#as always thank you for your patience!! we can drop or move to event stuff

[nicocastillo]

·✥·

He fell back on his elbows and spoke slowly, not because he was measuring his words but because he wasn't. "This house is... the place where I remember my family being happy together. Like, I remember pulling down books in my dad's study and trying to read them even when they were way too hard for me to understand, just because I wanted to be in the room with him while he was writing. Or my mom, laughing with other pack wolves in the backyard and trying to teach me to make s'mores." Nico smiled softly, but it faded quickly as he continued. "But, it’s also, like... where everything fell apart? And that kind of crosses over the happy memories." He caught a piece of the blanket and traced it between his fingers, remembering the day his dad hadn't come home, followed by all the nights afterwards. And how that loss hung in every room. In a quieter tone, he continued. "I wasn’t very happy here, then. When I was alone, when my mom had to go off and y'know. Be the Alpha." There were air quotes voiced in over those last three words, an unwelcome and heavy emphasis. "And now... that’s me, and… well," Nico shifted uncomfortably and glanced out the window. "You can come with me wherever I go, like on full moons? But she won't be able to do that. And when I have to change and run, 'cause I can’t sleep? Like, Jas' RV was where I usually ended up, when I felt restless. But if she moves in here, or... or anywhere with me, actually..." he said, realizing it in real time. "She can’t come to the Den, or anything like that. When I go out, I won't be going to see her, I'll be just leaving her here. And when I imagine her being here alone in the woods, I get sorta…" Tension rolled through his shoulders. "Cause that's the way I used to feel when I was younger, and it—" An exhale through his nose. "It pissed me off, you know? So it's like, it's easier, knowing she’s in town? And I know she has people there, her siblings and Efe and the Coven around. I mean, she’d have Thunder now, at least, and you to be an annoying roommate," this came with a shove of his hip into hers, and an attempt at a grin. "So that’s a little better, but it’s still…" He trailed off uncomfortably. "I just want it to be... good. Here. For her. And I don't know how to make it be that, but I don't want the only thing she'd get by moving in here to be, like... just me, 'cause that's not enough, and I guess... I think I have a harder time leaving people than I thought. And I'm just... I'm afraid of that, I think.” His eyes travelled over to Elif's face, accompanied by the rush of affection he still felt when he registered that she was actually here. He swallowed, and added something he hadn't voiced before. “It was hard leaving you out there, too. For a while, I kind of just told myself that you’d be safer, where you could run, and leave, get away whenever you had to, but…" He glanced at the scar again, then back to meet her. "It wasn’t safer at all, was it?” There was no way he was buying the joke answer, and though he wouldn't press her if she got uncomfortable, he wasn't going to gloss over it either. If something happened, that was partly his fault too. But she might not be ready to talk about it, so he followed the distraction and changed tack, reaching for a bag full of spooky makeup for her to do her worst with. "I was hoping you would. If I had to do it myself, I'm pretty sure I'll just end up looking like the Prince of Raccoons instead of the Prince of Darkness."

“You do?” Elif peaked up. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, she rearranged herself on his bed so that she was now sitting crisscross applesauce with one of his pillows plopped in the midst of her lap. Elif couldn’t help, but be a bit of a hopeless romantic. It probably had something to do with her nearly infectious optimism, despite not having been given many, if any reason, over the course of her life to view the world as a happy or hopeful place. And when her best friend who had never really seemed to be all that interested in anyone over the years said he wanted to move in with Jas, she knew it was big. “Then why don’t you-��� she started to ask, only for her to trail off as he continued on. “Oh. Complicated how so?” She asked, having an idea of what Nico was alluding to with it being his parents and all that. But, as someone who didn’t have a childhood home she could ever go back to and was currently living in the house she had once attempted to steal from, she wasn’t sure if she could entirely relate with the sentiment. “I mean I get what this house means to you and all, but if this isn’t where you see yourself starting a life with someone, you know you could always, I don’t know, get a place together? Somewhere new? And I could always stay here and take care of this place for you? Or Jas can move in and the three of us can live here together? Then it would be even more weird, but likely less complicated given that you’d have some random roomie?” She offered up with a sly smile. “I’m just saying as much as I want you to be happy and I do, you were the one who made the mistake of asking me to move in and, like Thunder, you’re now just going to have to live with us,” she teased. At least, until she could find another place to crash and while her and Poppy were still trying to one up each other to prove who was Nico’s better friend.

“Okay, okay. I’m imagining,” she let out a light giggle as she cupped her hands over her eyes in a dramatic motion before lowering them once more so that she could scan his costume up and down. “I think- your costume has a lot of buttons. No wonder it took you so long. But I love it! Very demonic. And ugh,” she let out a groan as she buried her face into the pillow in front of her. “Don’t remind me.” Elif loved nearly every part of being a wolf, except for the annoying amount of facial hair that would grow during the partial shift which is why she avoid partially shifting anything but her claws if she could help it. “I’m probably going to switch over to a Red Riding Hood cloak at that point. But, hey, at least neither of us will be fully stripping down tonight? I think neither costume is going to be fun to hastily take off in the woods. Or at least not to hastily put back on. “And huh?” Her attention shifted as Nico poked her shoulder. “Oh that,” Elif muttered under her breath as she caught site of the scar on her arm that Nico was gesturing towards. “It’s nothing. Tis but a mere flesh wound,” she offered up with an eased shrug, quoting Monty Python rather than explaining the origin for the deep scar. “Now, back to this creepy makeup. What are we thinking here? And can I be the one to do paint it on you?”

[jerseyshoresy]

Could I request something where the reader is on the women's hockey team and gets a skate to the face on accident, and Shoresy who stuck around to watch rides with her to the hospital for stitches?

Absolutely you can! And here it is :) it kinda got away from me a little bit toward the end and I added some more elements to the story but I hope you enjoy, thanks so much for sending in the request and also for your patience as I wrote it!!! <3

A Little Slice of Heaven

Angst, Fluff

Shoresy x f!reader

Warnings: cussing, blood, stitches

It was the second period of the Sudbury women’s hockey game and the audience’s hearts were pounding with the excitement of the events unfolding in front of them. This game had been particularly brutal, fists and insults hurling across the ice alongside the puck. You were up by 3 and the barn was teeming with energy from your supporters and opposing team alike. All of your teammates were fired up too, shredding ice underneath their skates in a frenzy to keep the momentum going.

“Let’s go, ladies! Keep sliding ‘em in!” you yelled, posting up in your spot in the face off. The puck dropped and you immediately took possession, skating as fast as you could. You felt sweat dripping down your face as you finally passed the puck, getting knocked into the glass by the other team.

“Don’t stop moving! Take ‘em down, L/n!” you heard a voice yell next to you. It was Shoresy, who had apparently been there to watch the game. Knowing he was a spectator brought a smile to your face. You had always found him to be particularly interesting—a fantastic hockey player with a big mouth and even bigger heart. His passion for the game was unrivaled and it made you proud that he felt your team was worthy enough to watch. It certainly didn’t hurt that he was easy on the eyes as well; you’d thought he was super cute since the first time you met him. Over time you became friends, but your crush on him never went away. The thought of him watching you win was enough to motivate you even more to do your best. You growled, pushing the woman from the other team off you and heading back into the action. You were in control of the puck again, ready to make your shot. You yanked back your stick and—

And you were… splayed out on the ice?

And your face was immensely more wet than you remembered?

All of a sudden, you registered the eye watering, stinging pain that was radiating across your skin. You shakily put a hand to your cheek, knowing exactly what happened.

You got a skate to the face.

Blood began to pour onto the ice beneath you as you flipped over from your back to your knees, keeping your head down. You heard whistles from the referees to stop gameplay as the audience began to clamor, desperately trying to see what was going on.

“Fuck,” you whispered, trying to calm your racing heart. You weren’t a stranger to injuries, but this was way more serious than anything you had dealt with in the past. You tried to lift your head but immediately felt woozy, most likely from the impact your head took when it slammed against the ice. Thankfully you could still see from both of your eyes so those weren’t harmed in the accident. Medics rushed onto the ice, applying pressure to your face with a large towel.

“We gotta get you off the ice. Can you stand?” one of them asked you.

“I…think so,” you said, steadying yourself on the helping hands lended to you by the medics. You were ushered off the ice, your teammates yelling words of encouragement as you left.

“I have to keep playing,” you demanded as you were told to sit on a bench while one of the medics made a call.

“There’s no way that’s happening,” the other medic told you, giving you a concerned look. “You need stitches. A lot of them. That was a nasty fall.”

“Can’t you do it? You’re certified in… all that stuff, right?” you insisted, biting back the pain that erupted every time you spoke.

“I am, but that cut is much too deep. We’re getting an ambulance here right away.”

“A fucking ambulance?” you moaned, your cheek burning in protest at your outburst. “That’s overkill for a little cut.”

“Shut the fuck up, L/n.”

Shoresy appeared in your peripheral vision, looking more distraught than you thought possible for the man.

“You’re really fuckin’ hurt after you took that tumble out there.”

You went to reply with a witty retort but the medic, now off the phone, came running in.

“Ambulance is here. Get your skates off and come with me.”

You began to internally freak out. No one likes going to the hospital and you certainly didn’t love the idea of having to sit through all those stitches by yourself, especially when you’re supposed to be bringing your team to victory.

Before the second medic could move to help you unlace your skates, Shoresy was on it in a flash, his nimble fingers working overtime to get them off your feet. Soon enough you were in your socks and being escorted by a certain Mr. Shore who had taken it upon himself to hold the towel to your face as he walked with you. Without any struggle, he helped lift you into the ambulance. You went to wave goodbye, but before the back of the doors shut, you heard him speak up.

“Can I go with her?”

The EMT glanced at you and shrugged. “If you’re fine with it.”

“Oh my god, yes please.”

In any other situation you would’ve been embarrassed at how fast you answered, but you had no time to waste right now. Besides, Shoresy was looking at you so worriedly, his big brown eyes gazing at you with such concern that it made your stomach flutter with butterflies, and there was no way you could leave that man behind.

He quickly hopped into the ambulance as well and soon enough you were being transported to the hospital.

“How’re you feeling?” Shoresy asked, speaking quieter than usual, his broad shoulder brushing against yours as he sat close to you.

“Truthfully? Pissed that I had to leave the game,” you confessed, making him laugh a bit.

“You’re such a fuckin’ beauty,” he said, smiling and shaking his head, the towel he was pressing against your cheek never relenting in perfect pressure, “but I meant more about the skin falling off your face.”

“Hurts like hell,” you mumbled. “What even happened back there?”

“You got slammed from the side and the other gal fell next to you, but her skate flew up and sliced into you. It was bad timing.”

You nodded. “Understatement of the year. Did I at least score?”

“Of course you did.”

“Good, that’s all I care about. We can’t lose.”

“You won’t. You’ve got a great team, even if you’re not there to push them.”

You nudged him in the arm playfully. “You’re too sweet to me, Shoresy, you’re giving me cavities.”

“I’ll always be there for ya, y/n.”

The ambulance finally came to a stop and you were ushered onto a rolling bed at the hospital, Shoresy of course helping you.

“They’ll get you taken care of in no time,” the EMT told you, standing behind the bed and getting ready to move it. “Your husband can be in the room with you when you get your stitches if you want, too.”

Shoresy’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m not-”

“Sounds great. Thanks,” you replied, giving Shoresy a look. He didn’t question it further as your bed was pushed into the halls of the emergency department, finally coming to a stop in a room.

“A doctor will be here any second. Can’t wait to see you back on the ice!”

The EMT left, leaving you and Shoresy alone.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, it’s just that they usually only allow family and partners back here, not friends. I really didn’t want to be alone for this,” you admitted.

“It’s all good, Mrs. Shore, doesn’t bother me in the least bit,” he replied, wearing a mischievous smile.

“You’re the worst.”

“And to think I was gonna take ya to Cancun for our honeymoon.”

Inside your mind, you sighed wistfully. What you wouldn’t give to have that goofball of a man by your side for life.

“Alright, Ms. L/n,” the doctor said, pulling back the curtain and putting gloves on, “we’ll get you stitched up and out of here soon.”

You felt a major bout of stress come on when you saw the preparation begin for your sutures, your nerves getting the best of you. Your hands became clammy when you were leaned back and it was getting hard to breathe when the towel was taken off the side of your face. As the doctor loomed over you, needle in hand, you were ready to run far, far away from that place and risk bleeding to death rather than go through with the stitches. You were immediately grounded by a firm, warm hand grasping your own—Shoresy’s, naturally. He really wasn’t lying when he said he’d be there for you, no matter what. A gentle squeeze of your hand was enough to let you know that he was doing his best to comfort you and your heart was doing leaps in your chest at the gesture.

A half hour later and you were done, sent on your way to rest and recover. You didn’t want to miss the end of the hockey game, though, so Shoresy got you guys a ride share back to the rink.

“Wow, 24 stitches and a fake husband in one night! I’m the luckiest woman in Sudbury,” you joked, exiting the car by way of the door being held open for you by Shoresy.

“Thanks for supporting me through all that. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you,” you admitted.

Shoresy’s eyes sparkled as they caught the lights of the barn in his irises. “I’m glad you’re okay. I have to be good to my fake wife, you know.”

You wore a hopeful smile; if today taught you anything, it was that you were beyond ready to shoot your shot. “Maybe we could go with real girlfriend next?”

That definitely caught him off guard. He curiously examined your expression for any sign of joking, but it was evident you weren’t messing around.

“You’re serious?” he asked.

“Yeah. I am.”

Shoresy grinned. “I like the sound of that, real future Mrs. Shore.”

[thoughtsofatransboy]

omg how about an angsty story where you and leon get into a heated argument and both say some really hurtful things and leon accidentally hits the reader but he apologizes (some fluff) and then makeup sex

this literally cannot leave my mind and i love ur fics literally

Oh it looks like a cool plot! And thank you very much anon! Mwah mwah <3 here's your request:

Warnings: Gn!reader, Re2!Leon (cuz i think younger Leon would be a little immature), argument, nsfw stuff, fluff apologizing, reader has trauma with face slaps, makeup sex

You and Leon started to date some months ago, he's your soulmate, the only one that can make you feel like you're just a teenager in love again, but it doesn't mean he can't be an asshole sometimes. He's been bitching around all day, complaining and very stressed because of his job. You tried to be as comprehensive as you could, you knew about his cop stuff and his trauma, so you tried to not give attention to his bad mood, but it crossed your limits. "You're the worst partner ever, you never help me with absolutely nothing" this phrase made your blood boil, how dare him say something like that? After all your loving and patience with him?

"Leon you're the bitchy here... why don't you shut the fuck up just a little, huh?" Leon's gaze got a little harder than it was before, he was looking like a stupid toddler earlier, but now he looks real irritated.

"Who do you think you are!? You're lucky i didn't kicked your ass out of my life yet!" The way he said it, could have literally shattered your heart in thousands of pieces, but the rage made you blind for the pain of his sharp words.

"You could NEVER live without me! Aww... look at this boy... He's afraid of working with another people... aww! Why? BECAUSE HE THINKS THEY GONNA D-" Before you could finish your sentence, Leon hit your face with a hard slap, making you drop your knees, not necessarily because of it's strength, but because of your shock.

"D-don't! Please! Please!" Tears roll down by your face without you even noticing, that's when Leon understood what he did. You triggered his trauma and he triggered yours. Sure, what you did was stupid, but he was the one who started it, and he shouldn't have replied your violence with violence.

"Darling..! Oh my God! I-I'm SO sorry..." He tried to get closer to you but you blocked his touches. "Don't fucking touch me!" You said, almost having a breakdown and crying out years of pain, right there on the floor.

Kennedy understood he crossed the line, he really did. So he decided to leave you alone, afraid he would make you more upset by staying. After some minutes, about ten minutes, he came back to the room you were. It agonized him, to see you, his strong darling, so vulnerable. He slowly got closer and closer to you, waiting for you to nod for permission before he touched you. As quick as you nodded, he wrapped you in his arms, rubbing your cheek with his hand. "I'm sorry darling, so sorry... I shouldn't have be so childish, can you forgive me baby?" You nodded.

"Can you forgive me too?" He kissed the cheek he slapped. "Of course darling" he helped you to stand up. "What about we watch a cartoon together and cuddle a little?" You accepted, you both deserved a good time together after this event.

Now you guys had finally forgiven each other, the argument faded away on your minds... it had already some hours and you're both laid down on your little couch, sweetly cuddling and watching you guys's favorite cartoon.

But something didn't felt right, Leon was moving so much, like he was uncomfortable. "Sweetie? Are you okay?" Leon seemed a little nervous about your question. "S-sure sweetie! Now keep watching the cartoon, yes?" Then you finally noticed what it was. Leon was hard, you moved your leg a little, so you could feel his bulge, earning a little groan from him. "Darling!..." You wasted no time in touching it.

"Kennedy, Kennedy... always aching for me, ain't ya?" No answer. "Ain't ya?" You rubbed it this time. "Oh! Hell yeah darling!" You smiled wide. "Good boy"

Leon took the opportunity that you're with your back against his chest, to go over you, pinning you under him. "Naughty one, huh? Really enjoys to tease" Leon begun his attachment to your neck, kissing and sucking all of it.

"Mmmm... Leon! Don't stop!" Leon smiled against your neck, continuing his work, now moving his hand inside your pants to start to tease your genitalia. "Sweet babe... all aroused f'me? Jus' for me?"

You moaned helpless "Yeah! All for you!" You didn't minded saying anything else. "Are you goin' to let me take care of you?" You only nodded, making Leon smile. "Thanks babe..." In a quick move, Leon unbuttoned his pants, helping ypu to unbutton yours too.

He stroked his cock and lined it up with your hole, kissing you while inserting his cock slowly and delicate. He wouldn't handle hurting you again. His thrusts were slow and rhythmic, your moans echoing in the room. "Oh babe... will you forgive me for being so pathetic with you?" You nodded, making him smile. "Thanks sweetheart" he implanted kisses all over your face and your bruised cheek. He was kissing your mouth passionately, interrupting it to let out a long and sensual moan. "Darling, I think i'm close!" He kept his thrusts a little longer, not much before cumming inside you, with you cumming some seconds later, your hole clenching deliciously around him, before creaming his cock.

Leon was catching his breath back. "Oh baby... you did so good for me." He stroked your hair, wrapping you around him once again. "I'm sorry for everything that happened earlier... II'm never doing this again. Can you give me another chance?" You kissed his cheek hardly "Sure Leon, I love you too much to don't forgive you... sorry for being such an asshole with you too." You both smiled to each other, letting the moment speak for itself and falling in each other's arms.

"I love you too much baby." Leon said, hugging you as you were the most precious jewel on Earth. "Love you too Lee..." You kissed his face one last time, before letting yourself slowly melt into a delicious sleep.

[battle-of-alberta]

Battle of Alberta 2023 Survey Results

It's that time again. Previous surveys can be found here for 2022, 2021 and 2020 for your reference.

We had 18 respondents to the survey. The average BoAB reader is female, around 24-25, and Canadian. Over half of respondents identified as Albertan, which is again increased from last year. Of those that have lived in Alberta, most of you have lived in Calgary followed by Edmonton, Lethbridge and Banff.

Read on for some graphs, notes, and responses...

Demographics

Much bigger proportion of men this year than last, howdy fellas! :)

I'm always meaning to extend the ages out a bit more than I have been, there's a very slight increase this year just based on averages from years previous. Curiously enough there is a very even split between those in the 19-30 rage this year that I don't typically see. As possible, it could just be that some of you are aging and reaching a new category.

A smaller category for international folks and a bigger category of North Americans than previously - I'm always worried whether I should focus more on making this blog more accessible to non-Canadians and I feel that I've been failing on that a lot, for which I apologize. Thanks for your patience!

The Albertan category continues to grow this year, and it's also worth noting that the "Never heard of it" category has disappeared this year. Well, I suppose those who hadn't last year have heard of it now? I hope. : );

Calgary has finally surpassed Edmonton in this ranking, which I suppose was only a matter of time as it is the more populous city. Can't believe all the Lethbians are moving to Calgary jk.

We have some more variation on travel this year as well, a couple of you cited Drumheller specifically and I believe one person mentioned Slave Lake as well. Naturally, the big cities and mountain parks are in the lead. And tsk tsk, no the Calgary airport doesn't count (though it is certainly Calgary flavoured in my recollection) :^)

Blog

Little change in the proportions here, just less of you admitting you know me which is fine :^)

Lots of shifting here with art steadily at the top. There's been a drop off in politics and stereotypes and a rise in not being alone in Hellberta, which I imagine might have been somewhat related to wanting to forget the election this year.

One of you mentioned not remembering following the blog - this might have been my error because I did reblog the survey to my other blogs since I'm in the habit of doing so. It's entirely possible you coincidentally followed one of my other blogs for something else but ended up inundated with the content on this blog anyway, since I tend to self-reblog quite liberally.

Illustrations beat out Asks for top spot this year, current events taking another hit. I'm glad you guys enjoyed Jasper's introduction and my travels so much! Someone also mentioned the timeline which was very kind, the only reason it wasn't on the survey was because I had already published the survey before the timeline!

I also realized for the second year in a row I don't really have a name for what one respondent described as "local flavour" posts that are directly inspired from my travels and day to day, and thus I don't exactly have a tag for it to make it easily findable. I will consider whether it needs a name and if I have a good one.

I also screwed up slightly and listed the Bison ask as the only one of its category rather than introducing "Parks Pass" as its own category, so this is something I'm going to reflect on for future surveys as well.

Historical events plummeted from the top spot this year in favour of gag comics, and again I definitely get the need for more lighthearted stuff as all these compounding crises are weighing on us. I feel like that's definitely a direction I've already been leaning in, even with those things that do relate to current or historical events.

(but yeah, I am still thinking about the otome game even though the pace is slower than molasses right now)

For other: there's still some interest in Special Powers and Cloud Minding there, so I will definitely consider how to continue them if possible even if it's not on the horizon right away.

This was a new question this year to replace "Projects". While I'm a little sad at the high number of you guys who use mobile only, I understand. I just feel frustrated because I learned how to make webcomics before mobile was a thing, and I still struggle with proportioning my comics for scrolling and legibility and I'm constantly worried that I'm doing something wrong (so of course I am always scrolling my own blog on my phone and nitpicking).

The other issue is that some pages of the blog including the vision, FAQ, etc. are inaccessible to android users (like myself) which is also annoying. But it's the way of the world and I can't fault anyone for it, I can just do my best to be aware of it and try to learn and make decisions accordingly.

Characters

Calvin stayed steady in the lead with the same number of votes, but I'm shocked and amazed to see Red making such gains this year! The rest of the votes were a little more egalitarian than last year, although sacrifices were made (poor Eleanor!)

I also want to note that there's no direct correlation between living in Calgary and voting for Calvin, interestingly enough.

Jasper's first year of life has left you all thirsty for more, I see. But uh, I really dug my own grave with Sherwood Park as my joke answer, hey...? I guess you will have to meet Marion soon enough (which means I have to actually picture what she looks like and put that on paper instead of just drawing the Eye of Sauron)

Eleanor, the Paranormal Squad and the Nyo! characters are climbing up this year as well.

Someone actually suggested other towns such as Vegreville, which made me chuckle a little. As I've said previously, my goal is not to create as many characters as possible but to focus on developing the ones I have in front of me, and I'm not interested in personifying any more small towns at this time. That said if I had to pick a design for Vegreville...

why not this guy? :^)

I'm not picky though, they could be a lady too.

lol.

The magpies won this year, hooray! I will put out some extra peanuts for them from you guys.

Comments

Now to address some of the comments...

Let's start with the recommendations! Thank you so much for your suggestions, I hope you don't mind me sharing so we can all take advantage. They're all new to me, so I'd like to check them out as soon as I'm able :)

In terms of artists, I'll put in a recommendation for Amelie Patterson! She's an alt-pop singer/songwriter from Banff. I don't know if she fits the "vibe" of Eleanor necessarily, but she definitely has some good songs! I assume you're probably aware of the documentarian Dan Olson (https://youtube.com/@FoldingIdeas) but if not, he's made an eclectic mix of video essays with rather good quality behind them! :D visit Chunk'd in Calgary (it's in Kensington), they sell kinda expensive but absolutely life-changing cookies Have you ever visited Fort McMurray?

To answer this last one directly, no, not yet: I'm waiting a bit on that one because apart from Northern Alberta being constantly on fire during travel season lately, we are hoping for some progress on Highway 686 between Fort Mac and GP to make the Northern Alberta trip a little easier. Also hoping to save up some money so pals from up north can show me around a bit too :)

---

The lack of an Unknown-N/A mark for opinion makes it less welcoming. I was shared a link to your blog, and yet, I didn't see an easy to read pinned "What to Expect / About… et cetera" so I don't know if I want to follow or block - that's much more in depth.

I'm going to be real with you, though I have no idea if you have any intention of reading my response or not or if you have already moved on, this response is somewhat unprecedented for me and I would be lying if I said it didn't keep me awake at night for a bit.

I'll set aside my bruised ego for a moment just to thank you for making me aware of some of my own blind spots and assumptions. Though it is not explicit and in fact I might have even been unintentionally misleading when I advertised this survey, I assume a certain level of familiarity with or at least curiosity about my work for survey respondents. However, there is no requirement to fill it out, regardless of whether you can answer the questions or not. It never occurred to me for this to be intended as a 'welcome' survey for visitors or potential readers, but more of a year in review.

I can't make any comment on who sent you my blog or why, but I do feel somewhat on the defensive from your response. Not only do I have a pinned post that links to more in depth about pages, but one of my main projects this year was to revamp it to be more accessible and easy to read than previously, so I can't help but feel a little stung that either it was not findable or not easy to read for you.

I'm not in the habit of self-marketing to complete strangers and I've racked my brains trying to come up with an alternative explanation for this amorphous thing that I've been building these past few years, but the choice between "follow or block" rather than "follow or leave" sounds to me like something I cannot resolve in my response beyond the following, and I apologize if this comes across as rude:

If you're not into weird drawings of anime twinks with varying levels of homoerotic tension that just happen to represent personifications of cities in this weird, beautiful, frustrating province and my own evolving understandings of them as both characters and as places, maybe this blog isn't for you. It's one part idealised vision, one part shenanigans, and one part coping mechanism. Maybe someone else could describe it better from the outside (lord knows as an ask blog, a great deal of the blog is somewhat dependent on reader contributions).

If you're looking for a bumper sticker that would encapsulate enough of my political views to decide whether to block me, you'd have to drive pretty close to read the paragraph starting with "well i absolutely voted for notley because i'm willing to settle for what amounts to a centre right pro-pipeline party if it means a snowball's chance in hell of avoiding certain death from the bigots and conspiracy theorists continuing to flock to what passes for the conservatives these days... etc etc", well, there it is and certainly there is a queer, satirical bent to political views espoused on this blog, though I try to think of it as a "break from the bullshit" because otherwise I wouldn't get out of bed let alone pick up my pen.

I can't provide much more than this in terms of "what to expect" because, as the survey indicates, the blog is always changing according to my time, energy, and mindset and who the heckaroonie i think I'm speaking to at any given time. If you stuck around long enough to read this, thanks.

---

the parliament of magpies would have won if they'd ACTUALLY BEEN THERE.

I try to keep results as anonymous as possible but Maybe If You Came Over at a Different Time that isn't Balding Season they wouldn't be so shy! :)

you're good

Let's end on this one, thank you :) and thank you all for responding this year, I hope things can look up for us a little in the new year despite all the political bullshit, the cost of living and the goddamn constant fires. I learned a lot this year and was able to travel a lot too, and I hope I can continue drawing inspiration from this silly project for a while yet.

See you, Space Cowboys.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Fully Completely 2

Warnings: non-consent sex and rape (series), violence, mutual irritation.

This is dark!Loki x reader and explicit. 18+ only.  Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Series Synopsis: There’s a new face in Birch and he’s come to haunt your door.

Sister series to Smalltown Bringdown, When the Weight Comes Down, and Little Bones

Note: Here’s part two and things are getting aggressive fast.

Thanks to everyone for their patience and feedback. :)

I really hope you enjoy. 💋

<3 Let me know what you think with a like or reblog or reply or an ask! Love ya!

Chapter 2: Either it'll move me

💀💀💀

Usually your work kept you busy and if you were busy, you were content. Not that day. Not since that man ruined your lunch. You were so worked up that when you got back to the garage, you didn’t even finish your sandwich. You barely got anything done as what you did had to be redone in your distraction.

The night was little better as you planned to get the car done so the next time Loki bothered you, you could tell him to fuck off. If his headlight did come in before he left town, you’d send it down to Carl’s to have the work done. You would take the cost from what Bucky gave you to cover your time.

You were on your second coffee by the time you headed down to the garage, your apartment conveniently above as your existence was relegated to that single lot in Birch. At the bottom step you paused as you sipped from the travel mug and listened to the unexpected noise from behind the black door.

You locked all the doors at night, even that between the entryway and the garage that you kept propped open during the day. You stepped closer and tested the handle and bent to examine the lock. You glanced over at the painted front door and found that both had been picked.

Your fingers tightened on the mug. The last person to break into your garage, well, they weren’t around to bother you anymore after Jerome found out. You swung the door open and hauled the hot coffee across the garage towards the only sign of movement.

Loki sidestepped the splash, a few drops along his dark jacket, and continued to tighten and untighten the wrench. He looked at you nonchalantly and his mouth slanted. He shook his head as he let the tool hang perilously from his hand.

“Is this how you treat all your customers? This ungainly assault,” he peered down at the overturned cup beside his car.

“What the fuck are you doing in my garage?” you huffed as you marched over to him and reached for the wrench.

He gripped it tighter as you tried to snatch it from him and held you close as he sneered down at you.

“Two days,” he said “correct?”

“Tomorrow by my count,” you rebuked and pulled harder on the wrench, “not that it gives you any right to break into my garage and touch my stuff.” He let you yank the metal free of your grasp and you pointed it at his chin, “so leave or this time I won’t miss.”

He chuckled, barely bothered by the tool pointed at him as his green eyes sparkled, “your count is incorrect. I might be early but your work is due this evening so I will wait.”

“Not here,” you waved the wrench at him and grabbed his arm, “so get out and come back later then.”

His hand covered yours and he pried your fingers from him. He twisted your hand back and you gasped and swung the wrench with your other. You hit his shoulder as he raised his arm in defense and grunted at the sharp impact. He let you go and you swung again. He dodged and shoved you away from him.

“Do not presume to put your hands on me,” he warned, “you know who my brother is, that I associate with your cute local chapter--”

“I’m not one of them and I don’t report to them,” you snarled, “so get out now or you won’t be associating with anyone.”

“Mouthy little bitch,” he slithered, “you touch me again, or even attempt it--”

“I said get out,” you hit the hood of his car and left a dent, “It’ll be another day at least.”

His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed. He fixed his jacket and sighed. He raised his chin and stiffly strode across the garage and through the black door. You followed feet behind him and made sure he continued outside. You cranked the lock behind him and listened to his footsteps crunch through the snow.

You might not report to Bucky and his goons but he was going to keep the rabble in line.

💀

It was just after noon but you knew Bucky would already be at The Asp. You ventured down the street in your heavy boots, your jacket flapping open in the wind as you were set on your destination and the conversation that awaited you. You nodded at the man who leaned a few feet from the door and sucked on a cigarette.

You entered and shook the snow off your lined denim jacket and kicked off your boots. You looked around at the mostly empty bar. You rarely went there as it was more trouble than you needed. The men were drunk and dirty and like many places in Birch, you just didn’t fit. You didn’t want to fit.

Bucky sat at his usual table, a woman you recognized beside him. She had been a year or two ahead of you in school and a couple behind Bucky himself. You knew she was his new girl but she never really looked happy about it. Knowing him, it didn’t surprise you. He always wanted more than he got.

You crossed to him and stood in front of the round table as his right-hand thug watched you curiously. You raised a brow at Steve and focused on the boss.

“We need to talk,” you said plainly.

“We do?” he asked genuinely confused, “I owe you something?”

“You do and you don’t. I’m not here about money,” you replied, “but it’s important.”

“Alright,” he pointed to the chair in front of you and gestured to his companions, planting a kiss on the woman’s lips before she stood, her lips slightly curled at the corner, and left you. He shifted in his chair as they went and nodded when he was ready, “sorry, if I knew you were on your way, I would’ve kept her in the back.”

You scoffed and shook your head. He was always obtusely arrogant. “I stopped fucking you, Buck, I don’t care who you’re with now.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” he inhaled and placed his hand against the table, “so what is it?”

“This guy, Loki,” you began, “brought his car to me two nights ago.”

“Mhmm, I sent him down. I know I should come down myself but--”

“Please, you hate going down there,” you waved his words away, “it’s not about the car, it’s about him.”

“What about him?”

“He broke into my shop this morning. There was… well, I got a few licks in and for the sake of you I’ve held back but you need to keep him away from me. I’ll fix his car but I’m not dealing with him anymore. He’s a pompous asshole who thinks he can just do whatever he wants.” You stopped yourself, usually not one to go on at length, “he’s your… associate, as he would say it, so he can deal with you, not me.”

He considered you and pulled his hand back to scratch the stubble along his jaw. His blue eyes were intrigued if not surprised.

“He… coming onto you?” he asked.

“No,” you blinked at him dully, “no, he’s just annoying me. You promised me the shop would be my space. He picked my locks, Buck, so you let him know what’s what.”

“He’s new in town,” Bucky sighed, “but I’ll talk to him.”

“You better,” you stood, “because I don’t care about whatever business you got going on, the next time, I’m gonna pop his eye out with a--”

“Don’t be dramatic,” he snipped, “I’ll take care of him, alright?”

“You better,” you said as you backed away, “or you can find someone else to fix up your bikes.”

“Really? You know it won’t come to that,” he sat forward in irritation, “go, he won’t bother you.”

💀

The next day you looked over the front of the car. Aside from the cracked headlight, it was as good as new. You rolled up the garage door and took the keys from the hook. You drove the car out and steered it along the snowy street and parked just outside The Asp. You got out and headed inside to hand off the keys to Bucky with a promise that you would take care of the light when it came in as long as he kept Loki away.

You returned to the garage to close the door and checked the time. You were overdue for lunch and hadn’t been back to The Chipped Saucer since that eventful day. You were hungry and too lazy to climb up to your apartment and dig through your fridge. 

You crossed the street and entered the diner as Kimmie looked up from the harlequin novel she hid behind as she stood by the till. She marked her page and closed it before she grabbed the carafe from the machine and crossed to your table. She poured you a mug and confirmed your usual order.

There were a few of the older residents enjoying pie and coffee at the other tables but the snow still kept many in their own houses. You might try the strawberry rhubarb before you went. You didn’t indulge in sweets often but it smelled good.

Kimmie brought your sandwich and as you finished the first triangle, you were disturbed by the last voice you wanted to hear. You didn’t look back as the door chimed behind the new patron and you continued chewing as you once more reviewed the newsletter. 

To your chagrin but not unexpectedly, the figure appeared at your table side. You bit into the next portion of your club sandwich and ignored him.

“Hello, darling,” Loki sat across from you as he had days before, “I saw that you attended to my vehicle at last. Fine work, I must say. I do hope the headlight arrives soon.”

You said nothing and kept eating as you looked out the window and slid the newsletter aside with your other hand. You took the last gulp of your coffee and swallowed. You raised your cup and looked around, “‘scuse me,” you called out, “when you have a second.”

He laughed to himself and you felt his gaze on you. You pushed aside your uneaten crust and went about your meal as if he wasn’t there. When Kimmie refilled your coffee, he ordered a tea and a bowl of the daily soup. 

You barely withheld your grimace as you watched Babs across the street by her bakery. She dusted snow off the open sign before she retreated back inside.

“I’m pleasantly surprised by the food here,” he mused as he stirred a plume of milk into his tea.

“Can’t you take a hint?” you snapped, “I don’t want you near me.”

“Believe me, at first, the feeling was mutual, darling,” he said.

“I told you not to call me that,” you frowned at him directly and he smirked.

“I like the way it makes your eyes go,” he taunted, “admittedly, that first meeting I would’ve liked nothing other than to never encounter you again but the more I poke and prod you, the more intrigued I am.”

“If you don’t stop--”

“You’ll go back to Barnes, hmm?” he intoned, “yes, he did speak with me but I might enlighten you on one fact. The man requires my business more than a mechanic, especially as there seems to be healthy competition in town.”

“You have your car, you’ll have the headlight done, and you can be on your way out of town,” you growled, “and you can be far away from me. Whatever stupid game you’re playing at, I’m not biting. I meant it when I said I won’t miss--”

“Darling, this is not an invitation,” his eyes strayed from your face for just a moment and he considered the buttons of your flannel shirt, “a man like me doesn’t ask, he expects.”

Your eyes rolled so hard it hurt. You pushed your plate away and pulled out your wallet. You left your tab on the table and stood. You shrugged into your jacket and glanced out the window at the white main street.

“Whatever you expect, it’s not going to happen,” you rebuffed, “but I told you what you can expect if you come around me again.”

You left as you had days before and stormed across the street without looking. You dodged out of the way of a slow rolling Ford as it honked and you waved them off. You stomped up to the front of your shop and realised too late you were being followed.

You spun around at the door to face Loki as he slid to a stop. He grabbed your arm and drew you back from the painted wood. You hit his chest and he barely flinched as he flicked your chin with his finger.

“Oh, darling, let’s not drag this out, I do love that temper--”

“Get off--” you pushed him and he nearly slipped and took you down with him as his leather soles held no traction on the frozen ground.

He threw you back and you hit the corner of the doorframe and gasped out as it forced the air from you. 

“I promise you, it won’t last. I will damp out that flame and bask in the smoke,” he neared again and you kicked out. He fell to his knees as the force of it had you on your ass. 

You crawled away from the wall as he tried to stand and you grabbed onto his leg and pulled him back down. He slid back to his kneeS and gripped the collar of your coat. You hooked your arm around his neck and he jabbed your stomach, not as hard as he could, but a warning.

You brought your other arm up as you struggled to get a foothold and you managed to push you both back. You fell in tandem into the snow, your arms locked as he forced his fingers under them to keep them from snaking tighter. He was strong and you knew you could only do so much. You had to keep him on the ground.

He elbowed your ribs and you released him sharply. You rolled away from him as you panted and scrambled on your hands and knees. The frigid snow seeped through your jeans and burned your palms. You heard him behind you and you turned as you climbed to your feet unsteadily.

He was half-keeled as he got his feet set and his dark hair hung over his forehead as he glared through the strands. He stood straight and pushed back the mess of tangles and you faced him, ready for another brawl.

“Oh, this will be fun, darling,” he brushed the powder from his suit and his cheek twitched, “You needn’t worry about Barnes, you should be more worried about me.”

He puffed out a breath and spun swiftly, nearly slipping again on the icy walk. He headed back down to the street and you saw the tension between his shoulders as he pulled his jacket straight. He hurried across the road and you turned back to the garage.

It was a brief retreat, a chance to plot, you knew that much. You only had to outlast him and if you were anything, it was stubborn.

[sparklingchan]

Ruby Eyes|| Seo Changbin (Stray Kids)

Pairing : Reader(fem.) X Changbin

Word count : 7.3k+ 

Warnings : Mention of an accident, cuss words, divorce, a single kiss.

Genre : Romance, Soulmate AU, fluff, angst, best friends to lovers.

Description: Seo Changbin has done everything in his capacity to remove and replace you, yet fate seems to have different plans for the both of you.

A/N : Hello everyone ahhh I know it’s been so long y’all. So many things have been going on including exams and internships and I just didn’t have the patience to write :(( This one shot was written as a part of a collab event by wonderful, dear Ro! 

I hope y’all like it!

"So, how's it being back, y/n?"

Your dad looks older now than he did the last time you saw him - probably two years ago, when you were leaving the country.

You missed him, really. You missed his warmth and his wisdom and how he was a sharp contrast to your mother, more calm and composed. Sometimes you wonder how your mother had even managed to get your custody after their divorce.

"Okay, I guess." You lie.

You didn't want your father to know how your feelings are all over the place, ranging from sadness to anger and longingness.

It's a weird thing to be experiencing such a cocktail of emotions when you'd convinced yourself these feelings had disappeared the day you left the old neighborhood, seven years ago. You had not felt any attachment towards the new neighborhood that you and your mother then went on to live for the next two years before you moved abroad for your studies. Yet you feel nostalgic now, as your father drives you through your old old neighborhood.

"How's mom?" He asks, taking a left to a road all too familiar to you, "Is she still going to therapy?"

You nod, "She's getting better, I think. The new country seems to have changed her. The therapy is helping too. She has many friends there now. "

At first when you were offered a job at one of the biggest publishing companies in the world, you were ecstatic. But everything soon died down when you found out you were posted at a branch in the country you'd left behind. It was your mother who'd convinced you to take it.

"I know you don't like being back, y/n." Your dad smiles sadly when he pulls over infront of your old house.The house that contains years of secrets, tears, lies and whispered confessions in front of the mirror stands in front of you, as grand and pretty as ever. It looks different but similar enough to make you tear up a tad bit.

"But I'm glad you're here. I really am." He says, "I renovated the house a little when you told me you were moving back. I hope it's okay."

You smile at the old man, wrapping your arms around him, "Thanks, dad. I missed you. I'm glad you're here, too."

He pecks your forehead, "I missed you, too, love."

Moving in doesn't take a lot of time since your dad had already set up everything. You just had to get some of your stuff and you were ready to kick start your stay.

That evening, your father leaves after making you promise to call him if anything happens at all and when the front door closes, you find yourself in the company of your old room.

You lie on your bed, eyes fixed on the ceiling as you hum an old tune to yourself. And without meaning to, you find yourself thinking about him; The man you hadn't seen or talked to for a whole seven years. The man who'd tried his best to stay in touch with you yet gave up when you didn't reciprocate the same.

A horrific realization then dawns on you,

He'd obviously replaced you now.

The familiar clouds of grief loom over you, threatening to engulf you any moment now.

No. Not now, please.

Getting up from your bed immediately, you shake your head as you make your way to the mirror- the mirror that had encountered more honest tears and smiles and words than any human ever had. You stare at your reflection as tears escapes your eyes, the bright red iris of your right eye staring back at you when you rub your tears off.

You shiver.

"Shit, I forgot to wear the contacts."

Quickly grabbing your lenses from your bag, you put them on, concealing the scary blood red color of your right eye. You take two long strides across the room and pulling your favorite black hoodie over your head, you walk out of the door.

By the time you manage to leave the house, it's already 10:30 in the evening. A quiet calmness has fallen over the town, as the shops and restaurants near the market square slowly start closing up. Your feet are as if on autopilot, taking you to that one place you know would still be open; Yang's Café.

And rightly so, the smell of freshly brewed coffee reaches your nostrils when you walk through their main door, past the group of chatty teenagers waiting outside. This place hasn't changed much, you realize, the brown and golden hues of the place and the vintage coffee cups collection in the far corner of the Cafe are still the same. The only difference is that you're no longer here with your best friend right after school, you are here all alone on an evening too quiet for your liking.

"Y/n? Is that you?"

When you turn around to face the owner of the voice, you are stunned.

"Jeongin?"

Jeongin's family has owned this Cafe for three generations now, from his great-grandparents, his grandparents, his parents and soon enough it'll pass down to him. As a kid, you remember often playing with Jeongin at the park and teaming up with him during quiz competition. He was always sweet and always smiley.

But the handsome young man that stands in front of you doesn't resemble the Jeongin you once used to know, not even a little bit.

"What..what happened to you!" You exclaim, taking his face in your hands, "Where are the braces! And the specs and wow, would you look at the blue hair!"

Jeongin can only let out a few giggles as you continue squishing his face and complaining how big he's grown in only over seven years.

The customers give you weird stares but only the heavens above know how genuinely happy you are to see Jeongin, albeit the fact you almost couldn't recognize him there for a second.

"What have you done to my child?" You mutter when you've finally calmed down and Jeongin takes you to your seat.

"I have a mother, y/n, thank you very much," he laughs, taking a seat opposite to yours, loosening the Barista apron around his torso, "And I missed you too."

You attempt to pinch his cheeks but he is quick to dodge.

"So how have you been?" He asks through giggly breaths.

You sigh, "I'm good... I feel weird being back here, honestly but I think I'll get used to it soon. What about you?"

"I've been good. Graduated a few months back, now I'm working here full time." He ushers over a waiter, "What would you like, y/n?"

You don't even think for a second while responding, "An iced Americano, please."

The waiter notes your order and walks away before Jeongin pinches your arm teasingly.

"Ouch. What?"

"Old habits die hard, huh? You always used to drink an iced coffee whenever we hung out here. I am glad to see nothing much has changed," Jeongin laughs, "You and Changbin, too!"

That one name sends your entire mind into a frenzy. Changbin. Seo Changbin. The love of your life. The man who you wouldn't even go to school without, the man who had saved you from a terrible accident, also the man who probably no longer even remembers you.

And you realise, despite everything, your heart yearns for him, still- for you wouldn't be in so much pain at the mention of his name otherwise.

Jeongin seems to have noticed your discomfort because he immediately changes the topic, "Anyway, you have to try our new chocolate cake. It's heavenly, I'm telling you."

Your reason to leave the neighborhood wasn't a secret, really. It was public knowledge that your mother had blamed Changbin for the fatal accident you almost had.

You're grateful for what Jeongin does, and try your best to engage in conversations about the neighborhood and old gossip you'd missed out on. Yet all you want to do is drive out of the damn Cafe and find changbin.

"Y/n?"

Or maybe, Changbin will find you.

Behind Jeongin, you see the blurry image of a man that had once caused you great misery yet you had never felt as happy as when you were with him.

"Hi..hi, Changbin." You stammer as you see the said man walk towards your table.

The seven years have as if done some magic on him, because the Changbin that walks towards you in no way resembles your high school best friend.

With thick buff arms, new ear piercings and silver jewelry gracing his wrists and fingers, you have a hard time actually accepting the fact that Seo Changbin is really there, in front of you.

"Been long, huh?" He grins, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes and somewhere in the depths of your conscience, you realize it might have been your fault. You'd done everything in your capacity to break apart from this friendship, ignoring his calls, changing your number, even going as far as blocking him on all social media.

So, did you really expect him to welcome you back with open arms when you had caused him so much pain?

Jeongin brings an extra chair for Changbin to sit on and soon, the three of you are talking, maybe not like the old, happy days but it's still better than nothing. Changbin looks at you everytime you throw your head back and laugh, your eyes squeezing shut as his heart clenches in his chest.

You are really back home.

"So what have you been doing? I told you guys about me." Jeongin says, stealing a bite off of Changbin's cheesecake.

"Oh..you know," Changbin giggles, the tip of his ears turning a light pink shade.

You raise your eye brows in confusion.

"Been busy with the wedding and all."

Your heart drops. "Wedding? W-whose wedding?" You try to laugh it off but it's very evident from the way you're gripping your glass of iced Americano that it has affected you. A lot more than you actually thought.

"I'm getting married, y/n," Changbin smiles, "I'm so glad you could be around for the wedding."

*

Your grief stricken self has not gotten up from the bed since last night and you're thankful to Jeongin for finally checking up on you or else you would have gone deeper into the spiral hole of despair.

"Are you really going to be like this, y/n?"

You hate being miserable on the very second day of your stay. You hate depending on Jeongin. But you can barely move without bursting out into tears,so it seems as though there's no better idea than have someone take care of you at the moment.

"I'm sorry, Jeongin. " You manage to speak when he places a bag full of snacks and drinks on the dining table, "And thanks."

Jeongin chuckles, "Don't thank me, just yet. Guess who wants to meet up with you?"

Your eyes widen for a split second as you sit up on the couch, "Who?!"

No, he wouldn't, would he?

"It's not the person you think, y/n. Calm down." He laughs, "It's Bang Chan. Your senior, you remember?"

Oh, yes, the infamous Bang Chan. Shy smiles, dimples, curly hair, angelic eyes. Yeah, you remember the school's heartthrob. Very clearly.

"I was talking to him this morning and he said he'd be very glad to catch up with you again." Jeongin settles beside you, "It's not a date, y/n. He's an old friend. It wouldn't hurt, would it? You can't possibly sit here all day long crying about him."

You open your mouth to argue, but only air slips out and you realise you don't have anything to defend your miserable state with. You knew this was coming; when you cut off all ties with Seo Changbin, you knew this was coming.

Jeongin is right; you need to go out and meet new people.

You roll your eyes before pinching Jeongin's cheeks, "Fine. Give him my number."

He responds by pulling your cheeks as well.

*

The first day of work is weirdly gut wrenching.

You hadn't expected yourself to be this nervous but here you are, muttering under your breath as you make way towards the office.

"You'll be okay, y/n," you breathe in, "You've worked hard for this." And breathe out.

A few more minutes of self pep talking and you see all your hard work and expectations go down the drain as you feel a few droplets of rain fall onto your head. You look up and the dark, heavy clouds greet you.

Bloody brilliant.

You see the office goers around you jog quickly to the nearest shelter but you're short on luck today as your gaze falls on your watch and you realize you don't have enough time to wait for the rain to pass.

So you grab your office bag, cover your head with that and make a run for it.

The sole of your high heel shoes dig into your feet and a throbbing pain shoots through your body, as you wince. Note to yourself - never wear heels to office again.

You also secretly pray to the gods that your contact lens don't get washed off. Turning up at your new office on the first day with a blood red iris doesn't feel too fun, really.

"Do you need a lift?"

You had been so busy running to your office that you don't notice when a black car drives toward you and the driver rolls down the window, offering you a smile.

Seo Changbin.

Your heart skips a few beats.

"Y/n, do you need a lift?"

You blink back to reality when he clicks his fingers in front of you, "I-I mean if that's okay with you."

Changbin smiles, pointing to the passenger's seat, "Come on in."

When you're comfortably seated in his car, using his spare towel to wipe off the water from your face and hair, his questions start-

"So.." He steps on the break when the traffic light turns red, "How have you been?"

You look at the digital clock displayed on the cars' LED, and sigh. You're late to work and you're stuck in traffic with the one man you'd rather not be stuck in traffic with. Brilliant.

"Good." Your eyes are focused on the cars outside the window, "You?"

There's a moment of silence before he speaks again, "Fine."

Fine? Just Fine? Shouldn't he be over the clouds, now that the wedding is finally around the corner?

"Okay.."

"Actually, I meant to ask you earlier, y/n." He turns to you, a gentle smile playing at his lips, "I am throwing a party this weekend. I'd love it if you could come by. And I could introduce you to her."

You sink back into your seat, biting your lip, wondering if you want to ever know who her is. Your peace of mind is more important than meeting your ex crush's fiance, right? And if you do end up going to the party, whom would you hang out with? It's not like you know any of his rich friends and cousins and there's no way you'd hang out with Changbin and the said fiance.

You are about to respectfully reject the invitation when a sudden, seemingly good idea pops into your head.

Bang Chan.

You nod, shrugging, "Okay. I'll be there."

You clasp your hands together as he continues driving and you look out the window, unable to suppress the bubbling excitement.

"Great, then." He replies, suspiciously.

*

The evening of the party finally arrives, much to your dismay, you find yourself seated next to Chan. He's just the same as the guy in your memory; a gentleman.

"You look pretty, y/n." He had greeted you as he held the car door open for you, "I'm glad we could meet up."

His words turn your cheeks into a darker shade of red but your heart doesn't beat quite as furiously as you'd expect it to.

Muttering a small thank you, you seat comfortably in the car while Chan drives towards Changbin's family's old Farmhouse on the outskirts of the city. You've been there before - during summer holidays, he would take you there with his family. That place was only filled with happy memories of sunshine, swimming pools, watermelon juice and bonfires.

You swallow the grief that comes along with these memories.

"Are we here already?" Chan pulls over in a familiar driveway not even ten minutes later, jogging up to your door and clicking it open, like the gentleman he is.

"Yeah, we're here." Chan smiles, "Very less traffic tonight."

You guys walk through the huge metallic gate, making your way through the main door of the house.

"Uh..." People are crowded mostly around the front door and in the front yard, so you and Chan have to push and squeeze your way into the Farmhouse. You hate the feeling of sweaty bodies pressing against you (or holding Chan's hand for stability) but desperate situations call for desperate measures.

"I hate it here." You mutter when you later find yourself by the pool side, swirling the drink that you don't even plan on drinking and looking at all the flushed faces having the time of their lives.

Thankfully, Chan happens to be on the same boat as you.

"I'm sorry I dragged you here, Chan. We could have just gone for a movie."

Chan giggles, "Hey, it's alright. I don't mind, I'm glad I could spend some time with you after so many years."

His eyes shine and dimples deepen.

You whisper, "Yeah, me too."

Chan is a handsome man, good at all kinds of sport, good at arts, very smart and intelligent yet there's a part of you that knows you'd never be able to reciprocate his flirtatious words. It's sad, really, but that's just how life is.

"Wow, those two seem to be having the time of their lives." Chan chuckles, pointing at someone behind you.

It's quite dark outside, the only source of light being a few decorative fairylights hung at random places haphazardly.

Hiding behind a huge, tall bush, you see a couple, kissing each other like it were the last day on the planet.

The guy's hands roam all over the woman's body and the woman is so loud that even you could hear her sighs and moans. When she pulls away to catch her breath for a second, Chan asks you, "You know her?"

"Nope. I don't know either of them."

You look away; what kind of creep looks at a happy couple like that? (Not a creep, just a lonely and touch starved person)

"Should we check out the dinner table?" Chan suggests and you agree with a nod, "I hope there's no crowd there."

As expected, there actually isn't a crowd there - there's only Changbin, sitting and nibbling on a pizza slice while scrolling through the phone.

The moment your eyes land on him, your feet as if stop on their own and your heart bangs furiously against your chest.

He's breathtakingly gorgeous.

By the time you debate in your head whether or not you want to sit there and fill your stomach, Chan has already made his way to Changbin.

"Hey, Bin!" He greets him with a smile.

Changbin looks at Chan with an unamused smile, the same one from your high school days, when these two were named the biggest rivals on campus. You wonder if somewhere deep in his heart, Changbin had still not let go of that rivalry.

"Hey, Changbin." You manage to whisper before sitting beside Chan.

He looks almost angry.

"You should have the pizza. It's good." He mutters, turning to pass you a slice of pizza on a plate, "Help yourself, Chan."

Yup, there it is. The Seo Changbin that would kill to be on top. You feel worse about dragging Chan here now when neither of you were having a good time.

"Thanks, mate. " Chan replies.

Your ears ring with the sound of approaching footsteps, and when a pretty girl comes walking in and takes Changbin in her arms, your heart stings. Like a fresh wound.

"Y/n.." Chan whispers to you as you watch the two collide in a loving embrace, Changbin smiling at her and running his fingers through her hair.

Your heart hurts at how happy and content he looks.

You could have had that, a part of you thinks, if you weren't such a coward, it would have been you instead of her.

"Y/n," Chan calls you again.

"What?" Your tone is harsher than you intended, "What happened?"

You think Chan is about to give you the whole it-is-time-to-move-on talk but he doesn't, instead he points at the girl and whispers,

"It's her. The girl we saw earlier."

The rest of the night is blurry to you, all conversations, all gazes, all thoughts just feel ....like an awkward dream.

"We have to tell Changbin."

You're sitting at Yang's Cafe at 1 am the same night, watching Jeongin's brother guide his staff to clean the place up.

"I agree." Chan says, biting the inside of his cheeks.

While you, on the other hand, are completely zoned out, staring at the glass of water placed in front of you and watching the droplets on its surface race each other.

"Y/n, what do you think?" Jeongin asks when you don't take part in their discussions.

You sigh, "I don't know. I really don't. As much as it troubles me that Changbin is being cheated on, I don't want to get involved in their personal relationship. "

"Let's not tell anyone for now, then. But someday in the future, before that goddamn wedding, we have to tell him. He deserves to know." Chan agrees.

You purse your lips and close your eyes.

Chan is right.

Changbin deserves to know the truth.

*

"So, how's it being back in town, y/n?"

"It feels good. Weird, but good." You smile at your old teacher, "How have you been, Miss Oh?"

Your teacher adds sugar to the cup of tea in her hands and then looks at you, smiling - the same old smile, except with more wrinkles now, "I've been good. I'm retiring next year so I'm glad I could see you before that, huh?"

You nod your head, "I'm glad too. The school hasn't changed much, unlike what I had expected."

Other than the addition of some new labs and libraries, and the change in color of the walls, everything was still the same. No place in this old school building feels foreign to you.

"Ugh, these administration people I tell you, y/n, they're cheap idiots. They won't spend a single penny on infrastructure unless it's absolutely necessary." She complains as you giggle in response,

"They've always been like that."

Miss Oh gulps some tea from her cup, "Anyway, y/n, I have a class now. I would have loved to stay and chat, really, but I'm afraid that might get me in to trouble."

"No issues, Miss Oh. Go ahead. I'll just roam around the school a little more though, if that's okay."

After Miss Oh leaves, you step out of her cabin and walk the familiar corridors, reminiscent of the memories you have here. Studying a few minutes before tests, bunking classes, running to class when you're late, hanging out with your friends- these corridors have seen you grow in love, in friendship, in life. There's absolutely nothing that could ever replace these memories.

Mindlessly, you wander around the third floor, walking toward the end of the corridor before stopping in front of an old door, way too familiar to not try and push open.

While a part of you tells you it might not be a good idea to go into that room again, there's also a part of you that thinks it's a bloody brilliant idea.

Pushing the door open, you walk into the old dusty room, sighing in relief when you see a particular set of letters still carved on the wall.

CB and YN were here.

You finally let your tears run free, as you crouch down to touch the letters.

Your heart aches at how much you miss Changbin being an important part of your life and how much you miss being his top priority. And your heart aches for Changbin, who is so in love with his fiancé and has no idea he's being cheated on.

You almost want to leave this town and go back to your mother, away from this terrible mess. Yet you don't find it in yourself to act on those thoughts.

Maybe, it is your fear of abandoning him once again that stops you. Or, maybe it is simply the unconditional love you harbor for him.

* Surprisingly, Yang's Cafe is near empty that afternoon.

"Did something happen, y/n? You look really worried." Changbin has his arms crossed over his chest, looking at you with a tense frown.

"Um..it's kind of complicated." You sigh. For a second, you see the genuine concern and innocence on his face, and you wonder if it is worth telling him the truth at all because it would kill you to see him lose his smile but then, his engagement band shines on his ring finger and your stomach turns unpleasantly.

He has to know. From you. In person.

"Changbin, that day at your party...I saw something. " You whisper, "Something I shouldn't have. I should have turned a blind eye really but I can't. My conscience won't allow it. I'm sorry, Bin."

"Y/n, it's okay, just tell me," he reaches over and wraps his fingers around yours, soft and gentle, "You're scaring me."

"Changbin, your fiance is cheating on you. I-I saw her kissing another man that night. Chan saw it too." You feel sick even having to say this to him, "I think you should confront her."

He sucks in a deep breathe, his face completely void of any emotions as he extracts his hands from yours.

"I know." Is all he says.

His eyes drill into yours, as if accusing you of a crime. He looks angry. Just how he looked the day you brought Chan to his party.

"Why are you still marrying her then?" You question.

He sits up straight, "Y/n, I wish I could explain. But I can't. I'm sorry. And please, stay out of this, okay?"

"Why? Why should I stay out of it?" Your voice threatens to break, "I cannot watch my best friend marry a woman who's not loyal. You deserve better than this, Bin."

A sarcastic chuckle leaves Changbin's lips as he taps his foot against the floor, "Let me correct you, y/n. You were my best friend. Seven years ago. You're not anymore."

Your heart shatters.

A part of you knows you deserve this after ghosting him for seven long years. You were the center of each other's world at one point of time.How could you have been so selfish to ever think that your absence and lack of communication wouldn't hurt him?

"Changbin, I'm sorry for everything I did okay. B-but I never stopped thinking or worrying about you. Even for one second. And I still do."

Changbin pushes his chair back and stands up while you stay frozen in your seat.

"It doesn't seem like that though. "

"What do you even mean!"

"Chan. I mean Chan, y/n." He grabs his phone and purse, "Goodbye, y/n. I hope Chan turns out to be a better friend than I ever did." With that, the love of your life walks out of Yang's Cafe.

And for once, he doesn't even look back.

* "Y/n, don't let go of my hand!"

Changbin is panting heavily, his voice shaking with fear as he desperately tries to hold onto you.

He should have known it would be a bad idea to play badminton near the infamous cliff in your town yet when you had showed him your innocent smile and pleading eyes that day, he just couldn't say no.

Your sweaty hands clutch his, legs dangling over the edge of the cliff. Your free hand grabs the rough surface of the rocky cliff to keep yourself from falling.

You want to cry; but you're too traumatized to even let out more than a few terrified grunts. "Y/n," he yells, "I'm going to try and pull you up one more time, okay?."

You don't even remember how you had ended up in this situation; one second you were happily giggling, playing badminton with Changbin and in the next second, you found yourself hanging by the cliff, praying for your dear life.

With all the energy he has left, he tries to pull you up onto the surface.

"Y/n, you have to free the other hand. Let go of that rock." He pants.

You shake your head vigorously, you know you would not survive if you let go of the rock, you'd fall thousands of feet below into absolute nothingness.

"Y/n, please listen to me." Changbin pleads, now crying, "Please. I'll catch you, I promise. I'll not let you die. Just..please."

Changbin sounds like he's about to give up and in all honesty, you couldn't blame him really. Everytime your eyes fall on what's beneath you, a part of you loses hope.

"Please, come on, y/n," he's still pulling at your free hand, while his right hand awaits desperately to grab the other hand. A mixture or sweat and tears grace his face, making him shine under the bright afternoon sun. Your heart aches at the mere thought of never seeing him again- your friend, your childhood crush, your partner in everything.

Well, here goes nothing then.

You suck in a deep breath and let go the Rock, immediately reaching for Changbin. He is quick to grab both of your arms and in one swift movement, he pulls you up onto the surface.

You fall onto his chest, "Y-you saved me."

Changbin let's out a sob mixed with a relieved giggle, pulling you into his arms.

Your eyes feel heavy, as darkness slowly begins to engulf your vision.

"Oh God, I am so sorry this happened, y/n. It's all my fault." He cries, rubbing your back softly, "I'm so sorry. I thought I was going to lose you, oh God. Fuck!"

You want to tell him that it was never his fault, and that you wouldn't even be alive if not for him but your body betrays you and your body goes limp against his.

*

"I'm not leaving this neighborhood."

Your hands rest angrily on your waist as your mom frantically walks from your closet to where the suitcase is spread open on your bed, shifting all your clothes. She dumps them inside the suitcase, not bothering to fold them even.

"You will do as I say! That Seo Changbin tried to push you off of a cliff and heaven knows what he might do next!" Your mom yells back.

You sit at the edge of your bed, trying to keep yourself calm, "Mom, I told you it was an accident. I fell because I was going after the shuttlecock and didn't notice the cliff. Moreover, why would my best friend want try to kill me!"

Your mom let's out a sarcastic laugh, closing the suitcase roughly. She looks at you with eyes full of contempt and a part of you knows that there's no point in trying to convince her. Her mind is already made. Yet you refuse to go down without a fight.

"You're just sixteen, sweetie. You don't know anything about the cruel world, " your mother sighs, "Rich people are not friends with anyone. Changbin may be nice to you but he only sees you as a pathetic poor girl."

"Mom, we're not even poor!"

"Yes, I know. But those filthy rich businessmen consider everyone below their economic status poor. His family probably doesn't like him being friends with you which is why they asked him to get rid of you."

You think of Mrs. Seo's face in your head, always smiling and always welcoming. You remember Changbin's sister and how she'd promised to let you borrow her dress for this year's winter prom. And you think about Changbin- his face, his smile, his passion for music and his protectiveness towards you. Why would these people ever want to hurt you?

"Mom, you're being ridiculous right now! Do you even hear yourself!" You stand up from the bed, now beyond frustrated.

She walks upto you and grabs your arm tightly, nails digging into your skin as you whimper slightly. "You will listen to me. I am your mother and you will listen to me. " she growls, "Pack the rest of your stuff. We're leaving tomorrow."

When she finally walks out your bedroom, your first instinct is to dress yourself in your black hoodie and track pants, and quietly slip out of the back window of your room.

The cold air nips at your skin, goosebumps slowly appearing on your arms and legs but you're too preoccupied to pay too much heed to it.

You reach Changbin's house and like always, walk up to the backyard and climb upto his room through the emergency staircase.

When Changbin hears knocks on his window, he quickly removes his headphones, "y/n?"

He walks upto the window and let's you in, his heart more at peace now than it's ever been the entire day. The guilt from the accident you had earlier was clawing at his conscience.

His room is mostly dark except for his table lamp. You notice the lyrics notebook lying on the table, open with some scribbles and random phrases on the pages.

"How are you feeling?"

You sit at the edge of his bed, cross legged while he kneels on the floor to get to your level. His hands find yours naturally.

"Fine," you swallow the tears that have been accumulating since you left the house, "Changbin, I- we're leaving tomorrow."

Changbin is taken aback; his heart shattering into billions of pieces at your words.

"Leaving? What do you mean Leaving?" his voice trembles.

You lick your dry lips and tell him everything your mom had told you earlier. When his face twists bitterly, a part of you wishes you'd held your tongue yet a bigger part of you wants Changbin to know the truth now; you didn't want him sending you off with lies in his mind and the fear of him finding out some years later just killed you inside.

"I'm so sorry, Changbin. Mom's just not been okay after the divorce." Your voice breaks when Changbin refuses to look at you, "I know she's speaking bullshit. But there's absolutely nothing I can do to change her mind, I've tried I swear. I'm sorry, Changbin."

When Changbin finally does look at you, even in the dim lit room, you see the tears glistening on his face, mirroring the ones that roll down your cheeks. "Why are you sorry, y/n? I don't blame your mom." He mutters, "It was partly my fault. I should have taken more care, I-"

You cup his cheek, "Shh. Bin, are we really going to spend my last night here crying and blaming ourselves? We might never see each other again."

The words sink deep into his soul, and he nods. He wills his tears back in as he grabs your hand tighter.

"Okay. What do you wanna do?"

You smile a little, "You're not gonna like it though. "

"Stargazing it is then." He giggles a little as the both of you make your way to balcony attached to his room.

It is quiet outside, unlike the noise in your head and you feel the calmness spreading to you when you look up at the stars.

Changbin brings a picnic mat from inside and spreads it out on the floor, along with two pillows and a blanket.

"We'll stay in touch, yeah? If you ever need anything, I'll be right here." He reassures you, lying beside you, hands behind his head.

You smile yet you cannot bring yourself to promise him the same because you know your mother would do everything in her power to push the two of you apart, even to the point of physically hurting Changbin. You would never want that so you'd rather distance yourself and let Changbin forget about you. And maybe, just maybe fate would be a little nicer to you and decide to bring you into his life again. Many years later.

He presses a soft kiss to your head, "You'll always be my best friend, y/n. I don't care how far we are."

It takes everything in your being to not repeat the words.

*

"Changbin, come on we're getting you to the hospital this instant, okay?" Mrs. Seo is furious next morning, running from room to room, looking through the list of doctors she'd saved just in case of emergency.

When she looks at her son, sitting on the sofa with one of his eye irises turning a glowing red, she is reassured that this is an emergency.

"How did this even happen, mom? I swear I didn't try to do anything funny with my eye." He murmurs, scared, "It feels so itchy, gosh!"

Mrs.Seo looks at him with concern just when the doctor picks the call, "Oh, hello Dr.Lee! Thank god you picked up!"

After his mom walks out of his room, Changbin quickly types you a text,

Binnie: Hey. Did you leave already?

Y/nnie: No not yet. We've stopped at the doctor's.

Changbin's eyes widen in alarm.

Binnie: What why?

You look at your face in the decorative mirror at the doctor's waiting room, one of your irises burning into a bright shade of ruby.

Y/nnie: Mom's running a cold.

You close the messenger app before he even replies, deciding to change your number and deleting all your old contacts as soon as you move into your new house. And as much as it hurt you, this one text turned out to be the last time Changbin and you ever talked.

*

It has been raining all day, which means you were stuck in your goddamn house with nothing to do but cry about Changbin and your lost friendship and your broken heart.

After you manage to get some food into your body during dinner time, you crawl back to your room and look into the mirror as you comb your hair and moisturize your skin.

(Self care is important, y'all)

Your red iris stares back at you, taunting your mistakes and calling you a coward.

If only you had still tried to keep in touch with him, if only that stupid accident wouldn't have happened in the first place, if only.

Suddenly, a knock on your balcony door makes you jump in your place.

Shit. Is it a burglar?

You grab the closest thing that could be classified as a weapon - which happens to be an umbrella.

The knocking continues.

"Y/n, it's Changbin." He yells, "Can I please talk to you?"

You freeze in your spot.

Why in the world is he here? Does he have anything worse to say? Is he here to invite you to his wedding? But why would he sneak in through the balcony when he can easily ring the main door bell.

"Y/n, are you in there?"

You quickly walk upto the door and slide it open, revealing Changbin, completely drenched in the rain. His wet hair stuck to his face and "Shit. What the- God, come inside!"

He obeys and tiptoes inside your room, a guilty expression plastered on his face.

You guide him directly to the bathroom and offer him a towel.

"What are you even doing here, Bin?" You lean against the door frame, hands crossed over your chest.

He is drying his hair with the towel when he looks up at you as if to answer your question but he stops. His mouth hangs open as his eyes remain glued to your face.

And that's when you realize why he looks so surprised.

"Shit- fuck." You turn around immediately, "my lenses," you mutter to yourself.

But before you can even walk upto your dressing table, Changbin has caught your wrist and spun you around, pulling you closer to his body.

"Your eye." He let's out a shaky breath.

"Yes, I know. Please don't freak out. It's always been like this after -"

"After the accident." He finishes your sentence, "I know."

Your mouth runs dry as his face draws in closer, "What do you mean you know? What do you know?"

He let's go of your wrist and takes a step back, turning around so that his back faces you.

And when he turns to look at you again, you swear you could have passed out there and then.

"Y-you have it too." You whisper, weak in the knees, "You have a red iris too."

Changbin gives you a small smile, "Yes, y/n."

"But why? What does this mean?" You say, "Is it a symptom of some chronic illness?"

"It's a soul mark."

"What's a soul mark?"

"It's a mark that exists on the bodies of soulmates."

You feel a pang in your chest; like someone was squeezing your heart out of your chest.

"Right," You fall back onto the bed, dazed with the sudden piece of information, "And how do you know all this?"

Changbin kneels down in front of you, hands finding yours. He looks more relaxed than he did since the first day you come back to town.

It almost feels like you had been given back your old friend.

"I've been doing my research, y/n. After you left, this is all I've been doing." He says, "This is also the reason why I had gotten engaged. By that time, I had given up on finding a soulmate. So I just settled for whatever I got. I didn't even feel bad when I found out my fiance was not in love with me. For the world, we might look like a happy couple, but truly, it was just a marriage of convenience for our parents' business."

You bite your lips wondering how to respond to these words. He'd laid bare his heart in front of you, something you never thought he'd do ever again.

"What now?" You say, tired.

He intertwines your fingers, "Also, I'm sorry for yesterday. I shouldn't have said all that."

You nod, "It's alright. I know you didn't mean it. And for the record, I and Chan have nothing going on."

"And for the record, I also broke off my engagement."

Your eyes widen as a gasp leaves your lips, "What? Why?"

"Because when I told my parents that I do not love my fiancé, and that I have only ever loved you, they said my happiness was more important than their business."

When you don't reply to his words, he looks worried, "Hey, you don't have to feel burdened to like me back and all okay? Literally, if you want me to leave you alone, I will. I understand-"

You pull him by the nape and place the softest, gentlest, most sincere kiss on his lips.

"I feel the same way, dumbass." You sigh as you pull him into your arms.

He muzzles his face in the crook of your neck, playing with your hair from behind, "So what now?"

"Let's start with a date." You say, "Let's take it slow."

Changbin wraps his arms tighter around you, kissing your cheek, "As you wish, my love. "

[otomotoelzhinee]

SAILOR MAX: Chapter 1

Before we start, I just wanna thank everyone for being so, so patient with me and this project!! I’ve worked hard on this AU, and I can only hope it was worth the wait. I also wanna thank the people who helped me with the project in general with stuff like worldbuilding, character relationships etc; and with the chapter itself by offering criticism to my writing (cause as we know, it’s not my forte). You know who you are and I just want you to know most of this stuff wouldn’t have been possible without your help. Lastly, thanks to my partner for the ungodly amount of support and patience, cause I know my perfectionism can get messy and they were always there to set me straight. I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to go through with this if it wasn’t for them. With all that out of the way...

“The Day a Lagomorph became a Sailor Soldier“

Word count: 18,361

Fog.

An intense fog was covering the entire place. Wherever he walked, no matter how much he had advanced, Max was not capable of seeing anything, or hearing anything. The atmosphere was cold and heavy, there was a weight that came directly from his legs, as they struggled to move across the intense fog field.

He desperately wanted to run through it, in hopes of finding something, someone, anything at all that could help him understand his situation. But no matter how hard he tried, his legs would not move. It almost felt as if he was slowly floating around.

He hadn’t even realized that, this entire time, he never felt his feet touching the floor, or a ground of any sort. The fog had made it impossible to see anything under him.

There were no echoes, no wind, not even the sound of his own breath was something he could perceive. Just pure, overwhelming silence. “What kind of place is this?” He wondered.

 “I’m so cold…”

“…Where are you?”

 As that last sentence crossed his mind, his ears finally began to capture a sound. It was the distant screams of a crowd, they were screams of terror. Or, were they cheering…?

No…it was both, both sounds from two different groups, clashing with one another. It became hard to tell exactly what was going on, but Max kept running forward. The sounds became louder and clearer, a clash of hard metals joined the chaos. There was a moment where he could hear the current event surrounding him. But despite this, no matter how much his eyes searched, no one was there with him.

The screams, the pleadings, they wouldn’t stop. His eyes kept searching, but it was all so loud and fast, was he going insane? Only the frantic sounds of his heart, pounding harder and harder into his ears, was able to overshadow it all. He closed his eyes and held his ears tightly.

“Where’s everyone? What is happening?!”

It was then when Max felt another presence approaching him, something physical. Something he might actually be able to see, someone he might be able to speak to! But there was no way for him to tell who it was without turning around first.

Disoriented and stumbling a little, he opened his eyes, turning around awkwardly. All he saw at that moment, was…

 “MAXIMILIANO!”

Max gasped. The loud and angry voice made him jump on his bed, his heart almost escaped out of his chest. He hardly had the time to process the situation before hearing that voice again, scolding him from the floor below him.

 “Maximiliano, you have FIVE minutes to get ready for school, or you’re going to be late! You hear me? FIVE. MINUTES.”

 The entire room was made out of vague shapes and shadows, Max barely managed to recognize the clock by his side. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to clear his vision, and what he saw made him release a scream of pure horror.

 He jumped from his bed and quickly started to get dressed. He stood in front of a large mirror that was standing against the wall, on the back of his bed.

“MOM! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?”

His mother was still on the second floor. “I tried waking you up nicely- Three times! But you wouldn’t answer, even with the alarm. So now you’re late!”

 Max, now all well dressed in his gakuran, went down the little stairs in his room and opened the little door on the floor to release the ladder. He threw his briefcase to the second floor before going down the ladder, only to stop halfway and jump down since it wasn’t very high. He grabbed his briefcase and started running downstairs to the kitchen as fast as he could, so fast, in fact, that he ended up rolling down the stairs instead.

 His mother heard the impact and immediately became worried. “Max! Geez, are you okay?!” She spoke from the kitchen, sitting at the table where she was previously reading the newspaper.  

“Oww…’Course I’m not, Mom!” He stood up and rubbed his lower back as he approached the kitchen, making loud and long hisses through his teeth to make it as evident as possible to her he was in pain. Although in reality, and surprisingly, Max didn’t feel the impact at all.

 His mother, while genuinely concerned, was still too upset to give Max the attention he was asking for.

 “Ay, este cabro…” She sighed “…You’re too careless! Here, take your lunch and leave already, and be careful out there!”

“Yeah, yeah!” He received the little lunch bag grudgingly and ran to the main door, but his mother made one last question before he opened the door.

“Hey, aren’t you forgetting something?”

 Max took a second to look around him and think, he had his lunch in one hand and his briefcase in the other. He had his notebooks, a pencil, what else could he be missing…?

 “…Oh c’mon.”

 Reluctantly, he approached his mother again to give her a quick peck on the cheek. His mother chuckled and said goodbye to her son as he closed the door. Because of his height, anyone would assume it’d take him a while to arrive to the school. But Max was incredibly agile, even for a lagomorph, and this physical ability had saved him from getting late a couple of times before. However, he had no idea what fate would prepare for him today.

 He was getting his hopes high as he quickly recognized the streets, knowing he was getting closer to his destination, “I can make it, I can make it! I’m gonna make it!!” he repeated to himself.

And he would have made it! If only he had noticed the little creature in front of him lying on the sidewalk. His foot stepped on it and quickly made him lose balance, making him fall on his precious face.

His nose was bleeding a bit, but that didn’t bother him. He was mostly worried about how the teacher would react to this ‘new look’.

 “AGH! Damn it, that’s gonna leave a mark! What the hell did I trip over with, anyway?”

 When he looked back, he noticed that the creature in the sidewalk was actually a small, white, and poor little rat that had the bad luck to cross paths with Max.

His first reaction was disgust, he shivered as he loudly reaffirmed that he just stepped on a rat, even if no one was around to hear. Then he noticed the rat was not moving, and now he was terrified he may have just committed his first murder, and he just began high school this year! What a world, what a world…

He was hesitant to hold the creature for obvious reasons, but it didn’t seem dirty. Its hair was pure white and radiant, it seemed soft at first glance, the only strange detail was the band aids it had on its forehead. Maybe it was already wounded before encountering Max? What if it had an owner? And what if it was a rich person who would seek the head of anyone who tried to hurt their pet? Max was about to panic at that very moment, so he gently pushed the little rodent with one of his fingers to see if there was any reaction. When he saw it shaking at the touch, he finally held it between his trembling hands.

 “H-hey, are you alive?! Oh crap, I’m so sorry! I didn’t break any bones, did I?”

 The little rat opened its eyes slowly, Max’s weight on its body really stunned it, but nothing the rodent wouldn’t be able to survive. The rodent started to shake in Max’s hands, seemingly trying to get to the band aids, its sudden movements almost made Max drop the creature, but he did his best to keep himself calm.

 “What’s wrong? You don’t like the band aids? …Do they itch, or something?”

It seemed like they were seriously annoying the rat, and Max was actually curious as to what kind of wound it could have on its forehead. Is it just a scratch? Or maybe something more horrific, more morbid and disgusting, that would keep him wild awake every night for the rest of his life? Whatever it was, he had to know!

With a small (not really) grin of curiosity on his face, he quickly began to remove the band aids from the rat’s forehead, and to his surprise, there were no signs of blood whatsoever. But before he could inspect better, the rat gave a high jump to his head, as a way to impulse itself in the air. The rat landed at the top of a wall that surrounded a garden of one of the houses, and its eyes seemed to be locked in Max’s eyes.

As the rat kept looking, Max finally took the chance to look at its forehead. It had a peculiar mark, a bald spot that resembled a crescent moon looking upward, which was quite funny to him.

The rat inclined itself to look at Max better, and with that he felt a slight sensation of intimidation. “Just what kind of rodent was this? Do they all behave this way?” His question would have to wait for another day, because the school’s bell gave its last rang, and now Max was officially late.

 “…GOD DAMNIT! I shouldn’t be wasting time like this! Crap, crap, CRAP!”

 He cleaned his nose, grabbed his briefcase, and restarted his race to the school. The little creature kept its eyes on him, until he was out of its sight.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 “Ah…Crap.”

 As Max took the time to catch his breath, he stood in front of the closed door of his classroom. Because he had arrived late, he knew that if he called out for his teacher or knocked on the door, he would not be let in. But worst of all, he was probably deemed absent from this class, and would not be allowed inside until the first hour had passed.

He felt humiliated, having to stand in the corridor all by himself, but also tired, with his eyes slowly feeling dry and heavy. If only he hadn't spent the night reading manga, he might have woken up at a decent time, and then made it in time for school. Just who was responsible for that?

 “Geez…I can't believe a cute lil’ lagomorph like me has to be standing up in the middle of the corridor. My feet hurt so much because of these stupid school slippers...Ugh, and I really tried to get here fast!”

 Instead of continuing complaining to himself, Max started looking outside the window seeking for anything to distract him. Sadly, all there was were the clouds crossing across the sky, and a few birds flying by. The small creatures quickly reminded him of the small rodent he encountered not too long ago, and the strange event made him think of his even stranger dream from this morning.

If he was being honest, this was not the first dream he had that was related to that fog and those feelings of incapacity. But these dreams started so long ago, Max could no longer remember when exactly, and the mere act of trying brought him headaches.

There was something about these dreams that made him feel nervous, as if something horrible was going to happen soon. Or maybe it was something that had already happened, and his mind was trying to recall the event. But no matter how familiar the scenario felt in his mind, it still didn’t ring any bells, Max was sure he had never been in such a situation before in his whole life!

And yet…

 “…Ugh.” he rubbed his eyes. “Maybe my head is making up this stuff ‘cause of the lack of sleep. I hate waking up so early, my eyes are burning.”

  And suddenly, he heard an uproarious growl making itself present all across the corridor. Of course... He completely forgot he didn’t have breakfast this morning, no wonder he felt exhausted.

 Max looked around the corridor to make sure he was alone, and took his lunch bag from his briefcase, desperately trying to untie the knot. Once his bento box was uncovered, he opened it without a care. The smell that came out of the box was mesmerizing for him, and the content’s reveal was too much to handle. His mouth was watering, and his stomach only growled louder at the sight.

  “Well… I’m sure it’ll be fine if I just take a small bite to compensate for skipping breakfast! Thanks for the food!”

 But just as Max was about to insert his teeth into the delicious food, the door of the classroom slipped open.

  “Tsukino Maximiliano, what do you think you’re doing?”

  Max hid the bento box behind his back in an attempt to pretend he wasn’t doing what he was clearly caught doing, but somehow, his plan failed; and the look on Miss Gibbens face said she was not pleased in the slightest. He then tried to find an excuse, but his teacher did not give him a second to speak, so she proceeded.

  “It is for behavior like this that your grades are declining!”

 And with that statement out of the way, she showed Max the results of his last English test, putting the test right in front of his face.

With only a quick inspection to the piece of paper, Max felt like he wanted to disappear at that very moment. Only 30 points? How embarrassing, and it was especially frustrating because he actually did know all the answers to these questions. If only he hadn’t fallen asleep during the test, maybe he could’ve answered properly, and with a more readable handwriting, too. He managed to hear a few chuckles from his classmates before the teacher finally allowed him inside the classroom.

“This day can only get better”, he sarcastically thought to himself.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 In another part of the world, in a much more cold, dark and desolate location, a heavy snowstorm was taking place. And among that storm, somewhere under the snow, an old castle of great size lay hidden. The material of the walls was rusty and cracked, and the colors had faded. Some of the pillars that decorated hallways had collapsed long ago, and darkness swallowed every room to the smallest corner. Only the weak light, emitted by the very few torches hung on the walls, would allow anyone to watch where they step.

Somewhere, in one of the many hallways, a tall anthropomorphic dog in a dark blue suit was walking through. His fur was of a pale, prim color, and his snoot was of a much whiter tone. He had short pointy ears hanging from his head, and his eyes were of a pastel blue color. He adjusted his white gloves with care as he approached his destination, his eyes fixated on it as they looked forward.

He arrived at a small sanctuary of sorts, where at its center resided a small pit completely filled with clay. He stood up in front of it, he stretched his right arm, and with a firm tone in his voice he called a name…

 “Rise up, Morgana! Oh fervent servant of our mistress!”

  The clay inside the pit began to shake, and it quickly raised together, struggling violently as it tried to take form. Eventually it transformed into a humanoid creature with a curvy shape, and once the base of the body was done, the clay figure began to draw in itself clothes, hair, eyes and other details. Once it all solidified, color began to fill its cheek, to then spread to its entire body, the creation was complete.

 “Now listen closely, Morgana, your mission today will be to collect a large amount of human energy.  But above it all, you must find an ancient object, a Silver Crystal. It is of great importance to our queen, so do not disappoint me.”

  The humanoid figure smiled at the order and made a reverence to her master, before vanishing in the air.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 Back at the school, everyone was getting ready for lunch time, but Max was still sitting at his desk, completely asleep. The view was quite disturbing, actually, his mouth was completely open and leaking disgusting fluids all over his desk. He was so still he may as well be dead, but Inés was so used to this she didn’t give it any second thoughts. She and Max have been friends since Elementary school, and his weird mannerism was an everyday thing for her, it was amusing at best.

  “Max…Hey, Max.”

  She put her hand on his back and shook the lagomorph's body in hopes of getting a reaction. It took Max a second, but he finally came back to some of his senses and slowly opened his eyes.

  “I-Inés…What are you doing here?” He cleaned his mouth with the sleeve of his gakuran in a sloppy manner.

“What do you mean?” She laughed. “We’re at school, what else am I going to be doing here?”

“S-School…?” Max’s eyes were squinting as he tried to look at his surroundings. He barely recognized the shape of Inés in front of him, and even less the entire classroom.

“Geez, how can you get that disoriented after a nap? C’mon, it’s lunch time, Lorne and the girls are waiting.”

  Max rubbed his eyes as he began to search for his lunch bag among his other stuff, and Inés cleaned the mess over his desk with her handkerchief.

  “You’re just like a baby.” She commented as a way to tease him.

 After Max was ready and fully awake, they began walking downstairs on their way to the schoolyard, both him and Inés carrying their bentos. Inés didn't take long to ask him what the reason behind the hijinks of this morning was, with a mocking smile on her face. The Lagomorph didn’t take the interrogation too kindly, claiming everything that happened today was out of his control. But there was one situation that he did not even think of mentioning to his friend, and that was the strange encounter with the white rodent.

In reality, he pretty much forgot about the encounter at this point, thinking of it as some sort of fever dream, an illusion of his head at best. And right now he had only one thing in his mind: Sit on his favorite bench, gossip with his friends and eat until his lunch was no more.

 When Inés stopped the teasing for the sake of Max’s ego, the duo finally arrived with Lorne, who was waiting for them with an orange juice box on his hand; Sitting on a bench that was under the trees. In a bench right next to the last but in a vertical position, two other girls were sitting on it. Their names were Amano and Suri, friends of Inés from another class who would sometimes join in the little group of Max, Lorne and Inés.

  Inés sat together with the girls, leaving Max no choice but to sit at the other extreme of the bench, which was nearest to Lorne. Max didn’t like having to sit this close to Lorne, as his sole presence would put him in a bad mood, but he wasn’t quite sure why. Lorne wasn't a bad kid, he was only a huge nerd who never shut up, but that seems to be enough of a reason for Max to sort of dislike his “friend”.

The group greeted each other and began talking about how their day went, and which classes they had today. Lorne immediately mentioned the English test results, saying, or rather showing off in Max’s eyes, how he got a better score than most kids in the class.

 “I thought it’d be an easy exam, but 95 points is all I managed to get. I guess I should have prepared myself more! Tests are just like games, aren't they?”

  ‘Games’? How could he even say such a thing! How dare he presume to be better at English than him. Max was focusing on his food to avoid looking at Lorne, but he was absolutely furious, nobody was even laughing at his joke!

Well…Inés did chuckle a little, but Lorne was still irritating in Max’s eyes, and no one would be able to change his mind.

 “Oh! By the way, how many points did you get, Mr. Max?”

  Max choked on his tamagoyaki, he swallowed it the best he could before starting to laugh as loud as he could.

 “Ah, me? Well, I got a perfect score, of course! Haha!”

“Wow! Really?! Well, you are a genius when it comes to English, Mr. Max!”

  Lorne was a kid who had no malice in his heart. His admiration towards Max’s capacity to understand a foreign language that, to him, seemed so complex and sophisticated, was as true and honest as it can be.  And as much as Max disliked Lorne, he had to admit, Lorne knew how to flatter a guy. After all, who doesn't like a bit of praise for their accomplishments?

 “Could I see your test? I-I’d just like to see what answers you have so I can understand what I did wrong! Of course, if you don’t have a problem with that!”

 At that point, Max was no longer laughing, his thoughts were rushing in his head trying to find a good excuse not to seem suspicious. That was the sign for Inés to interfere and help her friend get out of the hole he was digging himself in.

 “Hey now, how about we change the subject?” Inés said calmly. “We shouldn't be thinking about school in our recess anyway, this is our time to relax.”

 Lorne was quick to apologize, not wanting to disturb any of his friends. Max on the other hand, resumed his affairs and continued eating his lunch, swallowing both the food and the shame deep down his throat. Meanwhile everyone else kept the conversation going. That’s when one of Inés' friends, Amano, took the chance to speak.

 “Oh, that’s right! Inés, have you heard about the recent robbery in a jewelry store at Chūō? It happened in the middle of the night, and the owners almost got hurt! There’s been lots of crimes near Minato ward these days, too. You and your mother should be careful!”

“Yes, I’ve heard, and you’re right. My mom’s been taking precautions, but she says there’s nothing to worry about, that our store is safe.”

Inés put her hands together, tightly. “Still, it’s a little scary to think that something could happen to us. I’m honestly not sure what I’d do…”

 Her friends immediately noticed her concern, and Suri began rubbing her back as a way to comfort her. Lorne thought this would be a good time to share his own news, and that way lighter up the mood of the conversation.

 “But you forgot the most important detail, Amano! Sailor V arrested the criminals from the Chūō robbery! It’s been confirmed!”  

“No way!” Amano gasped. “Sailor V? You mean it?”

Max’s right ear twitched, and finally he raised his head up to look at Lorne. “Sailor V? What the heck is that?”

“You don't KNOW?” The group exclaimed in awe.

Max shrugged his shoulders and lowered his ears. He shouted “I’m not DEAF, you guys!”

  Lorne chuckled, he began to fix his glasses and showed an unusual confidence in his face. After quickly cleaning his throat, he began his tale.

 “Sailor V is a beautiful and mysterious heroine in shining armor, who wears a mask to hide her identity. She appeared a couple of years ago out of nowhere, and has been helping keep the city a safe place ever since. Many people know about her existence, but pictures of her are very rare, and always unclear! She always leaves the crime scene before the arrival of the police, leaving the criminals tied up and unconscious, ready to be arrested!”

“Woah!” The girls exclaimed.

“It is said she has very long hair that shines in the dark, and that she's incredibly strong! But the biggest rumor that’s being spread is that she works as a special agent for the police, but nobody knows for sure…”

   The three girls were fascinated by the tale, but Lorne was impatiently waiting for the response of Max the most. There was a second of silence before Max finally raised his head and looked at Lorne.

  “…Oh, yer done already? Sorry, I stopped listening after you said ‘Sailor V’.”

 Everyone sighed.

 “Anyway...” Suri started. “I'm so happy Sailor V is back on her rounds! It’s been a couple of months since we’ve heard of her!”

“Could you imagine, though?” Amano sighed as she fixed her hair. “Being surrounded by so many beautiful, sparkling, precious gems? Honestly, I don’t think I could resist the temptation myself!”

“Ah, you’re right. Jewels are just so beautiful!”

“Now we’re talking!” Max quickly joined in the conversation. “Inés, your mom has the jewelry store open today, right?”

“Oh, yes! In fact, there’s a special sale today, you can find some jewelry for half the original price.”

“That’s great! We should go check out those prices, then! What do you say, girls?”

“Inéees?” The girls stared at her.

“…Weeell…” She pondered in a teasing tone. “…I don’t see why not!”

 When Max said all, of course, he was not trying to include Lorne. As the boy drank his juice, Amano, Max and Suri cheered in excitement.

Max then noticed Inés resting her hand on his small shoulder, she was looking at him with a smile.

  “What’s wrong, Inés?”

“Sorry, but I just remembered I’ve got a surprise for you. Follow me!”

 The word “surprise” made him think of the word “gift”, and because Inés was relatively rich, his expectations were always high. Inés could see the interest sparkling in his eyes, and Max did not hesitate to follow her back inside the school building. That is until he noticed that the direction they were going would actually lead them to the bathrooms of the first floor.

  “Hey, Inés, what gives?”

“Okay, so!” She stopped the walk and turned around to see Max. “I know you’re going to freak out, but hear me out. I need you to get in the girls bathroom and wait for me in the last stall.”

“What?! Why?”

“Hurry up before the break is over. I promise I’ll be back soon!”

“No, but-! I-Inés! What is…!”

  As Inés ran upstairs, she left Max standing in front of the bathroom with a good amount of questions wandering around his head. He stood in that same spot for a few minutes, debating on what he should do. Should he just wait outside instead? Or should he go back with his friends and ignore this nonsensical request?

What was she thinking anyway? Inés was not usually like this, and Max really hated to be left in the dark. But because she was his best friend, and quite honestly, he really wanted that expensive gift, he thought he should trust her. After all, what reasons did he have not to?

And so, making sure nobody was looking, he ran inside the bathroom and into the stall Inés had told him to go. He stood still in a corner, quite nervous, and he had two main reasons. One: because he didn’t want to get caught by some girl passing by. And two: Because he absolutely did not want to accidentally step near the toilet, who knows what sort of disgusting and horrible acts have been committed there.

 Everything was quiet, for the most part. Except for the noisy voices of kids playing outside, this was mainly the floor of the junior high students, after all. Thankfully, none of the little girls had approached the bathroom so far, which made him feel a bit less anxious, yet not enough to lower his guard.

He stood there for just a few minutes, yet it felt like an eternity to him. Suddenly, he began to hear some steps entering the bathroom that slowly approached his stall. He thought it may be Inés, but didn’t dare to speak up. What if it’s another girl? The sole idea made him stop breathing for a second.

 It wasn’t until he heard a quiet “Max? Are you there?” that he sighed with relief.

“Yeah, I’m here, but what the heck are we doing here, Inés? I could get in serious trouble for this!”

“Shh!” she gave Max a warning as he was being a bit too loud. “I know, I’m sorry! I just wanted to make sure nobody would look at you weird. Now here, open it quick!”

 ‘Look at you weird’? What exactly was she referring to? Most kids would already look at him weird for being one of the very few Lagomorphs at this school, so what could possibly draw more attention to Max?

Inés slid a black bag under the door of the stall, Max took it and began to rip it apart without much care. Although the sound of the bag being torn apart echoed through the room, he thought it was better to do it quickly and get this over with, rather than do it slowly and wait for someone to come and catch them.

  Once he recognized the content inside the bag, his anger vanished, only leaving pure and utter happiness that reflected through his face. It was a dark blue sailor uniform, with a big bow of the same color attached to the blouse and two thin red stripes in the collar and the cuffs. It was the design used by the senior high school girls from this establishment, and it was his size! Max did not think twice about trying it out.

When Max was finally ready, he left the bathroom stall he was hiding in and began to show Inés his new look, giving a quick spin around to show the entire outfit.

 “So! How do I look?”

Inés giggled. “Well, the important question is: How do you feel? Do you like it?”

 He began to look at himself, holding his skirt from each side like a princess in a big dress. The dark color of the uniform gave him a feeling of maturity and realization. For the very first time, he felt like a full-blown senior high school student, which drew a big smile on his face.

  “I… LOVE IT!”

He jumped into Inés arms and hugged her as tightly as he could, clinging onto her like a child holding onto his mother. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” is all he kept repeating. Inés smiled as she reciprocated the hug.

“How did you manage to get one of my size? And with the summer blouse included!”

“I, uh, didn't. I got the smallest uniform there was and I had to cut and sew some parts myself.”

“Wait, wait! Wait... You made this uniform? For ME?”

“You said you wanted to wear a skirt this year, something different to start high school with, and I just-”

“No, no, no. Say no more…” He purposefully hid the upper half of his face under his arm as he kept holding onto his friend. “You’re such a kind soul… I-I really don’t deserve you, Inés. I think…I may even cry a little…”

“Oh, please.” she gave a quick eye roll. “You’re not the type.”

Max drastically changed his tone and stopped covering his face. “Ah, you’re right! You know me so well, Inés!”

They both laughed it off.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 It was now around 3 in the afternoon. School was finally over and Max, alongside his friends, were ready to start their favorite activity of the day: Window shopping!

Max was pretty cheerful, maybe a bit too cheerful, but not for the reasons the girls thought. While he was indeed excited to go see precious stones and gems, among other stuff, all he really thought about was how cute he felt in his new uniform. When Amano and Suri saw him they just laughed it off, not thinking much of his look. Inés on the other hand, was happy to see that her small action had brought so much joy to her friend.

“Max, Look!” Inés called his attention, as he was still with his head in the clouds. He shifted his attention to the tall, very fancy building at the end of the street. Its exterior walls were white and the first floor’s showcase had purple windows, while the other three upper floors had crystal clear windows.

Max instantly knew what the building was, but it didn't take much work to figure it out, since there was already a big and very "in your face" signboard at the upper left of the first floor, which had the store's name written with big cursive letters, the Jewelry ABE・P.

"Kinda cheesy" he thought. But that didn't stop him or the girls from running right to the store's showcase and see what they had for sale.

Inés on the other hand, simply stood behind them, as a way to not disturb them. The shiny rocks that were on sale were nothing she hadn't seen before, considering it’s her mother’s work, and jewelry itself was not one of her biggest interests anyway. But she still explained in the most brief way possible all the articles that were being displayed in the showcase, just to make her friends happy.

 "And that one is called ‘Pigeon blood ruby’, it costs one billion yen! Unfortunately, this one is not on discount.”

 Max frowned. “You're serious? Who the heck would have that much money these days?”

“C’mon Max, I’m sure there’s more accessible prices inside the store!” Suri smiled at Max before following Amano inside the building. Inés then approached him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s go, Max.”

   As the automatic door opened, the group was immediately able to hear the lousy crowd of women. Looking at, taking, and wearing as much jewelry as their wallets could afford. The view was shocking at first, but nothing that could be considered strange, this was a discount sale after all. Whatever reason a person may have, the opportunity to get a pretty necklace, or a shiny ring, would not be wasted.

And of course, Inés’ mother knew she only needed to give these people a little tiny bit of encouragement to buy everything. And so, with her sales megaphone, she continued to cheer on the crowd.

  “Thank you everyone for coming! Go ahead and look, there’s enough jewelry for everyone! Our jewels are of the best quality, I assure you that you will not find these beautiful pieces anywhere else at this price!”

 Inés’s mother, ‘Mrs. Abel’, was a middle aged woman with light brown, short curly hair. She enjoyed dressing up in fancy clothes and wearing a modest amount of jewelry, along with some red lipstick to highlight her face.

‘Mrs.Abel’ also liked to keep her store clean, the floor was sparkling white, and Max could practically see his own reflection.

The room was huge, with cream colored walls on the first floor, and sky blue colored walls on the second floor, which was visible from the group’s position; alongside the many rooms of the second floor. The second floor was also being supported by big, white pillars (three on each side of the first floor), that would give the store a classy vibe.

At the top of it all, a great Chandelier full of crystals was hanging from the ceiling, currently being unused. Max assumed that because of its great size, it would be more than enough to illuminate the entire room during the night.

  “Mom, I’m home!”

 “Ah, Inés! Welcome home, darling!” ‘Mrs. Abel’ turned around to greet her daughter, as she smiled cheerfully. “Are those your friends?”

 “Yes.”

‘Mrs. Abel’ giggled. “Wonderful! Don’t worry girls, I know there’s a lot of people here, but feel free to look at anything you like. I’ll even give you a special discount for being friends of Inés!”

 “Seriously?!” Max and the girls stared at each other with their mouths open, the sale was already crazy cheap, now they would get another discount on top of the already established one? ‘Mrs. Abel’ either hit her head really hard today, or just didn’t care how much money she would be losing.

Either way, Amano and Suri immediately ran into the crowd of women to see if there was anything that they could find intact, and Max was just about to follow them. But then, it hit him, a fact he completely dismissed for the entire day, something he could‘ve prevented, but was now too late…

He was out of cash. And what’s worse, even if he ran back home right now, he could not ask his parents for a single yen, no. Not after that terrible grade he got on his English test. He knew what would happen once they found out, which would be soon or later.

So, as he quickly accepted his defeat, he limited himself to stay beside Inés and watch with melancholy how his friends got to enjoy the sale. Without him.

  “…You know, something about this feels…Wrong.” Inés murmured.

“Tell me about it…”

“I mean, I know my mom is very enthusiastic… But, we've never had so many sales before, and never at this scale! I wonder what’s gotten into her.”

Max just sighed, his eyes completely fixed on the crowd.

 “Please, do not push each other!” ‘Mrs. Abel’ kept on cheering her clients. “I promise there’s enough for everyone!”

 Inés stared at her mother, trying with all her might to discover what was going on inside her head at this moment. Despite them being in the same room, Inés felt a certain distance between the two, but what could be causing these feelings? This is her mother, she has been in this business for years, and she absolutely must know what she’s doing.

Yet, why is she doing this? Inés’ little head kept working out an answer, yet it would not come out.

 And speaking of questionable intentions, Max just had an idea.

 “Oee, Inés.” He whispered.

“Oh-” Inés snapped back into reality “Yes?”

“Ye think you could, please, pretty please, lend me some money? I forgot mine at home!”

“Ah, sure. What do you need it for?”

“Mmm, well…” Max danced around the question for a little. “You knooow~”

 Inés tilted her head slightly.

 “…Ah, I see. No, sorry Max.”

“Aww, c’mon! You’re my best friend in the whole wide world! Can’t you help out a friend in need?”

Inés used a more serious tone, without trying to be rude. “Max, any money I have was given to me by my mother. If I lend it to you to buy jewelry, there would be no gain for my mother’s business. I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to say no this time.”

“Geez! A simple ‘no’ would've been enough.” He crossed his arms and looked in an opposite direction.

 Inés sighed. Max was exasperating sometimes, it was hard to say no to him without getting on his nerves. Yet somehow, neither of them could stay angry at each other for too long.

 “Alright…But could you at least let me use the bathroom? I need to change clothes.”

“Oh, yes. Of course! Follow me.”

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 Max said goodbye to Inés before leaving the store, and started walking to the direction of his house, now wearing his gakuran; its dark and lifeless blue color only lowered the mood for him. What a big chance he had right now, he could’ve gotten something pretty for himself like a ring, or a necklace, but he had to screw it up by wasting his allowance on childish stuff. And not to mention that darn test…

He took the piece of paper out of his bag and stared at it, it was covered in red lines crossing out all the questions he didn’t answer, while the ones he did answer were all perfect. “If my mom sees this, she’s definitely gonna kill me…”

 Part of him had gotten used to this by now. How he couldn’t bring himself to study, getting yelled at by his teacher for his poor grades, getting yelled at back at home again. But, he was supposed to be good at this one subject, it was his thing! And because of a single mistake, he ruined it.

What bothered him most, is that there was only one person to blame for this, but his pride wouldn’t let him say who exactly.

 “…BAH! Let the wind blow it away!” He crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it behind him.

 There we go, now that he got rid of the test, he could just lie to his mom and say the test results haven't been given yet. Eventually, she will forget about it, and Max will avoid any further trouble-

 “Hey, Bunny-boy!”

 …Perhaps not.

Max felt a shiver down his spine. Something about the tone in the stranger’s voice instantly told him he must’ve done something bad to bother him.

“Do I look like a trash-can to you? You should be more careful where you aim at, it hit my face.”

Max held his breath in for a moment, how is it possible he didn’t notice someone standing behind him? Was he really that stupid? As much as he would’ve loved to run away home and avoid the conflict, he turned around to face the stranger.

 “I-I’m really sorry, sir! I-I wasn’t paying attention!”

 Max didn’t really know who he was talking to or how old they were, but he assumed he was a ‘sir’ when he noticed all the fancy clothes he was wearing. Max knew nothing about fashion, otherwise, he would’ve been able to guess what he was looking at was a morning dress. Max did, however, recognize the quality of the fabric, and the amount of earth-like colors in the suit.

From the dark green coat and his green beige waistcoat, to his brown trousers, along the orange necktie that stood out from the entire combo. To Max it was quite hexcentric, ridiculous even, but of course- He would not voice his opinion of fashion to this stranger.

 Besides the peculiar clothing, the man was tall, extremely tall. Especially for Max, who could barely reach the guy’s stomach. Even though he looked quite chubby, there was no doubt for Max that a single push from the guy could leave him in the ground. He also looked like an anthropomorphic being, just like him, but Max couldn’t tell what kind.

Max began to search for more clues. At first he thought he could be a bear, mainly for the color of his fur. But despite his height, the stranger wasn't tall enough to pass as one. Max then tried to get a look at his face, but the stranger had it covered with a wrinkled piece of paper in front of him, the same one Max threw at him by accident.

Wait a minute... It was Max’s test!

  “…30 points?” The stranger smirked.

 Now he was making fun of him! The shame, the horror! Right now, a good punch in the gut from the man didn’t seem like such a terrible option for Max. At least if he was left unconscious, he wouldn’t have to hear any more humiliating comments about his poor performance.

 “Geez. You should focus on your studies first, rather than carelessly littering people on the street, Bunny-boy."

 “B-Bunny?” Although he might have been afraid, there was one thing Max would absolutely, not by any means, tolerate from anyone in this world; and that was being called a bunny. He may have let it slide the first time, but he would not do the same for a second time.

“Excuse me, sir, but you should get your eyes checked! Because I am a Lagomorph, not a Bunny!”

The stranger chuckled at Max’s reaction and returned the wrinkled piece of paper to him, placing it right on his face as a way of teasing him. “Well, you should pay more attention in class, Lago-boy.”

Max growled at the rude gesture, he took his test and violently put it aside, finally allowing the man and him to be face to face. “That- Is none of your business!”

  Max was frozen. He stared into the stranger’s eyes, and despite the fact that he was wearing shades, Max could still see right through them. Finally, he was able to figure out the anthro-being he was dealing with.

He was an anthropomorphic dog with black eyes. His snoot was round and his ears were long and fluffy, they were practically hanging from his head, and Max felt the strange need to touch them.

He started to get the feeling that something about this guy was very, very familiar. And the more he stared at him, taking the time to analyze all of his features, searching for that ‘ah-ha!’ sign that would help him understand: “Just who is this guy?” The more he felt the two of them had, somehow, already met. But where and when, exactly? He couldn’t tell.

 “Hey, Lago-boy? Did you lose something?” The dog waved his hand in front of Max’s face.

“H-Huh?” Max blinked twice, startled.

“Oh, geez. You just keep living in the clouds and refuse to get down, don’t you?”

“What? N-no!”

“Alright, alright, if you say so. It’s ‘none of my business’ anyway.”

The dog turned around in the other direction and said goodbye to Max, but Max wasn’t done with this conversation just yet.

“Wait a second!”

“Hmm?” The dog stood still and looked back at Max.

 Every part of his body was shaking, his hunch was practically screaming, he had to know! Max had to know if, by the smallest chance…If it was him.

…But he did not have the courage to ask. Too many unpleasant things happened today, and now, based merely on feelings, he was going to ask this total stranger if he was ‘this’ certain person? And what if he said no? Max would only look like a complete idiot in front of someone he doesn’t even know. No, he would rather leave things just like this, as mere coincidences, and avoid any further embarrassment.

 “…Sorry, nevermind. Must’ve confused you with someone else.”

 Max then walked in the opposite direction without saying anything else, leaving the dog in front of the jewelry store. The stranger was a bit confused, but he quickly dismissed the moment as nothing of importance, as he had other things to worry about. He shifted his attention to the tall building in front of him and examined every inch of its structure, including the windows, until he was convinced that this was the place he was looking for.

 Max kept going on his path, also trying to dismiss the event that just happened, and get home as soon as possible. Perhaps he could get a nice nap, too, he felt like he deserved it after such a stressful day. But that guy, his face…

“It had to be him, I know it was him.” He kept repeating those words to himself, and he would argue back at himself. “But it’s impossible, it can’t be, they look nothing alike, and he would never dress like that!”

The ideas kept clashing with one another over and over again, and Max felt a headache was coming soon if he didn’t do something about this matter. That’s when he noticed that he was passing right in front of a game center, one he casually visits now and then, The Game Center CROWN. And to his surprise, a poster had been recently added to the wall promoting a new game.

The poster was a cartoony illustration of a girl with long, light blonde hair and a red mask covering her eyes. She was wearing stylized armor that seemed inspired by a sailor uniform. She had the look of a hero ready to fight the bad guys, which were also depicted in the poster, but without taking the hero’s spotlight. The game was called Sailor V: Hero of the Night! Now where has he heard that name before…?

 “Ah, this must be the girl Lorne was talking about! ‘Sailor V’, huh?”

 Max examined the poster for a while, with slight annoyance, the thought of this popular superhero girl really tickled his anger, and his envy as well. Why was she getting all the attention? What made her so special? Is it because she had a fancy name and cute clothes? Anyone could do that. At least that’s what he thought, as he imagined himself in the spot of Sailor V. But that was just a fantasy, deep down, he knew it was impossible. Some people’s lives are just too easy, he thought, and he was not one of the lucky ones.

 “…What a stupid name. What does the V stand for, anyway-?”

“Good afternoon, sir.”

 Max released a fast scream of pure, sheer terror and stood back, leaning against the door entrance of the arcade. He looked back at the person who just spoke to him, and felt great relief when he realized who it was.

 “H-Hyōsuke! I, uh…Didn’t see you there!”

 Hashimoto Hyōsuke was the son of the owner of the game center CROWN, and had a part time job in the arcade. He had tanned skin and his hairstyle was similar to a ‘pompadour’, he also liked to wear shades all the time and never take them off.

They met at a time when Max used to visit the arcade frequently, and somehow became good friends. Despite the fact that Hyōsuke is a University student, Max always addresses him by his first name and almost never used honorifics, and despite Max being younger than him, Hyōsuke always treated him in a very polite manner. Although, to be fair, he tends to treat everyone respectfully no matter their age, and Max loved this! Being treated like some sort of respected gentleman always boosted his ego.

 “Please step aside from the door, sir, before it-”

“WOAH-!”

“…Opens.”

 Max, who just met with the cold and crystal clear floor of the game center, immediately started complaining. Not because the fall was painful in any way (And even if it was, he lacked sensitivity to pain.), but because he liked complaining, it was a way to release stress.

 “God- DAMN IT! Why does this keep happening to me?!”

“It’s okay sir, everyone has accidentally fallen into an automatic door once in their lives, it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

 Hyōsuke offered his hand to Max as a way to help him stand up, the lagomorph took it with certain embarrassment.

 “Thanks, Hyōsuke…But that’s not what I mean.”

“Did something happen?”

“Eh… Let’s just say this wasn’t my day, at all.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, sir. Perhaps a time in the arcade would help you clear your mind.”

“Woah, sneaky guy! But, I’m sorry to tell you I don’t have a single coin in my pocket.”

“Are you quite sure, sir? We have a new game available since yesterday.”

“A new game?!” The smile that had just formed in his face quickly came and went as the gears in his head started to turn. “…Wait, you’re not talking about that Sailor V chick, right? Because in that case, I-”

 Max froze for a mere second and shook his left ear. He felt a presence behind him, something with his eyes fixated on his back, but once he turned around, he couldn’t see anyone else. It was just him and Hyōsuke, and yet, he could still feel there was someone else.

 "Something troubling you, sir?"

“Huh? Oh, no, nothing at all! Sorry, I’m a little distracted and I just want to go home and rest.”

 There was something troubling him indeed, but Max couldn’t figure out himself what it was exactly that gave him these feelings, and he found no point in telling his friend.

 “Alright sir, be careful on the way home.”

“Yeah, I will. Goodbye, Hyōsuke!”

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 As the sun slowly sank through the pink clouds, Max had finally arrived at his home, and he was ready to take a snack from the fridge, relax and take a good nap. He opened the door and announced his arrival.

“Mama, I’m home!”

His mother came from the kitchen, cleaning her wet hands with her apron. “Welcome home, hun! What took you so long?”

“Ah, Sorry! I was hanging out with Inés and we didn’t notice how late it was getting!”

“I see… Oh!”

Mrs. Tsukino giggled as their conversation was abruptly interrupted by tiny bundles of joy, her six youngest daughters, who were happy to see her big brother finally at home.

“Max! Max! Max!” they shouted as they jumped and pushed each other playfully, trying to get a chance at hugging their big brother. Max had to make an effort not to lose his balance.

“What took you so long?” said Olivia in an upset tone, as if trying to scold Max.

“Did you bring us something?” Said Asami, the tiniest of the sisters.

“Asami! Don’t be rude!” Replied Josefa, the tallest and oldest of the sisters.

“We really, really, really missed you!” Said Isabella, the dearest sister out of the six.

 Since she was born without one of her legs, she had to use a special prosthetic leg for a tiny lagomorph like herself. But she didn't mind. In fact, she thought it looked cool.

 “Hey, Hey! One at a time, kiddoes! You're gonna make me fall on my butt!”  

 The little ones began to laugh.

 “Girls, please. Give your brother some space.”

 The little ones apologized, finally leaving the poor lagomorph a moment to breathe and stand up properly. The girls hid behind their mother as she began retaking her conversation with her son.

 “By the way, Max. How did you do in your exam?”

“Oh, That! Well, you see-”

“Because I crossed paths with Lorne earlier today, and he told me you guys got the results already. He said he got 95 points!”

 Max stood still with a blank expression, admiring how his entire plan crumbled in front of him, thanks to his gossipy little friend. “That blabbermouth, I’m gonna strangle him for this!” He took a mental note before proceeding to answer to his mother.

“…OH! REALLY? Woah that’s AMAZING isn’t it?” He laughed it off, pretending to play dumb as a last attempt to escape his mother’s interrogation. But it didn't work out.

“Now tell me, how did you do?”

“Well…Ah, you see! …Th-the thing iiis…!”

“Maximiliano.”

Max was looking to the ground avoiding eye contact, but he already knew his mom’s tender, welcoming smile was vanishing, along with her patience. He sighed and accepted that there was no escape from the hell that was about to rise, and decided to give her the test in her hands.

Mrs. Tsukino took it and examined it for a moment, a moment that felt like an eternity for Max. The little ones got on their tip toes trying to take a look as well. Everything was quiet for a few seconds, until…

“Maximiliano Santiago Tsukino SILVA!”

The rage Mrs. Tsukino felt was so strong, Max swore he could see fire in her eyes.

“Uh-Ooh.” The little girls stepped aside, knowing exactly what was coming for their big brother.

Max began to sweat, somehow; despite lagomorphs being incapable of it. He chuckled nervously. “M-Mama…I can explain!”

“¡Cómo se te ocurre traerme una nota tan baja a MI casa! ¡AFUERA! ¡NO TE QUIERO VER!”

“W-WAIT! WOAH-!”

Mrs. Tsukino furiously pushed Max outside of the house and shut the door in front of him, leaving him in the front yard to think of what he just did. In part, it could’ve been worse, at least he didn’t get an ear pulling or something similar. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure for how long his mom was planning on leaving him there, and the mere thought of spending the night outside wasn’t comforting. So he followed the next step of his plan B.

He began to make a scandal.

“MAMAAA! C’MON, IT’S NOT THAT BAD, PLEASE LET ME IN, PLEAAASE!”

“What’s going on here?”

Max’s left ear twitched, he recognized that voice! It was the annoying and overly confident voice of his little brother, Dante, the oldest of the group of the six lagomorph boys. They approached the front door as they were eating their lollipops, seemingly showing them off to their big brother as they walked past him.

“What, did you get kicked out again?” said Dante with a big smile.

“Wouldn’t that make it the 4th time?” Said Bruno, a chubby, small lagomorph.

“No, actually. Last time, mom locked the house after she went shopping and forgot Max was going to arrive late, so he had to wait outside. This is only the 3rth time Mom kicks him out for failing an exam.” Said Hiroaki, the smartest of the six boys.

“What an Idiot! Why didn't he use the back door?” Said Yukio, who was carrying a chocolate bar and a soda inside his open backpack.

“We don’t have one.” Replied Hiroaki.

“We don’t?”

“Hey!” Max had enough of these kids and their mean comments. “How can you treat me like that? I’m your big brother, you should respect me!”

“It’s not our fault you have such terrible grades! I wish we had a big brother that was actually smart!” Dante then made a funny expression to mock him, sticking his tongue out.

“That’s IT!”

The boys were laughing uncontrollably at Max and how easy it was to provoke him. He was getting ready to throw a kick at them and they quickly went inside the house to avoid it. Dante shut the door as fast as his giggling body allowed him, without realizing that the poor door would be the one receiving the impact of that Kick.

Max hit the door with his bare foot, harder than he expected. He hit it so hard that he actually felt that pain slowly building up from his heel to his brain and the tip of his ears. He held it in, he was really trying to hold it in, but he couldn't. He let out a scream of pure pain, combined with more whining. While he was indeed insensitive to pain, there were still certain things he could feel, and right now he wished he didn't.

 “MOOOM! OPEN THE DOOR, DANTE HIT ME!”

 The boys were still giggling inside the house, they couldn’t help it, but the girls didn’t enjoy this attitude in the slightest; so they made an attempt at trying to talk things out with their mom. They tugged her apron gently, asking to please let their big brother back inside the house. “He didn’t mean to!” they said. But Mrs. Tsukino was not going to let him in that easily, what he did was unforgivable, and he deserved to be reprimanded for it!

…Although, if he kept screaming for a few more minutes, she may consider letting it pass. After all, she was still young and she wanted to conserve her good hearing intact. And the neighbors may start complaining there’s a squeaky rabbit that won’t shut up.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 Back at the Jewelry store, where the sun’s rays were no longer illuminating the streets, and the moon was slowly making itself more present, a dark and imposing figure stood up at the other side of the street. The mysterious stranger, who was dressed in fancy clothing and covered his eyes with a white mask, hid in the shadows provided by the buildings. He was waiting for a chance to enter the store, which seemed to be closed, as the lights were off.

His intentions were obvious. What he was searching for were precious and shiny stones for him to take home, and he was willing to take them no matter who stood in his way. Although he was not here to start a fight, it was not outside the realm of possibilities. He'd just kindly take a few gems without the owner of the store's knowledge and no one would get harmed, simple, like always.

Little did he know, the vast majority of the articles being displayed this morning were no longer available, thanks to “Mrs. Abel’s”…Or rather, Morgana’s big sale.

The first part of her plan was a complete success. Now all the women and men who bought those precious objects were contaminated with dark energy, energy that Morgana herself placed inside all those fake stones that decorated the collars and rings, making them look shinier and more appealing to the human eye.

“Humans and their pitiful wants, they are so gullible.” She laughed.

Now all she had to do was call back the energy of her victims as they wore the jewels. She was using a special red glass container of a cylindrical shape to store all the human energy in it as it arrived. She placed it on the counter and activated it with a single move of her hand. The energy began to flow right from the houses of the victims and back at Morgana’s artifact.

Every person in the city wearing their recently bought jewelry at that moment, quickly began to feel weak, disoriented. Some even felt dizzy and had to go to the bathroom urgently, as the nausea was too much to handle.

“So much energy…Lord Jadeite will surely be pleased! Although…”

She began to look at her surroundings, several times.

“…The object he entrusted to me doesn't seem to be here. I will have to make one last quick inspection to the building before I-”

The door beside the counter, where Morgana was standing, started to open. A thin figure was standing under the door frame, letting the light of the other room get into the store.

“Mom? What are you doing?” Inés spoke in a gentle tone.

Morgana could’ve come up with an excuse, but she didn’t bother. She was done with her job, and she already knew what she had to do with intruders.

Inés kept going as she received no answer. “I thought you had closed the store already…?”

Morgana turned her face around, allowing the light coming from the other room to reach her. She let her teeth show off, growing into fangs, twisting her face slightly as she smiled; she had nothing else to hide from this kid.

Inés gasped loudly and stepped back, her eyes couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her mind began to rush, trying to find an explanation, was this an illusion? Is she dreaming?

Her body began to shake, begging for her to run upstairs, back to her room and lock herself there. She couldn’t respond to the signs on time, as Morgana stretched her limbs to an unhuman capacity and violently grabbed her arm, pulling her inside the store.

The door had been closed, and Inés had nowhere to go.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 Back at the Tsukino residence, Max was climbing the ladder to his room halfheartedly. He sat in the tiny stairs of his room for a moment, letting the small door close as the ladder came back to its original position. He then yawned and stretched as he walked to his bed.

When he left the house in the morning, he left his bed undone, but now it was fixed and he could only guess it was his mother, who may have entered the room during the day. The empty glass that he left over the nightstand was also gone, but the manga he was reading last night was still at the window.

 He left his briefcase over the white, small round table near the bed, and sighed. “Finally, she let me in! Geez, I don't know why she gets like that, she's so mean to me…”

”…I don’t wanna do my homework, I think I'll just take a small nap and then figure it out.”

 And following his last words, Max laid down in the warm bed comforter and closed his eyes, falling asleep in just a couple of minutes.

 The minutes kept passing as Max kept dreaming, and the wind began to blow against his window, making him shake slightly because of the noise; but it was not nearly enough to wake him up. If he had woken up at that moment, he probably would’ve noticed the small shadow in front of his window, standing still.

The wind somehow made its way into the room, unhooking the window lock, opening it slightly for a moment, before shutting down abruptly. Finally the lagomorph opened his eyes and sat on his bed, rubbing his eyes before looking at the window. Once his vision was getting clear, he saw a small, white and blurry figure, slowly taking shape into the curious rodent he encountered earlier today. And, once again, the creature was staring at him with its tiny eyes.

“What the…The rat with the bald spot? How did you get here?”

“Oh, Holy Lunar Trinity…” She said exasperated. “It is not a bald spot, okay? It’s a tattoo. Quite the rude assumption, child.”

Max blinked twice, his eyes fixed on the rodent. There’s no way he heard that, there’s no way those words came out of this tiny creature’s mouth. There is absolutely no way the rat just spoke to him like a tiny grandma scolding her grandchild. Rats don’t do that! …Right?

But, the rat kept going with what she had to say, and Max just couldn’t react to any of it.

 “Ahem! Anyways, my name is Luna, and I’ve been looking for you for quite a long time, Max. I’d also like to thank you for taking off the band aids from my forehead. Because of that obstruction, I wasn't able to speak, and it also affected my sensory skills. The kids of this neighborhood are so naughty!”

“Ahh…” Max seemed to wake up from his trance, nodding slightly. “I see now.”

“You do? I’m glad! It’s good to finally meet you, dear, I really don’t know what I would've done if I hadn't found you-”

“Good night.”

Luna was so wrapped up in her excitement that she didn't realize the moment Max was laying down in bed again, facing the opposite direction.

 “Eh? M-Max! What do you think you’re doing? Wake up, this is no time to rest!”

 But Max ignored Luna’s complaints entirely. She jumped to his bed and began shaking him as strongly as her tiny body allowed her, and it was not enough to even bother the Lagomorph. Maybe if I stay like this, she’ll go away. That was his plan, but Luna was not gonna stand there with her little arms closed.

 “Ah, I just remembered! I’ve also got a gift for you, Max dear.”

Max’s ears twitched, that was everything Luna needed. She stood back on her two hind legs and the mark on her forehead began to shine. She gave a high jump followed by a spin in the air. As she was doing this stunt, the mark on her forehead began to shine even brighter, until the light became a solid object that left sparkles around as it materialized.

Luna finally landed on the bed, and with one last spin in her place she stood on one leg (her other leg raising high), and caught the object with her right hand. She made each movement look elegant and so simple, her eyes were closed the entire time. But more interesting than her dance moves, Max was much more interested in the object Luna held between her tiny, pink hands.

 “Here, this is a special brooch, it’s magical.” She winked.

The brooch was made of pure gold and had a crescent moon symbol at the center, along a pink gem at the top. The contour of the brooch also had smaller gems: A blue one at the bottom, a red one at the top, a green one at the left and an orange one at the right.

“Wait, this is for me? You’re seriously giving it to me?” Max smiled.

“Of course!”

“WOAH!” Max took it with excitement and jumped out of the bed. “Thank you! It’s so shiny, I love shiny things! But, wait, how am I gonna…?”

“Max?” Luna waved her hand at him to call his attention.

“Ah! I’ve got it!” Max sat on his knees near the white table and began to open his briefcase quickly.

He started to throw everything inside the briefcase around the floor of his room, not caring where it would land or how, and stopped once he was able to take out what he was really looking for: His sailor uniform. He took it from the black bag where it was and tossed the bag away, quickly taking off his gakuran and putting on the other uniform; all of this while Luna was still trying to get Max’s attention.

“Max, please, you’ve got to listen to me! There’s been a lot of strange events happening all around the city of Tokyo, crimes that not even the police can figure out! And it is your duty to stop this chaos, Max, you’re our chosen Sailor Soldier!”

 Max was now fully dressed and wearing his new brooch, which he placed at the center of the bow in his blouse. He took a big mirror that was around the room and placed it carefully in front of him. Admiring his new accessory in the mirror, Luna took the chance to jump to the night stand to be in front of Max, trying to get the Lagomorph to look at her, and it seemed to work.

“And besides!” She proceeded. “You must find your allies as well, to find and protect our princess!”

“Aha, Aha, Aha. Sure! Anything else?”

“…You don’t believe a single word I told you, do you?”

“Oh no, no!” Max shook his head. “Sure I believe you!”

 Max was smiling and giggling, but Luna knew he wasn’t buying her story, he only cared about the pretty brooch. That was okay with her, as she was not going to give up just yet.

 “Okay, if that’s true, then repeat these words after me…Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!”

Max chuckled. “What?”

“You said you believed me.”

“I do! I promise!”

“Go ahead, then.”

 Max giggled one last time before taking a deep breath, frowning suddenly, forcing his cheeks not to smile again. Max did believe in Luna’s words, actually. The issue lied in the fact that he didn’t believe any of this was real. He had a rough day after all, so maybe, his mind was making up for it by creating a magical dream in which he’s a superhero. Someone wanted, someone needed! Someone useful and important! And he was going to enjoy this dream for as long as it lasted.

He put his hand in the air, pretending to stand in an epic pose, and shout the ‘magical phrase’ his ‘magical rat’ gave him.

“Moon Prism Power! Make-UP!”

 Max couldn't have possibly imagined what came next, as this energy bursted suddenly from his chest, it was a strong and powerful feeling surrounding his entire body, wrapping him in a cocoon of indescribable warmth. It was overwhelming, scary, yet exciting. It filled him with great joy and determination!

He closed his eyes, holding onto this feeling for as long as he could. But just as it came, the moment he opened his eyes, the feeling was completely gone. All that was left was him, standing in front of the big mirror, and Luna, who seemed quite happy for some reason.

He stared at Luna in confusion as to what just happened, before taking a look at himself in the mirror. There was something… different, Max had to take a moment to realize it, his chest bow seemed to have changed its color, he was wearing earrings too. And, did his skirt just… shrink?

No, that wasn’t quite it, this was an entire different outfit. What Max was wearing was a white leotard with a chest protector over it, and a blue collar with two white stripes. He also had white shoulder pads, gloves, and a blue skirt, along with a big red-ish pink bow at the center of his chest and his back, a choker and a pair of red boots of the same color, with a white border at the top.

His boots had golden crescent moon ornaments, just like his earrings and his choker. And the crown of it all was his tiara, which has special ornaments and a dark pink gem at the center.

What the hell was all this?

 “So, how’s that for a proof?” Luna spoke. “Do you understand what I’m saying now?”

 Max took a good look at his new clothes, feeling the texture of his gloves and admiring how his new jewelry shined. He felt an unusual comfort, even more than earlier today when he wore his other uniform, this suit just felt…Right.

 He giggled. “Look at me! I look like a superhero!”

“Max!”

“Aw, don’t worry Luna, I said I believed you!”

“That’s good, but I’m afraid you’re still not taking me seriously! Just-- Quit spinning around, please, and listen!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure!” Max waved his hand in a condescending manner. “So, what else do I need to know-?”

Suddenly, at that moment, the gem in his tiara began to project an intense shine. Max’s ears began to twitch as they captured a sound, it was muffed, but Max made an effort to pay closer attention, until the sound began surrounding him. It was a voice, a plea, and it didn't take long for him to recognize the person making it. It was his friend Inés.

  Max was surrounded in this aura of danger and malice, but he was the only one who could perceive it. All that Luna saw was how the teen was completely ignoring her instructions, and she was getting tired of this treatment. “Max, can you hear me?”

“Inés? But how…?”

“MAX!”

“AH!”

Max pressed his hand against his chest, the threatening aura had finally disappeared. “Ah, Luna, you startled me!”

“Startled you?”

 She started connecting the dots in her head.

 “You heard a cry of help, didn’t you?”

“‘Cry of help’…Yeah, you could say that.”

“Tell me, what did you hear?”

“Umm, well…” Max rested his left hand on his waist, rubbing his chin with one finger of his right hand. “I think I heard Inés screaming! She said something about her mom, but I couldn't hear the rest.”

Luna stood up in the nightstand. “Inés is the girl that owns a Jewelry store, right? Perhaps the store is being robbed. Max, now that you've transformed into a Sailor Soldier, you must go and help her!”

“…Eh?”

Luna pointed a finger at Max, accentuating his importance at this moment in time. “Consider this your first training session. Now go there and save Inés! Go, Sailor Moon!”

 ‘Sailor Moon’, was that supposed to be his ‘hero’ name? Well, it certainly had a nice ring to it.

Wait, but that would imply he would actually have to fight people, hand to hand combat. Well, maybe he could bite them in the arm and they would eventually give up!

But wait! Most thieves are armed, right? And they’re very dangerous by nature! And Max could barely remember the last time he had a fight, he must’ve been as tall as a chair back then!

…Actually, he hasn’t grown all that much since then, he still had issues sitting in chairs that were not made specifically for small creatures like him.

 “Wait, me?” Max made a gesture pointing at his own face. “You’re talking about me? Shouldn’t we, uh… Call the police for this kind of thing?”

“Forget the police! Now, let’s go save your friend!”

  Luna immediately ran to the window and proceeded to carefully walk on the house’s roof, climbing down a pipe to get to the ground. Max, who was sitting on his bed near the window, looked at her quite displeased.

  “Hey, hold on! Where are you going? You don’t expect me to jump from here now, do ya?”

“You’re a bunny, your species is agile. I'm sure you can handle a jump to the balcony on the lower floor”

“B-BUNNY? I am NOT…!” Max stopped his incoming rant, as he saw Luna climbing down the pipe with the least bit of interest in what he had to say.

 “Oh, I’ll show you…’Bunny’!”

 He carefully sat on the window as he kept mumbling under his breath. He was so angry at Luna that he almost forgot how dangerous the act he was doing truly was, which could be considered an advantage, as he did not hesitate when falling down from the window of his room to the balcony of the second floor. Once he realized he had landed without a single bruise, the next jump didn’t seem so scary, and proceeded to hold onto the other side of the wooden railing to do his second jump. “What a strange dream this is!” He thought, but this small act of bravery began to fill him with security, with a twist of excitement as to what dangers he’d find in the jewelry store.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

  “No! Stop! Get away from me!”

Morgana laughed, slowly approaching the defenseless girl. As she walked, her body kept changing, almost deteriorating.

As the color of her skin was fading and her limbs began to extend in an unnatural manner, Inés kept clinging onto the piece of furniture she had cornered herself against, trying to look away from her. This creature, this… Monster. Was clearly not her mother, but her resemblance was still there, and she could not bear to see it rot in front of her.

“What’s wrong, darling? Are you afraid of seeing your own mother's face?”

“How dare you!” Inés was now in tears. She shut her eyes and confronted Morgana to the best of her ability. “What did you do to my mother? Where did you take her?!”

 Morgana violently stretched her arms directly towards the girl’s neck. She began to squeeze it little by litte, lifting her from the ground, as Inés struggled to break free.

 “Do you want to know what happened to your mommy? Do you want me to tell you what I really did to her?”

 The fear in Inés' eyes only fed Morgana’s cruelty even further. The teen kept struggling against her grasp, kicking her feet in the air, using all of the force in her body to push the monster away. But that force was fading, as Morgana continued to squeeze every bit of breath from her body

 “D’aww. Don’t you worry, little one. Soon, you and your mother will be together forever!”

  Morgana let out a strong, heartfelt laugh. Knowing she had successfully completed most of her task, and that no one could possibly stop her at this point.

 “STOP RIGHT THERE! You ugly WITCH!”

 Morgana freezes, letting go of Inés’ neck just for a second, enough for her to simply pass out from the exhaustion and dizziness. But not before her eyes managed to capture a single, small shadow, standing under the door of the jewelry store.

 Morgana stood still, only turning around her neck. She bitterly replied to the stranger. “Who is this? Who are you?!”

 “Aha! Excellent question. My name is…!”

 “…Hey, Luna. Who am I again?”

 Luna gave a harsh sigh. “You are Sailor Moon, the soldier of Love and Justice!”

 “AHA! Yes, I am…What she just said! And I’ve come here to kick your butt!”

 Max kept showing a confident smile on his face, which only further reflected his complete ignorance of what was at stake right now, and who was at the hands of Morgana right now. But Luna didn’t seem to notice the peculiarity of these actions. All she saw was Max’s cocky attitude taking over him, and decided to let it pass. It was better for him to be confident than afraid.

Morgana then responded with a loud, wicked laugh. Dropping the unconscious girl to the ground.

 “Sailor Moon?” She emphasized in a burlesque tone. “I've never heard of such a RIDICULOUS name ever before!”

Morgana stretched her hand back to the counter, grabbing the red artifact where she had stored all the human energy. She held it up, shouting. “Rise up, SLAVES! Come and serve the purpose of our dark mistress!”

 “Gee-eez!” Max held his ears down. “Keep it down, old lady! Are you trying to wake up the entire city?”

“Precisely.”

“…Huh?”

 There was a moment of silence inside the building.

Max then began to hear a particular sound, getting louder, closer. Until finally, he was able to recognize it. Steps. Many, Many steps behind him…

 “Wh- …HAAH?! WHAT ARE ALL THESE LADIES DOING HERE?!”

 Max turns around to discover a crowd of women standing right outside the jewelry store, all of which were wearing expensive jewelry accessories in different parts of their bodies. Their eyes were lost, as if a part of them was not even there at all. Max began to take a few steps back.

 “Now, slaves! Get rid of him!”

 “No. Wait, wait, wait. Timeout! TIMEOUT!”

 Max moved his feet and began to run as the crowd entered the building. They chased after him through every corner of the room, meanwhile Max clumsy, but effectively avoided the women’s grasps. He ran, crouched and jumped over every obstacle, not caring if he broke a piece of glass from one of the empty display cases.

“Luna! What am I supposed to do?”

“Stay still and calm down! Just give them a good punch!”

“WHAT? No WAY! I’m not gonna hit a buncha old ladies, one of them could be as old as my mom!”

“You have to defend yourself, Sailor Moon. Fight! Then your tiara, and…!”

Unexpectedly for Luna, one of the possessed women among the crowd had the clever idea of breaking one of those display cases, getting a fairly sized piece of broken glass in her hands.

She began to chase the Lagomorph with great speed, Max was barely able to escape her deadly hand swings. But once he managed to run past her, his feet tangled against one another, making him instantly fall in the pieces of shattered glass that were scattered on the ground.

He quickly gathered his composure and ran towards one of the pillars in the room, falling near it in the process. He leaned against it, using it as a support to stand up, but one of his feet had slipped and made his behind fall back on the floor.

 “I…I can’t…” He gasped. “I can’t keep up…Why…?”

 Then, the revelation laid right in front of his very eyes. A small, burning and fresh cut on one of his knees, which opened his eyes to all the small bruises he had accumulated on both of his knees.

But that couldn’t be possible, no. No way…

 Luna then appeared behind the pillar, whispering. “What are you doing, Sailor Moon? Stand up! You have to fight!”

 But Max, surprisingly, had nothing to respond.

 “Sailor Moon! They’re coming to get you, quickly!”

 The crowd was slowly surrounding the lagomorph. But he could only stare at his wounds. He mumbled something under his breath, something about his bruises.

 “Sailor Moon?”

 “…This isn’t a dream.”

 Max had finally managed to lift up his view and look around him, but it was far too late. The group of women had him trapped against the pillar. Max managed to catch a glimpse of a pair of legs, laying on the ground far away, before the group got in the way of his vision. He felt the air escaping from him, those clothes, could they have been Inés’s?

Was she…?

 “Look out, MAX!”

 Max was shook away from his thoughts by Luna.

Morgana, raising behind the crowd, began to stretch her limbs and reach out for Max from the other side of the room. Max could see the wrinkled hand getting closer, he could almost feel her long and red claws stabbing his neck. But it didn’t matter how much Luna, or himself, begged for his body to move; Max had been frozen in place.

 But then… A scream of pure pain came from Morgana. She had to stop her hand and return it to its place. A clear and burning cut on the back of her hand, but how? What could’ve possibly been the cause?

 “Who did this? Who are you?! SHOW YOURSELF!”

 The group of women began to stand back in confusion, allowing Morgana to see the other side of the room. Her victim was still in the exact same spot, still paralyzed, but his gaze was focused somewhere else. Following his gaze, Morgana found the perpetrator of her wound embedded in the floor.

A single Red Rose.

 And suddenly. BANG! BANG! BANG!

One shot right after the other, more Roses of red and white colors began to stab the floor. A column of Roses was formed, and before anyone in the room could breathe, an explosion surrounded the women. They had no choice but to run back to Morgana, as a thick smoke screen began to fill the room.

 “S-Sailor Moon!” Luna covered her mouth with one hand and squeezed her nose with the other, containing her coughs the best she could. She called out to her pupil, but he was no longer there.

Max had his eyes shut tightly, unknowing of the fuss that was going on. He felt a strange, but comforting warmth surrounding him, making him hold tightly onto it.

It was then he heard a particular melody, a short ballad being whistled in a soothing manner. He opened his eyes with slight fear, looking for the source of the melody.

A tall, masculine figure covered in black, and a white mask covering his eyes. He was holding Max firmly with only one of his arms, using the other to spin his cane in the air and dispel the smoke that came from the floor below. The fabric of the clothing was something Max had never seen before, it was smooth and sparkling. But what concerned him most, was how familiar this was, how familiar the stranger’s shape really was…

 Morgana, along with her mind controlled slaves, were immediately drawn by the movement at the second floor. As the smoke began to fade, the unwanted stranger’s shape became clearer to them.

“Show yourself, coward! How dare you hurt ME, Morgana! Faithful servant of Lord Jadeite!”

 The stranger then spoke directly to the crowd.

 “To harm innocent lives is simply an act of cowardice, no matter the reasons, and I am not one to stand such vile acts. Whoever you are, I will make sure to put you back to the hellish hole you came out of!”

“Such insolence…!” Morgana hissed. “SLAVES! Teach this fool a lesson!”

 The group under Morgana’s control went directly to the door behind the counter, but were unable to reach it in time. A single shot echoed inside the store, and just like that, a red rose had been put in their way, making them run to the other direction before it inevitably exploded.

 Max stared at the gun in awe. It was a gorgeous weapon of a pure white color, with a flower pattern all over the frame, and small vines drawn at the top of the barrel. He had never seen anything like it.

 The stranger in black put down the lagomorph, walking towards the balcony as he re-loaded his gun. Max’s jaw almost dropped when he realized he was using rose seeds. He at least expected a fully bloomed rose, as that would’ve made much more sense in his head. Regardless, how could that even be possible? Was he really, truly awake?

 “So, lil’ pal. Any ideas on how to get rid of the ol’ witch down there?”

“Huh?” Max blinked twice. “Ah- Yeah! I mean, I-I’m here for that! …I think?”

 A couple of shots echoed in the room. Followed by the screams of distress of the group of women running in circles.

 “Perfect. Then I’m counting on ya to take her down.”

“And what are you gonna do, uhhh…” Max took a second to get his thoughts together. “...‘Mister’?”

 The stranger pushed his large cape aside, revealing a device of a small grappling hook on his belt. He shot the grappling hook towards the giant chandelier, tensioning the cable to make sure it was secure.

 “I'll be the distracting factor.”

 And just like that, the stranger jumped from the balcony right into action. Using his weight, he rocked around the room in a circle. The women would run from one direction to the other, desperately avoiding the red roses the stranger in black would shoot.

It was a sight of chaos, a black smoke began to cover the first floor as more roses kept exploding, marks of dust were all over the floor and the walls; and the women ran desperate like chickens. Morgana, being unable to instruct them properly, started to lose her patience. She tried to reach out the stranger with her other hand, which only resulted in yet another injury on the back of her hand.

Max was having the time of his life watching everything unfold from the second floor, but what fascinated him most, was the stranger.

Max wasn’t sure if this man was probably used to this environment. Maybe he had seen many other ugly monsters that possess humans for their evil schemes, it had to be that. Otherwise, how could he be so confident in his actions?

He swayed around, from left to right, every shot landing exactly where it needed to. And despite the havoc he was causing, not a single rose managed to hurt the ladies.

The stranger was in his playground, the smile on his face could not be hidden behind that mask.

And something about that fact brought butterflies to Max’s stomach…A sight only for him to admire, only for him to remember. No one but him. That brought a big, goofy smile to his face.

 “SAILOR MOOON!”

 Max screeched. As if he had just been caught doing something dirty.

 “L-Luna! I-I wasn’t…!”

“I’ve been calling you out three times now! I swear, you’re living up in the clouds.”

“Hey! That’s-”

“Ah-Ah!” Luna exclaimed, putting her paw right in front of Max’s face as a gesture to silence him. “Now listen to me! While that guy down there is messing around with the mob, you need to sneak behind Morgana and finish her off.”

“Ah-Ha. Yeah. And how exactly am I gonna do that?!”

“You’re right, I did not mention this before, I’m sorry.”

“You should be! I could’ve been killed down there-!“

“Please, pay close attention!” Luna now had both paws over Max’s mouth. “The tiara you’re wearing isn’t a mere piece of jewelry, it’s a weapon. You need to call it by shouting ‘Moon Tiara…’”

 Another couple of explosions were heard from the down floor, slightly shaking the second floor.

 “…And then throw it at the enemy!”

“Uhm-Hum. Und whot iff I fail?”

“You won’t! The tiara will never fail you. Now get down there and show that old hag who’s boss!”

 Luna then put her hands away from Max’s mouth and jumped to his shoulder, as he carefully got on top of the balcony. He tried not to look down, feeling his legs shaking slightly by the mere thought of it. Sure, he had previously jumped from a high place and landed safely, but that was before he discovered it was all real. That confidence he had built up before was now completely gone.

 “Are you sure I’m not just gonna. Y’know. Die?”

“Just relax, you’re a Sailor Soldier. Hard as a rock!”

 And just before Max could give his last protest, Luna used her own weight to push Max down, forcing him to Jump.

 While the stranger kept terrorizing the ladies, Morgana kept screaming at the top of her lungs for one of them to PLEASE do something about the intruders. Meanwhile, Max had landed on the ground safely, and was getting ready to summon his attack.

 He reached out to the tiara, and the red gem at the center began to shine with intensity. Once he removed the tiara from his head, the piece had transformed into a disc shape with a sharpened outer edge. It was shining bright as a star, Max could feel the warmth coming from the object.

He knew what he had to do.

 He held the weapon tight, took air into his lungs, and shouted...

 “MOON TIARA… CHAKRAM!”

 And WOOSH! He threw the weapon with all of the strength in his arm.

The tiara flew at great speed across the room, past Morgana. And she turned around to see where that breeze had come from.

 “…It’s you!” Morgana wrinkled her nose and began to stretch her limbs again, making her taller, and taller... “You, little pest! I’m gonna make you pay for what you’ve done…!”

 But then…

  SLASH!

 The Tiara had returned, slicing Morgana’s neck side to side! Her head coming off of her body, and one last expression of pure disbelief plastered all over her face. Her body almost immediately dropped the red artifact, shattering into tiny pieces the moment it reached the ground, and all the stolen energy began returning to their rightful owners.

The giant and beheaded corpse began to highlight a shine coming from the neck, running all across the body. And just like that, Morgana was gone with a bang.

 Max stood still for a couple of seconds. He then slowly lifted his head from behind the display case he was hiding at.

“Is it over…?”

Luna came out and began to search for any sight of Morgana, only finding a pile of powdered clay in the middle of the room, alongside the shards of the container of human energy. Meanwhile, the women that had been previously brainwashed, were now laying down on the floor unconscious.

 “I think so. Good job, Sailor Moon!”

 Max let out a deep sigh, but the night was not over yet.

Both Luna and Max turned around the moment they heard a heartfelt laugh coming from the second floor, at the other side of the room. It was the stranger in black.

 “Good job, lil’ buddy. We got rid of that monster just in time!”

Max got out of his hiding place, fixing his skirt in a quick manner. “Ah, yeah! Th-Thank you for your help!”

The man chuckled. “No, thank you. This night would not have been nearly as entertaining without you.”

 A warm, intense feeling began burning Max’s cheeks. Which he quickly dismissed. “Ahaha! Oh, well. You know! That’s my job.”

“Oh?” The stranger fixed his mask in a playful manner. “Am I in the presence of a hero?”

“That’s right! My name is Sailor Moon, and don’t you dare forget it!”

“I would never.” He smiled.

 The stranger then searched inside his jacket. “Here, a hero deserves a reward!”

 He threw an object at Max, who, miraculously, managed to catch it in the air. He kept the object inside his hands for a moment, trying to take a guess before opening up the surprise. The object was small, but heavy and with sharp edges.

 “Eh…?”

 Max opened his hands. The object was a white gemstone, sparkling many other colors in the palm of his hands. It was gorgeous, certainly pretty expensive, but where did he…?

…Oh.

 “Hold it…DID YOU STEAL THIS JUST NOW?”

The stranger laughed once again, and said his goodbyes before jumping outside the window, leaving the store for good.

 “W-WAIT!”

 Max ran outside the store. Luna chased after her pupil.

“STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU THIEF! YOU CAN’T JUST…!”

 Max felt the time freezing, just for a moment. He saw the stranger do many impossible things tonight, but this might be the one that takes the cake.

After the stranger had jumped from the window of the second floor, he managed to land at the top of a light pole in the street. Not a single scratch was done to the material, and not a single sight of hesitation was visible from the man. With a single foot, he firmly jumped again from the light pole. Now floating high in the sky, light as a feather, with all the city streets shining below him.

How…How was he capable of such wonders? No creature on earth should be capable of these acts. And yet, in front of his very eyes, there he was defying everything Max took for a fact.

The stranger looked down to the lagomorph one last time.

 “Remember me as well. My name is Tuxedo Mask. We’ll meet again, Sailor Moon…”

 Max was left in a trance, unable to look away from the man. Many thoughts rushed through his mind, and not a single one connected with the other. And just like that, by the mere blink of an eye, the stranger was gone. Max was only left with a single piece to remember the encounter, which he held tightly to his chest, as if desperate to cling onto something that was real. Something that could tell him this was, indeed, not a dream.

 “Sailor Moon! Let’s move!” Luna appeared right behind him.

“Huh…?” It took a moment, but Max was finally set free from his thoughts. “Ah, right! Yeah! But, what about the store-?”

“-Inés!” Max started to panic. “She’s still inside! I have to check on her!”

“Calm down, calm down!” Luna got in his way before he tried to enter the store again. “She’s perfectly fine, if only unconscious like everyone else!”

“But…!”

 Both Luna and Max twitched their ears, as they felt something approaching at great speed, but still quite far away. A bunch of loud sounds coming from many cars in movement.

 “The police. Just in time.” Luna snickered. “We have to leave now, or else we’re gonna be here all night!”

 Max found himself in a small dilemma. He knew what would happen if the cops found him in the middle of the crime scene, and would probably not believe him if he told them a giant monster that looks like a witch came in and caused all of this mess.

As the sirens began to sound louder and clearer, he realized he couldn’t ignore his decision any longer. Leaving Inés alone, as bad as it felt, was the only thing he could do.

 “…Damn it.”

 And so, Max and Luna made a run for it.

 The police arrived almost immediately after the duo’s escape, with an ambulance. And from one of the cars, a tall and distinguished man was the first to come out and enter the building.

The first thing the police noticed was the amount of bodies all over the floor. They were immediately checked upon and assisted by the paramedics. The distinguished man then commanded his team to search around the area, as he walked around the room digging for some clues himself.

Very deep inside the room, far away from everything, the man found a small white rose still embedded in the floor. Its petals were closed, it seemed like it had not bloomed yet. He got on his knees to take a closer look…

 “Inspector Kamino! Don’t!”

 One of the police men tried to warm him, but it was too late, the rose opened its petals and blew up on the Inspector’s face. He was not injured, but instead received all of the thick, white smoke the rose released.

 The inspector stood up and covered his mouth and nose with his forearm. “What the hell is this?!”

 “It’s another one of Tuxedo Mask’s toys, sir! It’s brand new.”

 “Goddamn it! Fell for it immediately.” He coughed.

 “There’s also marks of small explosions all over the walls and the floor. There’s no doubt he was here.”

 “Hmm…” The inspector scratched his chin, making a loud sound as his fingernails scratched his beard. “He was definitely here, but…He’s not one to make such a mess. He’s usually a lot more, y’know, subtle.”

 “Do you think someone else was involved?”

 “Possibly, it does look like a war zone here. Keep searching, we’ll interrogate the victims later.”

 “Inspector Kamino!” Another policeman came in. “We found a woman in the store’s basement! She’s still conscious, but needs help immediately.”

 The inspector ordered to bring more paramedics before running back with the second police man back to the basement, hoping to get a bit of info from the woman before she was taken away. He needed to know just what happened to this place, and who exactly was behind all of this.

  ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

  Meanwhile, back at the cold, desolated castle. The tall, anthropomorphic dog known as Jadeite, had been carefully watching the events of that night from a purple crystal ball. From the moment that ‘Sailor Moon’ arrived, to the moment where his clay doll had been beheaded in cold blood. A shame, really. Morgana was one of his favorites, always did her job, until now. She had grown overly confident, and she let two intruders ruin their plans. Only a fool could’ve made such a mistake.

Because of this mistake, they just lost a great amount of human energy, and that meant their plans would be horribly delayed. Jadeite was furious, truly. But he would not allow this inconvenience to get the better of him.

 “Such a waste of good clay, that was…” Said Jadeite in a cold tone. His blue eyes fixed on the Crystal Ball. The images had stopped to a certain moment where Sailor Moon’s face was the most visible.

“Sailor Moon…I’ll remember your name. And I’ll make sure the next doll takes special care of you next time.”

 The light of the Crystal Ball began to blink, little by little losing its power. Until finally its light faded, leaving Jadeite alone, surrounded by darkness…

 ══════════════════*.•:•.☽✧   ✦ ✧☾.•:•.*══════════════════

 The next morning, Max attended school like usual. Except this time, little ol’ Luna decided to accompany him. It was a shocker finding her inside the school grounds, but luckily, it seemed no teachers had noticed her presence so far.

During recess, Max was walking around the corridors of the school, searching for his friends, when he stopped at a corner to see a big surprise. His friend, Inés, was safe and sound! She was talking to her group of friends like usual, seemingly excited about the subject of the conversation.

Max had not seen Inés in the first hours of class that morning, so he had assumed she was going to stay home that day. But of course, someone as remarkable as her wouldn't let this situation stop her from fulfilling her duty as a young citizen. Inés wasn’t exactly a nerd, unlike Lorne, but she was committed. Something Max genuinely admired about her.

However, as much as he wished to, Max couldn’t bring himself to talk to his friend. He still felt quite guilty for having to leave her behind, and did not know how to act casual about everything that happened last night. What if Inés started to suspect him? How could he possibly explain something not even he understands? He began to hold his skirt tightly, trying to control his nerves.

Instead, both he and Luna decided to eavesdrop on the group of teens.

 “And then! Then she- grabbed me by the neck! And started to squeeze me, harder and harder!” Inés made a gesture with her hands near her neck. She then showed her classmates the remaining marks she had on her neck from last night, to prove it was real.

 Her friends gasped at the horrific tale. “How did you manage to escape?!” Amano asked with a certain corner in her tone.

“I’m not sure.” Said Inés. “I think…There was someone else there.”

“Someone else? Like who?” asked Suri.

“I didn’t see them clearly, but…”

“Uh-hu?” said everyone.

“…I think it was a hero. Before I passed out, I heard them say ‘stop right there, ugly witch!’.” Inés made a voice she considered cool to imitate her hero. “And then they said something about being a Sailor.”

“Sailor? Like Sailor V?!” Lorne jumped immediately into the convo.

 “Sailor V.” Max chuckled in a derogatory manner. “She wasn’t even near the area!”

“Shh!” Said Luna, trying to listen to the kid’s conversation further.

 “No…” Inés continued. “This one was nothing like Sailor V. I don’t know who they were, or how they look. But they saved me and my mother’s life. I can never repay that.”

 Those words made Max show a smile from cheek to cheek. It was all he needed to hear, that his actions had caused a good outcome, that he had finally done something right for someone! He stopped listening to the conversation and rested against the wall, letting out a rewarding sigh.

 “Well, at least we know she’s not gonna be an issue.” Said Luna.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I was worried she might have caught you, of course! You need to be careful with your identity, Max. If someone else found out you’re a Sailor Soldier…”

“Well, I’m sure Morgana appreciated you telling her my real name before I cut her head off.” Max replied sarcastically.

Luna started to babble for a second. “W-w-well! It was a matter of life and death! Y-you weren’t moving, and I was…!”

 Luna stared at the lagomorph with a certain shame in her eyes. She then sighed.

 “I’m so sorry I put you through all of that, Max. I assumed the moment you transformed, your will as a Sailor would wake up with you! But that was careless of me, and I should’ve explained to you how to fight before sending you there. I’m deeply sorry, child.”

“Geez…” Max chuckled. “Don't get all mushy on me now, grandma! It’s okay, I forgive you.”

“You’re sure!”

“Of course!” Max gave her a big smile. “Besides, had we not gone there, who knows what would’ve happened to all those victims…!”

 Max twitched his left ear. Seemingly freezing in his place.

Luna stared at the kid with concern, until she started to hear it too.

Loud footsteps began approaching the duo, the kind of footsteps only a tall creature could make. Max looked towards the direction they were coming, and his heart dropped the very second he laid eyes on that person. With his brown, brushed fur, his long, fluffy ears, and a sparkling clean Gakuran.

It was him, the man he saw the other day outside the jewelry store. But, he was actually a student? Oh, how stupid Max must’ve looked calling him a “Sir”.

But that wasn’t all that was in his mind.

As the anthro dog walked in front of him, Max gave him a second, much careful look. And even after the guy had already walked past him, Max continued to stare at him. From the back of his head, to his shoulders, the size of his arms, all of his shape spoke to him…

After all this time. All these years. Could it be? Could it really be him…?

 “…Sam.” He whispered.

Notes: 

"Cabro" o "Cabrito": Is a word used in Chile to refer to a young boy. But the literal spanish to english translation would be "goat".

Bento: a Japanese-style packed lunch, consisting of items such as rice, vegetables, and sashimi.

Tamagoyaki: A sweet rolled Japanese omelette.

Gakuran: Classic Japanese Male uniform.

[thedumpsterqueen]

Standards of Performance

Here it is!!!!! First chapter of my first fic on my new AO3! This is a multi-chapter, slow burn work. Please let me know what you think, I welcome screaming and incoherent asks about our fave special agent in my inbox. Full text under the cut, or you can find it through the AO3 link below.

AO3 link

Summary:  You're the BAU's newest intern, desperate to prove yourself amongst an established team of much more experienced profilers. Agent Hotchner, the seemingly infallible team leader, sets strict expectations for your performance. He commands your respect without even trying, but is there something more to your relationship than a simple desire to impress your stony-faced boss?

Chapter: 1, Coffee Stains and Neckties

Words: 2388

Rating: Explicit, 18+

Pairings: Hotch x Reader, Hotch x You

Warnings: Not much for this chapter specifically, but let’s just assume general gore and murder stuff, explicit language, and sexual content are fair game form here on out.

Enjoy! I’ll try to update weekly, if not more often. I’ll let you know when I have a more defined schedule!

“Fucking SHIT!”

You cursed as you felt the (very, very) hot coffee soak your new skirt. Grabbing as many paper towels as you could with one hand, you tried to sop up the mess on the floor. The stain on your outfit? A shame, but nothing compared to marring the assuredly expensive cream color of the BAU’s breakroom carpet.

A low chuckle sounded off behind you, and you froze.

For the love of god, please don’t be…

“Morgan! Please tell me you have carpet cleaner, oh my god. I don’t even know how that happened.”

Morgan grinned, as he typically did, sauntering into the breakroom with his hands in his pockets. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, the janitor's got it later. I was looking for you, team meeting in five. You all good? You look a little - ” he paused, probably searching for a descriptor that wouldn’t sting too bad, “ - rushed.”

You stood up, sighing. He was right, after all. You had stayed up late last night poring over psychology textbooks and only just woken up in time to leave your apartment. As the BAU’s newest profiling intern - whatever the hell that actually meant - the pressure of performing to seasoned profilers’ standards manifested in spending practically all your free time buried in research. Hence why your hair was coated in unbelievable amounts of dry shampoo, you were wearing your unflatteringly oversized glasses instead of your usual contacts, and why your frantic attempt at pouring yourself a cup of coffee when you got into work had resulted in the giant wet spot currently soaking your skirt.

At least the skirt was black.

“You’re right. Late night,” you said, rolling your eyes at Morgan’s suggestive eyebrow waggle.

“Not like that, I wish. Just trying to catch up. Don’t really want to repeat last week’s disaster,” you mumbled, referring to the first time you actually got to question a suspect, which had ended up with a wad of saliva hawked in your face. It was only your third week in the position, but damn, if that hadn’t let the wind out of your sails a bit.

“Hey, what did I tell you then?” Morgan asked, as you walked out of the breakroom together. “You’re not a true profiler until you get assaulted by a serial killer!”

“I’m not a true profiler until I finish the year long training program,” you pointed out, “so I think I could do without the spit in the meantime.”

Morgan laughed, opening the door of the team’s briefing room for you. “Well if we’d known you were gonna be so picky, we might have gone with someone else.”

“Who’s picky?” asked Emily, looking up from her seat.

While Morgan laughed and launched into a dramatic retelling of the event as if the entire team hadn’t already fucking seen it in real time, you took your seat at the table. Reid nodded in acknowledgment, and you returned it with a small smile. Damn if he wasn’t handsome, and ridiculously smart to boot, but you were pretty sure your chances with him withered and died when you asked him what he was doing after work last Friday and he answered with, “Reading.” Point taken.

Hotch swiveled in his chair to face the table and you suddenly became acutely aware of how much of a mess you probably looked. It’s not that you cared about his opinion regarding your general appearance beyond the basic standard of professional attire, but his always-intense gaze and stony expression had a way of making you second guess even your most confidently held opinions.

“Sit,” he said, his voice cutting through the rest of the team’s animated chatter.

It would have been hard not to notice how quickly they obliged, not out of fear, but rather a respect and deference so deeply ingrained that it almost gave you goosebumps. You’d never thought of yourself as a follower, per say, but if Hotch was what a leader looked like, you certainly didn’t fit into that category either.

He scanned the table, stopping on you. “New glasses?” he asked, with a single, slightly raised eyebrow.

“I, um, not really, just didn’t have time to put my contacts in,” you stammered.

“Hm,” Hotch said, “They look nice.”

Your cheeks suddenly felt hot, and you thanked him quickly, looking down at your shoes to conceal the pink that was probably spreading across your face. Hotch had a way of speaking that made everything he said sound like the absolute truth, which was probably why such an innocuous little compliment had disarmed you so much.

Still though, jesus christ. Get it the fuck together. You’re not Reid; you’re not smart enough to be this awkward.

Hotch, blessedly ignoring how painful you just made that interaction, addressed the team while JJ passed out files. “We have a new case. Three bodies, all found completely drained of blood in various woods, off hiking trails. Cause of death appears to be blood loss from severed carotid arteries, meaning they were likely strung up and drained before being moved to where they were discovered.”

Reid spoke up first. “Erm, what exactly do you mean by various woods?”

“That’s the unusual thing,” Hotch said, pulling up a map of the southwestern United States on the screen behind him. "Each body was found in a different state, one here, one here, and one here,” pointing to spots in California, Arizona, and Nevada. “However, local police discovered the bodies within hours of each other due to anonymous tip offs, and medical examiners estimate approximately the same time of death for all three.”

Morgan whistled lowly. “So what you’re saying is, this guy kills three victims around the same time and takes a road trip to hide their bodies in places he knows won't be discovered until he calls in.”

“That’s how it appears, yes,” Hotch confirmed.

Rossi shook his head, twirling a pen that probably cost more than your entire wardrobe. “So, how are we splitting this up?”

You whipped your head in his direction. Splitting up? Of course, you should have known it’d only make sense considering the ground to be covered, but your quick mental calculations told you that there were six of them, evenly split into three groups of two, and one odd man out, both in skill and number - you.

“So, who’s getting stuck with me?” you asked, trying to beat everyone to the punch. Not that any of them would voice it, but if you couldn’t project confidence, you figured self-awareness would do.

When you entered the internship as a recent college grad around a month ago, you knew you’d be in way over your head. Everyone else on the team was a seasoned expert, and you were a 20-something with a degree in psychology who somehow managed to charm her way through the interviews of the BAU’s flagship internship program. It’s not that you weren’t smart, you were, of course, but comparatively? You were pretty sure this was shaping up to be a glorified babysitting program, and you were the baby.

“Oh, hush,” JJ said, smiling and shaking her head. You smiled back. JJ had gone out of her way to make you feel welcome, which you were unspeakably grateful for. Between her and Morgan, you sometimes felt like maybe when this year was done, you could actually belong on this team.

Hotch interrupted your pity party. “Rossi, you’re with Reid in Phoenix. JJ and Emily, you’re going to Vegas. Morgan, you and I are going to San Diego.”

He turned to you. “You’re coming with me.”

Your stomach flipped at his words. You knew he had the most to teach you, and you could observe him coordinating the entire investigation from San Diego, but the idea of your performance being directly scrutinized by your boss in such a small group made you more nauseous than excited.

“Please be aware,” he continued, “Garcia is going to have to deal with three times the inquiries as normal. I recommend you only contact her if the information you’re searching for is genuinely too difficult to find yourself.” He gave Morgan a pointed look, to which Morgan raised his hands in mock surrender, grinning.

“We’ll drop teams off as we go,” Hotch said. “Wheels up in thirty.”

____________

As you settled into your seat on the plane, your mind spun, trying to review every piece of psychology knowledge you’d ever encountered. This wasn’t your first case, but it was the first one you got to travel for, which made it feel much more real.

The hours ticked by as the team reviewed the case. You contributed - not much, and nothing they wouldn’t have thought of without you - but it was something. Narcissist, craves attention and spotlight, physically confident enough to detain and murder three women at the same time. The method was throwing the team for a loop, however. Bleeding the victims out was clinical, relatively painless - uncharacteristic of the sexual injuries found on the corpses and the bravado with which the killer executed the rest of the crime.

When you, Hotch, and Morgan trudged off the plane in San Diego, you had been going at the potential profile for hours and even Morgan’s patience was wearing thin.

“Look, Hotch, let’s hold off on speculation until we see the crime scene in person, alright?”

Hotch nodded, and took that as a cue to head straight to the crime scene. You groaned internally - having barely showered this morning and spent half the day on a plane, your greasy hair and coffee-stained skirt would have greatly benefited from a stop at the hotel to freshen up.

It’s not like you have to look good to go stare at a patch of dirt where a dead body used to to be though, right?

____________

Turns out the aforementioned patch of dirt was actually a wooded grove off a hiking trail leading to a nude beach, much to Morgan’s delight. The site itself was uninteresting except for the way the body had been buried - covered up very securely, implying remorse, another characteristic that didn’t make sense with the initial profile.

This commonality between all three crime scenes was hotly debated on the video conference between the entire team when you got back to the hotel. Cross legged on the bed in Hotch’s hotel room, you listened to Reid and Rossi snipe back and forth on the laptop about what the burial method could mean for ten-plus minutes (“It’s clearly just a functional tool to properly hide the body, Reid.” “But you don’t know that, the significance of burial practices can tell us so much more beyond function, it can even tell us about his religious upbringing…”) before Hotch put a stop to it.

“What do you think?” Hotch asked you, turning and looking directly into your gaze. You were suddenly hyperware of the proximity between you two - sitting close enough on the edge of the bed that your thighs were almost touching. Morgan had abandoned his position on the other side of you to stretch out in the armchair by the window halfway through Rossi and Reid’s debate. Hotch’s eyes boring into yours from only a few feet away and the expectant silence of the other team members on the video call spiked your heart rate, and you took a deep breath, trying to calm yourself.

“I… agree with Dr. Reid. I think it means something. The position of the hands, they were crossed across the chest, right? He didn’t need to do that. I don’t know if it means he was remorseful, but it was on purpose. I think.”

Hotch nodded, not breaking eye contact. “Good. Let's move forward with that theory.” He turned back to the laptop. “Let me know how interviews with the loved ones go tomorrow. Let’s find the connection between the victims. Call me if you need anything.” After shutting the laptop, he turned to you and Morgan. “Let’s call it for tonight. Meet me in the lobby at 7 tomorrow.”

Having been excused, you and Morgan made your way to your hotel rooms next to Hotch’s. Morgan wished you goodnight, and you unlocked your door and practically sprinted into your shower.

After you got out, you looked around the room, towel drying your hair. It was nice, much nicer than anywhere you’d ever stayed. The abstract art on the walls and the modern, clean white lines of the furniture were lit by the soft glow of the sunset filtering through the sliding glass doors leading to the balcony overlooking the ocean. You poured yourself a glass of wine from the minibar (a reimbursable travel expense, right?) and stepped onto the balcony, breathing in the ocean air.

“Nice night, hm?”

You jumped, nearly spilling your drink down your front for the second time in less than 24 hours. Hotch was sitting in a chair on his balcony to the left of yours, reclining with his hands behind his head. Despite wearing nothing but your thin hotel robe, you felt the urge to avert your eyes from him. His suit jacket was shucked, tie undone and hanging around his neck, and the top two buttons of his white, collared shirt were unbuttoned. You felt like you were seeing something you shouldn’t have, like the cold stoniness of his exterior had shifted just slightly and allowed you a glimpse underneath.

It’s just a couple buttons, calm down. You’re the one who’s barely clothed in front of your fucking boss.

“It is. Shame we can’t go to the beach,” you replied, keeping your eyes forward.

Oh my god, three women were murdered and I just complained to my boss about not being able to go to the beach.

“You’re welcome to get up early and go tomorrow; might be a bit cold,” Hotch replied. You could tell from his voice he was smiling.

You mumbled in affirmation, continuing to avoid glancing in his direction. “Well, I just wanted to see the view, um, I’m gonna get to bed. Goodnight, Agent Hotchner!” You ducked back into your room, and you could have sworn you heard him chuckle before you slid the door shut.

After getting ready, beating yourself up mentally for your complete social incompetence, and tucking in under the plush, white duvet, you drifted off to sleep.

[4haechie]

stuck with you

➵ request: can i request fluff + au #2 + trope #1 "enemies to lovers" + prompt #4 & #19?? thank you 🥰

➵ lee donghyuck x reader | fluff, enemies to lovers au, high school au | 2,760 words | “take off your shirt.” + “can you shut up for just two seconds?”

➵ warnings: cursing and one second of suggestive stuff

➵ a/n: thank u for requesting! i really hope u like it :D i added timestamps to avoid confusion, so this turned out longer than expected oops. if u want a part 2, please let me know!

want to request? check this post out!

present time – thursday, 6:30 p.m. 

you’re starting to wish time machines existed right about now. you’ll do just about anything to go back to two hours ago and avoid this mess.

you glance up at donghyuck, who’s put on his thinking cap apparently, and is trying to come up with a way to get you two the hell out of here. “do you have a hairpin? or a bobby pin?” he asks.

you shake your head, “donghyuck, that only works in movies.”

“y/n, i’m trying to come up with solutions here! or do you wanna live in this tiny janitor’s closet for the rest of your life?” he glares at you.

“if i did, i would’ve chosen someone else to share oxygen with. why would i choose you?” you glare back.

he rolls his eyes, indicating that that conversation is over. “whatever. try calling your friends again. someone must still be at school, right?”

you frown, “donghyuck, we had the student council meeting earlier, remember? that ended at six, and it’s almost six-thirty now. all the sports teams’ practice sessions must’ve ended, too. i’m telling you, it’s just us in school.” you shake a little as if trying to wake up from a crazy dream. no avail.

you’re stuck here–no, wait. someone locked you two in here. you’re going to have to trace back your steps to figure out who.

thursday, 4:00 p.m.

“the weekly student council meeting is in session. today, we’re going to discuss prom! i’ve put up a list on the bulletin board that says who’s going to do what. please take a look at it immediately.” you explained, gazing around the group of students in front of you.

you’re the president and donghyuck is the vice president. you two work together almost every day, you’re in the same classes, you have the same friends. but there’s one minor detail in your guys’ relationship: you two hate each other.

hate might be a bit too strong of a word, but it’s true. you and donghyuck, despite working together and being in the same class since third grade, have never gotten along. maybe it’s your guys’ competitiveness. maybe it’s your strong desire to one-up the other. but as long as you can recall, there hasn’t been a single time when he hasn’t made your blood boil.

anyway, you and donghyuck were in charge of planning your senior prom, and ensuring everything and everyone follows said plan.

while discussing the event, you realised you forgot to check with your school’s janitor if he’s free on the day of prom, or if he’s taking a holiday. either way was fine with you, as you were thinking of making everyone clean up after themselves. but just to be sure, you and donghyuck, unfortunately, decided to stop by the closet after the meeting had ended.

thursday, 6:05 p.m.

“i don’t think he’s here. it is after school hours, so i think he went home,” you said, peeping into the dark closet. it was pretty obvious he wasn’t there–the room couldn’t have been more than five feet by five feet. it’s a storage space, but the janitor keeps his bag here before starting work and picks it up right before leaving school.

“yeah, no shit, sherlock.” donghyuck reached around you to flip the light switch on. the lone bulb suspended from the ceiling blazed to life, setting the room alight.

then, suddenly, a figure pushed donghyuck into the confined space, which caused you to jerk inwards. it happened so fast, you barely had time to react, or identify the culprit. you heard keys jingling and fear danced around in your eyes.

donghyuck was still facing the door, while you were standing with your back against the wall. he tried his best to look out the little glass rectangle fitted in the door, but he turned around and shook his head in frustration.

“what the fuck just happened,” you said; it came out more as a statement, but anger resonated through your words.

“we, er, just got locked in here.” he deadpanned as if you couldn’t have figured.

you groaned and clenched your fists. “i’m gonna kill them. you didn’t happen to see their face, did you?”

he shook his head, “nope.”

“well, we know one thing. that person had the key–and only two people have the key to the closet. the janitor, who’s not even here, and the general office staff. but i’m sure they wouldn’t lock us in here.” you said.

donghyuck tilted his head, “okay, then, who...” he trailed off, allowing you to vocalise your theories.

 “somebody must have stolen one of the two keys.” your brain’s gears started turning, trying to think of someone who would pull something like this.

“it could be the janitor’s keys. the closet was unlocked when we got here.” donghyuck reminded you.

“yeah...but he never leaves the closet unlocked. he’s very responsible, so it can’t be his set of keys. it’s probably the staff’s set,” you countered. “they barely pay any attention to non-admin matters. that person must’ve stolen their keys, unlocked the door after the janitor left, and waited for us to come here, before locking us in. jesus, i’m so angry. this is so fucking childish,” you groaned again.

donghyuck nodded in slight agreement, surprising you. he never agrees on anything you have to say, but he didn’t have much of a choice in that situation. plus, your theory made sense. “do you think this whole thing was renjun’s idea? he was the one who suggested we check with the janitor about prom night.”

your eyes widened in shock. “oh my god...wait, but it wasn’t renjun’s idea. it was mine, actually–he just reminded me to do so.” you slowly dropped down to the floor and held your head in your hands. you couldn’t believe what was going on. the entire situation seemed to just hit you.

you’re stuck in a small closet with lee donghyuck, your number one enemy.

present time – thursday, 6:40 p.m.

“none of them are picking up. donghyuck, what if they’re all in on this together? kind of like a senior prank–except we’re the ones getting pranked.” you say, panic rising in your voice. you’re standing now, leaning against the wall with your phone clutched tightly in your hand.

knowing your and donghyuck’s friends, you’re sure you’re going to be here all night. they’re quite a bunch. you and donghyuck have a common friend group, but your friends find your ongoing rivalry extremely annoying. it makes perfect sense if they locked you two in here.

donghyuck digests your words quickly. “no way. that’s insane! why the fuck would they do that?”

“well, do you have a better explanation? i’m sure you don’t, considering i’m the only one who’s been thinking of possible theories, while you’re here giving me the only suggestion you have���your stupid bobby pin idea,” you say, breathing heavily.

“can you shut up for just two seconds? always telling me what to do, disagreeing with me, arguing and fighting with me. we’re locked in here, and you think arguing like little kids is gonna get us out?” he shakes his head in disbelief. “god, and to think i had a crush on you last year.” he must not have meant to reveal that little secret, because his ears turn red instantly.

you gape at him, “what–what did you say?”

“look at you, getting a big head again–!”

“donghyuck.”

“i liked you! there, you happy?”

“i like–liked you too, idiot,” you say in a low voice.

then, he laughs–a melodious sound, emitting pure joy and rainbows and sunshine. “some type of rivals we are.”

you laugh with him now, finding the situation so pathetically sad that it was almost funny. laughable. something to reminisce from time to time.

“you...you still like me?” donghyuck asks in a small voice you’ve never heard before.

“take a guess.”

“no?”

you bite the inside of your cheek, “take another guess.”

he grins at you, leaning against one of the shelves–which was a bad move on his part. he accidentally knocks over a bottle of...detergent? who knows, but it ends up uncapped and half-empty once it lands on the floor. luckily it was plastic, so the bottle doesn’t break. unluckily, the other of the liquid splashes on you, soaking your entire shirt. your plain, white, shirt.

donghyuck freezes, “um...y/n, i’m sorry–”

you hold up a hand. the god of testing people’s patience must’ve signed you up for some competitive exam today. “save it.”

donghyuck looks around hastily, trying to find a clean rag. he produces a small yellow cloth from the back of one of the shelves and hands it to you, “here.”

you don’t even say thanks. you quickly take it from him, free your shirt from your jeans, and start wiping and drying it to the best of your ability. you manage to make the shirt as dry as possible, but it was detergent that spilt on you. it was soapy–it was not water. 

you groan for the third time today and look at donghyuck, gritting your teeth. “i can’t possibly go out like this.”

he winces, feeling extremely apologetic. “take off your shirt and wear my hoodie instead. i have two layers on,” he suggests.

you give him a double-take, “what the fuck? no! why would i do that?” you exclaim.

“do you have any better ideas?”

you watch as he swiftly takes his hoodie off, revealing a loose tee clad on his body. you hate to admit how good he looks. he hands the item of clothing to you, and you tell him to turn around as you begrudgingly peel your shirt away. you take the rag once again, wiping off as much soapy liquid as you can, and pull the hoodie over your head.

it smells like him, you think. it smells like that expensive cologne he always seems to wear. you show no indication that you find his hoodie soft and comforting, and tell him you’re done. you roll the shirt, squeezing any remnants of detergent out, and stuff it in your bag.

he bites back the smile daring to form on his lips upon seeing you in his hoodie. “okay. now that that’s over, let’s try to get out of here, shall we?”

you nod. “i have our science teacher’s number. maybe i could ask her to help us? she’s always here late, marking papers and assignments.”

donghyuck snaps his fingers, “you’re right! yeah, give her a call.”

you scroll through your contacts till you find the name you’re looking for. you press the call button and set it to speaker mode so donghyuck can hear as well. she picks up after three rings, “hello?”

“hi, miss angela! it’s me, y/n. you see, um, donghyuck and i got locked in the janitor’s closet by someone, and we have no way to get out. are you still in school? if you are, is it possible for you to unlock the door from the outside?”

miss angela hums a little, as if in thought, “i just left, my dear. i could turn the car around if you’d like. i’m sure the office keeps an extra set.”

“yes! that would be great. thank you, miss angela. and we’re sorry for the inconvenience,” you nudge donghyuck with your elbow, who catches on immediately.

“yeah, we’re incredibly sorry. i’ll be sure to submit an extra report–!”

“save it, lee donghyuck. i’ll be there in five to ten minutes,” she hangs up with that.

you pocket your phone and look at donghyuck. “so.”

“so,” he repeats.

“are we going to act like we didn’t just confess to one another earlier?” you ask, biting your lip nervously.

“no, i don’t want to, um, act like we didn’t. i lied, y/n. i had a crush on you last year, yeah, but i never stopped liking you. i still like you. i don’t want to be your enemy anymore.” he nudges you. 

you smile shyly, “i like you too, donghyuck.”

just then, you hear keys jingling–an all too familiar sound. you get excited, thinking you’re going to be met with the face of miss angela, but when the door bursts open, you see the smirking faces of renjun and jeno.

“about fucking time!” renjun pulls you and donghyuck outside.

“what?” donghyuck demands. “it was your idea to lock us in there? are you fucking kidding me?”

jeno grimaces, “i’m sorry, it was the only way you two would confess your feelings for each other and stop fighting for good.”

“i can think of plenty of ways–!”

“wait, y/n, are you wearing donghyuck’s hoodie? holy fuck...don’t tell me you guys did it.” renjun looks back and forth between you and donghyuck.

“what? no, of course not!” you retort.

“then why do you have his hoodie on, dear y/n?” jeno asks.

“that’s none of your damn business, lee jeno!” donghyuck looks ready to pounce on him, but you place a hand on his chest, stopping him. his gaze drops down to your hand and it softens.

“there was a little accident...but the good thing is that we’re out. hooray. now, everybody, go home. i have to call miss an–”

“y/n, thank goodness! what happened?” miss angela emerges into the scene, looking a little worried.

you briefly explain the evening’s events to her, without mentioning the confession part. she doesn’t need to know that. you tell her it was a silly prank. nothing more, nothing less.

she visibly sighs a breath of relief. “well, at least it wasn’t some stranger. jeno, renjun, i didn’t expect this from you two. but i’m glad you’re all okay.” she takes her leave, after ensuring you four are on your way home.

jeno and renjun go home via jeno’s car, and you and donghyuck, living only a couple of blocks away from school, decide to walk the journey.

“all this... just so we could stop fighting,” donghyuck laughs. you’re walking side by side, hands occasionally brushing against one another. it’s like something out of a cheesy rom-com. you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“it worked, didn’t it?” you say.

donghyuck stops on the pavement, turning his body to face you. he stretches out a hand to push a strand of hair behind your ear, making you bump his shoulder shyly. he smiles; he wouldn’t have it any other way either.

“i guess it did. but what do we do now?”

“what do you mean?” you raise an eyebrow.

“like, do i walk you home first? do i ask you on a date? god, with you, it’s just so much more...different. if it was someone else, i would’ve gone with my gut, but with you, i don’t wanna mess it up. you know?” donghyuck finally takes your hand in his, intertwining your fingers. you feel his warmth radiate, you feel his touch bringing you safety and comfort. something way more powerful than a hoodie.

“donghyuck, i’m new at this too. i’m just as scared as you are. and that’s okay, trust me. i’m glad it’s me and not anyone else.” you assure him.

you gather up whatever courage you have remaining, tip-toe, and brush your lips against his cheek. you stay there for a moment, just breathing him in. when you pull away, his cheeks are a dusty pink shade.

“do that again,” he tells you.

“no, i think i’m good.” you start walking again.

“y/n!” he whines.

“okay, on one condition.” he raises a brow, “ask me on a date.”

for a moment, he’s bewildered. then, he gets down on one fucking knee, not caring about anyone who might be watching, and clears his throat. “y/n, i like you so much. will you make me the happiest man alive, and go on a date with me this saturday?” he looks up at you expectantly.

you chuckle at his antics and give him a nod. “i would love to, lee donghyuck.”

he grins, all big and bright, and leaps up to envelop you in a hug. his arms go around your waist and yours circle his neck. he whispers in your hair, “i guess we owe renjun and jeno a thank you?”

“i am not going to thank them for locking us up in a closet. in fact, i’m gonna double their prom duties.” you feel his chest vibrate as he laughs at your comment.

however, you are thankful that it was lee donghyuck you got stuck with. so, forget the time machine. you wouldn’t have had it any other way.

[oikawaplssteponme]

The Apartment: part 4

▪️part 1

▪️part 2

▪️part 3

pairing: Kuroo Tetsurou x fem! reader

ratings/warnings: swearing, a little suggestive at times but nothing bad

synopsis: You knew that living with your three best friends, Kuroo, Oikawa, and Bokuto, would be a wild ride. It’s never a dull moment with those three. Let’s just hope you can keep your huge crush on Kuroo a secret when he is only a room away.

a/n: hi friends💕 i had a lot of fun writing this part so i hope you guys like it :)) the taglist is still open so just lmk if you’d like to be added and so are my requests/asks, so don’t be shy and say hi✨ enjoy xx

•

Four: maid outfit

You laid on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. It was far too late for you to be up yet here you were. Not only was the couch uncomfortable, but your head was filled with thoughts that you’d rather not think. You kept thinking about Kuroo. Maybe if you would have just told him that you liked him, he would’ve reacted differently. Or he would have reacted just the same, making you feel worse.

You were stuck in the friendzone. Except the friendzone was quicksand, and you felt there was no possible way out. The air vent blew down on you. You hugged your blanket close to you. You couldn’t understand why you felt like this. It wasn’t like you were planning on telling Kuroo anyway. You said yourself its better to keep things the way they are, so why did you feel so upset? Maybe your feelings for Kuroo were a bit more than a longing crush.

You flipped onto your side, once again regretting your decision to sleep on the couch. Suddenly, you heard footsteps heading for a door. You were surprised someone could be awake at this hour, since everyone had gone to bed way before you. You heard a door open, so you shut your eyes pretending to be asleep. You felt their presence get closer to you. Then you felt what you presumed to be a second blanket, lay on top of you. The footsteps started to move back to their room. You peaked your eyes open, and saw Kuroo, slowly walk back into his room.

~

“Y/N-CHAN!” You were suddenly awoken by a loud voice next to your ear. You jolted up from the couch, causing you to fall onto the floor, still wrapped up in not one, but two blankets.

“Y/N get off the floor. I need you to answer my question,” said Bokuto. You sat up from your fall looking at Bokuto with evil eyes.

“Bokuto I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this but screaming in someone’s ear is NOT the proper way to wake them up,” you growled, rubbing the back of your head. Bokuto rolled his eyes.

“Yeah yeah whatever. Anyway, back to my question,” he said.

“If you didn’t notice dumbass, you asked your question when I was asleep so I didn’t hear you.”

“Okay so I’m going with Akaashi to his writers conference next week and do you think I should pack an extra bag just for snacks or will we buy them along the way? Because sometimes I pack them and then Akaashi says-“

“Bokuto, why on earth would Akaashi bring you to a writers conference?”

“Obviously to keep him company, come on Y/N, keep up with me here.” You groaned and stood up to be look at Bokuto.

“Pack the snacks, we all know you’ll end up eating more than less,” you said, patting his shoulder.

“That’s what Kuroo said too but I don’t trust his opinion.”

Your heart dropped. Right. Kuroo.

“Is- uh- Kuroo awake?” You asked.

“Yeah but he’s having a meeting with his Chemistry professor,” explained Bokuto. You let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, the events from last night came to mind.

“Wait...is Oikawa awake?” Bokuto looked at you nervously.

“No…”

“Bokuto?”

“He’s in his room,” he muttered. You clenched your fists. You stormed over to your room.

“TORU IM GONNA BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF YOU!”

You slammed open your door to see Oikawa laying on his bed, using his endless amounts of pillows as shields from your wrath.

“Y/N, my dearest love, let’s be rational here,” he pleaded.

You charged over to him, jumping on his bed and pinned him down.

“Y/N if you wanted to get down and dirty all you had to do was-“

“Oh shut up. You are so lucky that Iwaizumi was here last night or else I would’ve kicked your ass.”

“I know you’re trying to sound threatening but honestly you just sound hor-“

“TORU!” Oikawa sealed his lips together.

“Do you remember what happened last night?” You asked. Oikawa gave you a sarcastic thinking face.

“Hmmm are we talking about the PG stuff that happened or the PG-13 content that occurred after the party-“

“Oh my god why do I even bother with you.” You let go of Oikawa and he sat up to face you.

“I have a horrible feeling that you’re talking about my big mouth from yesterday,” he whispered.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m talking about shithead.”

“It is way too early for such vulgar names Y/N.”

“Oikawa!” You were slowly losing your patience.

“Okay okay, yes maybe I slipped up a little. But hey, I gave you a good excuse to confess to Kuroo, so all is well.” You could feel the smoke coming from your ears.

“No it’s not because he turned me down last night!” Oikawa’s eyes grew.

“He did what?”

“Yeah he basically friendzone me. Badly.” you explained.

“Oh shit Y/N, I’m sorry. Maybe he will change his mind,” said Oikawa. You looked at him with pleading eyes.

“I don’t know Toru, I feel like it’s never gonna happen.” You shook your head and rubbed your eyes. You heard a heavy sigh and you looked over to the doorway and saw Bokuto standing there with a frown.

“If Kuroo doesn’t like you then he’s just an idiot,” said Bokuto. He walked over and sat with you and Oikawa.

“Great now everyone knows I like Kuroo,” you joked.

“Well it’s not like you’ve liked him your whole life or anything,” said Bokuto. You looked over at him with widened eyes.

“You’ve always known I liked Kuroo?”

“Yeah I thought we all did. That’s why last night I didn’t see the big deal. I think Kuroo’s just too dumb to see that the answers right in front of him,” explained Bokuto. You gave him a playful push.

“Bokuto! Did you ever say anything to him about me?”

“No, why would I? Unlike some people I can keep my mouth shut...for the most part,” he looked over at Oikawa. Oikawa groaned.

“Okay well since we are all on the same page, we gotta make a plan to get Kuroo and Y/N together,” said Oikawa.

“I mean you two will be the only ones home next week, so try to do something then,” suggested Bokuto.

That’s right, you and Kuroo will be the only ones in the apartment next week. Bokuto will be with Akaashi and Oikawa is taking a mini vacation with Iwaizumi.

“Guys its gonna be so awkward with just me and him,” you pouted.

“Y/N you have to make an effort or else you’re gonna lose the nerd to some other bitch,” said Oikawa. Again, he was right.

“Fine fine. But what would I even do?”

“Walk around the apartment in a maid outfit,” blurted out Bokuto. You slapped his arm as Oikawa laughed.

“Wait, that's actually a good idea,” giggled Oikawa.

“I am not gonna seduce him with a fucking maid outfit,” you said firmly. Oikawa sighed.

“Well unless you have a better idea, I think we should head over to Party City and-“

“NOT HAPPENING!” You interrupted.

“This might be a crazy idea but you could just TELL HIM YOU LIKE HIM!” said Bokuto sarcastically. Your face got warm.

“But-but-“

“No buts Y/N. When Oikawa and I come back, I expect some progress to have been made,” huffed Bokuto. You sighed.

“I’ll do my best,” you muttered. Bokuto wrapped his arm around you and placed a friendly kiss on your head.

“And hey, if he rejects you again, it’s not like things could get any more awkward,” he smiled. You laughed and hugged him back.

“Woah what’s going on in here? An intervention?” said Kuroo, standing at the doorway. You didn’t even hear him enter the apartment, let alone your room.

“Shit Kuroo, you scared me,” you said.

“Uh how long have you been standing there?” asked Oikawa.

“Maybe a few seconds. Don’t worry I didn’t hear any of your top secret conversation,” Kuroo smiled. The three of you let out a sigh of relief.

“Thank god,” you muttered.

“I brought lunch if you guys want some.” Kuroo held a bag of takeout food. The three of you jumped up from Oikawa’s bed and rushed over to him.

The four of you sat at the table and ate your lunch. You kept looking at Kuroo, trying to think of anything you could do to possibly get him to like you back. In the past, a whole week alone with him wouldn’t have seemed so scary. But now that your crush on him was on high gear, you needed to control yourself. It’s not like you could make matters worse.

Right?

•

[taglist OPEN: @vangoghpoets @vangoghmusings @lilnuances @nerdybreadcollaborative @cloudswritings @foxyyychan @tamaguchi @jessie9008 @bitandbytes @yeehawnana @166cm @bigchaosenergy @tumbledor3 @captain-janeway (if your name is in bold that means i couldn’t tag you)]

[chicgeekgirl89]

The Runaway

Fandom: 911

Characters: Eddie Diaz, Christopher Diaz, Evan Buckley

Summary: Eddie picks Christopher up from Buck’s after the events of 4.08 “Breaking Point.”

                                      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Eddie knew fear. He’d survived shootouts, bombings, five alarm fires, near drowning, and the death of his wife. He knew fear. But all of that paled in comparison to how he’d felt when he’d seen Christopher’s empty bed.

It was God or karma or sheer luck that he didn’t get pulled over on the way to Buck’s because he made the twenty minute trip in less than ten, ignoring several stop signs on quieter streets and speeding through questionably yellow lights. He needed to be with his kid now. 

The elevator ride up to Buck’s floor almost killed him. He stood right next to the door, one hand braced on the paneling, the other punching the button repeatedly as if that would make the machinery move faster. 

Buck was waiting for him in the hallway, his face serious. “Eddie, wait a second,” he said, holding out a placating hand.

“Buck, let me in,” Eddie said through gritted teeth.

“Just listen,” Buck said. “If you go in there yelling it’s not going to fix anything. He’s upset—“

“I know he’s upset!” Eddie snapped. “I’m upset too! How do you think I felt, opening his door and finding him gone? Knowing that it’s my fault? That he’d rather come talk to you than me?”

Buck stayed calm despite the jabs. “He’s just a kid Eddie. He’s confused.”

Eddie shook his head. “Buck I swear to god if you start trying to lecture me on raising my kid right now—”

“I’m not, I promise I’m not,” Buck said. “I just…I know what it’s like to feel like you don’t have anyone to talk to. And I don’t want you to make a mistake you can’t come back from.”

“Buck.” Eddie blew out a breath, his already thin patience having reached the breaking point. “Just let me in.”

Buck eyed him for a half second longer, then stepped back. Eddie pushed past him, striding quickly into the apartment. Words like ‘grounded’ and ‘no TV’ were at the forefront of his mind, but they died on his tongue the second he saw Christopher sitting on the couch. He was here. He was safe. He wasn’t kidnapped or lying on the side of the road or wandering the streets by himself, all scenarios that had run through Eddie’s mind in the last half hour. 

“Christopher.” He breathed out his son’s name and dropped to his knees, pulling him into a fierce hug. “Oh my god Christopher. You scared me.” 

“I’m sorry Dad,” Christopher said, his voice muffled against Eddie’s shirt. 

Eddie’s tears were closer to the surface than he’d realized, pricking at his eyes and making his throat grow tight. “I’m sorry too.”

Christopher pulled back and looked up at him, worry pinching his face.“Are you mad at me?”

Eddie sucked in a deep breath, struggling to find the right words. There were clearly some things they needed to talk about. As much as he hated to admit it, Christopher wasn’t a baby anymore. 

“I’m upset,” he finally said. “I’m glad you felt like you could come talk to Buck; that you chose a safe place to go. But it really scared me to find you gone like that.”

“I was just really mad at you,” Christopher said, shifting back and forth restlessly. “You didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend.”

“I know,” Eddie said, guilt chewing at his gut. “But relationships are a complicated thing. And I didn’t want to talk to you until I was…more sure about everything.”

“You lied to me.” Christopher said it accusingly.

“I did,” Eddie admitted. “And that was the wrong choice. I’m sorry. I will try to be more honest with you from now on. But I also need you to understand that sometimes I need time to figure things out before I talk to you.”

“Because you’re a grown up?”

“Yes. Because I’m a grown up. And grown up stuff is complicated sometimes.”

Christopher mulled this over for a moment and sighed. “That’s what Buck said too.”

“Yeah?” Eddie glanced toward the doorway but Buck had disappeared, apparently giving them some privacy, although with the loft’s open floor plan he had no doubt that his friend could hear every word. “What else did he say?”

“That it was okay for you to have a girlfriend and it was okay for me to be upset about it. And that it doesn’t mean you love Mom any less.”

Eddie’s heart squeezed. “Christopher, is that what you think? That if I see someone new I don’t love your mom anymore?”

“I don’t know,” Christopher said with a sniff.

Eddie could tell he was close to tears and he squeezed his son’s knee comfortingly. “I will always love your mom. Just like I will always love you. But I have room in my heart for somebody new. And I think if you try, you just might too.”

Christopher was quiet for a moment. “I think I could do that.”

Eddie felt a wave of relief crash over him. “I know you could. You are one of the kindest, most loving kids in the whole world.”

Christopher looked up at him from under his glasses. “Does that mean I’m not in trouble?”

“Oh no, you’re definitely in trouble,” Eddie said, amusement trickling through him in spite of the situation. “Grounded. For a week. No phone. No TV. No video games.”

“But Dad!”

“Uh uh, don’t even try,” Eddie said. “Choices have consequences kiddo.” He softened his voice. “Chris, the next time you get mad I want you to come and talk to me. But if you ever feel like there’s something we can’t talk about, you can tell me that you want to come to Buck’s and I’ll bring you. Please don’t ever run away like that again.”

“I won’t,” Christopher said. “I promise.”

“Good. Come on,” Eddie said. “It’s a school night. Let’s get home.”

“Can we say goodbye to Buck?”

“Of course.”

Buck reappeared at the sound of his name. “Hey time to go already?” he asked.

“Dad says we have to,” Christopher said. He walked forward and wrapped his arms around Buck’s waist. “Thanks Buck.”

“Anytime buddy,” Buck said fondly, ruffling his hair. 

“Hey Christopher, can you go wait in the hall for just a second?” Eddie asked. “I’ll be right out.”

Christopher eyed them both. “More grown up stuff?”

“Yes,” Eddie said pointedly. “Go please.”

“Fine.” Christopher turned with a sigh of long suffering and headed out the door.

Eddie stuck his hands in his back pockets and shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Hey, look, I’m sorry I came in here like that. That stuff I said…I know you were just trying to help.”

“It’s okay,” Buck said. “I get it. He scared the shit out of you. Heck he scared the shit out of me just showing up on my doorstep.”

Eddie shook his head. “I don’t know what I’m doing here Buck. He’s growing up. He’s almost a teenager. Sometimes it’s like I don’t even know him anymore.”

“Hey, you’re a good dad,” Buck said. “He knows that. He just…needed a minute.”

“Well thank you for being here. For both of us,” Eddie said. “I really—it means a lot to me that he feels like he has someone he can talk to.”

Buck put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Always.”

Christopher fell asleep on the drive home, which Eddie took at a significantly slower pace than his frantic journey to Buck’s. When they arrived Eddie gathered him up in his arms and carried him inside, heart squeezing painfully in his chest. How much longer until he couldn’t do this anymore? Until Christopher grew too tall or too embarrassed to let him help this way? He wasn’t ready to let childhood go. But the last two years had changed them both, and it was time Eddie stopped pretending Christopher was going to be a kid forever and started preparing to help him grow up. 

He laid Christopher on his bed and slipped off his shoes before pulling up a blanket and tucking it around him. He pressed a kiss to his son’s hair and then gently removed his glasses, placing them on the nightstand. He turned off the light intending to slip from the room and fall into his own bed. 

“Daddy?”

Eddie turned back to find Christopher’s eyes open, peeking up at him from under the blanket. “Yeah buddy?”

“What if your new girlfriend goes away too? Like Mom did?”

God, was his kid trying to kill him? Eddie was not prepared for this tonight. “I don’t think that will happen. But if it does, then we’ll be sad. And we’ll try to remember the good times we had together. Just like we do with your mom.”

“What if you break up?”

“That’s a possibility. You know sometimes things just don’t work out. That’s what dating is for. To see if you want to be with somebody forever.”

“If you break up, what if she doesn’t want to see me anymore?”

Eddie sat down on the bed. This was the crux of why he’d avoided this issue; he didn’t want to cause Christopher anymore heartbreak. “I don’t think there’s a single person in this world who would ever want to stop seeing you,” he said. “And I would never ask you to stop being friends with someone just because it didn’t work out between me and her.”

Christopher was quiet for a moment. “Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said. “Yeah buddy, of course.”

He nestled into the bed and Christopher snuggled close into his side. “I love you,” Eddie said. 

“Love you too,” Christopher mumbled.

Within minutes his breathing evened out and Eddie knew he’d fallen asleep. But Eddie didn’t move. Not yet. He wanted to hold onto childhood for just a little bit longer.

[chuckbass-love]

Johnny protective over sue fic?

Hey lovely. Thank you so much for your patience, i know i’ve made you wait a long time for this one but i hope it’s worth the wait.

Disclaimer: My work is not to be posted anywhere else other than MY Tumblr, Wattpad and Ao3 without my permission. However, reblogs are welcome.

Pairing: Johnny Storm x Sue Storm & Johnny Storm x Fem!Reader

Summary: After Reed and Sue break up, Johnny vowed to never let anyone hurt his sister ever again. Now Reed is back and it’s clear they are getting close again, will Johnny allow Sue to give him another chance?

A/N: I’m sorta re writing the events of how Sue and Reed got back together in this. Just a little note so no one comes for me saying this never happened😂

Warnings: Angst, some comedy and language. No real warnings i guess.

Word Count: 3,429

GIF NOT MINE!!! Credit to @emilysblunt go check them out❤️

Protection

“I can’t keep having the same argument with you” Reed huffs, pacing back and forth whilst Sue is sat on the edge of the bed, head in her hands and practically sobbing her eyes out over all of this.

“Clearly you don’t care then. If you can’t even bother to fight for this or make it right” she yells back, standing up now, practically toe to toe with her boyfriend.

“I don’t understand what you want from me. We already have something great and you want more now?” he sighs, resting his hands on his hips as he looks away.

The thing is, from an outsiders perspective. This relationship couldn’t be more perfect. Just two people madly in love. But to say the inside view is different would be an understatement. All Sue has ever wanted was security, knowing she’s loved and knowing that she’s taken care of but of course Reed has failed to provide that for quite some time now.

She’s been asking more about settling down, getting their own place or maybe even just moving in with him and talking about marriage and kids. You know, the future.

However her pestering has done more harm than good. It clearly struck a nerve with Reed, her boyfriend of 2 years. Almost 3. They’ve been together all this time and he still can’t treat her as though she’s the one.

It’s almost as if he’s allergic to a little commitment. Which if she asks him, he denies it, making up some excuse he concocted in that tiny pea brain of his. 

Plus not only is Sue nagging but Johnny is too.

“When are you gonna ask my sister to move in?”

“Are you gonna pop the question or what?”

And now, Sue is at it again. With her questions and her theories about why he doesn’t want to live with her.

“Is it because you don’t love me? Is that it? Because if it is, i’d rather you just say it no-”

“Of course i love you Sue it’s never been about that” he snaps, making her step back out of fright. He rarely looses his cool. Something is definitely up with him.

“Well then, what is it? Why can’t you just commit to me”

“Maybe i just don’t want to live with you, is that so hard to understand?”

Her eyes widen as tears start to drown her vision out. She can feel her lips quivering.

“W-what?”

“You heard me. Now. Can we just forget about it?” how dare he. After all she’s given up for him.

“Oh we can forget about it alright. We’re done”

Before he can even convince her to stay, she’s collecting her stuff.

“Just because living together isn’t an option, doesn’t mean we can’t still make this work” he shouts from the bedroom whilst she’s in the closet and once she emerges from it, she rolls her eyes.

“Almost 3 years later and you still lack balls. I’m though with this. It’s over Reed. Have a nice life”

The door is slammed on her way out and all that’s left now is the memories they made together in this room. All of their fond memories. Memories of love and peace. True happiness. But not anymore. Now he’s all alone and he has no one else to blame but himself.

Sue stands outside of Reeds apartment, crying in the rain whilst also trying to see the screen of her cellphone, she needs to get away from here. And fast.

“Johnny, can you pick me up?”

“Please, i wouldn’t ask if i wasn’t desperate”

Shortly after, he hangs up, turning to you.

“Who was that on the phone?” you ask, strolling out of the bathroom drying your hair with the fancy white robe that has your initials threaded ever so beautifully on the upper left hand side wrapped around your damp body.

“It was Sue...” he draws the name out, clicking his tongue, unsure of how to say he has to abandon you for a while.

“Is everything okay?” you stand between his legs after tossing the towel into the hamper and he rests his hands on your waist “she needs me to pick her up from Reeds place” 

But you have no issue with that. From the moment you and Johnny got together, it was abundantly clear how protective he is over Sue. Despite her being his older sister. He’s made it his duty to be there whenever she needs and from what he could hear over the phone, she needs him. Now more than ever.

“Go” you say softly, barely above a whisper as you lean down to press a quick kiss to his forehead.

“But, i don’t want to leave you. We had plans”

“Johnny, look at me. Go. She obviously needs her brother right now and who am i to interrupt that? Just know you can always bring her here if you want, i won’t mind. But whatever you decide, text me. Okay?”

He just stares up at you with pure adoration and respect. You’re everything to him and it shows.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just really love you, so much” your heart warms and your knees turn to jelly.

“I love you too ya big goof, now go get your sister”

A quick make out session later and he’s on his way, speeding of course to get to her within record time. Once he arrives, he’s lost for words. 

She gets into his car, sobbing like he’s never heard or seen before. Words aren’t even able to come out of her mouth and seeing as he got her from Reeds place, he must be to blame.

“What did he do to you?” he growls through gritted teeth, gripping the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turn white “Sue what did he do to you?” he asks again, hoping for an answer this time. So she starts to slow her breathing, wiping tears before turning to look at her younger brother with a look of heartbreak.

“I asked him about me moving in again” little pauses in between are taken for her to gather herself “we got into a huge argument about it and unlike our other ones, it ended in me finishing with him” she barely finishes the sentence without breaking back into hysterical crying. 

Although she finished with him, she didn’t want to. She just couldn’t handle his inability to take their relationship seriously and take the natural next steps in their relationship.

As two grown adults, it’s only natural to move in with each other at this point. And he won’t do that, he’s unable to commit.

“Right, wait here” he unbuckles his seatbelt but Sue stops him before he can even get out “Johnny, no. This is over, i ended it. All i want is to go home” she pleads, pulling him closer. He gives her a hug before sighing and putting his seatbelt back on and turning the key in the ignition to pull out of the space he’s in.

“Where’s Y/N?” she asks, checking the back seat, as if somehow she missed any signs of someone else being in the car. What with all of her crying, it’s possible.

“She’s at her place, that reminds me actually, i’ll call her when we get home” he responds, weaving through the traffic and trying his best to get his sister home efficiently. She could really do with her own bed to relax as much as possible.

“Didn’t you have plans to stay at hers tonight?”

“Yeah, we planned a movie night. Why?” he says, stealing glances occasionally to check she’s okay.

“Omg, Johnny. I’m so sorry. You know what, drop me home and go back to her, I’ll be fine once i’ve got a huge glass of wine and a bubble bath” he can see right through her pretences, she’s only saying all of this to get him to do right by you. After all the two of you did have plans.

“No. I’m staying in with you. You need me right now. Y/N is fine, she told me to stay with you”

“Johnny, she’s also a priority. I’d hate for you to make plans and ditch just for me”

“I’m not ditching Sue, i’m being a supportive brother. I’m coming home with you and that’s final”

Wow. She’s never seen him so angry, so assertive.

Usually it’s her taking care of him all of the time. How the tables have turned.

“Did you eat with Reed before the argument or are you hungry?” 

She shakes her head “i’m starving” 

Pit stop at McDonalds it is then. 

And as soon as food is devoured, she takes her bath and then gets ready for an early night, a much needed one for that matter.

Johnny sits on the edge of her bed, talking with her about everything that went down tonight.

“I don’t get it Johnny, almost 3 years with him and he still can’t commit to me. Why?” tears fill her eyes and he looks down, it’s hard to see her like this, knowing he can’t do anything to take the hurt away. All he can do is just hold her and tell her how much he cares.

“I don’t know, all i know is he’s a fool. You’ve done a lot for him, supported him during some hard times and he can’t even move in with you. It’s weird and i don’t trust him now”

“I love him so much” she pulls her legs to her chest, burying her face in between her knees and suddenly all the tears she’s held back for the last couple hours pour out.

“I know, come here” he scoots closer, holding her in his arms and rocking her back and forth to somehow soothe her.

“He’ll never hurt you again, i promise you that. I got you. Shhh” her tears wet his shirt until eventually she starts to feel sleepy, lying down and closing her eyes.

“I’ll always take care of you” he whispers, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he gets up to leave the room.

Nothing will ever hurt his sister again, he swears it.

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

Fast forward, 2 years later and here you are. In bed with Johnny in the place you still don’t share together. Not because he doesn’t want to, but because you’re both still young, you don’t want to rush anything when you’re both so happy with how things are.

“Good morning baby” you hear as you sit up to find Johnny in the doorway, naked.

“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes, huh?” you smirk, unable to refrain from biting your lip. He stalks towards you before joining you on the bed and pulling you on top of him.

“Johnny” you squeal, leaning down to kiss him and let’s just say, any time you kiss this man, it gets heated. How can it not when he looks so good.

“I say we ditch all plans of going out and stay in bed all day long” 

You nod your head in agreement “won’t get no objections from me” 

The two of you giggle, kissing once again before his phone interrupts the fun.

“Hello” he says, more like he’s asking a question than greeting someone “Sue? What now?” he groans, rolling his eyes to which you shove him for.

“As in the next hour? Why? Ugh fine, i’ll be there” he hangs up, chucking his phone down on the bed and getting off to head into the bathroom.

“What is it?”

“She wants me to join her for some job she’s doing for Victor” 

“Can i know what job?”

“Not exactly, or at least not until i know the full story myself. I’m gonna shower, okay? Then i gotta go?”

You nod with a pout, not wanting him to leave. He’s been quite present lately with you. Never missing dates or important anniversaries and he’s been more charming than usual but now he’s leaving. You know that you weren’t gonna have him wrapped up in your apartment forever though. 

He showers as quickly as possible, dressing himself in whatever clothes are left in your closet from this last week spent at yours.

“I love you, okay? I’ll come back afterwards to make it up to you” you stand on your tip toes, kissing him deeply before he really needs to leave “i love you too and you better”

And just like that, he’s gone.

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

“This better be good, or els-”

“Johnny”

“Victor” he mutters, Johnny has never been keen on Victor and it shows. The way the creep is constantly all over Sue like a rash trying to charm her all the time. It’s downright annoying and hard to watch.

He knows his game and he figured him out a long time ago.

“Johnny” Sue waltzes in, hugging Johnny the second she can.

“So, what am i here for?” he asks, taking a seat but now in walks Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. Ones a douche bag and the other is an even bigger douche.

“Oh i don’t think so, no way. What is he doing here?”

“Johnny, calm down. Reed presented an idea to Victor” Sue explains, even she’s keeping her cool more than he is and she’s the one that was left shattered by Reed.

“No. I refuse to be involved” he steps up to Reed, jaw clenched and fists ready to punch him “you know you’re lucky, if it were up to me then 2 years ago, you’d have had two black eyes and now, there’s nothing stopping me from beating your ass”

Ben separates the two, Reed wouldn’t of done shit. But Johnny certainly would have.

“I know, i messed up Johnny. Sue knows that too. I apologised. She moved on and now i just want to get through this without more aggravation”

He speaks sense but no way is he going to allow Sue to work with this man. He’s horrible, he’s never had an ounce of respect for her, if he did then he would never have allowed things to end the way they did and he would never have gotten involved romantically if he didn’t want to settle down.

“I don’t care. You and me, outside now” he pokes his chest, moving past Ben to get to him before he makes the first move by pushing Reed, sending him stumbling backwards.

“Not gonna fight back, huh? No balls left? Oh wait, you didn’t have any to begin with” 

Sue widens her eyes as Victor and Ben chuckle a little. It’s funny seeing little old Johnny wound up like this but to see him mocking Reed, someone who’s been known to be stuck up. It’s amusing.

“I’m not gonna fight you Johnny, it’s not worth it” he holds his hands up in surrender.

“So it’s not worth it, just like you deemed my sister unworthy of your commitment then, is that it?”

“No, i loved your sister very much” he tries his best to talk Johnny out of punching him to the floor but it’s too late. His fist collides with his face. Sue yells, rushing to Reeds side instantly despite Victor being present, she’s always cared for Reed. Even after all that went down, he was her first love. 

“Johnny. That was completely unnecessary” her scolding has him even more angry than he was a second ago.

“Unnecessary? Sue the bastard had it coming” his best efforts to justify his behaviour are just ignored like they mean nothing to her “Johnny, he’s a colleague now. And so are you. So you can either apologise and move on or go home. Maybe Y/N can talk some sense into you”

He scoffs, turning his head to the side and resting his hands on his hips and after a couple minutes of silence in which Sue spends cleaning Reeds bloody nose up, Johnny finally gives in.

“Fine. I’m sorry Reed” 

Reed holds his hand out to shake Johnny’s and he obliges. Now maybe the work can commence.

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

Weeks after returning from space and Johnny is just starting to figure out his power, much like his sister, Reed and Grimm.

But one thing he just can’t figure out is what the hell is going on between Reed and Sue.

“Babe” he calls and you appear in the doorway to the living room “yes?” you ask, brows raised.

“Have you noticed Sue and Reed getting closer?” his brows furrowed, signalling that he’s thinking which is sometimes dangerous for Johnny, when he thinks to hard, he stresses and when he stresses sometimes it can trigger his power.

“I mean, they did used to date Johnny, they’re gonna have some kind of bond”

“Yeah but i mean, close as in flirty” he shudders at those words, the thought of his sister being flirty with a guy makes him cringe.

“I dunno, ask her what’s going on if you wanna know so badly”

“No. I can’t do that, i’ll be meddling and she hates when i do that”

You shrug at him now before going back to baking cookies. 

You have a point and so does he, surely if he wants to know so badly he can just ask, Sue would probably prefer that as opposed to him snooping around but also it would still be seen as meddling which is wrong.

She swore she’d never go back to Reed and he swore to prevent her from doing so. After all, she deserves better and he can never commit.

Once he’s showered and up for the day, he agrees to meet Sue and the others at Reeds place to do some experimenting with these new abilities should he say.

“Whaddup sister, douchebag, rock” he pretends to tip his hat at them all as he enters but soon notices Reed and Sue stood awfully close.

“What’s all this then?” 

They step back almost as if they repulse one another before turning to face Johnny “you’re here, great. We can get started” Sue smiles acting weirdly suspicious.

“Not until you two tell me what’s been up with you? You’ve been very cosy lately, what’s going on?” 

Reed glances at Sue briefly before they both blurt out “we’re dating again”

Oh hell no.

“Not on my watch you’re not. Sue he hurt you i don’t get it”

“Johnny i get that you’re protective but i’m okay. I’m a grown woman and besides, we’re taking things very slow this time”

“She’s right, we aren’t going to rush anything and-”

“I swear, if you hurt her again, i won’t hold back, you’re a dead man” their faces inches apart and you can practically hear Reed gulp out of fear. Johnny isn’t usually taken seriously but with how he punched him weeks ago, Reed is certain he’ll live up to that promise and finish the job.

“I promise, i’ll take care of her, for real this time”

“You better”

Seconds later Grimm interrupts, coughing “if you two pussy’s are done having a moment, can we please get me out of this awful state”

“Aw what? You mean you don’t wanna remain a big rock forever?” Johnny smirks, waiting for Ben to growl and punch something “I suppose at least with your usual form, you’ll have ears”

Queue the rest of the day consisting of yelling and threats of fights. But they wouldn’t have it any other way. 

All Johnny has to do is keep an eye on Reed.

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

General Tags: @deadlymistress24 @coffeebooksandfandom @chris-butt @holtzkinnon @mychemicalimagines @llamadelreyx @haus-of-bitch-talk @buckstaybucky @thewinchestergirl1208 @chrissquares @patzammit @dummiesshort @cevans-fics @americasass91 @toni9 @aaliferouss @bradfordmyworld @thereisa8ella @kaminorogers @yassspose @randomsevans @evansphnx12 

Just Chris & His Characters Tags: @onetwo3000 @persephonequeenofthedead @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @rynabarnesrogers @princess-evans-addict @stxvercgersslut @chris-evanslover @bval-1 @thejemersoninferno @denisemarieangelina @janeyboo 

LMK if you wanna be added to my tag list, thanks....

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

A Familiar Soul - Chapter Four

Summary: Hilda decides to be completely honest with her mother, surprised when she seems to be a lot more in on magic than Hilda had expected her to be.

With her daughter’s association with witches, Johanna is forced to face some secrets of her own, bringing her back to feelings and people she’d rather have left behind

Dealing with insecurities and inner demons of her own, Kaisa finds herself face to face with the very issues that brought her to be so displeased with her own abilities

Or: the one where Johanna is Kaisa’s familiar

Notes:  Heyo, I just wanted to take a moment to take all of you reading this right now. I’ve received so much positive feedback from this fic, so I wanted to thank you for all the support 😊 I hope you can continue enjoying this story

Read it on ao3: (chpt1) (chpt2) (chpt3) (chpt4)

Wide with awe, Johanna’s eyes were glued to her friend’s hand, or rather to what she held in them.

After years of friendship, Johanna had gotten used to the fact that Kaisa was a witch, but she didn’t think she’d ever grow used to witchcraft. No matter how many times she saw it, it continued to fascinate her. In that moment, it was the cloud of bright, purple sparks floating just above Kaisa’s palm that had her enthralled.

“It’s not even really a spell.” The apprentice witch said, a smile on her face at Johanna’s interest. “It’s more of a spell activator, unless light was my original purpose. I can also use them to activate crystal grids, but grids are a slow working type of spell.”

“Does it matter what they do?” Restraining herself from reaching out to touch the magical particles, Johanna tried to look at them more closely. Recently, she’d been going through a growth spurt that hadn’t been followed by Kaisa, so she had to lean forward and down to do so. “They’re beautiful.”

“I agree. Kaisa’s magic colour is very pretty indeed.” Tildy chuckled from her armchair. The room where the two of them had magic lessons was wide, with a small amount of natural light streaming in from the window at the top of the wall, which was at street level. It was cluttered with a variety of witchy parafernalia, most of which Johanna couldn’t even name. Regardless of that, being in their little underground haven made her feel extremely privileged; from what Kaisa had told her, Johanna was the only other person Tildy allowed in there.

Kaisa blushed at the compliments, feeling the tingle that the magic spread through her palms. “Thank you. But it’s a very simple move, really.”

“No magic is small enough that it doesn’t deserve recognition” Her mentor reminded her. “Besides, you’ve done that without a wand or a spoken incantation. That is, actually, quite impressive for a witch your age. You’d told me you hadn't managed when you tried it yesterday?”

“I didn’t. I wonder why that is.”

“Yes, I wonder too.” Tildy whispered, and something in the way she said it sounded introspective. Her gaze fell on Johanna, and she smiled.

“Kaisa, dear, could you grab my oracle cards, please? I feel like doing a reading, but I think I left them on my bedside table.”

Knowing that the inspiration for divination was fragile and easy to lose, the girl nodded and got up hastily from the ground, walking out of the room in long strides. TIldy waited until the door was closed behind her to speak again.

“She is very fond of you, you know?” She asked, catching Johanna by surprise. “You do her a lot of good. Maybe more than you imagine.”

Her best friend was an introverted person, Johanna was aware of it. She had troubles meeting new people at times, because even though she was fascinating, her natural inclination was to close herself from other people. This meant that Johanna was one of her only, and undoubtedly her closest friend, and she knew this. Still, the sorceress had been right to say she didn’t realize just how much of an impact Johanna had on Kaisa’s life.

“As am I of her. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.”

Seemingly pleased with her answer, Tildy hummed.

“I was thinking about the two of you. With some frequency you carry each other off to some exciting activities, isn’t that right?”

Johanna nodded and smiled, amused at how Tildy called ‘interesting’ what her parents would no doubt see as ‘endangering’. She supposed it was the reason why Tildy always knew what the two were up to, and her parents never did.

“The possibility of one of you getting hurt does worry me, though.” The sorceress said, making Johanna’s smile drop. There hadn’t been much time for the girl to worry, however, because Tildy didn’t leave it at that. “Kaisa will, of course, always do her best to use her knowledge and her magic to protect the two of you. But in the event of you being alone, or in case Kaisa’s magic doesn’t work for whatever reason… I think it would be wise for you to have a means of protecting yourself.’

Blinking with surprise, Johanna tilted her head to the side as she wondered what Tildy meant. Johanna didn’t have magic, and she doubted she even had the patience to learn it, but even though she couldn’t see herself ever going on an adventure without her best friend, the thought of Kaisa getting hurt because Johanna wasn’t able to defend her was now installed on her mind.

“No need to look so baffled, dear.” The woman chuckled. “If that’s what you’re wondering, I’m not planning on teaching you witchcraft. However, I have been noticing you have many talents in other areas; you are brave and smart, Johanna, there are so many things you could learn. Fighting, wildlife tracking, plant identifying, wilderness survival, crossbow shooting… all valuable skills that I’m sure would aid you not only in your little adventures, but also in life. I could teach you these things, if you so wished.”

Without realizing that she was doing so, Johanna crawled forward, closer to Tildy’s armchair. She was sure that her eyes must be shining with amazement at the possibility. There was nothing that she’d like best. Those were the exact reasons why she was so excited about the prospect of joining the Sparrow Scouts in some time, so she could learn all that amazing stuff that her parents would never teach her.

“You’d do that?”

“Of course, dear.” She assured as if it was no big deal. “What’s one more student? I’m sure Kaisa would be thrilled at the possibility of joint classes.”

She didn’t have the chance to answer. At that moment, Kaisa returned to the room, looking austere. The girl looked at her teacher and sighed.

“You have guests.”

_#_#_#_

Kaisa knew that the witches currently in her house hadn’t been in the Committee of Three during the time of her mother’s demise. Henrietta had taken that post when Kaisa was a very small child, but Juniper had only just stepped up into that role after one of the members of the committee had retired. The short witch didn’t really seem like an unfriendly person, still the girl couldn’t help but be wary. Given her history, it was wise to keep her guard up around other witches, and Tildy had already made her feelings clear on Henrietta.

“To what do I know the honour?” Tildy asked as she joined them in the entrance hall. Upon seeing the arch-sorceress, both witches tried to make themselves look more imposing and failed.

“Evening, Matilda.” Henrietta cleaned her throat. “We wished to discuss a matter with you. Your input could prove… valuable.”

Followed closely by the two children, Tildy moved to her living room where she sat down on the couch. The other adults were left standing awkwardly, as had been her intention.

“How curious that when I willingly point out the course of action the Committee should follow, I am brushed off. And yet when I mind my own business, I am consulted.” Sighing, she nodded to Kaisa. “Go back to practicing, little one. I’ll be with you shortly.”

After a quick affirmative movement of her head, Kaisa grabbed Johanna’s hand and walked away quickly, knowing Tildy would probably reveal what the matter of their conversation was later if she asked.

“Where is your sister, Henrietta?” At the click of her fingers, a steaming cup of tea appeared in Tildy’s hands, and she mixed its contents with a small silver spoon. “I was hoping to congratulate her on her outstanding performance in her Trials.”

Matilda Pilkfist held no interest in the Trials and Henrietta knew this. She hadn’t showed up to one in years, and the last one hadn’t been any different. However, she knew better than to ask how come she had that information.

“Abigail is probably off being reckless.” Henrietta rolled her eyes, holding her hands behind her back. “As reckless as I see you are being now. Do you really think it’s wise to keep that other child around your apprentice?”

The way she sounded, in addition to her scrunched nose made her look almost disgusted at the situation, and Tildy’s hand tightened on her cup. It was always the same story, and she was old enough to be tired of seeing it repeat itself over and over again.

“Oh, hush, you.” She hissed, before noticing that Juniper looked uncomfortable with the situation and softening her tone. “It’s a beautiful friendship, you have to admit.”

The only answer Henrietta gave was an annoyed huff.

_#_#_#_

Taking into consideration that Hilda had said Tildy lived near them, Johanna had gathered the woman hadn’t moved from the cozy house with a flowery garden that Johanna remembered so well from her young years.

They hadn’t seen each other in so long, it made Johanna wonder if it would be impolite to show up like that. Taking in the familiar scent of daffodils, she took deep breaths to muster up the strength to knock.

Looking back, Johanna couldn’t pinpoint why she had stopped talking to Matilda. It wasn’t like she was responsible for Kaisa’s actions, and on the rare occasion of them seeing each other on the streets, before Johanna had moved away from Trolberg, she always had a smile and a couple of kind words to give her. Her relationship with the apprentice had gone downhill, but the mentor had never been less than sweet to her, and it made Johanna feel guilty that she hadn’t even thought about visiting her since coming back to Trolberg. Not before needing something.

It took a couple of moments for her to answer the door, and when she did, she squinted and adjusted her glasses to make sure she was seeing properly.

“Johanna?” Tildy gasped. Her curly hair was now completely grey, and the way her back hunched forward suggested she spent a lot more time knitting these days. Her apparent fragility didn’t fool Johanna, though. The sorceress still sounded like her energetic old self.

“Good afternoon, miss Pilkfist.” Johanna shifted her weight between her feet, embarrassed as she became extremely aware of how impolite of her it was to simply cut ties with someone who had taught her so much. Seeing as there was nothing for her to do to fix her teenager self’s mistakes, she tried to force herself to smile. “It’s been a long time, huh?”

“Yes, terribly long! Come on in, dear, I’ll make us some tea.”

Stepping inside the house, Johanna chuckled. At least Tildy’s love for tea hadn’t changed.

“It’s so good to see you again! Can’t say I blame you for your long absence, though, living in the woods must be so much more enjoyable to the city!”

Johanna didn’t ask how come she knew about her living in the wilderness; she had enough experience with witches to be aware that they didn’t always need to be told things to know them. The older woman twirled her hand and made a fresh teapot appear. There were already two cups on the table, where she sat down and gestured for her guest to do so as well.

“Yes, it was pleasant. I need to say, I probably only managed because of the skills you taught me when I was younger. But now we’re back, and…” Johanna took a deep breath, the tea’s strong herbal scent filling her nostrils as she did so. “I need to be frank with you, Miss Pilkfist, because I know you won’t take me the wrong way. I need your help.”

There was some concern on her face as she leaned towards Johanna, taking her hands in her own. Though she was now a woman, Tildy had seen her grow up, so she’d never really stop being a girl in her eyes. Something about her demeanor seemed so exhausted, however, that Tildy thought not even adulthood could justify it. It made her wonder, not for the first time and certainly not for the last, what had happened to the carefree child Johanna had been.

“Of course, my child. Are you alright?”

“I am.” She sighed. “But I’m not sure for how long my daughter will be.”

When Johanna looked back into Tildy’s eyes, there was a dawning of understanding in them.

“Hilda.” She whispered, and Johanna nodded.

“I was told you two already met. I am worried, Miss Pilkfist. Hilda has always had a taste for… unusual things, and it looks like now she has gotten very involved with the witch community. I mean no offence for you.” Johanna assured, squeezing Tildy’s hands gently. “But I just ask you to please not put her, or let anybody else put her in harm’s way. I know it’s more likely for both her and other witches to listen to you rather than me.”

Tildy hummed, trying to make sense of the situation.

“And by ‘witches’ you don’t happen to mean ‘Kaisa’, do you?”

Johanna gave herself away by looking away to her side, and she swallowed as she kicked herself mentally. Great job, Anna! she told herself, insult both her and her apprentice!

“Don’t worry,” Matilda said before Johanna could answer anything. She’d always had the ability of telling what was in people’s minds very easily. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“I tried to talk to Kaisa.” Johanna explained, not sure if she was trying to defend herself or simply to tell the truth. “But she just seemed determined on… well, I don’t know! Making things worse, it seemed!”

Johanna’s voice ended the sentence higher than it had begun, picking up emotion as she remembered her recent visit to the library. Nodding negatively, Tildy let her gaze fall to her lap. It was sad to see what those two had become, but she didn’t want to let her true opinion on it show.

“Oh, never you mind old Kaisa.” She said in a tone meant to calm Johanna down. “Admittedly she can be a bit of a grump, but she’s been in a bad place for some time now. I actually hadn’t talked to her in years before a few months ago.”

“Years?!” Johanna yelped, wondering how Kaisa even survived without Tildy for so long. Apparently, Johanna wasn’t the only one who had been black listed.

“Yes. Not long after she started college, we lost contact completely.”

Weird, Johanna thought. Kaisa had never thought about going to college. She had always wanted to focus completely on witchcraft.

“She moved out with practically no explanation. It was terribly sudden, but I could see she was shaken by her life having taken a turn she hadn’t expected.”

Though Tildy hadn’t meant to do so, Johanna felt jabbed by her words. She knew all too well about the turn in Kaisa’s life, Kaisa had made sure of it.

“It turns out she became the librarian! In my opinion, this job suits her very well, but it was a bit of a problem when I had an overdue book. Awfully embarrassing for me, as you can imagine.”

Tildy looked at Johanna expecting to see some recognition in her face, but there was nothing. It looked like Hilda was still keeping a few secrets close to her heart.

“I see.” Johanna muttered, adding some sugar to her tea. Something about that explanation didn’t feel right. Kaisa had never wanted to become a librarian, as far as Johanna was concerned. She couldn’t imagine that their situation would have caused her to give up on dedicating herself to witchcraft. Unless, that is, there was something she didn’t know.

“Enough about Kaisa, now.” Tildy said as she turned to her own tea. “you have my word that I’ll do my best with Hilda, but tell me, how have you been? I’m sure we have a lot to catch up on!”

The woman smiled. Even if the person who had held her heart for all of her childhood was a stranger to her now, at least Tildy was still herself. Maybe if she closed her eyes, she could pretend she was still a young girl, arriving in that house after school to have tea and learn about the healing properties of plants while her best friend studied their magical side. Even if just for a moment.

_#_#_#_

“Thank you for your time, Matilda.” As both of them stood by the doorway, Johanna smiled, tired and thankful at the same time.

“Not for that, my dear.” Tildy waved when Johanna took a step back. “If there’s anything old people have, it’s time. Please drop by more often, you are delightful company.”

The woman walked away feeling just a bit lighter to when she’d arrived. Maybe she should take the invitation and show up more.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Can you write a follow up on your "all the yeerks suddenly die" au?

[Follows from this AU; all you have to know from that one is that all the yeerks suddenly died somewhere between the events of #19 and #20.]

Three days after a military scientist officially confirms that the strange new sinkhole beneath the California mall was put there by an extraterrestrial intelligence, and that multiple area teenagers have been leading a resistance movement, the paparazzi descends upon the high school.  They’re not allowed to cross onto school grounds, but that doesn’t stop the whole flock of them from mobbing the drop-off line, hoping for any further information on the infamous child warriors.

They’re destined to be disappointed.  Even armed with extensive rosters detailing the rumors about who was and was not involved in the war, there’s no footage to be had of any of the Animorphs entering or leaving the school.

“I feel like a damn drug mule,” Jordan grumbles as she dumps the contents of her backpack on the locker room floor.  Two roaches skitter out from among the books and clothes, and immediately start demorphing.  “I have to take my own stuff to school too, you know.”

“Sorry,” Cassie says as she finishes the morph.  “And thanks for the ride.”

“You’re not the problem.”  Jordan hands over Cassie’s jeans and sneakers, and then pointedly shoves the remaining pile of stuff — skirt, blouse, leggings, socks, bra, platform boots, makeup kit, hairspray — toward Rachel.

“It’s not a crime to want to look good,” Rachel sniffs, grabbing the hairspray.

A week later Rachel flings herself into the chair across from Chapman’s desk, tilting it back on two legs.  “Long time, no see.  What’s the damage this time?”

It seems to take an age for him to look up from the file on the desk in front of him.  “Bailey Matthews is being checked for concussion,” he says at last.  “No word from the nurse yet.”

Rachel blows her bangs off her face, exasperated.  “Not him, me.  What’ll it be?  Three detentions?  Four detentions?  Let’s have it.”

Chapman folds his hands on the desk in front of him.  “Given this is your third disciplinary action in less than a semester, it’s an automatic suspension.  Effective immediately.  I’ve already contacted your guardian—”

“What?  My mom’s a civilian, you can’t just—”

“You attacked a fellow student.  I can do what I deem necessary to keep it from happening again.”

“So you called my mommy to tell her what a bad girl I’ve been?”  Rachel sneers.

“So I talked Principal Walsh down from expulsion,” he says quietly.

Rachel’s mouth falls open.  “Expulsion?  What the fuck.”

“You have, inarguably, ‘demonstrated a consistent pattern of violent behavior.’”  Chapman reads this last off the file in front of him.  “I argued that your exemplary GPA and clean disciplinary record up until this last year are evidence that this pattern arises from an undiagnosed stressor outside the school environment.  I have already contacted one of the counselors in the school’s network, and recommended that you talk to Dr. Irvine twice a week at minimum.”  He looks up at Rachel.  “She was a controller too.  It was the best I could do.”

“You think I need therapy?” Rachel demands.  “You think I’m off the rails?”

“Rachel...”  Chapman takes a breath, and then another.  “You’ve been forced to grow up too quickly, with no guides.  You’ve been asked to assume a burden that can and has killed men twice your age from the stress alone.  And you’ve had to do it without any of the social or structural support that actual military personnel would have.  That is, in essence, the definition of complex trauma.”

“And if I refuse your headshrinker?”

“Fine.”  He makes a note in the file.  “You’re suspended an additional two days.  If that’s what it’ll take to cool you off.”

Bang.  Rachel’s chair falls upright as she stands.  “You think you scare me?  Huh?”

“Sit.  Down.”  Chapman shoves to his feet as well.

Rachel’s chin comes up.  “Or what?”

“Or we’ll continue to escalate,” Chapman snaps.  “Until you morph and smear me across the linoleum.  You’ll have to kill me, but you’ll find a way to cover that up.  So there will be no real consequences for your actions, as usual.  Is that what you want?”  He’s practically shouting by the end.

Rachel stares at him.  Eyes wide.  Face pale.

Chapman takes a step back from her.  He sits back down, breathing hard, clearly fighting his own temper.  “I didn’t ask for this job,” he says quietly.  “The yeerks just placed me here.  But the fact remains that it is my responsibility to look out for all of the students in this school, Rachel.  All of them.  I want to help you, but I need to help Bailey and all the others as well.  So if you’re going to continue to be a threat to the safety of my students, then you can you can either shape up or get out.  Do I make myself clear?”

Without a word, Rachel whirls around and shoves out the door.

“Jaaaaake,” Tom calls down the stairs, a distinct sing-song quality to his voice, “your girlfriend’s on the phone.”

Jake runs for the phone, pulling it away from Tom.  “Cassie?” he says breathlessly.

“Rachel too,” Rachel says from the other end.  “Actually, you should loop Tom in.  This concerns him as well.”

Jake switches on speakerphone, setting the phone on the end of the bannister.  Tom gives him a questioning look; Jake shrugs.

“We just got done telling my parents about everything,” Cassie says into the phone.  “Now that everyone knows about the yeerks, it seemed like time.”

“We’re off to tell my mom next,” Rachel weighs in, voice tinny.  “I’m the one who suggested Cassie spill the beans.  Obviously our sibs and Marco’s parents already know, so it was just a matter of time.”

Jake takes a deep breath, staring at the ceiling as if imploring it for patience.  “You do remember the part where we all agreed we’d decide as a team when to tell the parents, right?  And you remember before that, when we voted to wait until we got official confirmation that the yeerks were all dead before doing anything reckless?  Because I seem to recall that that time you also went haring off and told Tom about us all being Animorphs.”

“Told you he wouldn’t be happy,” Cassie says quietly.

“Rach, quick question.”  Tom leans close to the phone.  “Actually, two questions.  First, is he always this bossy?  And second: if so, how did you go this long without strangling him?”

“Oh, shut up,” Jake mutters.

“See?”  Tom raises his eyebrows.  “Bossy.”

“Anyway, we wanted to give you a heads up,” Cassie says, too diplomatic to respond to that directly.  “Because if we tell Rachel’s parents, yours are going to find out pretty soon.”

“Cool,” Tom says.  “I’ve been saying we should tell from the start.  Jake can take care of that.”

Jake’s mouth opens halfway in indignation.  “Why just me?”

“Mom, Dad.”  Tom addresses thin air.  “You know how my grades have taken a nosedive this last quarter?  It’s not my fault, because I was mind-controlled by aliens.  Aliens that have since mysteriously disappeared.”  He widens his eyes.  “No, I’m not lying to get out of being grounded, and I can’t imagine why you would ever think that.”  He looks at Jake.  “See?  I don’t even believe myself.”

“He has a point,” Rachel says.

“Whereas you...”  Tom points at Jake.  “Just go ‘Hey guys, look what I can do!’  And then...”  He makes a gesture that is probably meant to convey morphing.  Either that or that he’s attempting to give himself the heimlich maneuver.  It’s a little unclear.

“Fine.”  Jake rolls his eyes.  “But you have to be there to back me up.”

“Bossy,” Tom whispers loudly.

“Bossy,” Rachel agrees, in an even louder whisper.

Marco goes on a date with Bethany Stevens.  It ends abruptly when she asks him if he knows anything about the alien stuff that’s been all over town, and doesn’t believe him when he announces that that has nothing to do with him and even if it did he wouldn’t want to talk about it.  It’s stupid, he’ll think later, to panic over being outed by a random civilian.  But paranoia doesn’t disappear overnight, even if apparently yeerks do.

“Um.  Hi.”  Tobias stops in the door of Chapman’s office, left hand wrapped around his right elbow.  “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes.”  Chapman sets a slim envelope on his desk.  “This isn’t how it was supposed to be delivered, but Warren DeGroot thought it best to waive...”  He cuts himself off.  “It’s your father’s will.  I ended up with it because the yeerks read it — illegally, sorry — and immediately went looking for you.”

Tobias doesn’t step into the room.  He stares at the envelope.  “My father’s dead?”

“Yes.”  Chapman shifts in place.  “I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”

Tobias shakes his head.  “I don’t know anything about him.  Never even met the guy.”

“Actually...”  Chapman shakes his head.  He nudges the envelope closer to Tobias, who still has not made a move toward it.  “Just read what he said, it’ll explain everything better than I can.  It’s not much of an excuse, but I did think you already knew, given your closeness to Aximili.”

“He abandoned me before I was even born.”  Tobias’s tone tries for apathy.  “What’s Ax got to do with it?”

Chapman gestures at the paper.  “Just read it.”

Tobias darts forward like a mouse entering an open field, snatching the envelope and retreating back to the doorway.

“Tobias!” Chapman says, stopping him in the doorway.  “You’ll probably have questions.  I’m not the best person to ask — I barely knew him for a few weeks, and I can’t claim we were ever friends — but if I can help at all...”

“Okay,” Tobias says.  “Thanks.”  And then he runs for it.

Tobias and Rachel walk each other to class.  Tobias and Rachel kiss in the hall when they arrive for the day.  Tobias and Rachel eat lunch together, leaning close to whisper to each other over a single shared carton of milk.

The rumor mill is appalled, of course.  What’s she doing with a guy like that?  Rachel’s the most popular girl in the ninth grade, and Allison heard from Brady who heard from Juan who knows for a fact that she had no less than four requests to go to Homecoming with various guys.  One was even a tenth-grader.

And yet she’s not holding hands with that tenth-grader.  Nope, she’s letting herself be seen in public with that new kid, the weird one.  The one who hunches his shoulders when startled and actually hissed at Andy Mitchell last week.  The one who’s always staring way off into middle distance, never paying attention to where he’s going.  Yeah, that new kid.

It’s the scandal of the century.

“...Jake?”  Ms. Hanna is leaning forward over Jake’s desk, frowning down at him.  They’re alone, the rest of his History class already having left at some point.  He must’ve lost time again.  Crap.  He hates zoning out in the middle of class.

“Sorry.”  Jake drags a shaking hand over his face, grimacing at the feel of fear-sweat on his skin.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, uh, not pay attention.”  It won’t be his first detention this month, and probably not his last.

“Are you back with me?” Ms. Hanna asks.  Her tone is... gentle.  Her pad of detention slips is still on her desk.  “It’s okay if you’re not.”

“Sorry,” Jake mutters again.  “I probably missed a lot.”

“It’s just the Revolutionary War, you can catch up later.”  She makes an impatient gesture.  “Can I get you anything?”  Her tone has softened again.  “A glass of water?  Do you want me to write you a pass for the nurse’s office?”

Immediately Jake shakes his head.  The school nurse is a civilian.  Ms. Hanna, it’s becoming obvious, is not.

“How about I get your brother, then?” she suggests.  “If you need to go home, it’s no trouble to write notes for you both.”  She moves to put her hand on Jake’s arm, but stops when he flinches at the motion.

“Could...”  Jake breathes in, then out.  The trembling will be gone soon, he knows.  “Could I just sit here for a minute?  Is that okay?”

“Of course.”  Ms. Hanna takes several steps back, giving him space.  “Of course, honey.  Take all the time you need.”

«You wished to see me, Prince Alloran.»  Ax stands at attention in the middle of the incongruously cheery-looking park, doing his best to ignore the gawking humans on the playground down at the other end.  He can’t imagine why Alloran wanted to meet here.

«There’s no need for formality, Aximili, we both know you have far more combat experience than I do.»  Alloran makes a dismissive gesture.

Slowly Ax lowers his tail.  «What is this about, sir?»

«That was commendable work with the human radio telescope, Aximili.  It has successfully intercepted signals from the andalite forces from as far away as the Anati homeworld.»  Alloran’s tone is careful in a way Ax does not like.  As they speak, circling the park, Ax can feel all eyes following them from all sides.  «Including a few highly encrypted, deeply euphemistic allusions to a mission that took place two local months ago here on Earth.»

«Andalites?» Ax asks sharply.  «Here?»

«Not a counter-invasion, of course.  A small force of war criminals, not officially recognized or endorsed by any authority, all of whom were declared dead before the mission even began.  A force specifically designed to keep the War Council’s hands clean.»

«A Suicide Squad?» Ax suggests.

Alloran makes a gesture that Ax interprets to mean sounds like some human nonsense I haven’t bothered to learn about, and keeps going.  «All four were meant to have died, by their own tails if not in battle.  That way, they could never speak a word of their mission to anyone else.»

«Their mission,» Ax repeats.  He has a horrible suspicion about the nature of that mission, given the timing — mere days before the death of every yeerk on the planet.

«Aximili, I called you here to meet the architect of the yeerks’ demise.  The creator of the second quantum virus we have now deployed in this war, one far more monstrous than anything even I could have devised.»

Alloran whirls faster than any human can react, tail bullwhipping through the air to stop millimeters from the throat of an ordinary-looking human girl.  Several people cry out in surprise, but the girl just looks calmly up at him.  “Prince Alloran,” she says.

«Estrid-Corill-Darrath,» he answers.  «My brother must have been so proud.»  This does not sound like a compliment.

«You must be very skilled, to have made a hybrid morph so soon,» Ax says.  «But you have a lot to learn about pretending to be a human.»

Estrid begins to demorph.  She never takes her eyes off Alloran, and he never moves his blade away from her throat.  «I ended the war,» she says flatly.  «You’re all very welcome.»

«Truly,» Alloran says, «It is an honor to be standing in the presence of the greatest mass murderer in all of history.  One who lacked even the courage to die for her sins.  You have surpassed me in every conceivable way, aristh.»

Estrid makes a sharp, dismissive gesture with her own tail.  The closest human equivalent Ax can imagine is if she had spat upon Alloran’s shoes.

«What do you mean to do with her?» Ax asks.  If she actually did what Alloran accuses — unleashed a virus deadly enough to annihilate the yeerks — then he finds himself torn between disgust and awe.  But that doesn’t mean he wants her dead.

Alloran tilts his head in consideration, and then drops his tail.  «She can live.  If I’m to be stranded here the rest of my days by the Electorate’s ruling, then she can endure the same.  Killing the architect of this massacre would be folly.  If the virus mutates enough to jump hosts...»

Ax shudders from stalk-eyes to hooves at the thought.

«...then she’ll be best equipped to do something about it.»  A cruel smile creases the corners of Alloran’s eyes.  «Besides, I think it’s safest for all involved if she’s confined to a primitive planet like this one, kept well away from any technology she could use to incite further mischief.»  With that, he turns and disappears into the trees.

Ax and Estrid stare at each other for the long, silent moment that follows.  «Will it mutate?» Ax says at last.

«The odds are infinitesimal!» Estrid snaps.  «Otherwise I never would have —»

«Killed an entire species?» Ax suggests.  «Were you aware of the Yeerk Peace Movement?»

She snaps her tail dismissively.  «A handful of token resisters does not make up for an entire empire’s worth of evil, Aximili.  And the virus did the killing, not me.»

Ax stares at her for a very long time.  «I will not tell the humans about you, if the virus does not mutate,» he says at last.  «But I also don’t think I ever want to speak to you again, Estrid.  Goodbye, and be well.»

He thinks she calls after him.  He doesn’t answer, only runs faster and focuses harder on beginning to morph.

“No, leerans are the aquatic ones that read people’s minds,” Jake hears Tom say from downstairs.

“I thought you said that yeerks were aquatic and read minds,” his mom responds.

“No,” Tom says.  “I mean, yeah.  But yeerks swim around in kandrona or in brain juice.  Leerans swim around in oceans.”

“And they shapeshift?”

“Those are andalites.  Andalites are the morphers.  You remember Ax?  Ate an entire pie in one sitting while pretending to be Jake?  Andalite.”

“So Jake became an andalite?”

“No, an andalite became Jake.”

“I thought you said that was because a yeerk became Jake.”

“No, a yeerk was inside Jake’s body.  So they had an andalite pretend to be Jake.”

“While a yeerk was also pretending to be Jake?”

“I guess.  Look, Mom—”

“So this yeerk morphed Jake, and then—”

“No, the yeerk was inside Jake’s brain.  He had control of the original Jake.  And then Ax acquired Jake’s DNA, then became a copy of Jake.”

“And he controlled it?”

“Uh.  No?”

“But then... Tom, I thought you said that yeerk was controlling you.  Did it make a copy of you too?”

“What?  Nobody morphed me.  That I know of, anyway.  Yeerks can’t morph.”

“I thought you said humans can’t morph either.  Does that mean Jake’s an andalite because he can morph now?”

“No, he’s just an Animorph.”

“And that’s its own species?”

“Don’t I know it.  But no.  Animorphs are dumb kids in spandex.  Andalites are the ones with the tail blades.”

“Oh, and all the spiky horns?”

“No, those are hork-bajir.”

“Hork-bajir, like the aliens who attacked the Gardens that one time?”

“Those were yeerks that attacked the Gardens.  They were using hork-bajir as hosts, but it was a yeerk attack.”

“Because the yeerks acquired hork-bajir DNA?”

“Mom...”

Jake considers going downstairs to attempt a rescue mission.  Then he remembers Tom contributing almost nothing to the entire conversation where Jake explained the war to their parents, and decides against it.

When Jake and Marco walk out of school at the end of the day, Eva’s leaning casually against the hood of her car at the front of the pickup line.  She scans the lines of kids with studied nonchalance, carefully ignoring the frantic whispers of the clusters of parents who stare at her from their own patches of sidewalk.  Someone must have told the flock of reporters who she is, because six or seven of them are shouting questions at her from their side of the school fence.  She doesn’t appear to have noticed them.

But Jake knows enough about Marco’s knack for showmanship to know that he comes by it naturally.  He also knows Eva well enough to notice that she’s smirking just a little, underneath her impeccable makeup.  She’s just here to pick her kid up after school, and she’ll probably swear that on her own grave... but she’s enjoying herself as well.

The My Other Car is a Blade Ship bumper sticker on the back of her minivan is new.  As is her updo.

“Is she trying to embarrass me?” Marco groans.

He doesn’t fool Jake either.  Mostly because he’s grinning from ear to ear, and there’s a catch in his voice.  His mom is home.  His mom is home.

Drake Zahn is the only one who comments directly to Marco about how apparently his mom ran off with the pool boy and had to fake her own death just to cover up the scandal.  Actually, Drake gets halfway through a comment to that effect before there’s a resounding thud from three lockers down.  Tom Berenson has just dropped an eighty-pound weight on the locker room floor, and now props a foot against it as he watches them both with an expression of mildest curiosity.

Behind Tom stands a red-haired kid named Bill that Marco mostly only knows from Sharing recruitment posters.  Bill’s surrounded by a loose cluster of kids, some older, some younger.  Together, they represent a decent subset of the clique that people have taken to calling the Sharing pack, for lack of a better explanation for how they all started hanging out together.  Three months ago, Marco would’ve just referred to them as the controllers.

“Do you have a problem?” Bill asks quietly.

“What?”  Drake looks from one of the Sharing kids to the other.  They all look back at him, most terrifyingly blank-faced.  “No, no problem.”

“So you’re just being a dick, then,” Tom comments.

“I don’t...”  Again, Drake looks around at the circle of ex-hosts.  “I...”  He turns and leaves without another word.

After a second, so do most of the no-longer-controllers.  None of them acknowledge Marco directly.

“Dude,” Tobias says later, after telling Marco about an eerily similar incident.  “Did we, like, join the Sharing without meaning to?”

Marco shrugs elaborately.  “Man, I think the Sharing joined us.”

Cassie startles, hastily trying to wipe her cheeks, when someone wrenches open the door of the janitor’s closet and dives inside.  It’s too late; Tom has already slammed the door shut behind him and turned to see her.  Tear tracks and all.

“Oh, shit,” he says.  “Sorry, I didn’t realize.  Sorry, I...”  He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.  “Do you mind if I stay just for a second?”

Cassie wipes her eyes again.  “It’s okay,” she says hoarsely.  “It’s a mop closet, I think anyone can use it.”

Tom sighs in relief.  “Honestly I’m sorry to intrude.  I was hiding from Ms. Paloma, and I didn’t realize you even knew about this place.”

“Knew about... a closet?”  Cassie’s actually glad he’s here, even if she’s a little embarrassed to be caught crying.  It always helps to have someone else around, so that she doesn’t have to be alone with her own thoughts.

“Oh.”  Tom steps forward and shoves aside one of the rows of shelves in demonstration.  The secret door behind leads to a staircase that winds straight down into a very familiar-looking set of tunnels.  “That’s what I meant.  Better hiding place to cry in private than a closet.  Not that you have to, because you had the closet first.  But crying is healthy.  Or I guess feeling things is healthy?  And so if you want to go feel things, I can just... stay here.”

Cassie smiles.  “I don’t mind the company,” she tells him.  She accepts the awkward hand that he offers her, stepping down the first several stairs with him.  Tom shuts the door behind them.

By silent agreement they sit down on the stairs well before reaching the first bend of the staircase that might bring the main Yeerk Pool cavern into view.  

“Do you... want to talk about it?” Tom asks softly.

Cassie doesn’t say not to you of all people, because that’d be rude.  Instead she takes a stab at getting him to understand.  “I lost a friend,” she says carefully.  “In... everything that happened at the end of the war.”

“A... friend.  Ah.”  Of course he understands that she means a yeerk.  “Someone who... was helping your side?”

She’s grateful to him for trying.  “She was tired of the war, just like me.  She wanted out, like I did.  So she gave up on having a host ever again.  Because I asked it.  Because Karen — her host — needed it.  She, uh...”  Her voice breaks.  Dammit, here come the tears again.

Tom lets her cry for a while.  He digs around in his pockets, coming up with a crumpled napkin that he gives her.

Cassie sniffs into the napkin, trying not to dwell too hard.  “So why were you hiding from Ms. Paloma, anyway?”

Tom flushes.  And then he reaches into his jacket and pulls out a silvery flask.  “She saw, she’s pissed.”

“You were drinking alcohol in the middle of the school day?”  Cassie knows she sounds judgmental, but honestly.  Of all the stupid things her classmates do, that has always seemed to be near the top of the list for stupidest.

“What?  No.”  Tom unscrews the cap and hands it to her.

Maple-and-ginger instant oatmeal.  She recognizes the scent with visceral immediacy.

“Will that... make you impossible to infest?” Cassie asks.  She doesn’t say stupid things like all the yeerks are dead, because she’s wearing her morphing suit under her clothes right now for exactly the same kinds of reasons.

Tom tilts a hand in the air in a so-so gesture.  “It’d make me less attractive as a host, especially if I managed to down some in between...”  He gives a self-conscious little laugh.  “In between things going wrong and them going really wrong.  Anyway, it makes me feel better, that’s all.”

“Feeling things is healthy,” Cassie says, smiling.

“Yeah, which is why I’m going to keep hiding down here until Ms. Paloma gets distracted and then...”  Tom shrugs, laughing at himself again.  “Move counties, change my name, and fake my own death to avoid detention?”

“Let me know how that works out for—”

The hidden door at the top of the stairs scrapes open.  They both scramble to their feet, looking guiltier than they should.

Mr. Tidwell regards them both from the top of the stairs, expression very mild.

“I think I discovered the major weakness of this hiding place,” Tom whispers.

“The fact that half the faculty was controllers?” Cassie whispers back.

“Out, both of you.”  Mr. Tidwell rolls his eyes.  “Before the ceiling finishes collapsing and I have to fill out a novel’s worth of paperwork about your deaths.  And if I ever catch you down here again, I will be forced to remember that instant oatmeal does technically fit the definition of a controlled substance by the way the School Board defines banned materials.”

“Sorry,” Cassie says, as they file back out into the closet.

“Just don’t do it again,” Mr. Tidwell says, and she could swear he’s smiling a little.

Someone from the U.S. government calls Marco’s house, looking for a defense briefing.  Peter’s not sure if they want his son or his wife, but either way he politely assures the man that this is a wrong number.

“All right,” Marco calls even as he approaches Ax’s scoop.  “What is this ‘regrettable purchase,’ and why are you and Tobias begging me to help with it during a perfectly good Saturday?”

«Well,» Tobias snarks, «it’s not like you had plans or anything.»

“I, for your information, was right in the middle of helping my parents install a second anti-aircraft dracon beam on the roof of our house.”  Marco presses a hand over his chest.  “Ergo, I do have more important things to be doing right now.”

«Wouldn’t a second dracon beam be redundant?» Ax asks.

“My mom’s only installing a second one because of the hissy fit the homeowners’ association threw over the first one,” Marco explains.

«Wow,» Tobias drawls, «I can’t imagine what their objection would’ve been.»

“Anyway, why’d you frantically call me here in the middle of the day to demand my hard-earned...”

Ax has slid the computer around so that Marco can see the screen.

“Holy shit,” Marco breathes.  “Is that the real deal?”

«The picture is extremely poor quality due to the limitations of your human technology.»  Ax makes a very human hand-tilty motion.  «However, I can be approximately eighty-six percent certain that it is, indeed, a morphing cube.»

“And this guy ‘DavidCobraLord’ is just... selling it on Ebay.  For forty bucks.”  Marco sits down hard on the ground.  After a second, he grabs the computer and yanks it closer to himself.  “What is he, nuts?”

«Yeah,» Tobis says, «he could totally get fifty for that thing.»

«The question is, can you afford to purchase it?» Ax asks.

«We may have, slightly, placed a bid with funds we didn’t have,» Tobias says.  «And now Ebay’s being a butt about asking us to actually, y’know, pay up like we said we would.»

“Yeah, sure, I got it.  And just like that, we’ll have our very own morphing cube?”  Marco hears his voice rising and can’t even care.  “Damn.  Do we have to give it back to the andalites?”

«What the War Council doesn’t know will not hurt it,» Ax says darkly.

Tobias and Marco both stare at him.  He stares back at them both.

«We can keep it or dispose of it, as Prince Jake sees fit.»

«You okay, Ax-Man?» Tobias asks.

«I have been on Earth entirely too long,» Ax says.  «And yet, I find I am reluctant to leave.»

“So don’t.”  Marco pulls the computer close to him, setting his dad’s credit card on the keyboard to begin typing out numbers.  “Our door’s always open.  Go visit the folks at home, come back and visit us.  Don’t choose, and if anyone tries to make you then whack ‘em with your tail.”

«Yes,» Ax says solemnly.  «I believe I just might.»

“I heard about what you said to Tobias.”  Rachel shoves Devon up against the row of lockers, hard.  “You want to repeat it to my face, or do you want to keep being a wimpy little twerp about it?”

Devon holds up both hands, eyes wide.  “Get ahold of yourself, you psycho!”

“What did you call me?”  She leans in close, vision tunneling with rage.  “What did you just—”

Someone grabs her on the arm.  Rachel doesn’t think, just spins around and punches with all of her strength.

Cassie staggers back, clutching her nose.  There’s already blood starting to seep from between her fingers.

She and Rachel stare at each other in silence for a second.  When Cassie starts to say something, Rachel shoves roughly between her and Devon and storms off down the hallway.

She doesn’t even fully register the trip down the stairs and across to the main office, every muscle clenched tight like a fist.  Other bodies impact hers, and she keeps charging forward anyway.

When she reaches Chapman’s office, she shoves the door open so hard it bangs against the wall.

“Rachel?”  Chapman’s voice is carefully neutral.  He looks up from where he’d been in quiet conversation with the principal.  Registering Rachel’s expression, he moves just slightly to place himself between her and Ms. Walsh.  Which only steels Rachel’s resolve.

“I...”  Rachel breathes in, gathering courage.  “I think I need help.”

Chapman stands.  He exchanges a glance with Ms. Walsh, who steps out the side door into the front office.

“That doctor, that therapist of yours.”  Rachel tries to catch her breath.  She doesn’t know why this is scarier than facing down an army of yeerks, but she’s never let fear stop her.  “You said that I can talk to her?  That she’d understand?”

“She can try, anyway,” Chapman says.  “Dr. Irvine’s been holding an appointment slot for you since last month.  I can get you in this afternoon.”

Silent, throat tight, Rachel nods.

He picks up the phone.

It’s something, Rachel thinks.  It’s a start.

[nothesc]

We need to talk. A Damira + Cris fic.

Well, here I am again with my take on the much needed conversation between Dani and Cris after yesterday’s events.

You can also read it on Ao3

Thanks for reading!!!

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

Dani throws the sports bad in the hall and takes his shoes off. He knows that if his mom sees him leaving all the things there he’ll be in trouble. But he also knows that his mom is in an afternoon shift so he can rest for a bit and pick up his things later. He enters the living room and sees Cris on the sofa with her laptop. She has her legs stretched not leaving any place for him to sit but that’s not a problem for Dani because in a quick move he sits next to her and places her feet on his lap. His sister immediately moves and flexes her knees to put some distance between them. She sighs but doesn’t say anything. Dani knows that lately Cris hasn’t been in a good mood. He suspects that it has something to do with Joana but he’s waiting for the right moment to say something. He’s waiting for the right moment to say too many things.

“Uff, man, I’m so tired. I don’t know who had the brilliant idea of having practice at 4 pm.” Dani says and, when his sister doesn’t answer he tries to get her attention “Hey, Earth to Cris, are you listening to me?”

Cris only sighs again, not looking up from her laptop.

“Cris, I’m talking to you.”

Suddenly she closes her laptop with such strength that for a second she fears she might’ve broken it but she’s so mad that she doesn’t really care so she leaves it on the table and stands up.

“Oh, so now you want to talk? Wow, well, now I’m the one that doesn’t want to listen, alright?”

Cris didn’t mean to speak, she didn’t want to give him that satisfaction, but as always she spoke before thinking so, before Dani can get the chance to say something she picks up the lighter that’s on the table and leaves to go to the rooftop to try to relax.

Dani stays there in the sofa, trying to process what just happened. He’s aware that his sisters is more short-tempered than usually but this is going too far. Suddenly something hits him and he realizes the reason that might be behind her attitude so he takes out his phone from his pocket. He doesn’t have to look for too long to find the chat he’s looking for because since Saturday, they’ve been talking pretty much all the time. For a moment he forgets what happened with Cris and can’t help but smiling when he sees the good morning texts from today. When he comes back to himself he begins to type.

“Ami, have you talked to Cris?”

“Yup”

“And?”

Amira sends a thumbs down emoji and Dani has his theory confirmed.

“Fuck, that’s what I thought”

“She looks so mad”

“She thinks we’re going to overwhelmed each other”

“Hey”

“Don’t fucking listen to her, alright? I’ll talk to her”

“I don’t know if it’ll work…but thanks”

He sends a kissing emoji and puts his phone back in his pocket. He knows the chat with his sister can’t wait any longer. Grabbing the keys so he won’t be left outside, he goes to the only place he can picture Cris went to.

When he arrives to the roof top he finds her smoking and for a moment his mind travels back to last year when, after finding out about Joana, he decided to let her know that she could count on him. That image though is not sweet anymore, now is bittersweet. He just doesn’t understand how after all the times him and Amira have been there for her, his sister is behaving like this.

“Cris, can we talk?”

Again, she doesn’t answer.  Dani tries to stay calm, he really doesn’t want to fight with her, but she’s not going easy on him.

“Sis, really, I know you’re mad but let’s talk about it please”

“What? Your girlfriend already told you, right? Wow, you don’t have problems to talk to each other”

She finishes her cigarette. She considers lighting up another one immediately but the last thing she needs right now is Dani seeing how much this is all affecting her.

“Cris, I’m sorry, alright? I’m really sorry, we should’ve told you sooner but…fuck, we’ve been dating for three days and before that we didn’t even know what was going on”

Taking a few steps forward he stands in front of Cris who’s leaning against the wall, her back to the city.

“As if you knew what you’re doing now. Excuse me if I laugh.”

Dani’s patience is reaching its limit with his sister’s behavior. He knows that sometimes with Cris he just needs to be straightforward.

“Look Cris, I understand that you’re surprised, I understand that you’re mad because we didn’t tell you first, but you’re acting like a fucking brat right now”

Cris laughs sarcastically and shakes her head, but she doesn’t say anything, which makes Dani ever madder.

“And, what the fuck did you tell Amira? Something about us overwhelming each other”

“I told her the truth, just that.”

“I see, and what’s the truth according to you?” Dani crosses his arms on his chest willing to listen to everything his sister has to say.

“You love going out at night, you love drinking and smoking, and if you feel the need to hook up with a girl you go ahead and do it. But Amira is not like  that, Dani. She’s different and she’s going to ask you to do so much stuff, you’re going to get scared and run away”

Dani shakes his head not really believing what he’s hearing.

“Listen to me, what the fuck do you know about my relationship with Amira? Huh?”

“I know Dani, I know. Because I know you and I know Amira and you’re going to end up so fucked up”

“Great, just fucking great. Really Cris, you get an A in understanding and supporting. Thank you so much”

“What do you want me to support Dani?” Cris pushes herself off the wall and gets closer to her brother. A part of her doesn’t want to have this conversation but another part knows it’s necessary. “You have no fucking idea what you’re getting yourself into with dating Amira”

“Of course I know, fuck, I’m not stupid” Dani puts his hands on his hips, then he crosses his arms again and finally he combs his hair with his fingers not really knowing what to do with himself. “Look, whatever I talked about with Amira is none of your business but just so you know, we’ve talked about this, alright? I know exactly how Amira is, what she wants and what she needs. And, you know what? I’ve accepted it. Fuck, I’ve accepted it because I want to be with her, face everything that comes and fight together for this relationship. Look, I don’t want to change Amira, alright? On the contrary, I want to learn from her”

“So what? Now you want to be a muslim, or what?”

The way Cris laughs when she speaks makes Dani get angrier even though he thought that wasn’t possible.

“Maybe, yes! Or not. Or I don’t know Cris. Yeah, I think so.” This is not how Dani wanted to have this conversation with his sister but she didn’t give him any other choice. When he sees Cris looking at him with such a horrified look on her face he tries to calm down a bit and explain it to her. “Look Cris, all I know right now is that Amira is not only the type of person I want to be with, she’s also the type of person I want to be.”

All Cris can to is look at him and shake her head, not believing what she’s hearing. This ends Dani’s calm. His sister should be supporting them and not making him justify his feelings.

“Look, I know you’re mad, but you’re being fucking selfish. And you’re surprised we didn’t tell you sooner? The only thing Amira needed from you was support. And instead of that you behave like shit.”

Again, Cris is not even trying to talk and Dani decides to ask her the question that needs to be asked.

“Fuck Cris, I don’t get why you’re so mad at us being together.”

Cris sighs and looks at the floor, she’s getting tired of this conversation.

“Dani, leave me alone, for real”

She walks by her brother trying to reach the door to leave but Dani tries to stop her by repeating the question.

“No, fuck, Cris, don’t go. You always do this. Answer me. Why are you so mad at us?”

“Because I love you two too much, alright?!-Cris is yelling now and she turns around to look at her brother who’s looking back at her, confusion on his face. Cris can see the moment he starts to understand everything.

“Cris…” Dani says almost whispering and approaches his sister hesitantly. She takes a step back.

“No. Just no. I love you two so much Dani and I don’t want to see you destroying each other. Relationships are so fucking hard, alright? More than you think. And I don’t want to be there when in six months you get tired of this and cheat on my best friend. Or when in a year Amira realizes you’re not what she wants and she breaks my brother’s heart. Can’t you understand that I cannot deal with that?”

“But Cris…” Dani tries to approach her again and this time Cris doesn’t move, she only looks at the floor ashamed. “That’s not gonna happen.”

“You don’t know that.” Righ now is Cris the one whispering.

“Alright, fine, I don’t know that. But neither do you. No one knows what’s going to happen next month or next year or five years from now. All I can tell you is that I know what I’m feeling right now, I know what I’m getting myself into and I swear I regret nothing. Fuck Cris, for example yesterday…” Dani stops before he can finish that sentence, he’s not sure he want to tell his sister that. “Forget it”

“What?” Cris frowns when she notices her brother blushing.

“Forget it” He can’t even look at his sister so he just stares at the floor hoping she just drops it.

“Come on, Dani, what’s wrong?”

“You’re going to laugh at me because I’m too cheesy” Dani mumbles biting his lip.

“Fuck, Dani, come on”

“Fine”.  He takes a deep breath and looks at his sister who’s changed her expression, now she looks like she’s willing to listen and not judge him. “Yesterday I was with Amira and…there was a moment when she touched my hand for a couple of seconds. Just a couple of seconds, Cris, that’s it. And it may sound stupid to you but I swear that what I felt in those two seconds is something I’ve never felt before. No kiss with some random girl can make me feel that. That’s how sure I am about my feelings for Amira.”

“Well, alright, it is a little bit cheesy.” Cris tries to stop herself from laughing but she can’t.

“Fuck, Cris” Dani doesn’t know where to hide right now, thought, if he’s being completely honest, he’s kind of proud of what he just said.

“Hey” Cris takes a step closer to him and places her hand on his shoulder so he looks at her. “But it’s also very beautiful and it’s…well it’s how I feel about Joana”.

“Can we talk about that? The real reason you’re acting like  this” Now is Dani the one that tries to get her sister to look at him since she’s clearly avoiding him

“I don’t know what you mean” Cris crosses her arms on her chest and looks away.

“Really? Are you sure? ‘Relationships are so fucking hard, you have no idea’ You do have an idea about that, don’t you?”

Cris is not stupid, she knows what Dani means and she also knows that they were bound to have this conversation. For a moment she thinks about leaving, ignoring him and go back to her inside world but, when she looks up at Dani, she knows he’s going to support her, even if she didn’t.

“I’m a mess, Dani. I love Joana, so fucking much, but sometimes everything is so difficult that I don’t even know if it’s worth fighting for. What if we end up hurting each other? What if I overwhelm her? What if she realizes she’s happier without me?” She feels like she’s about to choke, she really can’t get more words out.

“What if it works out just fine?” Dani takes her hands and continues. “Look Cris, I don’t know what’s going to happen with me and Amira. And I don’t know what’s going to happen with you and Joana. But I know you love each other, I know you’ve never been this happy and that has to mean something, right? I think that as long as you’re willing to fight, you’ll still have a chance.”

“Since when are you this wise?” Cris is not trying to hide the tears that are welling up in her eyes. She really feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders.

Dani laughs and places his arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head.

“I’ve always been wise.”

“Nah, I think it’s because you’re in love.” Cris says laughing for real for the first time in a long time. She becomes more serious  when she looks up at her brother. “You are in love, aren’t you?”

“Very” Dani says nodding, and he realizes he truly means it.

“I guess that then I should support you. If you want to be together I won’t be an obstacle, you’ll get plenty of that already.”

“Thank you, sis.” Now Dani is the one that’s about to cry and unlike what one would think he’s not trying to hide it. He hugs his sister tighter and says. “And you know that I’m here whenever you want to talk.”

“I know…And I’m sorry, for everything.” Cris is not mad anymore, just embarrassed, she knows she’s acted like a brat, but she also knows that her brother and her best friend will be there for her.

“I don’t think I’m the only one you should be apologizing to, am I right?” Dani raises his eyebrows at Cris, there’s no need to explain further.

“I know, I’ll apologize to Amira tomorrow.” Cris knows it’s not going to be easy, she’ll have to swallow her pride, but she also knows it’ll be worth it.

“Good”

Cris can’t help but laugh at the situation but Dani doesn’t understand quite well what she’s laughing about so he frowns at her.

“Look at you, defending your girlfriend.” Cris says with a smug smile while Dani rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe you have a girlfriend.”

Now Dani is the one laughing and he realizes that he does in fact have a girlfriend and he couldn’t be happier about it.

“And so do you. Look we can team up. You tell mom about Joana and I’ll tell her about Amira. That way she’ll be so overwhelmed she won’t know who she should disown first.”

“Asshole” Cris says pretending to be mad and pushing her brother away.

“Hey, it’s a good plan!” Dani follows Cris who’s again trying to reach the door to leave, but now she’s not angry. Still, he stops her so he can tell her one last thing. “Really Cris, whenever you’re ready to tell mom about Joana, I’ll be ther for you, if you want me there”

“Thank you, Dani” Cris gives him another hug and they start going downstairs to their house. “And since we’re being honest with each other…If you hurt Amira, I’ll cut your balls”

Dani laughs and starts running down the stairs, leaving his sister behind.

“I’m being serious Dani, I’ll cut your balls!”

[marlmckitten]

Can you do a jealous!Marlene Blackinnon smut? Where Sirius teaches at a Muggle school and one day, Mar decides to supreme him, only to find a fellow colleague all over him and then smut? Also, Marlene and Sirius are already dating. If yes, then thank you sooooo much but if you are not comfortable then it's okay. P.S. Hope you are better now! XOXO!

Thank you thank you! And I like this idea a lot~ I hope I can do it justice! Also I apologize for my really bad habit of never re-reading or editing my work lately!

It was nearing their two year anniversary, as Marlene’s friends kept reminding her. They were not usually the couple for fancy dates and anniversaries and stuff like that. They were quite content with just throwing some insults at each other and finishing their day with sex, or starting it with sex. The point was, they had their relationship exactly how they liked it. It may not be traditional but they were happy. And neither were the most comfortable with bearing their feelings. But, after Lily had reminded Marlene for the 7th time in 3 days, she finally decided at the very least she could surprise him at his work. They didn’t do anything for their first anniversary but maybe she could at least show up with some food for him and see what he liked so much about teaching at a muggle school. She hadn’t even seen the place yet so it wasn’t an entirely bad idea.

She waited until it was nearly lunch hour at the school, grabbed some of their favourite cinnamon buns from a nearby bakery and contemplated bringing some wine but realized that was probably frowned upon. So instead she just grabbed a sparkling soda and made her way to her boyfriends work. She misjudged the time a little, it appeared the lunch break had already started and she had to wander around the school hallways to find him. Eventually someone pointed her in the direction of a staff room and she went there, poking her head in. An older lady smiled and greeted her, but informed her that he had just went to a colleagues classroom to help her with something. Getting more frustrated, she stormed off to where she said that they would be. This is what she got for being thoughtful, had to walk around school hallways for 20 minutes, at this rate by the time she found him, class would resume.

At last she recognized Sirius’ voice, and waked up to the room, she was about to announce herself and push open the door when she heard a very flirtatious giggle from what sounded like a much younger woman than the nice lady who told her where to find her boyfriend. Marlene’s eyes immediately narrowed as she peaked through the tiny opening and watched a young brunette, laugh at some stupid joke and run her hand down Sirius’ arm. She was waiting for her boyfriend to walk away but he didn’t, he smiled at her and leaned back on her desk as they continued talking. When the woman tossed her hair back and told Sirius how nice his arms where, Marlene felt her face flush bright red and she kicked the door open, glaring at the pair of them.

Sirius turned when he heard the noise, his face light up, “Marls! What’re you doing here?” He sounded genuinely happy to see her, as if he wasn’t just about to cheat on her with a school teacher who honestly looked more like a pornstar in Marlene’s eyes right now.

Of course, the female teacher frowned, “Marls? Who is she?” She asked Sirius.

Marlene’s eyebrows raised and Sirius immediately stood up and held his hands up in surrender, “Marlene, I promise I talk about you all the time, Right Clara?” He turned to his coworker hopefully.

Trouble brewed behind Clara’s eyes and she supressed a smirk, “Sorry no, Sirius. I’ve never heard her name in my life. Is she your aunt or something?”

This set Marlene off, “OKAY MISS SLUTTY PORN BITCH, YOU BACK AWAY FROM MY BOYFRIEND THIS INSTANT!”

Sirius shut his eyes and covered a chuckle with a laugh, “Hey, darling? This is a school you really can’t-”

“I wasn’t the one about to fuck a horny school teacher so don’t you dare tell me what I can or can’t do!”

Clara’s mouth dropped, “I cannot see what you see in this woman.”

“YOU, SHUT UP!” Shouted Marlene, “With your waving your stupid hair around and touching his arms and your general being a whore attitude.”

Sirius finally walked over to Marlene, put his hand on his shoulder and kissed her cheek, “Darling, there was no fucking to be had, she needed help moving her classroom around and I agreed.”

Marlene was still glaring at the woman though. Clara smiled, “Sorry I thought you were his aunt, I just can’t picture you two as a couple and he never said anything about a girlfriend.”

Sirius had to hold Marlene back, “Clara, please don’t do this. She isn’t well known for her patience and calmness.” He kissed Marlene’s head lovingly, “She knows I have a girlfriend, and if we don’t look like a couple it’s only because you’re way too hot for me,” he tried, it worked, she stopped fighting him to get at the girl but still was not happy.

Luckily the same older lady walked by, her brows were furrowed, “Is everything okay in here? A student said he heard some shouting!”

Sirius nodded, running a hand through his girlfriends hair, “Sorry Mrs Gaglardi, just a misunderstanding.”

Mrs Gagladrdi sighed, “Again Clara?” Marlene chucked. “I do apologize, she seems to not hear when people talk about their relationships, but it is nice to meet you Marlene, I have heard so much about you from Sirius. He really is smitten with you. Even has some pictures of you two up in his classroom, he never even comes to faculty events because he says he wants to spend the time with you. Apparently he hasn’t invited you because you have a temper that he says he finds adorable but most people do not.” She looked around. “Clearly he was right.”

Marlene chewed her lip, “Erm.. yeah,” was all she could manage, Sirius’ hand found the small of her back and began to push her out of the classroom.

“Sorry about the miscommunication I’m just gonna go and take her away now,” he apologized to Mrs Gaglardi and walked away with Marlene. Neither of them spoke until he guided her into his classroom and shut the door, Marlene looked around and noticed that he really did have pictures of them together at his desk.

“So.... That Clara girl seems like a bitch.”

“I really did not know she was trying to come onto me!”

Marlene looked at him.

“Okay I knew, but she always does any extra work I have to do after hours which means I get to come home and see you and I did not think you would ever meet her.”

“Well don’t talk to her again, I don’t like her.”

He laughed, “Whatever you want McKitten. So.. why are you here anyway?”

“Oh,” she held up the paper bag with his lunch in it, “I uh... came to surprise you. You know, anniversary tomorrow and all so, hi?”

He took the bag and placed it on his desk, wrapping his arms around Marlene, “Hi,” he whispered before kissing her, “Never thought you’d be the type.... Lily’s behind this isn’t she?”

Marlene rolled her eyes, “Whatever, I was being thoughtful so, you’re welcome, see you later,” she went to talk away but Sirius grabbed her wrist and pulled her back, pushing her against his desk and kissing her again. Marlene broke off the kiss, “Don’t you have to teach?” As if on queue the bell went off but Sirius kept her exactly where she was, she looked at him questioningly, “I’m not really into snogging in front of a bunch of kids, Sirius.”

“It’s Professor Black while we are in this room, McKinnon,” he smirked, “And my kids are on a field trip for the afternoon, I volunteered to stay behind and finish marking some tests but... it seems something more pressing has come into my office.”

“It’s not an office it’s a classroom,” Marlene retorted.

“Professor.”

“What?”

His hand tangled into her hair, “You forgot to call me Professor, or Sir. Whichever suits you best.” He pulled on her hair and Marlene let out a simple, betraying her cool exterior. “That’s what I thought.” She didn’t have anything else to say, she licked her lips and looked up to him, “And I believe, you should be punished for talking back to me.”

“Okay,” she breathed, he tugged her hair harder and raised his eyebrows. She realized what she had said, “I mean.. Yes, Sir.” Marlene felt his erection stiffen on her thigh, it didn’t take much to turn him on, her lips twitched into a smile and her hand went to play with the outside of his pants, he growled into her ear and began kissing her neck, sloppily, but she knew he couldn’t help himself, he picked her up and plopped her onto the desk, she spread her legs and moved herself back, looking at him, watching him examine her and go between her face and looking at her now very exposed thighs. “Are you going to punish me, Professor? Maybe I could make it up to you?”

His hands went up her skirt and his lips found hers again, hungry and wanting to taste her. She moaned into the kiss, letting his hands ghost over her core, she felt herself getting wet at just the lightest touch, and felt his smirk in their kiss as he could feel her warmth and her need. “I think we can work something out, Miss McKinnon,” he said once he pulled away from her again. This time he took a few steps back, “Take your clothes off.”

She looked at him innocently, “All of them?”

“Now,” Sirius demanded.

She did as she was told, getting off the desk and removing article after article until she was completely naked. Marlene decided to tease him a little, she looked down at herself and ran her fingers over her body, circling her nipples and playing with them between her fingers, “Now what, Professor Black?”

It was clear that Sirius was trying hard to keep up the facade when all he wanted was to fuck her. Marlene squeezed her breasts then let go, letting them jiggle as they fell into place. “Fuck,” Sirius muttered under his breath.

“What was that professor?” She feigned innocence again.

“Good girl,” he cooed, something that instantly made her stomach tighten, and warmth grow through her, God she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. “Now come and take these ridiculous pants off for me.” He gestured to him, she considered denying his request but saw how tight they had become as his member grew harder, desperate for release. She went over to him, slowly got onto her knees and then took her time unbuckling his belt. A low growl emitted from her boyfriends throat, “Do it faster.” She did. In no time at all, his pants and boxers were around his ankles and his cock sprang to life. “You know what to do,” he told her. She licked her lips and pushed him all the way down her throat, nearly choking herself. He moaned, his hands grabbed her hair and pushed himself further into her. This time she did choke, he let up a little but she didn’t let him leave her mouth completely. He tasted divine. Her tongue flicked over his balls and she began bobbing her head, she looked up to him and he was looking down at her, clearly enjoying the sight. But it only lasted a minute, before he pulled her hair until his rock hard cock popped out of her mouth.

“I wasn’t done,” she complained, but he kicked the pants off his ankles and marched her to the desk, throwing her towards it.

“Bend over,” he instructed. Her breasts touched the cold wood of the desk, she wiggled her butt in the air and her hands grasped either side of the desk, while her head turned just enough to see the lust on his face. “Beautiful,” he breathed, his finger teased her clit before slipping inside of her, feeling how wet and ready for him she was. “Perfect.”

Without another thought, he slammed himself deep inside of her. They both moaned loudly at the feeling. Marlene was filled up perfectly by him and her grip on the desk tightened. “Fuck,” she said as he pulled out and slammed into her again.

“What was that?” He asked, pulling out but not reentering this time. “Did you want something Miss McKinnon?”

He was bluffing, she knew he was. He wanted this just as much as she did, but she didn’t care. “Pl- please sir, fuck me. I deserve it for talking back. Fuck me hard and fast.”

He did. His cock rammed into her so hard, the entire desk banged against the wall loudly, it didn’t stop either of them. She whimpered and he did it again. He felt so good inside of her, she needed more, she pushed herself against him and they began moving in perfect rhythm with one another. They were both letting out profanities as she felt warmth through every single one of her limbs. Her fingers gripped the desk so tightly that they were going white, and her hips were surely getting bruised by repeatedly hitting the desk. But none of that mattered as much as the feeling of him inside of her. His fingers found her clit again and began stimulating it and she couldn’t remember how to even breath. A loud shrill voice filled the room that she did not even recognize as her own. She heard his grunt behind her and eventually heard him telling her to cum. Marlene knew it was because he was just as close as she was and he applied more pressure on her clit. An orgasm ripped through her entire body, she screamed out in pleasure and then felt him explode inside of her, filling her with his juice. He pumped into her more slowly a few times, while they both came down from their high. She panted and now could feel his sweaty body collapsing on hers, arms wrapping tightly around her and kissing her back in a million tiny kisses. “I love you,” he told her, still inside of her, not wanting leave the warmth of her body just yet.

She turned, he finally removed himself from her insides and she felt how full she was with his semen, it dripped down her legs, but she didn’t care, “I love you too,” she said, kissing his lips gently. Eventually Sirius leaned down to pass her clothes to her before pulling his own pants back up. Her legs were still shaking from her orgasm as she dressed. “How did- Are you going to get into trouble?” She asked, now having it dawn on her just how loud they were.

What she didn’t expect was his child-like grin and a wink, “Nah I think we are okay.”

“How?”

“James gave me a heads up,” he admitted, “I asked Clara to pretend to hit on me, she’s married, has some kids, not my type at all. Knew it would get you jealous. I already sound-proofed this room before you came and asked Clara to combine our classes for next period because I had an errand to run.”

Her jaw dropped open, “You- you?!”

Stepping closer to her, he ran his thought her hair and down her back, eventually resting it on her ass. He leaned down and kissed her again, “I don’t think you minded that much, Miss McKinnon?”

That, she could not argue with, but she still felt played, “I’ll see you at home, Professor. But you owe me.”

Sirius chuckled, “Oh I’m sure I’ll find a way to make it up to you.