions for people, which is why his best friend and quidditch star, james potter, talked him into wedding planning once they left hogwarts. he lived a solitary, but happy life. that is, until king slytherin, sirius black, strolls into his office and asks for help planning his arranged marriage. remus lupin is nothing if not a professional, but it's not easy when the groom-to-be was the man remus had been fantasising about since fifth year.

my poor heart will only surrender by remy_writes5

remus wasn't expecting much from a night out at the club with his best friend, lily. he certainly wasn't expecting sirius black.

quarter life crisis by captainevilpants

remus is straight, sirius is gay and that's the gospel truth.

that is, until remus walks in on sirius snogging his new boyfriend on their couch and remus starts to feel...weird. desperate to figure out a way to stop feeling so goddamn angry anytime gideon comes within five feet of sirius, remus goes to james and lily for advice. james and lily, in their infinite wisdom, patiently and systematically explain that what remus is feeling is not internalized homophobia, but jealousy.

in the end, it turns out remus doesn't have any issues with sirius kissing guys if it's him he's kissing.

you don't understand me by wilteddaisy (taotu)

“okay, sorry, I know this is completely off-topic and I’m interrupting a conversation I haven’t been listening to for the past five minutes — but I would totally fuck sirius black.”

jealous by Islabubbles4

remus struggles with his feelings for sirius, so james offers an idiotic solution. basically a standard fake relationship with a twist.

primavera by lunchbucket + rococo [ sequel ]

sirius never had an interest in art, not until he found the right person to show it to him, that is.

the story by jupitersky ♡

inspired by spooke's beautiful fame au art. american muggle au.

remus is asked to join some friends for a concert. some new artist to the music scene, no one he'd ever heard of before. when the singer starts their first song his whole world narrows to that moment. he hadn't heard that voice in seven years.

sirius finally got his big break and now he's on tour. tonight is the first time back in boston since his parents moved them away when he was seventeen. it's bringing back a lot of memories as he looks out over his audience. hoping to find a face he knows won't be there.

"just wait and see. it's not the end of the story.”

drenched in you, chanting your name by gardenoflupins

remus and sirius live together peacefully as friends. when remus has his heats, sirius goes out of town until it’s over and vice versa. sirius returns home to find that remus’s heat has lasted longer than expected and needs to resist remus’s pleas along with his own urge to fuck him senselessly.

for my impertinence by synonomy ♡

after two years of avoiding marriage by sabotaging his parents’ matchmaking attempts, sirius’ luck finally runs out. at the end of their rope, they offer him one last choice: marry the lupin boy, or be cast out onto the street.

a regency au with a/b/o dynamics.

as we’ve always been by synonomy

they had always said they wouldn’t let anything get in the way of their friendship. that it didn’t matter what any of them presented as; they would find a way to deal with it.

but now there was an annoying little voice in the back of sirius’ mind, telling him they had been horribly naïve. could they really expect things to remain the same now they knew how good remus could smell?

blind and deaf by cocomouse ♡

remus doesn't do blind dates. they must be the worst possible social situation humankind has ever invented: two strangers some people have decided that maybe they should get in a committed relationship. you have two hours.

so no, he wouldn't touch that with a ten yard stick, not if he can help it.

but he knows better than to try and argue with lily, so, here he is.

stray dogs by msalexwp ♡

harry potter has been begging his godfather and guardian, sirius black, for a puppy, but the one they adopt comes with a condition: they have to make regular visits to the family who adopted his brother. luckily (or unluckily) for sirius, the puppy's brother was adopted by a handsome, golden-haired stranger named remus lupin and his son, teddy.

thank you to the wolfstar microfics account on tumblr for the prompt, "dog days," which sparked the idea for this fluffy little tale.

#r. november 24 #ao3 #sirius black #remus lupin #james potter #wolfstar

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fazedlight · 2 years ago

Text

Do-Over (supercorp ficlet, 100th episode angst, no plot impact after)

Rao, I can’t believe we did it.

She had nearly given up, after the last timeline - she could still feel the sting of kryptonite in her veins, the harrowing image in her mind of the green stone in Lena’s chest, as she refused to fight her. “Then you will die screaming.”

But the odds of another world like that - where Lena used 5th dimensional magic, blocking Mxy out - was low. So after Kara caught her breath and shook off her nerves, they decided to give it another few goes.

They hit it in the very next shot. Kara had decided to jump forward again, meeting Lena just after an uncomfortable incident in the elevator to Sam’s apartment - “I can never trust her again” - and giving her the truth. And Lena had been pissed, at first. But over the course of the timeline, she thawed. Kara and Mxy found themselves watching a movie night, Kara’s head in Lena’s lap as Lena gently scritched the blonde’s hair, Kara dozing off in the middle of the second Pirates of the Caribbean.

“This is it,” Kara said, delighted as she turned back to Mxy. “She doesn’t hate me! No one died! This is it-”

But Kara cut off suddenly, watching the screen with widening eyes, as a sheepish and fond confession fell from Lena’s lips. And she found herself a voyeur to her own dreams, watching herself as this other Kara sat up, cheeks turning a bright pink with her own confession, before the two women’s lips gently met.

“Turn it off,” Kara said, jumping off the couch and turning away from the television. “Turn it off, Mxy.” “But this-” Mxy stuttered, confused. “This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”

Yes, Kara thought to herself, overwhelming anguish ripping through her body. Because it was everything. Everything that could’ve and should’ve happened.

Had she not been such a fool.

It was a misguided endeavor, she realized now. She could’ve ignored her misgivings, for a time anyway. Embrace a reality where she and Lena were friends again, where she had never hurt her, or at least not driven her so far.

But the pit of nausea in Kara’s stomach grew. Because the idea of being in Lena’s arms, being in her bed, feeling her wanting body, without Lena ever knowing what Kara had done, suddenly felt anathema. It wouldn’t be real. It would simply be Kara taking advantage of her again, far worse than before.

“I’m keeping the real timeline,” Kara said brokenly. “I can’t… I can’t run from this. I- I don’t know how I’m going to fix this. But I can’t undo my mistakes like this.”

Mxy’s eyes gentled at the turned-away kryptonian, holding back a sigh of relief as he snapped his fingers, the projector and reels of film and popcorn dissipating back to his dimension. It was ironic, really, that all of his fake timelines had only made the kryptonian dig in her heels, eager to find something that actually worked. But the one real timeline he had them glimpse - back on Earth-413, before the Crisis - was the one that led to her finally accepting that she couldn’t change time.

Which was great, because neither could he.

Kara took a deep, steadying breath, turning back to Mxy. “I know it didn’t turn out the way we expected,” Kara said, handing back Mxy’s recorder with his backwards-recorded name. “But you still helped me, Mxy. Now I know the only way out is through.”

The kryptonian stood - sad, but hopeful again - and Mxy gave a small smile. As with so much of the mystery of the universe, he couldn’t say how or when Kara and Lena would find their way. He only knew that they would.

“It’s true what you said, Kara,” Mxy said, thinking of the words the woman in front of him had said, not all that long ago. That’s all this endeavor was, really, returning that favor. “Magic can’t be forced. It has to be found.” And it will.

#angst with a hopeful ending #I just didn't feel satisfied with the ending of the 100th episode so here's another do-over #supercorp fanfic #supercorp ficlet #supercorp #mel writes ficlets

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enjoythesilentworld · 8 months ago

Note

I can’t believe I almost missed the chance to ask you to write smth. That’s what I get for having a busy tumblr dash. Anyway. “Join me” as a prompt pls? 💜

hello my darling Lia. you know i'd write anything you asked me to. for today, here's a (not) little ficlet in which Simon neglects to read the fine print and somehow it actually turns out really well for him.

💜enjoy xx

Alone in a foreign country, Simon must find a stranger to join him on the romantic couples food tour he’s accidentally booked. (a 2.3k strangers to lovers, fake dating, speed-run of an AU) if you see this again for day 2 of simon's month dont worry bout it

Simon curses under his breath as the confirmation email comes in.

So, he’d booked the food tour a little quickly, possibly without reading all the fine print. He can’t even blame a language barrier because he’s in Spain and, thanks to his mamá, his Spanish is really better than his English.

The solo-travel thing had been a bit of a last-minute decision. Spurred by the post university graduation crisis of, ‘Oh Fuck What Am I Doing With My Life?’ whichled twenty-somethings around the globe to grab a backpack and buy a one-way plane ticket. Simon’s decision was also encouraged by the fact that he’d woken up one day and realized he was in a toxic relationship, quickly packing his bags and saying Hejdå to a two-year relationship. He’s only about three weeks into the whole self-discovery shtick, but it seems to be going well so far. He enjoys the independence of it all. Not that he’s not independent at home — in fact, he’s been a little bit too much of an adult since he was 10 — but more so that he doesn’t have to worry about anyone else. Simon goes to museums when he wants to, stays for as little or as much time as he wants. He eats when he wants, goes to shows he likes, and doesn’t spend every second of every day worrying about everyone else. (Of course, he’s called his mama and sister nearly every day since he left, but he’s working on it.) He also, apparently, incorrectly books guided food tours that are actually romantic couples excursions.

Glancing around the nearly empty breakfast room at his hostel, he chews on his options. One is to show up to this tour alone and look like a dumb tourist. Two is to find someone willing to go on it with him.

There’s a pair of British girls in the corner, giggling over their plates of breakfast. Simon recognizes them from the stand-up comedy show the hostel had organized the night before; they’d been attached at the hip the whole night. Slim chance of separating them. Crowding around the cereal bar is a group of American guys who all look like fraternity brothers. If Simon remembers correctly, he’d overheard some vile words from them in the bar last night, and so he’s is not too keen on participating in any sort of tour with any of them, romantic or not.

The only other person in the room is sitting a few seats down at the communal table: a very good-looking man with light auburn hair and high cheek bones. His long fingers, nails painted a deep purple, hold up a book with one hand and gingerly lift a coffee cup to his lips with the other. He’s dressed quite casually, in an un-done button up over a tank-top and baggy trousers, but somehow makes it look refined. Simon noticed him yesterday afternoon in the hostel café, noticed the way the man’s eyes tracked Simon from across the room.

His pretty brown eyes are no longer locked on the pages of the book, but have found Simon again and caught him staring. Simon forces himself to hold his ground and smiles, glancing down at the book title. It’s by a Swedish author, he realizes, and a gay Swedish author at that.

Gesturing with his head, Simon asks, “Is it good?”

The pretty man places his coffee cup down clumsily. “Yeah, it’s one of my favorites.”

“I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“I’ve read it a million times,” he says, closing the book. “I’m Wille.”

The light blush on his cheeks is endearing.

“Simon.”

Wille smiles softly and nods, “Trevligt.”

He’s polite and looks suspiciously rich to be in this hostel, but his eyes are kind and has a rainbow pin on his tote bag so, before Wille can say anything else, Simon slides one chair closer.

“Are you doing anything today, Wille?”

Wille moves to the chair across from Simon. “Nope.”

Simon props his head on both his hands and gazes at this beautiful stranger, wondering why he didn’t speak to him the day before. “Would you like to join me on a romantic food tour around Barcelona?”

Wille quirks an eyebrow, then mirrors Simon’s position. “I would love to.”

The tour doesn’t begin for a few hours, so they sit and chat while the breakfast room fills up around them. Wille laughs when Simon explains how he’s gotten himself into this situation, and the sound sets little sparks bursting in Simon’s chest. What luck he’s had this morning.

Simon learns that Wille is also at the beginning of a self-discovery trip, running away from a family legacy and a desk job he desperately did not want. He also learns that Wille is incredibly funny and quite flirty, though whenever Simon starts flirting back he becomes incredibly flustered. His stare, though, is the thing that gets Simon the most. Wille looks at him so intently, gaze flitting between Simon’s eyes and his mouth, listening to every word and seemingly staring directly into Simon’s soul. It would be troubling if he wasn’t so goddamn beautiful.

The conversation flows so easily between them that Simon, so wrapped up in Wille’s laugh and crooked teeth, almost forgets they have somewhere to be.

They walk quickly through the streets of Barcelona together, heading towards the café at which they’re meant to meet the rest of their tour group. Wille’s fingers brush against Simon’s a few times, though his voice never falters, so Simon isn’t sure if it’s just him that feels the jolt of electricity each time.

“You said this is a romantic food tour?” Wille asks, reaching out to pull Simon out of the way of a passing cart.

The city is bustling with life around them, the sun shining hot between the buildings, people hanging off balconies, chatting with neighbors or stringing up laundry to dry. It’s absolutely beautiful, and somehow it seems a bit more colorful than it had the day before.

“Yes.”

“Is it going to be obvious that you and I just met?” he says, letting Simon go ahead of him to squeeze through the crowd, staying close, with a hand hovering over Simon’s lower back.

“Well,” Simon muses, “we could make it a bit of a game. If you’re down.”

Looking over his shoulder, he sees Wille’s eyes light up with mischief. “I’m down. What kind of game?”

Simon chuckles and shrugs, checking his phone to make sure they’re still headed in the right direction. “We could pretend to be a couple. You know, really put on a show.”

“That sounds very, very fun, Simon.”

For the last ten or so minutes of their walk, they establish some basic rules. They’ll hold hands and gaze lovingly in each other’s eyes and ramble to anyone who asks about their beautiful love story. The goal is to one-up every other couple there by acting sickeningly in love. By the time they make it to the café, only a few minutes late, they’re holding onto each other and cackling at the increasingly ridiculous ‘meet-cute’ ideas they’ve come up with.

There are three other couples in the tour: one looks like a very young newly-wed couple, another is a pair of middle-aged ladies, and the third is a pretentious-looking, older couple who already look fed up with everyone else. As the tour-guide starts on their spiel, Wille wraps a tender arm around Simon, pulling him close and whispering jokes into his ear, somehow making them look more like a couple than even the newly-weds.

They sit down to start, and Wille lets Simon order for them off the selected menu. They feed each other bites of tomato toast and gently wipe crumbs from each other’s cheeks, all the while giggling to each other and only half-listening to the explanations of the food. It also seems they’ve unintentionally started a competition with the other young couple of who-can-look-more-in-love. When Wille hands Simon a napkin before he can even ask to wipe up his splashed juice, the man of the other couple tries to lovingly whisper something in his wife’s ear but gets brushed off as she’s too busy listening intently to the tour guide. When Simon holds out a forkful of potato omelette for Wille, the man tries to do the same, but his wife shakes her head, smiling, and fondly pats his cheek then turns back to her own plate.

As they move through the next few stops — a restaurant, a food cart, and an open-air market — he and Wille fall even further into their ‘game��. There’s plenty of very intentional touches and exchanged loving glances, but Wille also asks Simon about himself. About his family and his dreams and where he’s going next. Simon learns even more about Wille’s obsession with frogs and his love for lakes and his passion for writing. The rest of the tour group fades away, and things between them start to feel a little less like a game and a little more real. The prolonged eye contact becomes less playful and more loaded. The lingering touches become less out of competition and more out of some deep urge. Simon’s eyes flick more often down to Wille’s lips, watching him lick cream off his fingers or clean gazpacho off his spoon.

Maybe it’s the wine, but as they head to their last stop of the day, hand in hand, trailing behind the group, Simon finds himself hoping Wille isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He’d made a few friends over the past few weeks, but it always seemed to work out that when he was having a great time, the person would be leaving the very next day, heading off to some new country or heading back home.

Wille grins over at him and points out a pretty sculpture, mumbling something smart about the artist and looking absolutely ethereal in the light of the early evening with his flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. Maybe it isn’t just the wine.

Their final destination is small tapas place on the beach. Simon and Wille have given up any pretense of listening to the tour guide or of playing their little game. Instead, they sit close at their table and chat about their favorite memories growing up and tell embarrassing stories. Simon, as he’s done at every place, translates every bit of Spanish on the menu and giggles helplessly as he corrects Wille’s pronunciation. They share a plate of pulpo and split a liter of sangria and it’s one of the most perfect days Simon’s ever experienced.

“I’m really glad I misread that website,” Simon says, fiddling with his fingers. When he glances up, he finds Wille grinning at him. He takes Simon’s hand.

“Me too.”

After the tour concludes and their guide bids they all farewell, their group mostly scatters. But, Wille and Simon stay at their table, finishing off their pitcher and becoming increasingly rowdy with their jokes. After a few annoyed looks from their waiter, they collect their things and stumble down to the beach. Simon jumps onto Wille’s back, laughing loudly and savoring the feeling of Wille’s strong hands wrapped securely around his legs. Wille wades out into the shallow water of the beach, and Simon yelps when he pretends to nearly drop them both into the cool water.

Eventually, Wille lets him down but takes his hand instead, and they walk down the sand, talking about the food tour and realizing that they maybe didn’t pay attention at all.

There’s a warm buzz in Simon’s body, making him giddy and calm all at once. When they make it to a small concrete pier, Wille pulls him out to the edge of it and they stand, arms wrapped around each other, staring out at the Mediterranean.

Simon sigh happily. “Beautiful.”

“Yeah. Very,” Wille says breathlessly, and Simon looks up to see Wille staring down at him. He smacks Wille’s chest playfully.

“You’re an idiot, Wille.”

Wille laughs, “I’m being serious!”

“Sure,” Simon hums, turning back to the water, biting back a smile.

“Hey.” He turns back again and Wille’s face has sobered, and he’s now gazing down at Simon with that same intense stare. “You are beautiful, Simon. You’re also funny and kind and— I had a really, really great time today.”

He squirms slightly at the force of the words, the conviction in Wille’s tone, but can’t help but let his eyes flicker down to Wille’s lips. He’s so close and looks so pretty in the cool lighting of the twilight evening and Simon’s never thought it could be possible to fall for someone like this, this hard, in one day.

“Me, too,” Simon whispers. Then, “Wille?”

“Yes?”

“Can I—”

Wille nods, gasping, “Yes,” before Simon can even finish his sentence and then they’re both rushing forward.

Finally, after thinking about it nearly all day, Wille’s lips connect with his. He tastes like fruity wine and olives and something so Wille, and Simon melts into his arms, coming up onto his tiptoes to press further into him. Wille’s hair is soft under his fingertips and though they’ve basically been touching all day, this is different and overwhelming and everything.

When they break apart, giggling into each other, the lights have come on along the paved pathway by the beach.

“Maybe we should head back?” Wille suggests, looking just as much like he doesn’t want to head back as Simon feels. But, it’s getting late and he’s also starting to feel tired from all the wine and walking, so Simon nods and takes Wille’s hand again.

They trail slowly back through the streets, pausing occasionally to exchange a quick kiss, or to slip into an alcove and exchange a slightly longer one. By the time they make it back to their building, Simon’s limbs feel syrupy with sleep and his chest feels warm with the events of the day.

Two steps up the stairs to the front door of the hostel, Simon stops and turns.

“Where will you be tomorrow?” he asks, looking down at Wille.

Wille smiles. “Wherever you are.”

#i'm actually not allowed to do 'drabble' prompts anymore #this is ridiculous #these were all very fun to write though #thank you to everyone who submitted a prompt <3 #this one is also a love letter to 'glowing review' by our dear bigalockwood #and also somehow mimicks ftts in its setup #my genre of fics is: simon doesn't read and then falls in love with wille in a very short amount of time #wilmon #yr ficlet #young royals #blank me

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blorbologist · 12 days ago

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I wish you would write a fic where Pike never left the Trickfoots but still ends up interacting with VM in some way

Hi anon!

I didn't want to leave this in my inbox for too long - shits just busy - but I DO have ideas for this AU 👀👀👀

The really cool thing to me is that it starts way, way, way before even pre-stream canon so there's plenty of possibilities for butterfly effects! (Which imo a huge backstory change like this should provoke)

And given Grog' backstory is so closely tied to Pike's... >:D

rough notes so far:

Pike starts out as a Divine Soul Sorcerer (Like Dariax); doesn't think much of it, just considers the magic her 'Tricks'.

Given the environment she's raised in her brash, brawdy side is more in evidence - but her kindness does shine through (though she stamps it down around the family. Her parents still left her with Johann & co.)

In VM Origins where VM would usually meet Pike while looking for Grog... they obviously don't find her lol. I can't decide if Pike pretends she is some powerful cleric and scams the shit out of them, or plays Scanlan for a fool and only scams him. Leaning towards the later because it's incredible Kaylie foreshadowing. He does Not learn his lesson, ever.

Either way, proto-VM are miffed and Pike is keen to skedaddle - except the commotion got Wilhand's attention by chance. Pike recognizes the old Trickfoot who offered her a home as a little girl and, in seeing how devastated he is when informed of Grog's condition, she decides to help. Potentially with the intent of scamming the rest of them down the line.

Speaking of Grog: Pike wasn't there to heal him after Kevdak :) and Wilhand alone is too small and not magically inclined. He did what he could, but eventually Grog woke up and just... booked it into the woods.

By the time Wilhand found him there was a... wildness to the young goliath. And without the recent experience of raising Pike, or her influence, Grog has a bit of a feral manner to him (Path of the Totem Warrior)

(This means Totem Barb!Grog absolutely gets Trinket and can ritually cast Speak with Animals. Which is meta funny. Travis loves his wife's fake pet. )

Most pre-stream events are influenced by Pike being more of a self-serving shit, Scanlan feeling really off kilter because she made a fool of him, and Grog... well Grog is still very Grog, except he's closest to Trinket, not Pike. (Vex doesn't know how to feel about that)

I want Pike to still get chopped in half. She has a huge crisis after her resurrection. Her fake preacher tricks are abandoned and she starts to take Cleric levels from here on out, and spends much of the pre-stream year break on a boat.

Grog might come with (to protect Wilhand's kin, something something pack bonding) and they might end up getting close here?

The other Trickfoots, having never lost track of Pike, likely re-enter the story not long after VM start gaining a reputation. A fair part of Pike's arc would be learning to cut off her family, probably with a few backslides accounting for some of her stream absences. 50% chance Scanlan shits in their beds.

Hearing about Vex's death in the Sunken Tomb would be another big turning point. It's bad if she dies, but her friends... she has to be able to bring them back.

Changes will likely pile up around here, depending on what resurrection spells Pike has when deaths occur and how comfortable she can be sacrificing extremely expensive diamonds for her new friends. Probably snowballs into impacting Bards Lament, the progression of other ships, and if Pike can be Sarenrae's Champion during the Vecna arc.

Also she wins the Plate of the Dawnmartyr herself <3 with some sneaky Trickfoot style <3

(I think Pike and Vax are p close in this AU, which might miff Vex. Inversely, this wilder Grog probably buddies up to Vex through Trinket, and Keyleth too. Percy is probably uncomfortable with all of this initially and Scanlan... might not know how to handle a wilder Grog and a sly, mildly self-serving Pike. Pikelan probably has a lot more of Pike pulling Scanlan's leg; she does it in canon here and there but oh boy she'd think he's the funniest, horniest person to dupe and he's smarting for a long time and trying to one-up her until he realizes he genuinely enjoys their banter once she's dead. Hence his offerings at her ritual. I think he also figures out that there was never any real malice behind anything she did, unlike his own pettiness, which causes him to pull away for a bit. Pike meanwhile has Johann and Astra as her only reference for relationships, sooooo this is gonna be fun!)

(The big challenge with this AU to me would be seeing if I could salvage that Grog-Pike bond, and if it can't become strong like canon seeing who else these AU versions of the pair could get close to in similar ways.)

#critical role #tlovm #Cr AU #Ask game #pike trickfoot #grog strongjaw #I REALLY WANNA WRITE THIS PIKE AND GROG DESERVE MORE CONTENT FOCUSED ON THEM!!!#pikelan

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moriartyluver · 8 months ago

Text

FALSE LOVERS CHAPTER XXVII

"IVE ALWAYS WONDERED if this day would ever come. I'm sure that some of you have already heard of this.." Albert turned his head from the dark window to face the others, attempting to speak over the thunder outside "The situation has become extremely worrisome..this crisis is the first of its kind that the moriarty family has ever had to face."

Crack

Lightning had hit a tree outside, burning it to ashes dramatically. Rain poured down in typical British fashion, the windows foggy, covering the gloomy sky.

"Let's work together in order to build strength." The brunette clenched his fist tightly, brows furrowed with determination as they all huddled together, hands upon hands. "we'll overcome this no matter what the cost..! Is everyone ready? All for one and One for All! Let's go!"

The door creaked open mysteriously, pulling the attention of the men to the entrance.

"Sorry we're late..what the hell..?!" Bonde had opened the door with (name) and Josephine stood behind him, bags in hands after they had just returned from a shopping trip

"What on earth is going on?" (Name) asked, her eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Tea party...?"

"That's right Bonde. As you know," Albert informed the trio who were stood in front of him "families hold tea parties on a rotational basis. Tea parties are often held in the day time, opposed to night parties. I've tried my best to hold it off but the other day, Earl Rockwell finally called me out.."

"It was about time," (Name) commented, sitting down with a sigh, legs folded over each other. "Frankly, I think we've been avoiding them for a while now."

"I was reluctant, but I agreed to host the party at our manor this weekend." Albert added

Josephine nodded "If the party is to be held on Sunday, we don't have much time to spare. We should get started on preparations as soon as possible, provided there aren't any obstacles in our way."

"I have business to attend to on Sunday," (Name) said abruptly.

"Care to elaborate?" Louis asked

"I..erm.." she hesitated, looking for an excuse to not go to the tea party "I have a research project due in a few weeks for the university."

"No you don't," William said, debunking her excuse. "I recall you saying you wished to spend Sunday reading-"

There was a moments silence, all eyes on (Name) who suddenly found her shoes rather intriguing. She lifted her head with a groan "Fine, I don't want to host the tea party. Why on earth would I? All I'd do is have disturbing older men explain concepts of various natures which I am clearly more educated in, or worse, they'll flirt with me and treat me like they do a common harlot."

"If she's not doing it then neither am I!" Moran exclaimed quickly.

"(Name), you're attending the tea party just like the rest of us," Louis said sternly, turning to Moran. "We all are."

"I don't want to," she folded her arms over her chest with a childish frown "You can't make me!"

Albert sighed, glancing at William as if asking for help. He should've known having his brother marry a spoilt noblewoman wouldn't be easy, regardless of how in love with her he may have been.

William nodded, scoring over to (Name) and leaning in to whisper into her ear as she listened attentively before sighing, speaking up reluctantly.

"Fine, I'll do it."

Albert blinked in surprise, curious as to what he said to make (Name) agree so easily.

"Despite the whole fake marriage ordeal, many ladies still have been attempting to gain access to Will using various excuses." Albert spoke, continuing after the small issue. "Such women will use the party as an excuse to approach him which means that you..!" He pointed to the (hair colour)-ette dramatically "Will have to keep them off, alright (name)?"

"Roger that." She said, much more cooperative than before.

William chuckled. "In that sense, you're also in danger Albert."

"Of course I know how to deal with the ladies but when they gather in large groups..they gossip and become impossible to read.." all the men in the room shifted their eyes over to (name), who was still despairing over the thought of socialising against her will.

"Huh...?" She murmured

"You're the only one of us who'll be able to outsmart the ladies, (nickname), considering both the brat and moneypenny will be acting as maids." Sebastian said to the confused woman "So we'll need you to keep a close eye on them"

"Shut your mouth," Josephine frowned in annoyance at Moran "I'm far more capable than you are..you'll probably just go drinking whilst the rest of us are working hard.."

"Surely you wouldn't place such a grand burden upon only me," (name) said, returning to the point "you all know how difficult it is for me to socialise. I can't even read basic social cues half the time."

"You'll be fine, (Name)." William placed a hand on hers reassuringly "We wouldn't choose you if we didn't think you were able."

"The only reason you chose me for anything was because I'm handy with a knife." She said, revoking her hand "But if you insist, I suppose I could always try.."

"Okay..let's go over our responsibilities one last time." Jack said, pulling out a small folded piece of paper from his breast pocket. He unfolded it, reading aloud from the list "As soon as young Al's toast is over, I will attend to the guests at the main venue."

"I mainly manage the party's progress" said Louis with a nod

"And as head maid, Josephine and I will take charge of the maids to serve you." Moneypenny stated, adjusting her head piece.

"I'll be in the garden, talking to a few of the guests while keeping a close eye on the more curious ladies." (Name) sighed. She wasn't a fan of tea parties. Ball room parties were usually much more entertaining, possibly because someone would usually somehow die during them but also because she was able to stand aside without any need to talk to anyone. Even at her own wedding, she refused to speak to any guests who weren't her family or close friends because she had gotten so fed up.

"Our position is in the garden, William." Albert reminded the blond.

William nodded, "Yes, brother. Let's monitor the situation and help each other in need."

"I'm mainly here to protect you two." Spoke a butler-ified Moran.

"I'll be in the rose garden and entertaining the guests there." Fred murmured, fidgeting with his gloves.

"And I'm in charge of the guests in all areas of the manor." Bond grinned, too enthusiastically for (Name)'s liking.

"That's right," Jack nodded "Bond is our so called 'Fighter', because a 'battle field' needs personnel who can respond quickly to unexpected situations."

"Battle field..?" Fred repeated nervously.

"It won't be that bad," Josephine reassured him, placing a hand on his shoulder "Believe me, I've had a lot worse with (Name)..once she got carried away and murdered a man in one of the Marquis (Last Name)'s villas during a party, but in my lady's defence, he had deeply offended her with his remarks."

"what did he say?" asked Fred in a mousey voice

Josephine chuckled nervously "let's just say, you can't insult the female sex without provoking (Name)."

"By the way," James said, changing the topic promptly "What's Herder doing?"

"Ah, he's already in position," Moran explained. Herder was stuck in the basement, doing puzzles whilst listening out for guests who might find the weaponry.

The instructor glaced around "Everyone is ready." He confirmed "It's time..!"

Not even a second later, the street outside the manor's gates were filled with carriages, full of noblewomen, their giggles echoing as they stepped out of their carriages

(Name) flinched upon hearing all the loud noises coming from the ladies leaving their carriages. She noticed there were a few males amongst them but not nearly enough as the noblewomen. A ratio of about 1:8, she had observed, and all her comrades would be counting on her to navigate this all in the appropriate manner.

"Now that we're all here.." Albert started his little toast once all the fawning ladies had surrounded him whilst the young noblmen who were waiting for the toast to be over so they could instantly made a bee-line to the poor overwhelemed (Name) "It's thanks to Lord Rockwell that we were all able to welcome you here today. As you can see there are many shy people in our family," he side eyed his sister-in-law, resembling her deceased brother for a moment "even standing up here is making me a bit nervous. Please take this as an opportunity to look at our rose garden. It has been blooming very well."

Albert picked up a glass of champagne carefully and raised it as he ended his toast

"Last but not least, there are refreshments laid out for everyone to enjoy. Please take as much time as you'd like to talk to us," He lifted his glass higher "Well then..cheers!"

Within seconds of the toast ending, both William and Albert were surrounded by multiple noblewomen. Of course, (name) hadn't had it any easier and was soon approached by multiple noblemen who were exited to converse with her. During her time in University, multiple peers were interested in her but disliked the idea of getting closer to her in fear that she, a woman with an education, would go against their ideals for such a lady, or rather their stereotypes.

How abhorent! A woman with the ability to think for herself!

She had a mysterious charm to some. Usually she would be seen with a blank look on her face, whilst other times, she concealed her ture nature with a polite yet deceiving smile. Although she was 'married' in the eyes of the law, it wouldn't hurt anyone if they merely converse with such an elegant lady.

"I had looked forward to talking to all of you, but I can't talk to any of you if you all are speaking at once.." Albert said, snapping (Name) out of her thoughts. "and I don't think a tea party is supposed to be like this. I was hoping we'd be more elegant and austere..." He trailed off, gently grabbing a lady, who stood beside him, by her chin, guding her gaze to his emerald eyes.

The noblewomen and noblemen had caught onto what Albert had meant and slowly dispersed, allowing others to take their time. Some had headed for the greenhouse, full of flowers that had been cultivated by none other than Fred, whilst others stuck around with the two brothers, batting their eyes and attempting to gain their attention.

(Name) could only furrow a brow and sigh as she watched, quickly distracted by a young man whwo haad caught her attention with a question once it had all died down, far more unique than the ususal questions about her life in England, even if she had been living there for 8 years, or older men attempting to make her feel like an idiot.

"My apologies if I am out of line, but what are your opinions on the recent Jack the Ripper case," a man with dark hair hair asked her. He seemed around her age, maybe a little younger, and had a polite smile which made his eyes crinkle slightly in the corners "You seem so knowledge on all subjects of conversation, not just superficial ones like most men may assume.."

"Well, I as a sophisticated lady of polite society, could never be exposed to such tragedies, I have no knowledge of such a case," She jested, a smile on her lips "Although, I'd say the Yard are trying to cover it up with their recent list of suspects, surely nobody would believe that.." she said under her breath

"Yes, well," He took a glass of wine from a servant, swirling the drink in his glass, "I have a theory that the entire thing was a hoax to promote that Conan Doyle's next story."

"You read the Sherlock Holmes series?" (Name) laughed at his theory"That's interesting, I've actually made his aquaintance, we met on the Noahtic.. and a train to London, both times a murder had occured. He just seems to be riddled with bad luck, it must be something to do with his hair."

"Is that why he covers it up with that dreadful cap?" the man asked with an amused tone

(Name) shrugged her shoulders as she bit into a small cake, "Personally, I think he looks better in darker tones, and that cloak does him no justice whatsoever." She paused, realising she was actually having fun "I don't believe we've been formally introduced, dear stranger. Perhaps you could change that?"

He took her left hand, kissing her knuckles over the silk glove she wore. "Lord Oliver Hastings, first grandson of the Duke of Hastings it's a pleasure to make your aquaintance, Lady Moriarty."

"I really shouldn't be surprised you already are familiar with my name," She smiled, a genuine smile at that

"Well why wouldn't I? You are rather famous amongst the ton, after all, although, I first saw your name in a research paper you had published in your Almer Mater, Oxford ring any bells?" Oliver reciprocated the smile

"I'm surprised anyone would read that, I was half asleep whilst I wrote it. Do you still study there?" She asked, her eyes drifting over to William, who stood in front of a group of ladies

Oliver shook his head with a laugh "God no, do i really seem that naive? I graduated last year, personally, I was more fond of subjects which frequire critical thought rather than just making up numbers to solve, so I studied Literature and Philosophy mostly, but I made an exception for what you had to say in that little thesis of yours, and I must say, I've been dying to talk to you since."

"Well consider yourself saved from such a tragic fate." She chuckled, glancing again at William who seemed to be struggling with a flirtatious young, no scrath that, she was definitley considered a spinster, woman.

"Is something bothering you? You keep looking over there."

"Oh no, I'm fine. It's my husband I'm worried about." She turned back to face him, her (eye colour) eyes on his blue ones "He's even more socially inept than I am."

"And that's why you're seen so frequently in polite society?" He asked

She frowned in faux annoyance "Doesn't mean I enjoy it." He laughed once more in response whilst (Name) sighed looking back at William, the damsel in distress needed saving "I'm sorry, I'm going to have to cut the conversation short...I don't think I'm a fan of bigamy." She half joked before walking away, seeing the look of relief on William's face as he noticed her presence.

"What's this, darling?" A sweet voice, almost unrecognisable, called out to poor William, still embarrassed after that 'subtle' confession. If he had taken any more steps further back, he would have tripped and broken his skull in half.

"(N-Name)." William, face somewhat flushed, managed to utter.

He didn't often stutter, rather his speech was always elegant and sophisticated, the 'confidence' he exuded was never not noticeable in his speech and yet, that voice...that siren like voice had The Lord of Crime trembling and nervous. William could feel his heart speeding up, eventually pounding in his chest even though his wife was a good few feet away from him, but of course even the mere mention of Lady (Name) could make his brain numb with overwhelming thoughts.

(Name) walked through the other noble ladies, admittedly rather jealous now that she had finally come to terms with these feelings she had. She gave a polite smile, whispering a few 'pardon me's and 'good afternoon's

"Now that I recall," She said, pushing past the woman who had attempted to make advances on William "We really bonded over one particular consultation, didn't we?"

"We did indeed.." William said, still flustered. His cheeks grew a deeper shade of red as (name) cling to his arm, her frame pressed against his as her fingers caressed his bicep.

"I really am lucky to have such an intelligent, and not to mention handsome husband," (Name) complimented, using her palm to cup his chin and bring him to face her. She turned to the other ladies, flashing a glare at the woman who seemed to have made her husband uncomfortable and then returned back to her lovey dovey expression, smile from ear to ear.

"My apologies ladies but it appears you must seek consultation another time. I have something my dearest William and I need to discuss in private." She said with a wink, dragging a stunned William towards the nearest entrance to the manor.

Once they had entered, climbing upstairs, away from the guests, (name) dropped his hand promptly with a groan.

"A 'thank you' would be nice." (Name) said as they walked down the quiet halls. "I had to practically fight off all the men, no thanks to you involving me in this boring tea party..although I must say, I expected a lot less gentlemen within our age range, I typically would attract the older, perverted sort, rather than the nice ones we had this afternoon."

William clenched his jaw, fighting back his jealous feelings "You found them attractive?" He managed to say.

"Well, there were a few handsome ones, I suppose." She put a finger to her chin, lips pressed together in thought.

Was she aware of the effect that she had on him? William was always so rational and calm and he hadn't ever felt so envious of anyone, not in his entire life. Of course he could be occasionally jealous when he was but a child, often looking towards those more fortunate and wondering 'why not me?'

The last time he had felt like this was when (Name)'s first lover wasn't 6 feet underground and torn to pieces, whenever he would see her smiling with the older boy or laughing at some very clearly not amusing joke (he often thought he was much more entertaining than that dull man, his personality was like that of a lemon which had been squeezed dry). Once he had even seen him kiss her, not very skilfully and much too rough for someone like (Name), he would be so much better for her.

It was in between some shelves in the library when he was trying to find a book on probabilities of all things. He had to resist the urge to throw it right in his hideous face, at the very least (or murder him but (Name) beat him to something for once). William actually remembered asking himself what the probability that she would rid herself of that fool and turn her attention to him.

"Actually there was one particular man, dark hair, rather beautiful, very funny...what was his name again..? Oh yes, Oliver..." She was almost giggling like a teenager, hands clasped behind her back in an innocent manner. The description seemed rather familiar. Was she really attracted to 'amusing' dark haired men?

God, she was aggravating.

But so beautiful too, and witty of course. And her eyes were so captivating, so enthralling. William had known this since forever. Nobody knew it more than him.He'd often gaze into her eyes, especially if she was enthusiastic or explaining a mathematical concept to him.

"Is that so?" He choked out, eyes lingering on her as she brushed her gloved hand against the textured wallpaper.

She hummed with a nod "I was convinced he fancied me, but of course, you being you, you had women practically throwing themselves at you and I had to come to your rescue."

"Women do not throw themselves at me." He stated curtly.

"Oh yes they do, professor." (Name) teased "You aren't exactly an eyesore, are you? A nice physique, a pretty face, and a tolerable personality. You're considered desirable amongst the women of the upper class."

But was he desirable to her?

He had to take a deep breath. She was doing this on purpose, she had to be. She must have caught onto his attraction for her and now he was being tormented by a higher power for his desperations.

"More so than this Oliver?" He blurted out. He had meant to say something completely different, but it was as if his brain was no longer thinking for him, rather his heart was.

Had Freud been well established in 1879, one may call such a mistake a 'Freudian Slip', but of course, he wasn't. He had to wait till the 1900s for that. For now, though, dear reader, we could call this a "Liam-being-a-desperate-man-whore-slip."

(Name) had to fight back the smirk on her lips, wrestling with her desire to laugh at him for now feeling the same way he had made her felt, although William wasn't flirting with anyone in an attempt to make (Name) jealous, he was just existing and trying to give advice to women who couldn't help but adore him.

She leaned against the wall, inches away from her bedroom door. "Is someone jealous?" She asked, voice sickeningly sweet. William could never truly hate her, well he did at one point, but it wasn't hate so much as it was irritation at her antics, yet she was only a child, a mere teenager. He couldn't blame her. But God, the way she smirked up at him made him want to wipe that expression off her face, it was so unlike him.

"Jealous?" He repeated slowly, processing and analysing his own feelings. He had long known how he felt for (Name), that was certain, but he hadn't expected it to become more than simply admiring from afar..and yet here they were.

"The mere mention of another man seems to be making your blood boil.." she said smugly, eyes shining in the sunlight "I never knew your affections for me were so grand."

"It's not that," William spoke, trying to articulate his speech when all he truly wanted was to press his lips against hers, his voice slowly raising as he grew more tense. "It's improper in polite society for a married woman to act flirtatiously with other men."

"I didn't take you as one for polite society, William." She retorted, fingers ghosting over his shoulder "I thought that was something you aimed to destroy, sweetheart."

"You know what I mean." He said, red eyes piercing through her (eye colour) eyes. "What would everyone think knowing you've had extra marital affairs?"

"Now this really isn't like you," (Name) laughed, hand slowly drifting down to his arm "I thought none of that bothered you? We don't exactly have any commitments to one another-"

"It was implied." He cut her off, almost aggressively. How dare she bring up the initial regulations for this contract marriage when she knew the lines were blurred so heavily at the point, ever since they had slept together, no, ever since they had even kissed! His palms rested against the wall, just short of (Name)'s ears while she tried to stand straight, unwilling to allow him the upper hand. "During our past two years of marriage, you haven't expressed any interest in any men, and there is no need to change that now."

There was a short silence. The only thing (Name) could hear was her own rapid heart beat and the sound of William's soft breathing as he lowered his face away from her gaze. The position she was in was truly unfortunate, but not exactly unwelcome. He had both arms caged around her while she leaned against the wall, her knees feeling slightly weak as they bent slightly, making her feel much smaller than she was. She had retracted her hand from him, holding to wall to keep herself steady as she attempted to anticipate his next move. It was like chess, except with just the king and queen. Actually, maybe it wasn't that similar.

"And it does bother me," William eventually spoke, voice ragged and breathless "Ceaselessly. I hated seeing you with that womaniser. And when I had finally thought he was gone and you would turn your attention elsewhere, more only followed..but once we had both left university, I had to witness you sneaking off at balls, usually with that Lord Henry and-"

"So you did know who Theodore was?" She asked, irritated by his confession "And you felt the need to pretend you didn't, as if you weren't spying on me the whole time! God you are insufferable!"

"Not nearly as insufferable as you are!" He glared down at her.

"You know that they didn't mean anything to me, I don't see why this is even a point of discussion," (Name) defended herself, leaning her head against the wall "Why should I be held responsible?"

William unconsciously clenched his teeth, eyebrows furrowed together. "Must I make it any clearer to you? Are you really that foolish, that naive?"

"Perhaps I am, I'm just a stupid whore to you, aren't I?" She spat, a raised eyebrow as she waited for him to speak. "But I think I know jealousy when I see it."

"It's not that I'm jealous, it's just that.." he almost stammered before snapping, much to (Name)'s surprise. "You're mine, (Name). My wife, not Oliver's, not Lord Henry's, and certainly not Theodore Arden's."

Since when was he so possessive..? And why was it undeniably attractive?

His words hung heavy in the air, realisations to his rudeness hitting him suddenly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that.." he apologised, pulling away in embarrassment, averting his gaze. "I shouldn't have.."

(Name)'s fingers looped through his belt, grasping onto his arm as she pulled him back in for a fiery kiss. He was quick to return the gesture, his hands making theirway to her back and pulling her closer, seeking more of her.

"You're so irritating.." She murmured against his lips "I despise you with every breath."

He chuckled bitterly at her words, his lips parting and coliding with hers "And you aren't? Nobody has been on my mind more than you..you're a distraction, an obstacle. I can't believe I was foolish enough to marry you."

"Believe me, it hasn't been easy for me either," (Name) groaned against his lips, pulling his hair. "Can't you do anything right? Kiss me properly...I hadn't waited that long just for you to learn nothing from our previous encounter, or maybe you've forgotten."

"I promise, (Name), I haven't..I think about it constantly, to the point it haunts my dreams." He moaned as she bit his lip, twisting the doorknob to her bedroom and opening the door with a creek "But if I didn't, I'd trust you to help me recall."

She cupped his cheeks in her palms, walking into the room with him as he shut the door behind them, allowing them some privacy. "So I'm better than you at something for once, and you have no feelings of hatred? How underwhelming."

"I hate you." He said as he pressed her against her bedroom wall, the wallpaper contrasting beautifully with her skin. "I hate you so passionately I don't know what to do with myself half the time. I wish I could say I regret meeting you but then I wouldn't be here with you.."

"Mm.." (Name) hummed, her hand making its way to his hair again, her fingers tangling in those blond locks she adored "I hate you more..if you hadn't bribed me to attend this party, we wouldn't be doing this right now."

"Then thank God I did," he smirked against her lips, breathless from kissing her so long with barely enough room to breathe. His mind was hazy now, and he was just going to exert himself even further, but he didn't mind. Anything for (Name).

"Yo Patterson," Moran called out to the man in glasses "You- this was a difficult win.."

"I understand..it seems everyone had a hard time today," He pushed up his spectacles with his pinky

"What about everyone else? And the old man?"

"Albert and the old man already went to their rooms...William and (Name) left early, and I haven't seen them since, but they're around...and moneypenny's gone home." Moran explained

"Really? I brought some alcohol." Patterson smiled, holding up the bottle

"Sorry," The colonel smirked

"It seems Bond is already asleep..and I've come all this way..at least you can join me for a drink, Moran." Patterson said through the snores of Bond, Fred and Josephine who were curled up on the couch together.

"By the way Moran," He continued, gazing out of the window "I hope you didn't put your hands on any of the ladies during the tea party."

"I didn't have time for that! None of us did, we were all doing our jobs." He protested, already starting to get tipsy.

"Hm? I thought you said William and (Name).." the detective paused, shrugging his shoulders "I see you've finely seen the joy of hard work."

"You don't think they..?"

"You never know."

A/N: first false lovers chapter in months lol. The wait was worth it I promise. We’re getting closer to the final problem arc tho and that’s depressing ☹️ Anyways, I have finals soon but during the summer, I’ll be posting a lot more, I promiseee. Let me know if I guys liked this chapter because I made a few slight changes from my normal style soo. Okay bye byeee ‼️

#—false lovers 💋#moriarty the patriot #william james moriarty #william moriarty #william moriarty x reader #yuukoku no moriarty #mtp william #moriarty the patriot x reader #yuukoku no moriarty x reader

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iamvegorott · 4 months ago

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Magicians Don't Need Superheros Pt36

First: Link Prev: Link Next: Link

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Jackie sat on the edge of his bed, head in his hands and staring at the ground. He was so exhausted in more ways than he thought was possible. After Mad went home, despite Anti’s claims of wanting his ‘emotional support nerd’ to stay, they decided to eat some food. Robbie joined them, so Jackie didn’t talk about what had happened until after he ran off to play. Robbie would get the explanation when he changed to an older age, permission already given to Chase to fill him in later.

It was a long and awkward talk. They all had been in the living room and staring at Jackie as he explained what those doctors did to him. A strange numbness took over and allowed Jackie to speak freely, albeit in a monotone voice that no one liked. Jackie thought he’d feel relief, the whole ‘weight off his shoulders’ thing, but instead, he just felt so…empty.

Jackie had also insisted on Chase and Henrik going out on their dinner date, not wanting to ruin their plans because Dark ended up yanking some sour stuff to the surface. It had been nice spending the day with the others, mainly just lounging about and watching a few movies together. Jackie had called it an early night because he thought he would fall right to sleep with how tired he felt, but after getting changed, he just found himself in a daze for the past few hours. Maybe he needed to walk around or something.

Jackie sighed as he stood up and left his room. He paused as he looked at Marvin’s bedroom door. He was tempted to knock on it, ask Marvin what he was doing, and watch some TV with him until he could finally sleep… they’d done that plenty of times for each other, but the thought of doing that now felt so weird after his whole crisis he still hadn’t figured out.

Chase should be back home by now, and he could sit with him. Jackie chewed the inside of his cheek as he walked down the hall, passing Robbie’s door and hearing some giggles as he turned the corner.

“Two glasses of wine, and you become a mess.” Henrik teased in a whisper as he and Chase leaned against each other, walking through the other end of the hall and stopping in front of Chase’s door.

“Coming from the man that had three.” Chase teased back.

“It was good wine.” Henrik quickly protested.

“And I can’t help but laugh at how it feels like we’re teenagers sneaking back home after staying out too late with how quiet you’re making us be.” Chase chuckled.

“Have we ever technically been teenagers? Aside from Robert, I do not think-” Henrik got stopped by Chase kissing him. “You could have just told me to stop.” He said with a big grin.

“Can’t think straight, too much wine.” Chase hummed with his own little smirk.

“Well, I will help keep you from thinking for the rest of the night.” Henrik opened the door and pulled Chase into the room by the front of his shirt.

“Oh, gross,” Jackie said to himself, faking a gag and wishing he hadn’t just witnessed that. He turned back around, thinking that maybe if he just buried himself in his bed, he’d eventually pass out.

“Jackie?” Marvin’s voice got Jackie to look up, seeing that he had just stepped out of his room. “Can’t sleep either? I was going to make some tea. Would you like me to make some for you as well?” He gave Jackie a soft smile. Jackie craved the normalcy they had before he started making everything weird.

“Yeah…would you mind making that one really fruity one? With the mango stuff?”

“Of course.” Marvin chuckled, waiting until Jackie started walking before following suit.

“We might want to make the stuff quickly and get back to the rooms,” Jackie warned.

“Why’s that?”

“We have both been traumatized by seeing Chase and Henrik together.”

“You saw ass?”

“No.”

“Then we’re not on even ground.” Marvin did end up walking a little faster past Chase and Henrik’s rooms.

“I can handle us not being even if it means I never see Henrik’s ass.” Jackie chuckled, leaning back against the counter while Marvin got to work making their drinks.

“Hopefully, they’ve learned their lesson, and there’s no more office incidents.” Marvin clicked his tongue. “I can only handle so much naked man in one day.” He added with a little gesture at Jackie before stepping side to get the flavored syrups.

Jackie looked down at himself, and it reminded him that he was shirtless. He had always been comfortable being shirtless around Marvin. This was just how he slept, so he didn’t think much about it. Was it too much? No one else batted an eye about it, why would it be weird to be like this around Marvin? Maybe he should start sleeping with a shirt on. Maybe Marvin was bothered by it but didn’t want to be rude. He slept with a shirt on. Was it throwing him off that Jackie didn’t? Although, Marvin was very blunt, so if it was a problem he would have told him about this a while ago.

Maybe he should wear shirts around Marvin until after this whole weird crush thing went away. He didn’t want to be awkward, well, more awkward around Marvin. What if this was all just a phase? What if his brain was being weird and taking some thoughts and twisting them into a romantic frame when it was just platonic? His brain was trying to process a Septiceye that was different from the others.

When he first met everyone else, there was always something that cut them off. His meeting with Anti was…bad, so that took him off the table immediately. He saw Chase as a parental figure, and Henrik took that title as well because it was even obvious to him that something was between them, but there wasn’t a name for it just yet. Something about JJ just screamed off-limits, and he was a good friend, so when Marvin came around, everything was different. Everything about Marvin was different. The way he carried himself, the way he had no fear when he spoke, his smile, his laugh, his-

Jackie was yanked out of those thoughts when the back of a hand pressed to his forehead.

“Huh?”

“You’re looking red. I wanted to be sure you weren’t having a fever,” Marvin explained, lowering his hand. “Either it’s that, or you’re still recovering from seeing Chase and Henrik,” He added with a chuckle.

“It was really gross,” Jackie said.

“Some tea will help you forget. We’re also going to find Night tomorrow so there’s that to think about as well. I want this to be the last time we deal with him or I’m going to literally throw Dark at him and leave the Ipliers to suffer the consequences.” Marvin stirred some honey into his tea.

“We should try to see if Host’s vision has changed. We didn’t really ask Mad about it, so I can call him in the morning and ask.” Jackie looked down at the other tea mug that was his but he wasn't ready to pick it up yet.

“Speaking of the devil.” Marvin hummed when he pulled out his buzzing phone and saw Mad’s name on the caller ID. He didn’t have any pictures of the others to use as contact photos yet, so for the moment, Mad’s was the picture of Albert Einstein sticking out his tongue. “What are you doing up?” Marvin asked when he answered the call, putting it on speaker and setting the phone on the counter.

“You’re up as well. You can’t question me.” Mad retorted. “Am I on speaker?”

“Yep. Jackie’s here.”

“Hey.” Jackie waved at the phone despite knowing he couldn’t be seen.

“Why are both of you up?” Mad asked.

“Mad, why are you calling?” Marvin didn’t want to keep going in circles about this.

“It’s…It’s Host.” Mad’s tone changed.

“Is he okay?”

“Kind of? I mean, he’s just-uh-he’s just really off after this whole thing with Night started.” There was a pause as a clicking sound came through the phone. “He says he can’t focus on anything else. Parts of the vision keep coming back, and it’s changing.”

“Changing? Those things don’t change?” Jackie said.

“They usually don’t. That’s what throwing Host off so much about this. Something about Night is throwing him off. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the supposed ‘God’ status of his or something else, but Edward’s been having to change his bandages several times a day instead of only once. That only happens when he’s beyond stressed out.” The clicking sound got faster.

“Have you…read him lately?” Marvin asked. “Does he feel stressed?”

“I’m not allowed to read him outside of my whole top-layer stuff I can’t control.” The clicking paused. “But, yeah, there’s some stress and confusion. I want to go deeper, but Host can tell when I’m reading him, and I don’t want him mad at me...I also don’t like seeing my friend hurting so much.”

“How much of this does Dark know about?”

“If he’s only overheard what me and Host were talking about today, then he only knows about me helping you guys find Night. Host wanted to know details of the tracker, and Dark cut us off before we could talk about anything else.” The clicked sound came back, and it was much slower than before. “Maybe we should do what Darks says and wait for him to figure it out.”

“I haven’t listened to him since I’ve met him. I’m not about to start doing that now.” Marvin scoffed. “We’ll get Night tomorrow. I think getting him into the Manor will help Host with his problems.”

“Okay…just…neither of you are allowed to get hurt,” Mad stated.

“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” Jackie said with a puff to his chest.

“I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve. This will be over soon.” Marvin promised. “Now, put the lighter away and go to bed.”

“What? What lighter? I don’t…” Mad’s weak denial turned into an even weaker laugh.

“Oh! That’s what that sound was.” Jackie said.

“Good night, Mad.” Marvin hung up the call.

“Sounds like everyone’s being thrown off with this whole Night thing.” Jackie finally started drinking his tea.

“Everything’s been off since I arrived,” Marvin mumbled to himself. “How are you feeling?” He asked Jackie before what he said could be processed.

“I’m fine.” Jackie shrugged.

“Just fine? That was a lot you went through today.” Marvin pocketed his phone and ended up standing closer to Jackie. “You’re allowed to be tired, upset, even a bit grumpy. You punched a man into a wall, you had to describe severe trauma, and you saw Chase and Henrik being gross. You can be not fine.”

“I’m…” Jackie was going to say ‘fine’ again, but it didn’t feel right anymore.

“You’re what?” Marvin was now standing in front of Jackie, not technically trapping him, yet it almost felt like it.

“I-uh…I’m just-like…um…” Jackie cleared his throat.

“Jackie.” Marvin’s voice was stern, showing he wasn’t going to leave until he got an answer.

“I’m…I’m tired, Marv,” Jackie confessed, his shoulders dropping. “I don’t know how to feel. I’m just tired.”

“And that’s okay.” Marvin placed his hands on Jackie’s shoulders, squeezing them. “You can be tired.”

“Thanks.” Jackie liked Marvin being this close. It was nice seeing the care in his eyes and the-

Nope, nope, nope.

Jackie, you need to not.

Jackie quickly slipped away and fumbled back a few steps.

“Did I step on your toes or something?” Marvin asked.

“No! No, no, no.” Jackie waved his hands in front of himself. “Sorry. I just-the-the tea is kicking in, and I’m like super sleepy now.”

“You don’t sound sleepy,” Marvin stated.

“I’m really good at hiding it.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Those are different things.” Jackie felt the smile he gave twitch from his nerves as Marvin picked up both mugs and handed him his tea.

“Did you want to watch anything together while you finish your drink?” Marvin asked.

“I’m just gonna chug and sleep. Got a lot to do tomorrow…night.” Jackie gave another awkward smile before scurrying out of the room.

“Good night?” Marvin said mostly to himself as he stayed in the kitchen. “That was…weird?”

#magicians dont need superheros #marvelsepticeye #veggie writes

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umhuhwellthen · 1 year ago

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Uhhhh

Usagi Yojimbo

Fake Marriage AU:

Tomoe Ame x Usagi x Mariko x Kenichi

LISTEN LISTEN HEAR ME OUT OKAY

You know how that one advisor/vassal bastard whatever-his-name-is that convinced Noriyuki to marry off Mariko(lords could pick out spouses for their samurai)

What if...some staff in the court heard this plot and alerted Tomoe Ame before the fucker could bring it up to Noriyuki

And she's like fuck the only way I can think to get out of any arranged marriage is by being married but who can I...

Like always our boy Miya popping up at either the worst or best times possible

Now I don't know what logical loops Tomoe Ame goes through for asking Usagi plus his childhood friends to marry her but even though I don't know the why I know the what and how so let's get this AU rolling

She asks Usagi to take her with to visit his hometown for...reasons, yeah... And when they get there she goes dogeza(because girl is desperate and knows that lil shit gunning for her position will not only do a shit job as Noriyuki's right hand but definitely has the vibes of turncoat for self-preservation and so she needs this marriage) asking them to marry her

And they're like um, who are you asking????

Because the way they're positioned it looks like she's proposing to Kenichi, who is y'know married to Mariko(i wanted this to be pre-marriage but then i remembered Jotaro so sacrifices must be made for best boi)

And she doubles down "the three of you, a polyandrous marriage."

"WHAT!?"-childhood friends gang

Then she explains how it's to prevent a plot to weaken her lords court etc etc maybe some other stuff too to convince Kenichi and Mariko(Usagi is always down to help his friends, he's lied to shogunate spies and cops to protect himself or his buddies, ride or die)

A (reluctant) agreement is made and they do the wedding

Now it's basically

Mariko: Bi-crisis ⁄⁠(⁠⁄⁠ ⁠⁄⁠•⁠⁄×⁄⁠•⁠⁄⁠ ⁠⁄⁠)⁠⁄ women...hot?????(living out her teenage fantasy)

Kenichi: Bi-crisis(Demisexual) (⁠‘///◉⌓⁠◉⁠///’) people outside of Mariko... hot?????USAGI HOT????? [Mariko was the only person he had ever had romantic or sexual attraction too so he assumed she was the only one for him, turns out if she hadn't been his first crush and thus birthing a rivalry with Usagi he would've developed a crush on him too, his type is strong sense of duty and good with a sword]

Usagi: Outwardly= worried about Tomoe's situation and how long this good thing will last before it's snatched away like all the things he's ever loved. (⁠・⁠–⁠・⁠;) Inwardly=YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!!! every secret desire and teenage fantasy is coming alive. \(⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)/ (huh, so I did have a crush on Kenichi back then...)

Tomoe: ya girl is STRESSED. Having to deal with political scheming, making sure her charade isn't found out, making sure that box she locked up her feelings for Usagi with stays buried deep, AND whatever blossoming feelings she has for his childhood friends because Oh No They're Hot (what is in the water for them all to turn out like this)

Jotaro is out here living his best life, finally getting the two dads he wanted PLUS a cool new mom?? SIGN HIM THE FUCK UP!!!

In summation: Tomoe Ame is living in drama/action/romance anime while everyone else is in a romance/comedy/slice of life anime

Endgame is polycule and Tomoe Ame being confused over how things ended up like this

Tomoe Ame tops them

EDIT: Tomoe's type is cringefail losers, the boys are for obvious reasons but you better believe I'm counting Mariko as one, look at the whole Jotaro reveal situation and say she made no cringefail moves

It's fine now tho, Jotaro gets his two cakes in the end with bonus free desert (does this metaphor even work)

Deberían decir gracias a @ranarenee por la inspiración indirecta para esto

Specifically this Art

#is this what happens when you down two bags of green tea #usagi yojimbo #miyamoto usagi #tomoe ame #usagi yojimbo tomoe ame #mariko #mariko usagi yojimbo #kenichi #kenichi usagi yojimbo #jotaro #jotaro usagi yojimbo #SCREAMS//WILL THESE SAMURAI RABBITS STOP GIVING ME AU IDEAS #will i be making art for this yes will i be writing fic NO #I've already sketched out ideas #fake marriage au #usagi yojimbo fake marriage au

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schrijverr · 1 year ago

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I Found Myself a Cheerleader 15

Chapter 15 out of 28

Bumped to the lowest step on the social ladder after his fight with Billy, Steve gets roped in with the cheer team. What starts as a favor to help them out when one member breaks her leg in turn for protection from the brunt of the bullying, sets the universe on a different path.

In this chapter, everyone’s life seems to be going in the wrong direction as Vecna rolls into town as they all seem to distance themselves from one another. Meanwhile, Robin has developed a crush on a certain cheerleader and it isn’t Steve.

On AO3.

Ships: steddie & buckingham

Warnings: internalized homophobia, homophobia mention, f-slur, bullying mention, HIV/AIDS crisis mention, racism mention, eating disorder mention

~~~~~~~

Chapter 15: The Arrival of Vecna

After new years, Steve feels like his life has been spiraling further and further out of control. Yet he cannot do anything, but stay. He can only watch and cling on as the roller coaster continues in a way that seems safe enough, but also like it can fall apart at any moment.

It’s just been a compilation of things, honestly. It feels like his fight with Eddie was a turning point and now, in a horrible domino effect, it is all getting worse from there.

Insecurity has been creeping up on him with the words of his father in that stupid clothing boutique and the fight with Eddie that came afterwards. Eddie, who is still ignoring him. Neither of them have said a word to the other since then.

He still feels conflicted about it. He hates what he did to Eddie and he wants to tell him how he didn’t mean it, but Eddie has taken to staying behind and sending the kids ahead, so he won’t have to see Steve’s face.

Steve has stopped getting out of the car. Just watches the school entrance in case he catches a flash of curly hair that he adores so much. His heart aches to make it right, to have dimples and chocolate eyes back in his life. Another part of him thinks it might be easier to be rejected, left in the dust. To be hurt, so he can get over it. To find love elsewhere.

Chrissy fake breaks up with him two weeks into the new year. Ever since then, he has been throwing himself at every girl that has come into Family Video in an attempt to cover up for all the emotions he’s feeling, but can’t put into words.

A few girls have actually taken him up on his offer and Steve has gone through with it, because he doesn’t think a straight boy in his position would refuse. It hasn’t been the most comfortable, but nothing he hasn’t done before and it’s just a task to get through.

Chrissy and Robin both have expressed concern about his behavior, but Steve will not listen to them.

The two have been hanging out quite a bit, since they’re stuck in school together and Steve is glad they’re getting along, but it’s annoying that they now team up together. It can be quite funny when they’re just ribbing each other, but more recently they’re being concerned together, which makes Steve want to walk into the forest never to be seen again. He doesn’t know why.

Right now is such a moment, where he can feel their eyes on his back as he leads a girl through the store, putting on his charm.

Steve is pretty sure she has a boyfriend, so hopefully this won’t end in another disastrous date. And for now he tries to feel validated by how she giggles and twirls her hair. No one will question him if he goes on like this. Next time, there will be more evidence needed than a few slurs, a picture in the year book, or the fact he isn’t married yet. Next time, he’ll be safer.

It’s for the best, so he ignores the stares of Chrissy and Robin as he flirts with the girl, whose name he does not know, pretending to be disappointed but understanding when she tells him about her boyfriend.

He rings her up, having to bump Robin out of the way, before watching her go with smile in place that he drops with a sigh once she’s out the door. Robin takes the moment to pipe up: “You don’t have to keep doing that, you know that, right?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grits, playing dumb, because he isn’t in the mood for a lecture. He already feels uncomfortable enough in his own skin.

“We’re just worried, Stevie,” Chrissy says with those big eyes of her that Steve has always been a little weak for and she knows it.

Steve sends her a glare and scowls: “Nothing to worry about.”

“Dingus,” Robin huffs, a little annoyed by how he’s avoiding the topic. It hasn’t become a thing yet, Steve could never not show up when she needs him or vise versa, but he knows how much she hates that he’s shutting her out.

And he does feel guilty about it. Her remembers how she once confessed to him how everyone always seems to leave her behind. In the darkness of the night, Steve had promised he never would, but now he’s pushing her away.

The guilt eats at him and he doesn’t want to do a repeat of his behavior of when he fought with Eddie. He doesn’t want to fuck up like that again. So, he takes a deep breath and pleads: “I know, okay, I know. Please, just- just drop it, okay?”

It is the closest he has come to acknowledging it and Chrissy and Robin both share a look before looking back. Robin reacts first, she takes his hand and gives him a crooked smile: “Alright, dingus, okay.”

“We’re here if you want to talk,” Chrissy offers, also smiling.

Steve does not know what he did to deserve friends like this, but he feels incredibly fortunate. He smiles back and softly says: “Thanks.”

He wants to move on from the topic now, but he doesn’t know how. Luckily, Robin can practically read his mind, so she turns to Chrissy and says: “Hey, Chris, how is cheer going? Band is already practicing for the prep rally, you guys too?”

Chrissy lights up and excitedly starts talking about the new routine they’ve been working on. On another day, Steve would immediately get sucked into the topic, however, today he takes a second to recover before going to dive in.

Because he’s taking that moment, he suddenly notices how Robin is looking at Chrissy. Chrissy is smiling brightly as she talks about cheer and Robin is watching her, only following along, because she’s friends with two cheerleaders, thus has learned too much through osmosis, partially against her will. However, she doesn’t seem to mind, she’s smiling along, a little blush covering her freckles, as she stares at Chrissy.

Holy shit.

Robin has a crush on Chrissy. It just hits him as he watches her. He hasn’t heard her about Vickie for a while, but he hadn’t realized that was because she likes someone else. Because she likes Chrissy.

He isn’t subtle about his realization either. Well, he is, but not for Robin. He is still holding her hand and squeezes it in surprise when he notices, looking between the two.

She looks at him when he squeezes and sees him glancing between them. Her eyes grow wide and he can see in her eyes that if he even thinks about uttering about saying anything while Chrissy is still in a 1 mile radius of Family Video, she is going to murder him.

Steve knows the feeling, so he quickly nods to let her know he gets it, before jumping into cheer, so that Chrissy won’t notice the hiccup.

Of course he had noticed the two getting closer and retrospectively the first time Robin saw Chrissy was pretty gay with how she spluttered and was rendered quite speechless, but he never really thought about it like that. A part of him still can’t fully fathom that anyone would be attracted to either of them, even if they are objectively attractive.

However, he manages to keep being normal until Chrissy has to go home. She hugs Steve first and he squeezes her back, before he watches her hug Robin, who seemingly explodes. He hadn’t know she could blush like that and has to bite his lip not giggle at her.

Though Steve has to admit, Robin is not the worst, not like he’s seen her with other girls she has liked. She isn’t tripping over herself rambling, instead just does an awkward smile and doesn’t really hug back, as she splutters a goodbye.

They both wave as Chrissy leaves and Steve drops it the moment, she gets into the car and he turns to Robin. Robin, who is blushing and not meeting his eyes. A shit eating grin creeps up on his face and he leans against the counter next to Robin as he drawls: “So… Chrissy.”

“Oh shut up,” she squeaks, pushing him away without looking.

Steve pouts and comes right back into her space and whines: “Oh come on, you bullied me about Eddie, I told you everything. You can’t just leave me hanging like this.”

Now Robin looks at him and she doesn’t look like Robin at all. Steve stops and looks at her, frowning as he takes in how she is hunched over, bites her lip anxiously, plays with her fingers, loosing the liveliness he loves about her. Gently he asks: “Hey, you okay?”

“You’re not mad about my crush on Chrissy?” she asks in a small voice that he hates on her. He likes how she cackles and rambles, not this.

“Of course I’m not mad,” he tells her. “Why would I be mad that you like her? She is super nice and a cool girl. Was inevitable, honestly.”

“It was not,” Robin scoffs, before she asks: “Isn’t it, like, against bro code to like someone’s friend?”

“Robin, you are also Chrissy’s friend,” Steve points out.

She has the audacity to look surprised by that statement and to then ask: “I am?”

“Yeah, Robs, you are,” Steve says, unsure how she can’t know that. “You two are always hanging out together, you eat lunch together. She asks me how you’ve been when you have to work while we hang out, because I’ve seen you last.”

“Oh, I thought she only did that to me, because you’re friends and I’m just also always there,” Robin says, scratching the back of her head.

“Gods, I love you, but you’re also an idiot,” Steve informs her.

“Hey, I take offense to that,” Robin pouts, but she is also grinning, which is a win.

“You can be offended later, tell me about your crush now,” Steve demands. “You finally developed taste, I have to know more.”

“Screw you, dingus,” Robin exclaims as she pushes him.

Steve wrinkles his nose and replies: “I’d rather you not.”

“Iewww,” Robin shudders, but she’s laughing too. Both of them taking a moment to giggle, before Robin sighs wistfully and says: “She’s just so pretty.” Then Robin groans and boinks her head on the counter. “And painfully straight. I listened to her talk about Tom Cruise for like an hour yesterday. The worst thing? I didn’t even mind, because she looks cute when she’s excited.”

Steve graciously suppresses the urge to laugh at her and just pats her back in a sympathetic manner, because he knows how much that sucks. “You’re gonna be okay, Robs. It sucks to have a crush on a straight person.”

“How would you know?” she asks, coming up from where she has buried her head in her arms to glare at him. “Eddie has taken to parading around with a hanky in his pocket, like I won’t know what that means. You had a chance.”

Had a chance, Steve repeats to himself, feeling a little stab. He could have if he hadn’t been so scared and such a dick. But Robin is lamenting her own crush, so he’s not going to be sad about his love life, especially because that will be an invitation to talk to him about how he’s flirting with girls everywhere and Steve knows what Robin is doing. She hopes he’ll bite and won’t ask more about her new crush that she has been trying to hide.

So, instead he doesn’t bite and just says: “I’ve had crushes on other people, you know. And I didn’t have a chance with them.”

“Who?” Robin demands, now fully dropping the gloom, much to Steve’s relief, he hates seeing her sad.

“Jonathan,” he admits, wanting to jump into a ditch and hide the moment he does.

“What?” Robin exclaims with glee in her voice. “Why didn’t you tell me that, dingus. That is important to know. You had a crush on the guy that stole your girlfriend.”

“I mean, we fought and it kind of made me realize some things,” Steve shrugs in embarrassment.

“You had a crush on him because he beat you up?” Robin asks, eyes nearly falling out of her sockets as she interrogates him.

“No,” Steve scowls, crossing his arms. “And we were talking about your hopeless crush, remember?”

“We can do that later, I have to hear this,” Robin waves his protest aside. “If not because he beat you up, then why?”

“He just made me realize I didn’t want to keep being King Steve when he beat me up,” Steve explains. “And then when I went to apologize we had to run from the demogorgon and he grabbed my hand and pulled me to safety. And I realized I liked that a little more than I should.”

“Oh my god, that is the best thing I have ever heard,” Robin squeals.

“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” Steve replies, hands over his ears.

“No, come on, this is great,” Robin grins. “I’m never going to let you forget that you had a crush on Jonathan because he held you hand.”

“Fuck off, I also held your hand, didn’t get a crush on you,” Steve pouts.

“Not really the right demographic, now am I?” Robin counters. “Unlike what you want to make everyone think. What happened there? Are you okay?”

“No, we’re not turning it around on me,” Steve snaps. “I meant it. I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s just talk about your crush and let me forget about it, okay? Please.”

Something in his voice must tell her how serious he is, because she nods seriously, despite obviously not wanting to and collapses back over the counter, lamenting about Chrissy in her cheer uniform and her soft cheeks and adorable giggle.

Despite having been friends with Chrissy for about a year now, Robin mentions things that Steve has never consciously registered about her. It’s odd but interesting to look at his friend through different eyes. Like, he never really noticed Chrissy had dimples, but when he thinks about it, she totally does.

It’s actually really cute how much Robin likes Chrissy, but Steve is also scared for her. He knows Chrissy is cool about the gay thing, though that might not translate to lesbians, since Robin hasn’t come out yet. However, that does not mean, she won’t break Robin’s heart.

Steve cares about both of them very much, but he will probably choose Robin, if this crush blows up in their faces. He might not have known Robin the longest, but they’ve been through so much together. You don’t just forget about that. And, despite how he is partially ignoring it, Robin is also queer, he will always support her and understand her struggles. Even if that means loosing Chrissy in the process.

Fuck, he just hopes Chrissy is at least cool about it, or that Robin’s crush blows over before something can happen.

Over the following weeks, it seems like life hates him more and more, as it continues to get worse and worse. It’s nothing big, but life seems to get lonelier.

Robin, of course, still fills his every moment when she can, but she still has school and finals are coming up as well. So, he sees her primarily when driving her to school, or at work, or when they’re both failing to fall asleep.

Mike has never liked him, so his lessening in appearance doesn’t come as a surprise. While Dustin still comes by, but less often than he used to, swept up into Hellfire club, robotics team and the never ending homework of high school. Meanwhile, Lucas has made varsity team, so he is also busy. Steve is so proud of him, but he just hopes that the basketball team doesn’t chew him up and spit him out while Steve can’t look out for him.

Lucas and Max have also broken up, so he doesn’t hang out with Lucas at the trailer park anymore either. He still has gone by to check on her, but she isn’t around or doesn’t open the door. Whenever he is there, he can feel Eddie’s trailer judging him from behind. So, he stopped.

However, he still trains with Lucas from time to time, teaching him things about basketball that he still remembers from when he was star player on the team. Like today, just the two of them shooting hoops on the Sinclair’s driveway.

It’s Wednesday and Chrissy canceled on Steve. She has been doing that more often and Steve doesn’t know what to do about it. Whenever they do hang out, she is still herself and Robin doesn’t note much out of the ordinary if the amount of times she waxes poetry about Chrissy’s smile is anything to go off.

For now, he tries to put it out of his mind and focus on Lucas. He yells: “Don’t dribble too hard, just above the knee. Stay in control.”

Lucas switches up his dribble slightly and Steve immediately has a harder time taking the ball from him. He can see in Lucas’ grin that he notices it too. They twirl around each other for a little longer, before Lucas can make a shot.

Both of them turn to watch as the ball arcs through the air, before bouncing on the rim once, twice, before falling next to it and rolling away with a slight bounce. Steve grimaces and forces a cheer in his voice as he says: “You’ll get it next time.”

He goes to get the ball, leaving Lucas a second the wallow in private, before turning back. In that time, Lucas has slumped on the steps of the house in a way that suggest that he isn’t getting up again. He seems done for the day, but the defeated pose doesn’t sit right with Steve.

So, he sits down next to Lucas and lets the quiet hang over them for a second. Then he asks: “You doing okay?”

The boy next to him sighs in a way that makes him seem way older than he should be. He shrugs, then pauses, before shaking his head. “Not really, no.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Steve offers. He might not be the best at comforting, but he at least knows what Lucas has been through, what he has seen. Sometimes it’s enough to be understood.

“Max has been distant lately,” Lucas says. “She barely talks to us in the hallways of school and we never see her anywhere else. It’s like she’s a ghost sometimes. I don’t know what’s happening. She seemed fine a few weeks ago.”

Steve has noticed the same thing, but he doesn’t want to worry Lucas more when it’s obviously eating at him. So he takes a moment to think. Then he replies: “Max is a tough cookie. She just needs a little bit. Billy’s birthday is coming up, I’m sure that must mess with her a little. She’ll reach out again when she’s ready.”

“You really think so?” Lucas asks, finally looking up from where he’d hung his head. It’s a little like he’s perking up with the glimmer of hope.

In all honesty, Steve isn’t sure. He likes to think she will, but he could be wrong. However, he doesn’t want to rip away the hope he has given Lucas, so he just smiles: “Yeah, I do.”

Lucas smiles back and Steve feels a little guilty, but also glad to see him smile like that. Lucas has already been through much, much more than he should. He wants Lucas to be happy. He still remembers how terrified he looked as Billy had him pinned. It still appears in his nightmares, the what if he hadn’t been on time plaguing him.

So, he pushes away the guilt and moves the topic to something more fun. “You’re becoming really good at avoiding my blocks. A little more and I won’t stand a chance against you.”

“Thanks,” Lucas huffs with a small laugh. “Now if only coach saw that and I could be on the court next game instead of being a bench warmer.”

“Don’t be to hard on yourself, man,” Steve tells him. “You already made varsity in your freshman year, that’s huge. Most don’t make it until the second semester sophomore and then they’re still bench warmers, because coach wants to give the older players scouting chances. Trust me, next year you’re going to be star player.”

“You think so?” Lucas asks.

“Yeah, I do,” Steve says, this time not lying. Lucas is a talent. He adds as a joke: “I might not have been on the team in a while, but I still remember Jason’s try outs for varsity when I was star player in junior year. All his talk is a recent development.”

Lucas is smiling at the start of the sentence, but as he goes on, he sees something dim in how he holds himself. Steve doesn’t think he said anything to get that reaction and frowns: “Hey, where is your mind going off to?”

“The team,” Lucas says, sounding a little hesitant.

Steve still remembers what dicks the team used to be, both when he was on it and when he got bullied away. His heart stops beating as a fear seizes him. “Are they being assholes to you?” he asks immediately. “Because I still have the nail bat and I can have a talk with them.”

“No, no, not that,” Lucas quickly says, which is good to hear, but there is something in his tone that makes Steve suspicious.

“But…” he prompts when Lucas keeps his lips together as if he is keeping something in.

Lucas looks away and rubs the back of his head. He lets out a deep breath, hyping himself up, before looking back at Steve and admitting: “They’re just saying really messed up things about you.”

Oh.

“Oh,” Steve says out loud, he didn’t expect that. Well, he did. He had just hoped the shine would have worn off by the time the kids got Hawkins High, but apparently it’s still bad enough that it got to Lucas. Though Chrissy mentioned how Jason seemingly still has it out for him ever since she rejected him for Steve.

A flash of embarrassment goes through him as he imagines what the others on the basketball team might have said about him. He is well aware of what rumors those boys spread. About how he’s a fag, and a whore fag at that. That he’ll get on his knees for anyone willing to give him the time of day. That he was a filthy queer that stared in the locker rooms. That he was a pussy that hid behind a group of girls. How easily he goes down after a punch. How easily he takes it.

He has heard it all when he still walked those halls. He learned to ignore it and he learned to lie about it to the kids, because he didn’t want them to ever hear that about him. To have the image he held with them be tainted. But they had.

At least Lucas had, because if Max had heard Billy didn’t keep his promise, she would have been upset with Steve and come to him. And Dustin obviously wouldn’t have kept his mouth shut about it.

Fuck, Lucas knows those rumors.

Lucas has heard how Steve might be gay, something he has kept away from all the kids except Will, because Will needed to know it. And now he is still in that limbo, where he knows it about himself, but is working so hard to keep others from seeing.

What if Lucas is looking closer? What if he has guessed? What if all of them know? What if they’re all disgusted by it and that’s why they’ve gotten too busy to hang around Steve anymore?

He doesn’t know what Lucas sees in his face, but he looks like he wants the ground to swallow him up. Yet, he tries to comfort Steve with: “It’s not too bad.”

An involuntary laugh escapes Steve at the placating lie, the disbelief obvious. There is no way it’s not still terrible, but the fact that Lucas is trying to comfort him, eases his nerves a bit.

“Okay, so it is quite bad,” Lucas winces, wringing his hands. “Why didn’t you ever tell us what was happening at school?”

Steve scoffs, can’t help the reaction, and says: “Lucas, I would never drop my shit on a bunch of kids. You all had enough to deal with. I was doing fine anyway. It wasn’t that bad.”

“They’re calling you all sorts of slurs and saying that you’re going to die of AIDS, how is that okay, Steve?” Lucas exclaims, startling Steve with the volume of the outburst.

“Well, it’s not true, so it doesn’t matter,” Steve snaps back.

He doesn’t want to think about how he knows exactly what slurs Lucas is talking about, how they have always clung to him, adding weight to all that drags him down, because he knows they’re true, how he’s been scared shitless of AIDS ever since he last saw his father, even though he has been extra safe when he does fuck, and how those are girls, which make him uncomfortable, a thing he also doesn’t want to think about.

Lucas reels back again by how forcefully Steve says them and Steve internally cringes at how that probably doesn’t help his point, though he keeps a poker face despite it.

He studies Steve for a second and Steve practically holds his breath as he keeps it up, he hopes that Lucas will drop it. He doesn’t, instead, Lucas gets a little quieter. He looks at the ground, then glances back up at Steve and softly says: “But it still hurts, doesn’t it?”

The comment goes deeper than this conversation. It is a cry for recognition. A plea to be heard. To be seen in a pain. A pain that Lucas thinks they might share.

Steve might not be the smartest, but he’s also not an idiot. He knows why Billy went after Lucas but not Dustin for hanging around his sister, knows that fag isn’t the only slur the basketball team throws around, knows that Lucas will hear that too, even if they don’t target him directly and how that can still hurt.

And while he doesn’t want to say anything that might be suspicious, Lucas is one of his kids and he needs to not be alone right now, so he matches Lucas’ quiet tone and admits: “Yeah, it does hurt, a lot. And it fucking sucks.”

Lucas looks relieved by the admission, though an air of sadness still hangs around them. Neither of them can fully know what the other is going through, but for a moment they aren’t alone in their misery and sometimes that can be enough. Lucas huffs out a small laugh and agreed: “It does fucking suck.”

“Don’t tell your mom I used that word,” Steve jokingly threatens. He is glad he was able to help Lucas feel better, but he needs this conversation to be over now. To not have Lucas go poking further than this.

“I won’t,” Lucas laughs. “Besides, she’s heard worse from Dustin.”

“Dustin got some of that from me, I have to be honest there,” Steve comments with a grin, making Lucas laugh more.

Steve wants to move on to other things, however, something is still gnawing on him. He is not there to protect these kids and he cares so much about them, so he needs to be assured that Lucas will be okay on his own in the basketball team. “The others aren’t targeting you, right?”

“No,” Lucas assures him. “Patrick has taken me under his wing a bit, which is nice. He’s also black and good friends with Jason, so they mostly leave us be.” He’s quiet for a second, then adds: “It’s some of the other kids that get targeted. I never really do anything and I feel like I’m the worst because of it.”

“Don’t,” Steve immediately says and Lucas looks surprised, as if he expected Steve to say something different. After all the times Steve threw himself between them and danger that is pretty valid, but that is so much different than this. That isn’t a permanent slight in the eyes of the town, Steve knows how that feels. It is very much not the same.

“Don’t?” Lucas repeats with a confused frown.

“It’s not worth it, trust me,” Steve tells him. “The next time they rag on a poor kid, who also doesn’t deserve it or talk shit about me, you stay quiet, you hear me? You keep your mouth shut. Me and some random kid, aren’t worth being an outcast over. I know it sucks, but it’s how to survive high school. Promise me?”

“Okay, yeah, I promise,” Lucas says, unsettled by the intensity.

Steve isn’t under the illusion that he is the first to say this to Lucas. His parents must be worried sick about him as well, but Lucas might be more willing to listen to Steve than his uncool parents, especially since Steve has a hero status in Lucas’ mind. So, he says it anyway.

“Good, just keep your head down and stick to Patrick,” Steve nods. “Patrick cool?”

“Yeah,” Lucas says with a small smile. “He’s a little withdrawn, but he has this sick fade away long shot that he’s been teaching me.”

“Sounds great. Show me?” Steve asks, getting up and holding the ball out to Lucas. It’s a way to get out of their heads again, away from the heavy conversation, something Steve thinks they both need right now.

Fortunately, Lucas takes the ball with a grin, both of them getting back in position, so that Lucas can show off the shot. It’s a fun way to forget about all the bad and Steve sees himself in Lucas, how he used sports to get out of his head for a bit. That afternoon, he vows to go to all of his games, even if he’s on the bench every time.

Over the following weeks, Steve is there at all Lucas’ games as the team slowly climbs their way up through the championships. Steve has to admit they’re good, they might stand a chance at winning this year.

Meanwhile, life goes on in other places as well, in its own rickety way.

Chrissy cancels more and more, it’s been weeks since they stunted together, even if they finally got their handstand stunt. Steve misses it more than he wants to admits. Misses Chrissy even more, only glimpsing at her during Lucas’ games, her smiles looking fake and her cheer uniform loose.

Steve worries about her, but knows it isn’t his place to talk about her struggles with Robin. So, he just gives Robin a little too many snacks and hopes she knows how to share. However, Chrissy is no longer sitting with Robin during lunch, another worrying development that has other consequences as well.

“She totally knows!” Case in point. Robin is hanging over the counter, looking defeated. She has been the only person not falling apart around Steve and he needs her to be okay. He hates to see her sad like this. Especially when he can’t fix it.

“How would she know?” he counters, knowing it’s not enough, but having to try anyway.

Robin glares at him, before throwing her hands about: “I don’t know, dingus. Maybe I stared at her too long or said something embarrassing and weird, because I keep on humiliating myself around her and she caught on and now she hates me.”

“Chrissy doesn’t hate you,” Steve insists. He is 99% sure of that, despite the lack of contact between them now. There is something else going on with her, he just doesn’t know what and that bothers him to all hell.

“Did she tell you that?” Robin counters.

“You know she didn’t,” Steve glares at her, before taking a deep calming breath. They both have been on edge and the last thing he wants to do, is snap at her and have yet another friendship fall apart.

Robin is observing him and when he looks at her again, normally this time, she says: “Sorry, I didn’t mean to push.”

“It’s okay,” he sighs. “It’s not like you’re in control of her pulling away.”

“And what if I am? What if I’m right and she did notice my crush on her and now she’s disgusted and pulling away? What then?” Robin rambles anxiously.

“Then she’s a dick and we don’t want to be friends with her,” Steve states, because that is obvious in his brain. “But that’s not the reason, she’s too nice for that.”

“You sure?” Robin asks.

“I’m sure,” Steve confirms.

They’re both quiet for a second, then Robin speaks up, her voice an odd mix of disbelief, awe and skepticism, as she asks: “You would really drop her if she wasn’t okay with my crush?”

It’s an echo of when Steve figured her out, when she was unsure if Steve would be okay with it and it still amazes him that she doesn’t know that he would do anything for her. “Yeah, I would. Of course, I would. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I don’t know,” Robin shrugs, not meeting his eyes. “You two have been friends longer than we have. I wouldn't hold it against you.”

“Robs, 1) if she is homophobic, I don’t want to be friends with her and 2) you’re my platonic soulmate, I’m always going to put you first,” he says, putting as much intent and genuineness in his voice as he can in the hope she’ll believe him.

“Platonic soulmates, eh?” she grins, not fully acknowledging it, but tentatively daring to believe by not countering it or questioning him.

“With a capital P,” Steve grins back. “You’re stuck with me now, Buckley.”

“I’m holding you to that, Stevie,” she replies, knowing he doesn’t like his last name.

The next day are the championships. Steve is in Family Video alone, waiting until he can go clock out and get the girl he’s bringing for show. He’s a little self aware around the basketball team since his talk with Lucas, so it will be good to be seen with a girl on his arm.

He’s bored out of his mind, so glad when the phone rings. He picks up: “You’ve reached Family Video, this is Steve. How-”

“Yeah, Steve,” Dustin cuts of his standard greeting. “I need you to play DnD with me and the rest of Hellfire tonight.”

“What? Why?” Steve replies, unsure why they would be playing tonight.

“Because it’s the ending of the campaign and we need someone else,” Dustin says. “Eddie is on our ass to find someone, please.”

At the mention of Eddie’s name, a shiver goes through his body. He cannot face Eddie. Not like that. The need to hide away comes over him and he throws out: “No, I can’t, I have a date.”

“Just move your date this one time,” Dustin demands. “Come on.”

Usually Steve is a pushover and would easily bend to that demand, but he can’t. Lucas is playing tonight, it’s the championship. And it’s Eddie. Eddie, who hates him. Eddie, who makes him feel things. And he just can’t.

His brain goes to a patented method and a little meanly he says: “What? To hang out with you and Eddie “The Freak” Munson? Uh, yeah, I’ll pass.”

The moment he says it, he hates himself. He vowed not to do this anymore and now he is. Fuck, why is he like that?

Dustin doesn’t notice, luckily, and just says: “You’re just jealous because I have another older male friend.”

And a part of Steve is jealous. Jealous that Dustin gets to hang out with Eddie without feeling like he wants to explode, either from horniness, fear or embarrassing mushy feelings. Feelings that also make him want to hide away.

He knows he has them, that they won’t go away, but every time he thinks he can accept that, another voice speaks up and crushes it. It’s a constant battle and at this point, he isn’t even sure what team he’s on.

But he doesn’t tell Dustin that, instead he says: “Iew. Ugh. Whatever,” before making up some story about really digging this girl, whose name he has already forgotten, before pretending a customer comes in, so he can hang up on Dustin.

It’s not until, he’s getting ready to go for the game, that he is centered enough to realize that Dustin was looking for a replacement for Lucas. That Eddie isn’t postponing the session so Lucas can be there and make the championship.

If they were still friends, he would’ve said something about it to Eddie. Then he realizes that this might be Eddie outing his anger at Steve and all his jockiness that he showed Eddie when he stomped all over him. And he feels a little sicks with it.

Fuck, hopefully spring break will be what they all need to get off this roller coaster again. A little bit of a break away from it all will be good for them.

A/N:

Robin being surprised that Steve wants to be her friend, that she is also friends with Chrissy, that they want her around, it’s breaking my heart </3

Also Lucas deserves so much more and the Duffers keep doing him dirty, I’m so mad about that actually >:(

(Disclaimer: I am white and probably not the best to write about this, but it wanted to note the fact that Lucas is dealing with other shit too in there as well. Hopefully that came across okay and if I said anything offensive, please let me know)

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gorogues · 1 year ago

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Fictober 2023

Prompt number #8 Fanfiction Fandom: Flash Rogues Rating: T – Teen and up Warnings: Profanity.

Day Eight: “Give me that, before anything happens.”

The Rogues weren’t scavengers by nature, but they never missed an opportunity which presented itself. And so they found themselves searching the wreckage of a huge battlefield, the aftermath of yet another ‘Crisis’, seeking anything of interest.

“I found some weird bracelet,” Mark announced, holding up a Thanagarian war gauntlet. “Nice solid metal for scrap.” It echoed strangely when he tapped it.

“Not as good as I was hopin’ for, but it’s something,” Len shrugged. They were finding the pickings disappointingly slim, and Mick was privately wondering if the heroes had already combed the battlefield for useful weapons. Still, the Rogues didn’t have much else to do as the city was rebuilt.

“Guys, look what I found!” Axel shouted about ten minutes later, running on air with something in his hand. “It’s a freakin’ Green Lantern ring!”

“Are ye certain?” Evan said skeptically as he snatched it away for examination, ignoring the obvious frustration of the kid. “It isnae doing a’thing.”

“Maybe it got damaged in the fight,” Mick suggested, though Mark looked contemptuous, annoyed at having his find overshadowed by something that was much cooler.

“It’s fake. Throw it out.”

Len frowned with concern. “We can’t take that chance. Give it to me before something happens,” and Evan reluctantly handed it over to the boss.

The ring began to glow as soon as Len touched it, bathing them all in a bright green light.

“Leonard Snart of Earth, you have demonstrated great will. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps,” the ring declared in a sonorous voice unlike anything they’d ever heard before, its words audible to all. In an instant, Len was wearing a sleek green coat with the symbol of the Lantern Corps on its front.

“Holy…” Mark exclaimed breathlessly, eyes wide, though not everyone looked impressed.

“Now he’s gonna be more insufferable than ever,” Mick muttered quietly, and Axel was even more frustrated than before.

“That’s my ring! I found it!” the boy insisted, jumping up and down and dancing around the others in his exasperation.

Len looked regretful. “Sorry, kid, I didn’t know that was gonna happen. But this is pretty fuckin’ cool, honestly. Just imagine what we’ll be able to do with this thing!”

“We c’n rob every bank on the planet,” Evan suggested with great enthusiasm.

“I don’t know if the ring works that way…” Mick pondered aloud, but Len wasn’t bothered by any nay-saying skepticism.

“Don’t matter, we’ll find out as we go,” Len said confidently, but somebody cleared his throat behind them.

“Great plan, guys, but I’m afraid I’ll have to put a damper on it. Hand over the ring,” Hal Jordan told them with a grin. He hovered a few feet above them and looked very amused by the entire situation.

“No way. The ring picked me,” Len declared, and the other Rogues nodded in firm agreement.

“Oh geez, I guess that means it’s yours under intergalactic law,” Hal said with a serious look on his face, though he couldn’t hold it for long. “No, actually, I have full authority from Oa to take it back ASAP. Sorry.”

Hal’s own ring began to glow, and the one on Len’s hand responded in kind. In moments, the ring floated off Len’s finger and flew to the waiting hand of the Green Lantern, and Cold’s new costume immediately reverted back to his usual blue parka.

“You asshole!” Len snarled, though firing his cold gun at Hal did nothing because of the ring’s protective shield. The other Rogues found the same when they also turned their weapons against their new foe in sympathetic anger.

“Thanks for the laugh, guys, and for finding the ring. We couldn’t detect it until you activated it just now, so we really do owe you a debt. See you around!” Hal called as he turned and flew into the stratosphere. In seconds, he was gone.

“Well that really sucked,” Axel said sullenly, and none of the others could disagree. Len put a friendly hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah. But you did good finding it and letting us know about it. So thanks.”

Axel brightened at what was high praise indeed. “Of course! I just wish we coulda gotten rich off it.”

“I’m gonna get a few bucks for my bracelet,” Mark said with probably unwarranted pride, though Len snorted at him.

“I guess we should keep looking.”

#fictober23 #Captain Cold #Heat Wave #Weather Wizard #the Trickster #Mirror Master #Evan #Axel #Green Lantern #fanfic

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lonelyfanboy48 · 5 months ago

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We Bare Bears Canadian Freedom Or Hibernation Heartsick Chapter 9 Vilify Perpetrators

In the San Francisco prison, locked in one of the isolation cells, an ex agent sat down on his bed, looking at the ground in defeat even after all the time that had passed since he got arrested. All he can think of is what he’ll do to the type of animals that got him arrested in the first place, without a reflection that leads to his arrest. His cell didn’t even have a light, nor a window, he slept in total darkness, whilst other criminals actually had lights and some windows in their cells. But at the end of the day, he couldn’t have cared less knowing he can’t escape the prison even if he tried. And if he succeeded, his vengeance won’t happen with the odds against him with society in San Francisco being the opposite of what he sees.

Then Officer Murphy entered the hall of cells, he walked down the hall while hitting the ex agent’s cell with his baton, gently. “Buck Trout.” He called to his attention. “You made bail.”

Buck lifted his head up while turning to the police officer. “I made bail?” He spoked.

“Yes but there’s still conditions for you to follow.” He took out his key to unlock the cell door while taking out his hand cuffs. “We’re having a meeting with the person who bailed you out.”

Buck slowly got up as he turned around, allowing Murphy to handcuff him. Upon going through rooms in the building, he took him to the courtroom where the person who bailed him out, sat down in front of the judge. He turned to him, not giving him a smile but at the same time, he wouldn’t do what he did considering the ex agent hadn't heard of him.

“Please sit down.” Murphy ordered as Buck sat next to the person as Murphy stood next to the judge. “Do the honors.”

The judge looked straight at Buck who he still isn’t on best terms due to his crimes. “Buck Trout, I won’t tolerate that you're getting released, but after talking to Barry Charles, we agreed to it, but you need to follow the conditions.”

When Buck turned to Barry, he precisely stayed on topic. “What are the conditions?” He turned back to the judge.

“There’s three conditions. First condition is that you're banned from San Francisco. Not only are you not allowed to step any feet close to the bears here, we’re not allowing you to cause anymore crises.”

“Trust me, he’ll be in mental control.” Barry replied.

“The second condition is you’re not participating in any wildlife control program with the fake news you made.”

“Just because we’re protecting the animals in San Francisco, doesn’t mean we’re allowing other states to have the same problems.” Murphy added.

Buck knew there’s no way any wildlife company would hire him if they found out about his track record. “I’ll distance myself to any wildlife control facilities, including zoos.”

“The final condition is if you commit the same crimes like before, we’re putting you into solitary confinement, permanently.” The judge laid down the law. “We’re also informing Barry that if he allows you to cause any crisis, he’s also getting arrested.”

“That will never happen.” Barry smiled. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t harm any animal as long as I’m keeping an eye on him.”

“You better because after weeks of discussing this, we won’t hesitate for a second to lock you up.” Murphy pointed at Barry.

“You may have the money to bail out a terrible criminal, but that doesn’t mean he and you are off the hook.” The judge added. “But to be fair…you didn’t commit a crime and the company you work in…doesn’t involve animals so, be smart about it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m more intelligent to keep animals from harm’s way.” Barry replied.

“Then with that, Buck Trout has been released.” The judge hit his board with his gavel, as Murphy uncuffed Buck. Barry and Buck headed outside of the prison while he took the released prisoner to his private jet at the airport. Throughout the whole time upon driving to the airport, Buck didn’t say a word when Barry bailed him out. He wasn’t happy, but wasn't complaining either. He doesn’t even know who Barry Charles is, especially why he’s bailing him out. But every time he looked back at him, he smirked, awaiting the moment to talk to him.

They arrived at the airport as Barry offered him a hood to protect his identity from the public. If he doesn't have a private jet, someone will reorganize him inside the airport, especially no one’s allowed to wear a hood when security's in charge. Upon arriving at the private jet, Barry invited Buck in as he entered last. He closed the jet door as Buck took off his hood with the windows closing off the light.

“I don’t know how or why you’re doing this for me, but this has to be important.” Buck replied.

“Oh trust me.” Barry smirked. “This is more important than you think.” He ordered the pilot to start the plane as the plane began to move. “So how did you get into jail?”

“It was the bears…I tried to put them on lockdown under my control and…”

“They exposed you as a criminal who harms bears?”

“How did you know?”

“I saw it live on TV when it happened.”

Buck remembered he was on international television when he got arrested, especially the huge rescue the bears did. “You know those bears?”

“One of them I've encountered twice. And I’ve heard that he and his brothers are going to Canada. Which is where we’re going.” The plane lifted itself off the ground, up in the air as it headed to Canada. Barry took Buck to the other room where he had three other people sitting by the table. One who’s shaking in desperation, the other who has a golf hat on, and the final was a hunter who still takes pleasure in setting up traps. It took Buck by notice even if he doesn’t know any of these people.

As Buck and Barry sat down by the table, the three looked at Buck who they also saw on TV. “Who are you people?” He spoked.

“I’m Dave.” Dave replied. “I was once stranded on an island until Barry rescued me.”

“When did you rescue him?”

“Last week during my travels over the world. He was on that island for far too long, he told me everything.” Barry answered. “Let’s just say cubs ruined his happily ever after.”

“They took the love of my life away from me. No matter how long ago it was, I will never forget what they looked like.” Dave clenched his fist on the table.

“I’m Norm.” Norm introduced himself. “I have been planning on creating golf courses since…I love golf courses and there’s a ton in Canada.”

“He told me he planned on turning the forest in San Francisco into a golf course, but the ranger who lived there along with the other rangers from all over the world, stopped him.” Barry filled in.

“I disguised myself as a ranger when Ranger Tabes left. Those bears knew I wasn’t better than her, but it was never part of my goal.”

“These bears have more enemies than I thought.” Buck replied. “They’ve got into more trouble, outside of San Francisco.”

“You have no idea.” Barry said.

“I’m the yowie hunter, Courtney mate.” Courtney crossed his arms with a grin on his face. “I’ve seen you being thrown in jail the moment it happened.”

“I didn’t look at you, nor the other prisoners.” Buck said.

“I know you didn’t, but I knew those bears were on your mind. Because I haven’t gotten them off my mind, especially that Ranger of theirs.”

“I made my employees bail him a week ago. We needed to keep our plan intact, without anyone in the way, including the bears.”

“We’re lucky they’re busy with their flight to Canada, especially we’ve heard they could be heading to Toronto.”

“Which we’re not going to, Vancouver is where we’re heading, more than forty hours away from Toronto on the road.”

Buck wished he was closer to the city the bears are heading to, but the way Barry and the others are united in revenge as much as he does, he’s not against the idea of heading to Vancouver. “Seems we all have something in common. Our enemies are the same bears, cubs to grow, it’s like they once traveled around the world to stop anyone on their way.” He commented.

“You don’t even know how their teamwork would affect us.” Dave responded.

“Especially with all their friends on their side, it’s impossible to ruin their vacation if one of them interferes.” Norm added.

“I knew that their Ranger would tell their closest friends about us.” Courtney added.

“That is…if they’re aware of us being in Canada, which they don’t.” Barry took the remote from the center on the table as he pressed the button to turn the TV screen on. It showed Grizz, Panda, and Ice Bear in bear stack formation. “I may know Ice Bear the most, but I’m slowly getting to know who his brothers are.”

“Panda has a girlfriend.” Dave filled in.

“You mean…his girlfriend is a panda?” Buck replied.

“No.”

Barry then clicked the button on the remote, revealing a photo of Panda kissing Amanda from Valentine’s Day. “A human as a girlfriend.” He spoked.

“How did society get this way?” Buck twitched his eye.

“The people who respect the bears more than us.” He then pressed another button to turn to the next photo, revealing Grizz on the news, protecting his cave from being destroyed to turn it into a cellphone tower. “They once protected their home when they got the chance. You once took over their home right?”

“Yes. I had the upper hand all the while tracking down the bears.”

“Seems it was a difficult mission for ya?”

“Mostly, it just took a long time when I captured them.”

“It happens when they resist defeat.” Barry then pressed the button again to reveal another photo. This time it’s Ice Bear destroying all the robots from the HQ he got himself into. “And this bear is the definition of resisting defeat.”

Buck remembered how much Ice Bear expressed when it captured him along with his brothers. “Getting on his angry side was something I had to learn the hard way.”

“He’s way smarter when I comforted him the second time.” He then turned to the following photo, revealing Yana by Ice Bear’s side. “I know for a fact she’s coming since I’ve had history with her.”

“We don’t have photos of the other people who’ll come along.” Norm replied. “But if we see them with the bears, we need to prevent them from interfering with our plans.”

“They will never accept us as friends of who we are.” Courtney said.

“Nobody wants us to be their friends if they knew about the terrible things we did.” Dave added. “But it’s not like it’ll stop us forming a revenge team.”

“So you want me to join your crusade?” Buck responded. “For your information, I had everything when I was in control of wildlife.”

“You mean all those bears you put in cages?” Barry asked.

“Yes, if I didn’t underestimate them that led to all of the bears getting released, I would’ve just left them free. Even if they still wouldn’t be able to enter Canada.”

“Leaving them free would’ve solved your problems.” Courtney responded. “But if there’s one thing they should learn, it's what goes around, comes around.”

“They’ve won against us, but we’re still their problems.” Dave replied. “And we’re doing it the hard way.”

Barry turned to the following photo, revealing the building he and his group are going to upon arrival to Vancouver. “This is the new HQ of my company. It has everything we need to put our plan into action.”

“There’s a few people, mostly creatures who'll be waiting for us there.” Dave said. “Let’s say, Panda’s heart will be broken in pieces while…Canada will have another cub near Tornado.”

“You have a bear?” Buck responded.

“Yes. She may not be a person, but she will when the bears meet her.” Barry replied. “It’ll be a surprise once we arrive at our HQ.” He turned off the TV as he got up. “I would love to show more of our plan but it’s still a work in progress.”

“I still can’t believe you bailed me out, but…I’m still new to this crusade.”

“You'll get used to it, especially since you’re just as intelligent as me.”

“With him being a billionaire, anything is possible.” Norm commented.

“This mate’s way of vengeance is vicious.” Courtney grinned.

“Indeed because of what happened to me,” He took off his makeup, revealing the scar he got from his second encounter with Ice Bear. It took Buck by surprise, but not the others, since they saw Barry’s true face when they met him for the first time. “I’ll do anything more horrible to ruin all the goodwill they have in life.”

Buck couldn’t disagree, in fact the scar shows the vengeance in Barry, which slowly grew a sinister grin on his face. “When we arrive at HQ, I’ll think of a strategy that’ll involve one of their friends into our trap.”

“Now that’s the person I want vengeance out of.”

The plane continued to fly higher up the sky, heading to Vancouver in two hours. Barry knows for a fact the more outlaws he recruits with their history of the bears, they will form the most heinous plan to ruin the bears and their friends. With Buck on their side, they know he’s a bigger menace towards the bears more than them. He may not have a plan yet but once he sees the inside of HQ, he’ll go back to his old ways like before, breaking all the conditions as long as he’s hiding from the police in Canada. He’ll make sure no one comes in his way.

#we bare bears #canada #Agent Trout #fanfic #cartoon network #fanfiction #Barry Charles #Dave #Norm #Courtney #Officer Murphy

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