#burning through these requests call me eliza

[steph-schuyler]

usnavi with burn pulling an eliza 💯

this shouldnt be as funny as it is

[oneshotnewbie]

Can you do a oneshot where B!D has been unwell and having a lot of weird symptoms lately. She, her sisters, and Eliza are at the hospital when they find out she has lupus, and B!D just breaks down.

Addition from another request: Also in the lupus one shot can you have B!D tell her sisters she feels like a burden and they tell her shes not?

...

You felt like you were floating. The next moment your felt like your chest was buried and crushed. Overwhelmed by an heat that ran through your entire system and made your blood vessels boil. You tried to relax to banish the heat but you could not and felt your strength ebbing away. You felt defeated, you had to endure it.

"She has a fever of 102.2 degrees. Y/n never has been so sick before," Eliza informed her two girls, who she had called and asked to come back home. She was bent over your battered body and placing a cold rag on your sweaty neck.

Kara and Alex nodded briefly to let their mother know they were listening before the redhead moved to the other side of your bed and sat down next to you. "How long has she had this fever? Have you noticed anything about her lately?"

"She has been very tired lately and has often taken naps. She has lost weight due to the lack of appetite, which I have labeled as stress," Eliza reflected on the last few weeks before nodding. "She has also complained of extreme hair loss."

"What do we do now?" taking your limp hand and placing it in hers, she turned to the bio-engineer and gave her a serious look.

You opened your eyes for a moment, only to close them back shortly after. The dim light on your bedside table pierced through your skull and set your eyes ablaze. You wanted to say something, but no sound came out of your throat. You found yourself too weak to form words. "Hey, it is all good."

"Lexie," you croaked, knowing that it probably came out as an unintelligible noise, but also knowing that she understood you anyway. But she interrupted you with her soothing and deep voice, "Kara and I are here, you will be better soon."

"She needs treatment, she need medication," Eliza shook her head at your condition. She had noticed weeks ago that you had changed, but she never saw a possibility of a serious illness slowly taking hold of you.

Not a second after your mother said that sentence, Alex grabbed her car keys and handed them to Kara before carefully scooping you out of bed into her arms and carrying you out of your room to the car. You groaned out in pain during the movements, your whole body radiating pain in all directions. "Everything will be fine, kiddo. Just hold on to me, alright?"

...

When you came to, you did not feel much better than before. You could not move properly, all your joints ached like fire burning inside them and your head was throbbing so hard, you thought it was going to explode. Everything hurt.

"It was a good decision to bring your daughter here," the voice, echoing in the far distance, you identified as a man. Confused, you did not quite understood where you were- your eyes still closed. "She has an elevated blood sedimentation reaction, which has led us to conclude that it is something that is not exactly harmless."

"Mom?" you asked in a hoarse voice and interrupted the young man in his speech, amazed that you got any words out at all. You tried to open your eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the unfamiliar brightness. You slowly became aware of a dark figure leaning over you, holding something in her hand. "What happened?"

"You are in the hospital, sweets. We brought you here after Mom could not get your fever down. You probably dozed off and feel asleep on the drive." Kara already had an arm behind your back to support you, helping you to sit up a little before holding a glass of water to your dry lips.

The blonde stroked your hair soothingly after laying you back down and held your hand in her other, gently rubbing the back of your hand with her thumb. She had been disturbed by the doctor´s statement that something was wrong with you.

She was the only one next to you who could not do anything with this information. But the pronunciation of some of the things said, sounded audibly bad. "She has low white and red blood cells and platelet counts. Also, her body uses an unusual amount of complement factors C3 and C4,"

The doctor continued to talk, handling the eldest Danvers the handheld tablet with your chart showing your blood results. Alex, too, now joined her mother at her side and scanned the various criteria that the laboratory had examined.

"I talked to the chief physician and we then extended the blood tests. We noticed that she has auto antibodies with the specific AntidsDNA and the Anti-Smith antibody," you whole family waited anxiously for the doctor to continue, who had meanwhile sat down on the small stool that had been under the computer desk.

Curious, Kara´s blue eyes locked on him, breaking the awkward silence that permeated the room. "And what does that mean?" Eliza and Alex turned to her almost in unison. The redhead bit her lip inexorably while looking at your sleepy figure buried in the blondes sight as your mother caught the speech. "She has systemic lupus erythrocytes. In short, lupus."

"In normal language please,"

"Y/n has an autoimmune disease in which her immune system attacks her healthy body cells and causes inflammation. It damages her organs." Alex had taken the word and felt the fear that spread in the blondes faltering voice.

Kara looked up at the doctor again, who just gave her a sad nod in confirmation of what her sister had said. Silence drowned out the movements and sounds in the hallway. Nobody would have thought that silence could be so uncomfortable. The blonde sank onto your bed and looked down at you while pulling you closer to her chest.

"Can it be cured?" Your eyes had meanwhile filled with tears that were spreading down your cheeks. Fear filled your entire body and made you shiver, drawing the redheads attention to you. She quickly got up from the foot end of the bed and turned to your free side. She carefully pulled the duvet up to your chin and sat down next to you. "Or will I die?"

"Sadly, this cannot be cured," the man in the white coat picked up the conversation and smiled slightly at you. "But the goal is to prevent organ damage and relieve symptoms. If you take the medication that we will put you on after a few more tests, than you can live with it."

You nodded and closed your eyes, a small stone wandering away from your heart. While your mother went outside with the doctor to discuss more things, your siblings stayed close to you and held you tight. "God, I am one of a burden"

"Hey," Alex whispered before you opened your eyes and looked straight into her brown ones. "Hey, Alex.." even to your own ears, you sounded weak and broken.

You tried to squeeze even closer to Kara´s body, liking the sheer warmth she was radiating. She wrapped her arms around your exhausted one. The blonde did not have to ask how you were. She senses how vulnerable you felt at the moment. "You are never a burden to us. Never,"

The redhead also hid under your covers and snuggled into your side, her head resting on your shoulder. "We are here for you, always." she planted a gentle kiss on your cheek and immediately, it was like she was charging your energy with her closeness. She moved even closer and placed more kisses on your nose and temple, bringing a smile to your lips. "There is my girl."

It was reassuring that there was someone with you, protecting you, caring and loving you just the way you were. With all your flaws and your mistakes.

[ambssssssssss]

“I’m so sorry, Lena,” A harsh cough followed the words and Lena felt her eyes begin to fill with water. She was kneeling in the broken streets of National City at Kara’s sighed, mindless of the destruction around them as the injured woman before her absorbed all of her attention. 

“Hold on, Kara, just a few more minutes.” Lena found Kara’s bloody, shaking hand and grasped it with her own. Kara gave her a watery smile. 

“We could’ve had so much time if I hadn’t been so scared.” There’s a strong current of regret in her tone and Lena feels as if she can’t breathe as she pulls Kara’s hand to her lips and presses a kiss against dirty knuckles. 

“We’ll have time now, darling. All the time in the world.” 

“I thought we promised not to lie to each other anymore.” 

A long, uncomfortable pause followed. Kara’s breath grows more shallow by the second, but her eyes remain the same. The deep blue of her iris shines with that same adoration that Lena had always seen in them, and always felt unworthy of. Kara lifted the hand that Lena wasn’t holding on to desperately, ignoring the way her limbs trembled, to carefully cup Lena’s cheek. 

This is the end. They both know it. 

“No, Kara, please,” Lena can hear the desperation in her voice but ignored it just as resolutely as she ignored the tears falling from her eyes. Tears that Kara barely had the strength to gently brush away. “I can’t lose you again.” 

“You never lost me, Lena, not for a single second.” The conviction in Kara’s voice is broken by the blood that slips past her lips as a cough tears through her throat. She collapses back against the broken asphalt after the fit subsides, landing on uneven ground with a pained groan. “I’ve always been yours, even when I wasn’t.” 

The noise around them barely registers in Lena’s mind. The battle had been over for a few minutes at least, but Lena had paid no attention to the chaos around them. Kara, just as she had done since the day they met, commanded all of Lena’s attention. It isn’t until Kara coughs again that Lena realizes that she hadn’t been unconsciously blocking out anything going around them. 

Kara’s cough echoes of the wreckage of a ruined city around them. If Lena had the strength to pull her gaze away from Kara’s slowly dimming eyes, she would have seen the veritable host of people around them falling to their knees as the consequences of this final battle hit home. They won, yes, but none of them thought that the cost would be so high. 

Lena is dimly aware of another person settling on the other side of Kara, taking her hand and nearly gasping out Kara’s name in a choked cry. Even with the addition of Alex with them, Lena doesn’t tear her eyes away from Kara. 

“I know, darling,” Lena grips Kara’s trembling hand tighter, wrapping both of her own around it and pressing a kiss to Kara’s knuckles again. “I think I always have. I should have said something sooner.” 

“Better late than never,” Kara cracked a smile and just for a second, Lena could believe that she wasn’t watching the love of her life die right before her eyes. “Promise me something?” 

“Anything.” 

“Don’t blame yourself, for any of it.” 

“Kara-”

“Promise me, Lena. None of this is your fault, or mine. It happened, and it sucks.” Kara smiled again as Lena released a rueful chuckle. “But you can’t let this stop you. Promise me that you won’t give up.” 

“I promise Kara,” Lena leans over and seals her promise with a trembling kiss pressed to Kara’s forehead. 

“Good.” Kara’s strength left her completely, her head fell to the ground and if not for Lena’s grip on her hand, the same would have been true of it as well. “Remember, I am always yours. Even when I’m not.” 

Kara turns her head then, to Alex who sits on her left. Words are spoken by both of them but Lena doesn’t hear them. She can’t hear anything over the high pitched sound ringing in her ears and Kara’s last words playing on a loop in her mind. 

They should have had so much more time. They should have had years to be together, truly together. Years without lies and secrets pulling them apart. Years of light and laughter and love, so much love that it would be bursting out of them. The kind of love that couldn’t be contained. They should have had it all but now they only had minutes.

They only have minutes and Kara doesn’t know how Lena feels. A sudden panic seizes Lena as she realizes that minutes are quickly receding into seconds and Kaa still doesn’t know. 

“Kara,” even to her own ears, Lena’s voice sounds so far away. “Kara, I love you.” 

There’s no ignoring the tears now, they fall from Lena’s eyes unbidden. But Kara is smiling at Lena, that special, bright smile that always made Lena feel like she was the one who could fly. 

Kara’s smile remains as her eyes fall closed and her body goes limp. Kara’s smile remains as she exhales, whispering Lena’s name with her last breath. 

Supergirl dies a hero, mourned and celebrated by many. 

Kara Danvers dies to the sound of her sister crying beside her. 

Kara Zor-El dies smiling in the embrace of the woman she loves most.

Lena woke up feeling as if that last image of Kara’s smile had been burned into her retinas. The dream, memory, ends in the same place it always does, the moment before the realization of what she had just witnessed sinks in. Lena wakes with soul crushing despair settling deep in her chest so that her breath in a new day is little more than a broken sob. It takes a few minutes for Lena to gather herself enough to climb out of bed and reach for her phone. The move is calculated. Lena knows that if she had reached for her phone first, she wouldn’t have gotten out of bed. 

Every other day, Lena had been able to push herself through it. She could almost pretend that everything was normal, until she caught herself trying to call Kara and invite her to lunch. Even after two weeks, Lena’s first instinct was still to call Kara. The hope that maybe the dream had been a nightmare rather than a memory and Kara would answer when she called had been all that kept Lena going for the past 14 days. 

The day of Kara’s funeral had pulled that hope to a crashing halt. 

There had been a service for Supergirl the day before. It felt like all of National City had been there, human and alien alike. All the heroes that Kara had worked with over the years were there, a few of them people that Lena had only met briefly before the wave of dark matter destroyed all of their worlds. The Flash had a few words to say. Cat Grant had barely held her tears in. Superman openly cried as he said goodbye to his last blood relative. Lena had watched it all with a blank expression, Alex’s hand in hers. 

Lena had made her way to Midvale on her own and was one of the last to arrive at Kara’s childhood home. Eliza had greeted her with a hug and a far too knowing look. Lena had slept in Kara’s bed and refused to cry until she was sure that no one would hear her. 

Now, Lena pulled on the dark outfit she had selected the night before and made her way downstairs. Alex and Eliza met her at the bottom of the stairs and led her to where Clark and Lois were standing with J’onn. Eliza pulled Lena into another hug while Lois looked as if she was the only one in the room who could understand Lena’s pain. Everyone was treating Lena like she was Kara’s widow and Lena wasn’t sure she would ever recover from that. 

She had Kara had never been together. They hadn’t gone on dates or celebrated anniversaries. They’d never even kissed and yet Lena still felt like a piece of her heart had been broken beyond repair. She wasn’t Kara’s widow but she was Kara’s someday and that was somehow worse. 

How could Lena mourn what she’d never had in the first place? 

Kara’s funeral had been short. She wouldn’t have wanted all of her friends and family to spend hours crying over her. Kara had been a ray of sunshine, a becon of joy. Although tears were shed, everyone wanted to follow Kara’s wishes so it soon turned to a memorial rather than a funeral. As everyone had been distracted by Alex’s story of the first time Kara saved her, Lena didn’t think anyone would notice when she stepped onto the back patio. She nearly jumped in surprise when a masculine voice called her name. 

“Sorry,” Clark said as he stepped up beside her. Lena hummed her acceptance of the apology but didn’t say a word. 

They stood together in silence for a few minutes. If it had been any other time, Lena might have made a joke about a Super and a Luthor but it didn’t feel right with her Super missing. Eventually, Lena can see Clark’s shoulders sag and knows that the silence is about to be broken. 

“She was always so much stronger than me.” Clark speaks in a low, haunted voice. “I’ll never be able to thank her for righting my worst wrong.” 

There’s a heavy set to his shoulders and a distant glint in his eyes that makes Lena feel foolish for forgetting where all this conflict had started. Lex had killed Kara, but it was Clark that turned Lex into a staunch believer in the superiority of man. It was Clark who faced Lex time and time again. CLark who wasn’t strong enough to deal the blow that would have ended all of this conflict. It was Clark’s weakness that had pushed Kara into that position, and Clark’s cowardice that cost Kara her life. 

The urge to hate Clark for his inaction is strong, so strong it makes Lena’s stomach clench and her hands tremble. It would be all too easy to blame Clark for losing Kara, but Lena knows that it wouldn’t be fair to him. There’s plenty of blame to go around but Clark doesn’t truthfully deserve any of it. Lex does. For targeting Kara and dealing the fatal blow, but most of them blame falls on Lena herself. For her own war against Supergirl, for the experiments that gave Lex his powers, for not being strong enough to defeat him on her own. 

Kara would still be with them if not for Lena’s failures. 

“But there is something I can do for her, if you’re willing to help me.” 

It takes a moment for Lena to realize that Clark’s statement had been a request. She looks at him, blinking in askance. 

“Follow me,” Clark, in a move that Lena would never have expected to come from him, gently took Lena’s hand into his own and guided her down the porch steps towards the beach. Agreeing to Clark’s request that she wait there for a moment, Lena tries to settle her nerves. When Clark returns, Lena knows that there is nothing she could have done to prepare herself. 

Clark touches down gently a few feet away from Lena and in the space between them hovers a sleek, grey pod. The black surface on the outside fades to clear and suddenly Lena can see Kara. 

She looks peaceful in death, Lena thinks, like she finally dropped all the weight she had been carrying for so long. 

“On Krypton, when a woman died,” Clark swallows roughly. “It was tradition for the oldest female member of the House to speak Rao’s blessing over them.” 

Clark meets Lena’s gaze evenly. 

“I know that would be Eliza here, or Alura if she had come, but I also know that Kara would have wanted it to be you.” 

“Clark,” Lena hesitated, “Kal, I don’t know.” 

“I know what you mean to her. Meant.” Even though they had been doing so all day, hearing Kara referred to in the past tense hurt deeply and Lena felt the tears welling for what must have been the thousandth time. 

“Okay,” Lena agreed with a shaky nod. Clark handed her a small piece of paper from his pocket and then turned his gaze to the pod containing Kara’s still form.” 

“Whenever you’re ready.” 

Lena was sure that she would never be ready to say goodbye to Kara but there was no sense in waiting. Voice thick with tears and barely above a whisper, Lena began to read. 

“You have been the sun of our lives. Our prayers will be the sun that lights your way on the journey home. We will remember you in every dawn and await the night we join you in the sky. Rao’s will be done.” 

They stood there for a moment with only the sound of the waves crashing against the beach breaking the still air. Then, with a heavy breath like he was steeling himself for the hardest moment of his life, Clark lifted the casket into the air with him. A moment later, Kara returned to the stars that had brought her home. 

Clark returned to the Danver’s household while Lena remained on the beach by herself. There was a fleeting feeling of Lena wishing she had something to hold on to, a memento of Kara’s. The feeling faded only to be replaced with a much stronger wish to simply have Kara there with her. The feeling was strong that for a moment, Lena felt the soft, familiar warmth of Kara’s hand in her own, their fingers resting together easily. As time stretched on, Lena let herself be lost in the phantom feeling of what could have been, until the sound of a car door closing shattered the dream and brought Lena crashing back to reality. 

A reality where Kara was gone. 

Suddenly, the beach felt just as stifling as the house had been. 

Realizing that her moment with the ghost of Kara’s memory was over, Lena turned to make her way back to the house. 

Only Kara’s closest friends remained at the house. Clark, Lois, and Lucy were sitting together on the couch, the two normally argumentative sisters silent in their grief. Barry and Iris were curled together in a chair, Barry staring blankly ahead as Iris watched him in concern. Caitlin and Cisco sat together on the floor in front of Barry and Iris, their shoulders pressed together. Ava sat in the other chair with Sara leaning against her legs, her fingers idly wrapping a strand of Sara’s hair around and around. The other Legends must have gone back to the Waverider. Alex and Eliza sat together on the loveseat and made room between them for Lena. 

It was odd, Lena decided as she took the seat provided for her, to be surrounded by so many heroic figures and not feel even the smallest amount of hope. The Kara shaped whole in the arrangement could not be ignored. No one said a word as Lena sat down and the silence was no less disturbing the longer it went on. 

“It doesn’t seem right,” Cisco broke the silence with a sad voice. “The most powerful person we know.” 

“The bravest and most caring, too,” Barry added just as softly. “She didn’t even ask for help.” 

“You were all busy,” Alex shrugged slightly but Lena could see the tension in her jaw. “You all had your own villains to face and lives to live. She wouldn’t have disrupted that.” 

“She wouldn’t put all of you in danger like that.” Lena’s voice was hoarse from disuse. Not counting her blessing of Kara at the beach, that was the longest sentence Lena had said in two weeks. 

“I did, with the Dominators and Crisis,” Barry’s expression shone with guilt. “She answered every time.” 

“She was like Oliver,” Sara said, leaning further into Ava as she spoke. “More of a hero than any of us will ever be.” 

“All these powers, even time travel, and we still can’t save everyone.” Iris sighed and dropped her head onto Barry’s shoulder. Barry pressed a kiss against his wife’s forehead. 

“We would if we could.” Barry said. “I’d go back in a second if we didn’t have to worry about another Flashpoint. An event like this is too big to go back and change.” 

“Flashpoint?” Lena asked curiously. Alex looked at her with the smallest bit of surprise and a hint of question in her eyes. 

“One of the first times I travelled back in time on purpose, to save my mom. I ended up changing everything,” Barry explained. 

With everyone reluctant to leave, it took little prodding to get Barry to continue elaborating. A conversation about the difficulty of preserving the timeline arose between the members of team Flash and the two remaining Legends in the room. Lena listened with half an ear but her mind was stuck on the comment that had started this conversation. 

It didn’t feel right without Kara in the room, not only in the sense that Lena personally felt as though she was missing an essential part of her being, but in the sense that something about all of this was fundamentally wrong. The only thing about Kara’s conflict with Lex was that Lex was gone. It doesn’t make sense for him to have taken Kara out with him, especially not without Kryptonite. Lena remembered the final blow in sharp detail. The beam that had exhausted Kara was golden, not green. 

A comment about the natural order of time caught Lena’s attention and she pondered the implications of it. The natural order of time ensured that everyone was at the correct time and place, whenever that happened to be in the linear timeline of their own lives. Barry and the Legends are able to move through time as long as they don’t disrupt the natural time. There were few rules for time travel, but the most important was that one could not be in the exact same place and time as they had been before. A person cannot physically be in one specific time and place more than once. 

But, there were ways to send other things through time. The Legends used a ship, and Barry had once sent a message back in time to himself, warning of things to come. The beginnings of an idea began to form in Lena’s mind. Physical time travel was limited, but that didn’t mean that other forms had the same limitations. Unfortunately, Lena was kept from following that rabbit any further down the hole by the group finally breaking apart for the night. Lena forced the questions and ideas from her mind until she returned to National City. 

[amythedvdhoarder]

Storm in a Teacup

Pairing: Bucky x Divorced Reader

Word Count: ~2K

Warnings: Fluff, a monster of an ex-mother-in-law

Summary: You’re on your first date after your divorce. Who should you run into? Your ex-mother-in-law.

A/N: This comes from a request sent in by a lovely nonnie, who wanted a fic based around a divorced reader who runs into her ex-mother-in-law whilst on a date with Bucky. Before that point, Bucky didn’t know about her divorce. Embarrassment ensues and Bucky has to make up his mind about what to do next. I hope I have done your idea justice. Sorry it took me so long.

Thank you to the wonderful @drabblewithfrannybarnes​ for beta reading for me. Ily hun 😘

It had taken a long time for you to get to this position, to feel comfortable enough to be dating again. But you had been separated from your now ex-husband for two and a half years, your divorce finalised 6 months ago. It was time to try and have some semblance of a life. You felt guilty about not revealing your divorce to Bucky, but when you moved to New York you really wanted a fresh start, so you didn’t tell anyone about your past. Of course, if there came a time when Bucky needed to know then you would tell him, but this was just a coffee.

Bucky and you had begun talking a few months ago. It started when he was dropping off mission reports with small smiles, progressing to hello’s and then to you making him coffee whenever he stopped by during your lunch break, which he always seemed to arrive in time for. He had realised quickly that you weren’t a New York native, so traded your museum recommendations for tv, film and music recommendations. Each time you met you discussed your latest weekend museum trip and he told you his thoughts on the latest thing he had watched or listened to.

It was clear that you two had a connection. Your co-workers had even commented on how well you and the notoriously silent super-soldier seemed to get along. They were surprised that you hadn’t been on a date already. But you had reservations; perhaps it was too soon. Plus, there was no way Bucky would be interested in you. He was just polite and maybe enjoyed having someone who wasn’t a superhero to talk to. It was a shock when he asked you out for coffee the next time you saw him. You were even more shocked that you had agreed without any hesitation.  

You were nervous. In fact, nervous was an understatement. Sick to your stomach was a more accurate description. It wasn’t the fact that it was a date with Bucky Barnes, it was the fact it was a date. Your first, first date in nearly 10 years.  

Bucky was leaning against a lamppost, outside your apartment waiting for you. When you saw him you felt yourself instantly relax. He gave you his signature lopsided grin that you had come to crave and ambled over to you.

“You look great,” he said as he stood back and admired you.

“Thanks, you don’t look too bad yourself for an old man,” you teased. That was the understatement of the century. He looked like a model in his dark wash jeans, dark blue henley layered over a black t-shirt and a leather jacket in his hand.

He shook his head and chuckled to himself. “Theoretically we’re about the same age you know.”

You raised an eyebrow at him. “Hmmm well I don’t know about that, but we better get going otherwise we’ll be out past your bedtime.”

“What happened to respecting your elders?” Bucky winked.

“Maybe elders that don’t act like teenage boys, but you and Sam are like high-school kids.”

Bucky looked confused for a second and then remembered that you had caught him and Sam hiding Steve’s shield under your desk the other week.

Bucky threw his hands up in surrender. “Alright, you win.”

The coffee shop was only a couple of streets away, on a corner opposite one of your favourite parks. Bucky and you ordered together and found a table near the window.

Both of you were chatting away about an art gallery you had visited the day before when you were suddenly interrupted.

“You,” that was a voice you would recognise anywhere, a voice which still haunted you. One of constant criticism, one that drove a wedge between you and the person you thought you would spend the rest of your life with.

“Hello Eliza,” you said through a forced smile.

Bucky stood and politely offered his hand to Eliza, but she ignored it leaving Bucky to sit down awkwardly.

“What brings you to New York?” you asked curtly.

“Well Leon and I are visiting my sister,” you balked, glancing quickly around the room, checking for any sign of him.

“He’s not here so you can stop looking. My son had a lucky escape by all accounts,” she sent a sneering look towards Bucky and then back to you. “Barely divorced and already moving on. I always suspected you were a whore; this just confirms it.”

Tears sprang to your eyes; she was publicly humiliating you. Calling you out for being a whore, when you had done nothing but be faithful to her son throughout your marriage and in fact whilst going through the long and bitter divorce. It was her son who couldn’t keep it in his pants. Anger took over and just as you were about to respond Bucky stood up and moved in front of you.

“Sorry I don’t know who you are, but you have no right to speak to anyone like that,” his voice low and urgent, his metal hand clenching and unclenching quickly by his side.

Eliza smirked, eyes flicking up and down at the man standing in front of her. “Ah I recognise you off the news, you two make the perfect match. Both damaged goods that no normal person could want.”

You stood up and went to stand by Bucky’s side, gently taking his arm in your hands. “That’s enough Eliza, we aren’t family anymore, you have made it evidently clear you want nothing to do with me. The feeling is very much mutual. We have nothing more to say to each other so goodbye.”

She let out a little exclamation of shock, but she quickly recovered her sharp exterior. Without saying another word, she just turned on her heels and left the coffee shop.

Bucky gently led you back to your seat, ignoring the people staring at both of you. You looked like you were in shock.

“Hey…” his thumb caught the tears that had begun to roll down your cheeks, “she’s not worth your tears.”

This seemed to finally snap you out of your daze. You look at Bucky and everything just seemed so overwhelming. He was being too kind. Eliza had been right, you were damaged, Bucky deserved more than you, someone who could at least be honest about themselves.

‘I’m sorry Bucky…” you grabbed your bag and tore yourself away from him, running out the café and onto the busy street.

He didn’t follow you immediately like he wanted to, he knew you needed some space. Bucky didn’t know you well but wanted to, he was going to be there for you if you let him. Besides he had an inkling about where you were.

You were exactly where he thought you would be, sat on a bench in the park, covered by a weeping willow.

“Mind if I sit,” you jumped at the intrusion. Bucky stood in front of you, holding two take-out cups from the coffee shop and what looked like a very chocolatey cookie.

All of you could do was nod, the shame of Eliza’s words and your own dishonesty still coursing through you.

“Here,” Bucky offered you the cup and you numbly accepted. “Do you want to split this?” he held up the bag and you rolled your eyes at him. “I mean, I’m quite happy to eat it all,” he sent you a lopsided grin.

You couldn’t help the little snort that escaped you. “We’ll split it, would hate for you to have to spend an extra hour in the gym burning off a whole cookie.”

“You’re too kind,” he teased, opening the bag and poking out the cookie for you to snap off half of it.

Both of you sat and ate without uttering a word to one another. You couldn’t believe he was being so nice to you; you certainly didn’t deserve it.

“I can see why you like it here so much,” Bucky commented, breaking the silence.

“Bucky, how did you know I’d be here?” You turned to face him and took a sip of your coffee.

“I’ve seen you here before. But before you think I’ve been stalking you let me explain. I grew up around here, a couple of blocks away actually. I like to come here for a walk sometimes to remember the happier more carefree times. I spotted you one day but you looked so content in your own little world, I didn’t want to interrupt.” His cheeks flushed slightly with his admission.

He cleared his throat and looked at the coffee cup in his hands before continuing. “Then I started coming here more regularly, hoping I would see you, but I never plucked up the courage to come and talk to you.”

“I’m sorry Bucky” you said quietly.

“That’s the second time you’ve apologised to me today and I still don’t know what you’ve got to be sorry about. It’s not your fault that woman was way out of line. You don’t owe me an apology for anything,” His brows knitted together with concern and it made you feel even more guilty.

“I should’ve told you about the divorce,” smiling ruefully, placing your empty coffee cup between you on the bench.

“I already knew,” he shrugged.

“What? How? I hadn’t told anyone at work,” you spluttered in shock.

“That’s how,” he nodded to where your thumb and forefinger were twisting around where your wedding ring used to be.

You let go immediately and shook your head. “Why did you ask me out for coffee if you knew about my divorce?”

It was perplexing to you that anyone would want to come anywhere near you after your divorce. You had just assumed you would be alone forever. No one had two people out there meant for them. Well, maybe Leon hadn’t been your one.

“We can’t help our past,” Bucky flexed his metal hand, “I know that better than most. All we can do is make the most of our future. I like you, have since I met you. In fact, Sam got so fed up of me talking about you, that he threatened to ask you out himself if I didn’t hurry up and get on with it. Not that I didn’t want to, it’s just thought you could do so much better that an ex-brainwashed assassin.”

“You’re a good man Bucky, anyone would be lucky to have you” you whispered.  

Bucky leant over and wiped away the tears you hadn’t realised had begun to roll down your cheeks. “I don’t just want anyone though,” His deep blue eyes peered into yours trying to get across his meaning.

“I like you too Bucky, but we’ve got to take this slow.” His face lit up at your words and he took your hand and pressed it to his lips.

“I’m over 100 years old, slow suits me. But seeing as our first date was hijacked would you like to get some dinner with me? I know a diner around the corner has the best burger in the city.”

“Sounds perfect, but only if you let me get it this time. I owe you for the coffee and the cookie.” You offered.

“I think I just about agree to terms of that deal,” Bucky laughed, scooped up the rubbish and got to his feet. “Shall we?” he asked, offering you his free hand.

You put your hand in his and got to your feet. “Let’s go.”

Gif not mine, credit to the creator

Divider made by the talented @firefly-graphics​

Taglists are open. Let me know if you want in or out

Everything:

@stargazingfangirl18 ,  @silentcoyotesong, @queenofstarliqht, @buckys-henley, @lonelyheartsm @alexa-lightwood-blog, @angrythingstarlight, @drabblewithfrannybarnes, @rogueheretic555, @rebekahdawkins, @chrissquares, @pumpkin-and-pine, @hereforbuckyandsteve, @drakelover78, @baddie-barnes, @cas25214, @pandaxnienke, @thehumanistsdiary, @saiyanprincessswanie, @ladyacrasia, @sweeterthanthis, @joannie95, @lennon-knox, @navybrat817

Bucky:

@its-izzys, @archy3001

[kj-1130]

Bullied

@youngjusticeimaginesus​ here is your request!

Main Masterlist

     You had been adopted by the Danvers family when you were quite young; barely a year old. They had been there for you basically since the beginning and you did consider them your family, regardless that you weren’t blood related. 

     While Kara and Alex had been living it up in National City, you were still stuck in boring Midvale. You were still in high school so you couldn’t exactly move with them. They visited every now and then, but you wished you could see them more. They made life so much better. 

     Midvale wasn’t the most exciting place to you. There wasn’t much for you to do--or much that Eliza allowed you to do-- and honestly, the people sucked. A lot of them were close-minded assholes who couldn’t care less about anybody. The students at the school you attended were somewhat bearable, but there was always that handful that thought they were better than everyone and ruled the school. 

     Unfortunately for you, your mouth had put you in the situation you were in now. Some guy--that you were pretty sure had been in eleventh grade for the past three years--had you pushed against the locker, your collar in his hand. 

     Apparently, you were in the wrong when you corrected his grammar and took the last apple all the same day and you guessed it pissed him off. 

     “Got nothing to say now, huh?” 

     You simply scrunched your nose and reached into your pocket to grab something. You held out your hand and in it was a mint. 

     “Your breath stinks. Do you want it?” 

     ‘Ooh’s’ rang out as he punched you in your jaw. Probably shouldn’t have said that. 

     “Ouch.”

     The boy(?) chuckled darkly and shook his head at you.

     “That ain’t nothing. I suggest you learn to keep your mouth closed unless you want some more?”

-

     You didn’t keep your mouth shut. 

     You were currently limping home while holding your jaw that still ached. Your backpack hung loosely on your left shoulder, your right one still sore from when he slammed you into the lockers. Your stomach hurt and you were pretty sure it was bruised black and blue. 

    You stayed the rest of the school day after the fight happened because you knew Eliza would have your ass if you were home early regardless of the situation. And it’s not like the school would call her. They turned a blind eye to every incident, fight, just about everything really. You thought they just didn’t want to do the paperwork. You didn’t blame them for that though; paperwork sucks. 

     So you just sat through it. You tried to make it straight home, but you were tired and in pain and you just wanted to rest, so you stopped at a bench that was on the sidewalk to take a breather. 

     You really could’ve handed his ass to him if you tried. Every now and then, Alex would teach you some self defense moves, but you knew fighting him would give him another reason for him and his buddies to target you. Also, the school system sucks and you would most likely be at fault for ‘agitating the student first’. And for some reason, the dude was a golden student at the school despite being like, three years younger than the youngest of the staff.

    “That’s probably why he gets away with it; bribes ‘em with sex. He’s probably not even that good. Shrimp dick,” you muttered while getting up from your spot. 

     Eventually, you made your way up to the driveway and got the key out to open the door. 

     “Stupid motherfucker. Stanky ass breath. Oompa loompa, noodle head looking ass. Got me fucked up.”

     You were so busy muttering insults, you didn’t notice your sisters sitting in the living room with your mom. You simply stomped--well the best you could--your way upstairs still mumbling any rude remarks that popped up in your head, most of it just angry gibberish at this point. 

     Both sisters looked at each other, then their mother with questioning looks on their faces. They all jumped when the door slammed closed. Alex decided to go check on you and Kara followed. She knocked and waited for you to answer.

     “Mom, for the last time; I don’t want to go to your weekly book club meetings. Who willingly reads Fahrenheit 451 anyway? That book gave me a migraine.”

     Your siblings both chuckled at your comments and opened the door. 

     “Not mom.”

     You pulled your head up to look at your sisters and furrowed your eyebrows.

     “You’re here?”

     Kara nodded her head and took a seat at the end of your bed and Alex watched as your face contorted in pain as you turned to look at them. 

     “Yes. You were probably too busy mumbling and stomping to notice.”

     Alex nodded in agreement and gained your attention.

     “Speaking of which, why were you mumbling and stomping? What’s going on?”

     “N-”

     “And don’t say nothing because I can see you cringe every time you move.”

     You sighed and realized there was literally no point in lying because they could tell if you were.

     “So there’s this dude in eleventh grade; I’m pretty sure he’s like 20 though. My question is how fucking dumb are you where you fail like three times? What type of sense does that make? Okay, maybe once is understandable; the school system sucks major ass and the material is absolutely useless anyway. Like why are we not learning how to start loans or do taxes. What is the point of school anyway? I’m not going to need to know the area or perimeter of the building I work in. The history is all bullshit too. Like I’m supposed to believe Christopher Columbus discovered America. ‘Discover’ my ass. That cracker wasn’t nothing but a racist and rapist. And I’m really supposed to believe Pocahontas willingly married that man? If they don’t go on somewhere with all of these lies. They always said lying is wrong in kindergarten. Why the fuck tell us that when all they do is lie? History is all a lie. All they do is-”

     “(Y/N)!”

     “Right! Sorry. Anyway. So he said something and I legitimately almost had a stroke trying to process it, so I corrected him and tried to make sense of what he was saying. Also I think I was in front of him in the lunch line one day and I got the last apple. I’m pretty sure he was like ‘leave it there or else,’ but I wasn’t worried ‘bout him. A bitch was hungry and I wasn’t about to starve at his expense. So like today he pinned me against the lockers. Lowkey thought he was about to eat my face off cause he was real close. I guess he was still hungry, but whatever. And he was like, ‘got nothing to say?’ And I was like ‘your breath stinks.’ And I handed him a mint. And then he punched me. In the jaw. And then he was like, ‘I can do a lot worse if you don’t shut up.’ I didn’t shut up. He punched me in my guts. I threw up in my mouth a little. Not gonna lie I wish he had hit me a bit harder so I could’ve thrown up on his new shoes. I’m pretty sure my shoulders are bruised too. He’s probably a kinky motherfucker in bed. He was like, an inch away from choking me now that I think about it.”

     You shrugged your shoulders and went back to reading your Dork Diaries book. 

     Alex and Kara both slowly blinked, trying to process your fast rambling. 

     “Hold on. You got beat up?”

     “Mhmm.”

     “You didn’t tell the teachers?”

     “Nope.”

     “So you sat in pain. All day.”

     “Yeah, pretty much.”

     Kara looked at you concerned. 

     “What about those self-defense moves Alex has been teaching you?”

     You put your book down and gave them your full attention. 

     ‘Well, when I thought about it, I was like ‘schools think my shoulders are too sexy and can be a distraction, so I can’t wear tank tops.’ I can’t blame them though. My shoulders are beautiful and apparently they give guys boners. Anyway, I was thinking, ‘if they’re so sexist when it comes to clothing, how far are they willing to take that?’ And the more I thought about it, I was like, ‘wait, that dude is like only 3 years younger than the youngest staff member. So what if he’s like paying them with sex or something?’ And then I thought about it some more, and started thinking of all the times he was late to class and his clothes and hair were messy. And that time when I caught him and the calculus teacher sneaking out of the bathroom. I could probably catch them in the act. That’d be great blackmail…”

     You trailed off, starting to make a plan in your head.

     “What was the point in telling us that?”

     “Oh! I’m saying it’s hard for him to get in trouble. Like I’m pretty sure he’d convince some teacher that he’s innocent and that teacher would convince the principal he’s innocent and boom! I get suspended for no reason.”

     Kara and Alex looked at each other, already knowing they had the same idea about this whole situation. 

     “Well, let’s just get you patched up and talk to mom about switching schools. I don’t know about you, Kara, but I don’t feel comfortable with you going back there.”

-

     That same night, a special someone got a visit from Director Danvers and Supergirl. That same special someone also got their shoes burned to a crisp.

[aellynera]

An Off Day (Nathan Bateman x Reader)

AN OFF DAY

(okay, look. my husband thought he was being funny and said “give me a character and i’ll give you a scenario” and then i snorted laughing and then...well. this happened. set sometime before the events of the movie.)

((shoutout to @anetteaneta for an important bit of info and @tinygaydemonbby​ for the random chat and another key bit.))

Word Count: 2100(ish)

Summary: It’s your day off and you’re just trying to enjoy it. Nathan is working and he’s trying to enjoy it. It doesn’t at all go the way you imagined.

Warnings: Cursing. Banter. Robot sex (not graphic). Personal injury. Innuendo. Propositions. Nudity. Complete and utterly ridiculous trash. Possible typos. Nathan Bateman.

The absolute magnificence of the Alaskan landscape was something that, quite frankly, you were never going to get used to. The trees, tall and majestic, towering over the lush green grass. The river, crisp and pristine, bubbling its way to the immense waterfall that cascaded down the cliff face and eventually made its way into the ever-vast ocean. The bald eagles that would soar from treetop to treetop, even the occasional moose that would make itself known at the edges of the compound and then disappear like ghosts into the forest beyond.

It was otherworldly.

The occasional twig snapped and leaf crunched under your boots as you hiked along your usual trail along the north side of the property. Today’s air felt cool on your cheeks despite the sun overhead; at least it was summer - technically, even if the temperature wasn’t getting much above 60 degrees Fahrenheit these past few weeks - so you had twenty hours of daylight instead of the twenty hours of darkness in winter.

You found your favorite spot on a nearby rock and perched on the smooth surface, tilting your face up to that glorious, shining orb. This really was what you needed right now.

*ding!*

...And that was really what you didn’t need. Definitely not right now, and probably not later either. Speaking of otherworldly.

Your boss was a difficult man, and you had a strange rapport with him that was irritating on a daily professional basis, and to your dismay, increasingly so on a personal level. To be fair, you were the only two humans out here. To also be fair, your boss was kind of annoyingly hot.

You sighed and reached into your pocket, pulling out your phone and glancing at the screen.

God: Where the fuck are you?

God? What the… You were annoyed by the text, but more annoyed by the name. When the hell did that bastard changed his name in your phone? He was insufferable on the best of days, but this was a new low. A new high? You weren’t really sure. Sighing, you shot a text back.

You: It’s my day off.

God: You know that’s not really a thing here right?

You: It is when I need a break from you.

God: I’ll make it up to you.

You: Unless you’re asking me to dinner, I don’t want to hear it.

You groaned. You really didn’t mean to say that.

The little ellipses that showed he was typing back flashed across the screen several times, then stopped. Then popped back up, and stopped again. And just because your boss was your boss, it did it four more times, but still no response.

You shoved your phone back in your jacket pocket and returned your attention to the river, breathing deeply and watching the water swirl around a pile of rocks on the opposite bank.

*ding!*

Dammit.

God: I need you to come back like right now.

You: I’m not gonna sit around and be your Eliza Doolittle today, Nathan.

You weren’t just saying that. Last week, the man had dragged you, literally, into the lab by your elbow and had you repeat vowel sounds and random words extremely phonetically while holding a pulsing orb of glowing blue goo. He claimed it was some kind of brain training. You’d said it wasn’t part of your job description, but honestly, it probably was. You were there to assist, you were there to manage, you were there to occasionally have a satisfyingly intelligent and non-arrogant conversation, and you were mostly there to make sure Nathan Bateman didn’t blow anything up or burn anything down.

That didn’t necessarily mean you liked any of it. Okay, fine, you kind of liked the assisting part and definitely the intelligent conversation part. But it was your day off, and all you wanted to do was not be in the house.

God: What? No, it’s...I just need your help with something.

You: Nathan. It. Is. My. Day. Off. No assistance today. Bother me tomorrow.

God: ...Please?

That gave you pause. Since when did he actually ask for anything politely?

You: Fine. I’m halfway up summit trail, give me like 20.

God: Make it 10.

You:  Asshole.

God: And bring a bag of frozen peas.

What the actual hell.

You blinked at the screen twice, turned your phone off completely, and started back towards the house.

*****

You didn’t know why you paid the slightest bit of attention to Nathan’s request, but once in the house, you found yourself in the kitchen, pulling a bag of frosty legumes out of the freezer. With it in hand, you made your way to the lab.

Nathan hadn’t told you where he was, but you knew where to find him. He was always in the lab.

“Okay, I’m back,” you called out as you pushed through the door to Nathan’s inner sanctum. “Now what is so damn important that…”

“Oh thank fuck,” Nathan’s voice called out. “Do you have the stuff?”

You glanced around suspiciously. You couldn’t see him. Until you came around the side of the long table in the middle of the room and found him. Your eyes widened at the sight of Nathan, curled up on the floor in a fetal position, sweating and vaguely shaking.

And totally naked.

He glanced up as he saw your shoes approached and weakly raised his arm and made a grabby hand. “Gimme.”

Tossing the frozen vegetables to him, your mouth opened and closed several times, trying to process the scene. Before you could really take it all in, you watched as Nathan reached over his shoulder, grabbed his discarded t-shirt, and wrapping the icy bag in the shirt, placed it directly on his crotch.

“All right,” you finally got out, “what the actual hell is going on?!”

“Ohhhhh,” Nathan moaned as the cold compress made contact with his skin. “I thought I was gonna die.”

“Why are you naked?” you yelled at him.

“There was a malfunction,” he replied, nonchalant as if you were simply discussing the weather.

You just gaped at him. This was definitely not in your job description.

“A malfunction,” you repeated.

Nathan made a feeble gesture at the table. It was covered in metal parts and wires, screwdrivers and other things you assumed were robotic but couldn’t recognize. He had been working a new body build for the past few days, that much you knew. But now there were metal bits everywhere and Nathan was bare as the day he was born, sprawled in the middle of the floor. Your eyes scanned the table again; the biggest object, in the middle of the mess, looked sort of like...oh, you did not like where this was going. You pinched the bridge of your nose.

“I may have miscalculated the required tension,” Nathan said, still curled up on the floor.

The required...oh hell no.

“Nathan...you know you’re the literally the smartest person I know, and you know I think you’re brilliantly creative and inventive and all that important stuff, but please, please tell me you were not actually doing what I think you were doing,” you muttered.

“I was working!”

“You know I can just check the security footage, right?” you stared him down.

Nathan looked at you over the top of his glasses. “I had to test it and make sure it worked.”

You buried your face in your hands.

“Why does a robot have to have working...parts?!” As soon as you asked, you wished you hadn’t. This idiot genius actually had the nerve to blush. Slightly. He would never admit it, but his ears definitely got pinker than they’d been a few seconds ago.

Nathan sat up suddenly and glared at you, adjusting the ice pack again - thank the heavens - to keep himself covered. “First of all, it’s not a robot, it’s an AI. There’s a big difference. And second of all, we talked about this. The point is to make it as human as possible, so this particular part was necessary.”

The glare you shot back at him could have melted his current loincloth. It was your day off and Nathan couldn’t even leave you be for one whole day without his compulsion to cater to whatever whim was in his head and get under your skin. You dropped into one of the lab chairs.

“So...let me get this straight,” you sighed. God help you. But not the God in your cell phone, because he could go fuck himself. Or get fucked. Whichever.

Suddenly, through your haze of utter exasperation, what you’d just thought clicked into place and you snorted a laugh. Your eyes flashed over to the thing in the middle of the table. It was definitely shaped like a pelvis.

Nathan’s eyes became daggers. “What’s so fuckin’ funny?”

Your eyes went to the thing on the table and to his hands, and then back again. You shook your head, cleared your throat, and tried not to laugh again. It didn’t work. “Sorry. Um. So...what you’re saying is...you got injured because you were...fucking a robot pelvis.”

“I should fire you,” Nathan grumbled.

“And you got injured - from fucking a disembodied robot pelvis -”

“I am so going to fire you.”

“...because it was too...tight?”

“I shouldn’t have asked for your help. I should have just let myself die here, naked and unsatisfied.” He flopped back down.

You couldn’t help yourself any longer. Your laughter rang through the lab, a mixture of actual amusement and horrified reality. You snorted again and that made you laugh harder. Nathan had always joked about making a sex robot. Well, you thought he had been joking, but now, clearly not - and he’d hurt himself in the actual process of trying to make sure it worked. You weren’t a monster, you hoped he wasn’t truly actually injured, but you also took a little satisfaction in knowing karma existed.

After a few minutes, you wiped your eyes and looked down at him. Nathan stared back, but you could see the start of a sheepish smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“I told you I miscalculated the tension. It was fine--”

“Until it wasn’t?” you wheezed.

“--until it cut off all the circulation to my dick.”

You bit your lip. “Nathan Bateman. You literally cockblocked yourself.”

He didn’t respond right away. But then he spoke, at the same moment you noticed the smirk on his face fully bloom and what you’d come to call his “up to some bullshit” look glimmer in his eyes.

“Are you gonna come help me or not?”

“Excuse me?” You were fairly certain your eyebrows could not go any farther up your forehead.

“Well, I’m not in excruciating, unimaginable pain now, and I’d like to make sure my dick isn’t going to fall off. And I didn’t finish. Need a little help here.”

“You want me to--” you stuttered.

“Un-cockblock me,” his wolfish smile broke out fully now.

You hurled a pen at his head. “You really are an asshole.”

“I admit,” he continued, easily dodging your projectile, “this wasn’t what I was expecting for the first time you saw me naked, but I’ll work with what I got.” He started to remove the ice pack.

Another pen went flying his way. “You know, I’m just going to pretend that you’re not about to flash me with your mechanically impaired penis, and that you didn’t just proposition me, and I’m leaving this room now,” you said, standing up and shaking your head.

“Baby, you’re just gonna leave me hanging here?” he grinned, stretching back out on the floor. He folded his hands behind his head. The t-shirt wrapped bag of frozen peas remained - now perched rather proudly, you noted - on his groin.

A vexed growl left your lips as you walked towards the lab door. “Leaving now!”

“Well could you at least toss me my pants?”

You glanced down. Nathan’s sweatpants were balled up behind the lab door. How they’d gotten all the way over here...nope. Nope. You decided that information was entirely unnecessary.

You threw his pants at him and they hit him in the face with a satisfying whump.

“You sure I can’t convince you to help me out here?” Nathan asked serenely from under the fabric.

He couldn’t see the small smile on your face as you walked out the door. Thank god. Or...God. Whatever. The man was a menace.

“Ask me to dinner,” you called over your shoulder.

“I’ll text you,” he called back.

God.

~end~

taglist: @anetteaneta @autumnleaves1991-blog @damerondjarin @deeandbobbymcgee @rosemarysbaby13 @iamthe-shadow-on-the-wall @itspdameronthings @poedjarin @spider-starry @tinygaydemonbby @writefightandflightclub @woakiees @veuliee2 @yourbucky084​

(taglist open, click here to join if you’d like)

[imma-potatoo]

For the bthb, may I request Logan and U!Patton with Thrown Down The Stairs? Maybe with some Remus or Janus comfort later? Idk, I just like your writing style and am crazy for Logan angst.

@badthingshappenbingo

Send me a prompt with a character! Please specify ships! No romantic prinxeity, r*mr*m or U!Janus and U!Logan please!

You wanted Logan angst? You got Logan angst~

Prompt: thrown down the stairs.

Warnings: U!Patton, blood, gore, choking, scratching at throat, concussion, thrown down stairs, pinning, graphic abuse, punching, slapping, ask to tag

(I'm really sorry this took so long. Wifi problems and family shit)

-----

Love

----

Logan walked out of his room, humming a small song (Crofters the Musical, but that was only for him to know) dress shoes clicking softly on the wooden floors while he skimmed over the book in his hands. The mindscape was just as bustling as usual, he could hear Janus lecturing Remus in the darker half of the mind about how stealing Roman’s sword and turning it into a dagger was inappropriate and that he’ll have to make Roman a new one. Roman himself was sulking in his room playing Burn from Hamilton on loop because “Remus is dead to me like Hamilton was dead to Eliza”…. Logan didn’t get it. Virgil’s music was turned on max; like always but this time he was trying to drown out Roman’s complaints with My Chemical Romance. Patton was most likely baking in the kitchen once again.

Logan flipped open to the page he left off on; he had just started this book so he wasn’t too far in. He couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face as he started to read,

The person who was supposed to love me the hardest-the most unconditionally-has always wanted me gone. No matter how hard I tried to be perfect. Now, this boy-who knows all my imperfections and has seen all my hurt laid bare-wants me to sta- Logan’s reading was interrupted by a door clicking open.

Logan looked up to see Patton closing his bedroom door. An ear to ear grin plastered on his face, it was a little too much teeth for his comfort. Patton locked eyes with the blue side, “Hiya kiddo!”

Logan slipped his bookmark back into the thin pages, “Greetings Patton.” Logan waited for a second or two for Patton to walk beside him; after all, when someone comes out of their door, you have to wait for the other to join you on your walk.

And Patton did, they started towards the staircase; Logan tracing the book pages with his fingers. “So! Where ya headed kiddo?!” Logan had always thought Patton was a little too cheery for his tastes, but that was just the father’s personality, he couldn’t change that.

“I’m headed to the imagination to read,” for a brief second, Logan forgot who I was talking to, “It's actually quite an interesting book! The Dangerous Art of Blending In is considered a must-read for pride month and is based on the author's true story,” Logan continued to talk; eyes twinkling with excitement and pure joy as he went on to explain the main character’s arc so far.

The blue side steeled his expression to his happy grin, “That sounds interesting kiddo! Can I see it?”

Logan grew stiff, but continued walking with Patton until they made it to the top of the stairs, Logan shifted his eyes downward and handed the book to Patton. Morality swiped the book straight out of Logan’s hands, he pulled it open to a random page and started to read. Logan watched in horror as the older side’s expression shifted from mild curiosity to confusion, to disgust, and finally to anger.

“Why are you reading these horrible things, Logan?” Patton’s smile was gone, eyes cold and disapproving as he stared into Logan’s eyes. “This is something Remus would read. Why. Are. You. Reading. It.” Patton stood tall, teeth formed into a sneer as he stepped closer.

Logan took a small step backward, “I-I-”

“Shut up.” Logan hit the wall when Patton hissed through his teeth, “Come on Lo-Lo! If you read stuff like this, you’re just as bad as Remus and Janus! You don’t want to be like them, do you?” Patton was inches away from Logan’s face. His breath hot on his skin, raising the hair on the back of his neck.

Logan gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. “W-well, I thought that Even and Henry’s story was a sweet story about overcoming hardships, even when you’re put in a bad si-” The stinging pain of Patton’s hand hitting his face stopped him in his tracks. Tears leaked down as Logan raised his hand to his cheek.

Logan looked at Patton with wide eyes, “y-yo-” The blunt end of a punch struck his face, Logan could only stand in shock as he felt his lip start to leak crimson, “Patton stop!”

The so-called father pushed his hand against Logan’s neck, keeping him in place even while Logan clawed at his hand and own throat, attempting to pry Patton off. His nails dug into his flesh, small warm droplets of blood pricking out of the skin as Patton tightened his hold.

“You, Lo-Lo-Bear, need to learn when to shut up~” Logan was sure that his neck was going to be bruised, all he could do was wheeze a suffocated breath in response. Patton applied his sugar-sweet smile once more, looking into Logan’s eyes with a twisted fascination.

Logan attempted to speak, he knew that he couldn’t. But words were his weapon. Without his voice he was helpless, and he refused to give in to the father figure’s torment. Patton had always been particularly touchy, touching them when it wasn’t necessary. Hands grazing over their shoulders or swiping things from their hand to look it over. Patton had also always been particularly violent. Pushing them against walls over little things and whispering threats. It didn’t make these situations any less terrifying though. And this was the first time Patton had taken it this far.

Logan’s hands were covered in blood. His blood. Gore covered his fingers and Patton’s hand, a few small beads hitting the floor; as well as Patton’s cartoon-themed sneakers. Long thin scratches ran up and down his neck, his nails had thick pieces of skin underneath the nails.

Patton raised an eyebrow at the side’s attempt to pry him off, he huffed a breath and let go of Logan’s neck.

Logic fell against the wall, hands immediately wrapping around the sluggish bleeding at his neck, Logan breathed in short ragged breaths eyes wide and staring at the floor. Breathing in the sweet addiction of oxygen.

Patton smiled, eyes skewed shut while the side on the floor held himself tightly. “There! Didn’t you learn your lesson kiddo?” Patton waited a second or two for Logan to respond, his breathing calm and steady as he swirled the crimson liquid on his hand. “Right kiddo?” Patton bore his cold eyes onto the crumbled side, he barely waited a second before seizing Logan’s wrist and pulling him to his feet.

The cyan side held Logan by his tie, right in front of the staircase. Logan could barely process anything before the side in front of him smiled, locking his eyes. And then, he let go and pushed Logan down the steps.

Logan fell, hitting almost every stair on his way down. He could feel his blood vessels burst as his arms scraped on the wooden railing, splinters indenting into his flesh. His head spun when it hit the stairs, glasses flying off. Logan could barely tell what was happening to him as he hit his head repeatedly, he knew that he heard a crunch from his left arm and right leg when he hit the bottom landing.

Logan laid on his face, breathing hard and rapidly. His mind was fogged over, no coherent thought could pass through as the ringing sound that suddenly plagued his mind filled his senses. He couldn’t hear his father figure climb down the steps, taking care to step over the blood spatters that covered them.

Patton poked Logan in the ribs with his shoe, giggling when the side groaned in pain. “You really should be more careful kiddo! Stairs can be pretty dangerous you know!” The cyan side took one last look at his victim before pulling Logan’s book from his pocket.

Patton opened the book to its center point, before grabbing each side of the novel and ripping it in half. Pages floated down like butterfly wings, gracefully falling as they surrounded the broken side in bitter mockery of the book. Patton threw what was remaining of the book onto Logan, his demeanor just as peppy and upbeat as ever, even while covered in another’s blood.

“You really need to be more careful with your possessions, Logic, such a tragedy, you know I love a good book.” Patton walked back up the staircase to his bedroom, while Welcome to the Black Parade blasted from Virgil’s speakers, Logan barely responded to the father figments door slamming.

Logan had no idea of how long he let his blood stain the carpet, but his mind grew even fuzzier as the room grew black. He allowed the sweet bliss of sleep to cloud his function telling him to stay awake. He closed his eyes, only to have someone shake him.

“-GAN! LOGAN WAKE UP!” The panicked voice of the deceitful side flooded his head, he tried to force his eyes open; muscles spasming. “There we go! Come on starlight! Stay awake! Remus is coming back with the medkit! Just stay with me!” Logan followed his voice, the smoothness and composed attitude of the yellow side was gone. Logan hated seeing the silver-tongued side like that.

“I-I see you have a copy of The Dangerous Art of Blending In! It’s such a good book right! I l-ove how the author wrote Henry! Don’t you? Come on Logan, stay awake!” Logan looked into the terrified side’s eyes. The enchanting yellow and brown eyes kept his focus even if they were clouded in fear, he wondered why he never noticed the flecks of green surrounding the slivered pupil before.

“I GOT THE MEDKIT!” The horse voice of Remus broke his concentration on the pretty eyes, why did everyone call Janus a monster anyway? Was it the scales? Logan could only wonder as the two dark sides hastily applied the first aid. Voices scared and rushed as they faded into the background, Logan could only focus on how Remus’ mustache was perfectly curled into its position, even when it was soaked in tears. Tears? Why were they crying? Patton said that they were monsters, and monsters don’t cry. Then again, monsters don’t help people either… 

Logan watched the two sides dig into the kit as fast as they could. Janus even removed his gloves.

Logan gazed at them tiredly, mouth lightly sagged open, “There we go! I think we can move him now Jan!” “Good! Let’s get him out of here before Patton comes back, I think he did this…”

Logan could feel his body raising to meet the ruffles of Remus’ tunic. The small teeth that embellished the ends of the fasteners rubbed against his shoulder. He didn’t have the energy to make any noise as the two sides took him back to their side.

He doubted he would ever return to the picture-perfect family he once belonged to ever again. He had his actual family, ready to help him through everything.

Janus bought him a new copy of his book too.

[yvesdot]

okay how about... FC / SIH / KAY, percy jackson / band au / daemons, in that order tentatively. pick and choose as you will ofc if you don't want to do any of these

You are so insane... you sent me a request I will fulfill the requests. You're also insane for recommending a canon neither of us have ever read, though (HDM.) Three stories, now with bonus author's notes!

Forest Castles - Percy Jackson

It's been a really long time since I've read this series. This is loose, loose, loose, loose fanfic.

“You’re being obvious,” Eliza says, and Red jumps before flattening himself against the wall. “Move out of the way.” She nudges him aside and takes his place hiding around a corner to spy on Avner talking to the members of Aphrodite cabin.

“He’s asking questions,” Red says, leaning over Eliza’s shoulder. “He’s taking notes.”

“It’s so…” Eliza leans forward to get a better view of Avner looking bashful as someone compliments his hair.

“Cute?” Red offers.

“What?”

��I was finishing your—never mind. You move over,” Red says as Eliza pushes him back further, and he burns a hole in her sleeve with one finger.

“Ow!” Eliza rubs her arm. “What, looking to join Cabin 5?”

“Looking for an opportunity, actually.” Red ducks slightly, like a cat about to pounce. Eliza crosses her arms. “I predict Hecate for you, by the way.”

“Thanks, Oracle,” Eliza says, turning to keep watch behind them, but when she turns back Red has disappeared. She whips toward the corner just in time to see Red wrap an arm around Avner, whisper something, and pull them both underground in a plume of black smoke. “Red!”

She races out into the open, waving her hand in front of her face; Aphrodite cabin members scatter in all directions.

“Where did they go?” she manages through coughs, bumping into a small, frowning brown-haired girl.

“Guy dressed all in black and his object of affection?” she snaps. “Underworld, for all I know. Hmph!” And she trots off, flipping her hair over her frilly shoulder. Eliza stays back, feeling over the ground as though by stepping hard enough she might follow them down.

Sometimes it Happens - Band

Yes! More flashback stuff! This is when Ephraim is planning his disappearance.

Ephraim leaves before the last note has dissipated, just as it’s ringing in the air. Elle looks up from the microphone and manages to catch the door slamming shut behind him. They lower their hands and take a breath.

“He just needs some time,” Ava says. She flips her drumsticks in her hands nervously.

“I don’t get it.” Elle’s brow furrows. They sit down on the carpeted floor and uncap their water bottle. “If he needs time from me, why not just tell me?”

“Because it’s not—he’s not breaking up with you.” Ava presses a hand to her forehead. “You need to talk to him. I’m sorry.”

“Is he telling you that he’s not breaking up with me? Because he’s not telling me anything.” Elle wipes at their face with one arm. They press their mouth shut. “I don’t know how we’re supposed to debut like this. Is it just—” they lean over the step they’re sitting on and look up at Ava. “It’s not the music.”

“It’s not the music.”

“It’s not the band.”

“It’s not the band.”

“It’s not my hair.”

“It’s not—why would it be your hair?”

“It’s not pink anymore,” Elle mutters, twirling a lock of blonde hair around their finger. “Maybe he liked it better pink.”

“It’s not the hair. It’s—look, it’s none of my business, okay? I don’t want to be moderating your relationship.” Ava looks away as Elle shoots a hurt glance at her. “I mean, I don’t think I should be. I think you should talk to each other.”

“You think I want to be talking to you about this?” Elle leans against the step that Ava’s drum set sits on and curls up. “He didn’t even unplug his—”

“He’s being a shitty friend,” Ava decides, getting up. She slips her drumsticks into their carry case and zips it. “I’m going to talk to him.”

“And it’ll work for you?” Elle calls after her. “Tell him to talk to me!”

“I have,” Ava mutters, walking out the door. Elle watches it slam a second time, hunches over, and lays their head down in their arms to cry.

KAY - Daemon

This is just not about His Dark Materials. It simply isn't. It's about the vague concept of having an animal familiar that represents something about you, and I didn't even bother to read the information Max so kindly sent me about the series. Enjoy!

Kay’s blue butterfly rests on the edge of her pen as she writes. Any modern adaptation of Carmilla poses several major questions of concern. The first is one of clarity—

Constantine squawks from downstairs. Kay sighs, drops her pen, and holds out her arm for the butterfly to return to her sleeve. She shuts her door and heads down the steps to find Constantine holding his hands to his face.

“You have a mouse,” Atlas is arguing, at the end of a series of muddy footprints leading into the house. “You know, restaurants can be shut down for that.”

“He is clean,” Constantine protests, crossing his arms. His little brown mouse races from one shoulder to the other. “He washes his feet. For that matter, I wash his feet.”

“You wash his feet?” Atlas reaches out and, with preternatural reflexes, grabs the mouse off of Constantine’s shoulder. Constantine leaps for it, but Atlas holds it out of the way by its tail.

“Kind of gay of you to have a mouse for a daemon,” Atlas says, examining it. The mouse wriggles up to his hand and bites his finger. “Yowch. That’s not a bad thing.”

“Enough,” Kay calls from the stairs, and it distracts Atlas enough to let Constantine grab his mouse back. The mouse, for its part, appears to be shivering.

“I was just lookin for you!” Atlas chirps. He waves a pair of stolen car keys. “We’re going out. Going to find you a daemon.”

Kay crosses her arms.

“Weird of you not to have one,” Atlas says. “At your age?”

“I contain multitudes,” Kay says, “and surprises.”

“That’s cute,” Atlas says, “but we’re going to the shelter. You can get a cat.”

“I am not entirely opposed to that,” Constantine says, seeming vaguely surprised, and his mouse shudders from head to toe. “Well. I suppose I ought to consider it first.”

“Too late,” Atlas says, taking Kay’s hand. Kay lets him drag her out the door to the car he’s hotwired, which, this time, is a light blue Beetle. Kay folds herself into the passenger seat.

“I suppose you have no opinions on modern adaptations of Carmilla?” she asks Atlas.

“Haven’t read it yet,” he responds, keeping his eyes on the road. “Hang on; I’m going to do something illegal.”

Kay leans her head on her hand. Atlas scrunches down in his seat and concentrates, and the car jets forward on plumes of black ink, leapfrogging over other vehicles like pieces on a chessboard. The sensation is not unlike that of revolving very quickly; the kind of spinning that simulates forward motion.

“We’re here.” Atlas jumps out of the car to open the door for Kay. “Just give it a shot, okay? You’re catlike. If I had to pick something for you, it’d be a cat.”

“That does not surprise me.” Atlas’s lion is currently in the Rainier family garden, eating the rose bushes.

“Well, do you want to look at lizards?” Now Atlas holds the shelter door open. “You want a chinchilla? They don’t have those here, but there are pet stores. We could go find you a fish if you really want one. Let us look at your cats,” he says to the dark-haired, bespectacled intern at the front desk.

“Are you looking to adopt one?” they ask.

“Unsure. I have the authority, though,” Atlas says, whipping out his card. The intern’s eyes widen. “Just find… the smallest, cutest one in there. Or the oldest one. You know what? Go crazy. It’s for her,” he says, gesturing at Kay. Kay pretends for her own sanity that she isn’t with him.

Five minutes later, they are sitting in a small room with something that looks like a large, hairy egg. Her name is Doff and she is rounder than any animal Kay has ever seen. Kay lifts her up good-naturedly, bobbing her up and down like a baby.

“Any feelings? Connections?” Atlas queries, leaning in as Kay drops Doff in her lap, apparently amused by the appearance of claws in the cat’s landing.

“Many feelings,” Kay says, petting Doff. Doff curls up a little tighter on Kay’s lap and begins to purr. “Connection, to be sure.”

“You’re kidding.”

“She is very cute,” Kay acknowledges, scratching Doff’s back. Doff kneads Kay’s pants.

“Well, if you’re not going to keep her—”

“You have the authority,” Kay reminds him. “I could sit in here all day. Did you bring a book?”

“No. Did you?” Atlas asks, and Kay pulls a small, battered paperback out of her coat pocket. “How.”

“I am never caught unawares,” Kay says, handing it to him. Atlas flips through it, then starts at the beginning. Kay lifts Doff and gives her a little kiss on the nose. Doff yawns, and Kay barely represses a smile.

Atlas reads through the second cat, which is a longhaired tabby mix, and the third, which is black except for two little brown mittens on her feet. The fourth cat is loud and needy enough to require both of their attentions, and the fifth is so old that socialization with her merely entails sitting in the same room. After that, the intern returns and informs them that there are simply no more cats.

“Anywhere?” Atlas asks, leaning against the wall. “Not even in a bathroom somewhere?”

“We don’t let them in the bathrooms,” the intern says.

“You couldn’t rescue another one for us?”

“I don’t do the rescues,” they say.

“Oh, well.” Atlas gets up and stretches; Kay slips the book out of his hand and tucks it back into her pocket. “McDonald’s?”

“No outside food,” Kay reminds him. “You may order whatever you like for yourself.”

“Maybe I will. No offense, but I miss milkshakes.” Atlas drops some random bills into the donation jar at the front desk and pushes the doors open for both of them. “Maybe we should get you a fish. One of those super pretty ones with the long fins. They could represent how you’re beautiful and inaccessible to human beings.”

“Fish are not inaccessible,” Kay says.

“Well, they don’t cuddle up to you. You can’t touch them.”

“Do you find me untouchable?” Kay asks.

“I think it’s an honor to be touched by you,” Atlas says, mock-bowing, and when he straightens up a butterfly lands on his nose. He stills, and goes cross-eyed looking at it. “Whoah.” He waits silently for it to lift off, and then adds, “I don’t think that was a total waste. We got to pet some cats.”

“Mm.”

Kay waits, but Atlas doesn’t make the joke she expects him to. When she makes eye contact with him, though, he winks.

“You thinking what I’m thinking?” he asks, opening the car door for her again.

“Take me home, Atlas.”

“No problem, Princess.” Atlas kisses her cheek as she slides into the car. The butterfly slips in through Kay’s open window and rides in the map holder. Kay leans her head on her hand and wonders how many cat trees she’ll find by the time she returns home.

***

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[come-on-shitty-boys]

//singing hamilton headcannons//

Characters: Bokuto Koutarou/Akaashi Keiji/Kuroo Tetsurou

Request: Hey! HEY! HEY!!! In honor of Hamilton coming out, could you do hcs of Bokuto, Akaashi, and whoever else finding their s/o singing a song from Hamilton and gets all flustered from hearing it?? Thanks!! I love your writing!! 🏐🤍

Warnings: some mild swearing, but mainly just fluff.

Word Count: 1.3K (~430 a piece)

Notes:  I may or may not have spent a solid TWO HOURS singing and crying to this soundtrack because Hamilton really does hit me a lot harder than other musicals. 

*Links to each song can be found by clicking on the character’s name!*

Bokuto Koutarou:

He’s heard you sing before.  I mean, you were a car singer, a shower singer, you sang while you cleaned the apartment.  If there was music, you were JAMMING.

But this was different?? Usually you were really goofy, singing to make him laugh or to just have fun.  So, when he came home from volleyball practice to this? 

Call him a simp.

You were singing sweetly along to the lyrics of “Helpless” as you busied yourself making lunch for the two of you for when he got home.  You were adding the vibratos in all the right spots, changing notes to better fit your vocal range, adding your own little flair with some extra riffs.

You just so happened to turn around to grab something and caught him staring at you from the doorway, but you just smiled, continuing to sing along to the music coming through your headphones as you made your way over to him

When you wrap your arms around his neck and you look up at him, singing, “Look into your eyes and the sky’s the limit, I’m helpless”

He has such a warm smile on his face as he places his hands on your hips, dancing with you throughout the tiny kitchen of the apartment shit i’m so soft just thinking about that

You switch between a sweet waltz to just goofily swinging his arms and making silly faces as you sing Alexander’s part. Only to immediately pull yourself flush against him when it’s back to Eliza

Bokuto’s just so soft for this moment, spinning your around with you singing to him.  Honestly, if he could just stay here?  He would be perfectly happy for the rest of life, the bright smile on your face being etched into him memory

You just looked so beautiful??  Honestly, how could he not be completely and utterly in love with you when your eyes were just so full of adoration everytime you would sing the chorus to him

You placed a chaste kiss to his lips at the end of the song, burying your head in his neck for a few moments.

“That was beautiful,” he whispered and there was a little kiss to your temple

But then you nearly rammed your head into his jaw as you quickly shot away from him, shouting, “This is my favorite!” as the next song began to play

Akaashi Keiji:

I just would like to start by saying that Akaashi definitely knows almost every word of this soundtrack

So when he started to get ready for work and walked past the bathroom to you blaring Hamilton, he was ready to jump in.

But then he just?? Had to take a second?? And stand outside the door in literal amazement as you nail every single word to Lafayette's rap in “Guns and Ships” ??  You could rap? Since W H E N?

Akaashi was so caught off guard, but also??

It was low-key kind of hot?  Something about you being able to spit every single lyric to the song without dropping a beat?  It made his cheeks grow warm

But lemme tell you just how embarrassed this boy got when you opened the door, your hair and make-up done for your own day at work, to catch him standing there

Oh, his face? Tomato.  He was convinced that you were about to chide him for being a creep for standing outside of the bathroom with his ear pressed to the door.

But then he saw the blush turn your ears pink as you realized that he definitely heard you and the two of you just kind of awkwardly staring at each other for a solid fifteen seconds before he just goes:

“That was really cool.”

And your face lights up, because you had been working on getting that song down for awhile now, so hearing the praise escape your boyfriend’s lips?  It filled you with this new sense of pride.

He’s going to ask you to play the soundtrack the rest of the morning so he can have one or two cabinet battles with you while he helps you make breakfast.

Akaashi always lets you be Hamilton during your little stand-offs and I promise the two of you are up in each other’s faces, going IN to try to sell your defense.

When the two of you actually sit down to watch it?  Bold of you to assume that it’s going to be a quiet showing.  You’re both screaming the lyrics at one another

Your neighbors definitely came knocking on your day to ask you both to keep it down

Kuroo Tetsurou:

Insert one (1) very concerned fiance when he heard your spiteful words coming from the bedroom when he got home

What was this about letters? “I thought you were mine?” What the hell was that supposed to mean?  He was literally marrying you, of course he was yours?  Why were you hoping that he burned?  That was a little violent.

This poor man was convinced that you were about to call off the engagement, throw the ring in his face, and walk out.  You sounded so upset? And mad? But he didn’t even know what he did!

Kuroo stood outside in the living room, trying to figure out what he should say.  How was he going to convince you to stay with him if he didn’t even know what he was meant to be apologizing for?

He’s panic-calling Kenma, seeing if he knows anything about you wanting to end things.  And Kenma is just so confused because Kuroo is stumbling over his words and he’s talking so stupidly fast that Kenma had no clue what he was talking about.  

But, Kuroo is about to have a meltdown, so Kenma doesn’t even get a chance to ask him to explain himself again.  

Your fiance did eventually stop talking long enough to hear the soft carry of the sounds of your words and just-

Oh.  You were singing.

Oh. You were singing.

Tetsurou informs Kenma that he’ll call him back not even bothering to mention that you were singing and not vocalizing your desires to break things off.  Kuroo really tentatively pushes the door to the bedroom open, trying to hear better.

He had never heard it before and he’s kind of upset that you’ve never let him hear you sing because you were really good?  You were showing off your vocal discipline as you held out an especially long, steady note, easily transitioning to the faster lyrics of “Burn”

You were literally doing work on your laptop, not even fully paying attention to your vocals and yet?  You sounded incredible.  

When your voice ceased and your mood immediately shifted as the next song came on, Kuroo let out a low whistle, making you jump at the sudden audience, your cheeks turning a slight pink as you stare doe-eyed at him.

“That was really incredible, kitten.  But, I have to say, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

But, he comes to sit with you on the bed, taking one of your headphones so he can listen along with you. 

Poor boy walked right into “Blow Us All Away” and “Stay Alive (Reprise)” catch him muttering ‘bro’ in quiet anguish, high-key SAD

[seanfalco]

Jealous | Duncan Taylor x Reader

Word count: 2.7k Prompt: “I’m not jealous.” Requested by: Anonymous a/n: Follows What a Christmas, Huh?

It had been a little more than a week or two, you’d sort of lost track, since your last clandestine hookup with Duncan had ended in disaster and you’d started giving him the cold shoulder, practically ignoring him. 

For several days after, Duncan had been insufferable, cornering you at every chance, trying to get you to talk to him, but each time you’d successfully evaded him, leaving him scowling frustratedly after you as you’d walked away.

After that he seemed to have taken the hint, leaving you to your work, only speaking to you in a professional manner, no more snarky banter, no more obnoxious propositions, and your crew mates were starting to talk.  You heard them muttering to each other in hushed whispers that something was wrong — this wasn’t like either of you.

And at first you felt… relieved.

You thought getting away from Duncan Taylor and his smug pretentious attitude was exactly what you needed to get your head straight.  You’d fucked him, twice — he should be out of your system by now.

So why wasn’t he?

Why was it the further you kept away from him, the more your brain kept returning to those memories, craving his touch.

Then, on New Year’s Eve, you’d braced yourself as you made your way to the crew lounge for the night’s festivities, expecting Duncan to be back to his normal self, following you around all night and trying to get back into your pants.

But to your surprise, as soon as you arrived, he barely even spared you a second glance, though he certainly made a show of flirting with every other woman in the room, even going so far as to look rather cozy with one, the sight alone making your ears burn.

You should be relieved, you reminded yourself.  It was obvious he’d moved on.  You were free of him.

So why did you feel so jealous?

I’m not jealous, you told yourself firmly, but after only an hour you couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him any longer and you silently slipped out, returning to your computer, deciding to catch up on your work to keep your mind busy.  However, as you worked, you kept finding yourself half hoping that Duncan might follow, having noticed you leave and come to pester you, to pull you away somewhere secluded.

But he didn’t.

And from there it only got worse.  Each day your conflicted feelings only grew and you hated it.

Admit it, you miss him.  You miss that smug grin and those cheeky comebacks.  You miss his rough hands and how he makes you blush.  You miss how he used to look at you…

Attempting to ignore these thoughts, you stifled a yawn as you made your way to your workstation for your shift, one of the first to arrive, passing Duncan’s desk as you took your seat.  Leaning back in his chair, he had his feet propped up on the edge of his desk as he played some video game or other, and he glanced at you briefly before returning to his game, his eyes catching yours.

For a moment you thought he might greet you, but instead he craned his neck to look past you at the French programmer, Claire, you thought her name was, her computer a couple workstations away from yours.

“Oi, Claire!” he called obnoxiously and you grimaced, keeping your eyes purposefully on your monitor.  “You wanna go out some time?  I’m a proper gentleman,” he called, directing a flirty smirk her way.

Glancing over at her surreptitiously, you watched her roll her eyes.  She wasn’t into it.

“Not a chance, Taylor,” she scoffed.

“Oh, come now luv, I’d treat you right, show ya a night you wouldn’t soon forget.”

Though Claire still seemed uninterested, you spotted a slight flush creep across her face and the shit-eatting grin on Duncan’s lips was almost too much for you to take.

“How about you, darling?” Duncan called, twisting behind him to chat up Eliza, another one of your fellow analysts.  “Ever been with an Englishman?” he joked, catching her eye.

Your stomach clenching, you spun your chair suddenly and shoved Duncan’s feet from the edge of his desk.  “Oh my God, will you shut the fuck up?” you snapped, cutting off his exclamation as he nearly fell out of his chair.  “No one wants to hear your shite, y’wanker,” you hissed, not caring for the knowing look he threw you in response.

“You mean you don’t want to hear it,” he countered, his lips curling into a sneer, as if he’d caught you.  “You’re jealous,” he announced, folding his arms behind his head as he once more leaned back, lowering his voice so only you could hear him.

“I’m not jealous,” you replied firmly.  “You wanna know why?  Because there’s nothing to be jealous of,” you exclaimed.  “It’s not like anyone’s jumped at the opportunity to jump your bones.”

Duncan merely shrugged.  “I wouldn’t say that, sweetheart,” he muttered, his eyes dancing with amusement, and for a moment your stomach gave an uncomfortable lurch.

He’s bluffing, you told yourself, but you weren’t sure you believed it.

“Yeah right, Taylor,” you muttered, though your voice wavered slightly.

“What, don’t believe me?” he asked, raising his eyebrows.  “Now I said I wouldn’t compare, but…” he trailed off, giving you an appraising look as he clicked his tongue, shaking his head, “you might wanna learn some new tricks, luv.”

Mouth falling open in shock, it was lucky you couldn’t quite formulate an immediate comeback as just then the lead science officer stepped into the room.

“[y/l/n], Taylor,” she exclaimed, drawing your attention and Duncan quickly sat up at attention.

“Yes?” you both asked at the same time, a spike of worry ripping through you at the stern bite to Ute’s voice.

“In my office, please.”  Without another word she turned on her heel and walked away, trusting you’d follow.  

Sharing a nervous glance with Duncan, you scrambled to your feet to follow Ute.  You wouldn’t have been so worried if she’d only asked for him -- what with the way he’d been acting lately, trying to get under your skin, you wouldn’t be surprised if he had a stack of sexual harassment and fraternization reports filed against him.  But if you were included, all you could think was that someone had found out about you and Duncan and your little trysts.

Fuck, you thought, you couldn’t lose your job because of him.  For a fuckin’ shag, no less, no matter how good it’d been.  Fuck fuck fuck.

As soon as you got to Ute’s office, you stood anxiously next to Duncan as Ute rounded her desk to face you, crossing her arms over her chest.  “We have a problem--” she began and you could practically feel your heart leap into your throat.  Even Duncan looked like he was sweating a little, his face going pale.

“You two are my best analysts on the team,” Ute continued and you tensed further, waiting for the axe to fall.  “Which is why I need you two for this assignment.” 

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, an instant rush of relief flooded you and you sighed practically in tandem with Duncan.  “What assignment is that?” you asked, now able to focus, what with the threat of being sacked no longer looming over you.

Ute pulled out her holotablet to show you.  “There’s a faulty atmospheric control dampener for the station, located on this external panel here,” she explained, bringing up a schematic of the station with the panel’s location.  “The programming is severely out of date and needs to be updated.”

“Alright, can’t we just do it from the command center?” Duncan asked with a thoughtful frown and from the expression on Ute’s face you were beginning to understand.  “Unfortunately, wherever the station was built there was an oversight and the only way to access the panel’s controls--”

“Is from the panel itself,” you finished with a sigh.

“Wait a second,” Duncan exclaimed, a slightly panicked look in his mossy eyes.  “Are you saying that to update this program, we have to go outside to the panel itself?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying, Taylor,” Ute replied sternly.

“That sounds more like a job for-for engineering!  Not analysts like us!” he spluttered and you couldn’t help but agree with him.  When you took this job you weren’t exactly signing up to risk your life in a spacesuit.

“Usually, yes,” Ute admitted, “and we do have a team building an updated replacement, but until then we need to update this to tide us over and I don’t trust anyone but you two to reprogram this.”

Ute’s expression brooked no nonsense, which was how you found yourself climbing into a bulky spacesuit next to Duncan, preparing to be suspended in anti-gravity several million miles from Earth, tethered to the International Space Station by nothing more than a line of cable.

What could go wrong?

——

As long as you kept your eyes on the panel, you were fine.  It was the rest of it that made your vision swim and your fingers tremble, so you focused on how annoying it was to try to program while wearing such thick gloves.

Though it was better than catching sight of all that inky nothingness and then dwelling on the fact that it would be so easy for you to just drift away into the expanse.

“You scared?” Duncan’s voice echoed through your headset, the channel a private one.

“No,” you lied, a touch too quickly to sound truthful, but Duncan didn’t look any better.  “Are you?” you asked.

“Of-fuckin’-course I am!” he exclaimed, surprising you with his honesty.  “I didn’t fuckin’ sign up for this.”

“Yeah,” you breathed, agreeing with him.  “So let’s focus on getting this fuckin’ done so we can get back inside, huh?” you urged and for once Duncan didn’t argue with you.

Opening the auxiliary keyboard, Duncan got to work next to you, his eyes scanning over each line of code, searching for the outdated sequences.  “I noticed you leave during the New Year’s party, where’d you go?” he asked suddenly, taking you off guard.

“Are we really talking about this now?” you demanded exasperatedly, your eyes flicking over to him.

“Yeah, why not?  You’re kinda stuck out here with me,” he said, amusement in his voice.

“I left,” you answered simply and Duncan rolled his eyes.  

“Well, obviously,” he sighed exasperatedly.  “Shame, really.  I quite wanted a midnight kiss.”

“Oh please, I’m sure you found someone to give you one,” you huffed, your attention not straying from the small screen before you.

“Well… I didn’t,” he admitted, drawing your eyes sharply.

“But you said—“

“I made it up, didn’t I?” he said, no trace of amusement on his face now.

“So you didn’t sleep with anyone else?” you pressed, frowning.

“No,” Duncan repeated slowly.  “I’m a bit curious why it matters so much to you, though.”

Pursing your lips, you avoided his curious gaze.  “And I’m curious why you tried so hard to make me jealous,” you grumbled, the thick gloves of your space suit making you grimace.

Next to you, Duncan’s face lit up.  “So you were jealous!” he cried triumphantly.  “I knew it!”

“No, I—!” but it was too late for you to keep denying it, no use trying to hide it any longer.  Before you could say more however, Duncan gave another excited ‘whoop’ and you glanced back at the panel’s screen, finding you’d finished.

“Oh thank fuckin’ God,” he sighed, flipping the keyboard back into the panel.  “Now let’s get the fuck outta here, huh?”

As you pushed away from the panel your foot slipped from the thin ledge and you lost your grip, your leverage failing.  “Duncan!” you cried as you began to float from the edge of the station, panic setting in.

Quickly grasping your tether, Duncan held you in place, keeping you from floating any further.

“Gotcha!” he exclaimed, reeling you back in, but you could barely hear him over the rush of blood in your ears, your pulse pounding too loudly.  Your vision swam and breathing became hard as you tried, but you felt Duncan’s arm wrap awkwardly around you, hauling you back to the airlock with him.

“Almost there, I’ve got you [y/n].  It’ll be alright,” he exclaimed, his voice cutting through the buzzing that filled your ears.

Before you knew it, gravity re-engaged and you sunk to your knees, feeling much too heavy.  Clawing at the release for your helmet, you gasped a deep breath as soon as you lifted it from your head to toss away.

“[y/n]?  [y/n], you alright?” Duncan exclaimed, grabbing your suit and giving you a shake, til your eyes focused on him, his eyes wide with worry.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” you gasped, clutching at him, needing something steady to hold on to as you finally focused on his face, the look in his emerald eyes nearly as wild as the way his curls stood out at strange angles.

“You saved me,” you murmured, awe creeping into your voice, and before Duncan could answer, you were kissing him.

Without hesitation, his hands flew to your face as his lips moved just as eagerly against yours.  “So I take it you’re done givin’ me the cold shoulder, then?” he asked, leaning in closer, searching your face.

“For now.  Are you done flirting with everything female that moves just to get a rise outta me?” you countered.

“Ha!  I knew you were jealous,” he repeated.

“Duncan, you’re on thin ice—“

Before you could finish however, Duncan’s lips were back on yours, effectively cutting your words off before pulling back to look you in the eye.

“Ah, but they didn’t present the challenge you do, luv.  I like how you keep me on my toes.”

“I like that too,” you admitted reluctantly.

“So what d’ya say we give this… whatever it is another go?” he asked, leaning in again, his eyes flicking down to your lips.

“Whatever this is?” you mused as he watched you expectantly.  Before you could answer, you heard footsteps rushing down the corridor and you looked up to see Ute and several other station officers hurrying toward you.

“What happened?  Are you alright?” Ute exclaimed, looking over you, her eyes wide.

“I slipped on the edge.  I panicked,” you exclaimed sheepishly.  “If it hadn’t been for Duncan…”

“Oh please, you were still tethered, you woulda been fine.”

Heaving a heavy sigh, Ute ran her hand down her face.  “Right, well, [y/n], as soon as you can I want you to report to the med bay for a check up,” she commanded though you opened your mouth to argue.  “And you,” she continued, her sharp gaze swinging next to Duncan.  “Make sure she gets there.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, his lips quirking with amusement as he glanced back at you.

“Good,” Ute remarked, eyeing you both sternly before turning to leave.

As soon as you were alone once more, Duncan pulled you back into his arms.  “You never did give me an answer,” he pointed out and you couldn’t help but grin, noticing how desperate he was to hear what you had to say.

“Hmm, I think we should give it a probationary period before we get in over our heads again,” you mused, your lips twisting wryly, enjoying the way Duncan’s expression darkened slightly.

“What does that even mean?” he demanded, his grip on your waist tightening, his lips twitching into a frown.

“It means… maybe,” you teased, grinning wickedly before pressing a quick peck to his lips, his mouth hanging open incredulously.  “Come on, I need to get to the medical wing,” you said, pulling out of his grip and standing to finish shimmying out of your spacesuit.

“Hey, wait a second!  That’s not a real answer!” Duncan exclaimed, hurriedly trying to extricate himself from his suit as well and nearly losing his balance.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t exactly made up my mind yet.  Maybe you can persuade me,” you teased, throwing him a meaningful glance over your shoulder, enjoying being the one in control for a change.

You already knew how this would end, but you wanted to keep Duncan guessing a little while longer first.  

At least things were back to normal.

———————— Tag List: @magic-multicolored-miracle @midnightseance @gurlimtired @super-unpredictable98 @iamsexytrash @misskittysmagicportal​ @robertsheehanownsmyass​

[razorblade180]

Twin Snowflakes 26: Preparation

[part 1 of 2]

TSF pt25 here! <-

“THANK YOU, PEOPLE OF MANTLE!” Summer yelled, shredding each note of her personal favorite songs. One after another she played to her heart's fill. Each song was more aggressive and brimming with vigor than the last. Summer would’ve played till dawn if she had her way but neither her body or promise to her brother would allow that. It wasn’t time to leave yet but she needed a break.

Summer begrudgingly got herself to get off the stage to let others perform. Their music wasn’t terrible by any means but the other musicians could easily stand to have more practice. A rave audience isn’t hard to please however, so the crowd ate up the talent all the same. A little insulting to her own performance but eh, this wasn’t an actual contest. Summer was happy enough blowing off steam and listening to the beats from behind the stage. Not even she could deny the beats and tempo. Her hips couldn’t help but sway!

From the corner of her eye she could make out a familiar figure keeping an eye on her. “Did Nick tell you to keep an eye on me, Eliza?”

“Not really.” She walked over and poured herself a cup of water. “I was training in the area.”

“Are you saying he had nothing to do with you being here?”

“Oh no, that would be a lie. You know Nick, always negotiating. He really knows how to persuade a person. I wouldn’t be surprised if he could sell a heater to someone living in Vacou. Anyways, he didn’t ask me to stalk you or anything like that. He knew where I’d be and told me if I could swing by for a spell. No harm in that.”

Summer smiled. “Funny. That sounded like you were defending him. Don’t want me getting upset with my own brother?”

“Shut up. It would be a pain if I caused unnecessary controversy in a household. Need I remind you that you both have duties to the school that require your full attention? Frankly I’m glad I arrived. I don’t go to your concerts so my opinion of your performance skills was limited.” Eliza sipped her water, giving Summer’s attire and overall attitude a once over. “Where’s all this when you're getting harassed in the halls?”

“That’s...school is different.”

“Pfft, yeah okay.”

“It is!” Summer said, defensively crossing her arms.

Eliza watched the girl's face soften into the meek and reserved Summer she was used to. To think that’s all it took to shut her down. “I swear you and your brother don’t have a consistent bone in your body. Whatever the case, I don’t really care much as long as you bring your best effort to rehearsal and the live performance.”

Summer squinted. “Not the actual tournament?”

“Hey I don’t participate in the duos. You can bomb that for all I care. But you know, Nick is counting on you to pull your weight. Also it would be pretty annoying if you lost to Max and his asshole know-it-all, Darren. Gods know he’d talk about it until graduation.”

“Was the fight that happened in the school bad?”

Eliza shrugged, “Can’t say. Wasn’t there. He’s always been a thorn to me though so I don’t doubt he made things ugly. He was very rude to Veronica in the principal’s office as well. An act I find inexcusable.”

Summer couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “Look I know you admire her and all that jazz, but I’d bet she didn’t help the situation.”

“My views on her have nothing to do with it!” Eliza huffed. “I would think you off people would be sympathetic to a person like her.”

Summer leaned against a wall. “Call me jaded, but Veronica has a habit of bringing out the worst in people.”

Eliza frowned. “You know her better than I. Tell me, is she the type to lie about being harassed?”

Summer didn’t have to think long, especially after learning more about her in the forest. Then there was Veronica’s sketch journal. Summer still couldn’t make sense of all the scratched out pages. On top of that, Blake’s request made Summer even more uncertain. “No. Veronica’s a piece of work, but she isn’t a liar. She might actually be too honest if you asked me. I’ve never had to deal with Darren personally but Nick’s not a fan by any means.” Summer bit her bottom lip. She couldn’t believe it, did she just defend Veronica’s qualities!? It was only fair. Veronica did almost end up a frozen husk.

“Well it’s good to know we can all agree on at least one thing without fail. So not to rush you but how long are you planning on staying in a place like this?” Eliza asked, watching all the party animals.

“Haha, not your type of crowd?”

“The crowd is fine. I can handle a little noise and rowdiness, but it is technically a school night. I- ah! Summer!?” The girl had taken Eliza by the hand and started pulling her to the dance floor.

“If you keep bringing up assignments 24/7 then all you’re gonna look like is a stick in the mud. Live a little. School sucks!”

“School is important!” Eliza protested.

Summer grabbed Eliza’s other hand and started making them sway side to side, back and forth. The blood rushing to Eliza’s cheeks made Summer giggle. “Awww you know you dig it. I’ll make a deal. Cut loose with me for a few songs and I’ll gladly let you dance me right out the front door. Show me that colorguard rhythm!”

Eliza watched the petite girl actively laugh without reservation. Summer jokingly shimmied towards her and swayed her hips, getting lost in the music. Just how much did this girl go out to rave? She looked like she belonged here! The beat got more intense by the moment with no sign of stopping. With her pride in check, Eliza began to sway steadily, getting into the music.

Summer’s eyes lit up. “Aye!”

“Two songs and then we’re out of here.”

“Works for me! Show me what ya got!” Summer turned up the heat by dragging Eliza deeper into the chaos. She might not be as persuasive as Nick, but Eliza quickly found out Summer was definitely more pushy. Forget the tournament. Eliza was beginning to think they’ll beat her at everything!

xxxxx

“This is crazy. How did I not know about this!?” Nick said, walking down the rainy sidewalk.

Veronica smirked as she held Nick’s hand, allowing rain to pass right through them. “Why would you? I barely have any reason to use my semblance; let alone in the more complex ways.”

“You don’t use it when making clothes?”

“Haha, I’m not entirely sure how it would help. Unless I wanna get out of my clothes and into something new in an instant. Not a real trick to show others. Unless…” she blushed at her lewd teasing, refusing to finish the punchline. “Never mind.”

“Okay?” He had a feeling he knew where that was going but chose not to pull that grenade pin. “Speaking of clothes, that brings up a question. Why aren’t our clothes falling off now?”

“Control. Anything I touch can phase like me. My clothes are touching me, so are you. I can keep it strictly to myself though with control and timing. I can also start it and end it on any spot on my body; which is why we aren’t falling through the street.”

“That sounds hard.”

“Little bit. Really flexing my semblance like a muscle right now. Still, I’ve done harder, like not breaking surface tension.”

Nick did a double take. Did he hear that right? “Surface tension? Like...for water?”

Veronica nodded. “Yeah that’s the one. Well I’m not actually walking on water. It’s more of me beginning to fall through the water with my semblance, and shutting it off quick enough to push me back up just above the surface. Took a lot of practice but I got it most of the time. Waves suck.”

“Don’t you burn through your aura quickly?”

“Well it’s like flicking a switch on and off. Also I’m quick about it; not to mention not fighting anything in the water. I’m bound to fuck up them.”

“Still sounds like an extremely large amount of work and multitasking. You got real talent. I’d get a headache.”

“Says the king of multitasking.” Veronica chuckled, “It’s less thinking and more of reaction; knowing how to feel the shifts to the things connecting you.”

Her explanation was interesting. Veronica had an understanding of her semblance to a complex level though she didn’t fight. And here was Nick, struggling with a candle exercise for a semblance that didn’t interact with physics or molecules. “A reaction huh? Maybe I should try that more often? It might help with-”

“Valerie.”

“What? No my-” His hand was squeezed a little before being brought up to point towards the Schnee gate. Nick’s eyes went wide. Valerie stood by it with her mother’s car, staring just as surprised. “Oh…” Nick said.

The three stood quietly, not prepared in the slightest. Valerie was the most shocked. She was prepared for an awkward conversation with Nick by the door. Not catching him outside in a suit; next to Veronica. Nora, who was in the car, wanted to take initiative but found her lips tucking themselves in.

“Oh boy. Maybe convincing Val to see him was a bad move on my part.” She thought. Ren was gonna have a field day whenever Nora got back home.

Done with the shock, Veronica finally spoke. “Umm I can give you two a minute, if you need it?” All the events that happened tonight made her feel very pleased. Veronica did not want to taint those moments and knew it would be for the best to remove herself from this before she said anything...emotional. She turned to Nick and smiled awkwardly. “I’ll see you inside?”

Nick could only blink while he thought about it. Veronica was a bit quicker to the draw though. “No, no, it’s...clearly you two are in the middle of something. I was just leaving anyways” Val said, a hint of irritation and even a bit of sarcasm crept into her voice. It might not have been that big of a deal but for some reason it made Nick tense up.

“This is only happening because of you.” He said instinctively, catching everyone off guard. “I don’t see how you can be upset about a thing you caused. I did invite you originally.”

“Don’t see how that has to do with anything.” Valerie lied, clearly offended. “You can do what you want.I only came here to-”

“It’s always your terms.” He interjected, grumbling a bit. “You tell me you want space and we’ll see each other at the tournament, but then show when you feel like talking. If I did that you’d be pissed.”

“Hey! I came here to try and smooth things over.”

“Yeah well maybe I don’t want things smoothed over right now? I...I have nothing to say to you right now. We’ll talk at the tournament.”

Valerie let out a subtle gasp. Her brows furrowed and she bit down on her lip harder than she meant to. ���Forget it. If you wanna be made then be made. Tournament it is.” Valerie didn’t waste another breath, getting back into the car so it can drive off.”

Veronica was in disbelief. Did that really just happen? In now way did she think the conversation was going to be good, but she at least thought there was going to be one. She might’ve thought this best if it wasn’t for Nick visibly sulking next to her as he started walking her up to the manor. The solemn look on his face did nothing but make her feel bad. Not to mention a little guilty.

“Hey...I know this is a dumb question but are you okay? If I influenced that in any way during dinner, that wasn’t really...what I mean is...”

“I know, and don’t worry. That wasn’t me being caught up in my emotions. I just really want to think about all of this for at least a couple days. Besides, I made a deal with Eliza. I might not keep it if Valerie tries patching things up.”

“You’re plotting on her? That’s...wow. Now I know for sure that you’re pissed.”

Nick rubber the back of neck. “For once I think I’ll get greedy, act the way I want. Does that make sense?”

“Make sense? It’s my language. Fair warning, your best quality is that heart of yours.” She poked his chest. “Keep it safe, or I’ll be the one getting greedy by knocking the optimism back into ya.”

“Oh is that right? Haha, maybe try praying to me first, then I really know you must mean business!” He teases.

Veronica gave a playful shove. “Like I’d know how to start one? I think I’ll stick with the tough love approach.”

“Tough love huh?” Nick opened the front door. His eyes never left the girl as she walked in, seemingly content. Veronica eventually looked back at him and gave a head tilt.

She blinked, “What?”

“Nothing.” He chuckled. Nick was starting to think that just maybe, he understood Veronica’s choices and beliefs a little more than he used to. If he learned anything from tonight it was just how differently they saw the world around them. “Well I guess this is the end of our date. Didn’t go as planned but I’ll admit it, I really liked spending alone time with you.” He said, rubbing the back of his head.

Veronica couldn’t stop herself from letting out an anxious chuckle.“Hehehe, what’s with the sweet talk all of a sudden? Trying to butter me up?”

“No, just being honest with myself. A date should end as well as possible.” Nick stepped towards Veronica and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Eager to not let this moment linger, Nick swiftly left for Summer’s room to see if she was back. Without thinking about it tonight, Nick had left two girls red and speechless. One of them standing in the main hall with a smile growing wide; while the other watched the rain fall during a quiet ride home, frustrated and jaw clenched.

Nora took care to drive slowly. Getting home quickly would only mean Valerie would march to her room. Nora let out a sigh. “Whether it’s me or your father, one of us is gonna make you talk about this. So-”

“What’s there to talk about? I’m upset and he’s upset, because we want different things. So we’re taking a break. Simple as that.” Valerie leaned against the cold glass.

“And what is it exactly that you want?” Nora asked. She was given no answer. Not that she was expecting one. “I love you, but if you don’t know the answer yourself then how can you expect Nick to not upset you? Life is like any sport you play. Gotta know the rules if you wanna do well. Only way to figure that out is knowing yourself.”

“I know myself pretty well.” Valerie huffed.

“Really?” Nora dragged out. “So tell me, do you like Nick, romantically?”

“No.” She said instinctively.

If Val could see Nora’s face then she would’ve been upset that she was rolling her eyes, not believing her daughter. “Okay, but just so you know, taking a break is not what most friends say about another.”

Valerie’s eyes widened. She turned to her mother to see her focused on the road like she hadn’t said a word. Val went back to looking at the window. “Good to know.” Valerie controlled the urge to huff. Talking to Ren might’ve been less painful.

xxxx

Nick walked into Summer’s room to find it sisterless and a little cold. “Guess she’s not home yet.” He closed the door behind him as he went further in. Nick made sure to keep the light off but turned on the heater. A cold room was the last thing this night needed. His chill hadn’t kicked in all this time so Nick had no real reason to worry about Shiva, yet his nerves would feel better actually seeing Summer come home safely. Pulling up a chair to sit in may have been a bit much but he did it anyway. Overbearing or not, Shiva would never be a subject he’d take lightly. Not like he had in the past when he was younger, naive of the danger that thing had. He could his body ache at the thought of it. Pain fades and the body heals, but it also remembers. Not like he needed a reminder. Not when the memories rear their ugliness often in his dreams.

A scroll rang loudly, bringing Nick out of the dark thoughts. He reached in his pocket to see it was in fact Summer who was calling.He wasted no time answering. “Where are you? I thought you’d be back by now?”

“That didn’t sound like hello.” Summer grumbled. “Relax, I'm close by. I actually called to ask for a favor. You’re home right?”

“Yes?”

“Cool. Can you open my window?

Nick walked over to her window and opened it. In the distance he could spot his sister and Eliza outside the gate from the right side. “Done. What-”

“How’d you do that so fast? Were you already in my room!? You aren’t snooping are you!?” She yelled.

“Quiet before you get caught. No, I wasn’t snooping. Pretty sure whatever secrets this room holds is one that would scar me. Though I’m curious about your journal, wherever you hid this time. Perhap under your nightstand?”

“Do you really want to rummage around a young woman's nightstand?” Summer could hear her brother let out an overtop gagging noise. “Grow up.”

“Say it to my face. You better hurry before I decide to close this and watch you hit the glass like a pigeon.”

“Fine, ya baby.” Summer hung up. “Thanks for walking me home, as well as helping me stay dry.” She looked up to see the small dome of water floating over her from Eliza’s magic.

“Exactly what was the plan if I had said no or not shown up at all?”

“Glyphs aren’t just for platforming and dust ya know? Not that it matters. I knew I’d see you tonight.”

Eliza scoffed, “Tah! That confident in your predictions about your brother?”

“Well yes, but that’s not it. It’s not a secret you practice at the pier. It’s also terrible luck on your part you almost shot a captain with a bolt of lightning. One time.”

“W-What!? B-but how would-”

“Is it a Marigold thing to be attracted to my family like a magnet? That captain is my cousin. He says your aim could use work. Bye!” Summer made glyphs to trampoline over the gate and platform through the air and through her window.”

Eliza couldn’t believe it. Why was this her life!? It had to be a joke. Atlas or Mantle, you’re bound to be in Schnee territory. It would’ve been fine if she wasn’t practicing moves to fight one! Now she needed a new training spot. Who knows what they might now. “Damnit, now Nick’s offer is even more to my best interest!”

“Sup bro. How was your date?” The rock n’ roll twin kicked off her shoes and took the black wig off before falling backwards onto her bed.

“Well Valerie was at the front awhile ago.”

Summer sat up. “Okay, that’s not what I expected. Did I miss a fight? No wait, I’m pretty sure I’d hear Veronica scream bloody murder because there’s no way her dress would stay flaw-” her rambling was cut short when Nick suddenly sat beside her and fell on her lap. “Woah. Hey, are you still sick!?”

“No, just tired. The past week has been a little...draining. To be honest I don’t think I even have the energy to shower right now.”

“Well you probably smell better than me right now so I’m not complaining.”

“How was the rave?”

“Fun. Got Eliza to dance a little. The crowd worshipped my performance.” She chuckled.

“What did you sing?”

“Nothing special. A few Linkin Park songs; an experimental original. Oscar thought it would be a good idea to take a few of my journal entries and vent it out through music.”

“Hmm, anything you’ll share to your actual fan base, or me?”

Summer looked at her ceiling to let out a composed sigh. “I don’t think I’m quite ready, or the song for that matter. It and myself are...a work in progress. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just know your fans think you can’t do wrong and there’s no world where I won’t support you. Family and all that.”

“Love you too.” Summer patted his head. “Sorry if I’ve been causing you trouble. Well, more than usual. Tomorrow is a new day.”

“That’s the spirit. Push yourself but not too hard. That’s my territory. Speaking of which, I’ve been racking my brain with ideas. You can talk to Shiva in that headspace whenever you like right?” He felt her hand stop. Nick looked up to see Summer look apprehensive.

“I can...but it’s not a thing I look to do. Plus tonight has been good. I really don’t want that to-”

“Summer, do you trust me?”

Nick’s words were calm and real. Summer didn’t know what he had in mind. It wasn’t like Nick to invite danger. Her eyes looked to the floor to the orange glow of her heater. Like usual it appeared that her brother had already taken strides for her and everyone’s sake. Just how far would he go, ever making herself feel like she’s at a stand still? Maybe tomorrow could start today. Just a little bit.

“What’s this idea of yours?” She said cautiously.

“Nothing too crazy. You’re just gonna take a page out of Veronica’s playbook.”

xxxxx

You would think a person would know what goes on in their head. Unfortunately, that’s hardly ever the case. Summer never got a full understanding of what went on upstairs in her mind. Then again that would only make sense. She was in therapy after all. Though no amount of emotional talking could explain why her headspace imagery was inconsistent at times. A void of nothingness, her own room, those were the usual shapes that took place. However, this time she found herself back at the frozen lake. Going back and triggering an episode must’ve left a lasting impression. At least her trauma brought variety. The only separation from the real place was the ice ceiling and a distinct lack of cold nipping at her skin. Her psyche though, it was definitely feeling something.

She began walking through the white hell of her own making until she found her target, Shiva. The being was skating across the lake like how Summer once did. “Shiva.” Summer called out.

The woman of ice and snow looked over, surprised. She stopped right in the middle of the lake. “Well, well, well, come to properly thank me? You’d be in a grimm’s stomach by now if it wasn’t for me. You and that idiot girl. Tell me, is she in pain from our encounter?”

“I’m not here to thank you or chitchat.” Summer bluntly stated. “This is an in and out thing.”

“I’ll take that as a no then? Pity. I wouldn’t mind seeing her cry and despair. I bet her tears are uglier than yours. Though I'll say that this look you have going on isn’t gross. Honestly it helps to see you better in this place. You’re always so pale when you’re talking to me. Afraid I might hurt you?” A smirk spread across her face. “Oh I do hate you so.”

“Feeling is mutual. I came here to tell you that from this point on things are gonna change.”

“Pfft, heard that before. You’re all talk.”

“Am I?” Summer reached her hand out. Right before her eyes, the shape of a shovel formed. Hiding her surprise, she focused on Shiva’s own shock. “My mind, my rules. If I can subconsciously make this hell then I can shape it to an extent. Summer tossed the shovel at Shiva for her to catch. “Keep that safe for me.” Summer’s body began to slowly fade from this space.

“And what exactly is this for?”

“Your grave. Feel free to dig it yourself.” Her final words before disappearing completely while witnessing a smug smirk vanish before her eyes. Right as she faded, Summer could hear one last remark.

“We’ll see who buries who.”

Summer opened her eyes to find herself back in her room. Good, she hadn’t moved an inch. “Well I’ve thoroughly pissed her off, but it actually felt good to be the one harassing her. Thank Ni- huh?” Summer failed to realize she’s been talking to herself. Nick was fast asleep already! “Unbelievable. What if I would’ve messed up?”

“Zzzzzz.”

“Quite the convincing answer.” Summer returned to rubbing his head. He felt a little warm but nothing serious. Taking breaks needed to be at the top of his list from now on. Only way that would happen is if things weren’t hectic. It was time to step up. “I’ll do right by you. I promise. Just...give me a little more time.”

Her eyes became heavy. It appears the day’s events weighed on her more than she realized. Both twins fell into slumber there for the entire night, finally getting some rest.

[hallowed-be-thy-username]

And here we are with part 2, the second half of @jokersqueenofchaos’s request with her OC Eliza!!

You know I love me some sexual tension so I let that beast run wild! I really enjoyed the challenge of writing with your OC, lovely, and I’m so damn excited to post the ending 💓💓 Eliza is amazing and I’m still so honored to have written her for you!

It’s written again with plain text set in the present and italics as a flashback

Here is a link for part 1

Thank you again, dear!!

Ledger Joker x original female character, Ledger Joker x Eliza

Word count: 3,069

Warnings: some serious sexual tension, allusion to murder, allusion to sex, spicyy

Green Hair and a Red Smile, part 2

After turning the handle on the faucet, Eliza held her hand beneath the stream of water until it felt warm. It was strange, thinking back on it now. She spent so much time on her own, never even interested in anything but that. Why should she allow herself to be trapped in a cubicle, working nine to five, moving along with the rest of the flock only to be effectively slaughtered once her utility had run out? But this was obviously different. There was another path. The path further off the beaten path.

Her fingers plucked the elastic from her hair to let it fall down to her shoulders before ducking her head underneath the water, wisps of blue starting to swirl down the drain. She cupped water in her hands to let it run down the back of her head and little trails of warm water saturated the collar of her t-shirt. For the first time in a long time, she felt drawn to someone and since that day, she’s never looked back.

--

The feeling she’d been carrying in her stomach all day twisted into an even tighter knot as the sun hung low toward the horizon. It was almost time. Eliza was walking the streets along the Narrows, only a block away from the address Joker had given her. She asked herself, what are you doing here? There wasn’t a real answer to that, not yet. She was there to find out.

Cars were left to fall further into disrepair along the side of the road and most of the building’s windows had their glass broken. Naturally, the area appeared deserted, leaving plenty of opportunity for Gotham’s most cunning citizens to do what they did best. She peeked over her shoulder before crossing the street and continuing around a corner. The place was in front of her now, 228 W Holt. The brick building had five stories and the faded letters above the front entrance read, ‘Gotham Steel Works’. She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry, before cautiously approaching the door to tug on the handle.

It was locked. Her blood felt like ice as she questioned whether she had the right address, whether this was a set up and she’d made a big mistake. She tugged on the handle once more before cursing under her breath, feeling as though she was on the verge of panic. Then she turned around and was startled to see someone suddenly standing behind her.

“You Eliza?” the young man asked.

Eliza tried not to appear as frazzled as she was and nodded her head, brushing her hair out of her face.

“Follow me.”

He quickly turned and headed down the adjacent alley, not even looking back to see if she was keeping up with his long strides. She moved fast to keep from falling behind as he rounded the corner to the back of the building. There were two more men waiting there, both much larger than the one she followed. She slowed down and eyed both of them while they watched her continue to follow the younger man to a back door off of a loading dock. Her hand slid into her pocket to hold onto her knife until the door closed behind her. It was dark and there was no time for her eyes to adjust before Eliza heard another door open. She squinted in the darkness and saw the man go up a flight of stairs. Almost tripping over a pile of rubble, she managed to catch up before he reached the top.

Her heart leapt into her throat when she saw him. He looked back at her over his shoulder, his gaze on her before she could even blink. He turned around to face her, his expression didn’t change but she saw something in his eyes. The room encompassing that entire floor was lined by huge windows. Dim golden light from the setting sun outside streamed through the cracked panes of glass to cast shadows on the floor. Rows of large columns supported the high ceiling of the decaying room, a cluttered old desk sitting alone in the center with two chairs on either side.

“Ahh ya made it,” Joker purred, his mouth pulling into a grin. “Let’s begin, hm?”

Her eyes widened and she sucked in a breath at the sound of his voice before nodding at him, her eyes never leaving his face. A feeling that she shouldn’t be there twisted her insides more as she watched Joker wave the young man away and he headed back down the stairs. They were alone. But this wasn’t the first time they’d been alone. Her rationality continued it’s battle with her overwhelming need to be caught in that clown’s gaze as he beckoned her toward the desk.

Her feet moved all on their own, taking careful steps toward the desk. Her cheeks were already burning when she felt his eyes on her as she walked. This implicit, albeit ill-advised, trust she had in him kept hanging on and wouldn’t let go. Was it actually trust or just blind devotion? But if he was going to hurt her he would have done it by now, right?

She remained in her trance as she lowered herself onto one of the chairs while he removed his coat and gloves. He met her gaze as he sat opposite to her at the desk, kicking his feet up to rest his heels with his ankles cross on its ledge. Her gaze flickered over his face, over his scars, but not for too long. Not long enough to appear that they disturbed her, but rather that maybe they interested her. He took the opportunity to study her demeanor. Still and calm yet trembling with some contrasting force that clawed at her psyche, begging her to turn and run but ultimately falling silent in the depths of her mind. What was he going to do with her? Let her follow him around like a lost puppy? Then what? Perhaps she could prove useful. His mind cooked up a few scenarios until he pondered a phony hostage setup… like a fishing lure. Bait for a giant bat.

He blinked away his drifting thoughts and stated in a very forward manner, “Let’s set some, uh, ground rules, shall we? Number one, no squealin’, I’ll know if you squeal. Number two don’t touch any-thing you see layin’ around. And number threee, stop starin’ at me,” tapping a finger on one hand with each statement. Then a small smirk pulled at his mouth while he blinked back at her as she gradually understood his words.

Eliza’s cheeks burned even hotter and she quickly averted her gaze to the floor. It was so hard to tell whether he was serious or if he was trying to trick her. Did it matter?

“I, uh… I didn’t mean to stare.”

“Mm, ‘course ya didn’t.”

A tingle crawled its way into her belly and her eyes quickly shifted back to his face. Then the words came from her mouth before she could stop them.

“No… I did.”

Her words reached his ears and his eyes remained fixed on her with brows raised as her mouth opened, possibly in an effort to recant her statement, but she remained silent. No one liked looking at him. His face startled and terrified. Why would anyone enjoy looking at it? Perhaps she’s a masochist.

The corner of his mouth twitched at his own joke.

What to do? Perhaps she’s trying to toy with him. She’d taken this little interaction to the next level and Joker was not one to play second fiddle when it comes to controlling a conversation.

“Well rules were, uh, ma-de to be broken, Elizaaa” he rumbled in a deep voice, lacing his fingers together over his lap. “How would you describe what you see then, hm?”

She tried to but she couldn’t understand what had just happened in such a short amount of time. He hadn’t even said anything about this so-called job and here she was admitting that she’d been staring at him. Then the tingle she felt, that knot in her stomach, suddenly made her uncomfortably and intensely aware of something. She was attracted to him. It was unmistakable. Heat rose up until it was over the top of her head. How did she not see it before?

He waited for her answer, watching the flame grow behind her eyes. This wasn’t originally a trap he had planned to set, but it would serve its purpose none the less. She stared at him, as he expected she would. Perhaps searching for the right word to utter. Crazy, diabolical, troubling, ruined, disturbing, unsettling. Terrifying.

“You’re…  handsome,” she answered, her voice threatening to crack. Her nerves were standing on end. She came here to follow that feeling she got when he looked at her like that, now she wanted more, and she couldn’t stop herself.

Joker started to chuckle, a wide grin stretching over his face. She must be joking, trying to beat him at his own game. That, she was not going to succeed at. But then there were her eyes. Her eyes said otherwise. Behind her tentative expression he could see a looming excitement, bubbling just beneath the surface, tickling at her insides.

Handsome.

Compliments wouldn’t get her anywhere, but she did capture his attention. Handsome is not a word he’d use to describe himself. Not a word anyone else would use, for that matter. He smirked as he stared her down with intensity, studying her. He wondered what else was going on in that muddled mind of hers, clawing at her from the inside, begging to be set free. The buzz of building anticipation emanating from her was contagious. He found himself wanting her to keep talking. He dropped his heels from the table and leaned across it toward her, bringing his face within a foot of hers.

“Well, Elizaaa. If I’m, uh, handsome, how would you describe these scars?” he said before running his tongue along his lower lip and tilting his head, keeping her in his gaze.

Her heart continued to pound mercilessly against her ribs as her eyes darted to his mouth. Her thoughts were becoming more and more warped together, blurring where her fear ended, and her arousal began. It was so new, so strange, so alluring.

Her thoughts drifted from her subconscious, straight out through her mouth, her voice distant and dream-like. “They look like… like they’re rough. But, soft. Maybe they’re soft.”

Her words carried such a typical civility for such an atypical meeting. They dared each other to toe that line between normalcy and that dark place below it, waiting to see who falls over the edge first. Joker couldn’t deny that this excited him. It was egging him on to push her closer. But something was holding him back, keeping him on that ledge with her.

Eliza’s eyes never left his mouth, unblinking and focused while her gaze remained somehow so distant. Her own lips parted as she lifted her hand from the table and cautiously brought toward to his face. Then her trembling fingertips brushed lightly over the dented skin.

He flinched. He wanted to smack her hands away, grab her thin little wrists and slam them down on the table. But he couldn’t. He willed himself to move but kept still, his jaw tensing as he focused his fiery stare on her pensive face, her eyelids heavy, her lips flushed and rosy. Something stirred inside him. He hated to admit it, but a lack of intimate contact had been grating away at him. That human need. He hated it. Her proximity only reminded him of that need. That eternal itch, begging to be scratched.

She was no longer in control of her actions. Caution was far behind her and she’d entered a state of mind that offered no rationality. She leaned in further, her gaze unfaltering. Her other hand had joined in the perilous exploration of his face, fingers grazing closer to his lips as his tongue slipped out of his mouth to lick them. Her rapid huffs of breath washed over his face, intensifying the tension that hung thickly between them.

The damaged nerve endings conducted their erratic signals, the haphazardly healed tissue trying desperately to function as it once did. Her soft touch sent goosebumps roiling down his back. Her touch felt… good. Fingertips so timid and light, it made his stomach flutter maddeningly and his breath heavy. That inner need to be touched mercilessly devoured the feeling.

Joker felt himself losing control. He didn’t like that. He wanted to be angry. But anger is what was expected, even from himself, and he took pride in opting for the unexpected. Spontaneity gave him power.

He slowly reached his hands up to hold either side of her face, their noses now inches apart. His voice came out like gravel.

“You want to know what they feel like?”

Eliza’s throat went dry and her chest squeezed against the sharp breath she tried to take, stunned by his question. It ran through her head, searching for her response, but none could be found.

Electricity ran across her skin and the warmth in her belly fluttered into her chest when his fingertips suddenly grazed her heated cheeks. Joker couldn’t remember the last time his hands had touched someone without the intention of causing harm, leaving stains of red behind. But he hadn’t forgotten how. As he held her face, her hands found his neck, heat radiating from beneath his collar as her fingers continued their torturous caress across his skin. I was maddening, how much he liked it. His breath quickened but his expression remained like stone as he fought with his innermost desires. He fought his need to feel her, more of her. Let go, push her away.

Then her nose made the slightest contact with his, her eyes burning him as his insides boiled, rising higher into his chest.

This little contest he’d instigated had reached a breaking point, now trapping them both in a web of their own magnetism, growing stronger with each second they spent with such a slight distance between them. A need to take her for himself rang in his ears. You’re mine.

Closer still. She leaned in closer and nodded, giving him wordless affirmation, permission. Her breath on his lips beckoned him.

Impulse, a sudden strong and unreflective urge or desire to act.

He reached his fingers into her hair before pulling her forward, crashing his lips into hers. The overwhelming sensation of plump flesh on flesh flooded his senses as he devoured her, tangling his mouth with hers with unrestrained passion as if he was going to swallow her whole. The taste of her lips, her tongue, it was intoxicating. It reached down to his bones and held on tight. This was self-indulgence to its highest degree. He let it take him over, his senses swirling with endorphins he so often deprived himself of. His belly was winding tighter and tighter with that desire he knew too well, his body begging for release. So many times, he’d ignored it, or quickly provided it some feeble source of friction it so desperately called for, in an effort to make it disappear. But it always came back. A hollow and wanting thirst that was never quenched.

She kissed him back. Her mouth eagerly accepted his and allowed him to consume her with dizzying fervor as she desperately gripped his collar. Eliza’s blood ran hotter than it ever had before. It sparked and rushed through her veins, plunging her deep below the surface of the deep, dark desire that now enveloped her. More. She wanted more.

The flames threatening to consume them both reached fever pitch, Joker’s control over his own actions quickly turning to ash.

The he pulled back, the rising heat in his core coming to a halt just below boiling point. He huffed as his heart continued to pound, his eyes flickering over her face, looking for any clues in her expression. Her heavy lids reflected some concentration or inquisitiveness as she stared back at him, her jaw just slightly dropped and posture as if she’d just been doused in cold water.

There wasn’t any fear there, no. It felt as though she’d lost her mind. She’d lost her mind and it was supposed to be that way. An assiduousness took over her features before she leaned back in, her own lips finding his in reciprocation. He stiffened at the tenderness in her kiss, his determination to steel himself hanging on by a thread. But the slow, provocative dance of her mouth against his plucked at that thread, keeping him there, tangling his fingers in her hair.

She could feel them, his scars. They caressed her cheeks and glided over her lips when he kissed her. Rough. Soft.

--

Tossing her freshly dyed hair over her shoulders, Eliza watched herself in the mirror again. That night changed her. She never needed anyone but being with him felt like belonging. The twitching of his mouth, his piercing glances, they stirred something in her that made everything else feel so dull. There was no going back. She’d been captured by the inexplicable charm that blinded her to everything else she once knew. But it didn’t feel like a loss. The world would move on with or without her. It always did. Now she’d move on without it.

The day after Pandora’s box opened, the day after that beast called lust ran free, he licked her kiss off of his lips as she lowered the black plastic bag over his head. Only an hour after her thumb hit the call button. After she told the deep voice on the other end, the one she knew wouldn’t be able to speak for much longer, “I have your clown.”

Her smile grew at the reflection in the mirror as his paint-stained hands slid around her waist, their grip warm and firm. He held her against his chest, his face alongside hers as he lifted a hand from her waist to twist one of her bright blue locks around his finger.

“Mm so this is what you’ve been up to, hm?”

Eliza let her head fall back against Joker’s chest and she answered, “I can do yours next.”

Taglist @youmaycallmebrian @heavymetalnarwhal @neverputsaltinyoureyes @jokersqueenofchaos @into-crazy @killingjokee @astheworlddturns @jslittlebirdie @drreidsconverse @vipervixxen

[officialsimppage]

Pragma-DSMP! Wilbur x OC

Chapter 1- Masterlist

War. Violence. Bloodshed. That’s all that was happening at the time. No more peace and flower picking, only violence. Wilbur, Tommy, Tubbo, Fundy, Eret, and Me have just one our first battle since Dream declared War on us. We were at Tommy’s house because that’s where Dream requested to talk. They then started to rain fire on us with their burning arrows. They showed no mercy. They just kept firing and firing at us. Yes I understand this is war but, there were children. Tommy, Tubbo, and Fundy are children. Really shows us where their morales are. They then retreated away when we were shooting at them from Tommy’s house. We then started to march back to L’manberg. 

“Are you ok Tommy? Tubbo how about you?” I say walking to where they were. 

“We're doing alright,” Tubbo says, wiping blood off his face. 

“I'm fine woman. Have you seen me? Im strong.” Tommy says, flexing his arms. 

“You guys are cut, your clothes are torn, my god. When we get back in the walls and are safe I am going to clean you guys up. I don't want you to get sick.” I say, inspecting them. 

“Thank you Eliza, you don't have too though.” Tubbo says smiling at me. 

“Of course I do. I gotta make sure you guys are safe and healthy. You’re my responsibility.” I say, cradling Tubbos face in my hand. “You too Tommy.” I say, ruffling his blonde hair. “Ok I’ll leave you guys be now.” I whisper, starting to walk back to where I was walking with Wilbur. 

“How are you feeling Liza?” Wilbur says to me whilst we are walking to L’Manberg. “Eh, pretty good for being shot at.” I reciprocate, flashing a smile at him. 

“That’s good to hear love.” he says, calling me his favorite pet name. Love. It always made butterflies in my stomach. No matter how many times he has called me it.

Once we were in the walls, Tubbo and Tommy started climbing the tower to shoot at Sapnap, Dream, and George. Once they had hit them a couple times and Dream realized he can't hit us, they retreated. 

“Yes Liza we did it!” Wilbur says grabbing my face gently in his hands. “We have won our second battle for our great nation!” He says, gesturing to L’Manberg. He then pulls me up for a gentle and passionate kiss. One that says, were ok. We’re going to be fine. We are then interrupted by Eret’s deep voice. 

“Follow me men, I have something to show you.” He then leads us to a small hill. He starts digging into the dirt a little until we are faced with a dark tunnel. 

“What is this?” I say running my hands over the stone walls while we walk. 

“Oh you’ll see.” Eret says, voice echoing through the tunnel. We walk a little farther until we are met with a dark room. A sign on the outside reads, ‘Final Control Room’. There are chests lining the walls with all of our names. Each of us walks to our designated chest. I walk over and find mine on the back wall. I give Wilbur a glance raising my eyebrows basically saying ‘what in the world is this?’ He then gives me a shrug and continues to open his chest. I then look down and open mine. ‘What?’ I think to myself. These are empty. 

“Eret these are empty,” I say, turning around, only to be met with Sapnap, George, and Dream jumping down and attacking us. 

“Wilbur!” I shout getting his attention. Sapnap then starts to attack everyone. First they hit Fundy, Tubbo, and Tommy. 

“Boys!” I shout running to where they were. They were hurt, badly. “Run!” I say but it was too late. They were killed by George and Dream. The children were killed by George and Dream. “You motherfuckers!” I scream at the top of my lungs while swinging my sword at them. I put up a good fight, as best as I could. I then look over at Wilbur. Right as I make eye contact with him, Sapnap shoves his sword into Wilburs chest. “No, no, no, NO!” I yell trying to get to Wilbur. Then as I take my first step I feel Dreams' sword go through my abdomen. I collapse onto my knees in pain and take in the scene. Blood everywhere, Fundy, Tommy, and Tubbo have disappeared, probably respawned. Only Wilbur’s body was left. I watch as Dream, Sapnap, and George walk out of the room. Eret following them. The final thing I hear before I close my eyes is, 

“Down with the revolution boys, it was never meant to be.”

“Wilbur!” I yell to my lover. Running towards him in the flower field we were in. 

“Yes, love?” he asks, turning around to face me. Fondling and picking at a dandelion. 

“Would you like to go ride horses with me?” I say now in front of him. I sway a little on the uneven ground, gripping his forearm.

“Well darling, that sounds wonderful.” He says taking my arm, twirling me around. He then dips me down and puts the dandelion in my hair. He then pulls me up and says, “Let’s go get some horses and go!” We walk over to where there are horses in a pen. 

“I call the white one!” I call to him, grabbing the reins of the white horse. He then chuckles and looks down at the floor. 

“You can have whichever horse you want hun.” He says, hopping onto a black horse. “Are you ready?” he asks, taking the horse out of the pen and pausing. 

“Why yes I am.” I respond with a smile. We laugh a little and start to ride around. We go towards a spruce forest, wind blowing through our hair. Smelling the sweet berries around us, and feeling the warm sun on our backs. 

“Liza, look it's your favorite flower!” Wilbur says pointing down to a lily of the valley. 

“It is!” I say happily. Wilbur then hops off of his horse to pick it. He then walks to where I am on my horse and says, 

“For my lady,” Handing me the flower. When I reach down to take the flower he pulls my hand to his lips and lays a gentle kiss. “I love you.” he says looking up at me. 

“I love you too.” I replied, taking the flower and putting it in a basket I brought with me. 

First, all I hear is voices. Many voices alike chattering and shouting. The most prominent one I hear is Wilburs. 

“What the fuck was that!” He shouts “And what the hell happened to Liza? Did she die? Cause if she did I shall never forgive that goddamn son of a bitch Eret.” After he says that, I come to my senses. I wake up just outside of the walls. I then sneak my way through them without being seen by Sapnap, Punz, or Dream. Once I am in the field and in the clear I start running towards the van. 

“Wilbur! Wilbur!” I start shouting, running even faster. Through the windows I see Wilbur look out to me. He then runs out the door and sprints towards me. Once I get close I then jump into his arms. He picks me up and I nuzzle my head into his neck. 

“Are you alright? Who hurt you?” He asks over and over, brushing his hands through my hair. 

“I- I’m fine.” I say, heart pounding. Relieved just to be back in his arms. “D-Dream killed me.” I say tears pricking my eyes. “Why, why did Eret do that?” I question Wilbur, pulling back to look into his eyes.

“ I don’t know why he did that or what was going through his head when it happened but all that matters is that all of us are alive.” He says putting his hand up to my face. “Let's go up and discuss with the other what we're going to do ok?” He says, putting me down. I then nod my head and take his hand and head over to the van where everyone is. When I walk in I see Tommy, Tubbo, and Fundy all standing around the table in the middle of the room. 

“Oh thank god you boys are ok.” I say walking up to them, giving each of them tight squeezes. 

“Were ok Liza, were ok.” Fundy whispers in my ear when I give him a hug. When I pull back I give him an encouraging smile and pat his shoulder. 

“I can’t believe he did that.” Wilbur says, pacing the floor. “We have a traitor's name on our damn Declaration of Independance.” He says, throwing his hands in the air. “I need to speak to Dream'' Wilbur utters into his hand that was clenched into a fist. 

“No that is not happening.” I say walking over to face him. “You are not speaking to Dream. Not after what just happened.” I say sternly, staring deeply into his hazel eyes. 

“Liza, I have to for this nation, for our independence!” He shouts. “Do you want L’Manberg or not.” He says, bending down so he is eye level with me. 

“Yes.” I say staring at him again. “Fine go discuss with Dream but please,” I say grabbing his arm before he leaves. “Please be safe. I love you.” I say to him. 

“I love you too.” He responds. He then walks out of the van and runs to an opening in the walls to go and find Dream to speak to him. 

[dontasktheradiodemon]

❌ OKAY, we got distracted during the intermission—wild animal got in, don’t worry about it, hotel’s fine—but we finally got through the whole show. So, here it is, by popular request, after like FOUR MONTHS of trying to track down this show:

🎵 Alastor gives his opinion on Hamilton 🎵

❌ So I didn’t type out EVERY ONE of Alastor’s reactions, since half of them were just humming along whenever a song used a motif from an earlier song or laughing at the jokes. A lot of the songs I didn’t type anything for. Message him if you’re desperate to know how he feels about your fave. Or if you want to listen to him ramble more about one of the songs, I’m SURE he has more to say, this is just as much as he could squeeze out around, y’know, actually watching the show. But I’m not typing more for him, I’ve done my duty.

❌ He says his favorites were “Helpless,” “Wait For It,” “History Has Its Eyes on You,” “What’d I Miss,” “Room Where It Happens,” “Burn,” “Your Obedient Servant,” and “every single time Lafayette opens his mouth.”

“Alexander Hamilton”

🎶 “There’s not a lot of singing in this song, is there? It’s more like poetry.”

❌ And right after that they switched from rapping to singing, lol. He didn’t say much past that, though—he went quiet pretty quick. Trying to keep up with the lyrics probably. (I’m already missing lines. I don’t care, I’m gonna watch it again with Charlie.)

“Aaron Burr, Sir”

🎶 “Oh, that’s French!”

🎶 “Now, I could be mistaken, but I’m fairly certain that all these gentlemen were white. This is an improvement!”

“The Schuyler Sisters”

❌ He raised an imaginary glass to the first couple lines of the song. I mean he’s not wrong.

🎶 “So does the entire show consist of patter songs? Interesting.”

❌ I had to look it up, a patter song is basically a tongue-twister song with really fast lyrics. They happen in comedy operas and stuff. I think he’s talking about the rap. I think he thinks that rap is just a kind of patter song.

🎶 “I bet this played well in New York.

“Farmer Refuted”

🎶 “This is one of the songs that got recommended to me. I don’t know why. The earlier songs were much more intriguing. This one’s clever enough, but not a stand-out.

“You’ll Be Back”

❌ We got an ask about this one so I elbowed him to pay attention. I probably didn’t need to, he spent half of it laughing.

🎶 “Oh, would you... just—look at that complete lack of dancing. He’s a wax statue. Look at him.”

❌ I said “I love his lack of energy. Go king, give us nothing,” and Alastor slid off the couch laughing, so none of you are allowed to tell him I quoted a meme.

“Right Hand Man”

🎶 “I wish they’d sing more rather than just recite. And I’m not a fan of all the... synthetic beatboxing.”

❌ I think he means the hip hop beats. How does he know what beatboxing is but not hip hop?

🎶 “Oh! ‘Modern Major General’ reference!”

“Helpless”

❌ He spent most of this one sorta bopping along. I think this might be the first song he’s genuinely had fun with. The king being energyless aside.

🎶 “Do you think they have a real electric organ hidden somewhere, or is prerecorded? No, wait, I think live musicians are still legally mandatory at Broadway show, aren’t they?”

❌ I didn’t even hear the organ. Does Broadway really have a law about live music??

“Satisfied”

🎶 “All right. I’m sold.”

“Guns and Ships”

🎶 “This is another of the ones I was sent. It flows better now, hearing it after all the other songs in the same style. Good Lord, he really is fast, isn’t he!”

“Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”

❌ I sorta cheered at the line about immigrants and Alastor laughed at me.

🎶 “More battle scenes need to be danced.”

“Dear Theodosia”

🎶 “The war’s already over? Goodness, this show is moving fast.”

“Non-Stop”

🎶 “This is another one I was sent. I think there’s one more?”

🎶 “Too beatbox-y.”

🎶 “The turning stage is clever! That’s fine staging.”

🎶 “When I first heard this one I thought it was a bit disjointed, I suspected it was reusing themes from earlier in the show. I was right! And I was right that it was the act one finale! Do I know Broadway or do I know Broadway?”

❌ (And during intermission Alastor went to get a snack and that’s when the wild animal got in and distracted us for two hours. ... In retrospect, maybe the animal was supposed to be his snack.)

“What'd I Miss?”

🎶 “This! This is my favorite song so far!”

🎶 “And my favorite coat so far! Look at him!”

❌ Context: Jefferson is wearing a long red coat. Surprise.

🎶 “Listen to this! This is fun! This is jazzy! I even hear a walking bass in there!” (I have no idea what that means.) “Oh, I hope this fellow sticks around! Jefferson buys Louisiana, he’s got to be important to the show, right? They’ll keep him arou—Hold everything, is that Lafayette?!”

❌ I looked it up. Yep, Jefferson is the same performer as Lafayette.

🎶 “When tryouts open in Hell, I’m calling dibs on playing him.”

“Cabinet Battle #1”

🎶 “Never mind, I’m not playing him. That's not my performing style. I can’t do that.”

“Say No to This”

🎶 “Can't relate!”

“Room Where It Happens”

🎶 “This is the last song I was sent.”

🎶 “I don’t even remember this fellow from history. Do you remember him? I’d have forgotten his name by now if Hamilton didn’t keep calling him Burr, Sir.”

🎶 “This one’s fantastic when he gets into it. It still reminds me of ‘Heaven on Their Minds’—one of the good versions, the shouty ones—do you hear what I mean?”

❌ I do not hear what he means. I do not know what he’s talking about.

🎶 “There’s quite a bit going on in this one, isn’t there! Oh, you can hear Jefferson crawling all over this song. I enjoy the Hell out of his sound. All the banjo and ragtime and spirituals and jazz—old school jazz, too, the real stuff—God, this is a good one! I’ll have to listen to the whole show again to pick out the other characters’ musical motifs, Jefferson’s style is easy to pick out because—hah, well, it’s practically the same as my style, isn’t it?”

❌ He kept talking about “Room Where It Happens” halfway into the next song.

“Cabinet Battle #2”

🎶 “Hm... no. No, definitely not my performing style. It's less a patter song and more... spoken word poetry. Isn’t it?”

“Washington On Your Side”

🎶 “... But it COULD be done as a patter song, couldn't it? I could MAKE it my performing style...”

“I Know Him”

🎶 “Bless these lifeless interludes from King George."

"The Adams Administration"

🎶 “Creole WHAT?! Excuse me?! Oh, that better not be a historical quote. Did he go to Hell, is he in Hell?”

❌ If the answer is “yes,” I’m pretty sure Alastor is lowkey planning to hunt him down and spit in his face. Or eat him? IDK, hard to guess with him.

"Burn"

🎶 "This is one of the more Broadway ones, I like this."

“It's Quiet Uptown”

🎶 “Oh, this won't play well in Hell.”

“Your Obedient Servant”

🎶 “Why, when the singing is good, is the background music so annoying?”

❌ It took him like a minute to decide:

🎶 “It's the drum kit.”

❌ He says that, but he’s drumming his fingers in time to the song.

“Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”

🎶 “They really gave Eliza the best parts, didn’t they?”

❌ Aaand that’s it, we’re done!

❌ But he’s got that “I want to keep talking and Lucifer himself couldn’t shut me up” look he gets sometimes, so uh, feel free to ask him follow-up questions and spare me from having to fend off his chatter.

[meowdymista]

vi. ditmas & devil’s backbone

Part of the Devil’s Backbone project - Masterlist - redrafted on ao3

Notes: as I mentioned, this whole project began because I didn’t like how unhealthy Abigail and John’s relationship is in RDR2. There is a second unhealthy relationship I feel isn’t dealt with in game... I like slapping people in the face with the truth and this bitch really needed a wake up call

BTW, I should mention that whilst I do not expect any takers, if there is something else you want to see in this project, I’m open to requests :)

**

There’s whispering behind the door. Arthur makes a harsh remark-

“He’s not my son.” More murmuring. “It don’t matter - he ain’t mine.

“Naw, you had your chance, Mary. Quit it - you were married, you could’ve had children. Don’t pretend like you didn’t for my sake.” A pause. “Why? ‘Cause the way you left me was that it was the end. Either you’re lyin’ right now or you were playin’ me.” Another silence. “You can’t honestly think I waited. I’ve had a son, Mary. Isaac was born and buried whilst you was off pretendin’ I didn’t exist. No, o’course I didn’t love her the way I loved you, but you didn’t exactly give me a choice-

“You have to be kiddin’ me right now - you were married. You went and married someone else - what did you think I was gonna do? Wait? For what?

“He ain’t my son!” he bellows. “Even if he was, you think I’m gonna take him from his mother? Where’ve you been all this time? I can’t believe you’re askin’ me this.

“Well, you was wrong.” A silence spreads, thick and unforgiving. “Even if Jack were mine, Abigail’s alive and well - you ain’t gonna be his mother. You can’t come in and cherry pick the boy because it suits whatever damn fancy has taken you."

A sob breaks through, but Arthur is firm. “I ain’t goin’ to be that man, Mary. I’ve spent my life loving you, but if you think I’ll take a boy from his mother for us, then we ain’t ever going to work. He had a father, an’ he was as good for him as we are for each other. I ain’t shiftin’.”

“If you cared-!”

“If you gave a damn, we wouldn’t be in this mess! I could understand if you had been there for him, but you were elsewhere when this boy was born. I ain’t even entertainin’ the idea, Mary. I ain’t.” 

“You would give us up?”

“With you bein’ so unreasonable?" He heaves a heavy sigh. "This ranch belongs to Abigail and Jack. Jack belongs to Abigail. You wanted us to run, but now we don’t gotta - say the word and we can walk outta here. I ain’t a fool - I know the law’s gonna come for me one day, but if it’s tomorrow or ten years from now, I’m willin’ to give you everything to my dyin’ day. I will give you every last breath in my body, but I won’t uproot their lives for you. They’ve been through too much.”

She mumbles something about wanting to be a mother.

“Is that it? There’s kids out there tha’ need a home still - orphans and the like. We can take one in-”

She must roll her eyes because his tone lowers, teetering dangerously.

“You’re forgettin’ I was one of ‘em. If it weren’t for Dutch and Hosea-” The roar rips through the thin walls. “They were better to me than my own father! They would have taken you in as well, despite your spoiled attitude but of course Daddy didn’t like me-”

“Daddy is dead!”

“And so is Hosea!” There’s a thump. “So is my mother and father, but you don’t see me cryin’ about it! Naw, you come in here and want to make another boy an orphan, take him from his mother so you can play house!”

“I want a family for us, Arthur!”

“Then why did you wait ‘til you promised your hand to another man?” A pause. “Yeah, I know about it. I knew ‘bout your daddy too. I’ve made enough excuses for you over the years, Mary Gillis, but I still had faith.” A bitter scoff. “I’m a fool when it comes to faith. I put it in all the wrong places, and when it comes down to it, it’s worthless. Ain’t worth a penny.”

“Arthur, you need to rest. You’re getting yourself all worked up over nothing-”

“Ain’t nothin’, Mary.” They must be looking each other in the eye, speaking silently. “I spent years tryin’ to get where I am, and I’m still not good enough. I could be the king of England and you would find fault in me. I give up.”

“Arthur-!”

“I give up, Mary. I- I give up.” The bed creaks as he lowers his weight, his face burying itself into his hands. “I hate how much I loved you. I’m still the man you met all them years ago and… I can’t pretend I’m somethin’ I’m not. Not anymore. If you really loved me, you wouldn’t have so many excuses up your sleeve."

"Arthur-"

"You were the only one. You were the only one for so long and I’ve lost so much waitin’. I’m startin’ to wonder if you would ever looked twice without money in my pocket.”

“Arthur, please-”

“No, Mary.” His voice is low, barely more than a whisper. "I'm too old. We're too old to keep messin' like this."

"I'll leave him!"

"Naw, you won't." He sniffs loudly. "An' you shouldn't. You've had me for a fool for many a year an'- an' losin' you… losing you weren't even the worst part. Hosea... Isaac… Lenny, Sean, Eliza! Hell, watchin' Dutch lose his head? Tryna pick up the pieces after we lost Marston? All of tha' still hurts a lot more than you choosing your daddy over me. It hurt more then and it hurts more now!"

"Arthur, please! Don't say what you can't take back!"

"Why not? After everything you put me through, why is me tellin' you the truth of the situation too much?"

"Because I know you don't mean it!"

"Oh, but I do mean it, Mrs Linton. I do." A prolonged silence is broken only by the woman's sobs. She must try to move closer because Arthur breathes out heavily. "Naw, that ain't a good idea. I… I'll fetch Ms Roberts. She can help you clean up an'- an' get ready for your journey."

Abigail barely scrambles away from the doorway in time before it is wrenched open, a sobbing Mary Linton reaching for him. "Arthur!"

"Mary! I can't keep doing this! I can't!" The door closed again, muddling the sound. Abigail creeps forward, peeking through the gap of the door.

He is kneeling with her on the floor, cradling her face in his hands as her fingers brush his leg.

"I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that your image was going to be burned on the inside of my eyelids. I've thought about you every minute of every day since that moment, and I know it ain't gonna just go away. But we-" He lifts her hand and holds it against his chest, pressing her palm against his ribs to feel his heart. "We ain't gonna make it. We was never gonna make it."

"Arthur-!"

"It doesn't matter whether I got dragged to Guarma. We was over years ago. I… I can't trust you to love me the way you say you will after what happened with your daddy. I can't."

"But Daddy-!"

"I know, Mary. I know, but my life here with Abigail and Jack? That's what's keepin' me goin' now. Every time I hold you I can feel myself gettin' angry at all the lost time, an' it ain't worth it no more. You will always mean everything to me but what we had is in the past now. I can't keep playing this game. I won't."

*

He seems surprised to find her so nearby and clears his throat, obviously uncomfortable at the thought of being overheard. "Would you mind helping Mrs Linton? She's going to be leaving us tomorrow an' well…"

He trails off with a sigh. His bloodshot eyes are all the more blue as he stares into the embers of the fireplace.

"Of course, Arthur." She touches her fingertips to his arm in condolence and is surprised when he clasps her hand, eyes still staring blankly.

"I'm gonna go for a ride with Gwyn. Think you'll be alrigh'?"

Her breath catches as he meets her gaze. "Of course. Take as long as you need."

He nods, patting her hand as he turns his head back to the fading light of the logs. Abigail stands up straighter and retraces his steps into Jack's bedroom.

The usually so gracious woman is crumpled on the floor sobbing into the mattress. As Abigail steps forward to help her up, the door slams shut, causing her to flinch and sob all the harder.

"C'mon now, let's get you sorted."

She resists Abigail's tug, wiping her streaming face over the back of her hands. "I don't understand what's gotten into him. He promised me…! Whenever you call, I come - what's changed?"

She fights the urge to roll her eyes. "Does he need to have changed? You're moving onto your second husband-"

"It didn't matter with Barry!"

She sighs sharply, folding her arms unable to bite her tongue. "You have no idea the shit we have been through to get here." Mary tries to interject, but the floodgates have been opened. "We have been through literal shit since you last showed your face. Right now, he is all me and my little boy have left! We lost his father, we lost Dutch and Hosea, and we have lost all of our family - what you see here on this ranch is all that's left of that life." She picks up a perfectly folded blouse and throws it at the open travel bag across the room. "He is a good man, and he has been in love with you as long as I can remember. I couldn't understand why everyone else hated you when you made him so happy, but I guess you opened my eyes on that now."

She continues to throw items at the bag, getting more agitated as she goes. "I gave you as good a welcome I could, but Arthur was right about just how spoiled you are. You ain't ever had to work a day in your life! You ain't had to go hungry so your boy could have clothes that fit! You ain't ever seen the time and energy Arthur puts in to make sure everybody else is alright ‘cause you ain't ever stayed long enough to see it with your own eyes. You're a fool for letting a good man like him go!"

"What would you know?" retorts Mary, still picturesque with mascara running down her cheeks. "What would you know about any of this?"

"Because he's been right in front of me too!" Abigail huffs, pushing loose tendrils out of her face. "I loved Jack's father, I loved him as much as you love Arthur, but he was either useless or he didn't care enough to pretend to give a damn. We argued worse than you two, but I loved him and it's only now that he's gone that I- I can be myself. I can just be a mother. I ain't fightin' no more, ain't tellin' myself all these 'if only's. I've seen Arthur do the same right up until you showed up at the gate. Since then he's been miserable an' I'm personally peggin' it on you."

She gets to her feet, pulling a skirt from Abigail’s hand. “Are you sweet on him?”

A laugh slips out before Abigail can swallow it, and it’s greeted with Mary’s palm flat against her cheek.

Abigail’s head snaps around with the force, and catches a glimpse of Jack’s eyes in the crack of the door.

“You’re a strong woman, Abigail Roberts.” The smoke furls over his lips, the blue steel of his gaze staring out over the horizon. “You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for an’... well, if you won’t do it for Marston, do it for Jack. You’re his mother an’ the one constant in his life - I like to think you would give me the boot if you thought it was best for you both.”

Mary steps forward, squaring her shoulders. “What have you been telling him?” she yells between sobs.

“I aren’t him, I ain’t her, or any of your stooges! You don’t owe me nothing - I don’t owe you nothing! Nothing! I’ll spit in your eye - I did! I told them! Yeah, I told ‘em, an’ I’d tell ‘em again!”

“What have you done to make him hate me?”

“Now I’ve got God’s ear! Mr Milton and Mr Ross, about the bank robbery. An’ I wanted them to kill you! Oh you ain’t so big now are yer?” Arthur murmurs in Dutch’s ear, his hand over his, pushing the gun to the ground as she laughs manically into every stunned face that’s gathered around to watch.

“Not so big now! Are we, your majesty?”

Abigail feels the gunshot through her gut even though there is no physical wound to be seen. She shakes her head, her anger melting into the air the same way her blood had soaked the hollow. “You wouldn’t be here if he hated you, Mary.”

“Arthur and I have always had an understanding and now you’re in the picture-!”

“I’ve always been in the picture. We’ve known each other since I was eighteen years old and every time I told him how nice I thought you were, he would brush it off sayin’ you had better ideas than him.” Abigail shakes her head, trying to forget how brutal he could be when it came to himself. “I don’t know what ideas they was, but he deserves better than that. If he ain’t the best idea you’ve ever had, then you don’t deserve him. I don’t know anyone who deserves him, but I know I won’t have a grown woman throwing a tantrum in my house because it took her twenty five years to realise her mistake.

“I will leave you to pack your things, and I will be civil. Hell, I will even throw in a good word for you, but if you ever darken this doorstep with the intention to harm anybody under this roof, I will kill you myself - Morgan or no Morgan. Now get outta my house.”

*

A low whistle comes from the kitchen table. “You sure told her, Miss Roberts.”

“An’ where was you?” She snatches the bowl from in front of Uncle and tips the contents back in the pot, ignoring his protests. “You was sittin’ on your ass, letting everyone else do the work as always.”

“Come now, Abigail, I’ve got-”

“To go find Arthur and make sure he’s alright!” She throws him his hat from the table, her hands on her hips as she glares.

“I’d love to, but it’s the lumbago…”

“I’ll go, Ma!”

“You will do no such thing, Jack Marston. Go prepare the cart for Mrs Linton tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Ma…”

She turns to Uncle, her gaze stern. “Just go make sure he hasn’t been jumped by them Skinners up near Tall Trees.”

“Arthur’s more than capable.”

“I don’t care! Go find him!”

“You women and your hormones.” Uncle grunts, holding his back as he gets to his feet slowly. “Y’know I thought I’d miss your monthly nagging stretch, so far it’s like you’ve crammed all nine in the past coupl’o months - here’s to it getting better!”

Abigail’s face flushes. “What do you mean?”

He waves his hand dismissively. “You know what I mean. I ain’t stupid. Jack’s too young, and Arthur looks the other way, but back in the day ol’ Uncle needed to be able to tell who was available-”

“Don’t be dumb, Uncle.” Abigail swallows the upcoming nausea, ignoring the ringing in her ears. “Go find him before I feed you to the Skinners myself!”

“Alrigh’, I’m goin’, I’m goin’ - your secret's safe with me.” Chuckling, he waddles away, leaving Abigail to sink into the chair and bury her face into the darkness of her arms.

A creak of the floorboards forces her to lift her head, her anger flaring at the man that dares disobey but it melts when her gaze fixes on Mary.

"Is that why?" she hiccups. "Why he's choosing you and your boy?"

Abigail breathes out slowly, choosing her words carefully. "No, Mrs Linton. He- I haven't told him yet."

Her large eyes swell with heartache. "Is it his?"

The hesitation sends her staggering outside.

"Mrs Linton! Mary!" Abigail hurries after her but outside she is only greeted by a confused adolescent and an amused Uncle.

"What the hell did you tell her?" Uncle chortles.

Jack is flabbergasted. "She just jumped on a horse an' took off! I thought we was taking her in the cart?"

"Which way did she go?"

"North." His hands wring themselves. "Ma, d'you think she knows abou' the Skinners? She was headed straight there."

Abigail swears and slaps Uncle on the arm. "What are you waiting for?" she cries. "Get after her!"

"I thought you wanted me to go look for Arthur?"

"He can look after himself! She can't round up the chickens in the pen! Go get her!" 

The horse whinnies and gallops out the gate. For the second time in as many minutes, Abigail sank down on the porch and began to thud her head against the post.

"What happened?" Jack's arm is hesitant as it wraps around her shoulder, but it helps to ground her.

"Nothing, son. Can you run a quick perimeter? If you see Uncle Arthur, tell him about Mary. Fightin' or no, losin' her won't do any of us good."

He hesitates, but as the tears spill over, he stiffens and mounts his horse obediently. Abigail sags.

[artificialqueens]

Pretty in Pearls, Chapter 5 (Jankie) - Plastiquedoll

read on ao3 💄| previous chapters

A/N: hi! here's a short update but I still hope you enjoy it! thank you for reading it! <3

-5-

“Good evening, welcome to Lucky’s… I’m Jan, how can I help you?” She smiled brightly.

The flash of Crystal’s phone almost blinded her.

“Aw, look at you. First day of work!” The ginger cooed.

“They grow up so fast.” Jaida pretended she was crying.

Crystal was definitely crying.

“You guys…” Jan whispered. “I work here now… try to keep it cool… please?”

“How dare you? We always keep it cool.” Nicky crossed her arms on her chest.

“Aren’t we banned from that bar in the city?” Heidi asked.

“Technically, that wasn’t our fault…” The blonde mumbled.

Jan counted the people in the group; Widow and Gigi were there too, Widow was telling Gigi something but the girl was a bit too concentrated on certain ginger –she had said yes to their invitation in the blink of an eye when they told her Crystal was going to be there- Rosé and Lagoona would arrive after their rehearsal but still…

“Where’s Jackie?” Jan tiptoed, looking around.

“She had to close the copy room and told us she would meet us here.” Jaida explained.

“Oh… okay.” Jan displayed a new smile. “I’ll take you guys to your section.”

She walked the group to the booths and assigned them two tables next to each other –they were going to need a third table by the time the other girls arrived but for the moment, it would do- she distributed the menus and left them to check her other clients just like Denali had taught her earlier that day.

She had met some of her co-workers -there were other two waitresses working that night, Kandy and Olivia, Olivia was a sweetheart meanwhile Kandy was hilarious- and the day manager, Britta; for what it seemed, the night manager not being there was a recurring thing so Denali walked her carefully through every detail. She explained how the register worked, how to add tables and mark them as occupied or free, she also told Jan about the standards and rules with the diners, what to do, what not to do… and when she thought Jan was ready, she sent her to her first table ever.

“And don’t worry, if something goes wrong you can always say that you’re new and get away with it. I still do it sometimes.” Denali shrugged. “But I’m convinced you’ll do well.”

Jan did perfectly; she served two high school students who stopped by right after school. They ordered milkshakes and Jan was more than excited to prepare their drinks and deliver them while wearing a dazzling smile. They left a good tip for being teenagers so she took that as a good sign.

And obviously, her friends were going to drop by on her first day. She just hoped that Denali wouldn’t scold her in extension so she had asked them to behave… as much as they could.

Rosé and Lagoona walked in next.

“Look at you, baby!” Rosé celebrated her roommate. “Stunning!”

“Let me have a glance.” Lagoona gestured for her to twirl.

“Y’all…” Jan blushed but did as requested showing off her red and white striped uniform.

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you in a dress or a skirt.” The pink-haired girl noted. “I’m not counting the skorts you wore when we went bowling.”

“You didn’t want me to wear sweatpants to it.”

“Bitch…”

Jan had no proofs or doubts Rosé would have burned the skorts if she had the chance. She knew it was a questionable fashion choice but hey, they surely were comfy.

She also hoped she never told Nicky or Gigi about them.

“Everyone is here already… well, except for Jackie, she’s kind of running late.” Jan guided them toward the booths.

The other girls immediately cheered when the other two girls joined as if they hadn’t had lunch all together the day before.

“I’ll check on you in a minute.” She said before running to the table that was calling for her.

Rosé’s words echoed on the back of her head. She didn’t have anything against skirts or dresses only she had never consider buying one for herself. Other girls looked ethereal with them but Jan still had war flashbacks from that time she attempted to buy a dress for her graduation with her mom… it hadn’t gone well.

Plus, sports clothes always fit her and were practical.

Denali had offered both options –the candy cane striped dress and an alternative set of pants and a white shirt with an apron- but she had opted for the dress for some reason. She wanted to fit into that environment and copying the black-haired girl seemed the first step to it. Trying it on had been a bit weird; she almost didn’t recognize herself in the mirror but the more she looked at herself the more she liked it.

At that moment, Jackie arrived.

She was apologizing even before completely trespassing the door when she lifted her gaze and met Jan’s eyes.

“…and I’m sorry for…” She began losing her ability to speak as she got in a trance.

Seeing Jan always gave Jackie butterflies on her stomach –the good type of butterflies- and she wasn’t going to admit it to her friends not even in a million years because she wasn’t the kind of girl who believed in something as cheesy as butterflies but most importantly, she had promised herself she wasn’t going to fall for that again.

But there she was, with that smile that made all the other smiles in the world irrelevant.

Seeing Jan in a dress made her brain malfunction –not because of the dress itself but because the girl was glowing while wearing it.

Jackie wetted her lips, she had forgotten what she was going to say.

“So… what do you think?” She stretched the dress with her hands. “You can be fully honest.”

No, she couldn’t.

“You look… very happy.” The brunette made a great effort to reply. “You look nice.” This time the words came out a bit more articulated.

Jan smiled, satisfied with that answer. “C’mon, the girls are over here…” She started walking and Jackie followed her. “Don’t you love this place? It looks like it’s been ripped out of the fifties or something.”

For the first time, Jackie actually paid attention to the diner.

“Oh, that’s right… the aesthetic…”

“Hey girls, Jackie’s here!” She announced.

“Miss Cox!” Heidi yelled.

Suddenly the table turned in her direction; they created a fuss, full sentences or loose words were hardly able to comprehend but Jackie was used to it, she spoke the loud language better than anyone. She looked at Jan before sitting with the rest of the group and cracked a secret smile just for her then she rolled her eyes and got entangled in one epic story about the time a cat crashed in the dorms.

Jan cleared her throat and asked very nicely if she could bring them something to drink. She listed soft drinks, mostly cherry coke, regular coke, diet coke, Sprite, and an ice cream soda for Crystal. She walked behind the counter and pressed some buttons to make sure she got it all correct.

It took her a moment to understand the computer’s system for the tables as in the abstract but now that she had some practice with it, she was getting faster at it. She charged table eight and then added a new order of fries for table twelve and finally opened the bill for her friends.

Denali approached her at some point while she was juggling with a couple of trays.

“Hey, how’s it going?” The black-haired girl asked. “Are you okay handling that big group by yourself?” She typed some numbers and printed the receipt without blinking.

“Ah, yeah… Don’t worry, they are all my friends.” It was the first time she had said it aloud and it filled her with pride.

Denali looked at the table; it was a colorful ensemble of people that were having a blast. They were loud and they burst into laughter every couple of minutes. Jan spotted Widow covering her face with second-hand embarrassment while she was laughing underneath, Heidi cackling next to her, Nicky and Jaida holding hands but still participating in the debate, Rosé holding her stomach, Lagoona trying to add something but cracking up as soon as she started a sentence, Gigi with a blank stare trying to discover what she had said that was so funny, Crystal in an attempt to explain it to her –laughing still- and Jackie shaking her head, knowing the situation was irredeemable.

Those were her friends and it filled Jan’s chest with warmness to see them there on her first day of work.

“They came here to support you?”

Jan nodded.

“Aw, that’s so cute!” Denali beamed. “Let me know if I can help you with their order though.”

“I probably will… they already found out there are mozzarella sticks in the menu and when they say «bring mozzarella sticks» they mean all the mozzarella sticks.”

Denali chuckled. “Alright.”

Jan returned to the tables with the drinks and placed them carefully remembering who ordered what. Her friends ordered a ton of food and she had to write it down and register the order on the computer.

They were talking about Rosé and Lagoona’s latest news, they had started preparing the winter musical for a class but one of the girls that were taking part had to step out of the play.

“She said she didn’t want to brag but honestly, Sydney, who the fuck cares if you’re doing Hamilton now?” The blue-haired girl sighed. “Anyway, so we need to recruit someone else this month to play that part.”

“What’s the play about?” Widow asked.

“We’re honoring the one and only Lindsay Lohan and decided to adapt the fictional musical Eliza Rocks from Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen.” Rosé explained.

“So… Pygmalion?” Gigi frowned.

“No, no… well, yeah… It is Pygmalion but with a twist… a remake if you like.”

“So the Glee version of Pygmalion?” Heidi tried to connect the dots.

“There’s nothing new under the sun anyway.” Rosé gave up.

“We still have to, write the music and the script… but that’s the big project of the drama department.”

“We could help you with the costume design,” Nicky suggested. “That could be interesting.”

“I don’t know if-” Gigi whispered.

“I love all the theatrical stuff, can I help you?” Crystal volunteered.

“Alright, yeah… we’re helping with the costumes.” The other blonde corrected herself.

Jan shook her head and left them to discuss other details.

She was tapping the screen of the computer when Jackie sat on one of the stools of the bar.

“Look how the tables have turn… Literally.”

Jan giggled. “Right? The food will be ready in a second… I’m just finishing here.”

The brunette watched her work. “You know, that role on the play Rosé and Lagoona are putting together… you could do it.”

Jan stopped what she was doing and stared at Jackie. “What? Me?” She shook her head. “No, no… I just sing in the shower and when I’m alone… that’s it. I’m not a singer and I’m not an actress.”

“You could be one. Nobody was born knowing but you can learn. I’m sure they’d love to have you on their production.”

“Jackie, I don’t know… It’s really not my thing. Besides, they already have a lot of work to do, I don’t want to delay them even more.”

“It sounds to me that you would be doing them a favor. Just… think about it. This is the perfect time to try new things… maybe.”

“I won’t promise anything.”

“Alright.” Jackie stood up. “By the way, you should bring extra ketchup… talking from experience.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

Jan delivered the food with Denali’s help as she had suggested and then let them enjoy it until it was her time to call it a day, hang her apron and change her dress.

“Great job today. You're a good new addition to our staff.” Denali congratulated her on the back of the restaurant.

“Thank you! I’m glad that you hired me.”

“Don’t even mention it. Now go have fun with your friends.” She winked at her and left Jan to collect her things.

She then saw with her friends and let a big sigh out of her chest.

“The first day is over…”

Her friends congratulated her as well and took turns to compliment her as if it was a Yelp review.

“Let’s make a toast for Jan’s new job!” Jaida raised her glass in the air.

“For Jan!” The table cheered in unison.

“Five out of five stars, excellent service.” Heidi qualified.

“Speaking of…” Rosé whispered just for Jan to listen. “Who is that girl that helped you earlier?”

“Denali? She’s basically my supervisor at this point and she hired me.”

“She’s cute… like… very cute.”

Jan had never seen Rosé blushing until that moment –not even when Heidi had dropped some of her –arguably- best pickup lines during one lunch.

“Oh, so you think she’s cute?”

“Do you know if she’s single?”

“I’ve worked here for a day or so…”

“More than enough time.”

“I can ask her later but she’s like my boss now, you have to promise me you’ll be chill.”

“Baby, have you seen the people around us? I’ll be the chilliest of them all.”

That wasn’t the most reassuring thing to say.

The second week, Jan was more used to her work but her teachers started setting deadlines, and with her baseball practices on top of everything else, she ended up being exhausted by the time her head touched the pillow.

After a long day, the only thing she wanted was to take a long hot shower and put on some pajamas. She walked into the hallway, yawning and carrying her little bathroom basket with shampoo, soap, and a towel.

She had followed Nicky’s advice and always wore flip-flops to the shower. The bathroom was covered in steam most of the time so the girls had to clean the mirrors to brush and dry their hair hoping to see their reflection.

Jan politely greeted two girls from the dorm and got in the shower before closing the curtain. She heard the door as the two girls left and with that, she was left alone. She turned on the shower and let the water cover her entirely to wash off all the stress of the day.

While shampooing, she unconsciously started humming some random song she had heard on the radio earlier in the diner. She closed her eyes and got under the shower when someone moved the curtain.

“I knew it!” Rosé yelled. She had her pink embroidered bathrobe on and her hair was dripping wet.

Jan screamed. “Rosé!” She covered her body with the plastic curtain. “Holy sh… You nearly gave me a heart attack… I thought we had agreed on no Pitch Perfect reenacts.” Her heart was beating faster than ever.

“I didn’t know it was the whole movie, I thought it was just the songs… you know, I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes-” She hummed.

“Rosé…” The shower’s water continued running. “Get out.”

“Okay fine.” The girl closed the curtain. “But I heard you before, you hum when you’re happy.”

“Yes? Like a normal person?” She said on the other side.

“No, no… you’re good. Why didn’t you tell me you were good?”

“Because I’m not a singer… I don’t sing like you or Lagoona.”

“But you could! This is great… I knew you were good.” She repeated.

“Wait a minute, were you waiting for me to come shower?”

“No bitch, I was exfoliating… I wasn’t stalking you.”

“Okay… sure… this definitely crosses some boundaries but okay…”

“Sorry about the curtain thing but hey, here’s a fun idea… you should drop by the auditorium tomorrow. We’re holding auditions this week and I’m just saying… you could be what we need.”

Jan finished showering and stepped out wrapped in her towel.

“Look… I’m flattered that you even consider me good but I’m not… musical theatre material, trust me.”

Rosé stared with supplicant eyes. “I know you can do it… but alright.” She raised her hands in the air in surrender.

She sighed. “Listen, Rosé, I’d love to help you but my plate is full right now… I wouldn’t be able to do it all.”

“Don’t worry… I won’t insist and I won’t bring the subject anymore just… please, consider it overnight. You don’t have to say no right away.”

“Fine… can I brush my hair in peace or is Lagoona going to jump out the sink and start a number about why I should sing?”

“We don’t have that budget but I’m sure she can improvise a song if that’s what it takes.”

“See you in the room and remember that you can’t bring this up again.”

“For someone who’s cheerful all the time you surely are picking traits from Miss Jackie Cox, aren’t you…?”

Jan blushed. “No, I’m not…”

The following day, Jan found herself roaming outside the auditorium for no particular reason.

Well, that was what she kept telling herself.

Because she wasn’t there for the auditions.

No.

Not at all.

She took a deep breath before walking in.

Luckily, most of the auditorium was empty except for the stage where most performers were still doing warm-up exercises and no one noticed the presence of the girl when she entered. Instead of standing still in the middle of the rows, she sat at the back and hid behind another seat hoping no one would spot her from there.

That was a mistake, she wasn’t supposed to be there.

She had told Rosé she would think about it but she chickened out the second she stepped in.

The rehearsal began and some of the members of the club started reading fragments of the play. It was really funny, Jan found herself holding back her laughter at some dialogues and performances. Lagoona played the piano and Rosé sang along with her and some other students joined for the chorus of the song.

It was mesmerizing to watch it from afar and maybe that was all she had to do. She could be supportive this way, without getting too involved.

“Now, what on Earth are you doing here?” The voice made her startled until she noticed it was Jackie who was now hiding next to her.

“Shhhh… keep it quiet. They don’t know I’m here… wait, why are you here?”

Jackie was so close, Jan could smell the green apple notes of her perfume.

“After my shift ended, I went to the administration office to talk with the dean and when I left I saw you walking in.” She explained.

“Ah… well, I’m leaving already so…”

“Please, don’t mind me.” The brunette assured. “So, what really brings you here?”

“Rosé is trying to get all Pitch Perfect and recruit me for this. She heard me sing in the showers.”

“Understandable. I’d call it the troyboltonification of Jan.”

“I’m not… I won’t get troyboltonificated. I’m here just to… take a look… That’s it.”

“Aha, sure.” She didn’t sound convinced. “What is holding you back from this? Obviously, you want it.”

Jan lowered her gaze. “Back in high school… I secretly wanted to participate in the drama club but the rehearsals were at the same time as my baseball practices and well… I always picked baseball over it because that’s what I’m good at it… plus it was an excuse to hang out with Nathan after the practice.”

“I see…” Jackie mumbled.

“Besides, I didn’t think I have what it takes… yes I can hit a couple of notes but that…” She pointed at the stage. “What they do there is art.”

“Listen… you’re not in high school anymore. It might be difficult to juggle the extracurricular activities with your studies and work but… if you want this, you should give it a try.” Jackie said candidly, her eyes reflected the sincerity of her words. “If it’s not for you, at least you can say you tried it.”

“Do you really think I could do it? I mean, being in front of a stage like them?”

“I’m certain about it. Some people might be born with it but I’m sure they had to practice a lot anyway and they probably failed more than once before they could get better. It is easier to say it than doing it but you’re a spitfire, if you put your mind to it you can do anything.”

She smiled even though they were in the darkest place of the auditorium.

“Thank you, Jackie. I don’t know what I did to deserve a friend like you, seriously.”

“Whenever you need it.” She smiled back.

Then, Jan stepped out and walked down toward where the stage was.

“Hi!” She approached shyly the people there, Lagoona stopped playing and Rosé was more than happy to see her. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you guys but I was told you have a vacancy for a role…”

The pink-haired girl jumped out of the stage. “Fellas, this is Jan… she’s my roommate and she has a great voice. I think we could use her talent here.”

They welcomed her warmly, introducing the team.

Jan turned around before going on stage and Jackie gave her a thumbs up.

“Break a leg.” She murmured even when the younger couldn’t hear her from there.