#b) knew that i would not know anyone and would be stuck in the middle of nowhere with people who were already friends from previous years

[liinos]

saw a reel of some kids at an orchestra camp that looked suspiciously like the one i was forced to go to one year... worst experience of my life!!!

[itsthecline]

LOVERS ROCK

DON’T FALL IN LOVE WITH JJ MAYBANK

ִֶָ 𓂃⊹ ִֶָ summary one thing you know you have to do— as much as it will kill you , is discourage kie from confessing her feelings to jj

word count 3.5k

warnings profanity , implied sex , mentions of alcohol

AS HUNGOVER as you were feeling , you regrettably could still remember everything that happened the night before. you remember rafe blowing up your phone all day only for you to text him later that night. you remembered drinking nearly an entire bottle by yourself , and you remember jj— the cause of it all.

he had pulled you to the side last night , drunkenly rambling about needing to tell you something. after that conversation , you found the bottle of tequila. and after the tequila , you made the choice of texting rafe despite ignoring him all day.

it wasn’t a healthy decision , but it was made. and that put you in his bed , waking up with a headache and no clothes on. a layer of sweat had stuck to you and the sheets over night. the open window had let in the morning air.

you glanced over at rafe , getting to look at his sleeping form that faced away from you. it was only around seven in the morning by your guess , and you knew he hardly ever slept on his own , always staying up to work hard or party harder. a guilty warmth in your chest rises , not wanting to wake him up but not wanting to leave with saying goodbye first.

rafe had somehow gotten you to form the habit of always saying something to him in the morning. you felt it was overplayed , but you weren’t one to skip out on aftercare— even if it was a simple i’ll text you before you slipped out the door. most of the time , he would wake up to you getting ready and whine out about how you were leaving him.

while you didn’t harbor the same feelings rafe felt for you , it was sweet that he didn’t want to wake up without you in bed next to him. so , you decided to quietly get ready. you peeled the sheets from your body and got out of bed. your clothes had been scattered around the room in a sex fueled frenzy the night before. as quietly as you could , you scooped everything up in your arms and headed to the bathroom.

as much as you hated it , rafe insisted on keeping a toothbrush at his place for you. “i don’t wanna kiss a girl with a dirty mouth,” he explained , plucking your brush from your hand and dropping it in the cup next to his. you had rolled your eyes , knowing it was just his way of admitting he wasn’t seeing anyone else. you didn’t need the sentiment.

however , you would use the amenities while you were at the condo. three bathrooms for seven people wasn’t nearly enough at the house , so you enjoyed rafe’s walk in shower whenever you could.

it wasn’t until you were in the middle of washing your hair when rafe walked into the bathroom , grumbling a good morning before brushing his teeth. after that , he slipped into the shower , standing behind you. his hands were on you immediately after closing the glass door behind him.

“i gotta go right after showering. b texted me saying everyone was headed to the beach. swell day,” you told rafe , melting into his sleepy touch.

“then i’ll be able to see you twice today,” rafe smiled back , pressing kisses into your shoulder blades.

“which means no monkey business while i take a shower,” you replied , gently shrugging him off to turn around and wash the shampoo out of your hair.

the day rafe had confessed his feelings to you was a shock , but you had set ground rules right away. first rule being no sex in daylight. what you had was a sneaky link at best , and that meant only moonlight meetups.

rafe chuckled , eyes cascading down your naked body. “i could be so quick,” he assured you , hands meeting your waist again as he leaned down and kissed your cheeks. with your eyes closed and head tilted back in the water , you thought about it. you had to meet up with everyone later , including jj.

“fine,” you agreed , opening your eyes and wringing your hair out, “quickly,” you added before turning around and bending over with your hands braced on the tiles.

“TOOK YOU long enough , mama!” kie called out to you , one of her hands blocking the sun from her eyes so she could see you making your way to the group. they had already set everything up , just waiting on you to hit the water.

“where even were you?” sarah asked , taking in your damp hair and the outfit on your body, “no where with clean clothes obviously,” she teased as she saw the shirt you wore last night still being worn.

“shut up,” you hushed her with a laugh as you sat down next to her.

cleo gasped , flicking your neck. “she was with a boy!” everyone looked over at you , seeing what cleo was pointing at as she jostled your neck around to inspect you more closely.

“what are you talking about?” you grunted , trying to smack her hands away from your neck.

“hickey!” kie laughed , seeing the bruises forming on your skin.

internally , you were screaming as you physically beat the shit out of rafe , but in reality , you just shoved cleo off of you. “it’s nothing.”

“who you mackin’ on , y/n?” john b asked , walking over to you with pope. jj followed from a distance , not wanting to hear about any other guy’s lips all over your neck and god knows where else.

you frowned , fixing your hair to cover the hickeys up. “it’s no one! can we just surf?” your voice came out brattier than usual , not used to be picked on about hookups like the rest of the group. every morning after sarah and john b or pope and cleo had sex , all of you joked about not getting any sleep yourselves. it was very different when you were on the receiving end of it— having covered all of your bases before today.

“yeah , let’s surf,” jj agreed , clearly disgruntled as he rummaged around in the twinkie a few yards away. hearing him , everyone dispersed , leaving you and your neck alone.

kie stayed by you , watching the way you picked at your nails. she eyed the rest of your friends headed towards the water and nudged you. “hey,” she smiled.

“hey,” you grinned back , nudging her in return.

“you good?” she questioned , resting her chin on her crossed arms as she looked at you.

you simply nodded , looking up at your friends before her again. “m��all good.”

the girl let out a happy sigh. “oh , thank god. because i think i’m going to tell jj how i feel tonight , and i needed to tell you when you’re in an okay headspace because i’m really nervous and need your help,” she rambled quickly like she had been holding it in all morning. she did.

you choked a little bit , shocked at the words you heard. “what?” you gaped , eyes wide as you stared into her big , brown ones. they were filled with sunshine and hope , and it killed you. “are you sure that’s what you wanna do?”

“oh , come on!” kie laughed , smacking your arm lightly, “i think it’s been long enough just keeping my feelings to myself , y/n/n. like , four years and a million adventures long.”

“yeah,” you hummed , forcing a smile to your lips. it didn’t reflect as happy as you aimed for though.

“what?” kie whined , ready to hear you out.

your eyes flickered to hers again. “i don’t know,” you shrugged, “i just—“ don’t have a good way to tell her this, “i just don’t think jj’s the type of guy you should fall for and actually tell him?”

kiara’s brows furrowed in absolute confusion. “but you’ve always told me that we go well together,” she reminded you. and she was right. you did always say that. jj and kiara were two perfect peas in a pod. well , they were before last night.

“you know,” you dragged out the words , even though you knew she didn’t know what you were talking about, “just , like , i don’t think jj maybank is the guy you should wanna date , kie,” you sighed , trying your best to avoid her gaze now. you hated saying it to her , and you didn’t want to see her reaction when you did. “and i think that maybe you should put off tellin’ him how ya feel.”

“okay…” kie nodded , taking in your words as she stared forward , not looking for your eyes either.

the two of you sat in silence for a moment before you shifted and faced her entirely. “do you know why we used to have the no pogue on pogue mackin’ rule?” you asked her , now sitting on your knees with your hands in your lap.

“because it would ruin our friendships! but i don’t think—“ kie started to answer , but you cut her off.

“we’re not relationship material , kie kie,” you corrected her, “me , b , and jj are genuinely kids from the cut that will most likely never make it off this island if we want. even with the gold we found and our business taking off really well! we aren’t the type of people that can afford to care about anyone but ourselves when it comes down to it. it’s not because feelings are messy or nothin’. it’s the fact that we were raised to take care of ourselves first , and jj had it so much worse than us. he’s not the person that you should want to be with , kie. and i know it sounds mean , but you can’t tell him that you’re in love with him.” by the time you were done talking , you were out of breath , not realizing how much you were about to say. your hand came up to cover your mouth in your own shock as kie stared at you. this was the first time you couldn’t place how she was feeling or what she was thinking.

“okay,” she replied shortly.

“okay?” you echoed , tilting your head in confusion.

“okay,” she repeated , looking at you with a soft smile, “if you genuinely think that it wouldn’t be smart to do it , i won’t.”

you were surprised to say the least , knowing kie was such a strong headed person. “seriously?”

“yes!” she laughed, “you’re my best friend. you know me more than anyone else , and the same goes for jayj. if you don’t think it would work out right , i’m not going to risk throwing a bomb into the mix of our friendships. i at least know that isn’t worth it , and i trust you enough to listen,” she explained with a casual shrug.

“okay,” you nodded , facing forward again.

your mind was racing to say the least. you hadn’t expected kie to listen to you. you hadn’t expected to say half of what you did actually , but you did. it was out there now.

after sitting together a few minutes longer , kie stood up and dusted the sand from her skin. “i’m gonna get some waves in,” she told you gently. you smiled and told her you’d catch up in a few.

when she left and joined the group , you let out a sigh. you felt bad about saying what you did about jj. it was true for the most part , but you knew you were projecting a little more than you should’ve. maybe being harsh was good. it clearly got kie to rethink telling jj about her feelings , and that would remove the option of her getting hurt. maybe it was fine.

“glad to know you think so little of me , routledge.”

you heard the combination of sand shuffling and jj’s voice approaching you and closed your eyes. fuck.

“jj—“ you turned to look at him and apologize , but the blonde continued walking. board in hand , he hit the water , not bothering to spare you another glance. you clenched your fists at your side , somehow feeling worse than you did before.

with your luck , the situation didn’t take a turn for the better. as you were grabbing your board to head out on the water , you saw topper and rafe driving up to an open space on the beach not too far from your own camp. they parked , cars unloading the people they brought along. you noticed kelce , his girlfriend , ruthie , and a few others , but your eyes stayed trained on rafe.

he wore a smug smile on his face and plain tshirt you had tossed at him earlier. you checked that your friends were still occupied by the waves and hadn’t noticed the kooks taking over the beach before dropping your board and walking over.

topper was the first to see you , big smile over his face. “miss routledge herself! to what do we owe the pleasure?” he greeted you , arms open as he stepped your way.

“don’t act stupid , topper,” you rolled your eyes , crossing your arms across your stomach when you saw his eyes flit down your body, “just here to make sure you’re not going to bother us at all. it’s a swell day , so no need for any dramatics,” you explained shortly , noticing rafe walking up to you two with kelce in tow.

“found some treasure and now you think you can boss us around , huh , pogue?” kelce’s voice came out with a laugh , but the label he threw at you was anything but humorous.

you glanced at rafe before looking straight at kelce in the eye. “i literally just don’t want problems today,” you scoffed, “but seeing as your yes man is here,” you stared at rafe and nodded to kelce, “it seems like that might not be possible. just keep your dogs on a leash please,” you advised him , eyeing topper and kelce closely. they always looked like they were ready to pounce. that never sat right with you.

with that , you turned away and headed back to grab your board before finally making your way to the ocean. your friends were all sitting idly on their boards waiting for a good swell while watching you interact with the guys on the beach.

“what was that about?” sarah asked , squinting to see her brother popping open a beer.

you sat up on your board and looked back at rafe as well , seeing his gaze locked in on you. “just tellin’ ‘em to leave us alone today.”

pope let out a laugh , his head falling back. “yeah , good luck with that. doubt you asking nicely will help our chances of not getting into a fight,” he mused , recalling all of the times nothing happened before fists were flying between the two groups.

AFTER SEVERAL hours of surfing and drinking— all while jj avoided you like the plague , pope suggested getting some shade back home and starting dinner up. so , you all packed up and drove home. you sat next to kie like always in the back , head resting on her shoulder.

your eyes were trained on the back of jj’s head the whole way home , telepathically begging him to just look at you. you hated when things were off between the two of you , and that was the nicest way of wording what was going on right now.

tonight was the boys’ turn to make dinner , so while you had free time , you grabbed a book and headed outside. your hammock was in a more secluded spot on the property , hung below the only willow tree. it was the first thing you demanded having when building pougelandia 2.0 besides an office where you could store all of your books alongside pope’s.

jj made it happen.

after the past twenty-four hours you had , you relished in the only sound you could hear being chirping crickets and cicadas. the fairy lights you hung up gave you the ability to see the words in the book. it was nice to have some alone time.

but it wasn’t long before your mind strayed from the pages. you couldn’t help but think about how shitty you felt after the beach. sure , most of the guilt was coming from the fact that you got caught saying what you did , but some of it was the fact that you shouldn’t have said it at all.

but was it really your fault? you were just trying to make sure kie didn’t get hurt. and then jj got hurt in the crossfire. fuck if you knew how to feel about it.

“dinner’s ready,” john b’s voice knocked you out of the spiral you were about to start spinning out with.

you looked over at him and closed your book. “okay , yeah. i’m coming,” you nodded , moving yourself out of the hammock.

“you good?” he asked , wrapping an arm over your shoulder as you both walked back to the house, “you seem not good.”

you give him a look before rolling your eyes. “yeah— uh , i just said some things i shouldn’t have and j heard,” you answered , trying to keep it as nondescript as possible. john b nodded slowly , returning the weird look you had just given him.

“okay , well , no fighting at the dinner table. i’m sure you’ll figure it out ; you two always do,” he reminded you before bounding up the stairs and going inside. you followed after him , coming into the dining room to see everyone was already waiting.

once you all settled in , the argument of who would say grace came up. everyone agreed on you. “last one to the table!” cleo defended her case with a shrug.

you hadn’t realized you were sat next to jj until you went to grab his hand. he held it open for you , not bothering to make eye contact still. with a huff , you grabbed his hand and john b’s. you rushed out the prayer as fast as possible , wanting to get it over with so you could eat. and dinner went by fairly easy. you and jj avoided conversation , but other than that , it was normal. you ate , you laughed , you cleaned up , you went to bed.

it wasn’t until you were changing in your room that you heard a familiar knock on your door. you finished yanking the t-shirt over your head and jumped to open the door. “jj—“

“i just wanna know why you think of me like that , dude,” he cut you off , shoving his way into your room.

“i’m sorry,” you apologized immediately , closing the door behind him, “you weren’t supposed to hear—“

“and that makes it okay , y/n?” he practically shouted at you, “i mean , that was pretty shitty.”

you sighed , running a hand through your hair. “i just— i didn’t mean any of it , okay?” you tried again, “it was more of a , i don’t know , diversion?”

“what do you mean?” jj asked , crossing his arms. god , you hated when he tried to act all adult , looking down at you.

you sat down on your bed , gesturing for him to do the same. reluctantly , jj settled next to you with just enough space between you for it to be noticeable.

“kie is in love with you , jj,” you admitted , head already falling to your hands, “and after what you told me last night , i wasn’t about to let her get heartbroken because you don’t feel the same way about her , so yeah , i said shitty things about you to steer her away from telling you , but it’s not like i meant it!” you explained , knowing it still wasn’t coming out the best way, “it was shitty. period , and i am sorry , j.”

jj sat still and quiet , processing your words. “kie’s in love with me?”

“yeah , dude,” you breathed out , leaning back on the bed with your hands holding you up, “full on , sarah and john b , pogue wedding , in love with you.”

“that’s how in love with you i am,” jj whispered , looking down at his hands in his lap.

“i know,” you whispered back , matching his melancholy tone. you stared at him , taking in the way his head hung low and his deep , rapid breathing. “i’m sorry , jj.”

“for talking shit about me to kie or not loving me back?” he asked for clarification , meeting your eyes for the first time all day.

“i do love you! i just— it’s not the same way,” you argued , reaching for his hands, “you’re my best friend. of course i love you , but not like that. i don’t think i’ll ever love someone like that , jj. and i don’t want you getting caught in the middle of me finding out,” you told him , playing with the rings on his fingers absentmindedly.

he went quiet again , really thinking about what he was going to say next. “pretty sure i love you enough for the both of us , mama. and getting caught in the crossfire of your weird relationship issues won’t be the worst thing to happen to me,” he reasoned , trying to come up with a solution you could both be happy with.

“i’ve been sleeping with rafe,” you blurted out. if that wouldn’t steer him away from you , you didn’t know what would.

it took jj a moment to process what you had said. he slipped his hands from yours slowly and moved from the bed. “you are… so unbelievable,” he scoffed , simply shaking his head and leaving your room and you.

rc

wyd

a/n okay here’s my babygirl committment issues angel queen routledge!reader<3 so sorry it took so long!!!

taglist @sabrina-carpenter-stan-account @code-canine

[gaybananabread]

Hey! Could I get a ATSV fic, with lee!miguel, and ler!peter b, with a side of cherries? Could I also get a receipt? (/j)

Fruit(s): Cherries

Oooooh these two! Tired “old” men club time! I’m gonna be entirely honest, a pic on Pinterest inspired this entire thing. Got an idea and abselutely ran with it aghshrara… YEAh I’m not running off much sleep but eh. Sorry for any characterization goofs; my brain is fighting existence. Thank you for requesting, and I hope you Enjoy!

Lee: Miguel

Lers: Peter B. Parker, brief Mayday

Summary: Peter brings Mayday to the base for the twenty-millionth time, letting her wander around Miguel’s office. Turns out the beefcake is her favorite thing to climb on. When the young spider girl reminds him of one of Miguel’s quirks, Peter makes sure the grumpy old man has a laugh. 

Warnings: none! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!!

If there was one thing Peter did that got on Miguel’s nerves, it was when he let his kid wander everywhere like she owned the place. He had already made sure it was fine for him to bring the toddler around, but the solemn man never could’ve predicted just how often that would be. As in, he never saw the middle-aged spider without a baby carrier strapped to his chest.

Besides the obvious safety hazards, it tugged at Miguel’s heart strings to see the little girl running around. She was so happy, so care-free, so full of life… He couldn’t help but reminisce. For anyone who doesn’t know Miguel, let me explain: when he reminisced, he was a grumpy, angsty bastard.

That day was one of many where Peter brought Mayday to the base, the red-headed toddler zipping and twipping around Miguel’s office. The boisterous father greeted Miguel, a wide smile on his face as he showed Miguel many repetitive pictures of the kid that was literally two feet away from him. Still, he managed to bite his tongue, only looking down at the phone with an unamused frown.

“Oh, oh, you’ve gotta see this one; she’s so focused! I knew she’d love those- uh… Miguel, c’mon. You look like I’m holding you at gunpoint to watch paint dry.” 

Peter lowered the phone, his hand moving to rest on his hip as he viewed Miguel’s tired face. He just scoffed, giving Peter a look that said “I’m so done with you” to the max. “Peter, the kid is right there. I don’t need the digital scrapbook experience.”

Mayday chose that moment to swing over to the two men, landing on Miguel’s shoulder and swinging her tiny feet. His heart both filled and squeezed at the sweet action. 

Rolling his eyes, Peter put his phone completely away. Scrapbook… He’d have to remember that one, even if it was just sarcasm. 

“I’m not asking you to jump for joy at every photo. Just crack a smile or two, ya grump!” He tried poking Miguel’s side, only to get his wrist snatched and a deathly glare shot at him. Peter quickly retracted his hand, holding both up in surrender. Mayday giggled at the silly exchange, her beanie sliding as she wiggled about.

The toddler used her powers to stick to Miguel, crawling across him because she could; toddler logic doesn’t need to make sense. She was just having fun! The tot shivered, the cool air of the office sending goosebumps across her skin. Mayday grabbed onto his side, snuggling into the warm crook of his arm.

Miguel huffed when he felt the small girl on his side, trying not to smile as he grabbed for her. She whined, using her powers to stay stuck on him. Not wanting to hurt Mayday, he sighed and turned back to Peter. He motioned towards his side, a restrained look on his face. “Little help here?”

Peter chuckled, seeing his daughter snuggle up to Miguel. “Nah, you seem all good. She’s just snuggling with you, what’s up?”

He glared at his friend, though there wasn’t much he could say. There was no way he was gonna admit that her small hands were tickling him; Peter would never let him live it down. He scowled, instead choosing the “be an asshole” route. “I don’t want your kid climbing on me. You have a baby carrier for a reason; use it.”

Seriously? Peter rolled his eyes, looking at his daughter. She seemed so peaceful, all cozy against Miguel’s side; he felt bad moving her. Still, he had to respect Miguel’s wishes, even if they were cruel. “Fine, fine! Don’t get your fangs in a twist…” 

Walking over to the grumpy spider-man, Peter reached out to grab his daughter. She whined, clinging tighter to Miguel’s side and nuzzling her fuzzy head against his ribs. 

A short huff escaped the stoic man, the corners of his mouth tugging upwards. He squirmed, finally grabbing onto the small child and trying to tug her off. “Maldita sea- Peter, grab her!” 

“Hey, language!” His voice sounded…giddy? What was…oh. Mayday was tickling him. She was grabbing his side and brushing his ribs. “Awwww, Miggy! Is little Mayday-”

“Don’t.” Miguel gave Peter the fiercest glare he could manage, though it was put off by the ghost of a smile on his lips. There was no way in hell Peter was gonna back off after that. 

Shooting forwards, Peter grabbed Miguel’s arrm, shooting a web up and restraining it. The big man would’ve thrashed and reversed their positions, but he didn’t want to risk hurting Mayday; he was pretty much screwed.

Peter wasted no time; if Miguel gained his footing, Peter was so done for. The man grabbed Miguel’s side, spidering his fingers against Miguel’s stomach. The man bit his lip, trying both to keep Mayday secure and hold in his giggles at the same time. 

“P-Peter, I swehear- GYAH!” Miguel jolted as he felt a squeeze to his hip, almost dropping his hold on Mayday. Peter smirked, leaning forwards and continuing to mess with Miguel’s hips. “Oh, sorry Miguel. Did that tickle~?”

That little… Peter was so dead when he got out of that. Much to his dismay, he could feel a red hue burning on his cheeks as he laughed. “PEHETER! IHI’M GONNA- MIERDA!” Trying to keep a steady hold on Mauday while having his hips squeezed was a lot harder than he thought it would be…

“Miguel, c’mon. There’s a kid right here, watch your mouth.” Peter was only half-faking his exasperation. True, he was kinda being a jerk, but Mayday didn’t need to learn how to cuss in any more languages.

Mayday giggled, feeling Miguel’s chest shake as he laughed. She was used to her dad being silly, but Miguel? Never, ever had she heard him laugh like that. Wanting to join in on the fun, she copied her dad, squeezing and scribbling on his ribs.

While there was barely any pressure, her tiny hands still tickled. Miguel jerked, losing his grip on the girl in surprise. Mayday wasn’t even phased; she just hung on with her powers, Mayday giggled at his squirming, thoroughly enjoying herself in the silliness.

Peter kept watch of his daughter in the corner of his eye, making sure she wouldn’t fall. Miguel probably wouldn’t kill him. It was all in good fun, and he neecded a laugh anyway. Sure, his revenge would be…interesting, but it was worth it.

“Wow, look how red you are! I thought Miles was resident tomato face, but looks like you’re givin��� him a run for his money~” Peter continued to tease his friend, knowing his comments would get to the man. It was too easy to tease Miguel like this; later was what most people worried about. Peter had no fears, though; Miguel wouldn’t kill him…probably.

“SHUHUT UHUP!” Miguel twisted and tugged at the webs, nearly breaking through them. He could only take so much of the other man’s silliness. “PEHEHETER! GEHET OHOFF MEHEHE!”

While he could tell Miguel was getting sick of him, Peter wasn’t quite ready to stop. The blush on Miguel’s face was quite endearing, only egging the father on. True, he couldn’t control it, but eh. “I think I just got a new favorite color! Miguel’s-blush red~” 

The angsty spider growled through his laughter, already plotting his revenge in his head. Mayday laughed, deciding she’d played around enough for one day. The girl climbed off of Miguel, using her small webshooter to sit on a ledge and watch the goofy old men interact.

The moment Mayday was safely off him, Miguel turned the tables. He yanked his wrist free from the webbing, grabbing Peter and pinning him to the wall. It was almost scary how fast that man could recover… Peter went to make a joke, though it died in his throat. “Hey, at least…buy me…ehe. Uh, truce?” He gulped, looking at Miguel’s smirk and determined eyes. Eugh boi… Still blushing, though.

“Es hora de morir, Peter~” Before Peter could protest any further, Miguel dug his claws into the man’s stomach, squeezing and scratching the squishy flesh. Peter shrieked, not at all prepared for his due penance.

Mayday watched as they messed around, giggling and tilting her head. She had grabbed her dad’s discarded robe, snuggling up into it and getting warm. Those two would likely be at it for a while, and she was more than happy to watch the two laugh. Silly boys…

[mekochansblog]

My sane

Five Hargreeves x reader

Tag: @thirteen2003fan & @instabull

Warnings: talking about death, sad Five.

Five looked at Diego and Lila trying to find their “son” Stanley. Five rolled his eyes and sighed knowing the kid he probably got kugelblitz.

He turned his head a bit and grumbled, “Can you believe it Y/N they lost the kid they adopt all because they are sentient STDs.” He then actually looked at his side and saw no one. It’s been a habit lately that he talks to himself thinking his wife was just going to be there. He decided to ignore them for a bit and saw Luther and Sloane. They wanted them to join them at the Sparrow academy.

While walking to the academy he thought about everything he went the past 20 days and more. First, he landed in the courtyard of his house, back to his 20-year-old body. Then he tried to save that apocalypse from his brother, which made him take his family back in time to save them, he landed in the ’60s and tried to save his family from that apocalypse. Took them to the right time but not the right timeline and now he has a stupid kugelblitz to handle yet again. Can’t even get a break right Y/N?

He remembers finding a Polaroid camera during your little search in the apocalypse and taking a picture with you. He remembers your smile and the giggles you will let out when he will say something about his calculations that you knew you weren’t able to understand. It made him want to cry remembering you. He zones back when they got to the academy and Fei opens the door for them.

“Lovely to meet you.” Lila introduces herself to Fei.

“Welcome.” Fei returns to gesture, “make yourselves at home.” She tells the academy people.

Allison who was already in a bad mood, “bitch this is our home.” And sat down.

Five decided to ignore them for now and listen to what Diego noticed. “Where the hell is Viktor and Klaus?”

Five chuckled, “With our luck, probably kugelblitzed by now.”

Diego looked at him weirdly. “You’re a dark little dude sometimes.”

Five listened to Diego and Ben argue like little children and sighed. Jesus, why can’t they just get to the point? “Okay, if the testosterone twins are done, I’d like to get back to a plan.”

Viktor then jogged into the room looking around. He looked like he was about to be in tears.

“Where is he?” He asked looking at the Sparrow academy and then at Allison. Five also looked at them not knowing who they were talking about but having a clue who. Five zoned them out a bit, but Ben brought him back.

“20 bucks on the little one,” Ben whispered to Five while eating cheese puffs. Five looked at him and thought about it.

“I’ll take that action.” Five leaned to Ben to whisper to him, not wanting to get in the middle of his sibling's fight.

‘You shouldn’t be betting on your own siblings Miele that’s just mean coming from you.’ He can already know what would be his wife’s words if she was here.

“This wasn’t about saving the world. This was about hurting me. Payback for - -“ Viktor started, making Five stop thinking about his wife and listening to Viktor and Allison argue.

“Go on. Say her name.” Allison went on looking intimidating and looking down at Viktor. Five got tired of it and stood up.

“That’s it Allison we get it you’re hurt you lost your daughter, but everyone lost someone, not just you, you can’t just say this shit to Viktor, you killed someone important to him.” Five exclaimed back at Allison and everyone started looking at him. Five was pissed everyone lost someone, Luther lost Pogo in a way, Diego lost his mother, Klaus lost our Ben and Dave, and Viktor lost Sissy and now Harlan. Allison turned to him.

“You haven’t lost anyone Five you were stuck in the apocalypse and you were gone for years so how the hell can you say you lost someone!” She screamed at him while holding back tears. Five gave a painful laugh and looked at his sister with so much pain.

“You think I didn’t lose someone too?! I lost my own wife! My happiness I lost her to the stupid apocalypse that I so badly wanted to save all of you guys because those were her last words to me! To save my family! I lost the one person that kept me sane all those years from an illness that we both couldn’t do anything because guess what Allison!?” Five yelled while looking at her, “There was no medicine! No cure! No hospital! I saw the love of my life die in my arms! So to answer your stupid question sister yes I did lose someone are you happy now?!” Five finished and had to take deep breaths.

The whole family looked at him lost for words, not knowing what to tell their young but older brother from the news that he told them. Five sighed and started sniffling feeling the weight of guilt for his wife drowning him. “I lost the only person that I cared about, and I couldn’t do anything to keep her alive with me. I miss her. I miss my Y/N.” Five wept softly. Diego sighed and grabbed his brother and hugged him.

Five felt rigid not having felt a hug since the last one you gave him. He slowly stop tensing and hugged his brother back and cried. Five broke down his walls and held on to Diego for support.

“I miss her Diego and I can’t do anything to bring her back.”

[cetaitlaverite]

Anything to Anywhere

Masters of the Air - Bucky Egan x OC

masterlist is here <3

03. Top Fighting Condition

Stella was sure she’d never been so happy to return to Thorpe Abbotts. The airfield she’d been stuck at for the night had been tiny and dingy and cold, with barely enough dinner to go around for the people billeted there, let alone an extra ATA pilot who had been grounded and couldn’t get home until the storm passed.

She had spent the night in the mess hall in the absence of a bed and some of the mechanics there had been nice enough to stay up with her, making sure no one turned the lights out on her and made her sit in the dark. It had almost been fun. She hadn’t spent an awful lot of time getting to know the mechanics at Thorpe Abbotts but if they were anything like the ones at RAF Middleton St George then she thought she should give them a chance.

Back at Thorpe Abbotts in the bright light of midday, Stella was thoroughly exhausted. She would have more chits up on the board to fly today, she knew - the American crews would be arriving soon, so the ATA was wringing all the use it could out of the ATA pilots stationed at Thorpe Abbotts before the majority of their attention became dedicated to ferrying B-17s - but for now she wanted warm food, a warm shower, and a nap if she was lucky.

Squinting through the sunshine, her arms crossed against the lingering chill from her night up north, Stella trudged across base towards the mess hall. Her feet were freezing cold in her boots. Maybe her socks were damp. Would anyone mind if she took her boots and socks off in the middle of lunch? As long as they didn’t smell bad, she reasoned, there was no reason why anyone should have a problem with it. She’d always been told she had rather pretty feet, though admittedly she had always thought that was an incredibly strange compliment to give someone.

“Finley!” shouted a male voice up ahead.

Stella raised a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted to make out the figure. As she neared the mess hall she caught sight of the grin, the moustache, the casual slump of shoulders and the indescribable size of the man.

“Major Egan!” she shouted back, offering a lazy salute.

“Where the fuck you been?” Bucky demanded as she approached.

Stella smirked. “Why? Have you been missing me?”

“Like a hole in my heart,” Bucky teased, pressing a hand to his chest.

Stella rolled her eyes. “My last assignment yesterday got me stuck in a tiny airfield up in County Durham. I was due to ferry a Bristol Blenheim back but there was no way it was going to survive the storm, so I spent the night in a freezing cold mess hall with a bunch of mechanics.”

“Sounds like a party,” Bucky mused.

Stella hummed. “D’you want to see my dance?”

Bucky’s grin turned confused, his eyebrows knitting together. “Your dance?”

“Yeah,” Stella confirmed. “Me and some of the mechanics up there made up a dance while we were waiting around for the storm to clear. You wanna see it?”

Bucky laughed, tipping his head back and letting the sunshine spill over him. When he looked back down and found her with those earnest blue eyes of hers watching him like an owl, awaiting an answer, he shook his head with a wide smile and leaned back against the wall of the mess hall, settling in for the performance. “Sure, Finley,” he agreed, “show me your dance.”

Stella grinned back at him. “Okay! So it starts like this -” With that, she set about showing him her dance, executing a poorly choreographed routine which was no less spirited for its lack of skill. She stopped suddenly after executing a turn, gasping as she said, “Wait, I forgot!” but she recovered quickly, calling out a, “Nevermind!” and picking up right where she left off.

By the time she was finished Bucky was laughing, clapping to cheer her on.

“That,” he said, pushing up off the wall to head over to her finishing position, “that sure was something.”

“Did you like it?” Stella asked, dropping the position and meeting him halfway.

“It was something,” Bucky said again.

Stella hit him on the arm. “That’s not a compliment!”

He laughed. “No, it was great. It was great, Finley. I’m impressed.”

“Thank you.” She made to say something else but then her stomach rumbled and she realised she felt a bit sick and her gaze turned to the mess hall. “But I’m hungry now, so that’s the end of my performance. They didn’t have any spare food up there so I haven’t eaten since lunch yesterday.”

Bucky slung an arm around her shoulders which she quickly shrugged off, falling into step beside her as she headed around the side of the mess hall to the door.

“Finley!” called one of the other ATA pilots when she entered.

“Jessop,” Stella greeted back.

He came jogging over, a glass of water still in his hand. “This Major Egan?”

“Certainly is.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jessop said, thrusting out his hand towards Bucky. “I’m Christopher.”

“Everyone calls him Jessop,” Stella informed Bucky.

Jessop shrugged. “My last name,” he explained.

“Bucky Egan,” Bucky introduced himself back.

Jessop nodded, withdrawing his hand once Bucky had shaken it. “So you’re the guy who stole my girl.”

“No one stole anyone because I am no one’s girl,” Stella informed them both flatly.

Bucky was chuckling under his breath. “You telling me I ain’t the only guy chasing after Finley, here?”

Stella rolled her eyes. “No one’s chasing after anyone.”

“I’ve only been asking her out every day since we were first assigned together back in 1940,” Jessop answered, sharing Bucky’s grin. “She may have a pretty face but she’s a hard nut to crack, be warned.”

Stella scoffed. “If you two want to talk about me as if I’m not here then I may as well not be here. I’m getting lunch,” she declared.

The instant she was out of earshot, Bucky turned to Jessop and leaned in conspiratorially. “So what’s her first name?”

Jessop laughed, patting him on the shoulder. “Now that, I can’t say. You gotta earn first name privileges.”

Bucky groaned playfully.

Jessop patted him once more on the shoulder before turning to lead him to the table full of ATA pilots. Subsequent introductions were made and, by the time Stella found her way over, Bucky had commanded both the attention and the affection of all of Stella’s friends.

“Looks like I’ve been replaced,” she remarked with a teasing frown. She set down her plate, pulled over a chair, and threw herself into it.

“Where were you last night, Finley?” Alice asked, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “I waited up for you before I got too tired.”

Stella sighed and recounted her story of her time in County Durham.

The ATA pilots grimaced. It was not the first time, nor likely the last, any of them had found themselves stranded in some remote airfield or other.

“You’ve got more chits today,” the pilot beside Jessop, Martinson, informed her once she had finished speaking. “You’ve got a B-24 Liberator to ferry from the depot to RAF Hethel, then from there a Spitfire needs taking to RAF Pembrey in Wales. Jessop’s going to Wales today, too, so he’ll wait for you there to take you back here. He’s got a Mossie to deliver back to the depot.”

Stella smiled ruefully with a shrug. “No rest for the wicked.”

“How many types of plane do you guys fly?” Bucky asked, looking between them all as he lazed back in his chair.

Jessop grinned. “All of ‘em. Bombers, fighters, night-fighters, recon. Whatever needs flying.”

“Any of you ever flown a B-17?”

“Of course,” Stella said. “Alone and with a broken rudder at that.”

“Fin often gets the big bombers,” Alice explained.

“I much prefer fighters,” she informed Bucky sidelong. “Spitfires are great, those are the ones everyone asks about, but I love flying Hurricanes. I’ll be devastated when the rest of your Yanks filter in here and the surrounding airfields and I’ll be forced to fly bombers more often than fighters.”

Jessop brushed her aside. “They’ll always have you flying the most damaged of any aircraft, Fin. The chicken ATA pilots over at Hethel can never muster up the guts to ferry their fighters when they’re too damaged.”

Stella gave a dreamy sigh. “All the things I’d give just to fly an undamaged fighter one day. If they’re that good when they’re broken imagine what they’re like when they’re in top fighting condition.”

“Why don’t you request a transfer if you love flying fighters so much?” Martinson asked. “Hethel’d gladly take you.”

Stella rolled her eyes. “I’ve asked. Knightswick won’t let me. He said he needs to have at least one good ATA pilot around here when the Yanks rock up.”

Immediately, complaints rang up into the air from every corner of the table.

Stella laughed. “I’m kidding! But not about the transfer. I think the reason he won’t let me transfer’s more likely because he can’t be arsed to fill out the paperwork, but either way he won’t let me go. I’m stuck here.”

“Aw, come on, Finley,” Bucky answered her around a wry grin, “bombers ain’t so bad. And I think you’ll like my boys fine when they get here in a few days.”

Stella’s eyebrows hopped up. “Only a few days? Time’s passing me by faster than I know it.”

“Soon enough this place will be back to life,” Alice mused, “and I, for one, think it’s a welcome change. Say, Major Egan, are any of the incoming airmen single?”

The day the rest of the 100th Bomb Group started filtering into Thorpe Abbotts in their monstrous B-17 Flying Fortresses was the day the base erupted into chaos. One of the planes had had a rough wheels-up landing which sent the medical truck and the fire engine racing across the airfield to meet them and, though no one was hurt, the chaos of that lingered a while as the men who’d been on board spoke animatedly about what, exactly, had gone wrong. All of the men, in fact, scattered about the base like ants the instant their feet were on the ground, asserting their dominance in this new territory, claiming it as their own. One of them even brought a dog with him.

Safe to say, Stella wasn’t all that impressed, but Bucky was clearly absolutely made up about having his friends here. When he saw Stella walking to the ATA hut he raced up behind her, calling out her name as he went. “Finley! Hey, Finley!”

He was drawing unwanted attention from the new Americans, so Stella turned sharply around and growled out a, “What?”

Bucky was grinning. “C’mere, got someone I want you to meet.” He slung an arm over her shoulders which she, as usual, shrugged off before he led her over to a waiting man still in his flight suit, his crusher cap on top of his head and his gloves in one hand. He looked straight out of a film with his smouldering blue eyes and plump lips, one hand blocking out the sun as he squinted, watching Bucky lead Stella over.

“You remember that guy I was telling you about?” Bucky was saying to Stella. “Blond, movie star good looks, chaste as the day he was born? Well, fresh in from Greenland is the man himself.” He was smiling so wide his cheeks must have hurt. Stella could already tell there was no shortage of affection between them. “Buck, this is Finley. And Finley, this is Buck.”

Stella nodded at him in greeting. “Hello.”

Buck nodded back at her. “Nice to meet you, Finley.” His voice was impossibly deep. Maybe he really was a film star before the war.

“You too, Buck,” Stella replied. She was looking at him curiously. “Is that your real name?”

Beside her, Bucky barked a laugh. “No, of course it’s not his real name.”

Buck smiled kindly at her. “My real name’s Gale.”

Stella’s eyebrows furrowed. “Then why do people call you Buck?”

Bucky laughed again. “I gave him that name,” he explained to her, “‘cause he reminds me of a guy from back home whose name was Buck.”

Stella turned to him, searching his face with squinted eyes and a frown on her lips. “So is Bucky your real name?” Bucky simply stared at her with raised eyebrows and an amused smile, so she huffed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t look at me like I’m silly, you cheeky bastard! If you tell me your name’s Bucky obviously I’m gonna believe your name’s Bucky!”

Bucky scoffed. “It’s a nickname!”

Stella rounded on him. “Why would you expect me to know that?!”

He rolled his eyes. “You thought my parents named me Bucky?!”

“You told me that’s your name!”

“My name is John,” Bucky informed her. “John Egan. There, that better?”

Stella stared him down before crossing her arms and turning back to Buck. “Maybe,” she ground out against her will.

Buck looked at John with a question in his eyes.

John grinned back at him with eyebrows raised. He gestured at Stella. “Ain’t she great?”

Stella scoffed and thumped him in the side.

“Finley’s a pilot,” John explained to Buck. “For the ATA. Ain’t that right, Fin?”

“Certainly is,” she confirmed. “I’m flying again in a little while, in fact. We’re surrounded by a lot of different airfields but not all of them have mechanics on site to repair damaged aircraft and still fewer have ferry pilots to transport said damaged aircraft, so the ATA operation here covers most of the bases in East Anglia. Today, a new American crew a few airfields over crashed into a tree during a practice mission, so I’ll be flying their fort over here for our mechanics to repair.”

Buck’s eyebrows were raised as he nodded along with her. Stella wouldn’t have necessarily said he looked impressed - surprised was maybe more accurate. “You like flying bombers?” he asked.

Stella shrugged. “I like flying anything. They won’t let women fly combat so ferrying is the best I can do. My real calling is flying fighters, though, so before you Americans invaded I got to fly those quite often.”

“Spitfires?” Buck asked.

Stella shared a quick smile with John, because he knew she hated how Spitfires got all the glory of being the best fighter plane when she thought Hurricanes were better.

“I think you’ll find, Buck,” John replied for her, “that the Hawker Hurricane is the best British fighter plane.”

“It’s the best fighter plane full stop,” Stella argued. “No other country has produced anything better. I know you Americans fancy your P-51 Mustang as the best but I’ve flown those plenty and they don’t come anywhere close. No competition. But we have been doing this a lot longer than you lot,” she reasoned with a smirk. “We’re glad to have you here but what took you so bloody long? We could’ve used some extra manpower during the Battle of Britain when every pilot was flying several times a day and night to prevent a German invasion and our cities were getting bombed at the same time.”

“We were still in training back then,” John protested.

Stella shrugged. “Too little too late.”

“Finley!” called a voice from behind Stella and John.

Both turned and found Jessop exiting the ATA hut.

“Knightswick wants to speak to you before you head out,” Jessop called. “He’s waiting for you.”

Stella frowned. “What’s he want to speak about?”

Jessop was clearly fighting hard to maintain a straight face but doing a poor job of it. His smug smirk was as clear as day on his face. “That plane you’re flying -” He whistled. “Have fun.”

Stella narrowed her eyes at him. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”

“What isn’t wrong with it might be the better question,” Jessop replied, chuckling to himself. “But that’s above my security clearance to confess.” He thrust a thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the hut. “He’s waiting for you right now.”

“And where are you going?”

His smirk only got wider. “Got a Hurricane to ferry from the depot to Mendlesham.”

Stella’s jaw fell open. “Bastard!” she shouted at his retreating back.

Jessop cackled as he headed off to get into his flight suit. “Snapped rudder,” he called over his shoulder.

“Swap you?” Stella called.

Over his shoulder, Jessop raised his middle finger at her. “Not a fucking chance,” he shouted without turning back.

[sex-obsessed-lesbian]

The Tale of SOL's Highly Mediocre First Hypnokink Play Partner

CW: mediocre consent practices.

I realized that I posted this on Twitter but never on here, so for anyone who hasn't heard this one before, buckle up for the story of SOL'S Highly Mediocre First Hypnokink Play Partner!

It's the fall after i graduated college, I’m starting to dabble in the scene, I’ve found hypno tumblr and am like “omg this thing I’ve always fantasized about is REAL and people actually use it for SEX???”, and I go to a nearby university's kink group meetup about hypnokink.

As part of the class we pair up and try some stuff. I pair w/ this guy—a college senior, he’s actually tranced to files etc. so he knows a bit more than me at this point about how this works IRL. He does a perfectly middling progressive relaxation induction on me.

I say “Oh okay i think i see how this works” and proceed to ZONK him because like, I'm a good top and have good instincts (and also improv training).

And after that, we proceed to meet up a few times as practice partners—I still live with my parents so I come over to his dorm and he exiles his roommate (Jesus Christ i thought I’d be done with this shit when I graduated).

So the problem with this situation is that I never got a proper pretalk or explanation of what trance did/n't feel like, what hypno could/n't do or make you do, how safety and agency work... So I was both SO WORRIED about doing things against my will or losing control, AND SO WORRIED about it not working on me, that i was unhypnotizable and couldn't do the thing. I can’t realllly blame him, he was as new as I was, but it was… not a great situation.

The thing I CAN blame him for was when I was said “I don’t want any triggers” and he was like “aww come on a reinduction trigger would make it so much easier” and kept wheedling me about it. Not a good look.

(OFC part of the reason he really wanted a reinduction trigger was because he (like me, at the time) only knew how to do 10-minute progressive relaxation inductions, lolsob.)

And I think both times we got together I was like “Dude I’m a lesbian, I'm here for kink practice and I don’t want to kiss or get physical with you” and then at the end he’d be like “Waah I want to kiss you!!”

Against my better judgement I went along with it cuz like, we’d just been doing hours of kinky shit and I was turned on, but like. Surprise surprise, I'm a lesbian. (Also he... wasn’t all that good a kisser. Shocker, that.)

The kicker is, after the second time this happens, he texts me to say “So i just found out i have mono” like SIR I DID NOT EVEN WANT TO BE KISSING YOU AND NOW YOU HAVE MAYBE GIVEN ME MONO???

He did NOT give me mono, turned out I already had antibodies, and I didn’t ever play with him or see him again, so it’s mostly a happy ending but like… bruh.

But on a more serious note, I... still carry some of that baggage with me. (Though obvi this is nothing compared to many people's genuinely traumatic or abusive first hypno/kink experiences and i don't wanna take away from that!)

Never having gotten a real pretalk, going into my first trance experiences so scared (in both directions), feeling like a """bad subject""" (b/c he wasn't great at dropping me AND b/c I didn't feel comfy with him)... has really stuck with me, unfortch.

I am still unlearning that stuff, and so thankful to all the FAR, FAR SUPERIOR hypnotists who have helped me in this journey. It's also why I'm waging a holy war against people who use the term "bad subject" or don't give proper pretalks.

No one should feel uncomfortable when exploring this kink! (Or like, as non-uncomfortable as possible.) I hope it's a joyous thing for as many folks as possible! And that's why I have SO many thoughts about pretalk and framing for new subjects (see e.g. my class notes on Setting Your Subjects Up for Success).

So ummmm uhh thanks for coming to my TED talk, treat your partners right and don't try to kiss people who've explicitly told you not to kiss them, there are more kinds of inductions than just progressive relaxation, stay hydrated! <3

🦈 FIN 🦈

[aurora567]

Pandora's Gift Ch. 28

Warning: this story will contain mature content such as but not limited to sex, cursing, blood, violence, breeding kink, A/B/O themes ect.

Summary: Sasara and Hatori need to head home for the night. Sakaki never lets them walk alone and there's a good reason for it.

Word count:4084

Last Chapter Next Chapter

Spending the evening with Sasara and Hatori was nice. And once she got over the bit of shock that her dear friend had been getting incredibly close with her old high school classmate, it had been nice getting caught up on what was going on in the world around her while she has been busy either hiding away in her bedroom or throwing herself into her work as she had done yesterday. Though she wasn’t really missing out on much aside from her friends new sex life. But then again it wasn’t like Sasara’s friends that Sakaki knew were that important. Sure she got along with Sasara’s other friends but if it wasn’t hero work she often did not care as much as she probably should have.

Though it felt like her dear friend had something on her mind during the evening, and yet the other woman never mentioned what seemed to be on her mind. Typically Sakaki would have bugged her friend to know what was on her mind. But today she lacked the mental and physical strength to actually harass her friend for information. If it was truly important the woman would surely mention something before she had started to gather up her son who had been watching tv as the two women sat on the couch chatting.

Of course Sakaki would not allow the two to walk home in the middle of the evening from her home to theirs. Sakaki would never forgive herself if something happened to either Sasara or Hatori. And walking around the streets after dark always came with their risks. So with her running shoes quickly slipped on and her keys tossed into her pocket she walked her two most important people home.

“You really did not need to walk us home,” Sasara always made the comment even though she knew the dark haired woman would always do this.

“I know. But I’m going to do it no matter what,” Sakaki answered honestly as always before continuing, “And anyways the fresh air will be good for me after sleeping all day.”

“Well I’m happy you got some sleep today. Ei mentioned how he found you in the office when he got to work. Did you really fall out of a chair?” Damn it Kirishima she was gonna kick his ass for telling her friend about what had happened as she listened to her friend softly snicker.

“Ugh don’t remind me. I was so out of it when the door slammed shut behind him it woke me up and startled me at the same time. Forgetting I was sitting in Bakugou’s huge ass fucking desk chair I had ended up nearly launching myself backwards chair and all. That had not been fun,” She mumbled unhappy at remembering the event the best she could. And although it's not like Kirishima had meant to startle her so much for that to happen. But she was still gonna kick his ass for telling anyone.

“Oh come on, that is funny. I never thought I’d ever hear a story where someone scared you. Ei is lucky you didn’t attack him instead,” The soft snickers continued from the pale haired woman who was holding her son’s hand as he walked between the two women down the street.

“Well you’re not wrong there. Had he done anything like that anywhere else or any other time and I would have probably hit him even accidentally though it most likely would have also been on purpose,” Now it was Sakaki’s turn to smirk softly at the thought of if Kirishima had scared her that way while she was somewhere else, even if she was still asleep. She knew she would have stuck out at the man when he scared her and most likely would have put him on his ass without even meaning to. But with him being across the room and her being in that stupid chair she fell over backwards instead.

“But still. Did you get any sleep yesterday? The guys suspect you stayed at the agency for over twenty four hours. Did you really do that?” Sasara asked softly, feeling a little worried for her friend.

“Yeah. I hid in the women's locker room and got in a little nap before I went for a night patrol with some sexist asshole. Ugh that entire agency is full of stuck up ass holes,” she growled with a huff. Though the sudden feeling of the hair on the back of her neck standing up on end nearly had her faulted mid step, she didn’t allow her body to give away the very odd feeling she had suddenly washed over her.

“Shun you say that about every alpha you have to work with. It’s the only reason Miruko even let’s you work alone. You run off every alpha that you're paired with for patrols. And you know it’s not safe to patrol alone,” Sakaki heard this complaint from her friend a lot. And in the back of her mind she knew Sasara’s concerns were very real. Omegas were attacked, raped and kidnapped all the time. And her being a hero may even put a larger target on her back than normal. Like right now. Was she the target of the shadow that was tailing them? Or was it Sasara? Maybe even Hatori? There were lots of sick minded people out in the world and it was hard to know for sure if the small group of what looked like two helpless omegas and a kid were the entire target.

“Hey Hatori? Do you like having Kirishima around?” Sakaki asked, looking down at the young boy as he looked up at the woman he saw as an aunty and nodded his head with a wide grin. She knew it was rude to suddenly ignore her friend but keeping an extra close eye on the kid was more important.

“Yes! He’s so manly. Two nights ago he tucked me into bed when I asked him if he would. He even slept over and we all had breakfast together once,” Hatori was more than happy to over share about the red head man’s regular visits. Even though she had glanced down at the boy her eyes had not remained on him as she took the chance to glance back behind her trying to locate who was following them. But the action did not give her any results like she had hoped so. Glancing back up at her friend she watched the woman’s cheeks flush a little.

“Oh well doesn’t mommy move fast making new friends. Maybe we should give mommy’s friend a call. You can use my cell,” Sakaki said to the boy before looking up at the woman walking on the other side of her son. Sasara understood very quickly what Sakaki was trying to get at. She wanted to contact the other hero without give away to the fact she was calling for back up.

“Here Hatori, why don’t you call Ei. Tell him mommy and Aunty wanna see him really soon,” Sakaki said, directing the child on what she wanted him to say as she hit the contact name for Red Riot on her work phone. The innocent child seemed ecstatic at the chance to call the hero. As his face light up and his eyes grew wide as he jumped up and down at the chance to grab the device from the woman’s hands and hold it up to his ear as he heard his utmost favourite hero’s voice fill the line.

“Pandora? Why are you calling me on your day off?” Was the professional greeting that met Hatori’s ears as Kirishima answered.

“Ei! It’s Hatori. Aunt Shun told me I should call you. She said her and mommy want to see you soon,” the child was happy to repeat what he was told, completely unaware of the danger he or his mother may be in. But Kirishima seemed aware that the woman would not just let a child use this line unless it was important.

“Where are you and mommy Hatori?” He asked as the three walked slowly with the kid who then looked up at the familiar street but couldn’t read the signs.

“We are about three blocks from the train. We should be home really soon. Will you tuck me in again tonight?” The child was more than happy to keep the red head chatting on the phone. Sakaki was trying to carefully glance around, taking in even the slightest shift of a street light or shadow. The streets were not completely bare but there were not as many people as the street would typically sport during a late hour of the day. Still she couldn’t spot anyone visibly following them but still she felt like she was being watched.

“Sure buddy. I’ll even meet up with you and mommy before you get home,” Kirishima answered the child as he took off from his normal patrol route, well aware of where the group was and he did not hesitate to rush towards them. Even as he heard the happy cheers from the innocent child it at least was good to know they were not yet under attack. But that didn’t stop the uneasy feeling and the drive to get to Hatori and Sasara and protect them. He didn’t even tell his poor sidekick what was going on as they were forced to call after him as they ran after him.

“I’ll see you really soon buddy. Say hello to your mom and Sakaki for me,” he told the boy and of course in the background he could hear the kid pull the phone away from his ear to tell the two woman standing over him what the man on the phone had said.

“Alright Hatori I need my phone back. Say good bye,” Sakaki suddenly told the kid with a slightly louder tone than she needed to get the point across to Kirishima. She needed to now turn her attention to the danger and may need her phone for a more important reason. Quickly the boy did as he was told and bid the hero on the other side of the line good bye.

Taking her cell back from the kid she slipped it into her pocket. And quickly started to usher the two back to walking down the street. She felt Sasara become stiff and tense, unaware of the extent of the danger. But she was aware the situation they were in could very quickly turn dangerous. Sakaki was trained to keep her body relaxed looking while remaining aware and prepared. Though she wished she had her gear. She almost felt naked, no mask, no support gear. But this was why she trained so hard, she would never have a physical enhanced quick and she needed to be able to protect herself and others on her own. Still she could not pinpoint their stalker and it was irking her. She did not usually turn to such measures but she was sure Sasara was going to give it away soon that they were aware of the unwanted danger.

Coming to a complete halt she looked around bluntly looking for someone. This action had Sasara and Hatori stop to look at her.

“Shun?” The soft question came from a worried looking Sasara who was not wrapping an arm protectively around her son.

“Go ahead without me. I have something to deal with,” Sakaki said as she watched her friend hesitate before nodding her head and turning to start walking away before an unfamiliar voice had all three of them freeze.

“Oh come now. Why the rush? I think your friend should stick around,” the voice was rather dry sounded as Sakaki watched a shadow stretch out across the cement ahead of them before someone seemed to emerge from it. Long black, greasy hair was slicked back heavily with jell. Or maybe it was slicked back with grease it was hard to tell. Small dark beady eyes were looking between the two women before settling on Sakaki.

“Oh I recognize you! You're that bitch that was at the warehouse trap with Dynamite. You really put a kink in that plan,” the man sneered at her. So that’s what this was about. She was the target, Sasara and Hatori were simply being dragged into her trouble.

“You're right, I was the hero who was working with Dynamite on that mission. But these two are civilians. They have no stake in our issues. Leave them out of this. I am the one you want,” she said, stepping in front of Hatori and his mother.

“Well aren’t you a brave omega bitch. You’re right I don’t care about them. You are the one the boss would want to get his hands on. He was very angry that his little plan did not work out like he wanted. And that's your fault, you got in the way and had a few of our men arrested too. Boss would love getting his hands on you,” She could only watch as his slippery tongue ran across his top teeth as he grinned widely at her. Repressing the strong urge to shiver under his disgusting gaze she made sure she stood tall and unwavering between him and her friend.

“Well then if it's me you want then come and get me. But let the civilians go. They are not a part of this,” She knew that would not happen, he knew that the other woman and child were important to her. They were her weakness, she would protect them. She couldn't make the first move as that would force her to pull away from them and leave them. They were a burden but that did not matter to her. Although she was accustomed to doing things in the shadows and away from prying eyes and civilians that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to still protect them.

“Hmm I don’t think so. They may be a bit of a hassle but I am sure the boss could find a use for them,” The man said, his wide grin growing as he kept his eyes on the woman standing tall before him.

“Bastard,” she growled out under her breath, unhappy she could not rush him. She was stuck standing back with Sasara and Hatori. She specialized in hand to hand combat. Both her fighting style and quirk worked best when close up. At a distance like this her quirk would knock everyone on their ass that was on the street. And she would not be in a good state without her mask. So using her quirk at the moment was not an option. All she could do was either hopefully talk the criminals off till Kirishima arrives with some back up or wait for him to make the first move and give her an opening to attack him. She hoped she could do the first option but expected the second was going to be the reality.

And of course it was as she watched shadows shoot out across the ground and towards her. She barely had a second to decide what to do. She saw him moving through the shadows but that's all she felt confident knowing about his ability. Dodging seemed best at the moment.

“Sasara take Hatori and try to back away,” She called out as she jumped away from the shadow and watched it take a hard left after her. It was like a heat seeking missile that refused to give up the chase as she worked to try and keep the black shape away from herself but still not allow herself to be forced too far away from her friend. She could hear Hatori’s protests as his mother tried to carefully drag her kid away from the onslaught of fighting.

Multitasking usually was not a hard thing to do. But still keeping one eye on Sasara and Haroti who were trying to back away and give the villain and pro distance, the villains shadow and then he himself was a little difficult to do. The shadow and villain held her attention the most. Could he control more than one shadow? He only attacked her with one and it stuck to the ground. But still was he just toying with her? Trying to exhaust her while she was forced to jump around and avoid his attacks? If he was confident about the time he had to draw out the battle then that would be an option. But out in the middle of a street with other civilian bystanders watching and running he had to know help had been called. Time was not on his side, usually that pushed criminals to act more sporadic. But this man was taking his time, he was toying with her.

The realization that he was not outwardly attaching her in earnest or going after Sasara other than trying to keep her from running off the best he could, was an unsettling thought. Help was on the way before he even attached them. Did he know that? Was Kirishima not going to be able to get to them? Was this a trap of some kind? So many questions and not enough answers. It was annoying. If she could get close enough to let out a short and strong burst of her quirk she would most likely incapacitate the villain, though she would leave herself useless and vulnerable. Still she kept her distance, that needed to be a last ditch try. Even if she could take out this one villain if there were others around fighting with Kirishima when he tried to come and help her then she could find herself in trouble if she gets drunk off her ass on her own quirk taking out this piece of trash. And yet she was not sure if she had much more of a choice. For now it was all she could do to avoid his attacks and try to draw out the attack as long as her body would allow.

Stamina was something she had a good amount of. Well typically it was, but the stress of the day before along with coming off of her heat and fucking up her sleep schedule her body was not as willing as it typically would have been any other given time. It had not taken as long as it normally would have for her body to be screaming at her, sweat covered her face, her clothes clung to her and her lungs were screaming to stop moving so much and inhale more air as she struggled to inhale and exhale fast enough. It was almost embarrassing the state she was in as she worked hard to avoid the shadows that tried hard to pierce her body. For the most part though she was otherwise okay, a few scratches but she had managed to avoid the hits. Where the hell was Kirishima or a sidekick even? Anyone would do damn it. She just was not sure how long she could keep this up.

She was quickly running out of options as she decided with what little strength she had to launch herself at him. She kept herself low as her long legs quickly covered the good couple of meters between them. Her sudden burst of speed to put herself directly in front of the man seemed to catch him off guard. She had assumed he had been stalking her or did some sort of research on her. But maybe he saw her in action at the failed attempt to stake out the warehouse where she and Bakugou had instead found themselves ambushed. Being able to control shadows could explain how he escaped. Her quirk probably couldn't seep into his shadows so if he hid himself he wouldn't be affected. Which meant she needed to make sure she could keep him from running away. Well that was easy enough as his hands had instinctively reached out to either grab her or try to stop her. It was easy to step to the side of his arms, grab one and pull him forwards. With his gravity shifted she watched him start to fall forwards. Not letting go of his arm she twisted it behind him and used it to push him even further into the ground, sending him face first into the sidewalk as she dug her knee into the middle of the man's bony back.

He didn’t even squirm as she pinned him to the ground with such a basic take down move. It felt like he went down too easily. And really she was right he had gone down too easily once she decided to risk it and close the gap. Not wanting to risk anything else going wrong she let out a sudden quick and swift burst of her quirk as she tried to hold her breath. But she kept her quirk up till even she couldn't hold her breath and had to take a deep breath and instantly felt her own head spin and her body grow light before she turned off her quirk. Panting heavily and trying to push off the warm and fuzzy feeling that washed over herself she suddenly moved to nearly just sit on the man before heavy breathing drew her attention quickly over her shoulder as her hero name was called out.

“Kirishima!” She yelled out louder than she needed to with a wide lopsided grin on her face as she sat on the unconcussion man beneath her.

“What took you so long? You missed the party,” She said with a light hiccup and giggled as she looked up at the man who was struggling to not start laughing at the well tipsy woman just sitting on what could look like random civilian.

“Sorry. We hit a little roadblock on our way over. Seemed your attacker was not working alone, or it was the biggest coincidence ever,” The redhead said offering the dark haired woman a hand up to try and help her to her feet. Though the action made the world spin a little.

“Shun!” She didn't even get to try and force her foggy brain to comprehend the man's words as the familiar screech of her friend's voice filled her ears and now she turned her loopy smile to the pale woman who was now holding a worried looking little boy who was clinging to his mother.

“Sasara!…I hope you're okay,” The dark haired woman said unable to get the sentence out without a hiccup in between, her lopsided grin falling as she took in the two worried faces that ran up towards her while the sidekick who was working with Kirishima was cuffing the body who was still sprawled out on the ground.

“We are fine, but are you?” Sasara asked as she walked more slowly up towards the woman watching a wide grin appearing across her face once again.

“Yep I am a-okay,” the woman said, even flashing her friend a thumbs up. Sasara sighed softly, happy to hear her friend was okay. Though in this state it was hard to take her seriously. Sasara had heard about her friend's quirks drawbacks but had never seen it for herself till now.

“Uhm so what do we do with her now?” Sasara asked, looking over at the man who she was now kind of seeing and who was also keeping her friend still standing upright.

“Well I am still on duty. I need to deal with what has all happened. You and Hatori need to get home. And Sakaki needs to sober up before she can write up her own report. I’ll call Bakugou, I’ll have him drive everyone home. Once I’m done with dealing with the cops I’ll come check on you and Hatori,” The redhead said softly to the smaller woman who was still holding onto her son for dear life. And as much as she wanted to argue and just walk home after watching her friend fight to keep them safe she no longer felt safe to walk home alone at that moment.

“All right,” She said softly with a nod of her head as she watched Kirishima pull a cell phone out from a pocket on his hero costume and started calling Bakugou just hoping the blonde had not already passed out for the night. Hell, even Hatori stayed up later than that man.

Next Chapter

[wrxsslin-hours]

random high school au, headcanons

Bret Hart x Shawn Michaels

a/n: The mind wanders when you're watching 90s wrestling clips and y2k highschool movies while drinking beer on christmas day

» Contrary to popular belief, Shawn isn't as much of an idiot as people think. However, that doesn't stop him from playing dumb if it means getting his crush—Bret Hart, the student body president and local band geek—to be his tutor.

» The start of their relationship began on the wrong foot. Bret, the student body president, and Shawn, a degenerate—it's only natural. Shawn had once spat gum into Bret’s hair, and in return, Bret purposely misplaced Shawn’s belongings in areas where they shouldn’t be.

"'Hey, has anyone seen my magazine?' Shawn shouted, annoyed, as Bret attempted to cut off the strings of gum entangled with the strands of his hair. Bret knew full well he had flushed the magazine down the toilet during recess behind Shawn’s back, but he wasn’t going to tell the blonde that.

» Their blossoming love all started when Shawn was assigned a seat behind Bret for a history class. Shawn was too busy passing notes with Hunter one day, and in the middle of writing about how Hunter has a huge nose, Shawn was called to stand up and answer a question. The problem is that Shawn didn’t know the question, let alone the answer to it. This was it; it was over for him. He’s too young and hot to get detention! And when all hope was lost, a ray of light shined down upon him from the heavens. Shawn’s eyes saw Bret’s hands trying to sign a number. And in a sudden burst of confidence, Shawn said, 'One nine one seven.' 'You mean 1917?' '. . . Yes?' '. . . Sit down, Michaels.'

» The biggest sigh of relief escaped from Shawn’s lungs. Thank God for small miracles. When class ended, Shawn tapped Bret on the shoulder with his pencil and said his thanks before disappearing into the hall with Hunter and Chyna in tow.

» Bret didn’t get strawberry-scented gum stuck in his hair anymore, and Shawn found a new copy of his lost magazine in his backpack.

» Shawn found out about Bret’s tutoring gig from his younger brother Owen. Shawn overheard the younger Hart mention it in the cafeteria, and Shawn immediately plopped his ass between Owen and some kid named Koko B. Ware who always managed to sneak in his pet parrot past the school guards. Owen knows about Shawn’s crush on his brother, and he didn’t tell his brother anything about it in favor of watching how it unravels itself.

“Your brother is tutoring?” “Yeah.” “How can I sign up for that?” “You know it would be easier if you just talk to him, right?” “Don’t be ridiculous, Owen.”

» Hunter doesn’t understand what Shawn sees in Bret (“You got a thing for glasses, don’t you, Shawn?”) and Chyna could care less.

» After convincing Owen to have Bret agree to tutor him (which cost Shawn twenty bucks and a packet of gum), Shawn finally had the chance to spend more time with Bret—as if he couldn’t do that by just talking to the Hart instead of losing money and dignity during the process. But ah, the trials and tribulations of love.

» They spend an hour in the library every day after class. Shawn would be the first person there, fidgeting in his seat in the corner of the library, waiting for Bret and thinking of any suave pick-up lines to say (No, he doesn’t end up saying them). Bret would appear 2 minutes late, on the dot, every time. Bret’s got his hair in a ponytail just in case Shawn has plans of painting his hair with his gum again.

» Shawn made the foolproof plan of pushing up his stupidity so Bret can spend more time tutoring him.  Bret immediately knows Shawn’s faking his idiocy from the get-go. There’s no damn way Shawn doesn’t know the multiplication table. Shawn is not amused.

“You know you could just say that you want to hang out more, right? “I can? *Insert that one emoji with big shiny eyes*”

» They start spending time together after their tutor sessions. Become great buddies. Yay! Shawn’s too scared to confess his love because he doesn’t want to ruin his friendship with Bret. And he doesn’t know that Bret is also on the same boat. It’s ridiculous, quite frankly. They’re both messes and their friends are there to watch it all go down in real time.

» Shawn thinks if he learns to play an instrument, then Bret will like him more, and Bret strongly believes that if he dresses like Shawn more, then Shawn would find him attractive (“Trust me, Owen. I’m never wrong.” “Uh-huh.”) And that segues into Bret buying a leather jacket and Shawn failing to play the drums. It all accumulates into them confessing their feelings to each other at the same time one afternoon. They are both awfully embarrassed but thrilled afterward.

» Let this AU go in whichever direction you want. Brainrot is strong in this one, I fear.

[littlehen]

I just had a situation while I was in my car that made me equally very annoyed and amused - under the cut:

So my brother wanted to go to the shops and he didn't want to drive because he knew it would be difficult to park (sales, busy) so I offered to drop him off. He has given me hundreds of lifts over the years, and now that I've finally got my driving phobia under control, I love to offer lifts because a) it's nice to be able to give back and b) it's all practice and the more experience I have, the more often I drive, the more normalised it is for me.

So I drive him to the shops and I drop him off in the car park right next to John Lewis. Fine. Then I have to turn around. I realise that it's a dead end and I'm going to have to do like a 50-point turn because this car park area is very tight and my car is very big. (Our family car is a 2007 Citroen Xsara Picasso, kind of minivan.) Well, never mind, every space is parked up, which is bad because it gives me less space to turn, but good because no-one is waiting to get down this end to park, so I'm not going to have a lot of cars waiting angrily while I manoeuvre.

So I start doing the turn around, and there's this posh old lady in her 70s gets out of one of the parked cars. She stands and watches me while I go back and forward a few times. I'm getting a bit stressed, which is the worst thing you can do, so I decide to keep calm and get out of the car to figure out how far I would be able to move each way. Otherwise, I'm stuck, and only I can get myself out of this situation, so I need to keep a level head. As I say, no-one's waiting, it's fine. And I thought, maybe this lady here might help me.

I get out and I smile at this lady and say, 'Phew! Stressful!'

She says, 'I BEG your pardon?' like she's astounded that I've chosen to address her.

I gesture at my car wedged between the two rows of parked cars and say, 'This. It's stressful, trying to turn around here!'

She says, 'What ARE you doing?' Proper Lady Bracknell.

I say, 'I'm just trying to turn around, but it's a bit tight.'

She says, 'You're not going to just LEAVE that there, are you?'

(Yeah, I thought I'd just fling my car across both lanes, wedged in the middle of the car park and saunter off, like that'd be a totally sane thing to do.)

I say, 'No, no, I've just got out so that I can see what to do, figure out the best angle to get out of here.'

She says, 'Well, it's not THAT difficult.' (So fucking rude!)

It's too complicated to say, well I've only just got over a debilitating seven-year driving phobia, my confidence is fragile, I've got fuck-all spatial awareness and this is a big car in a tight space, and I'm frightened of bumping into anyone else's car, and yours is right in my firing line, so I'm letting you know that I'm being super-cautious here and trying to turn around safely. And yes, I think even experienced drivers would say it IS that difficult, actually. (When I got home and told my dad, he said he wouldn't have dropped off there, because it's too hard to turn round, SO.)

So I say, 'Ah yes, but I'm a new driver, I just passed, so it's still a bit tricky for me.'

She says hmm and stands there clutching her shopping bag. I say, 'I'm not blocking you, am I?' (She says 'pardon?') I repeat myself.

She says, 'No!' as if it's a stupid question and continues to stare at me as if I've just vomited on her shoes.

I say, 'Okay, well, back to it!' And I check the space I have behind the car, in front of it, do pantomime measurey hands, and then hop back in my car.

So this lady then just goes and stands on the pavement and watches me get out of this tight space. Arms folded, tutting and shaking her head.

Back when I genuinely was a new driver, this for sure would've made me break down and have a panic attack. The first thing I said to her was that this was stressful for me! What the fuck. I just focus on what I'm doing and try to block out Lady Cowface's overly theatrical judgement of me.

Anyway, a couple of shimmies and I'm free, I'm ready to drive out. Takes no more than a minute. So I look out the window, give her a big grin and a thumbs up, as if she's actually been helpful (all good now, thanks!) and drive off. By now there are a couple of cars waiting, and the nice man in the first one, who's been hanging back and not hassling, gives me a friendly little wave as I go by. LIKE A NORMAL PERSON.

I just cannot believe what a cold bitch she was! I think if I'd been in her position, and had that interaction with a friendly person who was clearly struggling, I would ONE HUNDRED PER CENT say, 'oh, can I help?' OBVIOUSLY, YOU OFFER TO HELP. I'd have offered to guide the driver out of the tight spot, give a little tap on the bonnet when they were too close to another car, waved them out like I was air traffic control. (Especially if there was a risk of them bumping into my car!) Or the other kindly option is to grin and say 'ah, good luck!' and walk away. Not be rude, tell them it's not that difficult, and then stand there watching with arms folded. That's actively making it harder. And: it's Christmas time! Mr Scrooge!

Anyway, it reminded me that over the years of working in the shop, I very regularly had to serve rude, entitled, impatient, ill-mannered boomers, and she was exactly one of those. Presumably they're not just that horrible when they're directly interacting with retail workers. They're also walking around being grumpy and obstructive outside of the shop as well. So there we go, I just met a shitty customer out in the wild, what can you do.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for singlehandedly ruining my brother's life with my complacency?

For context, I (20NB) was frequently psychologically tormented by an entity that takes the form of a forest/state park near my town (no clue how old it is or if it has a gender) for a few years when I was a teenager, and once it had eroded my humanity enough it turned me into an extension of its power. It let me keep my free will, if you choose to believe in things like that, so when I was eighteen I fled to a different state under the guise of going to college, hoping that distancing myself would weaken the entity's grip on me. It didn't, but at least I was 600 miles away from it now, and I made sure to keep myself isolated from everyone else at college so I couldn't hurt them.

Fast-forward to last January. After two years at college, I found out about a kind of... medication, we'll call it, that I thought would loosen the entity's grip on me. The medicine functions by fogging over your memories of supernatural things existing, inducing a sort of... weaponized executive dysfunction, for lack of a better phrase? Anyway, that stops you from acting on your knowledge, which exploits the fact that these sorts of entities don't care about much other than how people who know they exist choose to act on this information- so, if you're physically unable to act on your knowledge they exist (which you barely remember anyway), they can't affect you. After giving the medication a trial run, I went back to my hometown to visit my brother N (17M).

Since I'm not all that human anymore, I found out early on that the entity retained its hold on me and was able to pull me back towards the state park even when I was medicated, but it never did anything once it'd got me there, so I got cocky and figured it must not be capable of affecting me past that. Plus, the entity had never done anything to anyone but me before, at least not that I knew of, so I'd spent years figuring I was its only victim and getting complacent because of that... and if it did finally kill me one of those times, I honestly think I would've welcomed it. Things were fine at first, though the entity somehow managed to break down the medication's effects once or twice, and I got to feel like a normal person again for the first time since middle school. But after a few weeks, the entity broke through the medicine's effects again and revealed to me that its real target had been N the whole time. That was why it kept pulling me back to the state park while the medicine was preventing me from consciously realizing what a bad idea that was: it wanted to get ahold of N, who I'd been bringing with me the whole time like an idiot because I still thought I was the entity's sole target. To make matters worse, when it told me this it was referring to N with the same kind of title it'd given me, which I knew it wouldn't have done if it wasn't absolutely sure I wouldn't be able to remove its influence from him.

I panicked and rushed N back to his car, which was when I had the idea that maybe if I overdosed him on the medication I'd been using, he'd go from mere brain fog to outright amnesia. I was still panicking and didn't take the time to think that idea through, so I just tackled N, shoved a bunch of my pills down his throat, and ran. I was too afraid of what I might see if I stuck around to make sure he was okay long-term (I guess it was kind of a Schrodinger's cat mentality or something?), so I went back to college and tried to pretend none of it happened. I did keep an eye on the news from our town and didn't see anything alarming, and that was enough that I could lie to myself that maybe N was miraculously fine.

N did end up forgetting the time I'd spent back in our hometown as planned, but I forgot to account for the fact that he'd been recording videos during almost all of the times we went to the state park, wanting to use them as B-roll for a film class project. He didn't even make it a month before finding those recordings on his camera and starting to piece things together on his own, during which his mental health and personal life started falling apart for obvious reasons. (He also started getting intermittently stalked by an unrelated entity during this time, but it's more a pest than anything else, I've already got plans for disposing of it.) Once I found out about all this, I came back to our hometown to clear things up for N, especially making sure he was aware that all of it was my fault: I wasn't about to pretend I'd been controlled by the entity the whole time or something, he deserved the whole truth. I'm pretty sure he's only tolerating my presence now because he needs my knowledge about how supernatural things work. It hurts, but it's not like I was expecting him to take it well, so I'm not planning to stick around once I've made sure he knows everything he needs to.

That's everything important. The answer seems pretty obvious, if you ask me, but... AITA?

[life-love-and-lotr]

@chaos-in-bright-pink-hair-dyes Killjoys Week 2023 Day 2- Smoke

Smoking was banned within Battery City. It was considered an unclean pastime that only damaged the lungs of its hardworking citizens. But Frank had already decided that scarred lungs were worth the freedom he felt when smoking, so made his weekly trip to the black market to buy a packet.

This time the trip took 10 times longer than it usually did due to the abnormal drac patrols polluting the streets. It wasn't unusual to see the masked figures, but the sheer numbers were concerning. The only time that they came down in such numbers was when there was a break-in (or out) in the middle of the city. And that always ended in chaos.

Frank pondered the mystery as he walked, taking his time to not get caught. He ended up in the familiar warehouse that held the market. Illegal weapons, android parts, and medications, all ready for purchase. The target for Frank was a man who only went by the name Horseshoe Crab. His attire, an all red ensamble complete with top hat, made it pretty obvious that he was a killjoy. A killjoy who always had a knack for getting out of sticky situations. If anyone here knew what had happend, it would be him.

"Hey Horseshoe. Were you the reason why there are so many drac patroles out? Seems like something you would do."

The older man, looking mockingly shocked at the accusation, stuck his hands in the air in defeat.

"What do you mean? I would never do anything to rile up the pigs. How very dare you. Seriously though, it wasn't any of the Suitehearts. From what I heard, two of the top Scarecrows sons just escaped the city. They have become true killjoys now. Good for them thats what I think. Anyway, want your usual?"

Frank had to blink away the sudden reilisation from his eyes. His mother had two brothers come through her transition house just two days ago. They looked too clean and scared half to death. The youngest didnt look much older than 8, the oldest being the same age as Frank. She had shooed him away from the room when helping them, then sent them away faster than most. She must have known how important they were.

"Thanks. Hey, tell Doctor B we might need more medication. That breakout is gonna cause hell on the voluenteers. And I know mom will wanna be prepared when shit hits the fan"

"Will do. Be careful out there. They are getting more dangorus every passing day. Wouldn't want to bury my best customer now would I?"

Frank did his best to squirm his way out of Horse Shoes inevitable head rub, messing up his sholder-length hair. No matter how hard he tried to be a sarcastic asshole, he always ended up just being a true Suiteheart.

"You to. I don't wan't my favourite dealer to go completly out the window do I?"

After handing the credits over Frank left, a single pack of cigarettes in his hand. He waited until he got to his usual quiet smoking place before pulling one out. He was able to climb through a slot in the wall surrounding the city and perch upon the top. It looked out onto the desert, a beautiful sandy expanse that Frank could only dream of getting to. Just like the two mystery boys.

As he lit the cigarette, he thought about them. How they were just left to learn the desert on their own. He worried about them as the length of the nic stick shortened. And as the final smoke cloud breifly covered his view, he considered what it would be like if he left. Nobody would care enough to send an army to bring him back and he sure as hell wouldn't have a transition house to go through. His mum would string him up by the neck if he even asked to leave.

A sudden noise pulled Frank away from his contemplation. He didn't even get the chance to stamp out his cigarette before his vision flashed white. As he was pulled away from the safest place he knew, the packet fell to the floor. The last reminder of the boy he used to be

[hyliandude]

I had a dream last night.

There was a middle eastern guru that seemed homeless and dirty in the streets. He asked me to follow him to help save the people i care about. He seemed solemn and genuine so i went with him in the streets without care of calling off from work.

He took me into street markets in between a temple with devout followers of another religion, but there were people of all ethnicities.

I tried catching up to him but he was so fast, and everyone knew and bowed to him. There was this column everyone was huddled around at one point, and before proceeding he chanted something around it, seemingly “blessing” the column and gently told people to respect the area. Everyone got away from it (he later told me the column was unstable and needed repairs, so this was the fastest way to get people to clear the area and be careful with the column).

We entered this kitchen area and he changed attire. Food safety prep attire? I didn’t question it, but it seemed like we were going into some sort of food kitchen or prep kitchen to prepare meals for the homeless. Ok. I didn’t mind at all, and i remember thinking about how small the operation was. We were only probably going to feed like 80-100 people, but i also realized how MUCH more of an impact this was than me sitting at a desk pretending to do work for companies i know nothing about. (The attire they gave me was some sort of bib, and event shirt. It was a memorial shirt, for someone named Carla Mae, but i knew it wasn’t you b/c you were alive in my dream and the picture of the person was someone else. But it still made me think about the event. Before i could speak to anyone about the coincidence, my shift was over and the guru was having me haul leftover stalks of some of the food we prepared out back. All waste, and super heavy).

There was a lady out back, either washing clothes or collecting trash to place it in a giant pile of a courtyard. There weren’t many people there because of the horrid smell, and i think even residences above were no longer there because of the stench. It was only the one lady. She was peeling something with a knife, and then i realized she was mincing the trash to make it easier for herself to toss it. She took pride in her mundane task, but no one seemed to appreciate her efforts. The guru greeted her like a long time friend, but she was blunt and almost rude with him the entire time (in hindsight, im sure people were rude to her all the time because of the stinky area she was patrolling so she developed this personality as a defense mechanism). The guru conversed with her and eventually convinced her to hand use each a knife. I took it gladly. With the leftover stalks of food waste we had, we started peeling them to better expose the insides. The lady asked us why we were “taking her job” and the guru replied that we were just here to help. To which she relaxed and continued to quietly converse with us. The guru would peel a few stalks from the pile we had, and tossed them into her pile. He then gestured to me to do the same. After a few hours, we were finished with our pile, and finished sprinkling the chunks across her pile. She thanked us, and so did others before we left (i didn’t know, but it turned out that the leftover food stalks were a natural deodorizer. The guru had killed 2 birds with 1 stone in his efforts). It took a while, it smelled, i was sweaty and gross. But i felt so fulfilled and impactful, I can’t even explain.

(Throughout this entire time there’s been music playing from the temple area. Id had it stuck in my head since i woke up, but it’s now 6:55 AM and i dont remember how it goes anymore).

Later in the day we are in the temple, for some service i suppose, and i swear people are huddling around the guru as we walk like paparrazzis, but with more decorum and respect. He’s not mad at any of them, and he addresses those he can without losing sight of his path through them.

The only one i remember was a man asking for the presence of “god” in his village. He was wondering what it would “cost” him to have god come and be at his village. This question stood out to me, and it mustve stood out to the guru too, because he stopped and turned to the man:

“This is a common question, but an easy one”

I assumed he’d be asking for a donation of sometime, which was a concept that disillusioned me to the entire establishment.

The guru then proceeded to talk to the man. His village was going through a rough time. This man was the only one of strong enough mind and body to come out into the temple from afar to seek help. The guru said it would cost him the salary of multiple builders, cooks, fisherman, etc. The man said that he was strong and well versed in many skills, but that he had no funds to pay more people to come and help in the village with those things.

The guru then whispered something to the man, which must’ve shocked him immensely as i saw the wave of revelation come over him, and he left the crowd!

The guru turned to me and quickly said

“Why pay for god if he’s already there?”

There was another scene where i was at a private rooftop dinner with the guru and a family overlooking the city. We were clearly there for the father, a strong and clearly wealthy man who had evidently been religious in the past. He wanted the guru’s influence and advice on military and commercial conquest, and i dont remember what else was said, but we just left. Something about how the man had lost sight of “all his past lessons”.

In the end, i didn’t quite understand why i was playing “hooky” all day. I didn’t know how to “save those that i love”. He told me people just want to be heard and understood. Not a surface level thing, but truly HEARD and UNDERSTOOD. It seemed so cliché, but he also mentioned how the time we spend with our loved ones is 1. An investment and extension of ourselves that they’ll remember and learn from. A piece of ourselves inevitably makes it to them, and he wanted to make sure it was the BEST piece of ourself. And 2. The time is something we’ll both cherish. At the end of the day, we’ll all be gone without thoughts or memories. In our final moments we’ll regret spending time on a computer or pointless meeting instead of with the people we love. To save them, means saving ourselves of course, but it means spending as much time with them. They aren’t with us if we’re not spending time with them, just like they won’t be with us when we’re all gone - so spend as much time with them to save them. Take that time back with them. And cherish it.

I still had the jaunty music stuck in my head. I vividly remember what i was wearing, what he was wearing, and what others were wearing.

Just wanted to jot all this before i forgot.

[darcyfangirlsfrequently]

I Met You At the End of the World - chapter three: The World Finds Ways to Sting You... and then One Day Decides to Bring You Something to Believe In

Chapter summary: Luke dwells on his newly-discovered feelings for Penelope amid a case about medical experimentation, the two become closer, and a major break is made in the case of the hitmen hunting Garcia.

Chapter word count: 5527

Total word count: 16,622

Songs referenced: "Something to Believe In" by Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay, and "It's Nice to Have a Friend" by Taylor Swift

Can also be read here on Ao3

“I’m in,” Penelope declared, a smile on her face as she dropped a purple fluffy pen to the center of the table where she and Luke were playing poker that evening after work. Something had shifted between the two of them the night before when they’d had dinner, but she didn’t know what. All she knew was that she enjoyed spending time with him, and, ever the optimist, she was extraordinarily glad that this terrible situation had brought such a wonderful friend into her life. In times like these, it’s nice to have a friend. 

Luke, on the other hand, knew exactly what had shifted between them the night before. Or, at least, what had shifted between them from his point of view. However, he had elected not to tell anyone about his newly discovered feelings. Not any of their friends, and certainly not Penelope. It was neither the place nor time for any of that, and, the more he thought about it, Luke felt slightly guilty about his feelings. He was here to protect Penelope, not fall for her. Besides, he’d be leaving soon enough, and he was sure those feelings would fade as soon as he no longer saw her every day. Besides, he didn’t want to make things awkward when she inevitably rejected him and they still had to work together. Penelope was already in the middle of a really terrible situation, and it would be incredibly insensitive of him to try to pursue anything with her. Besides, Morgan would probably be none too pleased with him, considering both her current circumstances and the fact that she was like family to him. Luke had decided that being her friend was all he could ask for, and friends was more than enough for him, and definitely better for her. He knew that in a situation like the one she was currently experiencing, it’s nice to have a friend. So, he decided that he’d make it his personal mission to make her smile at least once a day. Today, that was being done through poker, thanks to a deck of cards he’d brought from home, and her little knick knacks that she’d volunteered as her side of the “pot,” not that Luke would keep them should he win, knowing they were her prized possessions. Besides, he wouldn’t need to. Her smile at playing their game would be enough of a prize for him. God did he sound sappy. He knew it, he just couldn’t find it within himself to care. He was just throwing in whatever he had on him that could be deemed of value, but again, it was all for show. 

“Eh, I think you’re bluffing,” Luke replied. “So, I will see your fuzzy pen, and I will raise you…” he paused for a moment, rifling through his pockets, “my ten-stamps-for-a-free-hot-dog card for the hot dog stand down the road from my place.”

“I don’t understand why we’re betting,” Penelope laughed. “I don’t eat meat!”

“Well A,” Luke said. “I have no use for all your fuzzy pens, so we’re even, and B, poker is no fun unless you have something on the line.”

“Fine,” Penelope conceded. “Give me three cards.

Luke did as she asked, and checked his own hand. “Yeah, I’m good.”

Penelope groaned when she looked at her new cards. “What? Really?”

Luke tried to swallow his laugh. “You have heard the expression ‘a poker face’ before, right?”

Penelope frowned down at her cards, then up at him, then her frown morphed into a smile as she stuck her tongue out at him. “You have heard it’s rude to make fun of people before, right?”

Luke threw his hands up in the air in mock surrender. “I am not making fun!”

“I know, I know, I’m just teasing.”

Luke opened his mouth to make a comment, but she cut him off with the point of a finger.

“But! Before you say ‘I thought it was rude to make fun,’ teasing and making fun are not the same thing.”

Luke laughed again. “Alright, alright, look, whatever you say.”

She smiled back at him, but her smile slowly drifted away, and he noticed.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She only shrugged in response. 

He reached his hand across the table to rest it on hers. “This won’t last forever, Penelope."

“It feels like it will. I’m scared. There are people out there who want to hurt me, I’m scared I’m gonna be stuck in here because there are people that want to hurt me…”

“Hey, that’s why I’m here, okay?” Luke assured her. “To help make sure that those people out there who want to hurt you never get the chance to.”

She nodded, and then her phone rang. Picking it up, she sighed. “It’s Hotch. We have a case.”

She began packing up their things, and he stood up with her and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Listen,” he said. “We’re going to take these guys down. In the meantime, you just have to stay strong. Okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.” She leaned in and hugged him. “Thank you.”

He leaned his head down to her shoulder, the way he always did when he hugged someone. “Any time.”

***

Penelope stood at the front of the Round Table Room, the presentation ready on the screen behind her. She clicked a button on her remote, zooming in on the location of this particular case. “St. Augustine, Florida, two bodies were found early this evening in a remote wooded area just west of the city. Neither have been identified yet.”

Something about the pictures that popped up on the screen caught Tara’s attention. “This woman’s complexion…”

“She was exsanguinated,” Penelope replied, explaining why the woman was so pale. “Which is a really fun word to say, but I didn’t know its really terrible meaning until I started working here.”

Luke had to duck his head down to look at his files to hide his smile. God, she was adorable. 

“Odd that only the female victim had her blood removed,” Rossi said. 

“Well the male victim might have been collateral damage,” JJ suggested. “Or a witness that needed to be silenced.”

“I mean it is the kind of message that rival drug gangs will send to each other,” Luke pointed out, having recovered from his little moment and trying to make sure no one noticed. Trying to keep a secret from profilers could be hard, but he was banking on the facts that he’d been undercover and the team didn’t know him well enough to know his tells to help him keep the secret. He could only hope then that he didn’t slip up around Morgan, the only person who would definitely be able to pick up on it. “The Curiel syndicate recently set up shop in Florida.”

“Except it looks like these two were meant to vanish without anyone the wiser,” Rossi countered. “How is that a message?”

“Well cartels have also been known to use murder as a form of voodoo,” Morgan replied. “In 1989, a University of Texas student was murdered by a satanic gang while on Spring Break.”

“Well my gut says it has nothing to do with drugs,” JJ stated. “More like straight-out vampirism or someone with a blood fetish.”

Hotch was already standing and putting his files in his briefcase. “It’s late, and we need to hit the ground running. Wheels up in 30.” 

After a quick call to his sitter to tell her he needed her to take Roxy for at least the next night, Luke and the others were right behind him on their way to the airstrip.

*** 

Once on the jet and at cruising altitude so Penelope could call in, the team continued to discuss the case. 

“The coroner attributes the lacerations on the bodies to animal bites,” Morgan said as he flipped through the file. “Apparently there’s a lot of raccoons in the area.”

JJ sighed. “Maybe so, but the media’s going all-in with Satanic Mutilation.”

Hotch considered this. “It’s happened before. The West Memphis Three case showed how animal activity on a corpse could be mistaken for ritualized torture.”

“After the first bite, the insect infestation expands and distorts the open wound,” Rossi added.

“Okay,” Penelope cut in. “Here’s my finger, here’s the mute button. Are you guys done talking about critter damage?”

Luke smiled at her comment, knowing the animal lover in her was probably none too pleased to be hearing about all the disgusting things an animal could do to a dead body, and finding her reaction endearing.

“You can put your finger down, Baby Girl,” Morgan assured her. “We’re done.”

“Thank you. And JJ’s right, local news and radio outlets are going wild with this as a blood-worshipping cult murder.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “Hey, new information. Both of those bodies have just been identified. Cheyenne Pravato, 23, and George Henning, 71.”

“Any connection?” Hotch asked.

Luke would be surprised if there was no connection, since the age and sex difference meant that they couldn’t both be surrogates, at least not of the same person.

“My level one search says no, my level two through twenty await. Cheyenne was a waitress that is currently unemployed, Henning was a retired steelworker from Pennsylvania, lived in Florida for a few years. They both went missing three days ago.”

“Three days?” Tara repeated in shock. “The coroner estimated the time of death as less than twenty-four hours from the time of discovery.”

“Means the unsub had the vics for two whole days before killing them,” Luke stated. “So he almost definitely has some kind of secondary location where he holds and kills them before dumping their bodies in the woods.”

“Preliminary indicators show no sign of torture or sexual assault,” JJ said. “What is he doing with them?”

Hotch took the reigns then. “Dave, you find out what you can about Cheyenne from friends and family. Morgan, you do the same for Henning. Lewis and Alvez, you go to the M.E., and JJ, I need you to reign in the media. Hysteria’s growing and we need to contain it.”

***

Once Luke and Tara arrived at the M.E.’s office, they were greeted by a Dr. Gaylen who was quick to get started.

“I’m still waiting on the full tox screen from the male victim,” he informed them. 

“We think they may have been held for up to two days,” Luke said. “Were they fed?”

“Stomach contents were empty, but nutrition and hydration levels were normal. My guess is they were both fed through an IV. I did find one curiosity.” Dr. Gaylen pulled back the sheet over George to reveal his legs.

“It looks like another animal bite,” Tara remarked.

“Not under magnification,” he responded. “It’s actually a surgically precise triangle.”

Tara and Luke exchanged a look and examined the mark closer. A curiosity indeed.

Dr. Gaylen’s phone rang then, and he went to answer it. “Dr. Gaylen… You’re positive of that?” He hung up the phone and returned to the agents. “The tox screen and DNA tests on George Henning just came back. Are you ready for this? Most of the blood in his body isn’t his. It’s Cheyenne’s.”

Luke’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. It was what?

***

The two returned to the police precinct the team was working out of, and relayed this new discovery to them.

“The blood drained from Cheyenne was put into George Henning?” Morgan repeated, disgusted. 

“I agree that that is strange,” Tara said. “And a triangle was cut out from his calf muscle.”

“Dear Diary,” Rossi said. “Just when I thought I heard it all…”

“And there’s still something in the toxicology screen the M.E. can’t identify,” Hotch said.

“Yeah,” Luke confirmed. “We’re hoping we’re going to find out something more in the next few hours.”

JJ walked into the room then, back from meeting with the media outlets covering the story. “So, it took a little arm-wrestling, but the media finally saw the wisdom in toning down the whole demon worship angle.”

Luke knew she was talking metaphorically about arm-wrestling, but he had no doubt from what he’d seen of her in the field that she could most likely absolutely destroy practically anyone in an actual arm-wrestling contest. He wondered if he should challenge her to one one of these days. 

“Don’t take a victory lap just yet,” Rossi told her, handing her a file. 

She examined the paper he had given her and winced. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m just trying to work out the whole calf muscle business,” Tara said. 

“Triangles are big in Illuminati symbolism,” Rossi pointed out.

Morgan considered that. “This is bending back toward cult behavior.”

“What did you find out about George Henning?” Hotch asked him. 

“According to the neighbors, the guy was a shut-in. No friends or family, a lot of health problems. Hypertension, Parkinson’s.”

Rossi’s brows furrowed. “Cheyenne was the opposite. Vegan into New Age lifestyles. Never met a harmonic convergence she didn’t want to converge on.”

Hm. Luke thought to himself. She sounds a bit like Penelope. “I get it,” he said. “With George, he was a recluse, but how did nobody notice Cheyenne missing for three days?”

“Her friends said she was flighty,” Rossi explained. “It was not unusual for her to take off without notice for a week or two.”

“This unsub did his homework,” Morgan stated. “He knew that both victims could go missing without any alarms going off.”

“Transfusions and sustained IV feeding take skill, planning, and access to materials,” Hotch remarked. “And, crude as it was, the replacing of the old blood with new is dialysis. What if the triangle isn’t a symbol but a tissue sample? Could this be medical experimentation?”

Tara agreed with him immediately. “Yeah, I mean, you’ve got a youthful, healthy host in Cheyenne, and a sick test subject in George.”

“If the new missing girl’s his next victim, the unsub could be getting ready to try again,” JJ said.

Rossi nodded. “And his experiment takes two to tango. If Andrea mirrors Cheyenne…”

Luke picked up Rossi’s train of thought. “Then who mirrors George? He’s not done yet, there’s another victim coming.”

There hadn’t been any other missing persons reports, so they decided to call Penelope and see if they could find anything that might help their medical experimentation angle.

“Sir, yes sir?” Penelope said as she answered.

“Garcia I need you to do a search of doctors and medical professionals in the region, and see what kind of red flags pop up,” Hotch instructed.

“But of course. Carmine, scarlet, cherry, crimson, maroon? What shade of red are we looking for?”

Luke was unequivocally not thinking about all the different shades of red lipstick he’d seen her wear in the time he had known her. Definitely not.

“Ethics violations, improper protocol.”

“This person may have washed out of medical school or gotten in trouble with the licensing board for unorthodox practices,” JJ added. 

“That’s a deep shade,” Penelope said. “I’ll hit you back when I have something.”

***

About an hour later, Penelope used the tip of one of her fuzzy pens to press Hotch’s speed dial buttons. 

“What’ve you got, Garcia?”

“Nothing on my crimson flag doctor search,” she told him regretfully, “but I did learn about something with a super cool name. The Mad Scientist’s Club.”

“What’s that?” Luke asked from the other side of the line.

Penelope smiled at her new friend’s voice. “They’re a student group from the Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville. Before they disbanded, they used to get together and talk about experimental ways to cure disease.”

“Do you have the names of the people in this club?” JJ asked her. 

“Eh,” Penelope replied. “Kinda, sorta, not really. They were totally informal. Here’s the part that made me sit up straight: they used to meet at a local cemetery.”

“Let me guess,” JJ said. “The same cemetery where Andrea Gambrell disappeared.”

Penelope nodded enthusiastically, even though JJ couldn’t see her. “Yeah! The very one!” 

“Alright,” Hotch said. “Keep working on the names, and see if you can find out why the club was disbanded.”

“Okay,” Penelope replied, hanging up the call and getting straight to work.

***

Not long after that call, Tara got one from the M.E., and she put it on speaker so Luke, who was with her, could hear. “Agents Lewis and Alvez,” she said as she answered. 

“Yes, Agents,” Dr. Gaylen said. “I’ve got the full tox screen on George Henning. There were massive amounts of Levodopa in his system.”

Tara seemed thrown by this. “The Parkinson’s drug?”

“Correct,” Dr. Gaylen confirmed.

Tara and Luke exchanged a look. That was strange.

“Okay but his blood was replaced with Cheyenne’s,” Tara stated. “So does that mean the Levodopa was introduced to his system after the transfusion?”

“Yes ma’am. And we got the results from the other DNA samples and the surprises keep coming. Found traces of mesoglea and testudinata keratin.”

Luke’s brows furrowed in confusion. Not being a scientist or a doctor, he had never heard these words before. “Which are?”

“Jellyfish and turtle,” Dr. Gaylen told him. “George Henning had animal DNA in his system.”

Tara and Luke exchanged another look, this time one of pure shock. He had what?

***

The two had raced back from their coffee run to tell the team what the M.E. had told them, and Hotch called Penelope to update her. “Garcia’s tracking recent aquarium and exotic fish sales in the area,” he told them once he got off the phone with her. 

“Aquarium sales in Florida, that’s like tracking snow shovel sales in Alaska,” Rossi commented.

“But jellyfish have unique habitat and dietary needs, so hopefully that’ll narrow it down a little,” Hotch replied.

A police officer entered the room then. “A body’s just been found. Officer on the scene thinks it might be the work of our guy.”

***

JJ and Rossi were dispatched to the scene, and when they were back it was time to deliver the profile. 

As was often the case, Hotch started off. “We believe we’re looking for a male between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. He may have had some medical training, and he’s able to obtain large quantities of controlled pharmaceuticals.”

“This guy is working off the legal and ethical grid,” Luke said. “And he’s doing highly dangerous medical experimentation.”

Tara picked up the thread then. “We believe he’s searching for a cure for degenerative neurological diseases, but we don’t know why.”

“It could be personal,” JJ offered. “Either he or a loved one suffers from a disease and it’s a way to leapfrog conventional research in an attempt to find the cure.”

“Or it might not be personal at all,” Morgan told the officers. “This could be the unsub playing God, assuming the told of savior and rescuer of those in need.”

“Another motive is old-fashioned greed,” Rossi said. “Financial rewards for medical breakthroughs are substantial. 

“Whatever the case,” Hotch continued. “Two divergent methodologies are at work in this unsub.”

Morgan nodded. “On the one hand, he does show signs of logic and reason. The scientific method of trial and error.”

“On the other hand,” Luke said, “this person injected animal DNA into George Henning’s body revealing an irrational, almost fantastical approach to achieving these medical goals.”

“And this dichotomy might be present in his everyday life,” Hotch stated. “He might appear charming and trustworthy, which allows him to abduct his victims with little or no difficulty.”

“But the other half of his Jekyll-and-Hyde personality would clash with authority figures,” JJ remarked. “We believe that he had a conflict with a medical establishment in the past.”

“We have reason to believe that the most recent victim, Andrea Gambrell, is still alive,” Morgan informed the officers. “The younger person is needed alive to provide healthy blood.”

“But a new sick subject to receive that blood will almost certainly be sought out,” Luke added.

Rossi spoke again then. “Post-mortem violence on the most recent victim is a strong indicator that the killer is losing control.”

“This increased volatility is cause for concern,” Hotch said. “If there are two voices in his head, the violent one is taking over.”

***

Eventually, Penelope was able to find one member of the Mad Scientists club, and Tara was sent to interview her. She was able to give Tara a tentative first name, either Richard or Robert, who in turn had Penelope run a search for that, along with her search of zoo and aquarium staff in the area who might have had access to the animals the unsub was using, as per Hotch’s direction. The following morning, a doctor was killed in a nearby hospital, to which JJ and Rossi were sent out. They came back having found out that she was a neurologist and the unsub was likely getting his extra supply of drugs from her. They needed to find out if she was the doctor of George Henning or Harold McDermott, the recent victim, as well as look into any of her current patients. In all likelihood, one of them would be next. In the meantime, Penelope had Tara’s search results ready for them.

“Well,” Tara said, flipping through the pages in her file. “Garcia went through every medical student in the north Florida area with the name of Richard or Robert, and I gotta tell you guys, it’s a long list.”

“So which one is our magic man?” JJ asked.

“Well, hey,” Luke said, holding his hand out to Tara. “Many hands makes light work, pass me some.” 

As she did, Tara noticed Rossi fidgeting with his pen, a strange look on his face. “What’s up, Rossi?”

“They identified the bird DNA in George Henning as coming from a scarlet macaw.”

JJ nodded. “Mhmm. And?”

“It’s got me thinking about Turritopsis dohrnii.”

Luke looked up from the papers to the older man. “Turri… what?”

“It’s called the immortal jellyfish,” Rossi explained. “Endlessly recycles its own cells through a process called transdifferentiation, a kind of lineage reprogramming.”

“Oh my goodness,” JJ joked, drawing out each word for emphasis. “Dr. Spencer Reid, master of disguise.”

Luke and Tara laughed at that. Luke had yet to meet the famed “Boy Wonder,” as Penelope called him, but the stories he had heard from both her and Morgan were enough to assure him that JJ’s remark had been bang-on. Rossi’s little spiel was exactly something Reid would say.

“No disguise,” Rossi replied. “I called the kid last night.”

The group laughed harder at that. 

“But think about it,” Rossi continued. “Jellyfish, turtles, sea urchin, and now, scarlet macaw. What do they all have in common?”

“A long lifespan,” Tara answered.

“Exactly,” Rossi said. “Longer than a human’s.”

“So it means the unsub may not be focused on a specific disease but rather, longevity?” Luke asked.

Rossi nodded.

“Oh god,” Tara exclaimed. “Guys, I think I know why the Magic Man thought this place was so magical.” She pointed at the map they were using to pinpoint the unsub’s hunting grounds. “We are right around the corner from the legendary Fountain of Youth.”

***

“Hey, I’ve got Garcia on the phone,” Penelope could hear Tara say to someone from the other side of the line.

“What is it, Garcia?” Hotch asked her.

“Sir, you were right about the scarlet macaw,” she told him. They are very hard to find. When you can find one, they’re real pricey. However, a private zoo outside of St. Augustine reported a macaw stolen. The owner suspected it to be a former employee, but they didn’t have any proof. I checked out this former employee, Bobby Boles, Bobby being short for Robert, Robert being maybe our mad scientist?”

“Did Robert Boles ever go to medical school?” Tara asked her. 

Penelope checked. “Yeah, he totally did. He flunked out in the middle of his first year though. He’s always been sort of a misfit, it seems.”

“How so?” Tara asked.

“He was home-schooled from an early age ‘cause he didn’t fit in with other kids, lots of childhood therapy.”

“What did Boles do after he dropped out of med school?”

“Lots of part-time jobs. He currently works as an orderly…” Penelope felt her stomach sink as she saw where he worked. “At the same hospital as Dr. Braga.”

“Where is he now?” Hotch asked her.

Penelope searched for that information, but to no avail. “I can’t find a physical address, he hasn’t had one for a while. I’ll keep searching.” With that, she hung up her phone and got right back into it.

***

The rest of the team was told of Penelope’s possible breakthrough of their mystery-man-slash-unsub, after which they also discovered that an elderly woman by the name of Eileen Kebler hadn’t shown up for her appointments with Dr. Braga for the last two days. Rossi, JJ, and Tara went to check out her residence, and the rest of them stayed behind.

“Hotch, we think we have something,” Morgan called out.

The Unit Chief approached him and Luke where they were sitting at a table. “What is it?”

“It’s Garcia’s list of recent saltwater aquarium customers.”

“Is Robert Boles on the list?” Hotch asked them.

“No,” Luke admitted. “But he could be using a fake name. It’s where one of the shipments was delivered that caught our eye.” He pointed out the aforementioned location. “The parking lot of a closed medical facility.”

The three of them were instantly in an SUV on their way to the facility.

“All right, thanks, Garcia,” Luke said as he hung up the phone. To the others, he then said, “Robert Boles got a summer job at a gift shop near the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park. He got fired for breaking in after-hours.”

“Maybe that’s where the obsession with eternal youth started,” Morgan suggested. 

When they arrived at the abandoned medical facility, they found Robert Boles holding a knife over Andrea Gambrell and arguing with another man.

“Robert Boles, drop the weapon,” Hotch ordered.

Luke and Morgan entered the room right behind him. 

“It’s over, man,” Morgan said to him. “You’re not getting out.”

“But the knife down slowly,” Luke said, slowly and clearly.

To his credit, Boles listened to them. He dropped the knife and raised his hands, putting them behind his head. The other man in the room looked horrified.

As Morgan arrested Robert Boles, the other man came up to Luke and Hotch. “My wife needs help,” he pleaded with them. Luke realized the wife in question must be Eileen Kebler, and this was her husband.

“Where is she?” Hotch asked. 

“In the next room,” he answered. “Call an ambulance, please.”

Hotch nodded. “Show me.”

They left, and Luke rushed to Andrea’s side to free her from her restraints. She was alive and breathing, but unconscious. 

As Luke undid the final restraint on Andrea and Morgan hauled their unsub from the room, Robert Boles delivered one final chilling declaration. “I can do my research from prison. No one can stand in the way of the future!”

Luke shuddered. The mentality of a man who thought himself unstoppable… with a complex like he had… was a very dangerous thing indeed. Andrea woke up then, and started to cry, so Luke, not knowing what else to do, pulled her in for a hug and rubbed her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. “It’s okay,” he whispered to her. “It’s okay.”

He really hoped it would be.

***

On the jet back, Morgan sat down beside his old friend and passed him a water bottle. “Hey, man. I feel like we’ve barely gotten the chance to catch up since you’ve joined us.”

Luke accepted the bottle graciously. “Yeah, it has, it’s all been kind of crazy.”

“So how have you been adjusting to all this?”

“Oh it’s great,” Luke replied. “I’m loving it, actually. I was unsure at first, you know? But there’s a lot more that’s similar in our jobs than I thought, so I’m feeling a lot more comfortable than I thought.”

“Well you’re doing great,” Morgan assured him. “You fit right in, I’d swear you were actually a part of the team.”

Luke’s face lit up. “Seriously? Thank you?”

Morgan smiled and patted his friend on the back. “Any time. We’ll miss you when you’re gone.”

“Yeah, I’ll miss you guys too.”

***

Once they landed, of course, Luke made a beeline for Penelope’s office. She was dressed in her pyjamas and ready for another night on her office couch, but she always had time for a conversation with one of her “fine furry friends.” Especially one that was quickly climbing the ranks in her list of favorites.

“Hey, you,” she said as she opened the door.

“Hey,” he said, stepping in and sitting down on the couch to face her. “How’re you doing?”

She shrugged. “I’m trying to stay optimistic, but it gets harder and harder, you know?”

He nodded sympathetically. “I know. Is there anything I can do to help?”

She shook her head. “Not really. Your visits help though, so thank you, seriously. I still can’t believe you can actually visit me this often. Like, you have no one to go home to other than Roxy? How on earth is a guy like you possibly still single? How are girls not falling at your feet?”

Well feel free to fall at my feet any day. “Well, army rangers and fugitive task force don’t tend to lend themselves well to dating.”

Penelope nodded, understanding. “Yeah, neither does this. Thank god I’m single right now, honestly. This kind of thing could wreak havoc on a relationship.”

“You know, I’m kind of surprised you’re single too,” Luke remarked, bumping her shoulder. “You’re pretty great, Penelope Garcia.”

She laughed. “Thank you. But I don’t know, it’s kind of hard to find the kind of person who wants the same things I do. The last person I seriously dated proposed without even ever asking me if marriage was something I wanted, which it wasn’t. He asked me to leave all this behind and move to a farm with him.”

Luke’s eyebrows shot to his hairline. “I’m sorry, what? How long were you two together?”

“Four years.”

“And he asked you to move to a farm with him? What part of this,” he gestured to the high-tech room around them, “screams willing to live the rest of my life on a farm?”

“You’ve known me for a few weeks and yet somehow you know me better than he ever did. And you know what else? He is also a technical analyst, but for a different department.”

Luke threw his head back and groaned. “No! That’s even worse!” They were silent for a moment before he said, “Hey, can I ask you something random and completely unrelated?”

“Sure.”

“Your last name, ‘Garcia,’ is that from the little-known, blonde-haired, Swedish Garcias?”

“Actually, it’s from the family that took me in after my parents died.”

Luke instantly felt like the world’s biggest asshole. “Oh my god I am so sorry,” he said, absolutely mortified. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear I was just curious, I—”

Penelope laughed. “Relax, I’m just messing with you. Well, kind of. Garcia was my stepdad’s last name, he legally adopted me when my mom married him. My mom and stepdad did die, however, so that part I’m not kidding about.”

“I’m so sorry,” Luke said genuinely. “Can I ask what happened?”

“I was eighteen years old, and I had stayed out past curfew one night. They went out to look for me, I got home after they left. They were hit by a drunk driver and killed instantly. I’ve felt guilt over it ever since. I probably always will.”

Luke took her hand in both of his and squeezed. “Hey, I know you’ve probably been told this a million times, but that was not your fault.”

She met his eyes and squeezed his hand in return. “I know that, logically, but it’s hard to accept that, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that. I’m so sorry Penelope.”

They had a moment, then, of complete silence. Just the two of them staring at each other and holding on tight to the other’s hand. Nothing was happening, yet it still felt deeply intimate. 

The moment was soon broken by Hotch entering her office, and they ripped their hands apart from each other, strangely feeling like they were caught doing something they weren’t supposed to be.

“Garcia,” Hotch said. “I need you to come with me right now.”

“Now, now?” Penelope asked.

He nodded. “Yes, now.”

“Should I change? I’m in my PJs—”

Hotch cut her off and spoke to Luke. “Alvez, get some clothes for her and bring them to us. We don’t have time to waste.” 

“Sir,” Penelope implored. “I’m scared, what’s going on?”

“There’s been a major break in the case of the hitmen hunting you.”

Penelope’s eyes widened in disbelief. “There has?”

Hotch nodded. “And we may have found a way to bring the whole network down.”

[ohbaby-obaeme]

ungodly screeching- part 2

hello hello!! i have returned with the younger bros version. i hope you enjoy, and if you did, please drop a follow and a reblog! (psst if you can't tell from satan's section, im a huge kpop stan and my inbox and dms are always open to chat)

Satan:

he wasn’t sleeping either, absorbed in the newest edition of Nightlock Sholmes’ mysteries. He was just getting to the end of Nightlock’s monologue on his deductions of the tea museum and was about to declare the culprit responsible for killing the museum’s head teamaker, when suddenly- “AUUUAAAHHH YEAH YEAH EYAH YEAH”

his head turned to the source of the abrupt noise, pupils alarmed, then irate when he realized that no, these weren’t screams of fear (he’s heard enough in his lifetime to differentiate, seeing as he’s caused all of them), but screams of…. something? something that definitely wasn’t fear, and therefore something that wouldn’t have any excuse to be so loud.

a rage that he was well supplied with rose to his throat, burning his veins and making his skin crawl with irritation. without even needing to look at the clock buried behind the tower of books on his nightstand, he knew it was way too late for anyone to make him deal with this.

after a few seconds of breathing in through his nose, he sprung up from his armchair, Nightlock Sholmes abandoned for the time being; the teamaker’s killer given a few more minutes before their inevitable unmasking. every step was a feat, an immense effort to contain the wrath clawing its way out of his chest. but satan was nothing if not a master of control, and so he managed to make his way over to your room, teeth clenched together as he all but knocks holes into your door.

from the inside, he could hear the screaming stop, the music shut off, and your heart rate rising. you’re scared. you should be.

the door cracks open a sliver, and your eye peeks through. the sliver widens when you realize it isn’t lucifer or asmo (he could be worse than satan when his beauty sleep was interrupted) and you let out a breath. as if he wasn’t the literal avatar of wrath, most feared by the denizens of hell for his temper and violent outbursts, you flash him the most adorable smile and ask “what’s up tantan?”

satan’s…confused. on one hand, he feels vaguely insulted that you aren’t scared to find him fully pissed off at your door in the middle of the night. on the other, it melts his fiery little heart to see you flash him that smile; to not be scared of him no matter how he may appear; to know that you put that much trust in him, enough to know that even if he was angry, he would never harm you. he chooses to focus on the other hand.

a huff escapes his lips. “what are you doing?” is all he’s allowed to ask before you pull him into your room.

“have i told you yet about bts? i don’t think i have. it’s been a while since i’ve listened to human world music, what with all the student council work and using my ddd and never my phone, but!! i was just about to go to sleep today when a human song got stuck in my head, and i needed to, like needed to listen to it again!! and so i did, and then i saw another song that i recognized and another and another and soon enough i was falling down the kpop rabbithole all over again!! im sorry if i woke you but now that you’re here, wanna listen to serendipity? it’s so your style- OH WAIT STILL WITH YOU!!! THAT ONE’S GREAT LET’S-”

he’s definitely lost, but as he lies on your bed, shoulder to shoulder with you humming along next to him, he thinks maybe this isn’t so bad. maybe Nightlock Sholmes can wait for tomorrow. for now, as he stares at you smiling over the rain sounds, slowly moving to the song’s melody, he thinks “yeah. this definitely isn’t so bad.”

Asmodeus:

he was having such a pleasant dream. there was a zombie apocalypse, but instead of zombies, it was him. an asmo apocalypse. no one bit each other and there was no gross bleeding or spilling of brains, just beauty all around. a myriad of breathtaking people, all looking into mirrors or each others’ eyes and sighing dreamily, enamoured smiles on each set of lips.

the smile on his sleepy lips was, however, rudely interrupted by your shrieking. like a banshee.

the asmos in his dream suddenly explode one by one, each opening their mouth and your voice filtering through. he runs to them to try and save them, but it is always too late. all that is left when he comes to is slight tinnitus and your annoying voice still going.

he feels himself sour faster than yogurt mixed with lime juice. you wanted to die today, hm? well, he’s nice enough to make your wish come true!

fuming all the way to your door, he knocks 3 times forcefully. honestly, what were you even doing up? it was 3:23 in the morning! he knows because he wanted to pronounce a time of death when he wrangled your throat like a wet rag. you don’t mess with asmo’s beauty sleep and get off easy. didn’t you know that around midnight was the time when your skin cells were repaired? it’s bad enough that you’d be doing this to yourself, don’t do it to him!

you, of course, don’t notice his knocking, swaying instead to the song playing in your headphones. eventually, his patience runs out, and the aura of rage he emits forces the door open all on its own. feeling a searing glare on the back of your neck, you turn and almost scream yourself into a heart attack.

there he stood, the jewel of the heavens, asmodeus, the avatar of lust (and self-proclaimed beauty) himself, in a fluffy white robe with the most murderous look you’d seen on anyone. yes, even more murderous than on satan and lucifer. the mask he’d put on before bed was all dry now but still stuck to his face like a second skin, pronouncing his eye bags and a slight bump on his forehead. shit. if he’d gotten a pimple because of you, you might as well have smacked lucifer’s butt and called him cute, because you were about to d i e.

but you weren’t MC for nothing. quick thinking was your forte, your key to survival down here.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH- ah, hey asmo! you must’ve been pretty surprised to hear me singing now, huh? well i gotta tell ya- it’s all because of you!”

he stayed silent but cocked his head the tiniest bit to the side- a sign that he was listening.

“yeah! so- i wanted to listen to something really nice before i went to bed, and i thought, ‘hey! why not listen to pomade?’ since it’s so so good, and your vocals make you sound like an angel, and the beat is so catchy, and the entire thing just makes me feel like you’re right next to me-”

his aura had more or less vanished now, a fond smile on his lips once again

“and yeah, that’s how it started out hehe. but before i could stop it, another song autoplayed after yours and another after that, and since your song put me in such a good mood, i guess i kept on going. i’ll stop now-”

he rushed towards you and swooped you into his arms. “oh MC, you are such a darling! of course you love my song, it’s the best, isn’t it? it just makes you want to dance, doesn’t it? ne, how would you like to hear a live version right now? i’m so perfect i can sing even though i just woke up! don’t you think that just adds to my already overflowing beauty?”

you’re trapped in his arms, so you can do nothing but nod as he rambles on. well, you suppose it is a fair price to pay for waking him up and not facing the fury of the scorpion.

really, you’re just thanking his father that he hadn’t noticed the (quite big) pimple forming on his forehead yet. hopefully when he does, you could blame it on mammon or something.

Beel:

he was in the kitchen when your wailing began, stuffing Madame Scream’s special macaroons into his mouth while still asleep. yeah. ladies, gentlemen, and everyone outside and in between, you’ve heard of sleep-walking, you’ve heard of sleep-talking, but now, get ready forrrrr…. sleep-eating!

mans was literally dreaming about pastries while he was stuffing them in his mouth. the sheer capacity. terrifying tbh

now, your shrieking slowly opened his eyes, and he looked around blearily for a few seconds, trying to realize where he was, what he was doing, and even WHO he was. it was a deeeep sleep he was in.

when he did recollect all that though, and his slumber-fogged brain did register your yelling, he didn’t react. all he could think of was: “oh, MC’s awake.”

precious boy 🥺

never one to turn down your company, he gathers as much food from the fridge and cabinet as his muscled arms could carry, and began trudging down to your room, eyes still half-lidded.

a soft knock resounds from your door and when you turn your head to see who it is, you find a sleepy ginger-haired food thief peeking his head in, and smiling.

“Beel! what are you doing up?”

he suppresses a yawn. “Hi MC. i was sleep-eating i guess, when i heard you singing. can i stay in your room for a while?”

you nodded, watching as he settled into your bed, sitting at attention and ready to hear your ‘serenades’ again. the mountain of snacks he brought along threatens to spill from your bed, but they’re being devoured faster than you could tell him to be careful so, he’s got it you guess.

and what a weird assortment it is. “licorice dipped in mayo?” he asks, big doe eyes blinking at you. it almost makes you want to say yes. almost.

“no thanks beel.” you’re just about to start singing again when you realize. “hey, how’d you get into the fridge? i was in the kitchen earlier tonight when lucifer quadruple-padlocked it.”

he stares blankly at you for a second. “oh, i guess that’s where the hole in the kitchen wall came from.”

damn. you made a mental note to NEVER get between a hungry beel and his food.

Belphie:

he was not asleep, fortunately for you. even lucifer shies away from waking up belphie, always passing on the responsibility to beel. there’s a reason why lmao

you were spared from a repeat of lesson 16, rather being graced by a painfully awake cow staring at you through a crack in your door.

sometimes belphie experiences something close to the opposite of sleep debt, where the hours he’s actually supposed to be awake have accumulated and forbid him from sleeping. and so he begrudgingly walks the land of the living, though you can tell from his gait he’d much rather be asleep.

when this happens, he takes to roaming the halls like a ghost who died a mournful death. quietly sweeping across the halls, taking his time to observe any changes made to the house since the last time he’d been in awake-debt. he likes to gaze at the paintings, especially the cursed ones. they seem to take on a new shine in the darkest hours of the devildom, the serenity aided by the fact that not a single thing ever stirs. or so he thought

he supposes he hadn’t been in awake-debt since you came to the house. he’d been sleeping less and less, secretly putting off his sin to spend more time with you. and he decided that’s just what he was going to do now, where none of his brothers would disturb him.

you don’t notice that he’s in your room until he’s standing a literal inch away from your dancing body, until you feel the huff of his breath on the side of your neck when he asks “what are you doing?”

only 2 seconds of the blood-curling scream you let out makes its way around the walls before his hand clamps around your mouth.

“tsk, do you want to get caught by lucifer?” when you shake your head slowly, he smiles. “i’m going to take my hand off now. no more screaming, okay?” you nod, and he has to hold himself back from squishing your cheeks while he’s at it.

he lets you go only for you to spin around and glare at him. “asshole” you huff, hand on your chest to try and calm your still-racing heart. he proves his rightful claim on the title of ‘youngest’ when he has the audacity to laugh at you. he jumps onto your bed and makes himself at home, a shit-eating grin in response to your glare still burning holes through his skull.

“well? continue your awful singing, if you could even call it that” he swiftly dodges a pillow you threw at his head.

“asshole” you mutter under your breath, but clamber under the covers with him anyway. yeah, he may be a brat, but who made him one?

you

[queenharumiura]

Neo, please, try your Yamamoto after he and Squaletta started kissing after few drinks and chemistry between them was unbearable. (Sorry, I am still stuck in our Yes or No thing where I think about them in romantic way XD I would be interested in his thoughts and emotions and everything. ♥️)

[Neo Game Time] || @squaletta Requested character: Yamamoto Kekek the game was for a muse I don't already write, but this is a creative way of using the game, so I accept it

Note: things may not be accurate and vague considering there is the added factor of Squaletta being added into the mix. I did my best because I didn't want to godmod too much or anything.

-

Yamamoto didn’t know about her tolerance, but he knew that his tolerance wasn’t so bad. He wouldn’t say he necessarily enjoyed drinking, but he didn’t hate it either. He wasn’t a lightweight, that’s for sure, and he rarely ever drank enough that it severely impacted his cognitive abilities. Maybe enough so it lightened him up some, but that was usually the extent of it.

Today was one of those moments, where a bunch of people had gathered around for some celebration, and he had gone out to the balcony to get some fresh air. The feeling of the night breeze against his skin was refreshing. He didn’t notice that someone was already on the balcony until she spoke up.

Naturally, he settled in next to her on the balcony, looking up at the stars. The rest of the party-goers inside were getting too chaotic and the vice-commander needed a break from it all. Just for a bit, it seemed. After seeing just how wild some of the Varia officers were being… anyone could understand her plight.

It was peaceful standing side by side enjoying the company of the other underneath the starlight, offering idle chatter with each other. They exchanged pleasantries earlier, complimenting how the other looked tonight. It was a formal occasion, so they did have to dress nice—but any swordsman or swordswoman would be remiss to attend an event and not account for the possibility of an attack. They of course wore something that looked nice but would be practical enough IF anything were to happen.

In the middle of their conversation, “huh? Where did Yamamoto go? Has anyone seen him?” Hearing his name, Yamamoto’s attention was piqued. About to turn back into the event hall, he stopped when he felt a tug on his arm. Squaletta pulled him deeper into the corner of the balcony, out of sight. No one would see them unless they walked out into the balcony and looked in the corner. As (un)luck would have it, someone did step out into the balcony and turned her head to the side. “Oh-”

With being caught off guard from being pulled, Yamamoto stumbled, and he had to push out his arm to stabilize his footing. How this looked to the onlooker who had just witnessed them? “Hahi… the fabled ‘kabedon’…” She quietly whispered to herself. Turning around, “No one on the balcony! Maybe he’s gone to the restroom? Has anyone checked there?” Don’t you worry! Haru isn’t a snitch and she won’t let the others interrupt your moment! (OuO)b

Looking down at Squaletta, who he’d accidentally caged with his larger physique. For a moment (he’d blame the alcohol), he lost himself in admiring the way the starlight shone against her skin, especially her lips. Her eyes were pretty too, and it wasn’t to say that he just found the color of them pretty. He always liked how her eyes always sparkled with confidence, with a fire full of aspiration danced, drawing in anyone who had a similar penchant for constant self-improvement. That was something he respected about her, her constant drive to be better. She-

Squaletta moved, and that’s when he quickly realized he’d been staring at her for too long. Knowing that Squaletta appreciated her space, he’d quickly took a few steps back.

“Haha, sorry ‘bout tha-”

Before he knew it, a pair of lips come onto his own, and the feeling of something tugging on the front of his suit brought him out of his stupor. Brown eyes, initially stupefied, gained a light of understanding. Yes, it was surprising, sure, but… it felt right, somehow? A bit impulsive, but where’s the harm in that, right?

Lips parted, and he let his instincts guide him as his arm wrapped around the small of Squaletta’s back to bring their lips together once more. A hand caressed her cheek gently before playing with her soft hair. He’d loved the way her hair looked, especially in the midst of battle. The way it danced in the breeze was mesmerizing.

Lips parted just briefly, for just enough time for them to catch their breath before their lips came together once more like magnets desperately trying to attract the other again. For now, the only two people who existed where the both of them. No one else mattered.

-

How willing am I to pick up character: I already have so-- lol

Other notes: Mmmmnnn due to the fact that this is a muse that I already picked up, I won't go through the thing where I explain where I got some of my inspo and such. Those secrets are staying with me fufufu. Also read as: I'm lazy. You're free to ask me on discord tho if you've any specific questions!

[extra-v1rgin]

☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆.。.:・°☆

To have her heat in another pillar’s home! Mitsuri’s cheeks were bright red as she creeped into Tengen’s home. She knew it was supposed to be empty, but she was still horrified at the situation. And the thought of spending her heat without any familiar comforts only made her heart cry out more.

The Uzui’s home was nice at least. There were plenty of blankets and even though they smelled like unfamiliar soap it wasn’t too bad. Kanroji took an armful of the softer materials and located a guest room.

Carefully Mitsuri constructed her nest. Over the next hour or so she grew more and more used to the unfamiliar circumstances, relaxing and giving into her heat.

Just as the omega curled up in the mounds of blankets thumps sounded from down the hall. Mitsuri sat up but her head was clouded and hazy. She couldn’t analyze the noise properly.

“H-hello?” Suma, Tengen’s youngest wife, barely slides the door open, peeking through. Mitsuri has met her a handful of times but they’ve never spoken in depth. She’s not sure what to say now. The surprise of someone else being here nearly scares her heat away.

“Sorry! I’m so sorry.” Kanroji hangs her head in shame, finding a pillow to bury her face in. “I didn’t think anyone was home. My crow sent me here and it was kind of an emergency and-“ The woman continues to ramble, shame burning in her chest.

Eventually she comes to a stop. Suma is still waiting patiently right outside the door. Her big blue eyes are full of sympathy. Tears make them shine like gems. “Please don’t feel bad! That’s so unlucky to be caught in the middle of nowhere with your heat beginning. I don’t know what I’d do.”

The kind words help Kanroji to calm down, she melts back into her nest and mumbles a quick, “Thank you.” If anyone had to stumble upon her in this condition at least Suma is kind.

The woman disappears for a brief moment, returning with water and food and even more blankets. “Are you alright if I come inside?”

“Of course!” Mitsuri is glad she didn’t choose to undress completely yet. Her undergarments are loose and thin but they’re still good protection.

Suma enters the room, and then the nest, slowly and carefully. She balances quite a few things in her hold. “I brought some sweets too! These little marshmallow ones are my favorite.”

Kanroji can’t stop the purr that builds up in her chest. Company and candy is an appetizing offer. “Oh thank you! You’re a real life saver.” She draws Suma into her arms, hugging her tightly. The woman smells like vanilla and fresh fruit. Mitsuri finds herself nuzzling into Suma’s hold before gaining control of herself and pulling back sharply.

“Ah- I’m sorry please-“ Kanroji’s cheeks are pink as her hair. The incoming heat is getting to her head.

Suma curls back into the woman’s hold. “It’s ok! Skinship is important, especially between omegas. We have to stick together y’know?”

“Yes! B-but-“ Truthfully Mitsuri had no idea if she’d be able to control herself. During heats the woman wanted nothing more than sex. She was sure within the next day or two her hand would be stuck on between her legs.

Alone it was torturous, but having someone nearby was much worse. She couldn’t expect Suma to indulge her in that way. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. “Maybe I should find somewhere else to go! I’ll be all gross and…”

Suma wasn’t oblivious to the events that would unfold during the next week. She had helped out other omegas before, helped them out in any way they needed. Mitsuri was beautiful. Seeing her cry made Suma herself unable to smile. “I told you I’d help didn’t I? So whatever you need I’ll provide!”

—-

If Suma was wet then Kanroji was completely drenched. Their cunts slid together, providing a base for pleasure to build from. Mitsuri manhandled the other woman, holding her in place as she continued to grid roughly. Even though Suma wasn’t quite as flexible she got put in some rather creative positions.

She assumed that after dealing with two alphas and a beta in bed nothing would stun or tire her. Kanroji proved that idea wrong. It seemed like after a few lonely heats she was ready to unleash all of her sexuality. After finishing in one position she’d continue to grope and grind until another pose was good enough to hold.

Though Suma was tired she welcomed the touch. Mitsuri was soft and smelled wonderful. Swollen scent glands made the whole room smell like maple syrup.

Suma worries she might never be able to rest but without fail each night offers a welcome break. She gets a few hours to wipe off the sweat and slick (even if it’ll inevitably be replaced the next day). Mitsuri is also much easier to gaze at when she’s not moving around endlessly. Carefully Suma fixes up her long thick hair. The pink color is something to be envious of.

Kanroji’s eyes open slowly. Her pupils are no longer black holes. Another day or two and the heat will come to a close.

The woman makes a very undignified grumbling noise. Suma can’t help but laugh. “You don’t have to wake up yet. I wanna sleep some more too!” She crawls back onto Mitsuri’s body and nuzzles her face in between the hashira’s breasts.

“That feels good.” Kanroji’s skin is still aflame. The subtle breaths from Suma feel like long strokes. Her hands sink into the soft black hair. “Keep going.”

“I’m not even doing anything!” Suma giggles again, sending vibrations over the sensitive area.

“I’ll give you something to do then.” Suddenly wide awake Mitsuri rolls over until she’s pinned Suma down. With a wide, terrifying, smile she leans in for a kiss.