#but i’m gonna try and do it again and hopefully there’ll be a few more books

[eunhos]

.

[joanofexys]

Please I must know more about Angel…

I’m gonna do a mix of fun facts and extra Angel backstory/PSU stuff so hopefully there’ll be something good in there

Some fun facts abt Angel:

Cuts the sleeves off most of his shirts

Crop. Tops.

Basically I wanted more men to dress like whores

Except he lowkey does it in a dad, rock band in someone’s garage, hot mechanic kind of way if that vibe makes sense in any capacity

His nose is crooked

Has a lot of scarring across his body, most of it has keloided (idk if that’s a word but I have keloid scars so leave me alone rip). He’s also got a few on his face

Because they’re raised and pretty prominent they tend to weird most people out and even though most of them are from when he was 10 or younger (courtesy of his father) they haven’t really faded. Some of them hurt some of them don’t

He doesn’t really like them or think they’re cool, he’s learned to feel neutral about it. However, Phoebe loves his scars

He’s built like a fucking brick wall. Just absolutely massive

gonna put it under the cut cause partial nudity ig but this is an idea of his body build:

also real quick the closest I’ve gotten for a good face claim for him is Isaiah Baumgardner

His hands are really cut up/scarred (I’ll explain this in a sec)

Cat and dog person. He will argue very passionately for it too and how unfair he thinks it is whenever people try and demonize cats or dogs

Queen would probably be the top artist in his Spotify wrapped

Hoards different editions of classics

Okay yeah moving on from the random bullets to me writing another essay about him

I did NOT get into this in his initial post but yeah his dad is a serial killer. For years his mom is labeled as missing (went missing when he was 4 years old) and then at 10 years old he’s removed from his dad’s home and moved into foster care. It wasn’t until 14 that his mother was confirmed dead upon his father’s arrest and confession.

When he was 14 years old the police randomly showed up at the door of his foster family at the time and took him down to the station. He was questioned for 7 hours, wrapping up at 3 in the morning, while the police tried to figure out if he had any knowledge or involvement in his father’s murders. All it resulted in was a crying Angel begging for his mommy to come home. With how young he was and the fact that he had been out of the home for 4 years (and his father continued killing during those 4 years) they declared there was no way he was aware. He was offered a chance to testify against his father. He refused to show.

When they dropped him off at his foster home he very nearly got the cops called again. He destroyed his room. Every personal belonging he had bought or been given by former families. He moved to a different home within the week. He breaks a lot of glass. And insists on cleaning it up himself. He cuts up his hands bad doing so. They have to take him to the ER.

Because he was a minor and had basically no ties to his father he was largely kept out of the media. When his father’s arrest and plea of guilty made the news it was mentioned that he had a single son but there was never a name. Obviously with Di Fiore anyone who looks him up is likely to get his dad in the search results instead. But he does his best to keep it hidden. It’s pretty easy for Wymack (and Andrew rip) to dig it up but Angel keeps it buried until he ends up at Palmetto. Once Andrew drops that he knows then Angel gives up on trying to keep any secrets from the foxes pretty much

He spends most of his time with the monsters. Phoebe’s favorites of them end up being Andrew (much to Aaron’s dismay since Aaron babysits more) and Kevin. However, like how cats can tell when people don’t like them, she is prone to asking for Neil and refusing to let anyone else hold her. Neil has no fucking clue what to do with her

When he goes to Eden’s with them if he can’t leave Phoebe with Harper then his go to babysitters are Dan & Matt and Wymack

He spends more time crashing at Wymack or Abby’s places than in the dorms

Resisting the urge to dump about my oc x canon ships but he and Allison are fwbs. He and Kevin are something (he’s basically a weighted blanket as a person which is something I think Kevin needs)

Uhhhhh fuck what else is going on with him. Idk he keeps to himself. He and Harper go on double dates with Katelyn and Aaron despite being broken up. He’s both very obviously a fucked up teenager and a good dad at the same time. He’s prone to cheating at board games. He doesn’t yell at people. His hearing’s a little fucked but he’ll probably never get it checked out. He’s very physically affectionate when he’s given permission (but he’ll always ask first. it’s good for setting healthy boundaries but it’s especially for Phoebe and to make sure she knows her boundaries will always be respected at home even from a young age). He likes RPGs (he’d be a huge fan of BG3) and is a fantasy nerd. Yeah that’s just a bit more about him

[easypeasylindyvesey]

APRIL 2027- PART 22

We’re standing in front of JFK, trying to hail down a taxi, but I guess they’re incredibly busy today for whatever reason, or maybe they’re blind because they’ve driven past my raised hand. It’s 11:20. That’s it? It feels a lot later, probably because I’ve been up since 6. I contemplate about taking a nap later, but I’m not a huge nap person. I feel more tired if I take them. We’ll see how long my body can hold itself up.

Finally, after 20,000 years, I successfully pull over a taxi, and the trunk pops open. Jimmy and I make our way to place our luggage down and I slam the trunk shut. We crawl into the backseat and shut our side doors. Jimmy gives the taxi driver his address and off we go.

I’m able to point out vast differences between New York and Minnesota already. I forgot how horrible New York traffic is, let alone the city. It doesn’t matter what time you’re out. The streets are always going to be filled with cars and taxis and cyclists. Minnesota traffic was pretty quiet, pretty subdued, with the exception of the airport parking lot, but that’s different. It was a quiet state, I’ll say. There were little to no complaints about it. Now I have to readjust to it being loud, and not just in my mind. Everywhere. Great.

The ride is quiet. I’m saving my energy for a potential crash on my bed for the rest of the day. All I can think about is snuggling up in my bed with the blinds closed, with no one to disturb me. Chances are there’ll already be disruptions because he can’t read basic social cues, but hey! What do I know!

The taxi pulls into the apartment complex around 40 minutes later, stopping right in front of the entrance. Both of us thank the driver and we make our way out, retrieving our luggage from the trunk and walking into the front door. At this point, it feels like I’m home, but I know for a fact that I’m not. It’s temporary.

Jimmy and I drag our luggage and our tired selves to the elevator, waiting for the doors to open. We don’t say anything. I think we both have the same idea in mind of relaxing and wanting to get started. The doors open and we shuffle our way in, me pressing the ‘4’ button and they immediately close, going up floor by floor. This routine feels foreign. We were only in Minnesota for three full days, but I feel like I’m coming back from an extended vacation. I was not looking forward to unpacking, but at least I could put away my funeral outfit for a little bit. Hopefully.

I fumble in my purse and grab my key. Yes, I was able to get a key for the apartment. It feels odd. Again, I’m just a guest. I’m not going to need this for longer than a few months. I turn the key into the lock and the door pushes open. I take a minute to look around and observe everything in my vision. Nothing has moved. Nothing has changed. But it has.

The first thing I do is drag my things into my room, opening my closet, and placing them underneath the shelves. I do not have any time nor patience to deal with this. The motivation will come to me another day. With that thought, I shut the closet door and then shut my main door, changing out of my outfit. I throw on a teal crewneck and gray sweats, tossing my previous outfit onto the floor beside the TV. I still haven’t been able to drop by the condo and grab my laundry basket, so all of my clothes get loaded into Jimmy’s basket and then he goes down to the in-unit washer and dryer to complete the loads. That cannot be something that I put off getting much longer. There’s gonna be a day where I get my laundry back and there’ll be a pair of boxers with my bras. I’ll have to wonder if that was truly a mistake.

I open up my door and walk out into the kitchen. Jimmy hasn’t changed out of his clothes, but he’s taken off his shoes and left his suitcases by the entryway couch. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?” he asks.

“Sleep,” I answer. “That’s literally it.”

“Yeah, I’m probably gonna crash in a little bit. You hungry? We could have lunch now if you want.”

“Sounds good. What do you want?”

“I’ve still got some bagels from Sunday. I also have some chicken and potatoes, but the chicken has to be thawed first. Depends on how hungry you are.”

“How about we do the chicken and potatoes for dinner so that it’s already prepared by then?” I suggest.

He points a finger at me. “I like the way you think.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a pretty good brain.”

He scoffs, taking out 2 plain bagels from the fridge and placing them out on the island. He grabs a knife and cuts them both in half before placing them in the toaster, waiting for them to cook to a light golden brown.

While we wait, the words are on the tip of my tongue, but I swallow them. He’s in a decent mood right now. I’ll have him bask in it before I pull the trigger once again.

“You’re not gonna change?” I question, pointing to his sweatshirt.

“These are literally my pajamas,” he sarcastically argues. 

“Oh, I see,” I play along. “You’re not gonna sweat in that when you sleep?”

He shakes his head. “No. I usually keep my room cold. Oh, wait, that reminds me. There’s a thermostat located by the window, so you can adjust the temperature in your room to whatever you want. You can either live in Alaska or in the middle of the sun. The choice is yours.”

“Good to know,” I respond. “I know what I’m going for today.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Which one?”

I give him a mischievous look. “Cold.”

“Oh, like the freezer?” He jokes.

“No, like his body.”

I can’t tell if he looks stunned or impressed that I came up with that. “C’mon, Abb, what’s up with the dark humor?”

“What’s wrong with it? Better than screaming at 3:00AM.”

“See, now you’ve made it worse.”

“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know, golden boy?”

I get him to crack a smile. “Alright, cut it out.”

“What, my heart?”

He puts his hand on his face and slides it down until it reaches his chin. “Lord help me,” he mutters.

The toaster sounds and he turns around, taking the bagels out and putting each one on their own plate. He takes the cream cheese out of the side door of the fridge and places it on the countertop, taking off the lid. The same knife he cut the bagels with is used for the spread. He lathers a good amount on each bagel slice before getting two paper plates from the cabinet, separating them and sliding one plate across to me. I pick up half of the bagel and fold it in half, taking a huge bite. The cream cheese oozes in my mouth, leaving me content. “Shit’s good,” I say with my mouth full of comfort.

Jimmy nods, licking his lips after getting some cream cheese stuck above them. “Couldn’t agree more. What’d you think of the flight?”

“Fine,” I admit. “I’m surprised you didn’t sit next to me, though.”

He looks from side to side before looking at me. “Well, since you admitted to me prior that I was pissing you off, I thought I’d do you a solid and leave you alone, at least for the flight.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t tell you what was pissing me off.”

“You don’t need to. I can see it on your face. Expressions don’t lie. Neither do the eyes.”

What is he, fucking Shakespeare?

He continues. “I know you’re angry about everything that happened, and rightfully so, but do you have any built-up anger from the past? Like, anything from the past month that you got upset at that maybe I don’t know about?”

I think about it. “No.”

“I’m not convinced.”

“What, that quick release of an answer wasn’t enough for you?”

“Not at all.”

I pretend to ponder. “I mean, not really. I just feel like I’m stuck in the same place. I need all of it to go away and then maybe it’ll start to settle down and not take over my everyday routine.”

“Well, I mean, technically, it’s over now,” he admits. “You got through the hard part. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Why would I be proud of any of that?”

He takes a breath. “I mean, you should be proud of your strength for holding yourself together. It’s not an easy thing to do in circumstances like these.”

“Okay, you know for a fact that I was not strong for the majority of that trip. I recall three moments of weakness, probably even more than that, but those had lower impact.”

“Abby, you’re not meant to act strong all the time. You’re allowed to be upset and sad and think that the world made a mistake in doing this, but it won’t hold you down forever. Okay? Both of our lives will never be the same, and unfortunately, not in a good way. Although, we are in control of how we choose to take that pain and channel it into something that’s less risky of a permanent regret. I think we should focus on that right now. You don’t need to have it figured out in a week, in a month, fuck it, even a year, if you wish. Take what you’re feeling now and release those feelings through something you won’t have to worry about ever leaving you.”

But he did.

I look at my half-eaten bagel and get up from my chair, reaching behind Jimmy to get a plastic Ziploc bag. I throw the rest of my bagel into the bag and close it tightly as I open the fridge and place it in the door. I’ll eat the rest of it later.

While in there, I grab a water bottle from the bottom drawer. “I’m gonna go hit the hay,” I tell Jimmy, walking to my room without looking at him first.

“If you need me, come get me,” he replies.

“I won’t,” I argue, shutting the door. I walk over to the bed and pull the duvet back, adjusting the pillows and moving them to one side of the bed. I take off my glasses and place them on the nightstand. I realize that I forgot to shut the curtains. I guess that I’ll be stuck on the left side of the bed for this entire nap.

[sapphirelass]

Failure - Weasley Family x Weasley!Reader

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧I solemnly swear that I am up to no good✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

'Ello everyone! Once again it's been ages since I posted a story. I promise I am writing!!! I'm just... writing veeeeeerrrrrrryyyy slowly... But hey, what can one do?

Tbh, I'm not too sure about this one, but I have been working on it for weeks now, so I'm just gonna post it and hope someone likes it. I have some other fics coming up (hopefully) soon - and mainly HP actually! I started writing for Percy Jackson, Team Flash, Spider-Man and a few other characters, but I'm in such a Harry Potter mood at the moment (thanks to the 20th-anniversary reunion)... Ahhhh... I don't know! Anyways, I'll get back to writing for someone and let you all enjoy this sad thing for now! See yah!

Note: As always I'm finishing this late at night meaning I will probably have to reread this one more time and check for potential errors, but it's late, so I'm just going to trust Grammarly and post it for now! Enjoy

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

Please note:

1: I don’t own any of the gifs used, nor any already established characters, so credit to the authors and original creators - You have done a phenomenal job :)

2: English is not my native language, as I was born and raised in Sweden. I have, however, studied English for almost a decade, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem, I just thought I’d let you know ;)

+ CEFR level C2 (due to passing the C1 advanced test with an A)

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

Word count: ≈ 3,1k

Warnings: Mild swearing, death eaters, cruciatus curse (not very descriptive), angst, feeling anxious

Enjoy! :)

Read as xOC instead of character insert

~~~Failure - Weasley Family x Weasley!Sister~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m serious, dad, there’s nothing to worry about - the plan is fool-proof!”

(y/n) rushed furiously up the stairs of her childhood home with her backpack in her right hand. She had been trying to get everything packed for half an hour, desperately wanting to be 100% ready once her mother would wake up, as it would be next to impossible to prepare for her next job with Mrs Weasley around. (y/n) had however not expected her dad to be too much of a problem - it was usually him who would convince his wife not to worry about the kids every time they left the house - but clearly, the task she had been assigned meant taking a risk so big that even Arthur was hesitant about letting his daughter go.

“I know it sounds that way, sweetie, but this job is not like anything you’ve ever done before, it’s… It’s… It’s different, an-”

It felt both weird and oddly familiar at the same time. She had moved to her own flat a few years earlier and had gotten used to not having overprotective brothers and parents trying to prevent her from going on dangerous missions. Originally, she hadn’t planned to go back ‘home’ until after this job, but her mother had started driving her younger siblings mad, causing them to send a letter asking their older sister to PLEASE come home and help prepare for Bill and Fleur’s wedding. It had been a long time since (y/n) last had to handle this situation, but her father seemed to have no problem picking up where they left off.

“How, dad?” She turned around and violently pulled a hand through her red hair, desperately trying to keep her voice down. “Apprehending people who turned to the dark arts is literally my job, at least this time we know what to expect! We just have to transport the death eaters from point A to point B as smoothly as possible, and even if they should try to break free, there’ll be four of them, and twelve of us - surely three aurors could take down one wandless death eater?”

Arthur remained quiet for a few seconds, causing his daughter to put her backpack on the floor, walk a few steps back down the stairs, and pull him in for a hug.

“Look, Dad, I know it’s not without risk, but… I’ve got to go. I don’t think the question any longer is if you-know-who is gonna take control of the ministry, but when, and once that time comes we have to be prepared for anything. The best we can do is make sure the most dangerous people are in a secure place, and well guarded. As much as I hate it, Azkaban is the safest bet, otherwise, they’ll all be back out on the streets, and everything we have worked for these past two years will have been for nothing. We’ll just have to hope that the dementors won’t switch sides. I’m sorry... I love you.”

It wasn’t only a long hug, but a long-awaited one as well.

“I love you too, darling, which is why I don’t want you to do this. I understand your reasoning but…”

“Dad? (y/n/n)? You’re home already?”

(y/n) looked over her dad’s shoulder and immediately walked into the arms of the person who had called her name - her older brother.

“Bill…”

He hugged his sister tightly and put his right hand comfortingly on the back of her head. She was shaking slightly, but Bill pulled her in even closer and put his head on top of hers. This was why (y/n) always tried to prepare, pack and leave quickly every time she was assigned a mission - that way she left no room for any nerves and could focus on the task at hand without getting too scared or anxious. Don’t get it wrong, she loved protecting others and knew it was an important job, but overthinking things just made her realize how much she had to lose. Being around her extremely caring family made that even worse.

“Shhh… (y/n), breathe, easy, you’re fine.”

“Yeah, I know, I know… It’s just, I don’t like thinking too much about it. I’m good, though, and I’ve missed you.”

“I know… ‘n I’ve missed you too. Hey, not that I’m not happy to see you, but why are you home? And awake?”

“Mum needed some help with the wedding preparations, and…”

Bill moved his gaze from his sister to his father, silently asking for a response.

“Your sister is leaving for work.”, said Arthur slowly. “It’s just not an easy decision. It’s not-”

“-It’s not safe.”. (y/n)'s gaze wandered nervously around the living room - her parents’ house still being one of the few places where she felt properly at home. She smiled slightly when she noticed a brown plush rabbit sitting on a shelf. It was her favourite toy when she was younger and had been her father’s before her. ���Heck, it’s really, really dangerous, but it has to be done. I don’t have a choice, and as much as I would love to stay here with you, the longer I do the harder it becomes to leave.” She sighed. “But I have to go. Bill, will you please tell mum I’m sorry when she wakes?”

Bill looked at his sister, not really wanting to let her go, but understanding exactly how she felt. “Of course.” He grabbed the backpack and handed it to her before placing his hands firmly on her shoulders. “Stay safe, okay? Promise us that!”

“Bill-”

“(y/n/n)!”

“Stop it! You know I can’t promise something like that. I swear I’ll do my best, though.”

“Good. Then go, I’ll see you next week?”

(y/n) smiled. “Yeah, around lunchtime on Wednesday. Bye, Bill. Bye, dad.”

Arthur looked out the window and sighed sadly as his daughter disapparated. “I remember when I feared for her life because she kept climbing the big apple tree… Now I almost wish she was there, hanging on to one of the top branches, swinging back and forth.” He closed his eyes and leant against the wall behind him. “At least then I could see her. Make sure she didn’t fall.”

“I know, dad. But she’s not a kid anymore.”

“She’ll always be my kid.”

“She’ll always be short.”

“Bill!”

“Jokin’! C’mon, dad, let’s go have a cup of tea, yeh?”

————————

‘The plan is fool-proof!’ (y/n) coughed slightly and regretted her words as she was hit with yet another curse. The plan had been fool-proof… apart from the fact that someone at the ministry clearly had leaked information to the death eaters. The mission had relied on secrecy. It had been planned in secret and only the 12 aurors and a few ministry officials had known the details. Despite that, around 30 death eaters attacked as soon as the transport had left the city, and due to their numbers, the aurors barely stood a chance.

“Jackson, we need to get out of here as soon as possible! There’s no way we’ll be able to fight them all off.”

“You’re probably right, Weasley.”, he shouted while sending a death eater flying off his broom. “But how did this happen? We were so careful!?”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” (y/n) swiftly flew out of the way as a flash of green light almost touched her side. “But that doesn’t really matter right now. Wilson’s wounded, can you help him.”

“Sure.”

“And then get out before anyone’s killed.”

He frowned and nodded towards her. “You too.”

“Yeah, course. I’m just gonna try to take Dolohov down. I really don’t want him out and about again.”

The auror seemed to doubt his college’s decision for a second but was familiar with her family’s history with that particular death eater. “Fine, but be careful! I mean it, (y/n/n).” He looked straight into her eyes. “Don’t take any unnecessary risks!”

“Oh, you know me, Jacky. Careful planning, no risktaking.”

“Good. See you in the office tomorrow, then. Good luck.”

————————

(y/n) battled her way through a few death eaters and eventually found herself sneaking up on Dolohov.

“Expelliarmus.”

He turned around in surprise as his wand flew out of his hand.

“Incarcerus.”

Thick ropes bound the death eater, effectively preventing him from escaping. However, (y/n) was so focused on arresting the man who murdered two of her uncles that she completely missed someone approaching her from behind.

“Crucio”

She fell and dropped her wand as intense pain spread through her body. It was pain beyond anything she could ever have imagined. She unwillingly let out a scream as the pain intensified before suddenly lessening. Despite coughing and struggling, she tried to get back up on her feet but fell yet again as the same kind of agony, only a hundred times worse forced her to focus solely on not passing out.

“Well, well, well… We counted on a few random aurors to stand in our way, but who knew we’d stumble upon a blood traitor as well, huh?” The death eater, Augustus Rockwood, leant forward and spat on the ground, right by her face where she lay twitching in the mud. “How does it feel down there, Weasley? Feel at home?” He pulled (y/n) to her knees and Dolohov, who had managed to untangle himself from the rope, walked up to her and grabbed her face roughly. “Striking resemblance”, he whispered before letting her fall again. She fought to get up but failed due to the horrendous curse still causing her pain. Her eyes slowly closed as she passed out on the cold, hard ground.

————————

“Good morning, dears.”, said Molly, cheerfully entering the kitchen after having forced everybody to get up at first light. She had been under extreme stress lately but seemed to be in a much better mood today and the rest of the family knew why - (y/n) was coming home. Sure, that didn’t take away from the fact that the upcoming wedding meant a lot of hard work and careful planning, but having her oldest daughter home would at least help ease Mrs Weasley’s worry. “She’s not back yet, is she?”

“No, mum”, yawned Fred. “but-”

“She said she wouldn’t be back before lunch.”, finished George tiredly.

Their mother didn’t answer, but muttered something incoherent and went to prepare breakfast.

————————

Hours passed as the family worked to get everything ready, both for the wedding and for Harry’s birthday. Molly was so busy with preparations that she completely lost track of time, however, Fred & George started sharing worried glances around 10 am. Bill eventually noticed and had, a few hours later, become way too curious.

“Why do you two keep looking at the clock every other minute?”, he asked. “She said ‘lunch-time’, that could mean another 2-3 hours? Besides, it’s not like you to worry?”

“Well…it’s just…”

“Whenever (y/n/n) lets mum know when she thinks she’ll come home, she usually adds a few hours, sometimes an entire day.”

“That way, when she ends up being slightly late, mum doesn’t immediately lose it…”

“To be honest, we were kind of expecting her in time for breakfast, definitely before noon.”

Bill pulled his hand through his long hair (which he had not allowed his mother and her scissors to come close to) and glanced quickly out the window before looking back at his younger brothers. “Well, there’s not much we can do at the moment, is there? She’s smart and strong. Besides, it’s best not to get worried too easily, it’s probably just that dim-witted head of the department forcing her to work overtime.”

————————

(y/n) groaned loudly as she slowly pushed herself up. She felt dizzy, her entire body hurt and she had no idea where she was. Actually, scratch that last bit. Looking around, she realized she was in a field of some sort and could see burned parts of the now broken carriage they had used to transport the prisoners. Her hair was dripping wet due to the heavy rain and she was freezing. (y/n) struggled to stand and tried to determine roughly where they could have been when they were attacked. She knew that they had travelled northeast from London, towards Norwich, and that they probably hadn’t made it much further than Chelmsford. Her exact location didn’t really matter, though. It’s not like she could walk from London to Ottery St. Catchpole. That would take like two, maybe three, weeks in her current state - and that’s if she made it at all. No, she’d have to apparate, just not the entire distance in one go.

————————

“Bill, dear”, said Molly worriedly. “When did your sister say she’d be back from work?”

“I- I’m not sure”, Bill stuttered, as he sped down the stairs. “Around… dinnertime, I think?”

“What?”, asked Ron. “You said she said lunchtime!?”

Bill threw his head back and sighed as Fred kicked his younger brother under the table.

“Oh”, mumbled Ron, finally understanding. “Yeah, Bill’s right. She definitely said the evening.”

————————

But, dinnertime came and passed. Still no (y/n). When she still hadn't made it home a few days later, the Weasleys were forced to simply accept that something more serious had happened and just try to keep their hopes up. Molly, naturally, refused. Arthur had, while at work, done his very best to contact the other aurors that had been working that night, but unfortunately remained unsuccessful due to the now tense and strained situation at the ministry. Fleur had suggested delaying the wedding, but Bill insisted, claiming that this gave them even more of a reason to do it while they still had the chance. He could, however, barely stand the thought of not having one of his sisters there; it was difficult enough that Percy refused to come…

————————

She didn’t know how much time had passed, maybe a week, but eventually found herself slowly approaching her childhood home. After taking a few heavy steps, she stumbled slightly and would have tripped if not for two strong arms firmly grabbing her shoulders to keep her standing. She should probably be scared but somehow knew not to fight them.

“(y/n/n)!? Bloody hell, what in Merlin’s name happened to you?”

“Charlie?”, she gasped and grabbed her older brother’s coat as her legs suddenly gave out. “Is it really you?”

“Yeh, of course, it’s me.”, he put his sister’s arm over his shoulders. “(y/n/n), I literally just came home, where have you been? What happened? Who did this to you?”

“Work, attacked, Rockwood”

He looked her up and down with a pained expression on his face. “Okay, come on - let’s get indoors.”

They walked slowly, Charlie carefully making sure that (y/n) didn’t fall and simultaneously pepping her with questions. “How long have you been away? When were you supposed to get back to mum and dad’s?”

“Ehhh… I-I don’t know… A couple of days ago, maybe? It’s all kind of hazy right now, to be honest.”

“Holy Merlin… But wha-”

“Charlie, sorry”, she coughed slightly, “but would you mind if we wait? Mum and dad are going to want to hear everything and I don’t wanna have to relive it more times than needed…”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

He knocked carefully on the door, and it was only a matter of seconds before Arthur slowly opened it. He had his wand in a tight grip and was about to have Charlie confirm his identity when he noticed the state of the person standing next to his son. Their father’s eyes widened in shock and he looked absolutely horrified.

“Molly! Bill!!”

(y/n) hadn’t heard such fear in her father’s voice since Ginny had been taken into the chamber of secrets four years earlier. He swallowed deeply. “Come in, quickly.”

Charlie put his sister on the sofa just as their mother, older brother and the twins came running down the stairs. They all grinned happily when they saw Charlie, but the smiles faded almost instantly.

“(y/n/n)?” George effortlessly jumped over an old armchair and kneeled by the couch. “Are you okay?” He removed some blood from her face using the sleeve of his jumper.

She smiled and nodded weakly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t” *cough* “don’t worry. What happened to your ear?”.

Bill and Charlie embraced each other quickly while Molly joined George on the floor. The two oldest brothers both glanced at their sister. She lay so incredibly still; completely motionless save for her steady breathing. Just as those thoughts crossed his mind, Charlie noticed something and was about to point it out when Bill beat him to it.

The oldest brother had walked over to join his family by the sofa and placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “(y/n/n)? You’re twitching.”

“I know.” She sighed deeply. “It’ll pass, though.

He looked deep into her eyes and fought to keep eye contact when he whispered, “was it-”

“Yes”, she answered honestly. “But, Bill, I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s okay. Besides, it was way worse a few days ago… Speaking of which, what day is it?”

“Wednesday”, said Molly bitterly, obviously understanding the meaning of the words just exchanged between her oldest son and daughter, but deciding not to push it further. “10 days. 10 days, (y/n/n). Not a word?”

“I’m sorry, mum. Truly.” She then explained everything, from the detailed plan to the overwhelming defeat. “Imagine if we had taken them down instead?” She put her head in her hands and sighed sadly. “Imagine how many people will die now, because we let them all go.”

“Sweetie”, sighed Arthur, taking her hands in his. ”You didn’t ‘let them go’. You did everything you could.”

She closed her eyes sadly. “Not enough, dad.”

“(y/n/n)”, said Bill seriously. “You can’t think like that. We’re at war, we can’t go in expecting to keep everybody safe. There will be casualties. Some of the death eaters didn’t make it either. Think instead of all the people who will survive the war now thanks to you.”

“Bill, I know for a fact that Rockwood and Dolohov got away. We’re all…”, she glanced carefully at her mother. “All aware that they won’t hesitate to kill. A-”

“It’s not like they’re invincible now?”, Fred interrupted. “(y/n/n), you’ll get another chance. Just rest now, please. You’ll be back in the field in no time, and it’ll be like this never happened.”

“Sure, bu-”

“No!”, said Molly with a firm tone. “No buts! Fred is right, you need to rest, dear.” She kissed her daughter on her forehead and left the room. The others took that as a sign and left the room with a quick ‘sleep tight’ or ‘g’night’.

(y/n) Weasley tried to listen to her family and put this minor setback behind her. She managed it for a while. At least until that fateful day of the final battle between good and bad. The day when the consequences of her failure became clear. The day her younger brother lost his life because of her.

~ L

Masterlist

Mischief Managed

Nox

[aspiringharlot]

y/n takes takes care of bratty, sub, shiggy.

Ok! Eeeee! I did it! First y/n and first BNHA story done! This one is about a bratty sub Shiggy! There are some points where it’s clear I wasn’t sure what a bratty sub Shigaraki would say but hopefully overtime as I become more familiar with the characters that will change! I think I did this one pretty quickly so, forgive me, there are probably a few mistakes in terms of tense and grammar that I didn’t catch. Another little thing, this story ended up a lot fluffier/mild than I thought I was capable of and I even ended up dropping an L-bomb!

(Story Includes, mention of injury and bullet wounds, bondage elements, brat elements, l-bomb, sneak peek of little spoon Shiggy and of course, sex )

(minors please do not interact)

(tagging @palbabor-writes and @kugutsuu cause they seemed interested, p.s. don’t worry @palbabor-writes public sex and degradation Hawks is up next!)

EDIT: adding @tod0oki to the tags, happy to have you!

Enjoy!

It was hard work, keeping Tomura Shigaraki in line. Sure, you allowed him control on most days, heaven knows he needed to feel some sense of control in his life, but really there was no doubt, at the end of the day, you made the decisions in the relationship. That never stopped your Shiggy from being a brat though.

Today was just as bad as any other day wrangling your lover, only this time with the added difficulty of having to literally prevent Shigaraki from moving as he pleased. Hesitant as you were to admit it, you did not possess the brute strength required for the task. Instead you relied on a sly trick. Tying him up in bondage gear which was typically used on you.

When he was finally secured, Shigaraki whined, pulling at the restraints. Around his narrow wrists were sturdy leather straps, fitted tightly and anchored to the metal bed posts in order to restrict his movements. Your lover was red faced, lying down on his bed, dirty sheets bunched around his sweating form.

‘I should change those out soon,’ you thought before returning your attention to Tomura.

“oh, Tomura, come on… if you refuse to rest Kurogiri and I are just going to keep you tied up longer.” You lowered yourself to sit beside him on the full-sized bed, moving your hand to his head and smoothing his hair down.

Shigaraki grunted, shaking his head out of your hand in defiance. You scowled down at him.

“You know, for a man who’s been shot four times you have far too much energy.” Swiftly you stood up, dusting crumbs of food from your jeans. You really should change those sheets out… If you wait much longer there’ll be an ecosystem thriving in the cotton threads. Meh, you’ll work on it later when Shigaraki is asleep and infinitely more manageable.

Come to think of it, you should change his bandages soon. Kurogiri or the others weren’t around to do it this time, meaning you’d have to tame the beast all by yourself.

“ts.” You clicked your tongue. “I’ll be back,”

You exited the room without giving Shigaraki the chance to retort, heading straight for the kitchen cabinet responsible for holding the everyday vitamin and mineral supplements you’d feed Shigaraki. Now, however, you rummaged past the gummy vitamins, searching for a bottle of Nyquil. Upon its acquisition you turned back on your heel making your way to the bedroom your lover was restrained in. You stopped in the bathroom on your way back, collecting a pair of cosmetic scissors and gauze amongst other wound supplies. As you balanced all the items in your arms you could hear a distinct clanking noise. The noise of the restrains being tested and fought against.

You came back into the room with a sigh, looking at Tomura with dead and unamused eyes. He was fruitlessly trying to decay the leather wrapped around him, his own wrist disallowing the angle to make such a thing possible.

“Could you just, I don’t know… cooperate? Maybe, allow yourself some time to heal so you get better faster?” The eye contact you made with Shigaraki was aggressive. Testy. He smiled, curling his upper lip into a sneer.

“Make me.” He taunted.

You could see the thoughts behind his eyes. His exact line of thinking. ‘What’s y/n gonna do? Put me in time out? Make me stay in here an extra hour so I think about what I’ve done?’

In frustration you made a low noise in the back of your throat- the past two days have been utter hell. First the League’s failure at that dumb hero thing and more importantly, the four bullet wounds permeating your lover. Then there was the 12 hours you spent waiting for an underground doctor to come and dig the lead out of Shigaraki’s skin. That was 12 hours of relentless worry you had to deal with! And now, for the past day and a half you’ve had to deal with Tomura’s mood swings.

Now, it wasn’t that you didn’t understand. You were aware of the crushing feeling of personal failure which came with a train wreck you conducted. Still, you were willing to wait on Shiggy hand and foot, your only request that he allow you to take control and make him better.

But he just had to keep fighting you. Making you take drastic measures.

Your attention is caught up by the straps holding Shigaraki down, reminding you of the nights he would fuck you hard and rough, making you gasp in unrelenting pleasure. When he was done, you’d always be like putty in his hands, laying there blissfully exhausted and compliant. You curl your lips into a grinch-like smile. Of course. There was your ticket to Shigaraki’s submission.

You just have to fuck the fight out of him.

“Okay.” You finally said, nodding your head nonchalantly. “Okay. I’ll make you.” Calmly you set the supplies you gathered on the dresser top across from the bed, keeping only the scissors in your hand.

Coming up to the side of the bed you gave the scissors a few experimental snips, the metal making a distinct phip sound.

Shigaraki pressed himself back into the mattress, raising a scarred eyebrow up when you traced the scissor across the gray cotton t shirt. That single eyebrow multiplied into two as you took the scissors to begin cutting through his shirt.

Shigaraki started to squirm as he felt the cool, stale air of his room settle on his skin.

“What are you-“ you paused your delicate snipping to roughly grab the bottom half of his face in your hand, squeezing him to make his mouth fall open and halt his speaking.

“I’m making you cooperate…” You roughly released his face.

Ignoring his continued struggling, you went back to cutting his shirt open, until you were able to peel it off his body- the sweatpants he wore were next though you were hesitant to cut them. They were a grey pair which hung deliciously low on his hips and slid down lower and lower throughout the day. You decided against cutting them, instead shimmying them down to sit close to his shins. His underwear though, that was fair game. You took it off eagerly and drank in the sight of Shigaraki naked before you.

He was pale, still recovering from the blood loss he’d endured only two days prior, and his skin seemed especially swallow- giving off the appearance of fragility. You knew better however- Shigaraki, as weak as he may seem by appearance alone, was a force of nature.

Today you were making your way to the eye of the storm.

“Is getting me naked supposed to make me listen to you?” Tomura asked, his eyes narrowed to cynical slits.

“No… hah.” You let out a breathless laugh. “But this will.”

You were down between his knees in an instant, breathing hot breath over Shiggy’s cock. Before Shigaraki could fully process what you were doing, he’s hard, not that that was unusual, your lover was an easy guy to excite. Still, despite his nudity, he was not expecting this kind of attention, especially after being such a brat.

You were gentle at first, getting his cock used to the stimulation, stroking it languidly, licking at the slit of his cock a few times. You shuddered in satisfaction when you made your way down to his balls and heard him sigh in pleasure at the sensation of your warm tongue lapping at each testicle. Still, you knew better than to think a simple blow job would tame Tomura Shigaraki, successor of All For One.

For now, as you pleased him, he’d act all bashful but, as soon as you exert full control over the pacing of this intimate encounter, he’d start bratting again. When that happens, you’ll just have to take things to eleven.

“Ohh… fuck…” with a jolt, Shiggy thrust his hips up into your soft hand. To him, the pleasure was a most welcome distraction to the sharp aches of the bullet wounds scattered across his body. He’d been playing stoic about the pain for the past two days, but the wounds felt like hot agony for most of the day. He needed this pleasure.

“Your uh, your mouth.” He said, pinching his eyes up in pleasure. “y/n use your mouth on my cock.”

Immediately you ceased all contact with him. His eyes flew open.

“No.” you said with a shrug.  

Shigaraki scrunched up his eyebrows and wiggled his hips childishly, making his cock swing like a metronome. “Yes!”

You firmly locked your hands on his hips, stilling the movement, “No.”

“W- Why? “ he whined. “Why aren’t you rubbing my cock anymore?” his voice pitched up, revealing how badly he wanted to feel your touch.

“Well,” You start. “You haven’t been very cooperative with me. I mean, why should you make all the decisions? Why do you get to dictate both what you do and what I do, Hmm? That doesn’t seem very fair.” Your own voice took on a condescending lilt and you tilted his head up with your finger so you could properly look into his eyes. His pupils were blown wide with lust and along his temple you could faintly see a pulse point pumping blood in time with the throbbing of his erection.

He wanted it. Bad.

“Let me take care of you, just leave everything to me…” you brought yourself down to his level to softly mutter in his ear. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”

You didn’t have to wait for his response to know what he was going to say.

“Suck my cock, now.” He growled.

You took a deep breath and pulled your own shirt off over your head, not as you normally would, but as women do in tv and movies, all in one fluid motion. Your jeans were next, as you slid them off your bare legs, your panties joining them on the floor moments later.

With the grace of a swan you climbed over Shigaraki, positioning yourself on your hands and knees as you backed yourself up to his face.

“Oh so now y/n’s gonna be a big, strong, woman and make me- mhfmfmfm!” You grinded your pussy against his face, enjoying the psychological pleasure more than the physical. Grinding your labia against any ole thing wouldn’t really do it for you- but knowing that Tomura could barely breathe around your pussy as it sat right on his face gave you butterflies and made your hole start to gush.

“There you go… Good Boy…” You panted. Finally you pulled yourself away from Tomura’s mouth and flipped around, now straddling him cowgirl. In seconds, your hand wrapped around his member and positioned it to slide right in your hole. You sat down and took in the shocked, but pleasure-ridden face of Tomura.

You started to grind your hips down and bounce experimentally. In the past, the two of you have refrained from cowgirl, Shigaraki always wanting to hold full control over the action of fucking your pussy. As he laid back and felt his toes start to curl and twitch in pleasure he wondered if he was an idiot.

“See, Tomura~” you cooed as you leaned down, dangling your clothed breasts in his face. “Wasn’t my course of action so much better? Now you get to feel my wet pussy against your cock, isn’t that so much better?”

At a loss for words Shigaraki nodded his head frantically. He was already close. You smiled.

“So does that mean you’re gonna listen to me? Cooperate and do what I say?” that particular phrasing removed him from his headspace of ecstatic compliance.

“Nuh- No!” he choked out as you bounce faster and harder. Shigaraki started gasping and clenching his eyes shut, trying to block out the pleasure to last longer.

“Yes~ you’re gonna give in to me, Tomu-”

“Nu- oh fuck!”  he shook his head before tensing up, his whole body becoming stiff underneath you as you felt three hot spurts of cum fill your pussy. You chuckled, you didn’t even have to clench down on his cock to make him come, just the sensation of you bouncing on his cock was enough.

You stilled yourself as he laid under you, gauging his reaction to the orgasm.

He was flushed, and still panting heavily, meaning he came pretty hard. You clench down as his sensitive cock remains in your pussy and giggled when he let out a high pitched keen.

“So, are you gonna be good now? Are you gonna stay in bed for me?” Shigaraki blinked heavily, coming back to himself.

“You’re never…hah… going to get me to…hah… cooperate… hah…” His eyes fluttered shut despite themselves. You bit your lip. It couldn’t be helped. You were gonna have to keep riding him.

Just as Shigaraki’s breath started to even out you rose off of him, only to sink back down at full force. Shigaraki was taken out of his cool down by both the pain coming from the irritation of his bullet wounds and the pleasure of his cock being stimulated.

“Whuu? No, no it’s too sensitive!” he cried out. You said nothing, grinding down into him, fucking him like an animal.

As you continued fucking him Shigaraki trembled beneath you, whimpering in unrestrained pleasure, pulling against the leather cuffs which restricted his free reign. The noises he made were downright sinful, varieties of “ah, ah, ah”’s  and “oh fuck, fuck, fuck!”’s being commonly repeated noises.

You gazed down at his face- his eyes rolling around in his skull, frequently fluttering shut only to shoot open when you switched up the rhythm you used. His skin was flushed to hell and back- making him look obscenely cute as he whined out in pleasure, mouth open, drool dripping from the corners of his lips. As you continued looking, you had an epiphany. You loved Tomura. You loved, loved Tomura. You want him to get better and you want to see him let go like this every day.

In the moment you say it.

“I love you.”

Shigaraki flooded your pussy with more cum- gasping loudly as he rode out his orgasm. There’s no way he heard your little confession. And you were okay with that. It’d probably be better to reveal that when he’s not confined to his bed.

You pulled yourself off his cock and felt cum drip down from your thighs. You yourself haven’t cum, but you have accomplished your goal. One look at Shiggy told you that he was too blissed out to fight against your care. Your hand went to rest on his cheek.

“You’re going to be good, yeah? Let me do what I need to do?” you stroked the patch of dry skin under your fingertips.

Shiggy sleepily nodded. Looks like you wouldn’t be need the Nyquil.

Shigaraki laid still as you moved to tend to his wounds- tenderly cleaning them and re bandaging the sore holes. His joints would be sore as well. You decided to uncuff Shigaraki and maneuver his funky gloves on his hands.

When you’re done you pulled your lover’s sweatpants back up and crawl into bed behind him, For tonight you decided against changing the sheets. Instead you got comfortable in the well-used sheets, repositioning Shiggy so he could be your little spoon. You took a deep breath and smelled his hair. It was a little ew, but you didn’t mind. Just as you thought about your revelation, you heard a soft sigh.  

You smiled and cuddled closer, whispering those three words.

“I love you.”

And though you couldn’t see it, Tomura Shigaraki’s eyes widened from their slitted state for just a moment before a soft yet excited smile graced his features.  Slowly, his eyes slid shut again as he relaxed into your arms.

[americancowgirl19]

Old Times

Summary: You find your purpose in hopes of easing your conscious. 

Warnings: angst, fluff, this is a part 2/sequel

Reader: Female Reader

Pairings: Dick Grayson x Reader

Word Count: 1,878

A/n: I thought I would tag you two since you mentioned you guys wanted a part two; @pleasestophoney​ @graysonswonder​

Masterlist - Part One (Eight Year)

Fuck whoever said knowing was the better choice. Knowing sucked and you wished that you were back to being in the dark about the things you’ve done. Sure, when you couldn’t remember your mind filled in the blanks for you. You would imagine what you had done. You’re imagination was far more merciful compared to the truth.

Your memories returned to you mainly at night, although you got flashes during the day if you were ‘lucky’. As time passed you became more and more aware of how dangerous and deadly you had become. In the last eight years, you were a merciless killing machine that made the Joker look like a fucking kitty cat.

The more you remembered the more you considered handing yourself over to the members of the League that wanted your head. You understood their need for revenge. Hell, if someone had done to you what you had done to them, you’d be demanding justice yourself.

You shared your father’s rule of no killing, at least you did before you were taken, but you knew you’d break that rule if someone killed anyone in your family. In fact, if you weren’t so scared of reverting into a mindless beast you would have torn the Joker apart for killing Jason. But you feared if you killed him, you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself.

“What’re you doing out here?” Dick questions groggily. You turn your head just enough to see him in your peripheral vision. You had been sitting on the balcony of your shared apartment in Bludhaven for a couple of hours now.

It was one of the rare nights Dick had come home early. Bludhaven was quiet thus prompting Dick to return home to you sooner than usual. Since your return a couple of months ago, Dick continued being Bludhaven’s Nightwing. 

You weren’t ready to join him as Nightshade. Although, that didn’t stop you from using your enhanced hearing to keep track of him. If he was in a trouble he couldn’t get out of, you could get to him within a minute. Luckily he hasn’t needed you yet. You doubted he would. He has survived eight years without you.

You felt guilty for not staying in bed with him. You only got him to yourself so often but you didn’t want to keep him up with your restlessness. He needed his sleep.

Dick joins you on the patio loveseat. He looks at you before sliding his arm around your waist. You shuffle as he pulls you onto his lap. His natural warmth engulfs you. You almost moan as you settle into his comforting embrace.

“I have the day off tomorrow,” Dick mutters, resting his head on yours. You hum snuggling closer to him.

“You have the day off or you’re taking the day off?” You wonder.

“Either way you’ve got me all day tomorrow... later today,” He corrects himself noticing that it’s technically early morning instead of late at night.

“You don’t have to take off work to babysit me,” You mumble.

“I don’t have to do anything but I want to spend the day with you tomorrow,” He tells you. Having grown up with his stubbornness, you let it go. “It’s gonna be a sunny day. I thought I’d take you to a market in the next town over,” A small smile comes to your lips. “Do you wanna try and get some more sleep?

“I was actually debating pouring a stiff drink,” You admit. “I’m gonna have to see if Wally will talk to me and give me some of that strong shit he drinks cause what you have tastes like water,” Dick scoffs.

“You used to get fucked off of three beers,” Dick mutters.

“Then I got super metabolism and cheap drinking went out the window,” You grumble. Dick kisses the crown of your head.

“I’ll give him a call,” He whisper. 

“Diana sent you an email while you were asleep,” You tell him. He hums questionably. “They’re making a memorial for the fallen... I wonder if they’ll ask me to be a guest speaker,” You snark sarcastically. Dicks grip around you tightens. “I guess they figured since I’m ‘back-to-normal’ there won’t be anymore mass superhero killings,” Your eyes become misty. “She was nice enough to put a list attachment,” You voice shakes. “Katherine, John, Oliver... Donna,” You clench your eyes as you slowly breakdown.

“Hey, hey, stop,” You shift to straddle his waste. You cling to him, your head falling into his neck. He pets the back of your head and rub circles into your back. “Shh, sweetheart, it’s alright,” You try to keep collected even though you’re falling apart. “Y/n, look at me.. Please, baby,” You reluctantly pull from his neck. He presses his head against yours. “Tell me what to do, how can I help?”

You didn’t know how to answer, so you just move your head back to the crook of his neck. His arms lock around you as tightly as he can hoping that he can hold you together.

How could you come to terms with what happened? It’s not like there’s a shrink that could be trusted with the information in your mind. It’s not like that many people knew what you were going through. You just wanted to be normal again.

When you calmed down, Dick continued to hold you tightly. You would sniffle here and there but other than that neither of you made any noise. When you slowly began to drift off, Dick stood from the loveseat. His hands held you securely to his chest as he carried you back to bed.

When you both laid down, you faced each other. There was hardly space between you but enough to look at each other. The light of the moon gave just enough light to be able to see prominent features of his face.

“It won’t be like this forever,” He promises, brushing his fingers across your cheek. Your eyes slowly begin to close.

“Do you think there’ll be an antique shop by the market tomorrow?” You wonder.

“I’m sure we can find one,” He whispers, tugging you to his chest. You snuggle close, lightly kissing his peck.

When the sun rose, neither of your were necessarily in a hurry to leave the comfort of the bed. It wasn’t until a little past noon did you two finally get up. You tried to be uplifting and happy as you went through the market but settled for content and not sobbingly falling apart.

You had nearly a half an hour of peaceful normalcy until you picked up on someone following you. You didn’t know if Dick noticed but you began directing him to a secluded alley. You were halfway down when you sensed something coming toward you.

Instinctively, you spun around and pushed Dick behind you. You hand flew up and caught the red arrow. Toward the end of the alley stood someone you used to get along with but now looked at you with murderous intent. You pushed Dick a good few feet away from you seconds before the arrow exploded. The explosion only singed parts of your outfit.

“Roy!” Dick snapped, glaring at the redhead. 

“Why do you get to walk away?” Roy snapped, gripping his bow. “You hunt us down and kill us for eight years.” He snarls.

“That wasn’t her, Roy” Dick tells him. “She didn’t have a choice,”

“How convenient for her,” Roy snaps. You cast your gaze to the ground in shame.

“What are you doing here Roy? What do you want?” Dick asks, standing with you shoulder-to-shoulder.

“I want justice,” Roy snaps. “You don’t get to slaughter people and just walk away,”

“It wasn’t her,” Dick growls, clenching his fists. “She wasn’t in control, she-”

“I’ll stand trial,” You cut Dick off. His head whips around to you. “The league will decide what happens,”

“They’ve already voted on what to do with you,” Dick reminds both you and Roy. “They know you weren’t in control. You’re just as much a victim as the others,” You look at Dick, your mind reeling.

“Then lets get the bastard that pulled my strings,” You say. You turn your head to Roy.

“They’ve already tried finding the ones that took you,” Roy says.

“Yeah, well they didn’t have me,” You tell him. “I have a better chance than anyone at finding them. You want justice? I want redemption. Let’s avenge those that died,” Roy stares at you, obviously intrigued with the idea. “I can’t do it alone, I’ll need help,”

“We’ll need a team,” Dick says. “Those we trust,” He emphasized. The last thing he wanted was someone convinced you were the problem and trying to kill you in your sleep. He would already have his hands full with the mission and keeping an eye on Roy.

“Have anyone in mind?” Roy tilts his head. 

“A few,” You mutter.

Within a couple of weeks, your team was put together. You convinced Conner to come so that you would have added muscle and someone strong enough to stand against you should the ones you’re going after rescramble your mind. Wally joined mainly to keep the mood lifted and tensions as low as possible. His naturally happy aurora would hopefully keep Roy from turning against you all and to keep him fighting with Dick. 

Plus him and Conner were your friends before all this happened and were the few that remained by your side after all these years.

The last to join was Jason. You added the Joker to the list of people you needed to take down. You wanted him because one, he’s your brother, and two, he’s willing to kill. He knew how to do what needed to be done and most of the people you were going after didn’t deserve a trial nor a second chance.

The six of you were a large and qualified team. You knew not to underestimate you opponent. You knew how to work together. And you all had a reason to fight.

For the first time you felt like you had a purpose, a true and righteous purpose.

“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Dick, dressed in his Nightwing, costume questions stepping up to you. You smile, readjusting your mask.

It didn’t feel right to become Nightshade again. You weren’t that person anymore. You were someone else now. Tim redesigned your costume as you donned a new name.

“This is something I need to do,” You tell him. “I don’t know if it’ll settle the nightmares or ease the guilt but hopefully it’ll give others a sense of closure if we get them and prevent this from happening again,”

“Ok,” Dick mutters, nodding. “If this gets too much, step back and let us handle it,”

“Please,” You smirk. “Without me, you idiots would be running around like chickens without a head,” Dick smirks widely. “Don’t worry so much, baby, it’ll be like old times,” You wink kissing his cheek. The simple kiss isn’t enough for him. His arm instantly slings around your waist and pulls you against him.

Dick presses his lips against yours. You breathe slowly through your nose and lean against him.

“Just like old times,” He murmurs against your lips.

[riathedreamer]

Zero is Null

A discussion of Zero’s love-hate-relationship with RvB and struggling independence; including a hotdog too big for the bun, tragic backstories, a single bow-chicka-bow-wow, and a cookie at the very end.

Welcome to what will be a lot of text. Basically, it will explore why Zero fails as an RvB (with emphasis on RvB) season. I will not be the first one to bring forth some of the points, and I promise to be fair and civil and fun. This isn’t supposed to be a piece of hate – in fact, I’m writing this because I love Red vs. Blue.

Okay, first of all, to increase your fun – take a guess on just how much of Zero is spent on fight scenes. You see, I’ve calculated the exact amount, and I will reveal it later, but for now, take a guess and remember the number. Maybe you are the winner!

Alright, time to share my thoughts. Wait! Since I suffer from anxiety and have this one annoying voice pretending to be all those critical statements my opinion could be met with, let’s give it an actual voice and address the points throughout this review.

“Why would I care about your opinion, Ria?” – I don’t know, you’re the one who clicked Read More.

“Your opinion doesn’t matter!” – Of course, it doesn’t! Geez. Do you think your opinion matters, though? Listen, we’re on Tumblr, the actual equivalent of screaming into the void. And it’s fun, too!

“If you don’t like it, don’t watch!” - *activates Uno Reverse Card* “You can’t talk about something you haven’t watched!”

“You’re just a Hater” – Actually, this is a point I’ll come back to. Like a cliffhanger. Also, at the end of this, there’ll be a cookie. But this will also include me talking about the stuff I like, because, surprise, Zero is not without talent!

“You just don’t like it because the Reds and Blues aren’t in it!” – Actually, that’s a good point, so instead, this review will start with a sole focus on Zero and discuss the problem that lies within that story. Then we can address why the lack of OG cast is understandable and problematic and weird.

But first! Backstory.

When the first 5 second teaser dropped back in spring (you know, when we were young and innocent and the world didn’t feel like an apocalyptic movie yet), I held onto that one image of what I thought (hoped) to be Grif and Simmons in the sunset, hopefully addressing Grif’s hateglue arc, but boy was I wrong because a) that’s not Simmons, that’s Sarge, and b) the image was from a PSA since the Reds are not in Zero.

Actual face-reveal of me below:

Admittedly, when I heard that the Reds and Blues were not going to be the main characters (or even show up), it felt like a gut punch. However, I actually found myself getting excited due to the creators’ hype. I want to praise them for this. It’s been a while since an RvB season was talked so much ABOUT before its release; it had advertisements, it had creators and voice-actors talking about it. Please. More of that in the future. Their passion rubbed off on me, and that deserves recognition. So it pains me that this was clearly a passion-project, and then when I gave it a try, I didn’t want to touch it again for weeks.

Here’s the thing. I cannot whole-heartedly say that Zero is bad. It’s not gonna melt your eyes. It’s not even so-bad-it’s-good. For me, it’s meh. It’s a Saturday-morning-cartoon aimed for a younger audience with a rushed plot and clichéd characters. The problem is that it calls itself RvB, and with that title comes something to live up to – but more importantly, something to continue.

My main issue is that Zero forces its story into existence by ignoring established content rather than adjusting to it. Let’s call this for the hotdog-too-big-for-the-bun syndrome solely for the sake of the bow-chicka-bow-wow that’s coming now. Bow-chicka-bow-wow. Many of the separate issues I will dive into all add to this hotdog-issue, so I will scream “Hotdog!” whenever this is the case so we can all keep track of my argument.

You can continue the story of Red vs. Blue without the Reds and Blues. While that would personally crush my heart, it can be done. There’s a story of Red vs. Blue that can be continued. The world can be expanded, the previous actions of the Reds and Blues can be explored from another angle.

So.

How does Zero do this? It doesn’t.

I just want to make it clear that new elements can definitely be added when it comes to worldbuilding. That’s literally the point of sequels. But Zero’s settings are presented with so little grace and with no connection to previously established worldbuilding. We get Alliance of Defense and GLASS thrown in our face as very big important organizations – yet we’ve never heard of them before. A big central plot point of RvB is the UNSC and Project Freelancers, and those were introduced naturally with the plot. We already have big established intergalactic organizations. What is AOD’s connection with those? We aren’t told. We are just told they exist and expected to accept it, no questions asked. If this was a whole new world and story – fine. But when you need to build on an already established worldbuilding, you need more grace than this. Chorus was a whole new setting, but it was explained, and it was connected to the previous plot. Same with Iris. Same with Desert Gulch. In Zero, it feels lazy. It feels forced. These organizations are just there because the story is built around them (HOTDOG).

This vagueness when it comes to wordbuilding is also reflected in the settings - we have a desert, a training base, a lab, temples, Tucker’s workplace, and we do not know if all those are set place on the same planet. If that is the case, what is this planet’s relationship with Chorus? Is it Earth? And most importantly, what is the deal with the temples? Why are they connected to Tucker’s sword if it isn’t the same planet. Are they made by the same aliens? Are people okay with this? Why haven’t these temples been explored before? Chorus makes sure to establish this, while Zero doesn’t, adding to a growing amount of confusion.

Okay, so no connection with previous worldbuilding. What about characters? I mean, we got Wash and Carolina and Tucker! So we have RvB characters, it gotta be RvB! Technically – yeah. But it feels dirty. These three characters are not here to be characters. They are here to be props to the new cast. They are not given any development. Their presence isn’t even that important, and if this was a whole new show, they could easily have been replaced with an unknown face. Worst of all, they feel miswritten.

Carolina and Wash are working at a new military organization? Leaving the Reds and Blues behind? To help people? First of all, fucking bad idea, Carolina, the last time you left the Reds and Blues alone, they changed the timeline. But most importantly – Carolina and Wash just joined this new super elite military organization? After being mistreated and manipulated by such an organization in the past?

Carolina is there to introduce the characters. That’s it. We are force-fed their personality by having her literally read out loud their personality. There is no gentle introduction to the new cast. We are not allowed to get to know them naturally. Why show when you can tell, huh? That’s Carolina’s role. That’s why she is there. To introduce the cast and explain their story. That’s it. (HOTDOG).

How about Wash? He is there to get beat up and be a damsel in distress so that the new cast has a reason to explore the plot. Oh, and that brain damage that was the consequence of previous seasons – gone now. The guy who literally has trauma from having an AI explode inside his head is fine with having a computer inserted into it instead. Because that’s needed. To explore his brain damage wouldn’t work now when his role is to be a prop to lure the new cast for one episode and then be put onto the bench for the rest of the runtime (HOTDOG).

And Tucker – he is there to die for a second and have his sword taken from him. That’s literally it. And for the few moments he is there, he feels like old super flirty Tucker, which erases the character development he went through in previous seasons. Okay, so Tucker dies, and then not dies, and then he is put on the bench with Wash where they can sit and talk or whatever (‘cause holy shit, the new cast is not allowed to that), because he isn’t important. The sword is. Tucker is just a prop, even more than his sword is (HOTDOG).

Damn. Wash gets beat up. Tucker gets beat up. Dies. Gets his sword taken away. Almost seems like a Red’s wet dream. Sorry not sorry, Blues, you were done dirty.

So there are miswritten old characters. Even worse is the retconning. The plot needs a “normal” Wash, so, bam, magic computer solution. Never mind Wash’s trauma and character traits. Never mind the logic of the new worldbuilding which also includes a character suffering for years to heal an illness. But the brain damage that was such a big consequence that it became the main part of the plot of the last two seasons – gone. I mean, a gunshot to the head can be healed by CPR. That’s canon. But no one gave Wash CPR so it’s a big thing, okay. It was canonically a big thing, and Zero erased that. This is not me saying that a Cerebral Enhancer couldn’t work in the RvB universe. Imagine it being done right. Wash struggling with the choice of getting used to his disability or accepting the possibility of help - at the cost of reliving his trauma. The struggle between what to choose - what should he choose when he wants to help as many as possible, the sacrifices he thinks he has to make, the way it could have been used as a part of his character growth. But in Zero, the enhancer isn’t a part of Wash’s character. It’s there so the story can work without having to deal with the previous plot’s consequence (HOTDOG).

Same with the sword thing. They sorta explain it by having Tucker flatline, but it’s weak. Honestly, I find it sorta offensive. What about Locus’ sword as well? It’s twisting previous lore to make the new plot work (HOTDOG). (Also, are we not gonna talk about the ultimate power being Spencer Porkensenson’s helmet? Have the writers forgotten Spencer Porkensenson? Have we as a community forgotten Spencer Porkensenson?)

If you have Red vs. Blue in your title, you cannot ignore what you inherit from it. You need to respect the worldbuilding, the established characters, and the previous plot. Zero does not do this.

Let’s talk about the Triplets. No, really, let’s do it. I don’t think I’ve ever talked about them before, because season 14 was a mixed bag for me (that I have now learned to appreciate. Thank you, Zero.) because I have heart at the size of the Grinch and can only love a few characters at a time, and that did not include the Triplets. Can’t even remember their names. Well, I can, but I can’t for the love of me remember which state is which, and my tongue is twisted every time I try to say Ohio, Iowa, and Idaho, and I know it’s on purpose. I know it is. And it got me good. That being said, the fandom actually embraced them really, really well! Seriously, I’ve seen more content for the Triplets than for Zero as a whole.

Why talk about the Triplets? (Was Iowa the lesbian? Or was it Ohio? Fuck.) Because like Zero, they introduced new characters with a story of their own. The Reds and Blues didn’t play a role. But here’s what I feel like the Triplets got right. They didn’t change the settings to force their narrative. They used stuff already established (Project Freelancer), added their own story as a continuation of that. They even included old characters in the beginning (Wash and some other Freelancers) but it felt natural and it didn’t feel like it happened at the expense of the old characters. Wash’s writing felt natural, and his presence wasn’t needed to tell these new character’s stories. He wasn’t a prop to them. He was there to establish the setting and to establish the relationship with these new characters, and then he and the other familiar faces (helmets??) left, and we as the viewers were left with these new characters. And the new characters told their own story by themselves. It felt like, hey, here’s something you know – remember Mother of Invention, and remember Wash’ lower rank, but now, try to imagine being even lower rank than him, aren’t you curious about those fates? Now let’s hear their story! It was new, it was something else, but it didn’t wreck what came before it, and it stayed true to the classic vibes of RvB.

As I said before, the hotdog-issue is my biggest problem with Zero. It infuriates me. I will return to this. But there are more issues, even if we try to look past the title-related problems.

If we try to imagine Zero as its own story and universe (as it should be, in my opinion), it still earns the meh review from me.

These isolated issues include awkwardness, the writing, lack of self-awareness, and pacing. First of all, holy shit, this is a tell, don’t show. Nothing is subtle, nothing is allowed to develop. It’s like the show thinks you are six years old with an attention span of a goldfish. You are not just led by the hand – they have literally pulled off your arm by the end of the show. We are force-fed every bit of information, every bit of personality from these new characters.

The voice-acting is a mixed bag for me. Sometimes it’s pretty good, sometimes it’s not. Some of the problems can definitely be blamed on the dialogue that you can only do so much with. It’s not good. I can’t remember any good jokes (the one joke I really appreciate was the cast on armor, and that was freaking visual humor. That was so RvB. Kudos to that. It was fun. More of that, please.), and RvB is known for having memorably good lines. This is a show built on good, clever, funny dialogue. Zero does not deliver. You have to sit through clichéd lines – “You’re not my dad”, “I trusted you”, “Come with me”, “It can’t be!”, “She’s way too powerful”, and “We have to do this together” – performed unironically. I cringed more than I laughed. Worst thing is that Zero could be a good parody. Sometimes, it feels like it is. One-dimensional characters, a villain wanting ‘the ultimate power’, very overpowered characters, bad one-liners, etc. But Zero takes itself seriously, and I was one of the people rooting for Jax to show up at the end and yell “Cut”. That would have been a funny-as-fuck twist. A spin-off parody. If I can’t have “Sarge the Movie”, I would have taken that and loved it. I would have forgiven everything. “We put so much info into finding that power, but we had no idea what it was” is really a line in the finale, and I cannot believe this is real in a show that somehow still tries to present itself as serious. What a plot.

We have to talk about pacing. God, first of all it should be stated that RvB is a mess when it comes to pacing. I honestly get what they were going for. Sometimes, RvB has come across as a bit boring when you get three episodes stretched over three weeks without much going on. I know season 11 did not have the warmest welcome because it was seen as boring until the finale. But when you see season 11 as a whole, as a movie, as a part of a trilogy, it works so well. Zero is more focused on being episodic. They want something to happen all the time so we will stay tuned. The thing that will happen – a fight. Oh god. The fight scenes.

I have done the math. I have run the numbers. I deserve a freaking cookie for this. Are you ready?

If you put all the episodes together, you have a runtime of 106 minutes. HOWEVER, with the introduction of credits in every episode, you gotta account for this. Removing the credits, this gives us 94 minutes of actual runtime. Out of that, 45 minutes are dedicated to fight scenes. That means 48% of the show is fight scenes.

If I wanted that many fight scenes, I’d watch Death Battle. Except the actual RvB Death Battle episode has a runtime of 20 minutes, and out of that, 5 minutes is dedicated to the actual battle. For the people who hate math – that’s 25% of the actual runtime.

RvB Zero has more fight scenes than a show called Death Battle. Take that in.

The pace suffers from this. Where’s the time to explore the characters? Where’s the time for good dialogue? All I can think of is this:

I get that RvB is a show that’s literally making fun of itself by acknowledging all their characters do is stand around and talk. I get that you want characters to do more than that. But for the love of Church, would it kill the new characters to stand around and talk? For just a minute? Stop fighting, I am begging you, stop fighting! Am I a pacifist now? Am I purple? Have I joined Doc’s team? What has Zero done to me?!

The good thing though is that fight scenes are very good. They’re entertaining. However, they seem to deconstruct themselves when we need to get a fight scene in every episode. Usually, the few fight scenes in an RvB season were in some of the most climatic episodes. In Zero, I can hardly keep up with the pace because they won’t stop moving. Fight scenes aren’t plot. They aren’t character development. You need more than just fight scenes. They entertain, but there’s a limit to that.

Noël Wiggins, the co-writer, stated the inspiration was a Saturday-morning cartoon. They nailed that vibe. If that was their goal, hurray, they have accomplished something! Because of the poor plot and constant fight scenes, it feels like you could just switch on the TV and drop in at any moment and let yourself be entertained by the cool and colorful soldiers punching and kicking each other. I will admit that the fight scenes entertained me. But they don’t make it a good season.

If I were the six-year-old with the attention span of a goldfish that the show believes I am, I honestly would enjoy it. The stiff dialogue and the constant tell-don’t-show makes you feel like an audience that’s not supposed to do anything else but admire the flashy fight scenes. I miss the cleverness of RvB. I miss the characters I get to connect with as I see them grow.

I miss the tone of RvB. Because this isn’t RvB to me.

It’s not that RvB hasn’t changed its tone before. Holy shit, I sorta do want to experience the absolute shock the RvB fandom went through when s6 aired and they were given new characters and serious plot. I would have loved to experience that, but I was too busy being ten years old. The Freelancers seasons also introduced a new tone and more fight scenes with very talented fighters compared to the Blood Gulch gang, but a balance was kept by having half of the season still revolving around the Reds and Blues. But Zero – Zero is so much change. And it’s on purpose. At least this has been made very clear from the beginning.

They constantly seem to appeal to new fans, rather than be directed towards older fans of the show. If you want an entirely new audience with a season with a new cast, new worldbuilding, and new tone, I’m confused as to why they don’t just make a new show. The hotdog-problem begs for this solution. This story and environment and characters feel so out of touch with the original RvB, that with a few rewrites and lack of Halo-armor, it could just be a new show. Problem solved.

If not this, then present it as a spin-off. In all ways, it feels like a spin-off (again, see everything marked HOTDOG). But the creators refuse to do this, and I don’t understand why. I could forgive many of these issues, had they officially separated themselves from canon.

Ah, what’s the idiom? You can’t both swallow and blow? (You can hear the Bow-chicka-bow-wow in the distance). Something about eating cake and having it. Forgive me, English isn’t my native language. POINT IS why are you calling yourself RvB while actively fighting against the core essence of RvB? In my humble opinion, you can’t be both. Marketing it as a spin-off would have granted it some defense when changing, well, literally everything, and I just, would someone please properly describe why it isn’t a spin-off? Isn’t this season marked by its association with the plot of RvB rather than a continuation of it? Zero presenting itself as not a spinoff feels like a toddler clinging to the hem of its mother’s dress while forcefully running away from her, ripping the dress in the process.

When they do connect with the original RvB, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. When they let Carolina, Wash, and Tucker appear for a moment, it feels like luring viewers in with the RvB title. Look at me. Look at me! I’m not saying this is the case. I say that it gives me the annoying vibes of being lured, rather than letting the characters be a part of the show for their own development, rather than having RvB in the title to continue its story. I should not be getting these vibes at all. But I am.

If you want to use RvB in the title, something from the core of RvB needs to be embraced. Things can be changed. They should. Something new should be brought in. But there’s a limit to how much you can change and replace and twist until it would have been better with an original show. As a season of RvB, it should tell the story of Red vs. Blue.

From my perspective, Zero fails to do so.

It pains me that the old cast has been replaced, but as stated earlier, a season could have worked without them. However, I do not like the take that one should be excited about all the new characters. That it isn’t a big thing that the OG cast got replaced. That we should just deal with it. Just, try to imagine another show suddenly replacing the main characters with characters we’ve never met before. Imagine RWBY suddenly only focusing on a new team of huntresses with the previous main characters reduced to an Easter Egg presence, or Camp Camp suddenly being about a new team of campers, no warning given. Can you imagine the outcry? So maybe let’s agree that a replacement of the main cast is a big thing and should be addressed and it’s valid to be upset about this change.

Could Zero have worked? It’s hard to answer this. How can I accept something as RvB if the season actively pushes away the core of RvB aside for an isolated story that could have been told in any other media? As a spinoff, I could have ignored it. To enjoy Zero, I have to fully separate it from RvB in my mind, and then it’s alright. S’not good. But it’s not bad. It’s entertaining enough. I really ended up liking Raymond and Tiny, and there were a few good jokes, and the fight scenes were admirable (but too much) and I love the creators’ passion. But it’s not RvB. I also wish that the new characters had been attached to previous worldbuilding, for example soldiers on Chorus or agents from Project Freelancer. That way we could build on familiar lore which would have decreased the confusion and added a much needed connection with the previous seasons of RvB.

God, the anxious voice is back (by the way, it sounds like Tutter from “Bear in the Blue House”).

“You’re racist” – I hope not. Literally, I do not want to be. Tell me if I’ve ever crossed some lines, because I swear, that is not my intention, I will apologize and most of all, change and do better. I included this because I’ve seen this take thrown around in the big ugly mess that is the fandom clashes regarding Zero. And racism is problem within RT community (this includes AH and RvB, sorry, I just use RT as an umbrella term for the latter), and I’m not saying it hasn’t been a problem with this season. Writers should never be harassed, and never-fucking-ever because of their skin color, and voice actors shouldn’t be treated like they are responsible for the choices of the show. But I was legit nervous to post this review, and I hope it’s been factual without feeling like personal attacks on the creators because that has never been my intention. I was delighted to hear about the diversity behind this project, and Torrian’s passion legit blew me away because it’s been a while since I’ve seen that for an RvB project. I’d hoped for it to be good, and when I feel disappointed, it’s for the reasons stated in this analysis. That said, Zero is made by a diverse cast and it’s made with love, and both of those things are so, so great, but it does not mean that Zero cannot be criticized. It can, and it should. It’s a product, just like all the other seasons, and fans are allowed to discuss it – both what they loved, and both what they found troublesome. And to repeat previous points, and be respectful, always, fuck racists, and never-fucking-ever harass the staff behind a season, what the fuck is wrong with you if you do this.

“Don’t you get it, it’s different because it’s trying something new!” – Hey, remember the philosophical question: if you replace all the parts of a ship one-by-one, is it still the same ship when you’re done? If it doesn’t include the Reds and Blues, if it ignores previous plot, if the old characters feel miswritten, if it values animation over dialogue, if it values fight scenes over comedy, if it wants to be Fast and Furious instead of Red vs. Blue – is it still Red vs. Blue? Because it doesn’t feel like it to me.

“It's been 17 seasons, it’s time to let the Reds and Blues go so someone else can shine!” – I simply do not understand us having been with the Reds and Blues for 17 seasons should be an argument to let them go, rather than be an argument as to why their absence hurt like hell.

“The Reds and Blues ran out of things to do!” – Did- did they, though? I mean, if we were discussing pretty much any other show, I’d probably agree that they were running out of content. But for the Reds and Blues… I think the PSAs nailed it this year! I’m not kidding, I had more fun watching the Reds and Blues discuss how to do laundry than watching Zero. You could literally give me an hour of the Reds and Blues trying to bake a cake or clear a gutter or simply settling down with an ordinary life, and I would trust them to make it worth the watch.

“The flaws were due to the fact it’s only 8 episodes long!” – Look, I can only judge a product the way it’s presented to me. I cannot come up with excuses for it. If they had 8 episodes to work with, they need to come up with a plot that works with this runtime. Seriously, this excuse cannot work when 48% of the season is spent on fight scenes. They could have used more runtime, sure, but the show needs to be able to pace itself and be planned accordingly.

“The OG cast couldn’t be a part of this year, hence Zero!” – That might be true. But. Would one year without RvB kill it? Is Zero necessary? Again, I just can’t judge excuses for the show. But trouble with the cast has been an issue before. Season 15 solves Geoff’s sabbatical by actually making Grif’s absence a part of the plot. Zero’s lack of Reds and Blues just feels like this excuse to tell a story that needn’t be a part of RvB.

Am I a hater? I guess? I greatly dislike Zero for the critique stated above. I do, however, not harass the creators and no one should ever do that. However, I have to admit that I feel there’s been this weird rejection of any critique of Zero where everything’s been brushed off as haters gonna hate, including the critique stated above. And I think that’s a problem because critique, as hard as it can be to hear (and I know this. I’m an author of original works. Weird flex, I know), is valid and necessary and shouldn’t just be shrugged away. As always, both sides of the fandom should always be respectful, but my own opinion is that addressing the flaws of Zero should not be controversial.

Does this super long rant/critique/whatever mean you cannot enjoy Zero? Gods no! I almost envy you if you enjoy this season, but holy shit, feel free to love it and tell the creators that you love it! Me pointing out the issues I have with the season shouldn’t be stopping you. I loved (and still love) s15 when it came out, and it was majorly rejected by the fandom. There were many, many critical posts, people were going on about how RvB should have ended with s13, and it evolved into the writer receiving death threats (me, once again: never ever harass the creators, assholes). But I didn’t tell people to stop being negative. I actually agreed with many of the flaws that were pointed out, and I enjoyed the season despite this, because that is possible. We, as RvB fans, should agree that RvB, is... I mean, it’s not the greatest, most flawless of shows, but we love it nonetheless. So go ahead and love Zero. This is not a stop sign. This is my opinion that you chose to read.

Wait, I promised you a cookie, didn’t I? Well, you’re not getting one. Why? Because I’m a Red and this is my chance to piss off a Blue. As Caboose wisely said: “Well, at least I don't go around... knocking on people's non-doors... and promising them cookies... and then NOT. GIVING. THEM. COOKIES!”

Blue Team sucks.

End speech.

[btsqualityy]

Assuage: Chapter 7

Yoongi x Reader

Genre: ABO (Alpha/Beta/Omega) dynamics, angst, fluff, smut, enemies to lovers

Warnings: None to note.

By the end of the week, Yoongi had gotten upwards of 15 more offers from multiple Omegas and even a few Alphas. On one hand, he was annoyed because after turning down a few, he would’ve thought that word would spread around the pack that he wasn’t looking for anything serious right at that moment. However, on the other hand, he kind of...liked the attention. 

It’s nice to feel wanted and desired, and after receiving the explanation from you and the others as to why everyone was all over him now, he couldn’t help but to feel proud of himself and how he had proven himself to be a capable Alpha. If only his old pack could see him now. 

“I’m sorry, but I’m not looking to date anyone right now,” Yoongi murmured apologetically to an Omega named Yeji, who had stopped into the hardware shop to offer Yoongi a pair of mittens that she had knitted for him. 

“Well, you could still take them anyway?” Yeji suggested hopefully. “Winter’s approaching and I’d hate for you to be too cold.”

“I appreciate it, but I couldn’t,” Yoongi shook his head. 

“Alright. Have a good day Yoongi,” Yeji whispered, turning around and swiftly walking out of the shop, not even giving Yoongi a chance to say goodbye before she was gone. 

“Ok, what was wrong with that one?” Kibum demanded to know, and Yoongi looked over at him.

“Nothing. It’s just like I said, I’m not interested in dating or mating,” he shrugged.

“You’re a fool, boy,” Kibum chuckled. “If only I were 40 years younger, I would’ve snatched her up.”

“She was pretty and everything, and her scent wasn’t terrible but I just wasn’t interested,” Yoongi shot back.

“Alright, alright, no need to get defensive,” Kibum sighed. “All I’m saying is that Yeji was what, the 5th person to come in here just today to try and offer you a gift? You keep turning them all down and you’re not getting any younger Min.”

“Oh, I didn’t think you would even know what younger looked like, considering that you haven’t been it for so long,” Yoongi snickered, yelping when Kibum smacked the back of his head in retaliation. 

“How about you stop running your damn mouth so much and go cut us some wood down from those trees on the edge of the territory?” Kibum suggested. 

“Yes Sir,” Yoongi laughed, quickly skirting around the counter before Kibum could hit him again for laughing. Stepping out of the shop, Yoongi made sure to grab the axe that sat on the small porch before he set off across the territory, past the Head Hall and the school house. A few people spoke to him as he passed and he replied, but no one else came up to him with anymore gifts. 

Once he made it into the woods, he continued to walk until he made it to the small cluster of trees that Kibum had showed to him. These trees were specifically for the purpose of wood for the pack and were the only ones that Yoongi could cut down. Just as he lifted the axe and was about to swing downwards, the smell of white peaches stopped him. 

He followed the smell, his head instantly turning to the right where he saw you. You were sat on a rock, looking down at the small stream that ran along one end of the pack territory. 

“Hey,” Yoongi called out as he began to walk over to you and you looked up in surprise, your body relaxing when you saw that it was only Yoongi. 

“Hey,” you replied, your eyebrows raising right after when you noticed the axe in his hand. “Damn, I know we haven’t really gotten along but you don’t have to murder me.”

“I was just about to cut some wood for Kibum,” Yoongi chuckled. “What are you doing way out here?”

“I had to work all morning and I finally got a break so I decided to come out here,” you answered him. 

“Is this your little hidden spot?” Yoongi questioned as he leaned against the rock that you were sitting on. 

“Yeah, or at least it used to be until you found me,” you rolled your eyes, making Yoongi scoff as he shook his head. “I guess it was bound to happen eventually though, since you’re a part of the pack now. Have you been settling in ok?”

“Yeah, actually I have,” Yoongi replied. 

“Good,” you nodded, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I’m sorry for being a bitch, by the way.”

“Wait, are you apologizing to me?” Yoongi smirked as he turned to fully face you, and you rolled your eyes at him.

“I’m trying to but don’t make me regret it already,” you snapped, even though there was a small smile on your face. “But being in an all new pack is probably really hard and I didn’t really give you the benefit of the doubt.”

“You know what, don’t even worry about it,” Yoongi shrugged. “If someone came into my old pack talking shit about the way we did things, I would’ve reacted the same way.”

“What was your old pack like?” You wondered. “You don’t talk about them much.”

“That’s very much on purpose,” Yoongi chuckled bitterly. “But long story short, they sucked. It was a pack full of mostly Prime Alphas and Alphas, and there were constant fights and just general dumb assery.”

“No Omegas or Betas?”

“A few, but their only purpose was cooking, cleaning, getting fucked and having pups,” Yoongi told you, not missing the way your scent soured a little bit. 

“What else is to be expected in a pack full of mostly Alphas?” You huffed in annoyance. “It makes sense why you say the things you do though, about Omegas and their place within a pack. That’s what you’re used to.” 

“Yep but if I’m honest, I think I like the way you guys do things better,” Yoongi admitted and you smiled. 

“Good, because we are better than them,” you nodded knowingly, making Yoongi laugh. “Hey, are you coming to the full moon party tonight?”

“Full moon party?” Yoongi repeated. “What’s that?”

“Tae didn’t explain it to you?” You wondered, and Yoongi shook his head. “Well, as I’m sure you already know, full moons used to be when a person’s wolf was at it’s strongest and the full moon party was a way of celebrating that. Now that we’ve evolved to the point where we can’t shift anymore, the party is literally just an excuse for us to have some fun before snowfall comes.”

“Uh, I don’t know,” Yoongi wavered. “I’m not really the party type.”

“Come on. If you’re gonna be a part of the pack, you have to participate in the pack traditions and the full moon party is a pack tradition,” you smiled. “Plus, there’ll be good food, games, music and alcohol.”

“Alcohol?” Yoongi echoed, his interest suddenly peaked. 

“Yep, the really good shit that the elders make that’ll have you on your ass,” you smirked. Yoongi pouted lightly, realizing that he didn’t really have anything to lose by going to the party especially since he was still so new to the pack.

“Alright, fine,” Yoongi relented. “I’ll be there.”

“Great,” you grinned. 

..........................................

“Do you want to knot my sister hyung?” Taehyung wondered curiously.

“Taehyung!” Both Yoongi and Jungkook exclaimed, staring at him in amazement at how he could ask such an obscene question. The two of them had stopped by Yoongi’s cabin to pick him up on their way to the full moon party, and Taehyung had bombarded Yoongi with that question as soon as Yoongi had let them inside. 

“What, it’s a valid question,” Taehyung shrugged.

“Please excuse my rude ass boyfriend,” Jungkook said to Yoongi, wincing when Taehyung pinched his arm in retaliation. 

“Don’t apologize for me, I said what I said,” Taehyung snapped. “And he still hasn’t answered me.”

“No, I don’t want to knot Y/N,” Yoongi chuckled. 

“You’re lying,” Taehyung instantly shot back. “Because last time I checked, the two of you argued anytime that you were in the same vicinity together and now, all of a sudden, Y/N-ah is inviting you to the full moon party?! And before I had the chance to?!”

“It’s literally not that serious,” Yoongi laughed. 

“Yeah, stop being so overdramatic Tae,” Jungkook added, letting out a scream when Taehyung full on punched him in the upper arm.

“Keep talking baby Alpha, and you’ll be spending your next rut alone,” Taehyung threatened him. 

“Ok, can we go please?” Yoongi interrupted them. 

“Not until you tell me what happened between you and my sister,” Taehyung demanded. 

“Nothing happened,” Yoongi shrugged. “She apologized for being so quick to judge me, I admitted to being a dickhead about judging the way you guys did things, and that’s all.”

“Mmhmm. Ok, well I’ll let it go for now,” Taehyung said. “But I’m watching you.”

“Nice to know,” Yoongi chuckled. “Do I look ok though?” Yoongi hadn’t exactly been sure what to wear for the party, given that he wasn’t sure if it was formal or not, but he had settled on a thick, plaid button up shirt and blue jeans, with black boots.

“Yeah, you look fine hyung,” Jungkook nodded. “Let’s go.” After locking up his cabin, the three of them walked down to the center of the pack’s territory. 

There were multiple large tables surrounding a large bonfire, since it was late October and getting pretty chilly out. There were also large speakers set up around the space, with upbeat music flowing through them. It seemed as though every member of the pack was present, even the pups and elders.

“Hey look, there’s the others,” Jungkook said as he pointed to a table where you, Namjoon, Hyorin, Jin, Hobi, and Jimin were sitting. Yoongi then followed behind Jungkook and Taehyung as they led the way over to the table, everyone exchanging greetings.

“I have to admit, I’m a little surprised to see you Yoongi,” Namjoon admitted with a smile. “I told Tae that you didn’t seem like a party type.”

“I’m not, but what do I have to lose by showing my face?” Yoongi replied and Namjoon nodded in understanding. 

“Babe,” Hyorin called and Namjoon looked down at her. “I hate to interrupt but me and this pup are hungry.”

“I’ll go make you a plate then,” he chuckled, leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before turning to look at the other Alphas. “You guys coming?”

“You hungry?” Jungkook asked Taehyung, who nodded. “I’m coming hyung.”

“I’ll get you guys food,” Hobi said to Jin and Jimin, who just smiled thankfully. Yoongi then turned to look at you, feeling the need to make sure that you ate as well.

“I could get you food,” he offered quietly and you looked over at him in surprise. “I mean, if you’re hungry.”

“If you’re already going, then sure,” you agreed. Yoongi then nodded, getting up from the table and following behind Namjoon, Hobi and Jungkook as they walked over to the buffet table.

“Is this love I’m smelling?” Hyorin teased you as soon as the Alphas were out of ear-shot, and you just rolled your eyes in response.

“Of course not. He’s just getting me food.”

“And you like the fact that he’s getting you food,” Jin spoke up. “Your scent’s telling on you.”

“You like the lone wolf,” Jimin giggled excitedly.

“I do not!” You exclaimed. “Besides, even if I were interested, he has every other Omega in the pack going crazy over him.”

“Hey!” Jimin and Jin both objected. 

“Every Omega in the pack except Jimin and Jin,” you corrected yourself. “He’s probably really enjoying that attention too, with him being Prime and all.”

“I don’t know,” Taehyung hummed listlessly. “I overheard Joon hyung talking to Kibum and Kibum told him that Yoongi has turned down every Omega and Alpha that has come into the hardware shop trying to offer him a gift.”

“Turning down a gift doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s turning them down, and you guys know that,” you shrugged. “He could still fuck them.”

“He doesn’t seem like the fuck around type though,” Hyorin observed. “He honestly seems really sweet.”

“He’s Prime though Hyo,” you smiled gently. “They’re all fuck around types.”

“Oh, that’s rich coming from you,” Jin snickered, making you cut your eyes at him. Just then, all of the Alphas came back, multiple plates in their hands. Yoongi set yours down in front of you before taking his seat across the table from you.

“Thank you,” you told him and he just shrugged his shoulders before beginning to eat. You, as well as everyone else, did the same and began talking to each other as usual. Yoongi didn’t participate much in the conversation, like normal, but he still enjoyed being around everyone and laughing silently at the lame jokes Jin tried to tell them. 

“Oh my gosh, I love this song!” Jimin exclaimed as he abruptly stood up from the table, reaching down and grabbing Taehyung and Hobi’s hands as a new song began to play from the speakers. “Let’s go dance!”

“You need to finish eating,” Hobi pointed out and Jimin just rolled his eyes playfully.

“I’ll finish later,” he promised. “Now come on!” Hobi stood up and allowed himself to be lead away from the table, while Taehyung stood up and looked down at Jungkook.

“Please?” Taehyung pleaded, pouting just enough to look genuinely sad. Jungkook didn’t even say anything, choosing just to stand up and allow himself to be led away. You watched silently as Jin, Namjoon and Hyorin all got up as well, leaving you and Yoongi alone together.

Yoongi continued eating his food silently, watching with a soft smile as everyone began to dance together. 

“Hey,” you called out, making Yoongi look up at you. “You want some tea?”

“Sure,” he shrugged. “But I didn’t see any at the buffet.”

“No, not that kind of tea Yoongi,” you laughed while shaking your head. “Tea is like gossip.”

“Gossip about who?” He asked.

“Look at the dance floor again, specifically at Jimin,” you told him and he did so, noting how closely Jimin and Hobi were dancing together. Jimin reached up and wrapped his arms around Hobi’s neck and Hobi buried his face into the Omega’s neck where his scent gland was, which made Yoongi’s eyebrows raise. 

“When did that happen?” Yoongi wondered as he looked back towards you.

“Technically, it still hasn’t yet,” you said and Yoongi made a noise of confusion. “Basically, they're trying to be sneaky about it.”

“Why?”

“Because Hobi is hesitant to mate with anyone because of his position as Head Fighter,” you explained. “Especially with all the tension lately between packs, you never know what might happen.”

“But they can’t seriously think that no one sees that,” Yoongi chuckled as he gestured to the two of them. 

“Truthfully, no one else does see it besides us,” you replied. “Jimin is a very wanted Omega and it’s almost expected for him to flirt so no one thinks any differently of it.”

“How do you know that they’re even interested in each other then?”

“Because for the last three months, Jimin has been wearing a necklace that looks eerily similar to the same one that Hobi swears he lost,” you smiled. 

“I mean, it makes sense,” Yoongi noted. “Their personalities seem similar.”

“They are. I just wish they’d get out of their own way,” you huffed, making Yoongi chuckle at how invested you were. Just then, the song changed again and your eyes brightened as you cheered.

“I’m guessing this is your favorite song?” Yoongi said and you nodded your head as you stood up from the table.

“Come dance with us?” You offered, frowning a little when Yoongi automatically shook his head.

“I don’t really dance,” he muttered.

“Well, you’re gonna have to start,” you smiled, holding out your hand to him. Sighing heavily, he reached out and grabbed onto your hand, allowing you to pull him up and over to where everyone else was dancing. 

The song playing was another upbeat one, but it was more R&B than anything else. Turning around to face him, you grabbed Yoongi’s other hand and began to dance slowly. Yoongi followed your lead, dancing slowly as he got into the rhythm. You smiled at how he was slowly letting go, and Yoongi found himself smiling just because you were.

The two of you danced through three more songs, becoming effectively out of breath by the end of the last one. By the time that you and Yoongi managed to pull yourselves away from your group of friends, both of your chests were heaving as you attempted to regulate your breathing. 

“And you said that you don’t dance,” you giggled. 

“I don’t,” Yoongi repeated.

“Didn’t seem like it out there,” you pointed out and Yoongi chuckled.

“Do you want something to drink?” He asked you and you nodded your head thankfully. Turning away and walking over to one of the buffet tables, Yoongi made quick work of grabbing two cups and filling them up with ice cold lemonade. However, when he turned around, his eyes widened when he saw you talking to another man.

He recognized him as Minho, one of the Alphas that he had met while hunting with Hobi and Jungkook. Yoongi looked closer and saw that Minho was extending something out to you, and it didn’t take long for Yoongi to realize that he was trying to give you a dating gift. An involuntary sigh of relief escaped Yoongi’s mouth when he saw you shake your head and push Minho’s hands away from you. Feeling a little happy (although he didn’t know why), he watched as Minho nodded before walking away. 

“Here’s your drink,” Yoongi said as he walked over to you, extending his hand and giving you the cup.

“Thanks,” you smiled, taking the cup from him and taking an immediate sip from it. You made no mention of Minho trying to give you a gift and Yoongi decided not to either. He figured that it wasn’t a big deal because you didn’t accept it and he was still trying to figure out why he even cared if you did or not.

..........................................

Once the party had finally managed to break up (at a modest 1am), Yoongi offered to walk you back to your cabin and you thankfully accepted.

“So, did you have fun tonight?” You asked him.

“I did actually,” Yoongi chuckled. “You guys definitely know how to have a good time.”

“Well, living out here in the woods, it’s a craft that we’ve perfected,” you told him.

“I see that,” Yoongi smiled. “Question though, does Jungkook get so drunk that Taehyung has to literally carry him home at every party?”

“Every one,” you confirmed with a giggle. “I told you that the elder’s make those drinks really strong.”

“They definitely do, because I had one cup and felt as if I had four,” Yoongi huffed, making you laugh. 

“You know,” you spoke up suddenly, making Yoongi look over at you. “I hope you don’t take offense to this, but you’re actually pretty cool to hang out with when you’re not spouting sexist bullshit.”

“Some offense taken,” Yoongi laughed. “But I get what you’re saying. Me acting like that was kind of what was expected of an Alpha in my old pack but I don’t really feel like I have to do any of that here.”

“Yeah,” you hummed in agreement. After another minute of walking, you and Yoongi walked up to a cabin that was painted blue and you stopped in front of it.

“This is me,” you announced and Yoongi nodded his head. “Thanks for walking me back.”

“No problem,” he shrugged. “I don’t mind.” A few seconds of slightly awkward silence passed between the two of you before you suddenly spoke up again.

“Did you mean what you said about my scent?” You questioned him, and his eyes widened slightly. 

“What?” He chuckled in confusion. 

“You said my scent smelled industrial,” you reminded him and he shook his head. 

“No, I didn’t mean that,” he told you. “We were arguing and you know that a good way to get a jab in at someone is to go for their scent. I admit though, it was a cheap shot.”

“I mean, it’s not like I didn’t talk about your scent too,” you pointed out. 

“True,” Yoongi muttered. “But no, I don’t think that your scent smells industrial. I actually...like your scent.”

“You do?” You asked in surprise, and Yoongi nodded. 

“Yeah,” he replied sheepishly. 

“I like yours too,” you admitted. “You smell like the stream that I like to sit by, the one at the edge of the territory.”

“I remember you acting like my scent was bad,” Yoongi teased you.

“It’s not,” you rolled your eyes playfully. “It’s stable, and that’s good.”

“Good,” he smiled softly.

“Well, good night,” you told him. 

“Good night,” he responded, watching as you unlocked the front door and opened it, walking inside and then shutting the door behind you. Yoongi then turned around and walked away, smiling to himself as he headed back to his own cabin.

..........................................

Tag List:  @jikook-enthusiasts

[starkerforlife6969]

Starker - Angel Fire

Tony is an Angel-Hunter, and Peter is...

Peter Parker is beautiful.

Then again, all angels are. Tony’s been following him for a couple of days now, his latest mark. He’s seventeen years old, one of the youngest Tony’s ever encountered, but really, that just makes him easier to kill. 

Not that there’s anyone around to teach him how to fight anyway. His mother is human, and Tony’s a good guy, so he’ll make sure she’s not home when he kills Peter. She’ll mourn, of course, which is a shame, because she isn’t his real mother. His real mother’s an angel- hopefully killed already- and now Peter’s here, pretending to be her child. Pretending he can feel real, genuine human emotions. Pretending like he doesn’t feed off the souls of others. 

Tony feels for her. 

So, he waits and watches and follows.

Peter doesn’t have many friends which doesn’t surprise him. Angels are horribly standoffish beings.

What does surprise him is that even as he follows Peter in every shadow, he never sees the boy feed. 

Well, he is a young angel. He doesn’t need as much as the older ones. 

Tony wonders how many humans this one has killed.

The perfect opportunity presents itself on a Saturday morning. The mother’s out of town, and Tony sneaks into the apartment by quietly busting the lock, his gun in his pocket, as the sun begins to peak over the horizon outside.

It’s nearly seven am. 

The apartment is still and warm when he enters, and he closes the door behind him silently. It’s painfully normal looking. Throw pillows on the couch, homework on the kitchen counter, left overs in the fridge. They’re struggling for money, that much he knows. At least the mother will only be feeding one after he’s done.

Right on cue, he hears Peter start to stir, so he presses himself behind the sagging armchair and the curtains, and watches.

Goddamn, he’s seen a lot of beautiful angels. But Peter Parker takes the cake. He watches as the boy ambles into the kitchen, rubbing one eye with his dainty fist. His skin is smooth and flawless, like a pearl, and his eyes are the warmest brown with flecks of honeyed gold. He’s wearing these skimpy little silk shorts; white with little painted dandelions, showing off those long legs and shapely thighs, and a flimsy button up sleep shirt that exposes the lovely sharp collar bones he has.

Goddamn. Such a shame. 

The boy potters around the kitchen, eyes still half-closed, yawning every so often, and his thick, hickory locks tumble into his eyes, and Tony levels his gun, and takes a deep breath.

It’s second nature now, to see the lavender glow that shines around angels. It’s like a fuzzy aura that hovers just over their skin, he sees it without trying. But the halo? That takes effort. A lot of mental strain. 

He draws on it now. He’ll need to see the halo. It’s the only way to kill an angel. A bullet will shatter it, and they’ll drop-

When he opens his eyes, he nearly drops his gun.

There’s no halo.

Above those brown curls, is nothing. Just air. Almost like a…

He steadies himself, and tries again. His head starts to ache with the strain, but still nothing. 

He can feel his fingers trembling. What the hell? How is this- how is this possible-

And then, he gapes, as he watches Peter dig his hands into a box of Lucky Charms and inhale them noisily. He crunches happily, letting out little moans of contentment and…

He’s eating. He’s eating- human food- with no one around to prove anything to- just for- just for-

For one, absurd moment, he wonders if he got it wrong. Maybe he’s been tailing the wrong person, but-

no. He can still see, clear as day, the lavender light that glows over Peter’s skin. The sheer beauty of him, the elegant slope of his neck, the long flutter of his eyelashes- unnaturally stunning. 

What is he? 

There’s a clatter, as cereal spills all over the floor, and Tony looks up to see honey-gold eyes staring at him.

Oh shit.

Peter screams, immediately bolting for the door, and Tony strides over, and grabs his arms.

“Please!” Peter cries, yanking ineffectually, tears blossoming like crystals, “please, please! I don’t- I don’t have anything, oh god-“

If Angels can’t feel, how is- how is Peter crying? How is he shaking like a leaf with fear so tangible Tony is crushed with guilt? 

But the lavender light- this boy is-

“Please,” Peter sobs, pulling harder, “please, I won’t tell anyone, I won’t, I swear-“

Tony can’t think. He doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t- 

He twirls the boy in his grip, and Peter startles, and Tony gets him in a sleeper hold.

Peter struggles, and then slumps.

Tony can’t breathe. He draws in deep, worried breaths. What the fuck. What the fuck is happening? 

No halo, there’s no- there’s no halo- he eats, he cries-

The dawn makes everything looks clean. The air is fresher, and birds are tweeting as they start to wake. The city is almost silent; the calm before the storm; the cacophony of car horns and exhaust pipes yet to come.

Tony carries Peter to his car without any problems at all.

Apart from when he gets there.

The front seat? The back seat? The boot?

He’s not sure. The Jeep is pretty high off the ground, and the back lights are doubly secured- no chance the kid could kick them out. 

But- if he’s not an angel, and Tony’s vision is just a little wrong, he doesn’t really want to put the kid in the trunk. 

Jesus, he tries not to feel the skin under his fingertips. Peter’s soft thighs are over one hand, his shoulders in the other as he carries him bridal style, and the slip of a thing is so light, so silky.

In the end, he picks up front.

He buckles the kid into the front seat and then zip ties his hands under the dash, before getting in. Peter’s limp body slumps against the window, and it looks like he’s dozing.

He’s a gorgeous sleeper. His lashes cast shadows against his sharp cheekbones as the sun moves farther up the sky, and his chest rises and falls languidly, like a princess in a story. 

Tony peels off into the road and curses himself as he does so. The mother will be back in two days- but she’ll know something’s off before then. When Peter doesn’t answer her calls. She’ll go to the police- there’ll be posters- missing persons.

This is sloppy. Tony doesn’t like sloppy. But he doesn’t know what to do. 

He could report to his boss. It’s a long drive up to Canada, but he could make it, he thinks. Hopefully. If the boy’s story doesn’t go national. 

His fingers are deathly tight around the steering wheel, and he tries to get ahold of himself. Glancing to the right, Peter’s breathing gently, and the sound soothes him, as dangerous as that is.

The lavender light still glows beautifully from his skin. 

Fuck. Tony exhales slowly, trying to get himself under control. Canada it is. 

***

The kid wakes up a few hours before Connecticut. 

He makes a soft noise, before he seems to remember everything, and he jerks desperately- letting out a whimper when the zip ties cut into his delicate wrists, and he spins to face Tony- eyes huge and petrified.

“Oh my god,” he whispers, yanking frantically, “please- oh god please-“

“Settle down, kid.” He warns, even as his stomach ties itself in knots. He better not be abducting a fucking innocent child. “I’m not gonna hurt you.” Yet, he thinks uncomfortably. If the boy is an angel. But how would they even kill one without a halo?

“Why? Please,” he begs, “we don’t- we don’t have any money, please, my mom- she’ll-“ his breath becomes fast and shallow, “she’ll freak out, Sir- please-“

He’s tossing and turning in the passenger seat now, his wrists already marked red with how he’s trying to free himself, his gaze wild and manic like a trapped animal, as he watches the motorway whirl past. “Calm down,” Tony tries, keeping his voice low, “kid, calm down- stop- jeez, just stop wriggling!”

Peter screams, ear-piercingly loud, and Tony nearly swerves the car into oncoming traffic. 

“Shut the fuck up!” He snarls, and is immediately rewarded by silence.

He doesn’t look over for a while, heart pounding. Sweat is budding at his temples.

But when he does look, his heart breaks.

Peter’s got his knees drawn up to his chest, and his cheeks are red with tears- eyes glistening, and he’s muffling his sobs into his arms. 

It cuts Tony up. “Kid, please,” he says, more softly, reaching out- only for Peter to flinch away in fear. He’s shaking so bad Tony thinks he might burst.

Okay. This isn’t going to work.

He pulls over the next chance he gets, and parks the car. 

Peter doesn’t move. He’s still crying.

Tony rubs his face with his hands, feeling sick. The kid can’t be an angel. The fear and sadness is so strong as it rolls off him in waves Tony feels suffocated by it. He wants to let the kid go. Just drop him off here. But the lavender still hovers over his skin.

“Peter, listen.” He begins, but the boy only makes another choked off sob.

“You know my name.” He weeps, and Tony groans-

“Kid, kid, look at me. Seriously. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“You were pointing a gun at me,” Peter wails, cringing into the window. Tony swears he can almost hear the frantic jack-rabbiting of the boy’s heart. 

“You’re not human, Peter.” Maybe the truth will do it. 

Peter squirms. “You’re crazy,” he whispers, looking like Tony’s a delusional kidnapper, gaze swinging to the window, desperately searching for help. 

It’s not an unfair assumption. “Peter, I know you have no reason to believe me, but I’m an Angel-Hunter, okay? I kill angels. I was sent to kill you, but, you don’t have a halo.”

Peter looks at him for a long moment, before he hollers for help again and tugs at the dash so hard that the plastic creaks warningly. “Help! Help, please, somebody!”

Tony pinches the bridge of his nose. Thank god for his soundproof car. “Believe me or not, this is what’s gonna happen: I’m driving us to Quebec, that’s where my boss is. She’ll tell me whether or not you’re human, and if you are, you can go home, if you aren’t…” he shrugs, “I’m going to have to kill you.” How they’ll do that if the boy doesn’t have a halo, he still doesn’t know.

Peter seems to pause at that. He stops shaking so much. He looks at Tony tentatively. “If your boss says I’m human- you’ll let me go?”

“Probably reimburse you for your trouble,” Tony promises. “She’s very good like that.”

“Okay,” Peter whispers, nodding, even as his cheeks glisten with tears. “Okay, so-so- we just need to go there, and then you’ll- you’ll let me go?”

“If you’re human.”

Peter nibbles on his plush bottom lip, before he seems to sag into the seat. “Okay,” he whispers hoarsely, “let’s go to Quebec, then.”

Not that he has any say in the matter, but Tony doesn’t point that out. He doesn’t want the kid freaking out again. He just nods, and starts driving. 

*

Silence, as it turns out, is not Peter’s strong point.

The kid’s a babbler. Asks a ton of questions. If Tony were a real kidnapper, he’s not sure he’d have bothered keeping the boy this long. As it is, he answers tersely, and then flips the radio on as an excuse not to answer anymore.

Of course, it doesn’t deter the boy. 

“So, how long have you been angel hunting?” Peter asks over the thrum of a pop song.

Tony shrugs noncommittally. “Born into it. My dad was.”

“And-and what do angels do that’s so bad? Aren’t they meant to be, like- good?”

He snorts. Common misconception. “Not these ones. They look like people. But more beautiful. They feed on human souls. Drain the life out of someone and kill them. The death looks natural. It makes them hard to track.”

“Feed on human souls?” Peter repeats; horrified. “Oh. We didn’t learn that in Religious Studies.”

Tony almost cracks a smile. Damn, the kid’s a little cute. “There’s a lot you don’t learn at school, kid.”

“But- if they look just like humans, how do you catch one?”

“You have to train. Every human has the ability to see auras, but they have to harness it.”

“Auras?”

“A light that hovers over people. Humans have white, Angels have purple.”

Peter pauses. “You think I have purple?”

“I’ve been doing this for over twenty years, Peter. You do have purple.”

Peter looks down at his arms, and squints a little, before sighing. “Wouldn’t I know? If I was an Angel, I mean? I don’t kill people.”

“I know.” Tony frowns, “therein lies the problem.” Peter eats food. 

On cue, the boy’s stomach rumbles.

His huge eyes look at Tony hopefully, before they quickly dart away. But it’s been a bit of a morning, and he hasn’t eaten bar a handful of Lucky Charms, and Tony has technically kidnapped him, so he follows the route to the nearest drive-thru. 

Peter’s relaxed now, thankfully. Doesn’t seem so frightened. Seems desperately hopeful. He’s the optimistic sort, then. Awfully trusting, too. Naive. Innocent. It’s troubling.

“What do you want, kid?” he asks, as he pulls-up.

Peter vibrates with excitement. “A chicken wrap? If they- um have it?”

Tony rolls his eyes, and turns into the microphone- just before he does, he gives Peter a look. “You’re smarter than to cause a scene, right, Pete?”

Peter nods, pressing his lips together. He looks as if the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. 

Tony doesn’t want to, but he can’t risk it.

He takes his gun out, and sets it on his thigh. Peter’s eyes go wide, but he nods his understanding. 

Tony turns to the microphone. “I’ll have three chicken wraps, a cheese burger, a black coffee and…” he turns to look at Peter, sizing the boy up. He’s sweet. “and a double chocolate milkshake.”

Peter smiles so beautifully that Tony feels a small lurch of arousal. 

The thought is horrific. Not only is the kid seventeen, but he may not even be human. Tony shudders, and carefully doesn’t look at the boy as he rounds the corner, and gets to the window. The spotty teenager who hands over their food barely looks up, which Tony is grateful for. He doesn’t need anyone remembering they saw Peter.

He only has a day or so before he’ll have to get Peter to duck when they drive through busy areas. 

He hands over the wraps and the milkshake, one hand on the wheel, before he takes a bite of his own meal. 

Peter’s making contended little sounds beside him, opening the wrap carefully, making sure none of the foil falls on the floor, and biting.

His moan is pornographic, and Tony feels himself grow warm, and starts ahead resolutely. 

The kid devours two of his wraps, and leaves the third one, before starting on his milkshake. Which Tony now realises is a mistake. Even in his peripheral, he can see the way the kid’s lips purse around the straw, the hollow of his cheeks as he sucks- fuck. 

More significant than his arousal, though, is the fact that Peter can get nourishment from food. 

If Peter is an Angel, he’s an Angel who doesn’t kill humans. And if that’s the case- then- would he have to be killed at all? Even if he was-

There’s some shuffling beside him, and he turns to see Peter attempting in vain to get comfortable on the seat. The boy notices he’s watching, and then blushes. He’s got freckles dappled all over his nose. It’s irritatingly endearing. “Could you um, maybe, just tie my hands together? Not to, the car- I mean?”

Peter’s wrists are very sore. Tony doesn’t like the sight of them. He wants to help the kid out, but…he shakes his head. “Sorry, Pete. We’re not there yet.”

The boy nods, and then shuffles some more, trying to find a position that’s comfy.

Tony falls into the lull of driving. He keeps thinking. If the boy doesn’t kill, then he’s not a threat. And if he’s not a threat, Tony could just…let him go. But it’s not up to him. He needs to see Peggy. She’ll know what to do. He just…he rather hopes that killing the boy isn’t the way she’ll handle it, but again, not up to him. 

Maybe he should stop thinking of him as a boy. Because of the lavender light but- innocent until proven guilty, he supposes. 

When he looks over, Peter’s got his cheek smooshed into the dash, curls spilling out over the plastic, hunched over, and fast asleep. 

Tony smiles before he can catch himself. It can’t be comfortable, like that, but the kid’s clearly exhausted. Coming down from an adrenaline rush and some warm food will do that to you. Tony turns on the heater, and leans back into his seat, and tries not to think too hard at all. 

***

It’s a reflex as they drive through towns, to keep his eyes peeled for any spark of purple. 

There are a lot of Angels still around, but Tony doesn’t see any. Probably for the best, really. He doesn’t want to kill one in front of Peter.

He doesn’t know why. 

He just passes trees and people until he gets past the border.

Then the people disappear, and sunlit woodlands spread out all around them.

When Tony pulls over, Peter stirs.

He blinks to awareness slowly, smacking his lips together and blinking hard.

His eyes seem to glow like liquid gold in the light. 

“Bathroom break,” Tony says, by way of wake up call, and Peter lets out a sleepy little muffle, before sitting up. 

Tony’s fingers brush against Peter’s wrists as he slices through the zip tie. He can feel Peter’s pulse; slow and lazy with sleep, and he wants to press his lips to it. 

It’s so fucking dangerous. He’s walking a thin line-

“Are we in Canada?” Peter asks in surprise, as he looks out the window. His voice is still syrupy with sleep. 

“We crossed the border about an hour ago.” Tony confirms. “My gun’s in my pocket, kid, I’m gonna open the doors, we’re gonna do our business, and you’re gonna stay in my line of sight.”

Peter nods, squirming like he already has to go, and Tony bites back his smile and unlocks the door.

Peter jumps out, flitting around the car to Tony’s side and hurrying towards the privacy of the trees.

Tony has no such qualms about privacy. This stretch of forest road is deserted. The sun is hot on the back of his neck, but there’s a nice breeze that sends the branches and the flowers dancing. 

When Peter finishes, he heads back over to Tony obediently, before his eyes go huge and stare at something in the road like he can’t look away.

Tony turns and rakes his eyes over the environment. The blades of grass sway, the branches creak with old age; craning up to the sun, but nothing else moves.

And when he turns back to Peter-

the boy is gone.

*

Alright, Tony is almost impressed. 

It was a sloppy technique, but the kid got the job done. It’s Tony’s fault really, he’s not on high alert. He should be. This case is more important than the others. 

So, he makes his way through the forest. He’s slow and methodical. He’s quiet and he listens. Peter, no doubt, will be running as fast as he can. The kid’s smart. Acting docile so Tony will let his guard down, and what’s more infuriating is that that such a junior technique was effective.

He won’t be so lenient with the boy after this. It’s straight in the trunk. No more drive-thrus. No more nice guy-

He comes to a halt suddenly, when he breaks into a clearing.

A gap in the canopy, where sunlight is streaming down onto a meadow of grass- and there, sure enough, is Peter.

He’s on his knees, feet folded neatly underneath him, his profile as beautiful as the statue of a cherub, and he’s before the hulking great mass of a grizzly bear. 

Tony thinks his heart does a horrible sort of jerk. He stares, uncomprehendingly for a long moment at the scene. The bear- huge and immense- and Peter- tiny and defenceless-

It’s the final thought that kicks him into gear, reaching for his gun when-

“I was calling for you,” Peter murmurs, and Tony creeps forward, gun in his hand, before he sees that the bear is holding it’s gigantic paw in Peter’s lap, and that Peter is pulling thorns from it. It’s horrifying. It’s beautiful. It’s something from a children’s story book. “But I realised I didn’t know your name.”

“It’s Tony,” Tony manages; wrecked. 

Peter’s pulling thorns out of the paw of a fucking wild grizzly bear.

The bear looks at Tony, with horrifying black eyes, and Tony levels his gun. 

Peter shakes his head without a word. “Put it away. It wouldn’t even leave a dent.”

Tony wavers. The kid’s probably right. A bullet against that. Fucking goliath. Have bears always been so big? But where’s the sudden wisdom come from? Where’s the kid who inhaled a milkshake-

“Couldn’t you hear it calling?” Peter asks.

Tony just stares at him. The sun throws its rays against him, and there’s a halo of sunlight around Peter’s curls.

He looks like an Angel. A real one, not a monster.

“No,” Tony whispers hoarsely, as the bear lets out a guttural moan, pulling his paw away as Peter wipes his hands. “I didn’t hear anything.”

The bear leans down and rubs its nose against Peter’s head, before turning away with its massive weight, and disappearing into the forest.

Peter’s still glowing lavender.

“Oh.” Peter frowns, turning to look at Tony with his big gold eyes. “I could hear him. That’s why I came, I didn’t…” he trails off, looking unsure. “You didn’t hear him?”

“No.” The woods had been silent.

Peter looks very troubled, and he doesn’t resist when Tony comes over and offers his arm. Peter gets up, grass stains on his knees. He’s still in his pyjamas- all floral and soft. He looks like a flower child. Like he grew here, in the forest, surrounded by nature. 

“A bird fell in the playground in middle school.” Peter says, and he sounds far away, as Tony guides him back through the forest. “I heard it in class and no one- no one else did.”

“Peter.” Tony says, because it’s all he can say.

“Is that what-“ his voice drops into a whisper, “am I an..?”

“I don’t know.” Tony confesses, “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of an Angel being able to hear animals.” But then- he doesn’t know much about them. Other than that they glow, that they feed off humans, and that they can’t feel. “I don’t think they do, though.”

“What am I?” Peter asks helplessly, and Tony’s touch is more protective than it should be. 

“I don’t know, sweetheart, but we’ll- figure it out.”

*

The incident sets Tony on edge.

Instead of driving right to Quebec he pulls over at a nice looking hotel. It’s expensive, but he has the money, and the receptionist’s smile turns much warmer when he slides over his card.

But he has eyes for no one but Peter. The boy’s staring at his hand. Squinting hard. He looks utterly dazed.

Tony supposes wondering whether or not you’re human will do that to you.

It doesn’t mean he should want to reach out and comfort.

Tony’s leather jacket is hanging over Peter’s shoulders, draped there, but the bare feet and grassy legs have drawn a little bit of attention.

Not too much attention, but even a little can be dangerous.

Tony gets them up to their room as fast as possible. 

Peter still looks dazed. He doesn’t take in much of their room even though Tony’s sprung for an enormous, gorgeous, airy suite, he just sits on the edge of the bed where Tony settles him, and looks down at his lap. 

Tony checks all the windows and shuts the curtains, and locks the door, before turning to look at the boy. Peter peaks up at him through his curls. “I’m scared,” he confesses. 

Tony’s heart. He pads over, and lays his hand awkwardly on the kid’s shoulder. The boy’s so small. “I know. We’ll figure it out.” We? 

“I can see…or maybe I’m imagining it.” Peter lifts up his hand and squints, “It’s purple. My head hurts.”

It’s a relief, that the kid can see it too. Tony nods, before flipping off the lights. “Get some rest, Pete.”

Peter flops down onto the bed, and wriggles under the blanket with the sort of fatigue Tony’s seen on men back from war. “I don’t have any friends.” He whispers, “I feel alone.”

“You’re not alone,” Tony says fiercely, automatically, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed. “You’ve got me.” 

[imkylotrash]

Prompt List 04/14/21

Hi babies. Below here are a bunch of little prompts gathered from movies and tv-shows mostly as well as a few that I came up with some myself. Hopefully some of them spark your interest. It’s currently midnight my time so I’ll be going to bed now but feel free to send in any number of prompts and I’ll get started on them tomorrow 💛

All you have to do is send in a number, genre + the character you’d like me to write for. 

1. "I wish I knew how to quit you."

2. "You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love… I love… I love you."

3. “We accept the love we think we deserve.”

4. “It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”

5. “I thought if I held on really tight, we’d have time to fix this. But all it did was push you away.”

6. “I wish I had done everything on earth with you”

7. “So, pick me. Choose me. Love me.”

8. “I want to marry you. I want to have kids with you. I want to build us a house. I want to settle down and grow old with you. I want to die when I’m 110 years old in your arms. I don’t want 48 uninterrupted hours. I want a lifetime.”

9. “You never think that the last time is the last time. You think there will be more. You think you have forever, but you don’t.”

10. “Don’t look at me like that. Like I’m damaged goods. I’m still me. I’m still here.”

11. “I wanted it to be you, I wanted it to be you so badly.”

12. "He was your first love. I intend to be your last. However long it takes."

13. "It's okay. We met, and we talked, and it was epic, but ... Then the sun came up and reality set in."

14. “Fight for her. Or spend the rest of eternity trying to figure out what happened to the best part of you. It’s your choice.”

15. “You don’t know what it’s like being in love with you. You know, when you and I were together, every single atom in my body told me that it was the right thing, that we were a perfect fit. And that kind of love, it can change your whole life.”

16. “I’m not doing so great without you. I keep trying to start over but I can’t get anywhere because I’m lost.”

17. “One day, you’re going to wake up and realise that you missed your chance. Life goes by too fast to wait for the right moment.”

18. “I don’t want normal, and easy, and simple. I want painful, difficult, devastating, life-changing, extraordinary love. Don’t you want that, too?”

19. "Make me."

20. "Every song ends, but is that any reason not to enjoy the music."

21. "May we meet again."

22. “I’m not gonna ask you if you just said what I think you just said because I know it’s what you just said.”

23. “You left me. I'm all glued back together now. I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke.”

24. "We had a beautiful magic love there. What a sad, beautiful, tragic love affair."

25. "As far as I'm concerned you're just another picture to burn."

26. “There'll be happiness after you but there was happiness because of you”

27. “I won't ask you to wait if you don't ask me to stay”

28. “And so the lion fell in love with the lamb.” 

29. “You're an expert at sorry and keeping the lines blurry.”

30. “I bet it never occurred to you that the reason I can’t say hello to you is because I can’t risk another goodbye.”

[sapphirelass]

Failure - Weasley Family x Weasley!Sister

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧I solemnly swear that I am up to no good✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

'Ello everyone! Once again it's been ages since I posted a story. I promise I am writing!!! I'm just... writing veeeeeerrrrrrryyyy slowly... But hey, what can one do?

Tbh, I'm not too sure about this one, but I have been working on it for weeks now, so I'm just gonna post it and hope someone likes it. I have some other fics coming up (hopefully) soon - and mainly HP actually! I started writing for Percy Jackson, Team Flash, Spider-Man and a few other characters, but I'm in such a Harry Potter mood at the moment (thanks to the 20th-anniversary reunion)... Ahhhh... I don't know! Anyways, I'll get back to writing for someone and let you all enjoy this sad thing for now! See yah!

Note: As always I'm finishing this late at night meaning I will probably have to reread this one more time and check for potential errors, but it's late, so I'm just going to trust Grammarly and post it for now! Enjoy

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

Please note:

1: I don’t own any of the gifs used, nor any already established characters, so credit to the authors and original creators - You have done a phenomenal job :)

2: English is not my native language, as I was born and raised in Sweden. I have, however, studied English for almost a decade, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem, I just thought I’d let you know ;)

+ CEFR level C2 (due to passing the C1 advanced test with an A)

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

Word count: ≈ 3,1k

Warnings: Mild swearing, death eaters, cruciatus curse (not very descriptive), angst, feeling anxious,

Enjoy! :)

Read as reader insert instead of xOC

~~~Failure - Weasley Family x Weasley!Sister~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m serious, dad, there’s nothing to worry about - the plan is fool-proof!”

Melanie rushed furiously up the stairs of her childhood home with her backpack in her right hand. She had been trying to get everything packed for half an hour, desperately wanting to be 100% ready once her mother would wake up, as it would be next to impossible to prepare for her next job with Mrs Weasley around. Melanie had however not expected her dad to be too much of a problem - it was usually him who would convince his wife not to worry about the kids every time they left the house - but clearly, the task she had been assigned meant taking a risk so big that even Arthur was hesitant about letting his daughter go.

“I know it sounds that way, sweetie, but this job is not like anything you’ve ever done before, it’s… It’s… It’s different, an-”

It felt both weird and oddly familiar at the same time. She had moved to her own flat a few years earlier and had gotten used to not having overprotective brothers and parents trying to prevent her from going on dangerous missions. Originally, she hadn’t planned to go back ‘home’ until after this job, but her mother had started driving her younger siblings mad, causing them to send a letter asking their older sister to PLEASE come home and help prepare for Bill and Fleur’s wedding. It had been a long time since Melanie last had to handle this situation, but her father seemed to have no problem picking up where they left off.

“How, dad?” She turned around and violently pulled a hand through her red hair, desperately trying to keep her voice down. “Apprehending people who turned to the dark arts is literally my job, at least this time we know what to expect! We just have to transport the death eaters from point A to point B as smoothly as possible, and even if they should try to break free, there’ll be four of them, and twelve of us - surely three aurors could take down one wandless death eater?”

Arthur remained quiet for a few seconds, causing his daughter to put her backpack on the floor, walk a few steps back down the stairs, and pull him in for a hug.

“Look, Dad, I know it’s not without risk, but… I’ve got to go. I don’t think the question any longer is if you-know-who is gonna take control of the ministry, but when, and once that time comes we have to be prepared for anything. The best we can do is make sure the most dangerous people are in a secure place, and well guarded. As much as I hate it, Azkaban is the safest bet, otherwise, they’ll all be back out on the streets, and everything we have worked for these past two years will have been for nothing. We’ll just have to hope that the dementors won’t switch sides. I’m sorry... I love you.”

It wasn’t only a long hug, but a long-awaited one as well.

“I love you too, darling, which is why I don’t want you to do this. I understand your reasoning but…”

“Dad? Mel? You’re home already?”

Melanie looked over her dad’s shoulder and immediately walked into the arms of the person who had called her name - her older brother.

“Bill…”

He hugged his sister tightly and put his right hand comfortingly on the back of her head. She was shaking slightly, but Bill pulled her in even closer and put his head on top of hers. This was why Melanie always tried to prepare, pack and leave quickly every time she was assigned a mission - that way she left no room for any nerves and could focus on the task at hand without getting too scared or anxious. Don’t get it wrong, she loved protecting others and knew it was an important job, but overthinking things just made her realize how much she had to lose. Being around her extremely caring family made that even worse.

“Shhh… Mel, breathe, easy, you’re fine.”

“Yeah, I know, I know… It’s just, I don’t like thinking too much about it. I’m good, though, and I’ve missed you.”

“I know… ‘n I’ve missed you too. Hey, not that I’m not happy to see you, but why are you home? And awake?”

“Mum needed some help with the wedding preparations, and…”

Bill moved his gaze from his sister to his father, silently asking for a response.

“Your sister is leaving for work.”, said Arthur slowly. “It’s just not an easy decision. It’s not-”

“-It’s not safe.”. Melanie’s gaze wandered nervously around the living room - her parents’ house still being one of the few places where she felt properly at home. She smiled slightly when she noticed a brown plush rabbit sitting on a shelf. It was her favourite toy when she was younger and had been her father’s before her. “Heck, it’s really, really dangerous, but it has to be done. I don’t have a choice, and as much as I would love to stay here with you, the longer I do the harder it becomes to leave.” She sighed. “But I have to go. Bill, will you please tell mum I’m sorry when she wakes?”

Bill looked at his sister, not really wanting to let her go, but understanding exactly how she felt. “Of course.” He grabbed the backpack and handed it to her before placing his hands firmly on her shoulders. “Stay safe, okay? Promise us that!”

“Bill-”

“Mel!”

“Stop it! You know I can’t promise something like that. I swear I’ll do my best, though.”

“Good. Then go, I’ll see you next week?”

Melanie smiled. “Yeah, around lunchtime on Wednesday. Bye, Bill. Bye, dad.”

Arthur looked out the window and sighed sadly as his daughter disapparated. “I remember when I feared for her life because she kept climbing the big apple tree… Now I almost wish she was there, hanging on to one of the top branches, swinging back and forth.” He closed his eyes and leant against the wall behind him. “At least then I could see her. Make sure she didn’t fall.”

“I know, dad. But she’s not a kid anymore.”

“She’ll always be my kid.”

“She’ll always be short.”

“Bill!”

“Jokin’! C’mon, dad, let’s go have a cup of tea, yeh?”

————————

‘The plan is fool-proof!’ Melanie coughed slightly and regretted her words as she was hit with yet another curse. The plan had been fool-proof… apart from the fact that someone at the ministry clearly had leaked information to the death eaters. The mission had relied on secrecy. It had been planned in secret and only the 12 aurors and a few ministry officials had known the details. Despite that, around 30 death eaters attacked as soon as the transport had left the city, and due to their numbers, the aurors barely stood a chance.

“Jackson, we need to get out of here as soon as possible! There’s no way we’ll be able to fight them all off.”

“You’re probably right, Weasley.”, he shouted while sending a death eater flying off his broom. “But how did this happen? We were so careful!?”

“Yeah, I don’t know.” Melanie swiftly flew out of the way as a flash of green light almost touched her side. “But that doesn’t really matter right now. Wilson’s wounded, can you help him.”

“Sure.”

“And then get out before anyone’s killed.”

He frowned and nodded towards her. “You too.”

“Yeah, course. I’m just gonna try to take Dolohov down. I really don’t want him out and about again.”

The auror seemed to doubt his college’s decision for a second but was familiar with her family’s history with that particular death eater. “Fine, but be careful! I mean it, Mel.” He looked straight into her eyes. “Don’t take any unnecessary risks!”

“Oh, you know me, Jacky. Careful planning, no risktaking.”

“Good. See you in the office tomorrow, then. Good luck.”

————————

Melanie battled her way through a few death eaters and eventually found herself sneaking up on Dolohov.

“Expelliarmus.”

He turned around in surprise as his wand flew out of his hand.

“Incarcerus.”

Thick ropes bound the death eater, effectively preventing him from escaping. However, Melanie was so focused on arresting the man who murdered two of her uncles that she completely missed someone approaching her from behind.

“Crucio”

She fell and dropped her wand as intense pain spread through her body. It was pain beyond anything she could ever have imagined. She unwillingly let out a scream as the pain intensified before suddenly lessening. Despite coughing and struggling, she tried to get back up on her feet but fell yet again as the same kind of agony, only a hundred times worse forced her to focus solely on not passing out.

“Well, well, well… We counted on a few random aurors to stand in our way, but who knew we’d stumble upon a blood traitor as well, huh?” The death eater, Augustus Rockwood, leant forward and spat on the ground, right by her face where she lay twitching in the mud. “How does it feel down there, Weasley? Feel at home?” He pulled Melanie to her knees and Dolohov, who had managed to untangle himself from the rope, walked up to her and grabbed her face roughly. “Striking resemblance”, he whispered before letting her fall again. She fought to get up but failed due to the horrendous curse still causing her pain. Her eyes slowly closed as she passed out on the cold, hard ground.

————————

“Good morning, dears.”, said Molly, cheerfully entering the kitchen after having forced everybody to get up at first light. She had been under extreme stress lately but seemed to be in a much better mood today and the rest of the family knew why - Melanie was coming home. Sure, that didn’t take away from the fact that the upcoming wedding meant a lot of hard work and careful planning, but having her oldest daughter home would at least help ease Mrs Weasley’s worry. “She’s not back yet, is she?”

“No, mum”, yawned Fred. “but-”

“She said she wouldn’t be back before lunch.”, finished George tiredly.

Their mother didn’t answer, but muttered something incoherent and went to prepare breakfast.

————————

Hours passed as the family worked to get everything ready, both for the wedding and for Harry’s birthday. Molly was so busy with preparations that she completely lost track of time, however, Fred & George started sharing worried glances around 10 am. Bill eventually noticed and had, a few hours later, become way too curious.

“Why do you two keep looking at the clock every other minute?”, he asked. “She said ‘lunch-time’, that could mean another 2-3 hours? Besides, it’s not like you to worry?”

“Well…it’s just…”

“Whenever Mel lets mum know when she thinks she’ll come home, she usually adds a few hours, sometimes an entire day.”

“That way, when she ends up being slightly late, mum doesn’t immediately lose it…”

“To be honest, we were kind of expecting her in time for breakfast, definitely before noon.”

Bill pulled his hand through his long hair (which he had not allowed his mother and her scissors to come close to) and glanced quickly out the window before looking back at his younger brothers. “Well, there’s not much we can do at the moment, is there? She’s smart and strong. Besides, it’s best not to get worried too easily, it’s probably just that dim-witted head of the department forcing her to work overtime.”

————————

Melanie groaned loudly as she slowly pushed herself up. She felt dizzy, her entire body hurt and she had no idea where she was. Actually, scratch that last bit. Looking around, she realized she was in a field of some sort and could see burned parts of the now broken carriage they had used to transport the prisoners. Her hair was dripping wet due to the heavy rain and she was freezing. Melanie struggled to stand and tried to determine roughly where they could have been when they were attacked. She knew that they had travelled northeast from London, towards Norwich, and that they probably hadn’t made it much further than Chelmsford. Her exact location didn’t really matter, though. It’s not like she could walk from London to Ottery St. Catchpole. That would take like two, maybe three, weeks in her current state - and that’s if she made it at all. No, she’d have to apparate, just not the entire distance in one go.

————————

“Bill, dear”, said Molly worriedly. “When did your sister say she’d be back from work?”

“I- I’m not sure”, Bill stuttered, as he sped down the stairs. “Around… dinnertime, I think?”

“What?”, asked Ron. “You said she said lunchtime!?”

Bill threw his head back and sighed as Fred kicked his younger brother under the table.

“Oh”, mumbled Ron, finally understanding. “Yeah, Bill’s right. She definitely said the evening.”

————————

But, dinnertime came and passed. Still no Melanie. When she still hadn't made it home a few days later, the Weasleys were forced to simply accept that something more serious had happened and just try to keep their hopes up. Molly, naturally, refused. Arthur had, while at work, done his very best to contact the other aurors that had been working that night, but unfortunately remained unsuccessful due to the now tense and strained situation at the ministry. Fleur had suggested delaying the wedding, but Bill insisted, claiming that this gave them even more of a reason to do it while they still had the chance. He could, however, barely stand the thought of not having one of his sisters there; it was difficult enough that Percy refused to come…

————————

She didn’t know how much time had passed, maybe a week, but eventually found herself slowly approaching her childhood home. After taking a few heavy steps, she stumbled slightly and would have tripped if not for two strong arms firmly grabbing her shoulders to keep her standing. She should probably be scared but somehow knew not to fight them.

“Mel!? Bloody hell, what in Merlin’s name happened to you?”

“Charlie?”, she gasped and grabbed her older brother’s coat as her legs suddenly gave out. “Is it really you?”

“Yeh, of course, it’s me.”, he put his sister’s arm over his shoulders. “Mel, I literally just came home, where have you been? What happened? Who did this to you?”

“Work, attacked, Rockwood”

He looked her up and down with a pained expression on his face. “Okay, come on - let’s get indoors.”

They walked slowly, Charlie carefully making sure that Melanie didn’t fall and simultaneously pepping her with questions. “How long have you been away? When were you supposed to get back to mum and dad’s?”

“Ehhh… I-I don’t know… A couple of days ago, maybe? It’s all kind of hazy right now, to be honest.”

“Holy Merlin… But wha-”

“Charlie, sorry”, she coughed slightly, “but would you mind if we wait? Mum and dad are going to want to hear everything and I don’t wanna have to relive it more times than needed…”

“Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

He knocked carefully on the door, and it was only a matter of seconds before Arthur slowly opened it. He had his wand in a tight grip and was about to have Charlie confirm his identity when he noticed the state of the person standing next to his son. Their father’s eyes widened in shock and he looked absolutely horrified.

“Molly! Bill!!”

Melanie hadn’t heard such fear in her father’s voice since Ginny had been taken into the chamber of secrets four years earlier. He swallowed deeply. “Come in, quickly.”

Charlie put his sister on the sofa just as their mother, older brother and the twins came running down the stairs. They all grinned happily when they saw Charlie, but the smiles faded almost instantly.

“Mellie?” George effortlessly jumped over an old armchair and kneeled by the couch. “Are you okay?” He removed some blood from her face using the sleeve of his jumper.

She smiled and nodded weakly. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t” *cough* “don’t worry. What happened to your ear?”.

Bill and Charlie embraced each other quickly while Molly joined George on the floor. The two oldest brothers both glanced at their sister. She lay so incredibly still; completely motionless save for her steady breathing. Just as those thoughts crossed his mind, Charlie noticed something and was about to point it out when Bill beat him to it.

The oldest brother had walked over to join his family by the sofa and placed a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Mel? You’re twitching.”

“I know.” She sighed deeply. “It’ll pass, though.

He looked deep into her eyes and fought to keep eye contact when he whispered, “was it-”

“Yes”, she answered honestly. “But, Bill, I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s okay. Besides, it was way worse a few days ago… Speaking of which, what day is it?”

“Wednesday”, said Molly bitterly, obviously understanding the meaning of the words just exchanged between her oldest son and daughter, but deciding not to push it further. “10 days. 10 days, Mel. Not a word?”

“I’m sorry, mum. Truly.” She then explained everything, from the detailed plan to the overwhelming defeat. “Imagine if we had taken them down instead?” She put her head in her hands and sighed sadly. “Imagine how many people will die now, because we let them all go.”

“Sweetie”, sighed Arthur, taking her hands in his. ”You didn’t ‘let them go’. You did everything you could.”

She closed her eyes sadly. “Not enough, dad.”

“Mel”, said Bill seriously. “You can’t think like that. We’re at war, we can’t go in expecting to keep everybody safe. There will be casualties. Some of the death eaters didn’t make it either. Think instead of all the people who will survive the war now thanks to you.”

“Bill, I know for a fact that Rockwood and Dolohov got away. We’re all…”, she glanced carefully at her mother. “All aware that they won’t hesitate to kill. A-”

“It’s not like they’re invincible now?”, Fred interrupted. “Mel, you’ll get another chance. Just rest now, please. You’ll be back on the field in no time, and it’ll be like this never happened.”

“Sure, bu-”

“No!”, said Molly with a firm tone. “No buts! Fred is right, you need to rest, dear.” She kissed her daughter on her forehead and left the room. The others took that as a sign and left the room with a quick ‘sleep tight’ or ‘g’night’.

Melanie Weasley tried to listen to her family and put this minor setback behind her. She managed it for a while. At least until that fateful day of the final battle between good and bad. The day when the consequences of her failure became clear. The day her younger brother lost his life because of her.

~ L

Masterlist

Mischief Managed

Nox

[variousqueerthings]

thinking about these awesome tags from @catzy88​ and wanted to just speak to essentially what they talk about and one of my favourite writing choices of the show (so far, considering my predictions for what’ll happen moving forward):

and it’s Johnny’s two-steps-forward-one-step (sometimes several steps) -back journey. 

1. Introduction

there’s a few of things that happen on the show that get wrapped up in a semi-fantastical/wish-fulfilmenty way (Miguel recovering from his back injury like he does, Daniel sorting out his dealership problems with Doyona, etc.) and I’m not mad about it, it fits in with the generally optimistic tone of the show + various circumstances that surround these choices, so they’re not one-note writing decisions - 

ex. aftermath of Miguel’s surgery will continue to be explored on s4 so it’s not done and over with without consequences versus the way Daniel’s journey to Okinawa is about healing in various ways, so that deus ex machina fits in with the tone of that storyline. People’s mileage probably vary, but I think it’s all relatively well-balanced (pun not intended) with the deeper, less-easily-fixable issues and character dynamics that the show explores.

2. Johnny’s Story

If everything on this show were easy it wouldn’t be so watchable. Which is where Johnny comes in (amongst other characters, but I’m gonna focus).

in contrast Johnny’s journey for three seasons has had a lot of good intentions - help Miguel, get his life in order, forgive and forget the past, mend his relationship with Robby, be generally better to himself and others - and the majority of it’s gone pretty badly. 

I have predictions that there’ll be a flip in s4 and Daniel’s going to spiral more obviously, while Johnny’s going to be healing/functioning somewhat better. I also think it’s important to show him failing despite being in a better place than end season 2/beginning season 3. And failing again. And failing again. 

Johnny (and Daniel, but I shall focus!) doesn’t come onto this show with easily fixed issues. He’s likely been an alcoholic since he was in his 20s, he’s isolated to the extreme, he can’t hold down a job, he’s still under the thumb of his stepdad, and his relationship to Robby is non-existent at best. 

In 100 different ways he’s trapped and he’s so trapped that he can’t even envision being less trapped. Starting the dojo is a fluke, combined by meeting and saving Miguel and wanting to spite Daniel. He’s not planning on “getting better,” hell, he doesn’t even think that he has a problem that can be fixed to begin with. Up until this moment life has largely just happened to him and his decisions have been reactionary (and if there were times we don’t know about before now where he tried, he obviously failed)

His thinking clearly goes something like this: “I’ll make this kid not get beat up... and I guess now I’ve got a business so I need other kids? and now I care about this kid I guess, oh and his mom’s pretty nice (and pretty) too... and now I’ve got a business I can buy Sid out, that’s cool... ” etcetcetc. (still reactionary to an extent, although that gradually changes) right up until the tournament happens and he starts to have to face some of the shit he’s been telling these kids and Robby’s with Daniel and Kreese has reappeared...

I’d argue it’s not until mid-ish season 2, when Kreese reveals he’s homeless and Johnny decides that their forgiveness is tied into one another and especially when Tommy dies (still got one thing I don’t... time) that he actually really starts thinking about what all of this means for him longterm, that he can and should want for the future and that he has real responsibilities to do so because of others. It’s also the first time he properly admits that it’s not just “the tournament as a single event,” but the whole philosophy that he was taught that fucked him up (which is scary, because then he’s gotta admit a whole bunch of other stuff - that he has deep-rooted issues and that he needs to try to get better. That he’s both a victim and a perpetrator of this cycle. That just saying things are shit and won’t ever change won’t cut it anymore).

And just as he begins this thought-process and is incredibly vulnerable because of that everything goes to hell.

All of the structures Johnny had been building were on sand, right up to the choice to handshake deal on the dojo, and they all come crashing down spectacularly all at once in the season 2 finale.

Back to square one.

3. Square one (but not really)

This is amazing! It’s giving us a narrative on top of the more fantasy-like narratives that goes: “Not everything can be fixed easily just because we want to fix them,” and, “some things need to fail so that the next time you try, you try better!”

It’s not square one at all. 

A whole bunch of shit that Johnny was carrying with him without being able to voice in the first season is now out there, in the open. The ugliness needs to be exposed before it can be healed and (as myself and so many people who’re dealing with xy and z know) when you first “discover” what’s fucked up you can feel like everything’s worse. Your ability to deal with that thing can get a whole lot worse. 

Johnny relapses into a version of himself that on the surface looks even worse than in s1, but actually he’s way more open to change, he’s got reasons to get back up again, even if it takes a moment for him to pull himself together to actually do that. It takes pretty much all of season 3 for him to get there (and that was necessary too), but now he’s there he can start from a much stronger place than he previously did.

And there’s so much he’s still not facing - can you imagine the fallout when he has to deal with being an alcoholic? 

Johnny as a character has made so many mistakes (note: I’m not a fan of using the word “fault” as a descriptor for characters (as in “whose fault is X”) because they’re fictional and it’s more about motivations than tracing faults) and those mistakes make a whole lot of sense to his character - a broke, drunk, traumatized guy with more failings under his belt than you can count. 

I confess, I’m not sure how I feel about him not visiting Robby in juvie from a writing perspective, however it’s on the show, so now we get to analyse how it can make sense - which, considering that Johnny isn’t good at prioritising - and as an ADHD that’s a mood - it can totally work. Is it very bad? Yes. Does it sound like something Johnny would do when faced between an easy-fix of his relationship with the Diaz family and his much more difficult and complicated relationship with Robby? Sigh, yeah... unfortunately parenting Robby is the biggest fear he has... it’s not pretty, but it’s not meant to be...

4. Anyway, TL;DR 

I’d have felt cheated if Johnny could just magically “become” better - both mentally and in his relationships to others. He’s made big mistakes, has a lot of unresolved mental health issues, and - ironically - has chosen flight over fight for so much of his life that “simply wanting to become better” being  enough of a motivator to change all of that around would’ve been unrealistic for his character and unsatisfying for a longterm plot in which we see how difficult it is and (hopefully) get to revel in the continued upwards journey despite that.

Also it would’ve been kind of insulting to these journeys in real life (to do a little conflating for a moment). 

Trying to make good is admirable, but it sure isn’t easy and it won’t always work, especially if you don’t know where to even start.

The joy of his story is in seeing someone continue to try despite that.

[ikleesfiction]

Will you follow through if I fall for you?

Fandom : One Chicago Word count : 2250 words Author note : My first dip on this fandom. Endgame would be Jay Halstead x reader. Jay will appear in the next part. Disclaimer

Part 1

You arrive at the swimming pool much later than you've wanted. You wish to get a few laps before the school kids coming for their class. But here you are, only begin to warm up, the raucous laughter of school kids echoing in the pool already.

You get into the deeper side of the pool, not wanting to interrupt the class or get interrupted. Starting your lap without forcing yourself. Ever since the incident, you have yet reached the perfect movement of your feet. Some day, like this morning, it was hurting so bad. Made you wish you don't have to get up from the bed. 

But after about forty minutes of light swimming in the pool, you feel like it's getting better. You think you could swim for another ten minutes before coming up. As a challenge for yourself, you swim deeper and doing apnea. From your periphery, you can see three kids get closer to the deeper side of the pool and swimming playfully. You reach the poolside and come up for air, trying to see if the boys are safe enough or if you need to warn the teacher.

All of a sudden, one of the boys puts his hand up. Panicking, as he tries to get more air. You cannot spot the kid's friends. When you dive and swim to the boy as fast as your feet allowed, you see the other two boys pulling their friend's foot down. Not realizing that their friend is drowning.

Once you reach them, you pull the drowning boy up, bringing him to the poolside. The pool guard and the school teacher are ready to help you get the boy out of the pool. The boy is coughing water and keeps panicking. They try to calm him down so he can breathe. Shortly enough, the boy calms down and breathing through his sobs. Still in the water, you feel the boy's friends approaching. They gape in shock, realizing that their friend was almost drowned.

We're so sorry, Owen! I thought you're ready when we pull you in!!" said one of the friends.

"That was a dangerous thing to do, David. I told you, right before we get in the water. Nobody should swim on the deeper side of the pool. But you three even played in here. Someone could get seriously injured by your recklessness.", chides the teacher to her students.

"Yes, Miss, we are sorry," says the other boy from the pool.

"Now, everybody gets out of the water. We have to stop the class. I need to bring Owen to the hospital to make sure that he is not badly hurt. David and Noah, I will call your parents to report your behavior. You too, Owen. I will tell your mom the same at the hospital," declares the teacher.

""I called 9-1-1, paramedics are 3 minutes out, to bring him to the hospital," says the pool guard. "Nice save, by the way," the pool guard continues to acknowledge you.

"Nah, just lucky I saw them first," you object. Looking at the drowning boy, Owen, as the teacher called him, "You're gonna be okay, kid," you continue to soothe him.

Owen looks back at you, and through his hiccups, he says, "Thank you." You return him with a smile.

A moment later, you see Gabby Dawson and Sylvie Brett arriving. They check Owen and briefly pack him up to go to the hospital.

"Hey girl, nice to see you here," Sylvie greets you.

"I don't wanna be ungrateful, but I wish I didn't have to see you here, Syl," you reply, slightly amused.

"Eh, what can you do, right?" She remarks jokingly.

"Alright, we're ready to go, Owen. Let's go see your mom at Med", Gabby informs her patient.

"I'll follow you there. I need to wait until the subs teacher gets here to take over the class," The teacher tells Gabby. "Thank you again for saving my student," She earnestly says to you.

Gabby and Sylvie notice the encounter and raise their eyebrows in question.

Gabby then rolls the gurney out while Sylvie hangs back and grins at you, "You saved him from drowning? How's the table turned! The rescuee turns to be the rescuer!"

"Shut up, Brett!" you whisper-yelling, feeling embarrassed.

As you try to pull yourself out of the pool, your left hamstring suddenly cramps. "Argh!" you shout and let yourself back into the water.

"You okay?" Sylvie inspects you.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. I just need a cool-down lap, then I'll be okay. You better go catch Gabby before she leaves you here", you try to dismiss her.

"You sure you okay? Do you need a ride to go back from here? Your feet hurt because you sped up to save Owen, don't they?" Sylvie pries.

"No, I'm okay. It doesn't hurt much. Seriously, if it feels bad, you'll know, Syl. I won't shut up about my pain when I can badger you", you pull out another tactic to get rid of her worry.

"Alright then, you'll promise to go to your clinic if it gets worst, right?" Sylvie finally relents.

"Of course," you simply reply. You need Sylvie to leave soon because you want to give your left hamstring a massage. You are not going to do it under Sylvie's scrutiny.

"Okay, girl. See ya!" with that, Sylvie goes.

You have known Sylvie and Gabby, and also almost everybody from Firehouse 51, since that accident. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Then Firehouse 51 got to rescue you. But the accident badly hurts your legs.

You were supposed to only stay in Chicago for 3 days for a business trip. But because of that accident, it becomes 3 months. You have to complete a series of treatments so you can gain full recovery of your leg movement. You cannot go back home. Your family cannot come to be with you for that long. You ought to rearrange your life and have been doing this treatment for the last couple of months.

You stay in the pool for another ten minutes before you could move with much less pain. Slowly getting out of the pool, then you go take a shower in the locker room. You decide that you need to go to the clinic, meet your physical trainer to check out your feet. It wasn't that you lied to Sylvie when you said that it doesn't hurt much, but you're on the last segment of your treatment. You don't want to take a risk and have to redo the treatment.

Now, if the treatment is successful, presumably you can leave Chicago in four weeks. As lovely as the city is, you don't want to risk staying longer in this city than you have to. You get a job that you love, that makes you travel all over the world. So being stuck here in Chicago, by yourself, feels like torture to you.

Firehouse 51 is very supportive of you once they know that you have to stay in the city by yourself to recover from your injury. They help whenever they can. Kelly Severide basically adopted you as his little sister since he's the one who pulled you from the incident scene. You're grateful for them, but it made you missed home more. At home, you are close to your parents. You're working with your best friends, surrounded by your favorite people. You still call them whenever you can. But their life continues while yours is stuck in Chicago.

You take a taxi to the clinic where you're treated. Crossing Chicago Med on the way, you remember hearing Gabby would take Owen here for further checkup. You hesitate slightly in front of the hospital entrance.

Maybe I can check on Owen one more time? Ensuring that there's nothing serious happening to him? You thought to yourself.

You ask the cab driver to pull over as you passed the hospital entrance.

You step to the ED nurse station, "Hi, Uhm, there's a boy, named Owen, that was brought here because of drowning. May I ask if he's doing okay?"

The nurse gives you a hard stare, "We cannot disclose any information about our patient to any non-family member, Miss,"

You scold yourself for being too soft-hearted. Naturally, the hospital will not tell you anything. For all they know, you could be a kidnapper, child abuser, or something similar.

You're just gearing yourself to leave, throwing an apologetic smile to the nurse, "Of course, I understand. Thank you,"

However, a doctor in dark scrub interrupted politely, "Who's asking?"

Looking up to the doctor, you see a "Connor Rhodes, M.D" embroidered on his scrub.

"Uhmm, my name is Y/N. I was there at the pool. He couldn't breathe for a moment when I pulled him out. I know the paramedics said he'd be okay, but I thought I could make sure, for my sanity, that Owen is going to be okay,"

The doctor and the nurse glance at each other, contemplate shortly before the doctor tells you to wait. He goes into one of the Trauma Rooms. You are just standing awkwardly at the nurse station, trying to be unobtrusive as possible.

Then a woman in a doctor's coat comes out from that Trauma Room, follows by another doctor in red scrub and Dr. Rhodes himself. Once they are in front of you, you can see "Natalie Manning, M.D" on the woman's coat.

"Are you the one who saved my son??" Dr. Manning stares at you with teary eyes.

"Err... I pulled him out of the water, yes. But the pool guard.."

"Before you can finish your sentence, you are hugged by the woman.

"Thank you so much! Thank you! I don't want to imagine what it would be if you're not there!"

Surprised by the hug, you're just awkwardly patting her back, looking at Dr. Rhodes and the other doctor behind her. You read, ".. Halstead M.D" on his chest, but unable to see his first name.

"Uhmm, I just happened to be there," You return, not knowing what to say. Dr. Manning lets you go from her hug after some time.

"Is he truly going to be fine? No water in his lungs?" you ask the doctors.

"We did a scan on his thorax. Nothing worrying is in his lungs. We will monitor him further. Hopefully, there'll be no sign of infection occurred. We can send him home tomorrow if all goes well," Dr. Halstead reveals.

"That's great to hear," you feel relieved after hearing that. "I hope Owen won't be afraid to be in the water again after the scare,"

"Well, I'm the one who's afraid to let him in the water now," retorts Dr. Manning. Her eyes are still watery, but her makeup is not smeared.

Stupid thing to notice, Y/N, you thought to yourself.

You pull out a pack of tissue from your bag and offer it to Dr. Manning, who receives it.

"I'm sorry I'm a mess. My name is Natalie Manning, Owen's mom. Here is Dr. Will Halstead, my fiance. You met Dr. Rhodes before,"

"Y/N Y/LN. Nice to meet you, even though the circumstance is not nice," you introduce yourself as you shake their hands.

"Seriously, thank you for saving Owen. How can we ever repay it to you?" Dr. Halstead sincerely says.

"Ah no, I did not do that or come here expecting anything. I'm just glad that you can let me know Owen is alright," you refuse.

"Why don't you come to our place for dinner someday when Owen is home?" Dr. Manning suggests.

"It's okay, doctor. There's no need for that.", you try to turn down their offer.

"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Dr. Halstead says. He pulls out his phone from his pocket. "Please put down your phone number here. We'll set up the dinner schedule" as he hands his phone to you.

You receive the phone, in reflex. "Truly, doctors, you don't have to do this. You don't even know me. What if I was lying to you?". These people were too trusting, you thought.

"His teacher told us what happened. Gabby Dawson also told us that her friend saved Owen. I could double-check with her if I ever doubt you. Not that I am, though," Dr. Manning explains.

"Dinner is the least we can do for you, Y/N. I could also ask my cop brother to come to dinner, in case you turn to be a villain", Dr. Halstead jests.

You snicker lightly. "Alright then, only a fool refused free dinner," as you put your number on Dr. Halstead's phone.

"Well, don't expect much from the dinner. These people are not known to be a good cook, you know", quips Dr. Rhodes.

"Just for that, Connor, you're not invited to dinner," Dr. Halstead points at him.

They laugh as you return the phone to Dr. Halstead. "I should go. Thank you again for letting me know about Owen. Hope he will back to the pool soon", say you with your cheeky grin.

"Thank you so much. You're such a good person. Saved my boy, came here to check on him, even gave me a tissue!" Dr. Manning lists to you as she dabs her eyes.

Dr. Halstead and Dr. Rhodes shake your hand goodbye. Dr. Manning gives you another hug before letting you exit the ED. None of the three doctors miss the limping on your left foot.

Next on this fic : Part 2

[yukipri]

On the Baratie, Prologue - a One Piece Mermaid AU Text Story

Thanks to everyone who sent in their opinion on the East Blue stories poll! I think Sanji’s had the most, so we’re starting off with more Baratie!

While there’ll be a continuation, here’s a bit of prelude, because they need a different reason to go to the Baratie. The ASL Pirates already have a cook after all!

Like a prologue to On the Baratie, Part 1

~~

When Thatch makes up his mind to accompany Ace back to East Blue, he knows that there's one place he wants to visit no matter what.

He's only been to East Blue once, and it was honestly ages ago, and he doubts there'll be another chance in the near future. Not many opportunities to visit the weakest Blue as a commander in an Emperor's crew, after all.

And while Thatch doubts he'd travel halfway around the world for the sole purpose of visiting this spot, he's lucky. Because on this particular trip, it's practically along the way. They're passing right by the area on their way back to re-entering the Grand Line, so there's no way in hell he's letting this slip by.

It's the only request Thatch has made on this journey, and Ace and Luffy, who are the Captains and therefore technically get to decide where they go, have no objections. Luffy's already bobbing up and down in excitement, despite their guides estimating that they still have a ways to go.

"The Baratie, huh," Ace grins. "Never heard of it, we didn't pass by our first time through, did we Deuce?"

"You've never heard of it because you lived in the middle of nowhere, in a jungle with barely any contact with human civilization," Deuce says pointedly. "Most people in East Blue at least know of it, it's kinda famous."

Ace just shrugs, and Luffy whoops as the movement of his shoulders momentarily boosts her higher. Ace indulges her and repeats the movement more aggressively until she's bouncing, and Deuce sighs. The two captains' attentions have shifted, and now they're preoccupied by the most important topic of all: food.

"Food~!" Luffy sings, hopping from one arm to the other as Ace switches to spinning her around, and Deuce has to duck to avoid her tail. "Yummy yummy food at a restaurant! It's gonna be amazing!"

"It really will be amazing, if Zeff hasn't lost his touch," Thatch agrees, and Luffy and Ace cheer. "I've never eaten at this restaurant of his, but I was a fan of the Cook Pirates when I was a kid." 

His expression darkens, and Ace stills, recalling that Thatch mentioned they all died or something.

"Sucks what happened to them," Ace offers.

But Thatch just shrugs. It was around a decade ago, and shit happens out at sea. "I'm just glad Zeff survived. He'll have trained the new cooks well, and it'll be funny to see the old man actually settled down as a civilian."

Thatch was still a teen the last time he saw Zeff, who was Captain of the infamous Cook Pirates back in the day. They were always picking fights, and picked the wrong one with Pops, and predictably lost. Pops let them live, and they had a grand party, and Thatch remembers being captivated by their culinary expertise.

Thatch chuckles to himself, and the two brothers look at him curiously, blinking with adorably similar expressions.

"I just remembered, Zeff tried to scout me. Pops wasn't thrilled."

Ace barks a laugh, hefting Luffy into a more comfortable position before she suddenly squirms out of his arms. Luffy makes a grabby motion towards Thatch, and Ace obligingly if reluctantly moves closer to let her swing up onto the taller man's shoulders.

Thatch perks up at the sudden attention, because it's not every day that the little mermaid chooses to climb someone other than her brother. Thatch knows she doesn't need it, but offers her a hand to get settled more comfortably, which she takes with a pleased little purring sound that makes his heart skip a beat. Thatch pointedly doesn't look at Ace, but he can still feel his burning gaze.

He's not sure what prompted the sudden transport transfer, but suddenly Luffy's leaning forward over his shoulder to peer directly into his face, and she's close. Thatch tries very hard not to blush.

"But if the Zeff-dude cooks are that good, are they better than you, Thatch?" Luffy asks, eyes wide. "That can't be right, because Thatch's food is the best in the world! Better than even Makino's!"

Those words do make Thatch flush crimson, and Ace snorts. Thatch ignores him, too busy trying to control the warmth bubbling up inside his chest.

Thatch doesn't think he's arrogant, but he also isn't unused to his food being praised. As ungrateful as most of his brothers back aboard the Moby usually are, he's still the head chef who leads the culinary division of their entire fleet, and it's a position he's earned. He's personally trained and assigned all of the cooks on every Whitebeard ship. He knows he cooks well.

But there's something special about Luffy's unique brand of painfully genuine praise. Even though they've been traveling together for a few weeks now, she never gets bored of singing her appreciation at every mealtime with, if anything, increasing enthusiasm. It's like every time is her first time trying his food. Thatch in no way needs her compliments to adore her, he was besotted far before she even knew he was a cook, but boy does he appreciate them, and he doubts he'll ever really get used to them.

Thatch has been called the "Best Cook in the World" by many, and he'd accepted their words politely. But to hear them from Luffy feels like the highest honor he can ever attain.

Thatch feels unbearably fond as he reaches up to fluff Luffy's hair, and she leans into his hand, eyes curving up into slits like a happy kitten, her tail curling back and forth at his back.

Ace cheerfully ruins their moment.

"We'll just have to see, Lu, and maybe if you like their cooking better, we can ditch Thatch and kidnap one of their cooks." Ace leers like the evil little shit he is, and Thatch gasps with exaggerated indignation.

"No, no!" Luffy boos her brother, clinging to Thatch like he's the embodiment of all the meals Ace had threatened she'd lose, before she swings her tail around to smack at Ace none too gently until he grudgingly raises his arms in surrender.

"If we like their cooking, then we can keep Thatch AND kidnap one of their cooks!"

"Lil Seastar, you're not satisfied with just me, even if my food is the best in the world?" Thatch teases, and sticks his tongue out at Ace when he scowls. The young Captain isn't so thrilled with Thatch's new nickname for his baby brother, and Thatch thinks it's fair revenge for him being mean. 

"Thatch's food is the best!" Luffy cries again, and Thatch glows. "But if we steal a Zeff, then we have two cooks, which means more food!" She nods, pleased with her conclusion. "More food is always good!"

Well, she's a little confused, but her point is made. They hopefully won't steal Zeff himself, as Thatch doubts he'll be happy to part with his beloved restaurant, but perhaps nabbing one of his assistants isn't a terrible idea.

While handling even Ace and Luffy's appetites is no problem for Thatch, who's used to feeding the entire Moby Dick, some company in the kitchen might not be bad.

(And, a voice whispers in his head, that they'll need a cook that Thatch approves of when he inevitably has to leave to return to Pops. It's a voice Thatch ignores, so that he can enjoy this moment, for now.)

~~

~~

I don't think it's actually ever officially stated whether Thatch's Division is actually in charge of dining, but there are other divisions that are specified, so I thought it would be interesting, so I made it that way ^ ^;

(Edit: Actually it IS explicitly stated that the 4th Division is in charge of dining, this is canon and not just a headcanon whee~!)

And if Thatch as the head of the cooking division, then to me it makes sense that he'd be insanely good at it, not just your average chef. Because I mean, they're the Whitebeard pirates. And sure, they're not as food-centric as the Big Mom Pirates, but the WBs always have quality. Cooking, I feel, is a lot more subjective than say, "Strongest Swordsman in the World" but I don't think it'd be a stretch to say that Thatch is Up There.

This isn't at all to shit on canon!Sanji or his cooking which is probably also insanely good, but Sanji's a lot younger, and the places he's been, the people he's learned from, and the people he's cooked for are far more limited. He, like everyone else, is learning rapidly by stepping out into a far larger world.

Thatch, in comparison, has been on the Grand Line for a loooooong time, traveling with the most infamous crew currently in existence, and probably has picked up a LOT of things from a lot of people. While he doesn't have an official canon age, given the ages of the other Commanders (Marco 45; Jozu 42; Vista 47), I'm putting him at 41 here. That's decades of difference in experience.

It's one of the reasons why I think exploring Thatch and Sanji's mentor-rival relationship in this AU could be so much fun, because think of how much Sanji could grow with someone like Thatch in the crew.

Luckily, Sanji's dream is to find All Blue, not to defeat the cooking equivalent of Mihawk in Iron Chef Grand Line, so outside of fighting for the heart of the love of their lives, I think they can get along quite well ^ ^;

(also do u like his nickname for Lu. I had to consult a friend. But I think it's beginning to stick for me ^ ^;)

As always, any thoughts or comments make my day! Thanks for reading <3

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

Read the next part: 👒🐟On the Baratie, Part 1

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

[tiaragqueen]

Can I please request a yandere shinso trying to make his darling notice him again? like, he became kinda popular ever since he got into the hero course everyone praised him, and everyone said hello and hi to him in the hallways, 'you're gonna become a great Hero shinsou!' and he became kinda bratty and slightly arrogant there, but then reader didn't like that anymore so she just avoided him ever since and he was like what the fuck y/n? why aren't you answering me or my texts anymore?! y/n: who u

Imperious

✂ Pairing: Yandere! Shinsou Hitoshi x General Ed Student! Reader

✂ Word Count: 1,4k+

✂ Trigger Warnings: Manipulation, possessiveness

[Edited]

***

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“You’ve changed, you’re not the angel I once knew. No need to tell me that that we’re through. It’s all over now.” - You’ve Changed [Ella Fitzgerald]

You knew that underneath the cold shoulder you’d been giving to Shinsō lately, lied profound disappointment and dejection over his change of attitude. Your heart would wrench whenever you listened to his arrogant response towards the constant praises and support that surrounded him daily, and tears would prick your eyes whenever he attempted to strike a conversation with you.

Were you overreacting? You didn’t know. All you knew was that he’d stomped on your feelings, on your delicate trust, with his behavior.

And all of this happened without his knowledge.

Not that you’d bothered to tell him, though. It was hard to bring yourself to look at him in the eye and feign a smile. It was hard to avoid him when he always lingered in front of your classroom, waiting for an opportunity that you’d never give. It was hard to ignore his messages when he practically bombarded your phone every day.

Today wasn’t an exception, either.

[06.18 pm] Shinsō: What the fuck, [Name]?! Why do you keep ignoring my texts? First, in school and now this. Heck, you even took a roundabout route just to avoid me yesterday! What have I done to you?!

Seen.

You frowned. How did he know that you took a longer path to your home yesterday? Was he… was he stalking you? No, that was impossible. He must’ve seen you somehow, despite your painstaking efforts to elude him. Then again, if he did spotted you, why didn’t he approach you? Although you wanted to diminish any possibility of confrontation, it’d be strange if he didn’t try to at least grab the chance.

Was he simply biding his time?

[06.23 pm] You: Who the hell are you? Stop spamming my phone.

Seen.

The reply came quickly as if he’d been waiting for yours, or relieved that you finally answered his desperate questions.

[06.23 pm] Shinsō: Very funny. Your first reply and you already made a joke.

Seen.

[06.24 pm] You: I’m not joking, tho. You really should stop spamming me. I don’t know you anymore.

Seen.

[06.25 pm] Shinsō: Oh? So you move on from me now, huh? Got a new friend or something? A boyfriend, maybe? Is that why you’re so cold towards me lately?

Seen.

[06.26 pm] You: The hell are you talking about? I don’t have a boyfriend.

Seen.

[06.27 pm] Shinsō: He can be from another school for all I know. Or maybe it’s Agoyamato. You do seem close with each other, after all.

Seen.

[06.27 pm] You: Stop it.

Seen.

[06.28 pm] Shinsō: Why? Are you scared because it’s the truth? Tell me, how long have you been dating him, huh? Since I transferred to the Hero course? Or is it longer than that?

Seen.

Scowling, you refrained from breaking your phone out of sheer exasperation. This guy thought he could ruin your evening and interrogated you as if he was a disapproving parent or boyfriend. He really had changed for the worst, and you didn’t know whether you should be enraged or calmly confronted him about it. You weren’t sure if you had the courage and patience to do the latter, though. And yet, on the other hand, a sentimental part of you yearned for that forgotten connection and wished to solve things instead. You knew you were being childish with this whole silent treatment stuff, and why the result was counterproductive then your expectations.

If only there was a way for you to sever the ties without hurting you both. But the world hadn’t been kind to you, had it? First, his accession and now, his baseless suspicions over your imaginary relationship with a classmate.

When your mother said that high school time was ‘eye-opening’, you didn’t expect it to be like this. You thought you’d deal with the arbitrary romance or schoolwork, not handling conflict with your ex-friend.

[06.30 pm] You: We are not dating.

Seen.

[06.30 pm] Shinsō: Oh, lying now, are we?

Seen.

You groaned loudly. Why was he being so goddamn difficult?! What did you have to do to convince him that you weren’t and would never date Agoyamato? What did you have to say to knock some sense into that thick skull of his?

No, wait. Why did his opinion matter, anyway? It wasn’t your job to justify things to him, and it wasn’t his job to meddle with your affairs too.

Sighing, you gently massaged your throbbing temples and proceeded to end the conversation. Hopefully, once and for all.

[06.33 pm] You: You know what? I don’t care. I don’t care if you think I’m lying or not, because I already told you the truth. I’m tired and I want to sleep. Goodbye.

Seen.

[06.34 pm] Shinsō: No, this conversation isn’t over yet. Not until I say so.

Seen.

[06.37 pm] Shinsō: [Name]?

Seen.

[06.40 pm] Shinsō: So you’re back to ignoring me again, huh? Very mature, [Name], very mature.

Seen.

[07.00 pm] Shinsō: Look. I’m sorry, okay? I’m just… scared that you found another friend already. I know it sounds silly because you’ll never ditch me like that. But the truth is… I miss you. I miss you so much, [Name], you have no idea. So, please, text me back. You don’t have to speak to me at school, but please don’t ignore me here too. I’m lonely without you. If I could, I would’ve brought you to the Hero course too.

Seen.

[07.05 pm] Shinsō: [Name]?

Seen.

[07.10 pm] Shinsō: [Name], answer me NOW. I know you don’t sleep around this hour, so stop this childish game. It’s not funny.

Seen.

[07.15 pm] Shinsō: Oh, fine! Do you want to keep ignoring me? Go ahead, but I hope you know that there’ll be consequences.

Seen.

[07.15 pm] Shinsō: I will make you notice me again.

Seen.

Frowning, you immediately shut off your phone and rolled to the other side of the bed. You ignored your mother’s call for dinner and squeezed your eyes shut, trying to dispel the last message from your mind. You refused to acknowledge the dread that crept to your chest or his tone of finality.

Nope, it was just your mind overanalyzing a simple and harmless text. There was nothing to be feared about tomorrow. Besides, what could he do to you that wouldn’t garner attention from the students anyway? That’s right, none. Because he was officially the student of Hero course, therefore, his movements would be more examined than other faculties.

He was the face of the school now, so there was nothing for you to be worried about.

That was what you tried to reassure yourself. Then again, the world hadn’t been kind to you ever since your abrupt separation with Shinsō.

It was as though you were doomed to be the bad end of the stick while he got the pleasant one.

“Wah, [Name], I didn’t know you’ve been dating Shinsō-kun!”

“Yeah, why didn’t you tell us? I thought we were friends, [Name]-chan!”

“Who confessed first? Him or you?”

“Are your feelings genuine or are you just dating him because he’s in the Hero course?”

“Man, I know this is late. But congratulation, [Last Name]-san! You’ve got yourself a keeper, you know?”

You clutched the doorframe, trying not to topple from the enthusiastic classmates that crowded you the moment your foot crossed the threshold of General Department class. What was this nonsense they were spouting on? You were dating Shinsō? Didn’t they know, or at least notice, that you no longer hung out with him and actively avoided his presence? You might not go around babbling about your problems to everyone, but you’d thought they could sense the tension that grew when Shinsō tried to confront you in front of the class a few weeks ago.

“W-what are you talking about? We’re not dating, I swear.”

“Oh, really?” A girl sneered and shoved her phone to your face. “Explain this, then.”

Bygone photos of you and Shinsō laughing and eating together burned your eyes more than the bright contrast. Your visage froze in a state of bewilderment and sullenness as she swiped the pictures rapidly and locked the device, barely giving you a chance to process with her challenging yet irritated stare. Overwhelmed with the silent questions that begged for your affirmation – not that they needed it, though, they just wanted to know if you’d be honest or deny it again – you took a step back and glanced over your shoulder.

Sensing your incidental look, Shinsō smirked and waved mockingly from his spot against the windows outside your classroom.

“Hello, girlfriend.” he mouthed.

[monaownsmyass]

Girl Friends

Requested fic by anon. (If you have any fic ideas or requests you'd like me to write, you can leave me an ask!)

Book: Open Heart 2, (after) Chapter 15

Pairing: Jackie Varma x f!MC (Casey Valentine)

Genre: Fluff

Rating: PG13

Word Count: 3,145

A/N: Jackie has something special planned for MC. Okay ngl, I STRUGGLED with this one. Idk why but I did so I’m sorry if it’s not the best but dw, there’ll be more hopefully better Jackie x MC fics in the future! Also @playchoices make MC and their LI official challenge.

Tag list: @ineedskyecrandall @kamilahsayeet2063 @avalawrencefl @lovekamilahsayeed @thequeenkamilahsayeed @heygmicheelle @djtjsmith14 @jjlover01 @soft-for-drake @dopeyouth @alexroyard @satrinadia @toalltheboysididntlove @mypegasifly @samanthadalton @playallthechoices @queensayeed (lmk if anyone would like to be included or removed in my next fics and if you only want to be tagged for certain pairings.)

"Do you know what's up with Jackie?" I asked Sienna and Elijah while we had brunch together at the dining table. Aurora and Jackie were at work but we were off today. "She's been a little jumpy lately."

They looked at each other then back at me.

"I mean I know she had that whole thing with Panacea Labs but I don't know... this feels... different," I explained further. "She won't even tell me what's wrong!"

Elijah let out a cough while Sienna just ate her cereal quietly, suddenly very interested in the little loops floating in milk.

I squinted at them. "You both know something."

Elijah looked away, not wanting to face me but Sienna's head shot up and her eyes widened.

"What? Of course not!" she exclaimed defensively. "Why would we? Right, Elijah?"

She chuckled nervously and I heard her murmur, 'oh god' under her breath. Elijah glared at Sienna and whispered to her 'shhh!'.

"I'm right here!" I threw my arms up in disbelief. "If you guys know something, you better spill! And don't even try lying to me."

"Okay, yeah we know something," Elijah admitted and Sienna gazed at him worriedly. "But we can't tell you, I'm sorry."

"Why not?" I questioned, feeling myself get annoyed. "I'm worried for her, I've never seen Jackie so on edge and it's stressing me out!"

"She's planning to take you out tonight!" Sienna blurted then immediately covered her mouth with her hands.

"Sienna!" Elijah shouted.

"What?" Sienna screamed back. "She was gonna find out eventually! Jackie's gonna call her anytime now!"

And just like magic, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Casey," I heard Jackie say nonchalantly. "What's up?"

"Just having brunch with Sienna and Elijah." I shot them a glare and saw them shrink a little in their seats. "Did you need anything?"

"Uh, yeah, actually," she replied awkwardly. "How do you feel about dinner?"

"I have strong feelings about it," I joked. "I don't have it every day but it is pretty important."

I heard her scoff on the other side and I could almost see her eye roll and smile. "I meant with me, doofus."

"Dr. Jackie Varma," I said dramatically. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"God, I'm regretting it already."

She wasn't.

"That wasn't an answer," I teased.

"Hypothetically, if I were to ask you to put on something nice and get ready by 7 for me to fetch you to take you out for dinner, would you?" she avoided the question and I couldn't help the grin forming on my face.

"Hypothetically, of course!"

"So I'll see you at 7?"

"I thought you said it was hypothetical?" I messed with her.

"Oh my god," she groaned. "You're such a dork, I'll see you later."

I laughed at her frustration. "Alright, alright, bye, have a good day at work."

We hung up and I turned to find Sienna and Elijah looking at me cautiously.

"That's what's been bothering her?"

"Uh, yeah," Elijah sputtered out. "Yup, that's it."

"But I don't get why she's been jumpy, we've been out for dinner together before," I stated, confused.

The only response I got was Elijah shrugging while Sienna covered her mouth.

I narrowed my eyes at them. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"No! Of course not!" Sienna squealed in a voice that was higher than usual.

Obviously, I didn't believe them but I decided to let them off the hook.

"Fine, I'll figure it out myself. But at least just tell me Jackie is alright. Tell me nothing bad happened."

"Nothing like that!" Sienna said immediately.

"She's fine, don't worry about it." That was Elijah.

"Okay. Okay, that's all I need to know."

They were visibly relieved that I dropped the subject but I couldn't help but wonder, what the hell was going on?

~*~*~

It was just before 7p.m. and I was touching up my make up. I leaned back and looked at myself in the mirror to make sure I was presentable.

I was wearing a black body-con mini dress with a plunging neckline that was covered in sequins, making it glitter. My makeup was done to perfection and so was my hair.

I turned to admire my reflection and you know what? Screw presentable.

I looked amazing!

I heard the doorbell ring and I grabbed my purse, rushing out to answer it.

I saw Elijah and Sienna sitting on the couch in the living room watching TV. I remembered him saying something to Sienna about showing her this action series he's been into during brunch but my mind was still too busy on Jackie to be focusing.

"Oh my gosh!" Sienna shouted when she saw me. "You look great!"

"You planning to make Jackie pass out?" Elijah joked.

"Thanks, guys," I laughed and grinned, moving to answer the door.

I opened it and there she stood, the woman I came to care for, who's always had my back and been there for me through thick and thin. The woman I adored and was the most important person to me in the world, staring at me as if she's be struck by lightning.

And I was sure I was looking at her the same way.

She was wearing a dazzling dark blue halter neck dress that ended mid-thighs, showing off her body. The collar was covered in rhinestones and she wore a bracelet to match.

Her hair was in her usual chignon style while her makeup highlighted her already strikingly beautiful features.

Jackie looked gorgeous!

"Damn," she whispered. Her wide eyes started to smoulder and her slightly agape mouth turned into a grin. She bit her lip.

She sauntered up to me and slid her hands to my waist, eyes running up and down my figure and finally landing on my chest. I shivered under her touch and gaze.

"You cleaned up good."

"Are you talking to me or my boobs?" I laughed and she dragged her eyes up to mine, offering me a mischievous smile.

Her hand grabbed onto the back of my neck and she pulled me into a kiss. Our lips met in passionate haste. Her other hand roamed my back as mine rested against her hips. I felt the familiar butterflies start to flutter in the pit of my stomach when she kissed me.

We pulled away when we heard Sienna shout, "Not again! Please!"

We burst out laughing against each other's lips and decided to stop traumatising the poor girl.

"Hey, Sienna, Elijah," Jackie greeted them, peering into our apartment.

They greeted her back and before we could walk away to head to her car, Sienna shouted, "Have fun! Good luck!"

Jackie shut the door in a hurry and placed a hand on the small of my back, leading me away from our apartment.

"Good luck?" I looked at Jackie questioningly. "What for?"

Jackie shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows with that girl."

My brows creased skeptically but once again, brush it off. Maybe she was right.

When we made it to her car, she stopped me.

"Wait, I got something for you." She opened the back door of her car and pulled out a bouquet of sunflowers. She presented them to me, avoiding eye contact and said, "Here."

"Aww, Jackie! This is so sweet!" My heart melted at the sight.

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome," she murmured.

I accepted them and stepped closer to her. "Aw, you're embarrassed too!"

"I'm not!" she huffed and I giggled, placing a hand on her cheek to direct her gaze to meet mine.

Her skin burned under my touch. Yup, she was definitely blushing.

"You're so cute," I said and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Not exactly my brand," she said with a sly grin. "But I'll take it."

She opened the passenger's seat door for me and I ushered me in, me still holding the bouquet.

She closed the door behind me and got into the driver's side. She started the engine and pulled out of the car park.

Throughout the entire car ride, Jackie was jittery. I noticed her fingers drumming against the steering wheel which I've come to learn meant that she was nervous even if her face was stoic.

"You okay?" I asked her worriedly.

"Oh, yeah," she said mindlessly and turned the corner.

"If you say so," I said quietly and the rest of the ride was silent until we reached our destination.

Jackie parked a few blocks away so we had to walk to the restaurant. Once again, she opened the door for me and this time, offered me her arm hesitantly.

To say I was shocked was an understatement. It was definitely a pleasant surprise but this was way out of Jackie's character, I wasn't even sure if this was the same woman.

Wordlessly, I looped my arm around hers as we made our way to dinner, trying to neutralise my surprised expression.

We stopped in front of a grand restaurant which definitely looked like a meal here cost more than our rent.

"Jackie!" I turned to her. "We're having dinner here?"

"Yeah, is it too much?" she asked hurriedly. "If it is, we can just go somewhere simpler."

"No! No, it's just that, can we afford this?"

Jackie's face fell into relief. "Oh, don't worry about it, I've been saving up for a while now." She bit her lip and she lead me into the building. "Also the parents of one of my patients owns the place and they said they'd give me a discount but that's not important," she said jokingly with a smile.

I let out a laugh as Jackie checked our reservations with the maître d'. A waiter lead us to our table and we took our seats.

We opened the menus and after a while, Jackie said, "Okay, I have no idea what any of these are."

"Me neither," I giggled, trying to make out some of the words. "I think this one is... duck?"

"How sure are you?"

"Not at all."

We laughed and Jackie spoke.

"Alright, alright, why don't I randomly pick something for you, just tell me when to stop."

She ran her finger up and down the menu.

"Stop!" Jackie stopped her finger and squinted at the menu item her finger landed on. "What is it?"

"As if I know," she replied laughing. "You'll find out later."

I did the same for her and after we ordered when the waiter returned, I asked, "So was this outfit what you were sneaking out in that garment bag this morning?"

"You saw that?" She gave me a surprised look.

"'Cuz I definitely couldn't see it behind your back when you came into my room this morning to kiss me goodbye," I grinned as I watched her soul leave her body.

"You were awake?!"

I nodded, trying to hold back my laughter. "I always am when you do."

"Oh god," she groaned and hid her face behind her hand. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was waiting for the perfect moment to reveal it so I can tease you and revel in your embarrassment. Which so happens to be now!" I stated proudly.

"That's it, I'm never giving you a forehead kiss ever again." She crossed her arms and slumped in her seat.

"Aw, come on," I reached out to take her hand in mine. "Pleaseeeee?"

She rolled her eyes but fought the grin appearing on her lips. "I'll think about it."

Just then, our food was placed in front of us and we just stared at our respective orders for a good minute.

"What is this?" Jackie asked.

"I wish I knew."

We looked at each other's plates and burst out laughing.

"After you," I said.

"No way, we're doing this together!" She smirked at me. "Unless the great Dr. Valentine is scared of a little..." she trailed off, trying to figure out what was served in front of us. "Whatever that is."

I grinned. "Of course you'd make a competition out of this."

"Hey, less talking, more eating."

We both cut out a small chunk of our food and lifted it to mouths.

"Okay," she said. "Three, two, one..."

Jackie and I bite into the forkful and braced ourselves for the worst. But it wasn't the worst... nor was it the best either?

"I can't tell if I like it or not.. or what this even is," I admitted.

"Me neither."

We looked at each other and started laughing again.

"Let's just stick to sushi next time."

"Agreed," I said, still giggling.

We talked as we ate but I could still sense that Jackie was tense.

"Am I missing something?"

"Hm?"

"The sudden dinner date, the flowers, the opening doors for me," I explained. "Don't get me wrong, I love it, and it's really sweet of you... but you, well, normally you don't do stuff like this. Is there a special occasion today? Did I forget something?"

She glanced at me then back at her food.

"I just wanted to do something nice for you," she said quietly.

I grinned at her, "Well, I definitely won't complain about that, so thank you, but is that it?"

Jackie started playing with her food, obviously trying to avoid the question.

"What's wrong?" I took her hand in mine from across the table. She let me intertwine our fingers together and I squeezed.

"Nothing, nothing, just a little tired from work."

"Jackie..."

She looked me in the eyes and her gaze softened from seeing my worried expression.

"Can we get out of here?" she asked.

"Are you done eating?"

"We can grab a hotdog or something if you want," she grinned and stood up. "Not like you were actually enjoying it, right?"

I chuckled and let Jackie guide me out of the restaurant.

When we got out, she turned to the opposite direction from where she parked her car.

"Er, where are you going?"

"To go get you a hotdog," she motioned me to follow her. "There's a stand nearby. Also, I need to talk with you."

Uhhh, that didn't sound good.

"Talk to me?" I puzzled, worried. "About what?"

"Nothing bad, don't worry, I'll explain after I get you some food."

She bought me a hot dog but didn't get one for herself.

"You don't want one?"

"Nah," she shook her head. "And I, uh, I'm not gonna lie, a little too nervous to think about food right now."

"Why...?"

She took a deep breath as we strolled down the empty street. "Promise me you won't say anything until I'm done? I just... I have to get it all out."

"Is that why you got me a hotdog?" I tried to lighten the mood even though I could feel my heart sink to my stomach. "To shut me up while you talk?"

She snorted. "Even if I did, would you complain?"

"About getting free food? Never."

"Exactly," she let out a soft laugh.

I glanced at her and I knew she was trying to gather her thoughts. I let her, finishing my hot dog in the meantime. Finally, after a few minutes, she spoke up.

"Okay," she began. "I think it's pretty obvious, I'm not one for romance. I'm not the most romantic and I'm no good at it. But it didn't matter, because I thought it was a waste of time, that relationships were a waste of time. I was used to hookups and one-night-stands. And when I first saw you, I thought it would be the same." She paused for a moment and glanced at me. "Except it wasn't."

My heartbeat picked up at her confession and my eyes never left her face even though she wasn't looking at me. A million emotions raced in me.

"I told you during our intern year that I was avoiding you because you were a distraction. Which was true, but I was also avoiding you because I couldn't remember the last time I felt this way about someone. Or if I ever have. I don't do the whole relationship thing, hell, the last was probably in high school. And I thought I'd never get into another one again... but then you came along. I pushed you away but you were still there for me."

She stopped walking and I followed. She looked me in the eyes, gaze never wavering and I stared back into hers. You didn't have to, but you did and suddenly, I could picture me doing all of this... with you. The romance, the commitment, everything. I've never cared about anyone more than I do you. You're the most important thing in my life, Casey. And I don't want to lose you."

She inhaled deeply and slowly let it out, steeling herself to say the next words. "So what I'm asking is... what I'm trying to say... ugh!" she slid her hand over her face and blurted out, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

She composed herself and cautiously took both my hands in hers, adding on softly, “And can I be yours?”

I looked at her, stunned. “Really?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jackie let go of hands rubbed the back of her neck. “Unless, you don’t want to,” she quickly said. “The forget I even asked-“

I cut her off by pulling her into me by the waist, smashing my lips against hers. Hers arms instinctively made their way around my neck to bring me closer. I could feel her racing heart drumming against my own as our lips moved in sync, passion crashing between us.

I broke off the kiss, feeling breathless, arms still around each other. "Yes!"

Jackie laughed blissfully into the night, "Yeah, I think you made it pretty clear."

“That’s why you’ve been skittish all week?”

Jackie scoffed. “I have not been skittish.”

“You so have been!” I argued. “That explains the flowers and everything!”

“That’s Bryce’s idea,” she muttered. “Blame the Scalpel Jockey for most of it.”

“More like thank him,” I laughed. “I can definitely see Bryce written all over this evening.”

“Ugh, I can’t believe I went to him for advice,” she smiled. “I must have been pretty desperate.”

I giggled. “And I’m guessing Bryce told Sienna and Elijah?”

“And Raf and Kyra. And Sienna told Aurora,” she went on. “They were more excited than me.”

“’Cuz you were peeing your pants?” I teased.

She rolled her eyes but let out a small grin. “I plead the fifth.”

“Whatever you say, girlfriend.”

Jackie beamed and pulled me back into her. “Shut up,” she whispered against my lips as she kissed me.

And so there we stood, under the streetlight with no one else in sight, trapped in each other’s arms as our lips locked in an embrace, with me finally getting to call this amazing woman my girlfriend.

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