#apparently I'm doing fine at figuring it out since the answer to half the questions I asked was 'idk...'

[tidepoolalgae]

bruhhhhhh my new job seems fine as of rn but why are they taking the "figure it out" approach to their training? sure I can figure things out but I'd do better with instructions!! 💀

[hjparisian]

time doesn't wait for you- theodore nott x reader

p: theodore nott x fem!reader w: angst, sad, cussing summary: a few years after the war, theodore is forced to step back onto the grounds of hogwarts, where he finds an old lover he misses. a/n: something about writing theo angst has me all :D but reading it is like D: anyways sorry for breaking your hearts

Theodore had no intentions to join in on this event. In fact, he wanted to avoid this whole thing entirely. He almost succeeded too if it wasn't for his best friend Blaise randomly apparating to his apartment earlier that day begging him to join.

"Come on Theo."

"No," he told him. "There's no point in going."

"There's always a point in going to a party."

"It's not even a party, more like some idiotic get together."

The 'party' in question was a reunion and a celebration of the ending of the war. All Hogwarts alumni were invited, no matter the age or the house you were in.

"It will be a party when we're there."

Classic Blaise, it was like the war never changed him.

Unlike it did to Theodore.

"Still. I'm not going."

Blaise rolled his eyes at the boy on the bed. "Come on man, Draco will be there with Astoria and her sister. Mattheo and Enzo are going too. It won't be a real reunion without you."

Theodore groans at his best friend's insistence. "You're not gonna give up are you?"

"Nope," Blaise says. "You're always locked in your apartment ever since your hearing at the ministry."

Ah yes. That. Because of Theodore's father allegiance with the Dark Lord, he was questioned for working along side him. They were not wrong though. His father made him to join the Death Eaters in his sixth year. Luckily for Theodore, they ruled it as him being forced to join by his father and was just given some community service.

"Not always," the boy grumbles.

Blaise snorted. "Yeah, sure." The boy walked to Theodore's closet and began rummaging through his wardrobe.

"What are you doing?" He asked him.

"I'm helping you get ready," Blaise told him. Theodore groaned.

"Come on Theo. Just go for a bit, you don't have to stay for the whole thing. What's stopping you?"

Theodore remained silent, his head in his hands. Despite his silence, Blaise was able to figure it out.

"You're scared to run into her, aren't you?"

Theodore sighed before nodding his head. "It's been forever since I last saw her, during the war," he mutters, looking at his best friend. "I never got to explain everything to her."

Blaise sat on the bed next to Theodore. "Mate, it'll be alright. I'm sure she understands why you left her."

But Blaise never witnessed the hurt in her eyes when Theodore broke things off at the beginning of sixth year, nor when he saw her during the battle at Hogwarts. Theodore just shook his head.

"I don't know."

"You might not even see her," Blaise said to him. "I heard there's quite a bit of people going. Plus we will be by your side. I know Enzo misses you."

Theodore sat and thought for a bit before answering. "Fine. Only because you probably would make me go either way."

Blaise had left Theodore to get ready at his own place, promising to meet up with him at Hogsmeade where they would travel to Hogwarts together.

The boy stood in front of the mirror in his room, gazing at his opposite. The person staring back at him was only a shell of what remained of him, the war and his father torturing him. Would she even want to look at him?

He shifted his gaze to the small clock on his nightstand, indicating it was almost time for him to leave. Theodore was half tempted to stay home and not go, but he couldn't, knowing Blaise would probably be on his ass if he didn't show.

Theodore half-willingly exited the comfort of his home to apparate to Hogsmeade to meet with his old friends. As soon as he arrived, the boy began wandering around in search of his old mates, until he found a head of white-blonde hair.

"Theo!"

A girl with dark shoulder length hair wrapped her arms around him in a hug, catching him off guard. The girl stepped back, taking a look at her friend.

"It's been forever! I was starting to get worried about you."

"It has been," Theodore states. "But I'm alright, no need to worry Pansy."

"We have every right to," said Enzo. "You barely reached out to us. Not since the trials. Even Mattheo over here has been reaching us and he had it worse." Mattheo nodded at Enzo's words.

"I've been busy."

"We're all together now, so does it matter?" Blaise points out. "We should start heading towards the school."

The group begun their trek towards the school. Everyone was all catching up with each other, updating how their lives have been. How Draco had begun dating Astoria not too long after the war, how Enzo and Mattheo had recently got an apartment together, Pansy's fling with some witch she met on vacation, and Blaise's many rendezvous.

Theodore remained silent, taking in all information, until Draco's voice cut through the air.

"So Theo, you haven't told us what you've been up to."

"Yeah, last I heard was you having to do some service for the Ministry after your trial," Mattheo said.

"I haven't been doing much," Theodore began. "Mainly reading. Picking up the odd job here and there."

"Didn't you want to be a healer?" Astoria inquired. "I remember Draco telling me that a while ago."

Theodore looked at Draco who looked away, looking a bit embarrassed. Theodore remembered confiding in the Malfoy boy about this one night during their teen years, but he knew he couldn't. Not with his father wanting him to join the Ministry like him.

Another person had known about this dream career. And she was the one person who encouraged him to pursue it. He still remembers what she said to him about it

"Who cares what your father says? That bastard doesn't know shit. You would be a wonderful healer. I know you've healed my heart," she teasingly says.

Theodore shivered at the memory.

"I did."

Before the group could ask anymore questions, the voices of others caught their attention. They had arrived at the castle.

Theodore let his eyes wandered as they walked towards the Great Hall. The last time he stepped on these grounds, they were in shambles. Sometimes he still sees it in his nightmares.

The Great Hall seemed brighter than the boy remembered. Perhaps it was the gold and silver decorations lining the walls. Instead of the four long tables, there multiple round tables around the room. It reminded Theodore of the Yule Ball.

He remembered how he felt the night of the Yule Ball. He built up the courage to ask out the one girl he had a crush on. Granted, Enzo kept annoying him about it, saying if he wasn't going to ask her out, then he would.

Needless to say, Theodore asked her out the next day.

He was nervous. The moment he saw her in her gown, he felt time stop. He was a lucky man that day.

"You know Theo, I was waiting for you to ask me," she tells him while they danced.

He smiles shyly. "Sorry. Just needed a little push I guess."

"It's alright," she tells him. "I would always wait for you."

Theodore shook the memory from his head, trying to tune in to what his friends were talking about. A nudge from the person next to him caught his attention.

Enzo leaned towards Theodore. "Hey isn't that (Y/N) over there?" He looked over to where his friend was pointing to see his former lover, talking to the Patil twins.

She looked gorgeous in Theodore's eyes. The way her hair was styled. The way her dress sat on her shoulders. The way it framed her body. The way her eyes still sparkle like they did back in their schools years. It felt like the Yule Ball all over again.

Oh god, shit feels deja vu.

Theodore continued to watch as she interacted with their old classmates. Seeing her laugh at something Hermione Granger said made something flutter in his stomach.

He didn't even realize how long he was staring until a pair of fingers were snapping right in front of him.

"Hey, Theo!"

Blaise stood right by him, for how long or when he got there, Theodore didn't know. He turned to his mate and looked at him.

"Been trying to get your attention for a bit," Blaise told him. "What were you looking at?"

"Nothing," he quickly said.

Blaise raised an eyebrow, not believing a word he said. He looked in the direction of where Theodore was gazing a few moments ago. He paused when his eyes set on something and they widened, realizing who his friend was staring at.

Blaise smirked a bit. "Ooohh, I see. You were looking at her."

"What? No I wasn't," Theodore denied. It was blatantly obvious that he was.

"Just go talk to her."

"No."

"What's going on?" Mattheo asks.

"Nothing. Nothing is going on."

"He's been staring at his ex this whole time," Enzo tells him.

"(Y/N)?" questions Draco.

The whole Slytherin gang was staring at Theodore, curious about what's going on.

Merlin put me in Azkaban, Theodore thought.

"What happened between you two?" Astoria questioned. Merlin shut up.

As Mattheo was about to answer, Theodore cut him off. "Just didn't work out." But oh how he wish they did. Astoria nodded her head, deciding not to probe any further.

The topic came to an end thankfully as Enzo and Mattheo went to grab drinks and Draco and Astoria started chatting with Daphne. Theodore stood by Pansy and Blaise as the two were talking about who knows what.

He let his gaze wander again to her. (Y/N) was with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, talking with some of the former Gryffindor quidditch players.

"Do you miss her?"

Theodore looked towards Pansy, staying silent. The boy let out a sigh before answering. "I do."

"Why don't you just talk to her?" She asks him.

"I can't."

"Well, why not?"

"He's scared," Blaise says. "The last time they've talked to each other was after the break up. Then she found out he was a Death Eater during the war."

"You broke things off because of that, didn't you?" Pansy inquired. Theodore nodded his head.

"I didn't want her to get involved in that bullshit."

"You need to talk to her Theo," the dark haired girl told him. "She probably heard about your trial, (Y/N) has to understand what happened."

"Pansy's right," said Blaise. "The war is over, people are healing and moving on. I'm sure she will understand."

But Theodore hasn't.

"No."

"Mate, come on. We both know you miss her."

"Yeah. I'm sure she misses you too. You just have to try-"

"I said I'm not gonna do it." He was started to feel frustrated.

Pansy starts to reach out toward the boy. "Theo-"

"I'm getting a drink." Theodore walks away from his mates, who watched him leave with concern.

The boy walks towards the refreshment table, grabbing a glass of elf made wine. He began downing the glass, until a sweet familiar voice caught him off guard.

"Theo?"

The boy turned around to see the one person he's been thinking about this whole night. Of course the first thing to happen as soon as he saw her was for him to begin choking on the wine he was drinking.

"Theo!" The girl exclaimed as she rushed to help him. The girl conjured up a cup of water for him to drink as he stopped coughing.

"Merlin are you alright?" (Y/N) asked him.

"Yeah, was just surprised that's all."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's alright. Not your fault," He tells her.

The two stood in silence until (Y/N) broke it.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Theodore nods. "It has. A couple years actually."

"How have you been?" She asks him.

"Been alright," Theodore says to her. "Hasn't been a smooth couple of years but I've managed. How are you?"

"I've been well. Been working at the ministry. It's a lot but has helped put my mind off other things." (Y/N) said. "Have you gotten a job at St. Mungo's yet?"

"Huh? What for?"

"You know," (Y/N) began. "As a healer?"

If Theodore had to be honest, he wasn't expecting her to remember. Hell, he would've thought she would forget all about him. "No."

"Really?" She looked at him in confusion.

He nodded his head. "Just a lot going on since the war. Also I don't think anyone would want a former death eater treating them."

He noticed her breath hitch at the mention of him being a death eater, but decided not to say anything about it.

"Well, I think you shouldn't let that stop you," she tells him. "It wasn't deemed as your fault anyways, your bastard father made you."

"You know about my trial?" The boy was a little shocked.

She smiled sheepishly. "I read up on it a bit. Yours and Mattheo's trials were mentioned in the Daily Prophet."

Theodore felt his face go cold as a small oh left his mouth. He should've expected it, considering he's the son of one of the most well known Death Eaters in the country.

"So I guess you understand why things ended the way they did between us," Theodore tells her. "I didn't want anything to happen to you because we were together."

"I mean, I didn't really understand at the time," she tells him. "The trial gave some clarity, but I kind of understand it now."

He nodded. "I hope you know I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Theo," she says, giving him a small smile. "I'm glad you're okay now." Was he really though? He wouldn't say.

He felt his heart quicken at the thought that she was glad he survived the war. She still cares about him, at least that's what he was telling himself.

Maybe, just maybe, if she still cares about him, she may have missed him. Pansy could be right. And maybe, he could get her back. Just maybe.

Theodore decided to take chance, taking Pansy's words to heart. "Hey (Y/N)." She hummed in response.

"I just want to say, that I really missed you." He felt his heart running miles. "And I truly am sorry for what happened between us."

"It's alright, Theo. It's in the past," (Y/N) said, smiling at him.

"But I was wondering," Theodore pauses. "If you would be willing to give it- us, a second chance."

(Y/N)'s eyes widened, not expecting this. Sadness seemed to cloud her features soon after.

"Oh, Theo," she started. "I'm sorry but, no, we can't."

Theodore felt his heart crack. This was not what he was hoping for. "Why not?"

(Y/N) looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers. "I'm engaged Theodore."

It was at that moment when Theodore noticed the diamond ring sitting on her left hand. How did he not notice it?

"With who?"

"With Harry."

Theodore couldn't believe it. He didn't want to.

"We started talking more after the war," she tells him. "With us both at the ministry, some things just led to another."

The boy felt like choking. Like something was in his throat, but he manages to get out one word. "Why?"

"Theodore what did you expect me to do?" She burst out, tears glistening in her eyes. "We were broken up. I couldn't just sit around begging for you to come back. I had to move on! Time doesn't wait for you."

All he could do was stand in silence as (Y/N) attempted to stop the tears from flowing. The pain in her eyes brought back the memories of when he broke things off. Oh how he wish he didn't do it. How he wish they could've just stayed together.

"I'm- I'm sorry," was all he could mutter out.

(Y/N) just shook her head. "I think I should go back to Harry. But it was nice seeing you. Think about the healer job."

She patted his shoulder as she left. Theodore watched with blurry eyes as she walked towards The Boy Who Lived, who wrapped an arm around her waist. Oh how he hated that git and how he wished he was him right now.

It was at that moment Blaise and Pansy appeared at his side. Pansy's voice catching his attention.

"Hey Theo, you alright?"

He shook his head. "I- I lost her."

The love of his life had become the biggest loss of his life. How he wished time would travel back to when they were happy little fourth years.

But unfortunately for him, time doesn't wait for anyone.

[nadianova]

How much time do you spend planning some of your visual novels? At least going by some of them being jam submissions, it feels like you go from pre-production to a finished build very quickly, and it's amazing how you can manage that while still having an awesome story and so many assets.

Also, what is like, the process of planning a story out for you, if there's any vague or concrete similarities that you've noticed?

i think the important context here is that if i get bored/have nothing to do i jhust immediately get really suicidal its like ridiculous how bad it gets(ITS FINE DONT WORRY ABOUT IT IVE HAD 5 YEARS OF THERAPY). so i hate being bored and want to occupy my time wit something fun whatever that is. if i have a project to focus on but especially if I'm working for a game jam i have a deadline and i just decide to myself okay i will release a game now.

because ive made a decent amount of games i roughly have an idea on my capabilities, i can estimate how long it takes for me to write a story so and so long and how long it takes for me to draw stuff i need and how long it takes for me to throw stuff in renpy. these are estimates like as in I'm not accurate with it but still enough that i generally know where to start cutting ideas since the most important part is just having something to submit. i also know to plan around my brain wanting to slam my head into a wall an my hands suddenly giving up on being able to draw.

i think thats the beauty of game jams it forces you to just go for it and release something. releasing a 'bad' game is better than no game at all. experience only comes over time and i think just going for it is the best approach there is. like its literally 2 weeks 1 month whatever of your life. if you have the time and motivation go for it. make it work or fuck it up it wont matter in the grand scheme of things

im not sure what is the motivation behind the question but i do want to point out that this is just my method (if you can even call it a method) and the only way to figure out what works for you is to just try until you find something that actually works for you

idk not everyone will find it doable/fun to plan around spending two weeks gamedev 10 hours a day just cause i wanted to fit in 100 cgs for a jam game but apparently i can do that when i cheat my stupid adhd brain into hyperfocus with adhd meds

READMORE BECAUSE I CANT STOP RAMBLING

as for planning tho i think ideas on their own are worthless and its always about execution in the end. a great idea or a meh idea are the same for me but i do still enjoy the planning process so i keep notes

like i see a great tumblr post or i see some art or visual novel has some scene that inspires me: i save that shit for myself

having a big collection of random floating ideas like that helps me easily pick from especially during a jam type duration. right now i have like 4-5 half-baked project skeletons, some are literally like 3 pictures and some like naomida are a hundred hours worth of me writing world building about how the toilets work in a city with no plumbing cause its -30celcius(i love bringing this up)=

i dont normally plan that much, i tend to just wing it. like for malmaid i seriously just had some rough ideas and just went along as i wrote

same thing for dddeviance i had a handful of scenes that i really wanted to make and knew what kind of start and end it was meant to have and just figured out how to fill the in between. a lot of plot points changed vastly like halfway through i realised my devil + angel combination was stupid and i should just go for fallen angel + angel.

i think there really is no simple answer tho (as evident from the long as hell post) i don't really have a 'process' because every single game has been worked on has come with different type of planning since I'm always trying new stuff to try and distract me from boredom. like I've been using obsidian for naomida while previously I've just used a empty discord serve as my notes app for malmaid and dddeviance

and tbh with naomida I'm running to a new problem where I'm definitely planning too much. like I'm spending too much time fidgeting with details in chapter 4 even when i haven't finished writing chapter 1 just cause its so easy to get in the loop of "oh ill just change this one line" and boom 20 mins spent playing with my notes that didn't really progress my game since by the time i reach this point the whole scene might have shifted to something else

.

but if i had to squeeze an answer itd be something like everything related to my art or writing or games is just like "oooooo that seems fun i should remember this for later" and then i just string 10-100 of those into a story

i tend to write my stories in a format of

character A does this and that

this happens here

puppy play ryona piss orgasm

new day and then this happens here

sad thing happens

more piss orgasm

the end

and just like start filling in more details and working on my story in a nonlinear fashion until i feel like i have a strong enough skeleton that i can start writing my scenes. i hop around a lot, often preferring to write the fun scenes first like ero stuff or the ones I'm the most interested in and then the rest is just filling the blanks and stringing the cool scenes together

[symptoms-syndrome]

Um. Not sure how to TW this? It's nothing too bad or anything but it's. IDK.

I'm feeling really shitty about something that happened this weekend.

It was my brother's birthday on Sunday. His boyfriend came from a state over for it and everything. He wanted to go clubbing on Saturday, so me, our two roommates, him, and his boyfriend got all dolled up and went out to the club.

This was a club I hadn't gone to before. It was kinda known around my circles as the normie gay bar, like where girls go for bachelorette parties and white twinks go and stuff, but like. It's his birthday so I'm not gonna question his choice or anything. I should have known it was more strict on security than the clubs I usually go to TBH. I had bought two of those tiny little bottles of alcohol because like hell am I gonna pay $20 for a G&T inside, and I've literally never had an issue with that before at the clubs I usually go to. Yes, it's against the rules, but at most they'd ask me to throw it out or something, which is no big loss because they're like a dollar fifty.

Anyway, this security person asked to check my bag and I thought I had put it off to the side where it was less visible, and again I never had a huge issue with this. But he said he couldn't let me in. Reasonable I guess, and I said I'd throw it out. He said no, I can't come in for the rest of the night. Again, I get it, but like. Still.

So me + the roommates (who also had alcohol, but hadn't had their bags checked yet) said ok, we'll go and brother + his boyfriend can have fun inside. We planned to wait like an hour and circle back to see if there was a different security guy who wouldn't remember, and I'd just drink my alcohol so I wouldn't have any contraband on me. We went around the block to some fast food place to hang out.

I sorta figured like. My brother enjoys clubbing on his own or with other friends (who were coming in an hour,) he can have fun and we can come back and join him or not. Plus his boyfriend is with him.

Except like. Apparently this wasn't the case. Apparently he had come looking for us, and we weren't there. When we went back, the same security guy was there, so one of my roommates decided to go in and find him, tell him I couldn't get in, and ask if he wanted to go to a different club or I could just go home, either was fine with me. Except she couldn't find him. Other roommate went in to help with the search. He couldn't find him either. Eventually his friends get there. No one can find him. We ask security to help. They're unhelpful. He's wearing really distinctive clothes (he was very goth, and as I said before the club is a VERY normie club) and they still refused to help. There was an hour and a half search party, he didn't answer his phone (I forgot that he had given it to me, since he didn't have pockets, and his boyfriend had given his phone to our roommate.) Eventually I see him walking past the club and almost cried because I was so relieved. Everyone gives him hugs. He gives everyone hugs. We all decide to go home because we had all been so worried. I say we can go clubbing again tomorrow.

I just feel really awful. I feel like I ruined his birthday. He wanted to go out and have fun and instead it turned into this immensely scary and stressful experience. And it feels like it's my fault. Partially because I forgot I had his phone, partially because I figured he'd be fine without me. It feels almost. IDK. Mean. To assume that he'd just have fun on his own. That he wouldn't want me to be there with him to celebrate his birthday. Devaluing myself hurt him. And that sucks. I just don't know what to do about it. Sunday we didn't go clubbing we just sort of. Stayed home. I did some small stuff, made him breakfast and the day previous I had made him monkey bread. I'm bad at gift giving but I like making people food.

I dunno. I just feel like I failed. I stopped being overprotective for one night (something I was definitely struggling with) and fucked everything up.

[queentheweeb]

Shouta Aizawa X Autistic Female Reader

A/N: Your quirk is time reverse meaning you can revert an event or de-age a person

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You were always told that you weren't going to be a mother. At first, it started once you were diagnosed with autism at 18 months old. You didn't understand what Autism has to do with your ability to be a proper mother or parent. You could have easily googled it, ask your therapist for help as well as checked out books at the library as well. Everything would have worked out fine. Once you made that reasoning to your parents that's when they told you that no one would want to be with you so how do you plan on having children? Well, you can always adopt or even go to a sperm bank - at least that's what you found out on google you're not sure how true or safe that might be. Your parents stopped bringing up the talk of you having children since apparently you had an answer for everything. It wasn't your fault they were being difficult and you had solutions for their difficulty. You had other things to worry about. You wanted to work an office job inputting data into a computer. You always loved numbers and anything that had to do with electronics. You weren't good at writing and reading since there were too many confusing sayings. 

"stop pulling my leg"

"cat got your tongue"

"I guess the cat's out of the bag now"

"killing two birds with one stone"

You didn't understand what any of those sayings meant. Your speech therapist and special education teacher explained to you that those were forms of figures of speech. Well, it was a good thing you didn't have to focus so much on those things. Your job here at U.A didn't require for you to grade essays and create lectures and power-points based on readings. You would have lost your job within the first week and that was giving yourself too much credit. You would leave that kind of thing to your husband Shouta. You met Shouta here actually when you first got the job 5 years ago working for the Guidance Counselor Hound Dog creating spreadsheets and putting in names and numbers of students and their guardians for him. You remember the first conversation -you think it was anyway- you had with Shouta 

"Hey, Mr. Ryo is it okay if you can see I did it right? I don't want to mess up or make you angry." You had confided in him that you had autism and you made a lot of mess ups. He checked it over for you and with a couple of spelling errors that he fixed you were good to go. 

"Here you go, I'm going to print this out. I have some papers I need you to bring to Shouta Aizawa. He will be in the teacher's lounge." You nodded your head waiting for him to pass the papers he was talking about to you. In 2 minutes he gave you a folder with Shouta Aizawa on it. "Come back here once you gave him the folder. Thank you." You nodded your head and left his office heading straight for the teacher's lounge. You didn't know who he was so calling his name was your best bet. Once at the lounge you entered and saw two people inside. A quiet black-haired man sitting in the corner grading papers and a loud blonde-haired man sitting across from him. 

"U-Um excuse me, I'm looking for Shouta Aizawa." The dark-haired man raised his head to look at you. 

"That would be me." You went right up to him, handed the papers to him, bowed, and made a beeline out the door. You absolutely refused to do something silly in front of the pretty man. He was pretty. 

Since then, you had more interactions with him and it led to outings, dates, doing a couple of things and eventually him popping the question to marry you 15 months ago. The two of you have been married for almost a year and a half already. You were wondering when he was going to mention having children. You were 28 and he was 30, the two of you were at the perfect age to have children. 

"Hey Y/N! How are you?" You turned to Hizashi. He was always loud but, when he found out that you don't like loud noises he tries his best to keep his voice and actions to a minimum. It was both appreciated and made you sad because you didn't want him to stop being himself because of you. He never made a fuss about it though. 

"I'm doing fine, how are you?" This is how the two of you always started a conversation and, you loved it. It was routine and you were glad he never tried to change it. One time he did and when you freaked out because it threw you off the whole day, he made sure to stick to the routine which made you feel better. The two of you talked until Shouta came in looking frantic capture weapon in hand. 

"The League is here. Y/N stays here and guides the children far away from the front of the school. Come Present Mic." Hero names meant this was serious. You took a minute to take a few steadying breaths trying not to panic. Once you calmed down enough you left the safety of your office and looked up and down the quiet hallways. You checked all the classrooms towards the front of the school only to see that no one was there. That was good that meant they were informed already along with other teachers to move to the front. That meant the heroes were fighting them if the loud explosion and blue fire you can see from the window were any indications. You decided to hide in the Guidance Counselor room for now once you checked to make sure the children were in fact in the farthest training ground in the back of the school. You were nervous and when scared you liked to check facts. The weirdest and worst time in the world to do that but, that's what you did. You pulled up as much information as you can about the League and read over it all. Maybe you can help somehow. 

"Tenko Shimura known as Tomura Shigaraki was the grandson of former pro hero Nina Shimura" 

That was a shock to you. Intrigued you read everything you could about Tenko and he was a normal kid at first. When his quirk first appeared he accidentally killed his family dog and then the rest of the family. That was horrible. He was later found by Japan's most notorious villain All for One and he's the reason why Tomura was born. Once you finished his file you read Toga and there wasn't much. Her parents hated her for her quirk and in middle school, she attacked a student for his blood and she disappeared after. You rubbed your face realizing you were crying. Life was so unfair for the two of them. If only they can get a redo at life. 

"That's it!" That's it! You can use your quirk on them and turn them back to children. You can give them another chance at life. If you can get them together and touch them with your quirk activated at the same time the nosebleed and headache will be worth it. The only problem was that you were frightened and hiding while they were fighting in front of the school. You were trying to think of something to do when you felt the wind. You turned with wide eyes to see a purple vortex appear on the other side of the room nearest to the door. 

"So this is where Eraserhead keeps you." You blinked. Tomura was in front of you. He was standing right there in front of you. With Toga. Right behind him. When you said you wanted a plan you didn't mean this. "He has good taste." You had no idea what that meant but, you didn't like the way Toga looked at you. 

"Do you think she tastes as good as she looks?" She was blushing holding a bloody knife. You didn't want to think about who she stabbed. "I'm going to find out." The girl was fast and, you were barely able to avoid her throwing yourself across the desk. You were going to have to ask Shouta for lessons if you survived this. You kept dodging as she threw herself at you. 

"Stop trying to stab me!" You weren't going to say how you want to help. That'll make them angry and you might really die. It seemed they were toying with you right now. You continued dodging Toga not noticing Tomura who was inching forward.

"We need to take her alive." Did he want to kidnap you? Not on your watch! You were still scared. Frightened but, you wanted to live and help too. You pushed Toga away momentarily only to practically bump into Tenko. He grabbed your wrist fast with four fingers making you freeze and panic. You felt Toga pressing herself to you holding a knife to your neck.

"Oh, she's so pretty Tomura! Can I cut her? Just a little bit?" You were already bleeding so why did asking matter? You were stuck. You had them both here in front of you and your quirk at your fingertips. You had to be quick enough to grab both of their hands. Your quirk will work in a second if you can pull this off. 

"Forgive me Tenko Shimura" His eyes widen jerking back at the name but, you didn't let him. You grabbed his pinky while grabbing Toga's free hand at the same time. Your quirk activated and before they can decay you or stab you there was a bright light and nothing. The only reason you knew the quirk worked was the painful headache and nosebleed you had. It was hard to focus but, you looked down at the feel of tiny hands on you. You looked down to see a baby Tenko and a baby Himiko. You did it. Your crazy plan worked. "It worked."

"A-are you an h-hero?" Were you a hero? That was funny. You fell down to your knees and opened your arms. The two of them looked at you scared so you waited. In two minutes they both went in for a hug. You thought it was awkward but, they snuggled into both sides of your neck. 

"Are you my new mommy?" It was Himiko who asked. That brought tears to your eyes as you hugged her closer.

"I could be. I could be your mommy and his mommy." You know nothing in life is this easy and there was going to be a lot of legal problems and other stuff but, it will be worth it. You just hoped Shouta wouldn't leave you once he sees what you did.

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

What are your thoughts?

[dykecassidy]

Jim was a money mark. not so much that he could bankroll his own show with all his favourite guys on the roster, but enough that he could put a few locker rooms on his tab after a show. which, to be clear, dustin loved. free drinks shouldn't be exclusive to pretty girls, mediocre wrestlers deserved to save a few bucks getting trashed, too. it was mutually beneficial, anyway, jim throwing himself into it like he was one of the guys. never pushy, just excited, and he'd show up to whatever little show anyone mentioned, clear out peoples merch. he had money to burn, and if wrestling was the fire, that was just fine by dustin. jim accounted for half his student loan payment at this point.

it was one of those nights, after a show, jim was buying drinks for everyone. they were gonna go anyway, so. 

he was the center of attention, like it was his birthday— he was still dressed from work, a button up with the sleeves rolled, watched the show like that and someone's shitty merch shirt on top. maybe it was one of dustins— he'd looked like that a million times over, dustin couldn't keep track.

jim caught dustin looking. smiled, waved, came over. it was— fine. it was fine. dustin did a little wave back, took a swig of his beer. 

talking to jim was easy. it didn't make dustin nervous like talking to a boss or a professor or anything like that. jim wasn't in charge of anything, he just had some money to throw around. "how're you?" dustin asked, polite.

"I'm great," Jim answered, "how're you doing after that show? you know, after that…"

that was how conversations would go. jim would deflect all conversation topics on himself (dustin knew he had an office job, and was a manager), and focus on just wrestling. which, again, fine by dustin; what else did he know about, anyway? but eventually, it just— it got— well, dustin got curious. and he couldn't just talk about himself all night, not just on his second drink.

"but, cmon," dustin nudged, bumping his shoulder with jims, "you're as big a fan of any of us, you really never thought of it? of being a wrestler?"

"yeah, obviously," Jim said, grinning. he looked down, almost bashful, swirled his drink. "I… did more than think. I was in this backyard league, with my friends."

dustins eyebrows raised and he leaned on the bar. "no shit! you have a dumber name than mine?"

"maybe," Jim said, quick like he was cutting himself off. "it was, uh, jc Ryder." 

dustin didn't laugh like jim expected, he didn't laugh at all. he smiled and nodded along; apparently he didn't think the name was unfathomable stupid. "so," he said, "that scratched the itch enough? you got thrown around someone's back yard enough to figure out you liked watching it way better?"

"oh, no way," Jim said, choking out a laugh. "no, it was the best thing in the world, I never wanted to stop."

"but you did," dustin said like a question.

jim nodded, pressed his glass to his lips, then downed the last of his drink. he turned to face dustin a little more, and pushed his folded shirt sleeve up past his elbow, facing his inner arm up. he tapped a finger to his skin, and a faint straight red scar materialized before dustins eyes in the bar lighting. "I broke my arm— not even in a match, setting up the ring— and I freaked out, my parents freaked out, and I never did anything other than watch since then."

dustin bent his head to look, fought the urge to grab jims arm, pull it closer and gawk. he just traced his eyes up and down that line, squinting a little before looking back up to jims face.

he was looking at his scar too. he was looking at his scar with his eyebrows knitting together, his mouth purposefully neutral. he reached for his shirt sleeve, all too ready to tug it back down again.

"train with me," dustin said, making jim whip his gaze up. dustin swallowed. "just— just one. lemme try and teach you sometime."

jim looked at dustin and left his sleeve alone. "sure," he said, "I'm game."

[villanesus]

Maaaasoooon *squishes you like a green blob* 🙃

Romance. What is that to you? What do you find romantic? And were there scenes in KE where according to your definition of it, there was romance between V and E? (Sorry sometimes I ask the questions so stupidly, I'm sure one could as this much more elogently or just more simple but, well I apparently can't 🙈)

Pistachio :) Your questions are articulated just fine. Quit being hard on yourself, you goose.

I’m gonna answer this one a little out of order. I’m going to start with Villaneve and then talk about myself.

I’d say romance between Villanelle and Eve is best demonstrated through their flirting gestures that rely on attention to detail and oneupmanship. It’s a mix of, “Look at how much attention I pay to you” and “Look how infuriating I am ❤️.” Some examples!

(source)

Sorry Baby x

While I think Villanelle intends for the clothes and perfume to be romantic, I personally feel the more romantic piece is the note. It somewhat acknowledges killing Bill. Is she actually sorry? Nah. The clothes being a perfect fit is the attention to detail and the note is the cheeky, “look at me, I lured an agent away to his very public death” second half of the dynamic.

When Eve leaves the Sorry Baby x in return, same exact thing. She has no real remorse for stealing the passport and money. Eve wants Villanelle to know that she figured her out. She knew enough about Vil to find the stuff and used the note as a way to signal the oneupmanship.

(source)

Love in an Elevator

I love this one. The elaborate lengths to which Villanelle goes to slip this lipstick into Eve’s purse. The hint of the name being just enough for Villanelle to show that, “I know you’re still watching me and I know you’re smart enough to figure this out.” Then the hidden blade is the cute asshole piece. And Eve loves it.

You Left Your Door Open

A lot of the ways Villanelle shows care for Eve strike me as romantic, but I think Eve probably doesn’t notice them. In 2x05 when Vil tells her to lock her door, asks her about the legality of what they’re doing to the Ghost, etc. I even think the scene where she breaks into Eve’s house and fucks around with her stuff is romantic. I know the framing is more like Vil is bored, but I think she just wants to be close to Eve and the messing around bit is in keeping with the peculiar flirting.

(source)

How Much of Your Day Do You Spend Thinking about Her?

Eve isn’t amazing at romance, in my opinion. She’s a little too chaotic and self-involved for it. But I think her little freak outs over Villanelle are a type of romance. Worrying about her during the Peel case. Talking to Martin about her feelings. That goofy-ass little scene on the scooter. The fact that she’s the first one to turn around on the bridge. Etc. They’re sort of subtle and discrete, but still something.

Them’s my thoughts on V&E’s romance. :)

About romance from my own perspective. Um, romance is kind of confusing for me. I’m not sure if this is my autism speaking or what, but I find it difficult to differentiate between being a thoughtful friend and being romantic?

Giving gifts, making gestures, planning surprises—all things you can do for a friend. And since I already have chronic giving-very-extra-gifts syndrome, the only real distinction between a friend gift and a romantic gift appears to be one’s intent and the context of the relationship. Or, if the gift is coded with traditionally romance-associated things and/or it’s overtly sexual (but aromantics exist, so even that is murky to me, since something can be sexual and not romantic).

So. I can describe things I would be happy to receive as romantic, but my definition of romantic is just sorta busted. If someone shows me they’re thinking about me or gets me a little treat, I’m happy to code that as romantic. I like hidden things—like you find a little note or a chocolate in your pocket later in the day when the person isn’t around—those make me happy. Demonstrating through small gestures that they notice details about me (a la V&E but maybe without the breaking and entering). I would be supremely weirded out to receive like…flowers or a poem or something. That would signal to me that the person doesn’t really know me very well, which kind of breaks the attention to detail bit.

Hope that is a sufficiently weird answer. :)

[ariaintaiwan]

Day 3: That Went Better Than Expected

Today was the first day of classes, and I wasn't nervous going in because I knew that today would be introductions and the like, and I've spent a lot more time speaking Chinese in Chinese classes than anywhere else, so when I have to only use Chinese everywhere, a Chinese class because the place I'm by far most comfortable in. After the introductions, we had a break, and during the break, I had the only bad thing of the day happen. It turns out we had two assignments before the first class and when I checked my phone yesterday it had only shown me one, so I didn't do the reading that I needed for the second part of class. Thankfully it wasn't a big deal since I had a bit of time to read the story during the break and the reading was mostly words I already knew so I didn't need to memorize a ton of vocab, but it was definitely embarrassing and I did slip up on one of the words when I had to read aloud. After the reading, we had a group assignment where we had to discuss our answers to some opinion questions that post them online as a group. It was mostly fine but we didn't have enough time to answer them after the discussion so that was a bit annoying. It was no big deal though since I at least understood the questions and instructions, and that was the last part of class since we didn't have the meetings afterward that we're going to have in the future. We got out of class at lunch time, so I left to go get lunch. I ran into a group of classmates and we started talking, and I ended up going with them. They were trying to figure out how to say something in Chinese, and I was able to help them. That surprised me as I generally don't think I speak very good Chinese, and I was expecting to be one of the worst on my program, but it turned out I was the one in the group who spoke the most Chinese. They kept asking me questions, and I was able to answer a lot of them, so they started calling me "teacher" which was really funny but also genuinely gratifying and a nice confidence booster. Before getting lunch, we stopped at a stationery store and explored for a while. I ended up getting some compression gloves for my hands since I've wanted them for a while and they were half the price that they are in the US. I tried them out and omg I love those things. I never thing that my hands hurt in my day-to-day life, but then I put those on and suddenly feel a ton of relief from pain I didn't know was there. I also got some utensils so next time I want to eat fruit, I don't need to go on an hour-long quest to borrow a Swiss army knife that's nowhere near big enough for the job. After we left the stationery store, we started walking towards the hotel and looking for a restaurant on the way, and we ended up at a hot pot restaurant. Ordering was a challenge as the person in our group who spoke the least Chinese also has a severe peanut allergy, so we had to ask about that. There were separate issues with ordering that I don't really know what were since two of the other people went to order and I didn't hear it, but I eventually went up to help them since by that point I had accepted that I was the one there who spoke the best Chinese even if I'm not particularly great at it. The staff didn't understand what I was saying the majority of the time, but we eventually got our food, and it was incredible. I went with three other people, and it was only about 16 USD to feed the four of us. Rice, drinks, and ice cream were all free. They even had a passionfruit slush that I had a good few cups of, but they also had tea, soft drinks, etc.

After eating, we started heading back to the hotel. On the way, we ran into some old Taiwanese men eating outside a restaurant, and one of them apparently lived in the US back in the 90s, so he started talking to us. He asked my friend where they were from and talked to her for a while before mentioning that his friend's son was single and living in Seattle if anyone was looking for a Taiwanese man, which was funny. After that, we split up because two of us wanted to go back to the hotel and the other two wanted to go to get more time on their phones since the SIM cards we got only last until July 1st. Once I got back to the hotel, I wanted to do my homework since I had to do today's as well as go back and do the assignment I missed, but I was super tired when I got back and ended up having a nap first. I woke up at about 6:30, did homework for the next 3 hours, and went to 7/11 for a late dinner. I saw two of the people who I had lunch with there as well as another classmate, and I ended up talking to them for a while before heading back to the hotel to finish my food and write this post. It's now 11:15, which, incredibly shockingly by my standards, is later than I've been up since I got to Taiwan, so I'm ready to finally get to bed. Hopefully I can sleep quickly since I need to get to class early tomorrow, and tomorrow's also the first day that I travel there alone instead of with a group, so I've gotta give extra time for figuring that out. I'm a bit worried about that since I had the nap earlier, but it should be fine.

[yannowhatigiveup]

A Blinded Kiss

I haven’t posted anything recently so I dug around in my WIPs to see if anything was even worth posting and I found this that I made a while ago. It certainly isn’t the best but it isn’t the worst out of all my other WIPs.

"Is this really necessary?" The bluenette asked, eyeing a blindfold given by her brotherly figure.

"Of course it is Pixie!" An older man with two-toned hair replied, way too over enthusiastic about the whole situation. "It's a great way to find your way around the manor”

"And it's a great family bonding experience too!" Another man in the room replied, even more enthusiastic than the first.

"Fine, I'll do it Jay" the blue-eyed girl huffed, twirling the blindfold between her fingers. "What are the rules again, Dick?"

Dick beamed at the girl before answering. "Well Mari, it's simple. Put the blindfold on, count to fifty, spin around and try to steal a hug from anyone in the manor"

"So I have to walk around the manor blindfolded and try to sneak up on you? You know that's impossible!" Marinette exclaimed, she would not go around the house looking like a touch-starved fool.

"That's exactly why we're doing it" Jason replied, shrugging his shoulders. "It'll last a long time."

After a few seconds, the blue-eyed girl sighed, giving in to both Jason and Dick. "Fine, if that's what makes you happy" Marinette wrapped the matte-black fabric tightly around her eyes, already struggling within the first few seconds. She began counting and she heard the two scuffling away, smiling while being able to tell which direction they went in. In the mean time, Marinette debated her options.

'Both Jason and Dick would be the ideal choices but they'll be able to hear me from a mile away. Tim would be the most logical one since he's half asleep, but where does he even go in this maze? God knows where Alfred is, Mr Wayne is scary. Damian-' She paused her train of thoughts, granted Marinette had only met him a few days ago but that didn't stop the crush she had heavily try to cease. 'He'd probably hear me from a mile away as well. This game is so unfair'

Soon enough, Marinette reached fifty and spun herself around, she used a bit too much force than needed so now not only was she blinded but she lost her sense of direction. Giving herself a minute to recover, the bluenette began to walk. Using her improved senses, thanks to the miraculous, Mari was slowly able to create a theoretical map in her mind, though it did take much more energy than she desired.

"Fighting an akuma is easier than this" The bluenette muttered as she hit her thigh along the corner of a wall.

Even though she was using her enhanced abilities, she'd pump into a corner or a wall every now and again, the amount of times increased when her energy was being used. After wondering a hall for what seemed like hours, the bluenette came to a staircase, one that she ever so carefully used to get to a higher floor. Once she did, she kept a hand on one of the walls, using it as a guide. Soon enough, her hand came to what felt like a doorframe. The door was closed she could tell but it was recent used due to the fact that the doorknob was warm. Making sure not to intrude, she knocked on said door, she almost missed the muffled 'come in' had she not been paying attention. Marinette opened the door, went in and quickly shut it behind her, taking a deep breath.

"Okay I hope you don't mind but which room is this and whose in the room? Dick and Jason thought it would be a good idea to walk around the manor blindfolded while trying to sneak up on them" The bluenette huffed, only to freeze when she heard a familiar chuckle.

"I've heard, you're in my room, It's Damian just to clarify" 'Sh-' "So, what task must be fulfilled to give you permission to take the blindfold off? I doubt you want to keep it on any longer" Marinette giggled.

"You're right, I would probably get lost of I continue. Um, I have to 'steal a hug' apparently"

"So you have to hug someone without them inspecting it" Damian came to that conclusion to which the bluenette nodded her head.

"Yeah that's basically it, hey do you have anywhere I could sit down? I'm getting tired..."

"Of course, my bed is five steps to your front and two steps to your right, make yourself comfortable" She wasn't sure how red she had gotten but she obliged anyway. Had she not been wearing the blindfold, she would've seen Damian smiling at her flustered state. Giving herself a moment to regain her energy, Marinette turned to where she presumed Damian was working at his desk. "Can I hug you? Jay never said I couldn't ask the person first. I-I won't if you don't want me to! I just wanted to ask so..."

She heard the boy thoughtfully hum before he made his way over to her. From what she could tell, Damian was now in front of Marinette, looming over her.

"Did Todd or Grayson say it had to be a hug?" Marinette tilted her head in confusion and thoughtfulness, that had never crossed her mind before.

"W-"

"What happens if I kiss you instead?"

The bluenette didn’t reply with words as she knew how terrible her words would be in her flustered state. But she wanted this, her heart longed for it in a way it never did for anyone else. Instead, she nodded, giving the green-eyed boy permission to do as he wished.

She felt his hand lightly tilt her chin up towards, where she presumed, his face was. Then he pressed his lips onto hers, his other had behind her head, tugging at the fabric around her eyes. Marinette felt bliss, she was glad that no one else would interrupt this moment. Shivers went down her spine as she felt Damian’s hands travel up from behind her neck and to wear the blindfold was knotted, gently tugging at the binding. She was glad that when her face was free from the fabric that comprised her vision, the first thing in her line of eyesight were Damian's deep emerald eyes, the shimmered the same way they had when she first laid eyes on him, she'd been enraptured ever since. The boy, however, was smirking as he noticed the pink that dusted her face. Without a moment passing, she threw herself the green-eyed boy, delivering a hug. As she pulled away, her hands cupped his face and she returned his embrace with one of her own. When she pulled away once more, she smiled in satisfaction at his flustered expression.

"When did you realise you had feelings for me?" Marinette asked softly, her forehead pressed against his trying to regain her breath.

"That's a very easy question" Damian stared lovingly into her eyes. "I fell the moment I saw you take down that Akuma three times your size" Her eyes widened.

"You know about me being Ladybug?"

"The same way you know I'm Robin"

They both smiled, creating a truce to not reveal anything.

"Well I better get going, see you later." She got up from the bed and opened the door, only to turn around and say "Je t'aime mon cœur" before exiting the room, leaving a blushing Damian.

Marinette walked back down the stairs, the piece of cloth in hand and small love-struck smile on her face. When she entered the main living room, she came face to face with the owner of the manor.

"Oh hello Mr Wayne"

"Hello Marinette, I see you managed to get the blindfold off" The older man gestured towards the piece of fabric in her hand. "And please, do call me Bruce. Who did you end up surprising with a hug then?"

She smiled brightly before replying. "Damian"

His usual formal demeanor broke for a moment but Bruce quickly picked the pieces back up. "He didn't attack you or injure you in any shape or form?"

Marinette decided to play the oblivious little girl. "No..? Why, does he do it often?" Her head titled in confusion.

"Nothing it doesn't matter" Bruce simply sighed and shook his head. "Also, there's something I'd like to discuss with you at dinner, if you don't mind"

"No not at all, I'll see you at dinner then?" Bruce nodded and left, leaving Marinette alone in the room, waiting for her honorary older brother and his brother to come in. Which they did but only after some time, it was hilarious to see them crouched down, talking to each other in hushed voices. They flinched as she cleared her throat, both slowly turning towards the sound to find a smug looking Marinette and a blindfold whipped around her finger.

"I win"

~~~

Most of the occupants at the table were either in an all out war or were about to be, except for Marinette and an exasperated Bruce Wayne.

"So Marinette" The eldest Wayne began, silencing the rest of the table. "I hope you don't mind me asking but when you were off searching for Jason, you mentioned attacks that have been occurring in Paris, is this true?"

No one failed to notice the girl flinch. "Yeah it's true"

"...how bad are the attacks? In your opinion"

"Well it depends on how strong the person's emotions are really. If their emotions are strong, then the Akuma is strong too"

"What's the strongest akuma that Paris has seen?" It was Tim who asked and memories of the event began swimming through her mind, she got rid of them with a shake of her head.

"The deadliest akuma Paris has experienced was an akuma called 'Syren'. She's a regular person but, as an akuma, she managed to kill around 2 million people. But don't worry! Ladybug's cure managed to bring them back to life"

"D-did... did you die, Pixie?" Jason asked, his anger mixed with worry was boiling over and luckily simmered after seeing her shake her head.

"Do you think the heroes of Paris would let heroes from the Justice League come over to help?"

Marinette contemplated for a moment, should she really risk the heroes getting akumatized? "I think they would but I wouldn't know"

Bruce nodded while Jason leaned over the table to talk closer to his honorary little-sister. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I didn't want to bother you"

"You're not a bother, Pixie" Jason smiled at the bluenette on the other side of the table. "You never are and you never will be"

~~~

Marinette returned to Paris a few days later, in the mean time, Bruce and the rest of the batfam were planning their visit to the City of Love. Soon enough, the vigilantes were boarded on the plane. Their flight to Paris was relatively silent. After a few hours, they landed and the vigilantes waited on the Eiffel Tower, only to find out there was a battle going on. Before they could engage in the fight, they were engulfed with magical ladybugs that seemed to fix anything destroyed. As they were mesmerized by the cure, a certain spotted-heroine wobbly landed on the platform. Batman was first to notice.

"Ladybug" His voice caused the others to turn around. "Thank you for allowing us into your city"

Ladybug nodded, not uttering a single word.

"We were hoping, with your permission of course, that we could help you be rid of Hawkmoth once and for good" Again, Ladybug didn't reply. "Ladybug?"

When the heroine didn't respond, Batman glanced at Nightwing and the rest of his sons, clearly something was wrong. Unexpectedly, Robin took his glove off, approached the Ladybug-themed hero and placed his hand onto her forehead.

"You have a fever" he stated, his hand trailing down her face to cup her cheek. His family all shot him weird looks. She tiredly blinked at the vigilante, recognising him as Robin and allowed herself to fall into his arms, detransforming while doing so, leaving a burning hot Marinette.

"Dami?" He hummed. "Take me home, please..." She drifted off to sleep, comforted in her lover's arms. He glanced at his family, holding the bluenette close.

"Pixie...is Ladybug?" Red Hood's voice was first.

"You didn't know?" Robin's voice mocking confusion, enraging Red Hood that his youngest brother knew something about his sister that he didn't. Even more so that his demon brother was holding said sister,

"We should take her back home" Dick went over to feel the girl's forehead. "She's burning"

"Tikki?" Robin asked and a red creature flew out from one of Mari's pockets, startling most of the people there.

"I'll try to heal her on the way, follow me"

The floating red creature flew down from the Eiffel Tower, Robin and Marinette close behind. After some hesitation, the others followed, they ended up on top of a bakery. One by one, they entered through the trapdoor on the balcony, finding both Damian with his mask off and a weak looking Marinette. Despite her enfeebled state, the bluenette greeted each vigilante, her gaze landed on Jason.

"It's just a fever, I'll be fine"

Jason removed his helmet and ran a hand through his hair before both settled on his hips. "You don't look fine"

"I promise I am" She wasn't convincing, not at all.

"Fine" Jason huffed, he could never truly say no to the girl he viewed as his little sister. "But since when were you two a thing" He pointed at the two, his gaze resting maliciously on Damian.

"It's all thanks to you, you know" Marinette smirked at Jason's confusion. Tim snickered as he seemed to catch on to what she was saying.

"Had you not organized that 'blindfolded game', I doubt we would be together at this moment" Damian supplied the information, clearly unfazed by the burning rage in the eyes of his older brother.

"Baby Bird's all grown up" The eldest Wayne son overdramatized wiping a fake tear, Batman sighed at his two eldest sons while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Get your fucking hands off her, Demon Brat!" Jason tried to lunge at Damian, only to be stopped by both Dick and Tim. Though his fury only grew when Marinette snuggled closer to the green-eyed boy, both smirked in victory over Jason's horrified appearance.

Marinette was now part of the family in more ways than one. Though they wish they had found out in better circumstances, they would be able to take down Hawkmoth once and for all, side by side, all together. And to think this all happened because of a silly blindfold game.

[b000mbayah]

Who needs a soulmate?

Word count: 4.5k

Warnings: I wrote this years ago, it's borderline awful 😖

-◇----◇----◇----◇----◇----◇----◇----◇----◇-

Soulmates, something we all apparently have. That special someone, the other half of our soul. 

I've always found the whole soulmate thing weird since day one. The fact that we know their emotions due to a small line on our arm. 

My line is coloured a deep black, the emotion of being hopeless, I'm sure theirs is some weird combination of greys and orange, boredom.

My teacher is blabbering on about some weird biology terms on how drugs are tested, something to do with a placebo? I don't know, I'm not really listening.

I'm sure we went through this in highschool, why would they need to bring it back up in college?

My eyes skim over the slit in my wrist, the slit emits a bright pink. I furrow my eyes in confusion, it was black a second ago, I'm not going crazy, right?

Pink, pink, pink, pink. Who could my soulmate be in love with? 

"Lim" the professor speaks, slapping his three foot ruler against the board.

"H-huh, yes Mr. Kim?" He glares at me for a few seconds before I get the hint. At the end of the ruler is a question I'm assuming I should probably answer.

"The placebo effect is defined as a phenomenon in which some people experience a benefit after the administration of an inactive "look-alike" substance or treatment. This substance, or placebo, has no known medical effect"

"Very good,but pay attention next time" Mr. Kim shoots me a warning look but eventually goes back to explaining some weird and random information.

That was close, I guess. My eyes drift back down to my wrist. I sigh and pull down my sleeve, not wanting to see it anymore.

They always say your soulmate isn't too far away from you, that they're always close by. If that's the case, then I better keep an eye out.

I grab my pen and continue to write down notes in my notebook. Every now and then I peek but other than that, I'm listening to the male teaching.

It doesn't take long for the bell to ring, causing students around me to grab their bags and close whatever book they had out, me following alongside them.

"Hey y/n" My timid classmate stands up next to me, offering me a hand. I sweetly smile at the girl and accept her hand, allowing her to help me stand up.

"I was wondering if you would like to, uh…" I stare at her, an eyebrow raised as her eyes droop to the floor "if we could go to a coffee shop, together"

"Of course Dahyun, I'll come with you" her signature smile is on display now, a smile no one really sees due to her shyness.

"Would you like to go now?" I ask, looking at her expectantly. 

"I'm sorry I have to do my homework right now. Can we go at five?"

"Sure"

Dahyun bows before speeding off, not saying another word with her face red. I give her a small wave before heading out myself.

Dahyun, the shy girl in class had just talked to me? Took me a second to realise what just took place, wasn't expecting that to happen, let alone being asked to get coffee with her.

I bow my head and look down to my wrist, still pink. I can't help but check on it every few minutes or so.

With a defeated sigh, I walk on, heading towards my dorm.

"You have a date, come on y/n" My roommate and best friend rushes me along.

"Nayeon, I've told you it's not a date" she rolls her eyes at my words.

"It's obvious. I catch her staring at you, she gets shy when I bring you up and worst of all, oh damn, she practices her love confessions. Y/n, she is so in love with you that she writes her feelings down on paper, trying to figure out the perfect way to ask you out. Now if that isn't love then God knows what is"

"No, I still refuse to believe it. We sit next to each other in class and that's it, we're seat buddies and that's final" I wave my hands around, looking like some drugged up homeless dude.

"Y/n~ listen to me. I'm older and i have the knowledge"

"Yeah, older by age. Not brains you grandma"

"Fine, I give up! Believe what you want to believe. Just don't lead the poor girl along" 

"I would never do such a thing" I gasp, taking a step back.

"Mhm, you better not do such a thing or I will hunt you down"

"Why are you so protective over some girl you don't talk to?"

At that, Nayeon raises an eyebrow, staring into my soul "who said I don't talk to her? Me and Dahyun were best friends when we were four"

"What happened?"

"Well I got popular and made the mistake of leaving her for the fame. Also leaving her friendless until the other school nerd, Tzuyu, came along"

"I sense jealousy… so I'm going to back up and get ready. In my room. Alone" I state before sprinting to my bedroom, unaware of the sharp glare being directed at me.

"Fine, leave me. Leave your amazing friend for your room" 

"Will do"

The last thing I hear is her huffing before I shut my door, a light sigh breezing out of my lips as the thought of her complaining comes to mind.

I shake the thought out of my head as a new one enters.

"What do i wear?" I mumble as I make my way over to my closet.

I carelessly reach out, grabbing a white plain hoodie with some black jeans, something basic. 

"You better wear something nice y/n" Nayeon's voice comes from the other side of the door.

"I am" I respond, waiting for her to walk away.

Once the clothes are on my body, I exit the room, sitting down on one of our couches with my phone in my hand.

I still have some time before I leave, I don't see a point in being early.

"What. The. Heck. Are. You. Wearing." I turn to see Nayeon, her eyebrows are slanted downwards making her look furious "I said nice y/n, not comfortable"

"It's all I own"

"Oh, so that's why I never see you wearing anything but hoodies, oversized shirts, joggers and jeans?"

"Yeah"

"You are one massive disappointment, miss Lim" Oh wow, thanks miss perfect…. "I need to take you shopping for more clothes at some point" it's just turning spring, I'm not about to go and buy shorts and dresses.

"Oh, oh well. I'll be bidding my goodbye now" I hurriedly stand up, bowing to my elder as I scurry around to find my keys.

"Your lucky I'm busy today, I would have loved to spy on you"

"How sad" I half yell before slipping out of the door and into the dormitory's hallway.

On my way, one simple question buzzes around inside my head. Who is Nayeon's soulmate? She keeps talking about someone named Jeongyeon but I honestly haven't seen her on campus once, let alone heard them speak on the phone.

Only a seven minute walk, that's my daily exercise done for today.

I look at the sign, a wooden sign with the bright neon word coffee lit up with a warm lavender colour

Not many people are out here but there are those occasional few. Through the glass windows I can clearly see Dahyun inside, she has removed her glasses and is wearing a shirt with a denim jacket, playing with her thumbs in a cute manner to pass time.

She looks totally different with her hair down and no glasses resting the bridge of her nose. If she wasn't the only person currently here, I would have mistaken the girl..

My hand rests against the door handle, gently pushing against the piece of metal so the door would open. The smell of warm coffee and baked cakes welcomes me, engulfing me in a warm hug.

"Y/n!" Dahyun calls me over, effortlessly dragging her hand through the air in a waving motion to gain my attention.

I drag my feet over to the delightful wooden table, taking my place in the chair opposite her.

"Thank you for coming" Dahyun reaches out and brushes a strand of hair behind her ear, a small smile playing peek-a-boo on her face

"No need to thank me, this is a way we can get closer, right? Soon enough we'll be close friends" I smile at her as hers falls slightly

"What would you like? My treat" she pushes a small menu my way, choosing not to comment on what I previously said.

"I'll just get what you're getting"

"An iced coffee?" She tilts her head, looking at me with shiny eyes.

"Yeah, sure" I nod, pulling out my vibrating phone as she goes to order for us.

Darn you Nayeon, messaging me about this so called 'date', I've only just arrived. I type a quick response, sending some weird gif of her that I had made to shut her up.

"Ordered it" her dorky smile is back up and running.

"Dahyun" she hums at my words, making eye contact for a split second. "I need to ask you something important"

"Y-yes?"

I look down to my wrist that's just about visible, the colour pink still displayed

"Why I'd you invite me out?"

She tenses, a rush of pigment hits her once pale cheeks. Her eyes dive down, looking at something beyond my sight, but based off of my knowledge I'd say she's looking at her wrist. 

She's biting her lip when she looks back up, a nervous look is displayed on her face. "I-I like you and so I thought this would be a good way to bond"

I sigh, dropping my head as I look down at my wrist again, still the bright pink I've been seeing all day long. 

She's not my soulmate, if she was, the slit would have glowed a deep orange due to her nervousness. Not to mention, I don't have feelings for her. How do I break it to her?

"Dahyun… we can't be together, we're not soulmates. That would be going against so many regulations" I show her my wrist, the colour still the same…

"Y/n, I don't care about the regulations. Who are the regulations to tell us who we should and wouldn't be with? Y/n?" Dahyun looks like she's on the verge of tears as she stares at my wrist, noticing how it hasn't changed to a royal blue due to her outburst of an upset feeling.

"I felt that pang in my heart, like everyone says when they meet the one they're destined to be with" another pause follows, her eyes still glued to my coloured line.

"Ma'am, your food" A waitress walks up to us, her pink hair tied back and everything. She places the order down before bowing, making eye contact with me as her mouth is hung slightly open.

A sudden pang hits my heart, the one Dahyun was just talking about. That feeling just happened to me with the waitress.

"Y/n…" Dahyun sounds defeated as she stands, grabbing her drink and her bag "I'll just uh, see you tomorrow I guess"

"A-alright" I say, still staring at the girl I just met a few seconds ago. Dahyun leaves without a sound, clearly understanding what's going on.

"H-hi" I begin.

"YOU WHAT?" nayeon yells at me, her expression is unreadable as she proceeds to process the words I just laid upon the table like a stack of cards.

"YOU-YOU HUH?!"

"Geez, calm down Nayeon"

"NO I BLOODY WILL NOT. You went out single and came back as a taken child. You left to see dahyun and came back after seeing some chicken called sana"

"Chicken?"

"Yes, a chicken"

"She actually looked more like a squirrel, but sure, whatever"

"I'm disappointed in you y/n. I said don't hurt Dahyun's fragile heart. She cries easily and it was clear she was pretty emotional when I saw her in the hallways earlier"

"I'm sorry nayeon, but how am I supposed to love someone who I'm not set for, Sana has been chosen for me, not Dahyun"

"I don't like this," Nayeon sighs, rubbing her hand along her forearm. "At least apologise to Dahyun"

"Will do" I nod my head, happily skipping over to my bedroom with my phone in hand.

It's been three months now, dating Sana wasn't as good as I thought it would be, she's always busy with work and whenever I visit her she's rushing around, sweating whilst maintaining her sweet smile for the hungry customers.

I admire her for that, always upkeeping her sweet side when things get hectic. I can tell she's stressed due to the lava red light that emits every now and then before changing back to a blue, almost a black since she feels that drained of energy.

Me and Dahyun haven't been on the best of terms, when we got assigned to do some project together she did her part and I did mine without speaking. She would send me that occasional text telling me what part I should do but other than that, nothing.

"Photosynthesis, very important to the plant-" biology, again. I genuinely can't right now. I feel like death has just ran me over, thrown me off a cliff and incinerated me twice only to throw my ashes in lava.

My pen glides across my notepad, scribbling amongst the pages. I can't be bothered to listen to another thing I learnt then I was eleven.

I'm mostly doodling small sketches of things I obviously see and things I can picture in my head. All of them end up looking like some deranged donkey on steroids so I have no clue why I'm even doing this.

"Miss Lim, someone is here for you" my professor suddenly informs me, indicating to the door, hinting someone is outside the room.

I nod my hand and hurriedly make my way to the front of the class and out the door.

"Sana?" I look at her mysteriously as she giggles, grabbing onto my hand.

"I came to talk to you" her smile warms my heart.

"And what is it you'd like to talk about?"

"Nothing in particular" she leads me along the corridors "Maybe we can go out later?"

"Ooo~ where?"

"I'm thinking, maybe, the beach?" I show her a smile full of gratitude as I nod my head excitedly. "Just before sunset?" She adds, waiting for my response once again.

The bell suddenly rings, catching us both off guard and causing sana to jump due to shock.

I laugh as she stumbles around, eventually grabbing onto one of the walls for support. "Yes, I'll come before the sun sets if you can survive till then" she rolls her eyes, laughing along with me.

"I'll see you soon then" Sana gives me a tight hug goodbye before walking off, her shift starts soon.

A thump makes me look down, my bag resting on the floor a few centimetres away from my feet. I look up to see Dahyun walking away, flinging her bag over her shoulder as she fixes her glasses.

When will she forgive me? It's been months now. Nayeon said you can't fix a broken heart but you can bandage it up. I'm still fighting to figure out what that means, still struggling to understand what she wants me to do.

Once the brown haired girl leaves my sight, I grab my bag with a frown. "I told you so" Nayeon slides up beside me.

"Oh you're annoying" I turn my head to look at the rabbit, my lips pursed.

"I'm just reminding you of your mess ups my young, young child"

"And I'm just reminding you that you're annoying my ancient, ancient grandma"

"You better not talk to everyone the way you talk to me"

"Don't worry, I do" I smile as she glares at me.

"Anyways, are you going to the beach with Sana later?" I furrow my eyebrows at her question.

"H-how did you know?"

"I-I urm.. let's get you home, shall we?" Nayeon boasts, dragging me away from the area I was just standing in.

Standing here, at the beach alone as I wait for Sana is perfect. It's peaceful and most certainly relaxing.

Nayeon… again, forced me to wear one of her dresses. It somehow fits me, considering she's like a size zero, I'm shocked. Her white dress isn't something I like but look at me… I'm wearing it, unfortunately.

The chilly breeze is brushing up against me as the skirt to the dress flows in the calm wind.

"Hello darling" she Shiba's head suddenly rests upon my shoulder, giving me a miniature heart attack. "You look beautiful wearing that" 

"I beg to differ, I would actually kill to get out of this outfit" she giggles in my ear,"it's so darn itch and urgh" I mentally frown at Nayeon's idiotic idea. 

"Well you look beautiful and nothing can change my mind" I give her a thank you smile before holding onto her arm

"Shall we?" She nods as we proceed to walk along the seashore.

"How was your day at college?"

"As boring and as confusing as ever, so I just doodled the entire lecture" I sigh as she lightly punches my shoulder. "What was that for?"

"It was for your future, you should be learning not 'doodling' on whatever surface you were doing it on"

"A notepad?"

"A notepad" she clicks her tongue, shaking her head and allowing her pink hair to smack her in the face whilst doing the action. "At least do it on the table"

"You're a horrible example for me"

"Oh how sad"

"You're just cruel"

"And you're stuck with me.. unless.."

"Unless what sana?" She pauses, giving me the widest grin I've ever seen.

"Just wait, you'll see soon, sooner than expected" she whispers the last part, her mouth only a few inches away from ear "but other than that, look at the ocean"

Sana points to the beautiful sight.

The sun still has a few minutes until it begins to emit the hues we're all used to seeing around this time. However, it is still an amazing sight to look at.

The once white clouds begin to shift into a light grey before turning into a lighter black. The sand sparkles like glitter and the ocean waves wave calmly at me, even from a distance.

Sanas hand guides itself to my own, resting on top of time as she begins to lean forwards. "Y/n, do you like Dahyun?" Sana asks abruptly, catching me off guard

"What do you mean?"

"I always see you writing when I visit, and seeing as Nayeon keeps talking about how much you two are friends it gives me a feeling you like each other"

"First off, me and Dahyun don't even talk so God knows how we're friends. Secondly, I was doing my homework and thirdly… I need to talk to Nayeon about keeping her big mouth shut"

"Mhm, sorry. It was just a hunch" Sana gives me a sad smile "I just thought that…" she drifts off, her eyes attaching something behind me. 

I follow her lached eyes, turning around until I see that familiar bunny with roses in her hand.

"N-Nayeon.. what the heck are you doing here?" Nayeon's rabbit smile shows as she hands me the red roses.

"Y/n, I want you to listen to us" sana nods, stepping beside Nayeon with a serious expression… odd?

"Right now, we're going to leave. Once we're out of sight I want you to turn around and read this note" Sana hands me a small slip of paper. "Follow the instructions"

And with that they are quick to scurry away, leaving in a matter of seconds. That happened way too fast.

With a puzzled mind, I turn around and open the folded paper to reveal some bullet points, great… reminding me of school straight up.

•look up

•???

Is all it reads. That was worth my time.

When my head lifts itself, the first thing I can clearly see is a girl, she's standing on the smooth sanded beach.

"GO TO HER YOU FLIPPIN' DUMBY" Nayeon yells from across the road. I could have sworn I watched them leave…. Why would they come back?

"GO!" she yells again in a more aggressive tone.

Not wanting to die today, I follow the given algorithm and head down the concreted steps onto the silky sand.

As I approach the silhouette, I'm able to make out feature by feature. Her long brown hair was the main one. Her long brown hair that goes just a few inches over her shoulder blades.

She's wearing a black baggy shirt with denim shorts, her hair blows carefree in the wind, revealing her ears and parts of her neck.

Her hearing senses seem to catch me since she turns around and gives me a smile. "W-what are you doing here?" 

A small rock hits my back

"I-I ment, what a pleasant surprise seeing you here, Dahyun" I give her a wide smile as she bites her lip, like she did in the restaurant a few months ago.

"Hi y/n" her voice is meak.

"Met your soulmate yet?" She shakes her head, a heartbroken expression left on her face. "You'll meet them one day, Dahyun, I know it. And they'll be very lucky to have you since you're one of a kind"

"Why couldn't that person be you though" her hushed voice reaches my ears, saddening my heart.

"Because the universe has set it up this way, it's what's best for us" she shakes her head again, looking down as a single tear drops to the surface we're standing on.

"But we don't need the universe, I don't need the universe to tell me who I should and shouldn't be with. I can be with someone else, someone I want, not some that's been set up for me"

"But they weren't set up for you, they're set up for your soul, so you may pass the gates to heaven, so you can be complete" 

"No y/n, I don't care about my soulmate. I just want you but it's clear you don't like me back so I have no clue on as to why I am even trying with you"

My heart feels heavy, I can't, if she breaks down I can only just about imagine I'll be joining her until we pass out.

"I'm sorry I wasn't the person you were hoping for, I'm sorry that I'm not the 'one' for you but that doesn't mean you won't fall for anyone else out there"

"I-I just don't want anyone else" she looks up at me, rain in her eyes and waterfalls running down her cheeks "I just want you, I don't know now how many times I need to say it but I will say it as many times as needed because my heart wants you" her lower lip is trembling.

I don't know what effect that had on me but something from within just isn't feeling right.

"D-Dahyun… I-I…"

Maybe I do love her. Seeing her in such a state has made me feel responsible for her, it's made me feel protective and so far that's all I've ever heard from people around me.

It's what my parents felt when they met, it's what my uncles and aunties told me they felt.

Surely my feelings have just revealed themselves, surely they were there before because there's no way they've only just formed, in this moment where my classmate is crying infront of me, because of me.

I drop the roses, not knowing what to do. I look down at her wrist, an instinct of mine whenever I feel sad, however her wrist shows a gold colour.

My mind malfunctions at the newly found information.

"I'm sorry" my head drops, I can't look at her twisted face any longer. The pain and melancholy twisted on her face doesn't sit right with me.

"I'm sorry I'm not the other half to you, to your soul" I hear footsteps approach me, only one or two steps but it's enough to know that the girl I've just discovered I do indeed love, is standing right in front of me.

"But I can try and make it up to you" I mumble as her hand reaches out and touches mine in a poking motion.

Due to her strange action of poking me, I raise my head to look into her chocolatey eyes that are normally so full of determination.

"Make it up to me?" She whispers, maintaining eye contact with me "please tell me how, I'm curious now" 

I hold her hand and yank her closer, pulling her into a passionate kiss. Our lips glide against one another, agreeing with the motions and moving in synchronisation.

Once we pull away I notice her dorky smile as it fights past all of the gloomy emotions. "I-I" her cheeks are red again as she bows her head, finally realising what just happened.

The thing is, the other instruction on the paper had said to kiss the person I see,no matter what, and it was in Sana's handwriting.

"Dahyun, look at me, please" she listens and follows my words.

I gently grab ahold of her wrist and look down upon the limb. Her line is illuminated in a rich gold.

I rub my wrist up against hers, moving it to the side of hers to form an extra large line. A small smile appears on my lips as the colour in both of ours faded into a dull gray

"Who needs a soulmate if I have you?" I giggle, finally realising that my heart longs to be with the dork I've been sitting next to for the past three years.

"Wooo~ guys,  that's it, end the cut" Nayeon screams, earning that same punch from Sana.

"Congratulations guys" Sana claps for us, glaring at the grandma to her left

"Wait, but aren't you and Sana… dating?" Nayeon bursts the mood, gaining a harder punch from sana.

"No, not anymore. They're a way better match. Better than me and y/n could ever be. Besides, there's always my next life" Sana winks at me.

"As one couple breaks up, another one gets together" Nayeon joyfully boats, throwing her arms in the air like some crazed kid.

"I'm going to take this lunatic away before she kills someone" Sana laughs awkwardly as she drags the pouting rabbit away.

"Y/n" Dahyun tugs on my arm, her face immediately closing in once I turn to her, forcing me to kiss her again

Once we pull away, I take full focus to the scene in front of me.

If I had to describe this in one word, I would say it's a masterpiece

Even though I was taught that soulmates are our everything, I taught myself that a soulmate isn't what I need to be happy

There's no such thing as a soulmate if you can live life with someone who isn't your other souls half 

Especially if they're slit is gold, meaning their soulmate is deceased...

[imagines-by-a-typical-fangirl]

The Perfect Bad Boy (Pt. 14 of 18)

Pairing: Billy Hargrove X Reader

Word count: 3 K

Summary: Working as a lifeguard in the Hawkins Community Pool, you try to fit in after moving from New York. Things were going pretty well when you notice you've been under someone's stare. Billy Hargrove, Hawkins' bad boy, has been staring at you since day one. You never intended to have anything to do with him, judging by the reputation he has. But Billy won't leave you alone, determined to show you his feelings are different this time...

As if your heart flooding you with confusing feelings wasn't enough, there are weird, strange animals lurking in the woods... But those have to be just part of the wild live of the woods surrounding Hawkins... Right?

<- Previous part (13)

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{Stranger Things Masterlist}

×

Hunt and Destroy

“Alright... A lot of new words and names...” You mutter, looking at the floor between your feet. It's late now, and Eleven has been talking for over an hour. The story is long and you had to stop her to ask a few questions. More than a few, actually. Everything sounds like a very strange story, the weirdest, something nobody could come up with. To prove it, Eleven turned the TV on with her mind, skipping through the channels before turning it off again. But you didn't need any proof. You know what you saw and it was very, very real. “Upside down, Demodog, Demodorden...”

“Demogorgon. With a G.” Dustin corrects you, smiling. How can he be smiling?

“Demogorgon, ok.” Nodding, you take a deep breath and stand up. “So... What's the plan?” You ask, pacing around the living room.

“Well, we need to gather the whole party for this,” Max says and the others nod.

“I'll talk to my mom and Hopper,” Jonathan speaks out. “We have to do this as soon as possible so... tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Can it be here?” You're not sure if you can make this demand, but right now, being anywhere else after dark is too much. The sunlight is your protection since it's deadly to the... Demo-something. It burns them. They like it cold, said Eleven.

“Sure.” Jonathan answers and you offer him a small smile in return. “Could it be by five? Before the sunset.”

“Yeah. We can sneak out of the pool again.” It shouldn't be a problem, and if Anthony is there, you could pretend to be sick.

“Tomorrow is our day off.” Billy reminds and you take a deep breath, running a hand through your hair. You completely forgot that.

“By the morning them. Maybe we'll get something figured out we can start working on through the rest of the day.” Mike suggests and the whole party agrees. “We should get going though. It's late.” Mike gets up from his spot on the floor.

“Wait.” Mike can't possibly be for real now. “You're not gonna head home now. With those things out there.” They're getting closer to the town, and it means they'll hang around all night. “It's dangerous. You should stay.”

Most of them agree easily, chattering among them. Max seems excited, but Mike exchanges a look with Nancy. “I don't think our mother would let us crash at Billy's place.” She says with an apologetic look.

“Oh.” You know why. Billy told you where he was going to when the Mind Flayer almost got him... Or better saying, who he was going to meet. Mrs. Wheeler. You did felt weird back then, and it sure makes you feel weird now, but whatever he did before, you left it where it belongs. In the past. “Just call and tell her you'll be crashing at my place.”

“Yeah, man. C'mon. Slumber party.” Dustin cheers, smiling, and once again you can't understand why they aren't terrified. Guess they're just used to it. But how can someone get used to monsters lurking around?

“Alright, then.” Mike agrees, making his way to the phone.

“They didn't get it yet,” Billy whispers in your ear.

“They didn't get it.” Repeating, you wrap your arms around his neck. “I'm really trying not to freak out right now.” The words come out of your mouth, rolling out your tongue.

“Let's go to the bedroom so you can rest and we can talk.”

“Ok...”

“Alright. It's done.” Mike comes back with his sister, gesturing at the front door. “Should we get going?”

You and Billy exchange a look. They really didn't get it. “Uhm... So that's it, guys.” You start, taking Billy's hand and pulling him with you. “You can crash either here or Max's room. First to wake up makes breakfast.”

“Wait. You made me lie to my mom?” Mike asks as you move further into the hall.

“(Y/N) is living here.” Max ends the mystery, and you can feel her massive eye roll.

“Holy shit.” You hear Dustin and Steve mumbling as you get inside the room.

Billy lets you shower first, and as you wait for him, you look through his college books. Everything seems very complicated. Your fingers run through one of the pages, taking in the many numbers, but not really reading anything. Your mind is too far away right now. The scene keeps playing back, over and over. The... Demodog, as the kids call it, its face opening up, the guttural noises it made. You wish it was just a nightmare, but everything seems very, very real.

Billy's sudden touch makes you suck in a sharp breath, shaking a little. “Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you.” The feeling is quickly replaced by the usual warmth he makes you feel. Safety and comfort.

“It's ok, I'm just... How is it possible that the kids seem to be so fine with it?” Turning around, you lay your head on his chest as he pulls you close.

“They've been through a lot. They know how to deal with it and you don't have to participate if you don't want to.” Billy touches your face, fingers caressing the soft skin of your jaw. “I'll do anything to keep you safe, you know that right?”

You do. But staying out would not only make you a coward, but it would mean one less person to help them do whatever they're planning to. And, whatever this thing is, it had a part in messing with Billy's life. With Max's life, and all her friends. It's kind of personal. And, if Billy is in danger, you want to be there to make sure you'll do anything to save him. “I want to do it. I just need time to... Process everything.”

“You won't be alone. And I'm not talking only for myself, but for everyone else too.”

“Ok.”

“Now come. You need to get some sleep.” Billy pulls you to the bed, and, instead of laying beside him as usual, you decide to crawl on top of him.

“Am I crushing you?” You ask as you lay your head on his chest, smiling to feel his strong arms around you.

“Haven't you noticed the weight I can lift? You're nothing compared to it.”

Closing your eyes, you feel as he places a kiss on the top of your head. You've never been like that with Billy, literally on top of him, and it's good. Today, more than ever, you need to feel safe. Protected. And he's the only one who makes you feel this way. “I'm so happy we don't have to go to work tomorrow.”

“Me too.”

Pulling yourself up, you move upwards until your face is close to his. “Do you think the kids are talking about us?” Despite your mind being apparently stuck reminiscing the same moment, the terror in your chest, you try to change the subject. Hopefully, it'll keep you from having nightmares tonight.

“I'm sure of it.” As he speaks, a noise of glass shattering reaches us. “Max!” Billy yells at the top of his lungs, startling you. “What the hell!”

“Stop yelling.” You giggle, playfully slapping his shoulder.

“Just a glass, Billy,” Maxine answers from somewhere in the house.

“Better clean this shit up!” He shouts again.

“Shut up!” You whine, lowering yourself on him a little. “Or else I'll have to make you and it won't be nice.”

Billy raises an eyebrow, that usual smirk making its way to his lips. “Oh, and how exactly wouldn't it be nice?”

Yeah, you didn't really give much thought before making the threat. “Okay then.” Smirking, you close the distance between you until your lips are brushing on his before you sit up abruptly, a hand covering his mouth. “See? I told you it wouldn't be nice.” He opens his mouth under your hand, and you feel his teeth biting your skin. “Billy!” You complain, taking your hand away from his mouth. “I can't believe you bit me, you jerk.”

“You got what you deserved.” He suddenly pulls you down, making you lay next to him. “Now, quit playing around and sleep, princess. Tomorrow will be a long day.”

“Kiss me goodnight then. To keep the bad dreams away.” You ask him softly, melting into the slow, warm kiss he gives you.

It doesn't help with the nightmares though. Twice that night you wake up, a breath caught in your throat. You struggle not to let Billy notice, snuggling closer to him.

You're more than happy when morning finally comes. The house is so damn loud, and breakfast in a mess. You like it though, the craziness distracting you from yesterday's events. The rest of the party is here by nine, thanks to the urgency of the matter. And then, after everyone is fed up and the dishes are clean, which took half an hour since nobody wanted to do it, everyone sits in the living room to talk.

And you just can't seem to keep up with it. The boys speak fast, Hopper yells, Joyce tries to calm him down, he argues with Eleven, which is like his daughter, you got that, and then he argues with Mike. Nancy and Jonathan always check with each other before saying something, Steve always finds the flaws on the kids' plans, pointing out the many ways it could go wrong, and Dustin often gets into some kind of argument with him. There are a hundred different ways things could go wrong. A thousand ways you could die. Running a hand through your hair, you hold onto Billy's biceps, laying your head on his shoulder. You're the only one who didn't say anything since the conversation started. There's just nothing you can help them with, you'll just stick up to whatever plan they have.

What they know for sure that these Demodogs are here because some of them must have been left behind in some kind of incubation period until it started growing again.

“So that's it. Hunt and destroy.” Lucas says, nodding to himself.

“Yes. We don't know exactly how much time we have until they start going full Demogorgon, so we should start acting now.” Mike states. “Immediately.”

As if something was lit up, everyone starts moving. “My place in one hour, everyone,” Hopper says and suddenly the crowd disperses, the house once again silent.

You're still in the same place you were, on the couch, legs crossed, eyes on the floor. “Hey. You ok?”

“Yeah.” Taking a deep breath, you stand up. “So. Hopper's place. One hour.” Saying this more to yourself than to him, you get up and pace around the living room. “Should we take the baseball bat?”

“Steve has one far more fun than that. You'll like it.” You can tell Billy is keeping his voice nice and soft, trying not to push you over the edge with everything that's going on. “(Y/N), you don't have to go. You know that, right?”

“I do. But I'm going anyway.” Walking over him, you tiptoe to place a kiss on his lips. “Those kids are so brave. I don't want them to think I'm the weak link.”

“Alright, but we stick together. No exceptions.”

“I agree.” It does make you feel a lot better.

In the next hour, you and Billy shower and get ready. You make sure to wear short jeans and a light shirt so you won't feel too hot. The plan is trying to find the Demodog's nest. This part has to be made during the daylight, to make sure no attacks will happen, so you have no choice but to walk around the woods under the sun. Billy makes sure to shove a lot of water on his backpack, using literally every bottle he found in the house. And Max gathers some snacks for the day.

You reach Hopper's place at the same time Nancy, Jonathan, and Mike does, realizing it's also Joyce's place. The party is gathered in front of the house, a big map of Hawking on the ground. Beside it, a pile of some random stuff that you guess will be the... Weapons you'll use. Just in case.

Hopper is the one to assign everyone a place to start, the area they'll have to cover, and where they'll have to stop. There are lines drawn over the map, and you hope Billy has everything memorized because you don't even know where is where. Then, the groups are separated. Billy of course says he'll take you and Max. And Lucas, much to his dismay, will come along too. When people start taking stuff from the pile, you immediately get what Billy mentioned earlier. There's a baseball bat with nails on the top. Smiling, you take it.

“That's so badass.” You mutter, looking at Billy. “This will be my weapon of choice.”

“Hey. That's mine.” Steve exclaims, reaching out his hand.

“Not anymore, buddy.” You sass at him, swinging the bar and hitting the air.

“But–”

“She's good with the bat, trust me,” Maxine says and you nod. Some people have an interrogation on their faces, and Steve keeps staring at the three of you, as if waiting for further explanation.

“We have an inside joke.” Lowering the bat, you turn to look at Billy.

“Restricted to the Hargrove family,” Billy states, taking one the radios from the pile and starting the make his way to the car. “And Max.”

“But what about me?” You feel a little set aside by his affirmation, wondering what he meant. It's impossible that he's ignoring the fact that you were there that day. “I'm in the joke too.” Whining a little on purpose, you follow him.

“You still only notice half of things.” Billy winks at you as he gets inside the car, and after Max and Lucas get in the back seat, you get in as well. “I know you know what I meant.”

“Maybe I didn't.” Billy has this way with you. You were expecting the first sensations to fade, but they didn't. He still makes you nervous, the butterflies on your stomach doesn't seem to grow immune to him. And part of you is still scared of the things you think he means. You did got what he said, but it's safer to just pretend you didn't, right?

The short drive is filled with chattering. The kind of chattering you didn't want to hear since it's all about the Demothings. You stop by the woods, and Max and Lucas will be the ones responsible for the map since they have a compass.

And so the ‘hunting’ starts. You're glad it's not a real hunt though. You remember when you invited Billy for a trail with your friends, but walking through the woods feels different now. Before, you had only the normal wild animals to worry about, not some monsters that came out of the gates of hell. But you try to keep in mind that the sunlight means protection, so you'll safe. For now.

“Billy, can you make sure we'll have enough daylight to make the way back to the car?” You ask him, putting your hair up on a ponytail.

“I will, don't worry.” He moves closer, taking your hand in his. “We'll be ok. Just focus on trying to find anything unusual in the woods.”

“Sure.”

Billy doesn't let go of your hand until you stop to eat something. Lucas and Max start arguing a lot when you resume your walking, complaining about the directions. Billy is clearly pissed, not very fond of the idea of his little sister dating. It's cute the way he keeps staring at the young couple, paying attention to whatever they're saying. You wonder if Billy ever thought about having kids.

Wait. What the hell? Step back, you tell yourself. Too soon for that.

At some point, a fresh breeze starts blowing, and you couldn't be more thankful for it. Letting your hair down, you run a hand through it out of nervousness.

“I'm telling you, we have to go West now,” Lucas says.

“Yes. First West then North.” Maxine takes the map from his hands, taking a look at it. “It's obvious if you think about it. Just look. Try using your head for a moment.”

“Are you calling me dumb?”

“Yes!”

“Alright, both of you.” Billy intervenes, his voice with a tiny hint of anger. “Will you two make a goddman decision or will I have to?”

This will be interesting. Billy and you have been walking a couple of feet behind them, so as he moves ahead, you stand there, crossing your arms. The breeze brings a soft sound, that looks like the sound the pools make when it's windy. Following it, you spot water, only about ten feet away. Leaving the guys behind to their fights, you make your way there, making sure there are no big trees hiding you from their sight. When you get there, you bend down, putting one hand on the freshwater.

“(Y/N)!” It's Billy's usual yell, the one he always uses to scare the shit out of you. “Do you want to give me a heart attack?” When you turn around to look at him, he's already close by, Maxine and Lucas coming right after.

“Sorry, but I found this lake.”

“Lover's lake,” Max says, sitting down on a rock, eyes on the map.

“Lover's lake?” You repeat, crossing your arms and looking at Billy. “Why haven't you ever brought me here?” By the name, you think it would be a nice romantic date. And you remember by what you saw on the map, the lake is shaped like a heart, the reason for the name.

“Oh, you're new here. Sometimes it slips my mind.” He puts he bag down, safely away from where the small ripples reach. “People usually come here to... You know. So I thought that if I brought you and then you found out what really happens here you'd come to the wrong conclusion about my feelings for you.”

That's a very good explanation. And it makes you feel... Special. Different. “Thank you, then. For... Having this in mind.” As you speak, you take off your white shoes, all dusted by now.

“What are you doing?” He asks, an eyebrow raised when you look up at him, using his arm for balance to take off the other shoe.

“I'm using the Lover's Lake to something else than making out.” You start walking backwards, into the water.

“Whoa, look at what (Y/N)'s doing,” Lucas says, and you give them a glance. Max giggles, putting the map down.

“Try to drown Billy, would you?”

“I'll do my best.” When you stare back at Billy, he's already in the water.

You move back until your feet stop touching the bottom, so you start swimming further away. The freshwater is a blessing, washing the hot day from your skin. For a moment, you decide to leave the worries behind, just for a couple of minutes. Billy is quick to reach you, and you're suddenly aware of the kids staring. “We have an audience, keep that in mind.” You tell him when he pulls you close, strong arms encircling your waist.

“Were you ever kissed underwater?”

“No.” Your smirk matches his as you take a deep breath and push yourself down.

The kiss is a mess. You have to focus on holding your breath through the process, what makes you laugh, throwing bubbles on Billy's face. You manage to reach the bottom, your back hitting the rocks as Billy floats on top of you. But eventually, the oxygen you were saving is over, so you push him away and swim back up, laughing when you reach the surface.

“What a chaos.” You burst out when he comes back up as well. “We suck at underwater kisses.”

“I think I swallowed some water,” Billy says, coughing a little.

It only makes you laugh harder, removing the hair glued to your face. Swimming closer to him, you wrap your arms around his neck.

“Hey! Mr. and Mrs. Hargrove! Let's get moving!” Lucas shouts, making you roll your eyes.

You burst into laugh again when Billy flings you over his back, carrying you back to land.

And the walking restarts, with Max and Lucas constantly arguing and Billy trying to make them stop. The good thing is that it distracts you. And the bad part is that it distracts you from searching around for any signs of a Demothing nest. Your eyes scan through the woods, among the trees, looking for–.

“Holy shit!” Lucas exclaims and then he jolts away, running, followed by Max. You and Billy exchange a look before rushing after them.

Before you can ask what was that, you see it. A huge hole on the solid ground. It would fit a car in it. The thing goes down, in a slope, and then it keeps going until it makes a turn left. It's clear it doesn't belong to any kind of wild animal. It's not natural. A low, guttural low snarl reaches your ears, and you involuntary gives step back.

“Call them. Them then we found it.” Lucas says, taking a pencil and making a mark on the map.

The moment Max takes the small radio, you hear static. “Everyone listen up.” Steve says, more voices talking behind him. “We found it. A freaking hole in the ground. It has to be–”

“That's it.” Eleven's voice cuts him off. “We found it too.”

It was supposed to be just one.

“What?” Steve asks.

“Head back now. Everyone.” Hopper says and Max turns the radio off.

This is far worse than you thought.

×

@chloe-skywalker @dpaccione @dreamin-of-dacre @funeral-7 @uncookspaget @youhavemyfantasticbeasts @halloweenbitch2764 @redlovett @multific @shinydixon @nikkixostan @clockworkballerina @nope-thanks

[desertofsnowflakes]

Incorrect Order Chapter 3 (Nesssian AU)

A/N: I'm very(read: kinda) sorry for cliffhanger last chapter. Do inform me if you wanna be added/removed from the taglist! If you happen to find my storyline similar to another fic or one of yours, I'm extremely sorry, I might've just not known. All characters belong to the author Sarah J. Mass. Enjoy!

Summary: Don't first impressions always affect the way you see someone? Well, what more with the Nesta Archeron? Nesta meets Cassian at few unexpected places and to say it didn't go well was a major understatement. Certain circumstances make them become enemies to tolerable company to friends to lovers.

Trigger Warnings: Language

2094 words | Incorrect Order Masterlist | Read on AO3

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

Cassian never knew such panic. He knew he was being an ass for acting as if he had the right to be protective of her. Of the person he didn’t even know the name of. Of the person he felt drawn to and yet wanted to forget. Of the person who got under his skin so easily. Of the person whose beauty can bring the best of men to their knees and make even queens try everything possible to best her. He didn’t know her at all other than a few conversations that weren’t his best moments, but he still felt as if they had been together since they were just kids.

All of those were reasons good enough to get him to forget other females. But this woman, gods, this woman wasn’t like the others, was she? No, she wasn’t. He found her on her knees with a man standing before her in an alley on the way back home from the library. At first glance, his heart broke for different reasons. He started walking away, before he realised it wasn’t what he thought it was. When he caught the telltale whiff of blood and saw the glint of a blade from the corner of his eyes.

Undiluted panic and rage —both feelings he didn’t have the right to feel— spurred him forward, knocking the man unconscious and breaking a bone or two for good measure, only to find the woman laying on the floor, her heart beating too fast for her good. Cassian debated entrusting the man and woman over to the authorities. Somehow, Cassian felt that the man and woman were well acquainted before today. He felt all of this was planned from the man’s side. So he brought both of them to his house. The guy was shoved into the basement with a strong sedative. The woman was left in the guest room one of his brothers or friends slept in whenever they stayed over. He didn’t take her to his room. No, he won’t. That would rip open a wound he still struggled to keep closed. A wound that wasn’t even closed properly. That would remind him of images he didn’t want to admit was stored in his mind. One of those images rose, of the woman laying on his bed, golden-brown hair fanned around her flushed face, her eyes screwed shut in—

Cassian shoved that image away and sighed. He should probably have a little chat with the woman once she wakes up.

Today, when the woman didn’t wake up after one week of unconsciousness, when her face was ghastly pale, he felt the optimism that incentivised him slowly seeping out. He started regretting his decision of not handing things over to the police. What if Cassian’s first aid hadn’t been enough? Worse, what if he did something wrong? What if, because of his actions —done knowingly, or unknowingly— would be the reason why the earth loses a certain gray-eyed beauty?

Cassian was close to giving up. It pained him to see her like this. If not for the slight rise and fall of her chest he would think she was dead already. He slowly walked to her bed, crouched and tucked stray strands of hair behind the shell of her ear. He tamped down the emotion cresting in him. Her pulse was getting steadier day by day. He should be happy— his one week of taking leave from both of his jobs and tending to her was paying off. But his mind shot to the moment that day when they first met. When he was stunned by her beauty. Her side-profile, not even her full face, at that. That day, when he realised something deadly was brewing between them. It had been growing from that day, he realised. It was barely five weeks since he had known her— he didn’t even know her. They were just acquaintances. Still, Cassian knew he was falling hard for her. This time, he couldn’t contain the swell of emotion in him. He couldn't hold back the tear rolling down his cheek. He slowly slipped out of the room and sighed. To say he was screwed was a major understatement.

***

Everywhere hurt. Death was supposed to be one's liberation. No one mentioned that there was physical pain in death. There shouldn't be, right? One didn't even have a body to feel physical pain after death. Mental pain? Probably. Physical pain? A big no.

Nesta blinked open her eyes — which again, no one mentioned ghosts would be able to do.

Huh. She expected Hell —for the mistakes she'd atoned, she assumed Hell would be her place— to be all dark and gloomy. What she didn't expect was for Hell to have separate rooms— with furniture and bright blue walls, no less.

She wanted to sit up and get a sense of her surroundings and clear her still groggy head. That's when she heard muffled footsteps. She jerked upright —and immediately regretted it for her head hurt even worse than before — and her pulse raced. She paused. Pulse raced?

She cautiously placed her hand on her wrist, then her neck and on her chest to be sure. Pulse. She had a pulse. She wasn’t dead?

The door flew open revealing a hulking, heaving figure she knew all too well. What was he doing here?

Ohh. She closed her eyes against the onslaught of memories from the alley. Of Tomas. She opened her eyes to find the man sitting on a chair near the bed. Immediately she was keenly aware of the limited space between them. He silently passed her a glass of water she gladly downed, refilled and let her drink her as much as she wanted.

She set her glass on the bedside table and looked up at him, at the concern etched deep on his face.

“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” he asked.

Why is he being kind? Why is he making it difficult for me to hate him?

“Why am I here?” she asked instead.

“I asked you first,” he deadpanned. Typical.

“Mhm, nice way to deflect. Too kiddish, though,” she said.

“As if you aren’t deflecting,” he retorted.

“How about this? Your answers for mine.”

He huffed. “Whatever. So, are you okay?”

She smiled, “Me first.” At his glare she said, “I’m sick, aren’t I?”

“How nice of you to pull that card,” he murmured.

“Why am I here?”

“I found you on your knees, your nose slightly broken, bleeding here and there with a man holding a knife to your throat in an alley.” He shrugged. “I brought you and healed you as well as I could without gaining attention from the authorities. This is my home.”

She opened her mouth to ask her next question.

He cut her off with a smile and said, “My turn, sweetheart.”

She clenched her jaw. His audacity.

He leaned forward on his elbows. “Does anything hurt?”

“Yeah,” she allowed herself a small smile, “My head feels like it's being hit with a hammer by a particularly unkind person. My nose feels like it’s stuffed with cotton. My scalp feels like it’s being used as a cotton reel. I’m in dire need of a bath. Other than that, I’m fine I guess.”

He nodded, “Well, I’m glad you’re fine.” There he is, being all kind and caring to me again. He chuckled. “No need to give me that look. I’m just glad my one week off didn’t go down the drain.”

That was what she wanted to hear. But it still stung. Her head snapped up as realisation struck. “Wait— has it been one week already?”

He smirked, “Yes. Now, my question—”

She frowned, “It’s my turn.”

His smirk only grew larger. That bastard. “ ‘Has it been one week already’ is a question, my love.”

Shit. She should’ve thought about that. He was correct but still, “How dare—”

“Calm down, darling, calm down. If you want—”

She sighed and said, “Bring it on, then.”

His jaw ticked. He’s angry, she realised. “Who was he?” he asked quietly.

She drew in a breath. “That was Tomas. Tomas Mandray. My ex-boyfriend. He probably wanted revenge for putting him in jail.” She didn’t explain. She didn’t want to and he seemed to understand that. She slightly dreaded the next question. She put on her no-emotion face and asked, “Where is he?”

His face said he saw right through her facade. He pursed his lips, “In the basement. I figured the both of you had some sort of personal history so I wanted to wait for you to wake up before I did anything. He’s not awake; I’ve taken care of that but I don’t think he’ll be unconscious much longer. Do you need anything?”

She nodded, she was still in the same clothes as that day. There were blood stains throughout her black shirt. The mere thought that she hadn't cleaned herself for one week made her shudder. He didn’t change her clothes and she appreciated that though it seemed her face, neck and hands were wiped with a cloth. “I’d like a bath.”

He seemed to consider this before saying, “Sure. You can use my friend's clothes from the closet. The bathroom is there. Take a bath, use whatever you want. I'll get breakfast ready.”

He turned to leave. “Wait,” she called.

He arched his brows, waiting. “Thank you. For everything.”

He gave her his signature half-smile, “Anytime, darling.”

***

Making breakfast was normally very easy. Today, however, it was proving to be a very, very difficult task. Apparently, your brain turns to mush when the woman you've been drooling behind is bathing under the same roof. Also when you're talking to her. He found it a miracle that he didn't make a fool of himself earlier.

But he was sober enough to see the vulnerability behind her guarded expressions when they were talking about her ex-boyfriend. Gods, her ex-boyfriend. The anger he felt when he saw him in the alley was less than a tenth of what he felt now. He didn't know why he was angry. He just… was. He knew she was smart and brave and strong. But that didn't wipe off the fact that somewhere, beneath the tigress exterior, there was a scared little rabbit. He knew what he was going to do might be stupid. He knew it might not work out. Still, Cassian was going to arm the scared rabbit, consequences be damned.

***

Turns out, he makes delicious breakfast. There was steak, salad, boiled potatoes and a number of other foods. Nesta didn't know when she last had such mouth-watering steak. Not that she'll admit it though.

“Did he see you?” she asked after a hearty meal. “Tomas,” she clarified.

“No,” he replied, “I came from the back. His guard was down so he wasn't ready. I don't think he's trained in this kinda stuff. He probably knows a little but not good enough. Why?”

She shook her head. “I don't think I want anything to do with him. Would you mind sending him to the police? Maybe you could just attach a note saying you found him abandoned somewhere or something like that. I really don't want to get you into trouble either.”

She didn't dare look at him, afraid he'll say no.

“Fine,” he said. “You can call a cab whenever you're ready to leave. Take my first-aid kit if you want. Anything else?”

“No, no, nothing.” She cleared her throat. “Thanks. Again

For, uh, everything.”

Gods, why was she getting so flustered?

She packed her old clothes and some medicines he recommended for her headache, ignoring the pang of disappointment. Before she left, he passed her a scrap of paper with an address scrawled on it.

“What is this?” she asked.

“It's a centre I run with my brothers. In three weeks from now, after that Sunday, do you want to come? It's a self-defense arts centre. We could teach you a bit here and there. If you want. Totally no pressure.”

Nesta was stunned. That was exactly what she was thinking about in the shower earlier. Learn how to fight. Learn what to do. Then, payback time. She really didn't understand how he managed to read her mind. She smiled. “I'd love that.”

He grinned. She felt happy. Soon, she was going to give back suffering for all she got. Tomas was so going to pay. She's going to learn how to fight. Never again, she vowed. Never again would she be vulnerable.

taglist:

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[white--moon]

“He didn’t,” he confirms. Which seems like it should answer his question, but doesn’t. 

Ichigo frowns harder. That’s true enough. Except he’s not always sure Grimmjow doesn’t really want to kill him. He thinks Grimmjow has his own set of rules, he wants equal footing and the like, but Ichigo isn’t sure if they have the same understanding of trust and loyalty. And if they do, he doesn’t think he has Grimmjow’s. Which is why he’s focusing so hard on wondering what Grimmjow could get out of bringing it up. Ichigo’s not an idiot. The arrancar brought it up for a reason. A pointed reason as far as Ichigo can tell. His nose wrinkles though. “I have my own food and I don’t want what you guys eat. I think he got cold feet.”

His eyes coast over, more focused on Shiro now instead of his own thoughts. “Not exactly. He brought it up and then backed out and wouldn’t tell me anything. So now we’re doing it whether he wants to or not.” It sounds awful when he says it out loud, but he kind of just refuses to think about it. It’ll be fine. 

He exhales a frustrated sound that he hopes encompasses all the hassle of the last several days spent trying to do exactly that. “I did that. He’s not cooperating. Now, I’m asking you.” And that’s been only vaguely helpful. “I’m learning no one knows apparently.” That stops him though, and he has a momentary little spasm of panic as he looks over again. “Wait, so are we…” He doesn’t want to ask, he just can’t help it. But since no one knows how it’s done, and there’s definitely some degree of trust and loyalty between them, and they’re even getting something out of it technically... It would figure he might already be in a pack without knowing it, and he doesn’t know if he wants to be corrected or confirmed. This whole thing is starting to seem awful. Like maybe it’s something that can happen without anyone being aware of it. 

He didn't. Hm. Shiro's not convinced. It seems exactly like something Grimmjow might do; bring the whole thing up and then decide he didn't want to explain it when he realized Ichigo had no idea what he was talking about.

Ichigo's thinking real hard about all this, Shiro can see it on his face. He shrugs when he's pretty sure Ichigo says only a fraction of whatever he's thinking. "Maybe. That still implies he thinks you've got something to offer. He doesn't need help with food, he can do that himself. So it's something else." He honestly has no idea what other hollows get out of having packs. He doesn't have one and, in general, he doesn't particularly want company from other hollows, with very few exceptions. He mostly thinks Ichigo's just spitballing ideas off him at the moment.

Head tilting slightly, he frowns. "What exactly did he say? Maybe he didn't get cold feet, maybe he's worried about steppin' on toes." At first glance, that doesn't seem very Grimmjow-like, from what he knows about him, but then again, he clearly subscribes to hollow social dynamics. "You have a lotta friends and acquaintances and only half of 'em are human. Things get complicated." Ichigo himself, just by nature of what he is, complicates things sometimes.

That frustration would be impossible to miss and it straightens his spine a bit, but he doesn't think it's necessarily aimed at him. He huffs out a breath of his own. "What d'you want me to do? Ask him myself?" There's some heavy sarcasm in his voice. "Someone might, I already told you probably wouldn't be me. I'm not a normal hollow." He's still trying to recover from whatever that little instinctive revolt was. Ichigo can do whatever the hell he wants. Except Ichigo's clearly catching on to something too. "What? Are we what? Didn't I just say it gets complicated?"

[devinescribe]

Games

Chapter 7 to '100 Promises'

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Warnings: Swearing, violence, bullying, blood, I think that's it, but as always feel free to tell me if I missed any.

"I finally got contact lenses. I think they'll be better than my glasses. I mean, yeah, I'll probably still use them, but it's... nevermind, what do you think?" He rambled, a dorky smile on his face. "If it'll make you happy, then you look great," you said, smiling, honestly meaning your words. "I'm asking for your opinion woman, stop giving me the 'if it makes you happy' bullshit. Give me your opinion," he stated, shaking your shoulders."It looks good! I'm not used to seeing you without your glasses, but you look good!" You laughed, your words coming out in a vibrato of sorts from him shaking you. "I'm glad you think so."

"Dear gods my hair is getting long..." he muttered, running his hands through his hair, staring at himself in the bathroom mirror. "I think it looks good," you commented, passing by the bathroom with a laundry basket. "Really? I think I kind of like it too..."

"And how much does it hurt?" He questioned. "Not that much, or so I've heard. Plus, we're getting it at the same time, so... no backing out, or I'll cut your hair," you threatened, your hold on his hand tightening a bit. "No, don't you dare. And I won't back out," he said as you dragged him into the shop. (The fact I've been threatened with that-)

"I somehow can't believe we looked like that!" You laughed, pointing at the photo on your phone. It was from high school, and you were both laughing at how dorky you both looked. "Oh gods... actually, I was kind of hot," you said, giggling a bit. "Have we really changed that much?" Niragi questioned. "Well, let's see," you said, opening the camera and telling Niragi to get into frame. He did so, and you both stuck out your tongues, the matching piercings glinting in the light. You snapped the photo, and put it side by side the one from high school. "Wow... that's a big difference, holy shit," he laughed. You snickered, and posted side by side comparison of the the photos. "Yeah. Huge difference."

"Hatter would like to see you... Alone."

You looked back at Ann, and nodded, getting up. "If she's going, I'm going with," Niragi said, getting up himself. "He said he wants to speak to (Y/N) alone. Respect to rules for once please," Ann chided, as you walked to her side. Niragi laughed, finishing with a smirk, "And since when do I listen to the rules?"

You looked back at him with a proud, yet embarrassed face. Definitely not the same Niragi from back in the real world. He was more confident than you last remembered, that was for sure. "Dude, I'll be totally fine. The least they could do is kill me," you said, a bit to nonchalantly for his tastes. "That seems like a worse case scenario, but ok." he responded, "I'm still going with you." "No, you're not. Look, I'll be fine ok? Just wait outside the door," you suggested. He scoffed, but nodded nontheless. Ann stayed quiet, watching this exchange. 'So... is that all it takes to convince him? Really? All we needed was this girl?' Were her thoughts.

"Oh good, you're here!" Hatter exclaimed as soon as you walked in. Ann stayed outside, and shut the doors behind you. You nodded. Was he happy or just extremely charismatic? You didn't know, but whatever it was, it was nice. It made you feel like you were talking to someone you knew. Like the pleasant ladies from your apartment complex. "Well, what do you want to talk about?"

"Where are we?" You asked as you got off the train. "I don't know. Just took a random train. You said you wanted another adventure," he replied. You gasped. "Niragi Suguru, you did not," you said, grabbing onto his hand to make sure you didn't lose him in the large crowd. "I did. And what of it?" He asked, dragging you out. "Oh my gods... Excuse me, sorry to bother you, but which city are we in?" You asked one of the people who worked there. They smiled and answered with, "Shinjuku. Are you lost?"  You shook your head. "No, we'll be fine. Thank you very much!" You said. Niragi dragged you to the exit. "I don't look presentable to be in Shinjuku right now, Niragi," you said, hiding your face. "You always look nice though. And it's called opportunity. I took it, and now we're here. So, let's take advantage of this, yeah?"

Hatter sat you down. "From what Ann and Aguni reported back to me, you're a quick thinker. Great shot apparently. They were both very impressed," he started. You smiled. "I'm honored they felt that way," you said. Hatter chuckled. "Well, Ann said you'd do well in either position of a militant or an executive. And it's just your luck the precious person who held number 7 recently... died. The games, obviously. Before you came here, actually. Maybe it was a sign it was meant to be yours. And, since you've proven yourself useful, I think it's a good idea," Hatter said, rambling a bit. "That's a bit too high for me, isn't it?" You questioned. You had just gotten here, you couldn't possibly be up that high already. "Uh... no. It's not. So, as of today, you shall be a militant," he said dramatically. You laughed, thanking him as he gave you a wristband with the number seven written on the blue tag. You slipped it on your wrist. "Oh, and just so you know, Aguni will most likely take you under his wing. The militants are mostly guys, so be careful. And... uh... your friend can help you find everything. He'll also show you to your new room. That is all. Goodbye now," he said cheerfully. You smiled brightly, thanking him.

You opened the door to leave, seeing Niragi leaning on the wall across the door. You smiled, closing the door softly behind you. "I'm back," you said. He nodded, "I can see that." "Can you really? You have your contact lenses?" You asked, skeptical. He nodded his head. "Surprisingly," he added. "Hmm... and for how many more days do you have them?" You questioned as he led you through the hotel. "Well, I've been in the borderland about 2 and a half weeks-"

"Woah, hold up... you'd been gone for six months up in the real world-"

"Well, I'm starting to think time runs differently in both places. Because no way in hell have I been here 6 months."

"Ok... continue on."

You two talked about whatever came to mind just like you used to. It was like you never skipped a beat. He lead you down into where they kept the weapons. "Only milatants and Hatter are allowed down here. This is the basement, and also where we keep the weapons. So, take your pick," he said, a smirk on his face. "You're a bit to proud of this aren't you?" You asked, looking over the different weapons. "Maybe," he responded. You didn't have to look at him to know he was smirking, you could just hear it in his voice. You picked out a knife that had a strap around. You also picked up a riffle similar to Niragi's, and turned to face him. "Ok, I'm good," you said. "Tomorrow, the militants are heading out on a supply run. Which means you now too. You can wear actual clothes now, isn't that fun?" He joked. You rolled your eyes shoving him playfully. He ran his tongue over his teeth. "That's really how you want to play, huh (L/N)?" He asked. You could hear the tone behind his words. The tone that meant run or your fucked, because whatever game he's scheming will end with you caught. It was quite normal for you two. Playing games with each other was a hobby back in the real world. Didn't matter how childish or immature they were. "Ouch, my last name? That hurts... Suguru." (Is that his last name or his first name? I don't know, I've been treating it as his last name, but I'm probably wrong) You giggled, running off. There was probably tons of places to hide inside the basement, and probably even more places throughout the beach.

"How was last night? Did you have fun?" He teased as soon as you woke up. You rolled your eyes. "Don't even talk to me about last night. Another disappointment," you groaned, rubbing your eyes. "Damn. That bad, huh?" He said, handing you a mug with coffee in it. You took a sip, and smiled. Perfect... He always made really good coffee, and it impressed you. "Yeah... definitely that bad. I heard him leave this morning, let's hope he never comes back," you said. Niragi laughed, taking a sip of his own coffee. The sunlight came in through the sliding glass door of your apartment.  The sky was painted with pinks and purples. Gold dusted the clouds as the sun touched them. It was perfectly picturesque. "One day, we won't have to live in a sucky apartment building, you know? I promise you that one day we'll have... I don't know where do you want to live?" He asked you. You both walked over to the couch, sitting next to eachother. "I don't know... I'd go anywhere as long as I can still have my best friend with me.''

"Come on out, (Y/N). I'll find you sooner or later. We need sleep," he shouted. You stifled a laugh, and crouched down, sneaking around. You could see him looking around for you. You moved backwards, bumping into someone. You slowly turned around. It was the guys Niragi had introduced as 'Last Boss'.

Throughout the day, you had actually had the opportunity to talk to him a bit. More like you talked, while he observed you, occasionally making a sound of sorts to show you he was listening. He'd also answered your questions, so you thought he wouldnt be that bad. You made the quiet signal, putting a finger to your lips. He looked down quizzically. "Playing a game. Can't let him find me. Wanna join?" You whispered to the mysterious man. He nodded slightly, still a bit confused. "Ok, the objective is to not get caught by Niragi. He doesn't know you're playing yet, so I'll figure something out... oh, I got it! You go hide," you whisper shouted, shooing him off. He went to go hide, and you climbed to the top of one of the darker places. "A new player has joined in. One seeker, two hiders!" You shouted. You heard Niragi laugh. "Dumbass! You're letting me know where you are!"  You smirked. That's what you wanted him to think.

"Oh nice! You got his glasses that's 20 points!" The boys shouted. You struggled to get out of the ropes tied your hands together. You heard Niragi groan, and looked up, seeing him on the floor, blood dripping from his nose. "Niragi!" You shouted in worry. He looked over at you, before one of the guys kicked his face into the ground. You struggled against the ropes the boys had tied around your wrist. It dug into your skin, you could feel the skin being rubbed raw from how much you had struggled against them ."So useless without eachother, huh?" One of them taunted. "Stop hurting him!" You yelled, squirming. "Oh? Would you rather we harm you then? You were always such a pretty girl... to bad you decided to defend him," the leader of their little group said, kneeling in front of you. "I don't give a damn if you hurt me. Stop hurting him!' You shouted. "(Y-y/N), don't," Niragi said, before one of the bullies kicked him in the stomach. He winced in pain, screwing his eyes shut. "Stop it! He didn't do anything to you!" You screamed, struggling even more, the ropes creating rope burn on your skin. "It's not a vengeance thing. It's fun," the leader said, grabbing your chin, making you look up at him. You glared at him in disgust, wanting so badly to just hit him, or spit on him in the moment. But you didn't. You didn't because you knew if you did either you or Niragi would get hurt. More likely Niragi, since they knew he was your weakness. "Just like it's fun making girls like you submit," he added with a smirk. "Don't you dare hurt her! Hurt me all you want, but don't touch her!" Niragi yelled. There was confidence in his words, but you also knew how scared he was. You could see it on his face. "That sounds boring though. What if we just make both of you our little puppets for the night, have you both put on a show?'' One of the guys snickered. This was followed by a chorus of 'not a bad idea' and 'sounds interesting.' You looked at Niragi, fear written all over your face.

You ran quietly, and quickly, knowing he could catch up to you. You looked around the dimly lit basement, and saw the exist to go up. Your eyes caught a flash of movement, and someone grabbed you, putting a hand over your mouth. You were shocked at first, going to scream bloody murder, before seeing it was Last Boss. He let you go, and you took a breath. "Oh my gods... dude that was scary," you whispered. He shrugged. "I have a place we can hide. I don't think he's smart enough to find it," He suggested, nodding his head over to Niragi. You stifled a laugh, and nodded, letting him lead you.

"(Y/N)! (Y/N), are you alright?" He worriedly asked, checked on you. You hissed in pain when his hands went over the bruises. "I'm sorry. This is all my fault, if I hadn't-" he started, blaming himself. You grabbed shoulders, and shook your head. "It's not your fault... it's ok," you said, sitting up. The gravel under you poked at the skin exposed from your school skirt. "I-its not ok!" He shouted. "It's... it's not ok. You shouldn't have- I could've-" he started, pulling at his hair. "Niragi. It's not your fault. You didn't... you didn't hurt me," you said, your voice calming. You grabbed his hands, pulling them towards you. You were just kids. Fucking 16 years old(not exactly a kid, but whatever), you shouldn't have to go through this stuff. No kid should. "I should be comforting you, yet here you are, making me feel better. Stop it, you're the one who-"

"Niragi, it happened to both of us. Stop acting like you're ok too."

"But- I'm supposed to... I-"

"Shut up, and come here."

He sighed, sitting besides you. You pulled his head into your lap, and he sighed. "Stop taking care of me. Stop hanging out with me, because you're the one who ends up getting hurt because of me. Please," he pleaded as you ran your fingers through his hair. "No," you responded. "(Y/N), stop being so stubborn! Please, just... just listen to me!" He shouted. You flinched at the sudden loudness. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you," he apologized, noticing when you flinched. You sighed, leaning back on the concrete wall. You muttered back something along the lines of him not having to apologize. You heard thunder, and saw a flash of lightning. "It's going to rain, we should go home," Niragi said. "Don't wanna... let's stay here?" You muttered, watching the sun get covered by the clouds. You were under a bridge, so you at least had coverage. He looked up at you, and nodded. "Ok. We can," he whispered. The raindrops began to splatter on the ground outside the coverage of the bridge, and you sighed in happiness. Niragi sat up, bringing you close to him. The smell of rain filled your senses, and you couldn't help but enjoy the moment, even if you had been in emotional and physical pain before. Being there helped numb it for a while. Being with him helped numb the feeling.

"Alright... if I were (Y/N)... where would I go?" Niragi muttered to himself, walking around. It was too quiet. You weren't a quiet person unless need be, and if he remembers correctly, which he does, you had a losing streak in hide and seek since high school. You were too giggly to hide in silence, or maybe you got scared by being alone in the dark to long. Whatever it had been, you had a losing streak for almost 8 years. That was not about to change, not if he had a say in it. A part of him said he was not acting like himself, and that playing this with you was childish. Especially in the borderlands. He knew he would have to find you either way, so he stopped caring. He remembered what she had said. A new player has joined in. One seeker, two hiders! 'Ok, process of elimination....'

"So, given the fact Chishiya isn't allowed down here, I think I know who she's with, and where she is. Let's see if I'm right.''

This was more memories than actual current events... oh well- hope you enjoyed, have a wonderful day/night, baii!! Oh yeah, just because this is the only place people have a problem with me posting Niragi stuff, if you don't like it, the block button is right there, don't send me death threats or tell me to go kms. Thank you

[d-noona]

BARTERED BRIDE - Chapter 4

Ch 04 - Lunch Meeting

Kim Namjoon is a ruthless financier used to buying and selling stocks, shares and priceless artifacts. But now Namjoon has his eye on a very different acquisition - Park Han Byeol. Left destitute by her father's recent death, Han Byeol walks into Namjoon's bank looking to extend her overdraft. As Han Byeol needs money and Namjoon needs a wife, he proposes the perfect deal: he'll rescue her financially if she agrees to marry him. But in this marriage of convenience can Han Byeol ever be anything more than just a bartered bride?

Masterlist

"I nearly kept you waiting," said Namjoon. "I came back from the bank at eleven to go run in the park. As I was coming home I saw an old man on a bench who was obviously in need of medical attention. That held me up."

"Do you run everyday?" Han Byeol asks.

"I try to. Are you a runner?"

Han Byeol shook her head. "I play tennis and ski. I don't do work-outs."

He slanted an appraising glance at her figure. Today, in place of a black suit, she was wearing a designer outfit bought on a holiday in Italy. It consisted f a fine jersey-knit top in lilac, a waistcoat in violet, and swirling chevron-striped skirt combining those colors with pink and pale pistachio-green. The audacious color combination was perfect with Han Byeol's dark hair and brown eyes. "You look in great shape," he remarked. "But people in desk jobs like mine need some kind of fitness regime to stave off the bad effects of a sedentary lifestyle. Come and sit down. What would you like to drink before lunch?"

She remembered his remark about the wine she had been drinking when he forced his way in the previous evening. Was he one of those people who drank only mineral water and made everyone who didn't feel on a lower plane? Han Byeol had no intention of allowing him to intimidate her. "A Campari and soda, please," she said firmly.

Namjoon said to the butler, who had been following them at a discreet distance, "A Campari for Miss Park and my usual, please, Curtis." With a silent inclination of the head, the butler withdrew.

"Let's sit over here, shall we?" Namjoon steered her towards a group of comfortable chairs near one of the windows. "Have you finished your packing?"

"Almost"

Knowing that she wouldn't be able to sleep, she had worked on it till long past midnight. At half past nine this morning a dealer whom she had ought a lot of furnishings had come round to buy them back. Luckily Han Byeol had paid for them out of her bank account. Although the money in it had come from her father, technically they were her property, not his. As soon as his business had been forced into receivership, everything her father had owned, including the family home belonged to his business creditors. But the cash the dealer had handed her could go in her pocket. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing if, when Namjoon spelt out the terms of his trade off marriage, she found that she couldn't accept them. Looking up at the elegant cornice around the ceiling and the two crystal chandeliers, their chains swathed with coral tassels at the tops of the heavy cream curtains.

"Are you interested in architecture?" He sounded faintly surprised.

"Sometimes."

The butler came back with their drinks, hers a slight more vivid red than the coral linen slipcovers on some of the sofas, Namjoon's colorless except for a twist of lemon floating among the ice cubes. It could be in or vodka, or it could straight mineral water. Namjoon said, "This was my grandparents' house. My paternal grandmother still lives here when she's not staying with her daughters". I moved here when my father died. We had been living in Ilsan. I have an apartment near Gangnam but I thought you would feel more comfortable being entertained in the main house," he added with a gleam of amusement. After a slight pause, he added "I shall move out when I marry. The province is better for children, if their parents can choose where to live. Most people can't of course."

"Where are you thinking of moving to?" Han Byeol asked.

"I haven't decided." His expression was enigmatic. "Where would you choose to live, given a free choice?"

Han Byeol considered the question. Once the answer would have been "Wherever Yoongi wants to live." She said, "Ideally I'd like more sun than we get in this city. I wouldn't mind living by the sea, getting some fresh air...or a lake would do as long as it has mountains round it. I'd like to look out on mountains...big ones with snow on top."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Sounds as if New Zealand would suit you."

She shook her head. "I'm sure it's a beautiful country but it's too far away from Korea. Have you been there?"

Namjoon nodded. "The scenery's magnificent...when it's not raining. Unreliable weather. I went with old friends, you might know them since they run in the same circles you do. Where have your travels taken you?"

"Mostly to holiday places...the Caribbean in winter...resorts round the Med in summer. My mother's a passionate gardener. She doesn't like travelling alone, even in a group. I've been on some garden tours with her...the south of France, Ireland, California. Where do you for holidays?" Han Byeol takes a sip of her Campari.

"I used to go with my father who also liked someone with him. We went to Japan together and other Pacific Rim countries. I travel a lot for the bank. For pleasure I usually go to France, Greece or Spain. Where would you like to go for our honeymoon?"

The question, tacked on to innocuous small talk, took her by surprise. "I haven't agreed to marry you," she said coldly.

"If you found the idea unthinkable, you wouldn't be here," he said dryly. "Let's be straight with each other Han Byeol. I need you...you need me. It's a sensible, practical arrangement."

She knew that at least the first part of what he said was true, but she wasn't about to admit it. Was it pride that made her reluctant to fall in with his plan too readily? She said, "I'm not clear why you've selected me."

"You're very attractive...as I am sure you're aware." he smiles at her gently.

"Is that all you want from a woman? An acceptable face and figure? Don't you care what I'm like inside?" Han Byeol scoffed.

'I can make some intelligent guesses. People can't hide their characters," he told her casually. "Even in repose a face gives a lot of clues to its owner's temperament. Apart from yesterday's evidence that you have a short fuse, I haven't detected any characteristics I wouldn't like to live with."

His arrogance took her breath away. In that moment of shock, she was struck by the thought it would be both a challenge and public service to bring this man down from his lofty pinnacle and convert him into an acceptably unassuming person. But perhaps it was already too late . One of gran's favorite sayings was, "What's bred in the bone must come out in flesh." Namjoon with his long-boned thoroughbred physique and his handsome features, looked a descendant of generations of men who had felt themselves to be superior beings and never experienced the doubts felt by ordinary people.

In a different, more rough-hewn way, her father had been the same. Probably somewhere far back in Namjoon's ancestry, there had been a man like her father: a rough-diamond unscrupulous go-getter who had founded the Park Fortune. Perhaps if Mr. Park had married someone better equipped to handle him than her quiet and easily cowed mother, her father might have been saved from becoming an overbearing braggart. Whether, at thirty four, Namjoon's essential nature could be modified was problematical. But it could be interesting to try.

She said, "I don't find you as transparent as you seem to find me. It takes me longer to make up my mind about people;"

"You haven't had as much experience of summing up people as I have."

The butler reappeared. "Luncheon is ready when you are, sir."

They ate in a smaller room with a view of a large garden, an oasis of well kept greenery in the heart of the city. The surface of the round Regency breakfast table had a gleaming patina resulting from years of regular polishing' It reflected the colors and shapes of the red-streaked white tulips arranged in a what Han Byeol recognized as an antique tulip pot, its many spouts designed to support the stems of flowers which had once been costly status symbols. The meal began with potted shrimps served with crisp Melba toast, tiny green gherkins and white wine, which they continued to drink with the main course, chicken with minty yogurt dressing.

While they ate Namjoon talked about plays and art shows he had been to recently. It was the kind of conversation made by strangers at formal lunch parties and although his comments were interesting Han Byeol thought his choice of subject was irrelevant to this particular situation. When the butler had withdrawn, leaving them to help themselves to a fruit salad with fromage frais, or to selection of more substantial cheeses, she said, "Why do you want a wife when you could go on having girlfriends and a change them when you get bored?"

Offering her elegant Waterford compote, its apparent fragility emphasizing the powerful but equally elegant form of the hands in which it was cradled, he looked at her with unexpected sternness. "I have a responsibility to my line. I need sons to carry on the traditions established by my predecessors."

She found this solemnly irritating. "Are you expecting me to provide proof of my fertility?" Before she could add that, if he was, he could forget it, Namjoon said, "No, I'm prepared to chance that."

"Big deal!" Han Byeol said sarcastically.

She had a feeling that Namjoon wouldn't hesitate to divorce her if she failed to live up to his expectations in some way. But although he struck her as a monster of cold-hearted self-centeredness, she couldn't deny that he was extraordinarily attractive. Every movement he had made since they sat down had heightened her awareness of the lean and muscular physique inside the well-cut suit and the long legs under the table. His hair was dry now but still had a sheen of health. There was nothing about him suggestive of stress or tension. He seemed entirely relaxed. Yet why did he need to arrange a businesslike marriage instead of falling in love the way people usually did?

Wondering, suddenly, if he might be in the same situation as herself, heartbroken, although it didn't seem likely, she said, "When did you dream up this scheme?"

"It's an idea I've had for some time...probably since my contemporaries started divorcing. I have about a dozen god-children, most whom now have step parents, some official, some not. I don't want that for my children."

"Did you parents stay married?" she asked.

It seemed to her that his face underwent a change. His lips didn't tighten. His eyebrows didn't draw together. But there was a subtle hardening and chilling, reminding her of the impression she had received that morning when they sat on opposite sides of his imposing desk/ Now they were at a table designed for a more intimate and relaxed conversation. But she sensed a change in the atmosphere and knew she had trespassed in an area of his where she was an unwelcome intruder.

"They separated. They were never divorced," he answered.

Han Byeol wanted to ask hold he had been when the separation happened, but something made her hold her tongue. Later, going back to the flat in the taxi he had laid on for her, she regretted her curiousity.

When-in-two people were going to marry, there shouldn't be any "No go" areas between them...or at least none of that nature. His past girlfriends were not her business, but his family life certainly was. She shouldn't have allowed herself to be put off. From now on she wouldn't be, she told herself firmly.

[trickstermiraculous]

I do have an idea on my tumblr but I'm not sure if I can post links in asks as someone who loves the Villain/Jerkass Has a Point trope basically my idea is after she's exposed Lila calls out the class (Adrien and Bustier included) and Damocles on their stupidity (and throws Alya's words: "a good reporter always checks her sources" back in her face) and she asks Marinette if she can even call the class her friends if they believed Lila over her and Mari (and Chloe) admit she has a point

It took longer than expected for this group to figure it out, about a year. You would think a class with a person who built an actual working AI would be smart than this. Sure there was Marinette who figured it out in a day but that was probably due to knowing the people I lied about, contrary to popular belief I did do research on my classmates although it was until Marinette called me out that I decide to research her more in-dept.

When I realised my mistake, I did what I always do and threaten her but, of course, she was confident I wouldn’t win until I got her expelled and I know it was wrong and I went too far especially when Adrien went out of his way to get her back into school by making a deal with me, so I back off but it seems that her friends had already left her, they constantly trashed talked her while hanging out with me or making sure she was excluded from activities they did as a class even when she was the one who organised it due to being class president. Did the teacher care, fuck no, she was more focused on making the rich bullies were happy.

Ladybug also made me well aware of how dangerous it was to be allied with hawkmoth. I had told him to not to make Akumas go after my mother but sure enough, a co-worker who was jealous of her got akumatised and went after her. Luckily, Ladybug was there to save my mother when the Akuma decide to drop her from the highest point of the Eiffel tower. I wasn’t paying attention when I was yelling at hawkmoth through the phone when I got home to notice Ladybug come in through the window. It was an awkward situation, to say the least, but after coming clean, ladybug had admitted that her parents had been in danger several times and it’s scary but the one thing most people don’t do is work with the people putting her in danger.

I did admit to her that she had a point and told her that I know who Hawkmoth was. “Then do one thing for me while I keep my eye on your mother when I can,” she asked,

“why should I?” I asked,

“Because what’s to say he won’t go after her again?” Ladybug responded raising an eyebrow,

“Fine, what do you want me to do?” I asked,

“Collect evidence, Hawkmoth will most likely be someone who had enough power to not get caught so only having your account, won’t be enough because while your class might believe your lies a quick google search and the police will most likely think you’re lying for attention” she answered, “Fine, you have a deal” I stated. 

It took about half a year to collect enough evidence and Ladybug was right about Hawkmoth not caring about making sure her family were nowhere near Akuma attacks, in fact, two Akumas went after her mother again and her father was trapped under rubble after an Akuma had gone storming through multiple buildings. When the evidence had been revealed to the public and Adrien’s father had been arrested, the class group chat had been a shit storm and was worse in class the next day. 

Adrien wasn’t in the class, Marinette who happened to be early informed me that he was staying at her house since he was quite close with them after he refused to believe my lies and started hanging out with Marinette more much to my annoyance. “You do realise, Alya’s going to want to rip your head off right” Marinette stated while she doodled in her sketchbook,

“Why is that?” I questioned.

After Marinette had stopped trying to call me out on my lies and started to ignore me, we had made an agreement to act like reasonable people so like if we had to work on a project together, we would not make any moves to piss each other off or we just need an answer to a simple question, we would be polite about it.

“Because according to Chloe, who is still in the class group chat, Alya decided to do checks on all of us to see if we are who we say we are and she just no finally check to see if anything you said is true and apparently she was not happy with what she found” Marinette answered and speak of the devil, Alya entered looking depressed but as soon as her eyes landed on me, her face changed to anger. 

“You are a liar” she growled as the rest of the class entered, looking angry but not as much as Alya,

“Like that’s news” I replied staring right back at her, “Marinette told you that for months, ye you stubbornly refused to listen or do any kind of research to see if I was speaking the truth”,

“Don’t you dare blame this on us” she retorted, “you allowed me to ruin my reputation as a reporter with your lies”,

“Because you didn’t do the simplest thing a reporter does, fact checks everything, you were going to go nowhere in the news world if you continued to not fact check” I stated while I started to scroll through twitter.

“She is right, Alya while you are good at writing articles and getting information, you are downright terrible at fact-checking instead you just take the information that will make your theories seem like the actual truth and ignore other information that disproves it” responded Marinette cutting Alya off before she could reply to me,

“Why are you defending her? I thought you hated her,” asked Alix confused,

“Oh I do but that does make what she just said wrong” answered Marinette.

“You all believed me even Miss Bustier and Mr Damocles and that’s because no one decided to fact check and at this point, I don’t think Marinette can call you her friends because of that,” I said looking at Marinette with a smirk, 

“I stopped calling them friends after I got a block from the group chat, stopped hanging out with me but still demanded stuff off me” Marinette admitted in a deadpan tone, putting her pencil down, “Now can we please start the lesson, Miss Bustier”, said women who had been watching this happen, nodded as she opened up today’s PowerPoint.

Notes: A nice Lila one shot who would have guessed that I would actually write one. I have not been as active as I would have liked but I do hope you like this.

AO3

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