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vhstown · 2 months ago

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ain't no love; pt. 5

"that's why i said ain't no love" (finale)

— miles g morales x gn!reader series

SERIES SUMMARY: Miles G Morales is just a kid without a father; the Prowler is just a "rotten" vigilante. Both of them start coming into your life — one in the middle of the semester, and the other by total accident.

SERIES MASTERLIST 📼 ← PART 4 / PART 5 / EPILOG. →

chapter summary: [MULTI-POV] Miles has been a ghost, so you decide to do your own digging. Your answer might have just found you first.

content/warnings: graphic depictions of violence and injury grieving, death

word count: 8.7k (WHAT)

a/n: hey 😁 there's gonna be a teeny tiny epilogue after this one but this is the official end to aint no love! thanks to @/qiuweyballs forever for proofreading this series wouldn't exist without him 🙏

"I need that edit by 3pm, Watson!"

"Got it."

Even if the office was filled with the constant clack of keyboards, or desk phones ringing, or even Jameson himself barking right by her ear — as he was right now — MJ still had to keep up her persona. Agreeable, non-confrontational, all part of company protocol. There was no time for personal opinions or rebuttals, other than Jameson's; she was sure everyone would start coming in tin hats if it meant keeping their jobs.

"You're falling behind, you know," he continued as she quickly clicked off of the email she was working on. "Going to that school fair of yours set you at least a week behind!"

"It was one afternoon, sir. And I'm all caught up, the edit's not due until—"

"The edit is due when I say it's due. You out of all people should understand how things work around here by now. Get it done!"

The man sauntered off without much opportunity for her to reply, a cup of coffee crumpling between his fingers that he probably had yet to take a sip of. The poor intern that had made it would be the next to get an earful when he did try it, she was sure. Too much sugar! Not enough milk! Did you make this with your eyes closed? she recalled. MJ had heard it all by now.

Jameson didn't really have the gall to fire her — she knew that at the very least. The article could wait, however. Visions was yet to release a statement about their fired teacher, and the article would just look like all their other ones — speculatory and clickbait-y with not very much actual information. The Sinister Six ones certainly did well though, always on their broadcasts and the front of their website. Even NNC didn't have as much notoriety as the Bugle did with its less-than skeptical audiences.

The Visions student, right. With a few pasted links and a couple attachments, along with a lackluster "Good luck!" tacked on the end, she hit send. Good to know kids still have dumb email addresses.

She didn't take being abandoned a second time at the fair personally, really — everyone was fifteen once — but she couldn't help but wonder what had happened. It was almost imperceptible, but she knew when a smile looked off. There was something noticeably different about you when you had come back.

"MJ, uh, can I get your business card by any chance?"

"You know what a business card is?" she had joked, but it hadn't done much to ease the discomfort. "Yeah, sure. Contact me if you need anything."

"Yeah, thanks."

You'd asked for articles. Specifically on the Chameleon, and on the recent Prowler activity. You hadn't told her much, just that you needed help compiling some information for school. Some... presentation. MJ wasn't sure whether it was a lie or not, but it was all publicly available information anyhow.

You'd also wanted any information on Visions "teacher", Garrett East. His arrest had been for identity theft, and nothing more. Not many had reported on it as of yet, given he was detained so recently, but you were an insider. He had apparently been your calculus teacher, and the man that he had stolen the identity of had supposedly gone missing a few months before Garrett returned in his place. At least, that's all she had of her article. Maybe it wasn't the best idea to send it to a random high school student before her own boss, but it also wasn't like the man had any real idea what went on in his company. It was a wonder they managed to get through the quarter.

It was just a favour for someone nice she'd met. Maybe it'd repay her in some way in the future, most likely not. Regardless, she couldn't help but smile a little when she noticed her phone light up, a "thank you" text under your name. If only she actually had a work phone number, and it wasn't just her regular one. Visions students making connections already, it seemed.

The time on the screen was 2:41pm. She was met face to face with her wallpaper once again — a low-lit picture of her and a brown-haired man with glasses, the two of them smiling, red faced and dressed like their college selves. Peter Parker, her fiancé. They were holding those terrible beers he'd sworn by. He was a photographer, but this was one of the only pictures he'd taken of them together. It was shot on a bite-sized digital camera they'd bought for college, but never ended up using much. Now, it was all she really had.

Maybe the Chameleon really had come back when Peter had gone missing. Maybe it had something to do with you, with Visions

You probably already had a lot on your plate. And so did she. If she had anybody to chase, it was Otto Octavius. He'd offered Peter an internship in Manhattan. She'd never seen the man herself, only heard from him how good of a person he was, how this was going to get him a job and that it'd be good for them. That he'd finally get some use out of his degree and get to pursue science instead of taking "crummy" pictures for the Bugle. That they could save up for their wedding, and...

That was in Manhattan. The disappearances now were in Brooklyn. And even then, it was coming close to a year since he had disappeared.

She was always running in circles, at the command of an old man with a head too big for his body.

2:43pm. MJ turned off her phone, sliding it into her pocket.

Better get this edit finished.

2:43pm. Wednesday.

Ideally, with a couple days off of school, you would probably be at home, or maybe even out doing something fulfilling with your life. Maybe you could've even gone somewhere with Miles, if he hadn't up-and-disappeared along with every trace of him.

Your unread messages to him faded to black, leaving you to stare at your own face. Maybe you could've used those extra days to sleep, if it hadn't been for the chilling glow of purple eyes or the melting disfigured face that threatened to materialise everytime you closed your eyes.

What did he even like? Comics that he'd mentioned to you once? Of course he'd want to go to a comic book store with you after you'd made fun of him for seeming to want to deal with criminals himself. If only he'd come save you from Brooklyn Public Library right now. You were certain it couldn't get any more swampy in here with all the Visions students scrambling to do their off-day work right now.

Reading through the reply to a ballsy request you'd given to the Bugle's head journalist, you had a few questions in mind other than the ones concerning your disappearing, sort-of friend. Was all this research really practical? Maybe not. Would it help you sleep to know that the guy that had been teaching you calculus since the start of sophomore year was actually posing as a man that had gone missing months ago?

Another very normal thing that only seemed to happen to you.

Maybe you just attracted bad luck. That girl in your history class had joked about it last year, after you'd bumped into your teacher and every single paper he'd been holding had fallen to the ground in one scattered disaster. She wouldn't let it go, and it appeared that your brain wouldn't either.

Or like that time you went to Oscorp on a visit day and happened to be the only one there, trapped with a shapeshifting monster and the Prowler on the 90 millionth floor of that god-damned tower.

Maybe it was bad luck, or maybe you were cursed — or maybe you just walked into these situations on purpose. Like right now, sifting through years of articles on real criminals, with nothing but a hunch or fifteen.

The Chameleon had been arrested, like Miles had said, eight years ago on accounts of identity theft, much like your "teacher" but also very little like your teacher. According to what you were reading, Dmitri Smerdyakov been dubbed "the Chameleon" for a string of carefully orchestrated take-overs of big companies after impersonating their CEOs. His defence had argued that the big names in these companies were gone because they "wanted to be free of the burden of running their own companies".

You didn't have to be a journalist to make a face at that.

There was no mention of shapeshifting, as you'd seen with Wellston and Stromm. Just a couple lousy identity theft charges that didn't add up to their total amount anyway. This guy had more luck than you'd ever had.

The only other person that had seen any "shapeshifting" happen was Miles, and although he'd seemed surprised, something about his reaction was strange. You couldn't place it, but there was some sort of analytical twinge in his eyes, as if he was solving a math problem and not looking at someone shapeshift for the first time. You didn't know anything, really. Miles seemed like he did, though. If only you could bump into him and wring it out of him. And maybe go buy overpriced comic books with him and forget about the fact that your teacher had been arrested and midterms were coming up and maybe even become actual friends.

If only you were that lucky.

If only it was that easy to move past, as well. The fact that someone that had been involved in disappearances 8 years ago might be mixed up with this, along with the recent uptick in missing people made you feel uneasy. Surely any detective would have put two and two together by now, but remembering the fact that the shapeshifter had turned into a literal police officer dissolved any reassurance that thought might've brought. You were in a public library surrounded by unoptimistic college students, parents with their kids and even some of your own classmates, but the feeling was completely your own, tucked away behind a computer screen and a booked monitor session.

You couldn't be scared, though. You'd already seen probably the scariest thing in your life, kind-of almost died, and been wound up in so much craziness you knew so little about. If only high school had prepared you for researching literal criminals.

"Your 30 minute session is over. You will be logged out shortly."

God damn it.

If only Brooklyn Public Library's computer sessions weren't 30 minutes. You didn't want to log back in anyway, not if someone had booked after you. You could go back home, the library had just been an excuse to get out, really. Not that you'd made a whole new email and signed in as a guest on the computer. Not that you were paranoid.

Picking up your bag and checking your messages one last time you made a beeline for the exit. Well, less of a line and more of a strange obstacle course through the swarm of people. And of course you had to knock into someone. Just your luck.

"Hey, sorry," you mumbled, hands raising just a little in apology. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah..." The person dusted themself off a little with a frown, before looking up to meet your eyes.

Rafael?

"Hey, it's you," he realised, eyes widening as if he'd just gotten lucky.

Out of all places...

"I... gotta go."

"No, no, wait. I need you to do something."

Of course you do.

"I really don't have the time," you whispered back, as he caught up to your advance towards the doors.

"Uh, hey, listen... You talk to Miles, right? Like, he's your friend?"

"Yeah...?" No...? You weren't even sure at this point.

"Uh, look, I need you to tell him something..."

"What, you're in love with him?" you spat, finally looking at him again. "Cause it seems like it. You're always talking about him. Always talking to me about him."

"What?! No the f*ck I'm no—"

A much louder "shhhhhh!" got your attention. The librarian didn't look too pleased. Neither did any one of the people who turned to look at you.

"I'm not gay, man!"

So, the two of you were now out on the street as Rafael defended his sexuality with nothing but exasperated hand gestures.

"I didn't say that."

"Okay, well I'm not. Damn, why are you acting weird for?"

"Your face is red."

"I'm black!"

"That melanin isn't doing anything for you."

"Shut the f*ck up!"

You rolled your eyes, hiding the way the corners of your mouth were starting to lift with a deep exhale. The poor guy was not very discreetly checking his face right now with the back of his hand.

"What, then? What did you wanna say to him so bad?" you asked, instantly making him retract his hand from his cheek.

"Forget it."

"No, tell me. You got us all the way out here for no reason?"

He gave you a look, before promptly looking away, mumbling something under his breath.

"Didn't hear that." That made him groan loudly. It was akin to a petulant child, if not a few octaves deeper.

"I'm... sorry."

Huh?

"You're... sorry?" you repeated, making him let out a huff.

"Look, I..." Rafael met your eyes again, his narrowing uncomfortably. There was something strange in his expression. "My mom's missing. I dunno who to tell. I know I messed up and I... I get it now. I get it. The thing with his dad."

Oh sh*t.

Remorse. That was what you were seeing in his eyes. Or maybe regret. Neither you thought you'd ever see from him.

"Tell him I'm sorry. Or don't. Whatever," Rafael muttered, kicking a bottle cap on the ground until it skittered to a halt by a dog, who found interest in it as its owner tried to tug it along the pavement.

"You can't tell him yourself?" you replied, brows furrowing. As bad as you felt, this was a personal matter. You weren't about to be a parrot for the guy that hadn't grown out of his bullying phase.

"You think he'd listen?"

"It's understandable if he doesn't."

"And what if he doesn't come back?"

"Why..." What? "Why wouldn't he come back?"

"I... dunno. Why can't you just tell him?"

Huh. "Why wouldn't he come back, huh?"

Rafael gives you a sort of reserved look, as if he's contemplating whether or not to lie to your face.

"I heard something about him while I was in that office. He's like... withdrawing from the school."

"He's... what?" Withdrawing from the school? Could he even withdraw that fast? "Why?"

"I dunno, damn! Just... forget it. I don't know why I even asked you man."

Rafael turned to leave, a scowl forming on his face.

"Hey," you called out, looking away before he could meet your eyes. He didn't turn around, though.

"What?"

"...I'm sorry about your mom," you managed, before he could go far enough. "I hope they find her."

"Yeah," he muttered, before throwing his hood over his head.

And now your friend, not-friend, study buddy was gone. The only person you kind of got along with at all outside of just one class. Another person missing. Rafael's mom. Maybe you needed to get out of Brooklyn for college. You certainly wouldn't miss the subway all too much, you thought, crammed in-between people.

"Stand clear of the closing doors, please."

As soon as you got out of the station and into the street, you were met with a familiar face among the people passing by. Instead of the Visions uniform, he was in a jacket too big for him, crinkled sweatpants and purple Jordans.

Miles. Calc-wiz. Mr. Disappearing Act. Withdrawn from the school, now in front of you and definitely already getting on your nerves.

He was looking at you, a hint of surprise in his otherwise smoothed-over features.

"Miles?"

"Yeah. Can we... talk?" His cheek dimpled with the awkward half-smile you'd only seen a couple times, but you were so strangely familiar with. You didn't know whether to freak out at him in front of a crowd of people or head home and hope that he didn't follow you.

"...Sure," is what comes out of your mouth.

Just your luck.

"~Ain't no love—" Skip.

"~Ha, sicker than your average—"

"Poppa twist cabbage off instinct..." Skip.

Miles was getting sicker than average of his uncle's playlist. Maybe working in silence was better.

He took out his earbuds, setting them on his mess of a desk and picking up the screwdriver again. Uncle Aaron was busy, "out of town", as his voicemail said. Probably doing something Miles wasn't supposed to be involved in. He'd be back in a day or two, as always. Never in one place too long.

Even for someone so experienced, he knew this was his uncle's first real "vigilante" gig. Uncle Aaron wasn't getting paid, nor was he working under someone trying to solve a cold case Jeff had been involved in with his colleagues. His dad was no detective, but always seemed to want to help out, and the police were getting desperate with all the recent missing person's cases. There was no real pattern, and sometimes people would be returned just fine. That's what the police were hoping for.

Dr. Stromm had disappeared for about 2 weeks, and returned to his normal work at Oscorp. That could be excused for a vacation off of work, for all anyone knew. Wellston, however, was still missing. Probably dead. Just a couple had turned up dead. It was so unpredictable that they all seemed unrelated, but the kinds of people going missing were all of use — scientists, lawyers, bank tellers. Wellston had been getting his PhD while teaching before he went missing. All people of use to the Chameleon.

Whoever his uncle was working for at the same time as all of this likely had no idea. He was probably working for that person right now, even when they had this case to deal with.

Miles had only been up to this after his dad had passed, and he knew he wasn't as polished as Aaron — not after what happened at Oscorp. Those gauntlets couldn't focus their energy, even if they were more powerful and he could charge shockwaves through the air almost instantaneously, and he had bragged about it a little too much when they'd tested it in the garage.

Now, he had faint lines on his skin from the excess heat, and had been taking them apart and rebuilding them for weeks in his room. His visor needed work too. It was way better in depth, but the resolution sucked. Even then, he was sure he could make something better than what his uncle had. Rigorous training wasn't enough to do this sort of work. He had to do his own thing, even if he was taking up the same schtick. Eventually his uncle's beard would gray and he'd have to be the real Prowler.

He was a good guy, after all. Like his uncle, like his dad.

By deduction, the Prowler was a good guy too. But he wasn't the Prowler today. He was Miles. The Miles that had been shouted at for trying to quit school again. The Miles that was fifteen and spent his days off building crappy gear.

Maybe on a day like this he could spend time with other people like he did in middle school. Go to a fast food place, or go to Micah's house to play video games, or hang around in some parking lot and run when he and his friends accidentally set off a car alarm. The sun was setting outside his window now. It felt like those evenings where he was reluctant to be taken home by his dad, after he was at Micah's playing GTA on Micah's older brother's console, laughing and screaming, Micah's sister shouting at them to shut up from the hallway.

Miles puts the visor down, walking up to his window and pushing it open. The air didn't get any warmer around this time of year, a cold wind brushing past his face as he stuck his head out to look at the city below.

Above him was the half-finished mural. A colourful backdrop of red and blue, and purple. His dad's face without the glasses, hat without the logo, the text outline without the actual text.

"Captain Jeff Morales. Husband, Hero, Father," read the ghost of the text.

His dad wasn't missing. There was no hope of him turning up one day, and that he could leave the mural unfinished and paint it over with something else. There was no hope that he'd wake up one night and instead of finding himself grasping at air it would be his mom shaking him awake to tell him his dad had come home.

His dad was dead. His dad was facing him right now and smiling like he did every morning before he left the house. His dad was painted on a brick wall, missing his glasses.

Miles knew he wasn't smiling for him. He was smiling for the city. He was the face of PDNY, captain for half a day alive and for the rest of eternity until Brooklyn forgot him, deceased. The mural had made him feel better when he hadn't been able to leave his own bedroom and decided to get up and start it with his uncle, but now he felt all sorts of emotions swirling through him. Regret, anger, grief, all of it at the same time — only to stop right at his tear ducts, tightening his throat.

He hadn't cried back then; his mom shared the pain of the both of them, even now. Even when they went to his tombstone, she was the only one that had cried as he'd kept a reassuring hand on her back.

Selfish, were the tears that blurred his vision, not heavy enough to roll down his face.

He sat, staring, eyes stinging yet soothed by the moisture. The sun cast a halo around the building, the mural in shadow and the city behind flooded in red-orange light.

"Husband, Hero, Father."

Was he a hero before he was his father? He had painted that himself. He knew his dad was a good guy. Was he a good guy before he was a good dad?

His thoughts were interrupted with the buzz of his phone in his pocket. There was a message on the notification bar, overtaking the text he'd been yet to reply to from his mom.

Are you the miles talking to me right now 1m ago

It was you.

Cause you're acting weird

And you just read my message without taking out your phone

What the...?

no wtf are u talking abt Read 4:51PM

where ru Read 4:51PM

His fingers hovered above the keys, glancing briefly at the gauntlet at his desk.

With a guy that looks exactly like u

You're the real miles right

He wracked his brain for something, anything as he ran back towards his desk.

6 liters per hour Read 4:53PM

What???

Okay calc genius help me out please?????

He let out a breath between his teeth, shoving his gauntlets in his backpack and throwing on his gear haphazardly.

The Chameleon. Becoming him.

I'm at Marge's on moore st

ok just stay there go into the bathroom Read 4:55PM

don't leave til i text u Read 4:55PM

What are u gonna do??? the restaurant is empty

He's gonna look for me

He was acting so weird if that's not u then it's probably chameleon right

So you did believe him about the Chameleon. Or maybe you were the Chameleon and just being incredibly smart. He couldn't be 100% sure. Not like he ever was. Swooping out of his window, he threw his hoodie down to hang off the fire escape stairs before starting to run up the side of his building, shoes vacuuming him to stand horizontally.

probably Read 4:55PM

ur gonna take him outside in a couple min Read 4:55PM

Why???

just trust me Read 4:55PM

ill be there in 3m Read 4:56PM

The sky was now a shade of blue-purple, the reds and oranges dissolving behind the skyline. It was getting dark, and fast.

Okay

Manoeuvering through the maze of buildings with his shoes keeping him a thousand feet from being heard or seen, Miles headed for Moore Street with the little map in his peripheral vision. When he got there, all that welcomed him was a lone street lamp that had yet to turn on, a couple of closed local grocer's and a dimly-lit diner named "Marge", a discoloured space next to it the shape of an "s". Close enough.

Sifting through the modes on his visor, he settled when he saw the outline of two people. One strangely shaped like him and one strangely shaped like you.

He climbed down a little, dimming the lights on his gear completely as he receded into a small alley. The guy definitely looked like him physically. Tall, handsome, standing outside the bathroom, shifting on his toes...? Creasing my Jordans? Seriously?

Oh, yeah he had you to deal with. And himself, apparently.

leave now Read 4:58PM

Miles had about zero idea how to, but he needed to figure it out in about 30 seconds from now.

You made your way out of the bathroom, and he moved to the side of the diner you were closest to from outside to get a better view.

"...Gotta go home..."

"...Lemme walk you..."

As you left the store into the empty street, he could make out the slight twinge of nervousness on your face as you looked around ― probably looking for him and finding nobody.

"Hold on, I gotta text my parents..." You took out your phone, turning yourself a little to obscure the screen.

"Yeah, that's cool." Sounded almost exactly like him. Creepy.

go into that alley on your right and run home Read 5:00PM

Ur kidding

you gotta trust me Read 5:00PM

At that moment, you took one last look at your phone before turning into the alleyway. You were just a couple quick steps into the alley when his doppelganger grabbed yourshoulder.

"What the hell are you doing, Miles?!" you shouted suddenly, trying to pull yourself free, only to be thrown against the wall of the alleyway.

"I'm doing you a favour. You're not going to school anymore," he responded, his tone suddenly flat and nothing like it was a moment ago.

"What are you talking about? I'm just trying to go home."

His doppelganger was now featureless, his face melting away into the blankness Miles still couldn't describe. The panic on your face is visible from yards away. Miles just has to catch him off-guard. Without hurting you. He could do that.

"So you are the Chameleon," you muttered, still trying to pry his hands away as his grip wrinkled your clothes further.

"Ah, so you did figure it out. Excellent." That definitely didn't sound like him anymore. "You were always the most interesting in that class of yours."

"You... You were the one who was at those after-school classes, huh? And at Oscorp. And that... fair." That you were right about. "What the hell is your problem?"

"My problem is that I need a little something from your school, and you seem like the easiest solution."

"Couldn't you do that while you were a teacher? You got that other guy to be arrested in your place. Aren't you done?"

"It looks like you have me all figured out. Except for one small thing."

"What?"

Something glistened by your neck. Sharp. Metal. He had a knife pressed to your throat, the blade just managing to dent your skin.

"You're going to die."

Missing. Sometimes they turned up. Other times they were probably dead. If he didn't figure this out, you were dead already.

"I'm... I kind of figured that too, you know."

"Oh, really? Aren't you something?" There was something like a grin on his face, but it was too misshapen to really tell. "So unaffected. So controlled."

"How do you even... turn into these people? What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Take a guess. An educated guess is always better than nothing." His voice pitched up into Wellston's awkward sing-song, repeating what he used to say in class. Near-perfectly.

"Why are you so sure you won't get caught?"

"That's not an answer, and I can't exactly reveal such things, you know."

"Not even when you're about to kill me?"

"Oh, unfortunately not."

"Go f*ck yourself." That made the man laugh. If he wasn't in this situation right now, Miles might have managed a smile at that.

"Yeah, go f*ck yourself," he muttered, voice being caught half-way into his modulator in a grainy, deep sound.

In an instant, Miles soared above the two of you, foot smashing itself right in the centre of the Chameleon's face, his knife clattering to the floor. As he stumbled back, you got up, taking the opportunity to run, footsteps hard against the pavement.

Suddenly, the Chameleon was stuck between the wall and Miles' knee, steadying himself with his hands against the brick. Miles could make out some kind of morphed look of glee on his face as his clawed hand clamped him to the wall by both sides of his neck. The lips and teeth were starting to form through the flesh, and Miles let the energy build up in the converter as the smile fell into place, cell by cell.

"You don't want to kill me," he stated, simply.

"Pretty sure I do." Miles' claws just scraped at the skin starting to form at his neck. The quiet whirr of his gauntlet starts to become audible.

"You can't kill me. I am everywhere."

If everywhere is right in front of me, I mean...

"I know what you're doing, Dmitri. It ends here."

"I know what you're doing, Prowler."

He finally sees it, what's forming on the man's face. It's him.

"One of my best students, I never would have guessed," he started, grinning wildly, with some sort of overwhemled excitement.

Miles felt his mouth go dry, his face under the mask paralysed as the one staring at him continued to smile.

"The DNA that I retrieved from you is that of... Miles Gonzalo Morales."

It was as if the shockwave forming in his gauntlet slowed with time itself as he came to stare. He was looking at himself. Smiling. Grinning. Crazed. Miles Gonzalo Morales.

"Kill me. I have my assets, and subordinates. They will end you. Your mother, Rio. The hospital she works at. Your uncle, Aaron."

The quiet whirr in his gauntlet faded into silence. He felt his hand retreat, leaving the Chameleon, still posing as Miles, grinning, unblinking, and flat against the wall.

"Oh, you've made a very good choi―"

SLAM!

Metal met with bone, an audible crack following as Miles' clawed fist met the wall, the Chameleon's face smashed between the two.

"You mother... f*cker..." he breathed out, voice choked through the sudden rush of blood, smearing against the wall as he lifted his face from it.

Miles pointed his gauntlet at him again, the whirring renewing itself to a high-pitched scream, light purple expanding between them and tearing through the alleyway like fire.

"Muerto el pollo." (Job done.)

The man's reforming grin was overtaken by the brightness of the blast, energy snapping into one focused point before hurtling through the air, right at the Chameleon.

Miles felt his ears start to ring. His body was lightweight. Airborne.

His back hit something hard, and suddenly the lightness was replaced with an erratic clawing spreading up his arm. The light flickered into sparks that led fire under his sleeve, eating away at his skin. Burning. The blindness faded away, eyes managing to focus. All he could see past the smoke was a figure approaching him, and a hysteric laugh that grew louder and instantaneously changed pitch.

"So confident," is what he could make out through the ringing in his ears that had bled through his head into a sharp, disorienting pain. "I almost thought you had me."

Ripping the burning gauntlet off of himself, he noticed something jammed in the converter as he shook the heat from his arm. Some sort of sabotaging device. He'd had just a few seconds before the burning would've made it past his skin. The Chameleon had planned this.

Looking to his other gauntlet, he noticed the same device, ripping it out before crushing it under his foot. Never twice.

Swallowing back the cough building up in the back of his throat, Miles made a move for the Chameleon, before catching his figure turn left ― running.

Coño. (F*ck.)

Launching himself up, Miles locked onto the man, hurtling through a series of alleyways, fluidly dodging every obstacle in his way as if to waste no time. He could not let him get into a crowd and disappear. This had to end here, even if he had no god damn plan and his uncle was sure to scold him when he got back. He wasn't going to let you or anyone else get killed by this crazy f*ck.

Miles threw himself down into the next alleyway, hearing heavy, fast footsteps, someone approaching in his vision.

Just a little closer.

SLAM!

He threw the Chameleon down onto the ground, noticing he'd already changed appearance.

That face. No, this wasn't the Chameleon.

It was... you. And you were looking right at him. Terrified.

"Please, please let me go," you mumbled, gasping for air in-between words... "I... You're the... Prowler, I― Please― The... That guy's after me and..."

Your head fell against the concrete, an exhausted look in your eyes as you caught your breath.

"Please. I didn't... I didn't do anything. I can keep quiet about you, I haven't told the police anything. About Oscorp. Nothing."

"I know it's you, Chameleon." You would've ran far away by now, he was sure.

"I―I swear I'm not. I'm not him, I don't know how to prove it to you, but... I called my friend for help and... he never came. Please. Please let me go. I don't know where the Chameleon is right now."

Another set of footsteps came towards the both of you.

"I'm right here, Prowler," emerged another voice from the alley.

It was... you?

"Come on. Weren't you looking for me?" the other you continued, half-hidden in shadow. "Come get me."

So the you on the floor... was actually you. And this...

"Please, that's... that's him, you've gotta let me go," the you that was on the ground muttered, exasperated. There was a waver in your voice. In the way your eyes widened looking at him. Almost like confusion.

The Chameleon was right there. Admitting that he was in fact the Chameleon. While he was trying to run away.

"Please," he heard below him, a quiet, desperate whisper in the silence.

You both looked identical. Even though he'd injured the Chameleon, the both of you were unscratched. You both sounded the same too, from what he could decipher. No real way to tell you apart. And his only answer right now felt like a trick.

He kept eyes on the you standing before him, barely making out a face. Something was there, in the way that you looked, the way you stood. Something strange, something he couldn't figure out fast enough to make any decision.

And then, he felt a little pinch. One that suddenly exploded and tore through his flesh, wrangling with every one of his nerves as his body seized. You had lost your scared, desperate expression, your face now distorting along with his vision into that of a smile.

"I understand," a voice started, ringing through his head as if it was everywhere. "You want to help me."

The pain was clawing its way through his body from a point in his leg. He turned his head, noticing the discarded needle beside him. He'd managed to ease his hand just close enough to administer it. You ― no, the Chameleon, lifted himself from the ground, before Miles felt his head spin hard with a kick.

"I admire you, your wit," he called out, letting out a laugh as he started to walk towards you. "Turning against your own savior. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful."

No, no... There was... there was no way you were working with him. There was no way you...

"You have proven yourself. You'll be better than... than that Garrett fool. I've changed my mind."

Miles rummaged in his utility belt for something, anything. He had no idea what he'd been given, but it was already running through his blood, reaching his brain and poisoning every part of it.

"Your friend over there is going to be unconscious in about half a minute. Why don't you take care of him? I'll be a fool to kill you once you do."

Get up, Miles.

His head throbbed with the sound of your footsteps, each one getting louder and louder. His limbs were weakening. He could barely lift his head.

Get up!

"Dad... Dad? No no no... Get up, get up!"

The gauntlet was slowly slid off of him, now in your hands as his arm fell uselessly onto the ground in front of him.

The gauntlet clipped onto your arm, fingers moving as yours did. He felt the metal claws just scrape his helmet, a faint clink echoing through his skull.

Miles didn't want to look at your face, but he couldn't find it in him to look anywhere else. There was that something from before in your expression that he couldn't quite place, and he still didn't have an answer. It bothered him, for some damn reason. Not the fact that he had his own weapon pointed to his brain as he was losing consciousness. Not the fact that he couldn't move. Not the fact that his last thoughts were about the look on your face and not his mom, or his dad.

Whirrr...

That brightness that the Chameleon had been staring at before was now staring right at him. Overwhelming, blinding, all-encompassing. He felt the faint heat on his skin, as his eyelids grew heavy. Something like warmth in contrast to the cold metal, if just for a second. Something like knowing in your eyes. Something hopeful, saving, loving. Even if just for a second. Even if his brain had made it up to let him succumb.

He wished he could smile, and not be terrified. He wished he could be like his dad, who had smiled.

"Take care of your mom for me, Miles. I ain't gonna be around forever."

And he reached for his helmet. To show you his face, to hope you'd stop once you saw him. He reached, before his arm fell limp beside him once more.

Sorry. I'm so sorry.

"Hey, hello?"

"Hey!"

"Prowler? ...Are you dead?"

God, what did you have to do if he didn't respond...? Breathing, pulse...

"What the..." you heard, before he exploded into a painful-sounding coughing fit, tinged by some kind of voice changer. The Prowler lifted his head, and you could make out az kind of shadow where his eyes were behind the dull, unlit screen. "Huh...?"

"Hey, uh. The... Chameleon..."

Gesturing to the pile on the floor, the Prowler seemed to tense a little at the sight. It was the Chameleon, or... what was left of him. His face charred and caved in by the likes of a certain purple energetic blast. Right, you, had to explain that, the de-powered weapon in your hands.

"Sorry for... I didn't know what I was doing, that was―"

"You killed him?" came out a quiet, modulated voice.

That was...

You killed him. With the Prowler's weapon.

You were defending yourself. You were defending him. That man was a...

Thunk!

The metallic arm hit the ground as it rolled out of your arms, looking into the hollow shadows of the Prowler's eyes.

You didn't know anything about any of these people, and you were deep into their world. It was one that you had never thought you'd see, and now you had nothing to dig yourself out of it. You decided to trick him and when Miles was too late to figure it out you had...

You had killed someone. Turned the blast on him within a split second, watching it sear through his skull in a merciless flurry, stab after stab of burning hot energy wracking more and more screams. Right until the weapon had run out of energy. Until your finger grew numb from the trigger inside the device and the alleyway had gone silent. The man that had haunted your mind for months was unmoving before you, ripped of all features, all life.

Murder. Manslaughter. This man had connections. They'd come after you. After everyone you knew and loved. After Miles.

You should've stayed home.

The ache of adrenaline surged through your heart, your muscles, begging. Begging you to move. To run. To get up.

Get up. Run. Run away. Scream for help. Do something.

You felt the scratch of brick, arms enveloping the rest of you as you backed into the wall.

Hide.

All the breath in your lungs seemed to leave at once as you desperately tried to breathe it back in, hearing the air rush in and out of your mouth over and over. It was loud. So loud. The blast had been so loud. He had screamed so loud―

"Hey."

The hand on your shoulder was warm, free of any metal.

"It's... alright," you heard him say.

How could he say that?

"How can you say that?" Your voice was muffled. Wavering. Pathetic.

Would they believe you? With that stupid, pathetic, voice, whoever it was that found you ― would they believe you?

"How can you say that...?" you repeated, pressing your face further into your knees. The touch on your tensed shoulder felt offensive. Mocking.

"You're gonna be okay."

"How am I gonna be okay?"

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"How do you know that?"

You were looking at him now, breath hitched, eyes wide. You tried to sound frustrated, angry, but all that came out of your throat was a sound that told the Prowler "I am scared" in every language.

The Prowler hadn't killed you. He was comforting you. In any other circumstance, you could've laughed at the thought. To your knowledge, this Prowler hadn't killed anyone, or put everyone he loved in severe danger. Maybe you were worse than him.

"Why won't you answer any of my questions...?" you mumbled hopelessly, burying your face in your hands. You could smell concrete, dust, and ash ― invisible, yet incriminating.

Hiss... Click!

You felt hands wrap around your wrists, carefully pulling yours away from your own face. Just as you looked up, you could see the mask dismantling itself, disappearing behind his head.

What was left was a face. The Prowler's face.

No, this is...

Brown, maybe green-ish eyes. They were a smooth coppery colour under the dim light, bright among the shadows underneath his eyes. A black-red was drying on his skin, under his nose and creeping past his cracked lips. Two braids, coming unfurled at the ends, coming all the way back up to the top of his head. A soft face with harshness painted all over it. An exhausted, pained and worried expression.

"Hey, pana."

The face you had so prayed to see blurred into a watery mess as you threw your arms around him, squeezing your eyes shut against his jacket. His arms followed, settling over yours, one palm circling your back and the other settled between your shoulders.

You didn't think you'd held anyone tighter. You didn't know someone could hold to the point that their arms were shaking around you.

"Miles..."

You felt his head rest beside yours, the contours of his face melding against your shoulder. Warmth was running down your face ― blooming in your chest.

"I've got you."

"Mij— Oh... Oh my!"

You'd scrubbed your eyes hard as you could, and Miles had fixed himself up into a giant hoodie and jeans, but you were almost certain that the woman in front of you was utterly convinced that the both of you had been run over by a subway train. Miles' mom, standing with a vacuum cleaner that contributed nothing to the silence. Her jaw was inching closer to the floor the longer the silence stretched out.

"Uh... hola, mami. This is my friend," Miles offered, not sounding any less like he'd been met face first with the headlights of New York public transportation.

"Hi, Mrs... Morales."

The woman propped the vacuum cleaner against the wall, letting out a quiet sigh. She had beautiful curly hair, and was now wearing the sharp-softness of her son's face in a polite, and concerned smile. You didn't want to turn to check if Miles still had blood on his face.

"Is this a bad time...?" you started. "I can—"

"Oh, no, no, I just... I haven't even made dinner yet, I didn't expect—" The woman lets out another breath, shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so rude. What are you two... What have you been up to?"

"We just... you know," Miles gestured with his hands, charading less than nothing in the air.

"You know...?" she replied, eyes squinting.

"I uh, already ate. Don't worry about it, Mrs. Morales," you continued, giving her what you hoped looked like a smile on your face. "Miles just wanted to show me something. It'll be quick."

"Uh, yeah. That."

"You're not staying for dinner?" she called out, as Miles dragged you into his room. "I was gonna make pastelón—"

"I'll come help you in a sec, mami."

Miles closed the door to his room, and the two of you shared a look as you heard the long, muffled sigh from outside. With the sound of the vacuum cleaner whirring in the hallway and disappearing into another room, the two of you sat on the edge of the twin-size bed, the frame creaking uncomfortably.

The room wasn't particularly big, crowded with posters and various newspaper clippings — many about the Prowler. There were crates tucked away beside his closet, faces of toy figurines and comic books peeking out of them. A lone screwdriver sat on his desk, a stack of notebooks beside it. The backpack you'd seen him take to school was hanging on the back of his chair, a study guide for "Invisible Man" peeking out of it. All that was on his bedside table other than papers was a frame. A young boy, missing a tooth, on the shoulders of an older man, the two of them beaming through the picture.

"You hurt or anything?" he asked quietly, making you remember that he was next to you. "Like, injured?"

"No, I'm... fine." You took half of a breath before your lungs started to ache, swallowing back the dryness of your throat. Mostly fine. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. My mom's a nurse, so... I kinda..."

"Oh... Yeah, yeah." Huh.

Mrs. Morales certainly didn't seem to know about her son's... part-time job.

You noticed a set of blueprints on the wall, resembling the clawed arms he had stashed away without you or his mom seeing.

"You made those...? The claw-glove things?"

"They're gauntlets."

It was somewhat like the tone of voice he used when he was explaining a calculus question — not condescending, but somewhat tired and fed-up.

"Right..." Gauntlets. Sure.

The vacuuming stopped, and a few moments later the clinking of cookware could be heard.

"You staying for dinner?"

"Huh...? Um, I don't wanna bother your mom."

"Please...? I'm gonna get it if you go home without eating." Something about that made you laugh, even if it was a half-hearted sound that fizzled out before it could really sound like one.

"She seems nice," you mused.

"She is. She tries."

Something of a smile tugged at his lips as a quick snort of air left him, his eyes now on yours.

"I got a lot of explaining to do, huh?" His smile faded a little as the words left his mouth.

"You do. Maybe... Maybe not now, though."

"Yeah. Not now."

In your peripheral, you could make out his arm inching closer to yours. The tips of his fingers just brushed your knuckles, leaving just a spark of feeling against your skin. His throat bobbed a little as he swallowed, and—

"Miles, ¡ven a cortame estas cebollas! (Come and cut these onions for me!)"

"Oh! Um— Okay!"

The bed squeaked again as he stood up, and you could tell he was biting the inside of his cheek. You closed your hand as the lingering feeling of his touch disappeared.

"...You sure I can stay for dinner?"

"You sure you just asked me that?"

"Alright, alright."

You gave him a little more of a smile, and you could see him fighting to not return it as he looked back at you.

"i'm gonna... go and—"

"Yeah, you do that, Miles."

He handed you his phone, or, a phone.

"You can... play some music, if you want. It's connected to that speaker. Just not too loud, yeah?"

You noticed there was no SIM card in it. He pointed to the little speaker sitting by the window sill, peeking out behind a hung up jacket and a school blazer.

"...Thanks."

The door to his room shut, and the murmured voices of Miles and his mom faded as you selected a song. You recognised some of them, ones you'd heard people sing along to on the street or in the cafeteria of your school. This one stood out, though.

It started slow, and the man's voice was rich, full of life and emotion. It was strangely melancholic against the uplifting instrumentals.

"~Ain't no love, in the heart of the city..."

You stood up, walking to the window to get a better listen of it. Lifting up the blinds, your eyes caught something in the darkness. A giant painting of Jefferson Morales. Miles' dad. It was half-finished, but his smile was there.

You couldn't help but think how he looked so much like Miles.

"~Ain't no love, cause you ain't around..."

An almost inaudible rustle caught your attention as you tuned to look at the jacket you had touched. Something had fallen out of its pocket while you were trying to move the speaker. It was a piece of paper, something written on it.

Reaching down, you moved to put it back in the pocket, before noticing what was peeking out of it.

Unfolding just the edge of it, you recognised the title of a Spanish lesson you had a while ago, back when Rafael had been bothering you endlessly. Opening it up entirely, you found what he'd been making fun of Miles for.

There were a series of drawings around scrawled Spanish vocabulary and messy grammar rules. One was of your teacher, Mrs. Hernández, turned away, writing on the board. The other was of the picture of the landmark in the article you had been given, "Arco de"-something. The colour of the building was done in yellow highlighter, but looked rather technical and accurate nonetheless.

The one on the back made you almost drop the paper.

It was you, with such a likeness. Some lines had been erased and re-drawn around your mouth, as if he'd been trying to decide on an expression. Within the creases of the paper you were holding right now, though, you found yourself smiling — just slightly, like if you'd been laughing at something with the rest of your class. Your head was tilted slightly downwards. The drawing version of you was just a little cuter than you were sure you looked like, Miles' stylisation making your eyes shine a little and your lips curve just the right way.

By the time your stomach had stopped fluttering, the song was coming to a close. You quickly re-crumpled the paper and carefully put it back into the jacket, walking over to sit on his bed again.

"~Ain't no love, in the heart of this town..."

"...You never come back this late, mijo..."

"...We just bumped into each other and started talking. You know, like how at the store..."

"...Your tías are different, Miles..."

He really does have a lot to explain, you thought to yourself, unable to stop the corners of your mouth from lifting up, just slightly.

Your questions would just have to wait until after dinner.

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ckret2 · 1 year ago

Text

Chapter 20 of Human Bill is the Mystery Shack's (secret) prisoner (title tbd), featuring: at last, Wendy discovering the "house guest." And Stan discovering Wendy discovered the house guest. And Bill and Stan having the funniest argument imaginable.

Also featuring: Ford letting Fiddleford in on the secret and asking for his help getting rid of Bill for good.

####

"Hey dudes," Soos said, leaning into the living room. Bill and Mabel looked up from Mabel's phone. "Me and Melody and Ford are heading out for anime night. If you've got an emergency, call me; and if you don't have an emergency, uh... don't. Cuz we're gonna be anime-ing hard."

"Anime night?" Bill repeated. "Why's Stanford going to anime night?"

Soos blinked. "Is... that a trick question?" he asked. "Hey—aren't you not allowed to use phones?"

"He's not using it," Mabel said. "I'm using it. He's just watching a video over my shoulder. I've got him secured for our safety!" Bill demonstratively held up his bloody sock-wrapped hands.

"Oh. Smart thinking," Soos said. He nodded and left.

Bill looked back at the phone, left eye shut and right eye squinted, then pointed at the screen and murmured, "Oh, there—037, 037 is a big winner." Mabel nodded and wrote down "Beach 037" on a piece of paper where she'd been listing scratch card serial numbers.

Soos came back. "Hey," he said, "Bill. Why are your hands bloody."

"Because my eye's bleeding." As he said so, a bright red drop of blood rolled out of his right eye like a tear. He wiped it off his cheek with one hand, adding another stain to the sock.

"Oh. Okay," Soos said. "Why's your eye bleeding."

Mabel helpfully answered, "Because it's hard for him to see into a higher dimension from here."

"Hey." Bill nudged her with an elbow. "That was for your ears. But yes, if you have to know. Human eyeballs are—limited. It causes some some light cranial hemorrhaging." He squinted at the video again. Another bloody tear rolled down his cheek.

Soos stood uncomfortably in the doorway. "Looks... kinda painful."

"Excruciatingly," Bill said casually. Mabel mouthed he's fine at Soos.

Soos said, "Do you... want a headache pill? Or an eyepatch or something?"

"Oh." Bill looked up at Soos in surprise. "Is that an option?"

Soos shrugged. "Yeah?"

"Huh." Bill was momentarily silent, processing this revelation about the medical care options he was permitted. Finally, he said, "No to the pill—I think I'm getting a migraine aura, and I don't want to stop the little white spots before they develop into full hallucinations! I'd hate to miss that light show, you know?"

Soos nodded, as though he did know. He did not, in fact, know.

"But I could use an eyepatch," Bill said.

"You got it. Be right back."

Soos retrieved an unopened costume eyepatch from the spares for his Mr. Mystery outfit, brought it downstairs, and handed it over to Bill's socked hand. "Do you uh—need help getting that on?"

"I'll do it when we're done with the phone," Bill said, and returned to watching the video.

Mabel poked his side. "What do we say?"

"Thanks," Bill said without looking up, followed by, "062." Mabel dutifully copied the number down.

Soos headed out to his pickup, where Melody and Ford were waiting. "Sorry for the delay, guys," he said, sliding into the driver's seat. "Bill's eyeball is bleeding from trying to look at a higher dimension, so I had to get him an eyepatch."

In the back seat, Ford frowned and pulled his journal from inside his coat and flipped open to the most recent page. "Which eye?"

"Uh..." Soos held up a hand and turned it as he mentally rotated Bill to figure out which side his bloody eye would be on if it were on Soos's body. "Right. His right."

"Did he happen to mention which dimension he was trying to see?"

"Nuh-uh. He probably won't say either, he was kinda annoyed Mabel told me that much."

Mabel might know, then. Ford could ask her. Probably tomorrow—late tomorrow, after the party.

Melody asked, "He's not gonna need a doctor, is he?"

Soos started the truck. "He seemed really casual about the whole thing, so, I don't think so?"

"That's a relief," Ford muttered.

They started the drive to the former Northwest Manor.

####

When Fiddleford answered the front door and saw Ford, he smiled so wide it made Ford smile too. "Stanford! It's been a month of Sundays since I saw you last!"

"Fiddleford." Ford reached out to take Fiddleford's hand—and got tugged into a one-armed hug. He recovered from his surprise enough to return it. "It's good to see you. You're looking well." Which was to say: still looking aged before his time and running around barefoot and shirtless in his overalls; but a little less sunburned, a little more bathed, and merely "scrawny" rather than "emaciated." Ford figured if the man wanted to run around shirtless in his own lavish 150-year-old mansion, that was his own business.

"Just like we promised," Melody said, "one Ford dragged to your doorstep."

"Yes!" Soos pumped a fist in the air. "Operation Ford-Ford Reunion: completed! We uh—we didn't actually drag him, though. He was excited to come."

"He oughta be," Fiddleford said. "This'll be just like old times! Back in college, this man showed me all sortsa Japanese movies about big monsters and robots clobberin' each other. It was my first taste of international cinema!" He scratched his beard. "I wonder if that had any kinda impact on me?"

Melody and Soos looked at Ford with new respect. Soos said, "I didn't realize you were such a man of culture."

"All right, enough jibber-jabberin' on my porch!" Fiddleford waved Soos and Melody in. "You youngins go on ahead. Us old timers have to catch up. Tate's in the kitchen rustlin' up some vittles."

"Sweet, movie snacks," Soos said. He turned to Melody. "Wanna take the hidden service tunnel the Northwests used to hide the less pretty servants?"

"Pffft! Is that even a question?"

Soos tapped a foot twice on a square of Venetian parquet flooring just left of the door. A section of floor beneath them dropped down to form a slide, and Soos and Melody plummeted into the dark, squealing and laughing. The floor swung back up.

Fiddleford said, "I sure hope I fixed that tunnel to go to the pantry 'stead of the secret dungeon. Anywho!" He ambled his bow-legged way into the manor, gesturing for Ford to follow him. "We'll take the scenic route."

Ford looked around as he followed Fiddleford. He'd never been allowed in the front way before—the last time he'd visited the Northwest Manor back in the eighties, he'd been told to come in through a side door. It had been a very long walk. The front door opened directly into a great hall large enough to serve as a ballroom, with a staircase at the far end that led up to a fireplace and then forked left and right. A whale statue hung from the ceiling and still seemed dwarfed by the vast room. Ford had taken classes in lecture halls smaller than this. "I'm surprised you're still answering your own door. With all you made selling your inventions, I'd have expected you to hire a butler by now."

"I built me one a few months back," Fiddleford said, "but it kept trying to murder the feller what brings my mail. So I locked it in the coat room until I can figure out what went wrong."

There was a violent thud and scraping against a door near the entrance.

"Don't worry about that. It's reinforced," Fiddleford said. "Now, how long have you been back in town—a couple weeks?"

"Nearly." Had it really been less than two weeks? Somehow that felt both too long and too short. He'd accomplished so little with two weeks at his disposal. "I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come by. I wanted to as soon as I was back in town. You must think me a terrible friend—"

"Nonsense," Fiddleford said firmly. "I knew you'd come when you could—and here you are, ain'tcha? I reckoned you must've been busy with something."

"Yes," Ford agreed, with a bitter laugh. "More busy than you can imagine."

"Well, there you go! Nothin' to beat yourself up over."

Ford slowed, dropping a few steps behind Fiddleford, feet heavy, feeling like a physical pressure was keeping him from walking forward; and then he stopped. "I'm sorry to say, but that's part of the reason I'm here." He stared at the gap between his boots and Fiddleford's feet, the beautiful hardwood floor and the thin layer of dirt that had settled on it. "Of course, I wanted to visit you too, but... I need your help, Fiddleford."

He'd meant to wait until after the show to bring this up, let Fiddleford enjoy his evening without anxiety—hadn't he learned with Mabel not to try to mix business and socialization?—but now that Ford was here, the bad news threatened to bubble out of him with every breath. He wouldn't be able to enjoy his evening with his dread of the coming conversation weighing down on him. (What right did he have to enjoy the evening, when he knew he was once again about to make his mistakes Fiddleford's problem?)

But, Ford hadn't had the self-control to keep it to himself for just another few hours—he must have been too tired—excuses, excuses—and now Fiddleford was giving him that look he got when he was fully focused on a conversation, eyes wide and surprised-looking, as if opening them further would let him absorb more of the information he was receiving. "Of course, Stanford. What sort of help?"

Of course, he said. Of course, like Ford didn't have a history of asking for help that ruined people's lives. Either Fiddleford was charitable enough to assume Ford wouldn't inflict the kind of monstrous horrors on him he had thirty years ago, or selfless enough to offer anyway.

Ford swallowed hard. "It's heavy," he warned. "I don't want to ruin the show. Would you rather wait until afterward to discuss it...?" Although Ford doubted Fiddleford would stand for that.

Sure enough, Fiddleford waved off the idea with his bandaged arm. "Don't be silly. Now that you've brought it up, it's gonna give me the heebity-jeebies until I know what's wrong! Anyway, how heavy could it be?" He laughed wryly. "Can't possibly be as bad as that triangle feller, can it?"

Ford didn't know what expression had appeared on his face, but the effect on Fiddleford was instantaneous. His smile vanished; his lined face went as white as his beard. "Is it as bad?"

Ford winced. "Let me explain—"

"It's him." Fiddleford didn't phrase it as a question. "No. It can't— You're lyin'! You're lyin'!" He backed away from Ford as if he was the threat, tripped and tumbled to the floor, and scampered backward on his hands and feet.

And here was the screaming. Age had not dulled Fiddleford's hair-trigger panic response. Ford had hoped to explain it to him gently, ease him into the bad news before revealing who it was, but if all he could do now was damage control... Ford knelt down like he was trying to coax over a frightened cat. "Fiddleford, please—"

One of Fiddleford's legs spasmed, bouncing like a rabbit thumping its foot in warning of predators. "Not him! The beast— The beast with just one—"

"Two eyes," Ford corrected.

And the unexpectedness of the correction momentarily cut straight through Fiddleford's panic. His wild eyes focused on Ford in bafflement. "Say wha?"

"He has two eyes now," Ford said. "And he's powerless and imprisoned. He survived—but he's not a threat." It was a slight exaggeration, but Ford's first priority was calming Fiddleford down. He could introduce nuance once Fiddleford wasn't panicking.

"He's—He's not a—He's—"

"Deep breath," Ford said.

Fiddleford sucked in a deep breath, held it just long enough that Ford was starting to worry, and let it out in a long, deep gush. "Whoo!" He smacked his head with his palm, and then another couple times for good measure. "Sorry 'bout that. Just—got a little excited. Let me catch my..." He took another couple of deep breaths.

Ford waited patiently. "You're better at dealing with alarming news than you used to be." Maybe that wasn't the best praise, considering that Ford had usually been the one delivering the alarming news.

"I'm not sure I am. I think I just get it all out of my system faster." Fiddleford took one last deep breath, and said, "All right. Explain this to me."

Ford gave Fiddleford the rundown on the last two weeks—Bill's arrival, his capture, the stalemate as they realized that neither side could risk Bill's death without knowing what would happen. He explained everything they knew or suspected about Bill's current powers or lack thereof, and how they were containing and neutralizing him further.

He even pulled out his current journal to show Fiddleford Bill's appearance: a few days ago, Ford had gotten a drawing of Bill in the living room watching TV, huddled up against the armrest of the sofa as if he wanted to stay as close to the doorway as possible, one eye squeezed shut, the other glazed with disinterest, the corners of his mouth curled down despondently. Ford had done the quick rough sketch while watching Bill from the kitchen, then retreated to his room to flesh out the details. There was no way Ford was neglecting to properly document the unwelcome phenomenon occurring in his house, but there was doubly no way Ford was giving Bill's ego the pleasure of knowing he was drawing him again.

Fiddleford cocked a brow. "Bill's a woman?"

"I'm not sure whatever force humanized him was too picky about the sex," Ford said. "For that matter, I'm not sure he's picky about his sex. It's never come up." What kind of genders did Bill's species have? Did they have genders? Ford should ask. (Ford should not ask. He took that idea, stuffed it in a bag, and threw it in a lake.)

"Huh." Fiddleford gave Ford a skeptical look. "Y'all're letting him watch TV?"

"He's threatened to kill himself if he gets too bored," Ford said tiredly. "He knows if we were to completely lock him up, he'd be as good as dead, since we could just keep him there until we find a guaranteed way to kill him. He says he'd sooner die by his own hand in that circumstance, and he's mad enough I think he'd make good on it. So, to maintain the current stalemate, we've agreed on some... limited privileges."

"Including television."

"Honestly? Moving the TV out of the living room just so he couldn't watch it didn't seem worth the trouble. We use that TV too."

Fiddleford grunted; but he offered the journal back to Ford. He offered it held open, and his gaze didn't break from Bill's face until Ford shut it and put it back into his jacket pocket. "So," Fiddleford said. "You said you need help?"

"Yes. At the moment, we're safe from Bill. All we have to do is find a way to destroy both his body and whatever's inside it, whether it's a human soul or an energy being—and use it before he learns we have it and does something drastic."

Fiddleford pressed his lips together, so thin they disappeared behind his whiskers. "Stanford, I want to help any way I can, but none of my killer robots or deadly lasermajigs are designed for incineratin' space demons. I don't rightly know if I can help."

"But you've already helped. You—" Ford hesitated. "You might want to brace yourself for another shock."

Fiddleford wrapped his arms around his chest and laced his hands together behind his back. "Ready!"

"While I was exploring other dimensions, I found a parallel Earth where you—where we..." Ford swallowed his guilt. "Where... things turned out better. Your parallel self helped me perfect my weapon to destroy Bill."

"A parallel..." Fiddleford's gaze briefly went wall-eyed as he processed the implications of the second life-altering revelation of the hour; but he quickly shook himself out of it. "Well, shucks, then this oughta be easy as pie! If I can do it, then so can I! So tell me about this weapon."

Soos appeared at the top of one of the stairs at the end of the great hall. "Hey, dudes! What's the hold up? We're ready to roll!"

"We'll be right there," Ford called, then turned back to Fiddleford. "Perhaps I should show you the blueprints after the show."

They headed for the stairs. Fiddleford gave Ford a cheeky grin. "Stanford Pines, shilly-shallying around watching cartoons when there's work to be done? Now, my memory ain't what it used to be, but that don't sound like the Stanford I recall."

"I've learned the hard way that a strict diet, exercise regimen, and regular meditation alone can't save a human from burning himself out." The image of Bill's eye and Cheshire Cat smile peering out from beneath a dark towel flashed through Ford's mind. He pushed the memory aside. "Now more than ever, I need to make time for a little play." Goodness knows he hadn't made any time in the last couple of weeks, unless that emotionally fraught trip to Portland counted. "Besides, I—don't want to ruin your evening with my problem."

Fiddleford reached up to put a hand on Ford's shoulder. "That sonova cosine ain't your problem; he's ours. All of ours."

"Thank you, Fiddleford." It was exactly what he needed to hear.

At the top of the stairs, Fiddleford hopped in the air, kicked his heels together, and shouted, "Now let's go watch some giant robots commit atrocities against God! YEEHAW!" He tore off down a corridor with Ford chasing close behind.

####

Stan had given Wendy a copy of the Mystery Shack's keys a year ago, back when the only secrets in the shack had been hidden beneath the vending machine. She still had them, and she could still let herself in at any time; she'd just needed an excuse to minimize how much trouble she'd get in if she was caught.

"Sorry, I forgot my ice cream was here and I just came to pick it up" was a much lower offense than "I was sneaking in specifically to find out the thing you were trying to keep me from finding out."

Staking out the shack from the woods was boring work—she would've liked to bring a friend along, but then she really couldn't use the "I was just swinging by to grab my food" excuse—but she could pass the time whittling until she lost light, and after that she had like a billion scary story podcasts to go through.

Friday night was anime night. Around seven, Soos's truck pulled out, with Melody and Ford on board. That was right—she'd seen Ford talking to Soos about joining in on anime night. One less person she had to look out for. Half past ten, the last light in the shack turned out.

Wendy went in.

She automatically avoided the creakiest floor boards as she let herself in the front door, and then crept into the kitchen. She closed her eyes as she groped around in the freezer for the sorbet she'd left behind so that the light couldn't disrupt her night vision. There. Excuse retrieved. If anyone caught her now, she could wave her dessert in their face and pull the dumb teen routine.

Now what?

All she knew about the shack's latest secret was that it had ripped up Soos's coat, it might be psychic, and it was possibly locked up and shouting mad about it. That didn't give her a lot to go on. The kitchen didn't look much different. Less clutter out on the counters and shelves than usual, but that wasn't evidence of paranormal activity. Maybe Abuelita had gone on a cleaning spree.

She'd start with safer locations and move out from there. If she was caught, where would she get in the least trouble for snooping?

Sorry guys, I just came by to get my sorbet; and then I really needed to use the bathroom, so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal if...

She crept out of the kitchen.

Wendy wasn't risking waking anyone by turning on lights; but by the glow of her phone's screen and the living room fish tank, she could see that Abuelita's sofa was missing its cushions. No signs of anything else weird though. She crept down the dark hall, phone pressed to her chest to hide the glow until she'd passed the guest room and Abuelita's room.

Her heart leaped into her throat when she tried to grasp the downstairs toilet's doorknob, but only brushed fabric instead. She held up her phone. They'd replaced the door with a curtain? That was weird, but...

She pulled the curtain aside.

Something sat cross-legged on the closed toilet. One blood-dripping yellow eye stared up at Wendy.

Wendy screamed.

"Hello to you too," the thing said. "Come in?"

Wendy punched it in the eye and bolted.

She heard it stumble-thud out of the bathroom, call, "Wait, wait—Wendy!" and then laugh, and then mutter, "ow, ow, ow."

Wendy slowed halfway to the exit as what she'd just seen fully registered. That was a human person. Whom she'd socked in the face.

Wendy about-faced. "Oh, man, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" She came back and flipped on the bathroom light to check for damage.

The stranger was a heavyset brown-skinned woman with a mass of loose golden curls hanging to her shoulder blades, wearing a baggy yellow hoodie and knee-length skirt—and something about her was familiar, but Wendy couldn't put her finger on what. The stranger shrugged, grinning, and said, "It's not the worst thing to happen to that eyeball today!" She moved an eyepatch over from her left eye to cover the bloody eye Wendy had socked—and that was why Wendy had only seen the one eye in the dark. The eyepatch.

Wow, smooth move, Wendy, punching somebody for having a painful-looking eye condition. She winced. "Sorry. Do you... wanna ice that?" She awkwardly held out her sorbet.

The stranger looked at the pint thoughtfully. "Can I eat it instead?"

"Um. No?" Wendy pulled it back. "Hey—did you call me Wendy? How'd you know my name?"

The stranger shrugged. "What, you work here, don't you? I see you all the time."

So they had met before? Wendy studied the stranger's face, trying to remember where—and then her eyes widened. "Wait—hold on, Toga Lady? No way!"

"Wh—yeah, that's me!" She laughed. "I can't get over how many people recognize me because of that."

"Yeah, everyone in town knows you." She flipped open her phone to show Toga Lady a meme Tambry sent a couple days ago: the picture Wendy had taken of her in the gift shop that spread all over town, currently captioned, "When you're meeting Plato but still wanna look kawaii."

Toga Lady cracked up. "Hey, I love that! Send that to Sh—Mabel, I wanna save that."

"Sure." Did Toga Lady not have a phone? Or maybe just didn't want to hand her number out to a stranger who punched her in the dark. "So... what are you doing here? Are you visiting the Pines?" Wendy vaguely remembered Toga Lady asking about the Pines a few months ago. "Who are you?"

"The name's Goldie," the stranger said. "And I'm... just staying here for a bit. As a house guest." (And, Bill realized, if Wendy asked him any more than that, he was in trouble. He and the Pines had very briefly arranged his cover story: if and when somebody noticed him, he was Goldie Locke and he was staying as a guest. But why was he staying as a guest, where had he come from, how long would he be here... they'd never gotten that far. He'd better think up some boring cover story the Pines wouldn't object to—maybe claim to be one of Abuelita's distant relatives, staying with family between jobs...)

Wendy said, "So, hold on. Are you the big mysterious supernatural phenomenon the Pines have been trying not to talk about?"

Goldie blinked. And then a brilliant, gleeful smile stretched across her face. "Wow, you're a smart one! How did you guess?"

####

To Fiddleford's evident despair, Soos had made good on his threat to put a moratorium on mecha anime. Instead, he played a few episodes of a period drama about a former samurai, desperate to retire from the sword, who kept running into civilians with inconvenient problems that could only be solved with a two-foot steel blade.

In the 1920s, the Northwests had added a private movie palace to their manor so they wouldn't have to watch picture shows with the common folks; and it hadn't take Soos much work to rig up a new projector to play from his laptop. The Northwests had outfitted the theater with armchairs, loveseats, and coffee tables, which had conveyed with the manor. Once the show was over and the snacks were cleared aside, one of the coffee tables made a perfect space for Ford to spread out his blueprints and research notes. While Soos, Melody, and Tate discussed the likelihood that unemployed samurai really used their swords to rescue stuck cats by chopping down tree branches, Ford explained the quantum destabilizer to Fiddleford.

It was a death ray designed to obliterate whatever it hit—whether matter, energy, both, neither, or other. If it hit a human, they'd be crushed into nothing. If it hit something as powerful as Bill, he'd be fatally collapsed into a miniature black hole, taking anything under his influence with him, and then he'd disappear. Not even ashes would be left behind. No matter what Bill was now, this could kill him.

The problem was the fuel, which Ford had obtained from another Fiddleford, who in turn had obtained it in a paradox dimension: an element that was inert when observed and highly radioactive when concealed. Parallel Fiddleford had named it NowUSeeitNowUDontium. But Ford had used up the last of his fuel on a wild shot during Weirdmageddon. And—short of rebuilding that accursed portal and venturing back out into the multiverse—Ford didn't know how to get more.

"Your parallel self helped me make all the modifications to my destabilizer to let it run on Dontium," Ford said. "You know your own mind better than anyone else. Perhaps if you see your parallel self's design modifications, you might be able to deduce the necessary properties of the substance used to fuel it, and we could... find a way to synthesize an artificial substitute, maybe?"

Fiddleford frowned worriedly at the blueprints. "Frankly, I don't know that I do know my own mind," he said. "But... I'll take a look-see at this, see what I can make of it."

"That's all I ask. Thank you, Fiddleford."

"What'll we do if I can't work it out, though?"

He'd already wondered that himself. Making an element was harder than finding one. There was a reason the gold miners outlasted the alchemists. "We'll find another way. Maybe adapt the destabilizer to another fuel source. I initially designed it for portability in anticipation of a fight with a highly mobile, flying opponent. Now that it'll be used for the execution of a captive, portability is less important. Perhaps it could be modified to plug into an external fuel source?"

"It'd have to be ginormous," Fiddleford said dubiously. "What about that infernal-lookin' summoning circle you had us try? Is that still an option?"

"I've considered it, but... there are four members of the zodiac who still don't know Bill's alive—and they're all children. I never learned exactly what the zodiac does, much less whether it would have any effect on Bill as a human, so I don't want to get them involved just to discover that solution doesn't work. The destabilizer will work."

"If'n we can fuel it."

Ford sighed. "We'll call the zodiac 'plan B.'"

####

On the way out, Ford stopped in the door and said, "Oh, Fiddleford—I nearly forgot." He took out a folded paper he'd stowed in his journal's cover and handed it to Fiddleford, grinning.

It was a hand-made card, with a cover that featured a cake and puffy stickers that read, "PARTY!" Inside was a crayon drawing of Stan and Ford holding hands and smiling next to the words, "Come to our 62nd birthday party!!! Saturday, June 15, 1:00 PM, at the Mystery Shack!!! DON'T BE LATE!!!!!"

Wryly, Fiddleford asked, "Did you make this yourself?"

"Mabel helped," Ford admitted. "I almost forgot our birthday entirely until she brought it up this morning."

"Did you? Now I don't feel so bad that I'd plumb forgot myself. Tomorrow—whoo-ee." A hint of anxiety entered his eyes. "Will the party attendees be including...?"

"We're having our party outside. Our 'houseguest' 'Goldie' is not allowed outside."

Fiddleford immediately relaxed. "Then I'll be there, don't you worry! With gifts, too!"

"Then we'll see you tomorrow." As Ford followed Soos down the long driveway toward his truck, he mused to himself that he couldn't remember the last time he'd had a birthday party. He didn't think he'd ever invited somebody outside his family to a birthday party and thought they would actually come. Felt good.

Ford was halfway to the truck when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Tate. Had they ever spoken one-on-one before? "Tate? What can I do—"

Tate took a step too close, and Ford's back immediately went stiff. "Don't think I didn't see those blueprints you were showing my Dad," Tate said. "Now, you listen here, Dr. Pines." He said "doctor" like it was an insult. "Thirty years ago I lost my father thanks to you and your stupid science project, and I just got him back. I ain't keen on losing him again. Is that clear?"

Oh. "I—yes. Perfectly clear. I don't want any trouble. I'm asking for his help to prevent trouble, actually."

Tate drawled, "Oh, yeah? That so? You usually need futuristic laser bazookas to prevent trouble?"

How good a look had Tate gotten at the blueprints? He'd been on the other side of the room. "Tate... listen." Ford took a deep breath. "You've got every reason to distrust me. Thirty years ago, I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I turned my back on your father when he needed help the most—and you, your mother, and he all suffered greatly for it. But whatever happens, I won't turn my back on him again. I promise."

Tate considered that in sullen silence. "Fine," he said. "See you don't. But I've got my eye on you."

He turned back toward the manor, paused, and faced Ford again. "When I came to Gravity Falls, the first place I went was the last address Dad wrote from. The man who answered the door said he never knew no McGucket and he'd never stayed there. I called him a dirty liar, and he chased me off his property with a hammer." He pointed at Ford. "You... You were gone by then, weren'tcha? That was your brother."

Ford's stomach dropped. "That's right. That... Stanley didn't know anything. We were estranged the whole time I knew your father. I didn't even call Fiddleford by name in my journals."

"All these years he told me he never knew my father, I thought he was just too big a coward to own up to what he'd done. When all along I was resentin' an innocent man, while you were..." He trailed off; then set his jaw firmly, squared his shoulders, and said, "Welp. You take responsibility like a man. I hope you act like one, too."

Ford shrugged helplessly. "I've been trying to."

Tate nodded once. "Good to finally meet the real you, Dr. Pines," he said coolly. Then he turned back toward the manor and walked away.

####

Stan was sure he'd heard a scream.

He stared at the ceiling. It was too late for people to be screaming. He didn't wanna get up. He couldn't hear anything now; but then, his hearing aids were out. Which meant the scream must have been really loud.

Grumbling, he sat up, put in his hearing aids, put in his teeth, put on his glasses, put on his slippers, dragged himself upright, and shuffled to the door.

The moment he stepped out, he could hear Bill's voice, chattering from some dark corner of the shack: "I was actually one of Stanford's research assistants! Haha! Yeah, during the earliest portal tests, I got sucked into the psychic plane between reality and dreams—ever heard of the 'mindscape'?—and everyone assumed it killed me! I've actually been haunting the shack like a ghost for the last three decades! It sure is great to be alive again!"

Stan's first thought, still half asleep, was, I don't remember Ford telling me about that part. And his second thought was, Wait. Who's Bill talking to?

Then he heard Wendy's laugh and his blood ran cold. "Aw man, that's insane! What'd you eat? Is there food in the mindscape?"

"I didn't need to eat, sleep, or age! Convenient, huh? Now I look thirty years too young!"

"How'd you keep from getting crazy bored without anyone to talk to?"

"I watched TV over Stanley's shoulder and eavesdropped on tourists' marital problems! I saw you all summer—"

Stan followed their voices to the living room and fumbled on the light switch. Wendy started and cringed back into the armchair she'd claimed, squinting in the bright light. Bill, who'd been standing in the dark like a creep, didn't flinch—but he slowly stood a little straighter.

"What the heck's going on in here?" Stan snapped.

"Hey, Mr. Pines," Wendy said weakly. "Sorry—I forgot my ice cream when I left," she held up a pint, "so I came back for it and... um..."

"I spooked her in the dark and she socked me!" Bill laughed.

Stan moved between Wendy and Bill. "She's got the right idea." As Stan moved further into the room, Bill circled him to get closer to the doorway.

"But—I mean, is Goldie all you were keeping secret?" Wendy asked. "I worked here all last summer. I know what this place is like! You know I can handle learning that some woman's been stuck in a parallel plane—right?"

Before Stan had a chance to say anything, Bill piped up again: "They're all just worried about the thirty-year-old missing person case they could have helped solve! But hey, I don't mind. I'm sure the only reason they didn't try to find me was because Ford thought I was dead and Stan didn't know about me." Bill looked straight in Stan's eyes. "Isn't that right?"

Oh, Bill had them all over a barrel now.

A good two-man con was a lot like good improv theater, in that neither actor could contradict the other one's story; once one of them introduced a detail, the other one had to agree "yes, and—" and roll with it. No matter how stupid or insane your partner's contribution, if you start arguing about your story in front of your mark, they'll know you're lying—and there goes your mark.

Stan knew that. Bill knew Stan knew that.

And Bill had gotten to Wendy first. Now, unless Stan wanted to completely spill the triangular beans to Wendy, he had no choice but to play along and "yes, and" Bill's stupid story about being Ford's assistant.

Fine. But no way was Stan playing along on Bill's terms.

Stan scoffed loudly. "Or maybe the reason my brother didn't try to find you is because you're a no-good lying creep who"—(what do nerds hate each other for?)—"tried to steal his research!"

From the corner of his eye, Stan could see Wendy's eyebrows shoot up and her mouth open slightly. Yeah, good. Yes-and that, Cipher.

Stan expected anger. There wasn't anger. The ghost of a smile flickered across Bill's face before he got his expression under control. There was a spark of light in his eye, like something sleeping in him had activated.

In the split second between Bill's lips parting and the first syllable emerging, Stan realized—a moment too late—that he'd made a terrible mistake. Bill wasn't just a con artist. He was one of those guys. The guys who got into crime because they couldn't get into theater. The divas. The attention hogs. The guys who enjoyed lying for the thrill of it.

And Stan had just given him an opportunity for drama.

"Steal it?" Bill snapped. "Steal it?" He raised a hand and pointed a thumb at himself, elbow jutted out to the side, chest puffed up, making himself bigger. "I am his research! Over half the stuff he put in his journals comes from material I dug up for him! By his third journal, he was practically my ghostwriter! But do you think I was gonna get a co-author credit?"

"Oh, that's a load of bull—slander," Stan snapped. "I am not letting you talk about my brother like that! He did all the hard work while you, what—" what fit the story they were inventing, "—picked up books for him at the library like a good little undergrad—?"

"Hey!" Bill turned sideways to jab a finger at Stan, like a fencer making his profile narrower before driving his sabre home. "Post grad! I was working on my dissertation! And I didn't just 'pick them up'; I found the books he needed, usually because I'd already read them and he hadn't!"

"Oh, you read a few books! Oooh, I'm so impressed! But you're not the one who wrote about them, sister!"

"HA! The hundreds of pages of notes I gave him say otherwise! So what if I wanted to publish first while he was hoarding the fruits of my labor in his basement, it was my right—!"

Stan bellowed, "That kind of talk is why you got dismissed from your dissertation program for plagiarism!"

All righteous indignation, Bill raised his voice to match, "The plagiarism charges were unproven! I dropped out on my own terms!"

"Oh SUUURE, because you wanted to see the WOOORLD! And how much of the world did you see hiding in a podunk logging town doing my brother's primary research for him, huh?!"

"HA!" Voice nearly a shriek, finger raised to the heavens in triumph, Bill crowed, "SO YOU ADMIT I DID ALL THE PRIMARY RESEARCH—!"

Ford said, "What the devil is going on here?"

Stan and Bill fell silent. Ford stood in the entryway, looking one part irate and two parts bewildered. The front door was still open, Soos and Melody peering around Ford.

Ford could doom them. Stan knew how to improv like a con artist, Bill knew how to improv like a con artist, but did Ford? Ever since they'd been kids, he'd always been just a little slower with a lie. If Stan had a chance to ease him into the backstory they'd concocted without requiring him to improvise himself—hey, we were just explaining to Wendy how 'Goldie' used to be your research assistant until 'she' got eaten by a portal test—

"STANFORD," Bill snapped. Stan almost jumped out of his skin. Oh no. Bill glared at Ford, pointed at Stan, and said, "Tell Stanley the plagiarism charges were unfounded, I was unfairly accused!"

Stan held his breath.

Ford stared at Bill, and then stared at Stan—Stan could almost see the gears turning in his head—and then stared at Wendy, and then stared at Bill again. And then he snarled, "After you tried to beat me to publication, you two-faced liar?"

"HA!" Stan pointed at Bill's face, laughing too hard to speak. "HAAA!" He pounded on the TV, half hysterical with mirth, and had to lean on it as he wheezed for breath. Ford—what a dark horse, Stan could kiss his cheek—Ford was maintaining the most stoic poker face Stan had ever seen.

Bill was violently biting his lip, red in the face, brows drawn tight together, trembling all over. It took Stan a moment to realize Bill wasn't angry. He was battling hard to look furious—playing the part of the loser of the argument—when the creep was actually fighting not to laugh.

Bill made eye contact with Stan, very nearly lost it, and turned his back toward Wendy so she couldn't see his face. He gestured vaguely toward Stan and Ford and croaked, "You see what I have to put up with?"

"I dunno, man." Grinning, Wendy said, "Not to make light of the whole 'stuck haunting the shack for thirty years' thing, but it kiiinda sounds like you had it coming."

Mission accomplished. And let that teach Bill a lesson about trying to out-lie Stan Pines.

Soos waved a hand. "Hey, uh, what's going on—?"

Now that was a disaster waiting to happen. "I'll catch you up." Stan zoomed around Ford, scooped his arms around Soos's and Melody's shoulders, and hustled them out of the room.

####

"You're sure you want to bike home alone this late?" Ford was walking Wendy back to where she said she'd left her bike, just outside the clearing the Mystery Shack made in the forest. "I could give you a ride."

"Thanks, Mr. Pines, but I'm fine. This whole part of the forest is basically my backyard."

"If you insist." He supposed the Corduroy cabin wasn't that far off—the local kids probably ventured further on a regular basis. They just didn't usually drop by the Mystery Shack at this hour. "What were you doing visiting the shack, anyway?"

"I came back to get my ice cream," Wendy said, holding up her sorbet pint demonstratively. "Which... is probably completely melted by now." She shrugged, popped off the lid and drank it.

She came by this late for ice cream? Ford had his doubts. But then, if he'd been a sixteen-year-old with a summer job in a house keeping a supernatural secret, would he have done any differently? (He was just glad she hadn't worked out who their "guest" really was. He'd have to thank Stan later for his quick thinking with a cover story.)

Wendy picked up her bike and hit her helmet against a tree to dislodge any bugs that might have crawled in. "Hey, uh—please don't tell my dad I was over here, okay? I kinda didn't mention that I was going out."

Wendy was Boyish Dan's kid, wasn't she? How different they were. The Dan that Ford knew hadn't been much older than Wendy, but he'd regarded these woods with a respect that bordered on fear. He'd never be wandering around this late at night. "I can't imagine why I'd need to bring it up." Ford had snuck out for dumber reasons as a kid.

"Thanks, Mr. Pines." She put on her helmet and got on her bike. "I'll see you in the morning!"

"The morning? The party isn't until one, is it?"

"Yeah, but I'm running an errand with Mabel." Wendy waved as she left. In the dark, her arm blended in with the trees.

Ford hadn't heard Mabel mention any errands. What was she doing that she needed Wendy's help for?

Ford waited until he couldn't hear Wendy's bike anymore; and then headed back into the shack.

####

(Y'all have no idea how long I've been waiting to post that argument. If you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you thought! I need comments to survive. Like tinkerbell. Thanks!!)

#wendy corduroy #grunkle stan #(for the art)#bill cipher #human bill cipher #(for the overall fic)#gravity falls #gravity falls fanart #gravity falls fic #my art #my writing #bill goldilocks cipher #(with thanks to astro-b-o-y-d for the headcanon that McGucket hosts anime nights)

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prettiestofpisces · 6 months ago

Note

can’t wait to see what happens next https://www.tumblr.com/prettiestofpisces/754910199527194624/breanna-stewart-x-reader

Breanna Stewart x Reader

part 2 to this

thank you all for the love..

it’s FINALLY here🫡

⋆⭒˚.⋆smut, dildo use, geno mention loll

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

it took every ounce of you to leave breanna alone, to not call and plead for her to return.

you placed the cards in her hands.

whether she longed for your forgiveness or would rather leave your heart lonesome, all you asked for was closure.

to know if the one and only women you’ve shared your soul with felt the same sparks fly when near….

it’d been weeks, three to be exact since you last saw breanna. you didn’t know if that night was the last time you’d ever see or speak to her again, so it ate you alive how it all ended, her sad and sorry eyes lingering in your mind.

sure enough breanna had regrets of her own. seeing you however often to not at all filled her with sorrow.

she wasn’t herself, her smile faded, and negativity clouded her judgement.

lashing out ballistically on her teammates whenever she could, stomping wherever she went, she was taking her frustrations out on those who didn’t deserve it, much like you.

her friends, teammates and most importantly coaches saw the anguish in her eyes and geno took it upon himself to solve it.

sitting down in his office breanna huffed, sighed and rolled her eyes, geno sitting across from her.

“did i do something?” she says.

“well you curse out your teammates every practice so i’d say so…” very blatant in his approach, breanna looks around the room.

“…and i can’t run a team like that, the fighting has got to stop but i need to know why it started.” still unable to look geno in the eye, her leg starts to tap. thinking of what to say and where to begin, she takes a deep breath.

“this girl, she means a lot to me but i think i lost her…” her words start to tremble.

“…i guess i was scared to commit but now that she’s gone, i-it keeps me up at night, i’m miserable coach and i don’t want to be.” tears cascaded down from her eyes that were now locked on geno. she looked deep searching for an answer he could give.

his heart softened, rarely did he see his gentle giant in such despair. she would sometimes doubt herself or forget where she was but never succumbed.

“kid, there’s a simple solution, tell her how you feel!” he said it slow yet stern.

“tell her you need her and want to be with her, she’ll know you mean it! you can’t let silly little thoughts keep you from being happy, okay?”

“okay.” she whispers. wrinkling the skin of her cheeks, as she takes the back of her hand to wipe her tears.

“thanks you coach” she smiles.

in the locker room after cleaning herself up breanna sat infront of her bench highlighted “b. stewart” with the number thirty.

pulling out her phone she scrolled through her contacts, eventually landing on yours.

the first ring sounded and breanna prayed you picked up.

then the second, and her hopes plummeted.

when on the third she heard a soft voice say “hello?”

“oh- god tell me you’re in your room? i just want to talk!” breanna says.

“i am but seriously b i don’t think it’s a good time” you said in attempt to keep her away but still, she persisted.

“five minutes is all i ask, please?”

you knew you couldn’t stop her from making amends or at least hear out so in an instant she was at your doorstep.

when you heard knocking on your door, you of course knew it was breanna.

opening it she stood tall, with her hair a mess and eyes as red as roses.

“hey” she says breathlessly.

“hi” you say in return.

once again finding it hard to make eye contact she looks at her feet.

“b have you been crying?” you ask subtly.

“it uh- that doesn’t matter, i wanted to speak to you on where we stand.” she stuttered.

“i hated how things ended up you know?”

“right, so where do we stand?”

“i’m not exactly sure but i know that i’m sorry…”

“and i know i want to stand where you are, i want to be with you and for you.” although sounding so poetic, all you noticed was breanna on the verge of tears again.

you looked at her with empathy in your eyes. you knew she meant it but until she proved herself, there was nothing for you to do.

“to answer your question, yes, i’ve been crying. you make me emotional.” chuckling, she bit the inside of her cheek.

“c’mere” you say welcoming breanna into your arms. hugging you oh so tight until she speaks indistinctly in your shoulder.

“i missed you, so bad. it hurt me to not have you around.” a beat of silence taking over.

“yeah?” you said almost seductively in breanna’s ear.

the breath of your voice just barley tickled the hairs on her skin, yet it set flames off in breanna. pulling away from the hug, arms still entangled, she stares at your lips.

not wanting to move too fast she places her hands in the curve of your back while yours rest on the nape of her neck.

the only thing that could be heard was your heavy breathing.

“we don’t have to-“ she says.

“i know.” being your reply.

playing with the dark curls left out of her ponytail you then guide her lips to yours.

slowly molding to one another you remember just what she tasted like, sweet mint.

next place you guide her is to the bedroom. your roommate nowhere to be found meaning you had the freedom of being as loud as you liked.

the golden fairy lights twinkling all over made breanna look sun-kissed, you wanted her more than ever before.

undressing and settling on your bed you notice breanna rummaging through your nightstand only to pull out a sparkly, lilac dildo.

“you use this plenty, don’t you?” face stoic.

“only when you’re not around” you tease.

breanna stripping to just her boxers, she makes way between your legs that are spread wide.

on her knee between your pussy she takes the dildo leveling it with your mouth. inserting it in slowly, it fits down your throat perfect.

now coated in spit, she shoves it in your cunt and your mouth falls open immediately.

in shock your pussy has been filled to the brim you close your legs.

“breanna!” you exclaim.

ignoring your outburst she aggressively plies your legs apart.

“no, you can take it! you’ve clearly been using it all this time..”

breanna takes hold of the dildo that’s deep inside you, and begins to pump it in and out. the more your moans fill the room the faster she goes.

“keep going bre, don’t fucking stop!”

to which she doesn’t. she fucks you till your eyes are rolling in the back of your head.

wishing she could feel your walls clenching around the lilac toy. instead she watches the creamy fluid spill out of you as you cum around the dildo.

snatching it out your hole breanna takes her tongue and collects every last drop but she doesn’t stop there either.

sucking and fucking your clit with her tongue, she spells her name in it.

“bre fuck me like you love me!” you scream undoubtedly knowing your neighbors hear every word.

taking a break from eating you out she tells you what you’ve been yearning to hear.

“god i do, i fucking love you so much”

attaching herself back to your clit she makes you cum for a second time, directly in her mouth.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

we ended on a nasty note but did we like???

speaking of nasty, i’m going to step away from smut for 2 seconds but feel free to still send in whatever your heart desires.

i can’t help but think when writing smut “they just might read this” …LMAO anyways

love you all💋

bye<3

#breanna stewart x reader #breanna stewart #breanna stewart x y/n #breanna stewart x you #wnba basketball #wnba #new york liberty #wnba x reader #uconn wbb #uconn huskies #uconn x reader

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penkura · 8 months ago

Text

knowing [7/8]

Summary: Sanji knew you were the one the moment he met you.

Pairing: Sanji x Reader

Warnings: None really. Normal One Piece stuff I guess.

Note: The end is near!! Wano my beloved, I love Sanji in Wano sm. Another shorter one, compared to six and eight, but we're in the home stretch!! Next chapter is the finale and I hope it will be worth it!

Taglist:

@jzkeisuke | @arcanumlaw

[Ch. 1] ● [Ch. 2] ● [Ch. 3] ● [Ch. 4] ● [Ch. 5] ● [Ch. 6]

Your arrival in Wano started with all of you separated from Luffy, navigating your way through a forested area, hoping to find a town. Sanji kept a hold of your hand the whole time, refusing to let you wander off or get left behind somehow. Of course you weren't like Zoro with your sense of direction, Sanji just wanted to be sure you didn't get separated from the group (mostly from him).

Once you did find Luffy, Kin'emon got you all up to speed on what they had been doing. You were to help recruit more Samurai and ninja for the raid on Onigashima in about two weeks. You'd have to take on a role in the city to keep a low profile, while passing out the cards with the insignia that Kin'emon had put together. He provided disguises with his technique, Nami's being a lot more showy than she liked so she had to adjust it, but you were quick to try and reject whatever he tried to dress you in.

"No no, I think I'm fine with what I'm wearing. I'm a kunoichi already."

"While yes you are, it would be better if you could take on another role for the time being!"

"Then she'll stay with me!" Sanji nodded, putting his arms around your shoulders, Franky and Usopp both still confused since you hadn't had the chance to tell them yet, "We could pretend we're married and running a stall together!"

"Hey Sanji," Usopp was a bit concerned, but did take note of how you didn't push Sanji off or anything, "Maybe she wants to go help Nami or we could see if she can help Franky get the mansion plans. There's no need for you guys to pretend you're a couple!"

"We won't be pretending we're a couple! Just that we're married! We're already together so it doesn't matter!"

"...wait what?"

Realizing what he said, Sanji blushed a bit before hiding his face in your shoulder, making you pat him on his head. You found it funny how he seemed to become so shy about it, maybe because you two hadn't gotten to actually sit and tell Usopp and Franky.

"Poor, poor boyfriend. I don't mind pretending we're married and helping Sanji."

"B…boyfriend?!"

"Yes, Sanji and I are dating."

Franky and Usopp both shouted at you, asking when that happened and being surprised when you said it'd been about two years. Telling you it was 'super' you were together, Franky started crying while Usopp couldn't believe how you kept such a secret for so long, asking who else knew.

"Everyone. You guys were the last two we had to tell."

"Whaaaat??"

+!+

After everything had been settled and you allowed Kin'emon to give you a disguise that let you blend in like a regular Wano housewife, you helped Sanji and Usopp figure out what kind of food stall Sanji would run. The lone soba stand caught your attention, and you noticed Sanji was watching them carefully, which caused you to say his name and get him out of his thoughts. He'd been watching closely after a young girl and her mother had gone up and gotten bowls themselves.

"Hey, do me a favor. Go get in line and get a bowl of that soba."

"Uh, ok, babe, I can do that."

You stood in line for a while, Sanji and Usopp off to the side talking while you waited, until the stand owners stopped taking orders just before you got up to the front. When you went back over to them, you latched back onto Sanji's arm and apologized that you couldn't get a bowl but he gave you a smile.

"Nah, don't worry. I got the information I needed, thank you."

Confused, you still smiled back and nodded, the three of you returning to where you'd be staying during your time in Wano. You'd all had dinner, thanks to Sanji of course, before turning in for the night, and you absolutely refused to go with anyone but Sanji. Might as well really play the part of husband and wife, was your excuse when Nami said you should go with her, Shinobu, and Carrot. She rolled her eyes at you and just said not to go making any babies or anything, causing you to turn bright, bright red and threaten to revoke her honorary kunoichi status while she laughed at you.

"You could've gone with the girls, it would've been fine."

You shook your head, wrapping your arms around Sanji while he did the same to you, pulling you even closer to himself.

"I'd much rather stay with you~"

His turned bright red, no matter how many times you share a bed, it still made Sanji so nervous. He still didn’t believe that you were real, that you loved him and wanted him, he’d never had anyone return his feelings and affections before you. Maybe it was crazy, to think so much about marrying you already, when you were technically his first and only girlfriend, but it seemed like you had the same thoughts, especially after the whole fiasco with his family and the Big Mom pirates.

He didn’t want to ever put you through emotional distress like that again.

“Hey, uh—”

Sanji tried to say something, but instead, he heard you snoring already, very lightly. It made him breathe in relief, with a smile on his face. You really helped him out that day with getting his soba stand ready, you must’ve been so wiped out.

“Sleep well, mon amour.”

I’ll ask you another day.

+!+

With the raid on Onigashima just days away, you and Sanji had found less time to spend with each other during waking hours. You’ve all moved elsewhere to prepare for the raid, Kin’emon and the other Samurai helping you where they could as they prepared too. Shinobu and Raizo had taken a liking to you since you were a kunoichi yourself, both being surprised but impressed to hear you were from an offshoot of Wano, asking how the village was doing and making plans to go there once Wano’s borders were opened.

Two nights before the raid, Sanji finally worked out some time for the two of you to spend and relax, he made a dinner for just the two of you, that Luffy tried multiple times to sneak a bite from until Nami pulled him away and gave him the dinner Sanji made for all of them. The last time Nami had to drag him away made you laugh, while Sanji just rolled his eyes.

“Bottomless pit, that’s what he is.”

“We’ve known that for two years now.”

You giggled, leaning into Sanji’s arm with your head on his shoulder, causing him to kiss the top of your head before you sighed happily.

“I’m glad to have this time with you…everything’s going to be insane day after tomorrow.”

“Yeah…but it’ll be okay. We’ll free this place and then be on our way again.”

“I know, it’s just…getting there is going to be a lot.”

Sanji knew you were probably worried about him, honestly about everyone, but he was the only one you were expressing those worries to. He wanted you to be relaxed and to know that everything would be perfectly fine. Robin had talked to him about how you were seeming more worried as time went on, as the raid got closer, and he got an idea of how to maybe calm you down, but it might also make you even more worried, he wasn’t sure of what to do.

Do I ask her now…? Is this a weird time to propose?

Before he even had a chance to say anything, the two of you were being called by Usopp for something about the raid, making you sigh with a slightly sad smile on your face before looking at Sanji.

“Duty calls. But,” you stopped and kissed him before getting up to go see what was going on, both of you smiling after, “This was lovely, Sanji, you’re the best boyfriend ever.”

“Stop, I’m just taking care of my beautiful girlfriend…we’ll do this again, okay?”

“Of course. I love you, Sanji~”

“I love you too, my dear.”

Later. I’ll ask her later, once everything is settled here.

+!+

"No I…I didn't do anything!"

"You're the only one who could have!"

The geishas threw things at Sanji to get him out of the room, it barely phased him as he did so, wondering what on earth just happened. He had no idea! He'd been running off from Queen and the other Animal Pirates to get his thoughts in order over the oddities he'd noticed about himself recently, so lost in thought he didn't have any clue what caused this one geisha to go flying.

Though, his greatest fear now was that he had caused her to become hurt. Maybe it really was the only thing that made sense. Was he losing himself to that Germa science raid suit?

"Let me see that Germa science, Judge's son!"

Queen kept up his attempts to rile Sanji in order to see the raid suit technology, which Sanji kept denying. This time he was still so lost in thought, wondering what you, over anyone else, would have thought seeing what just happened.

Or worse…what if I hurt [Y/N] next time?

If he hurt you because of those genetic abilities, Sanji would never forgive himself. He'd never forgive his father or Germa for anything anyway, but should their science cause him to harm the most important person in his life, all that blame would fall on his own shoulders. He'd only meant to test the raid suit, not become dependent upon it or let it awaken the monstrous abilities his brothers had from the start. He never thought that would be possible after Reiju explained why he was so different from the rest of them.

Tell me, Luffy….which would you prefer? The regular flesh-and-blood me who turns into a helpless wreck when facing a woman, or a cruel emotionless warrior of science who can kill without discrimination if you give the order? Which of these would be more useful to you, as king of the pirates?

Despite his thoughts wondering if Luffy would somehow be better served by Germa's science, Sanji's thoughts also drifted to you as he retrieved the raid suit from his pocket. Which version would you prefer? Someone willing to kill anyone without qualms if so directed, or would you still prefer the emotional mess of a man that doted on you and had your respect for sticking to his principles of not fighting a woman?

"I've made up my mind."

"Ooh," Queen's excitement over seeing the raid suit was quite obvious, "is that your raid suit?!"

"I have to assume that this thing caused the science already in my body to awaken and activate somehow," Sanji dropped the raid suit to the ground, lifting his foot while Queen watched him stomp on the canister, "Well, I can't do anything about that! But I can say no more! I won't become a Germa soldier!"

"Aww what a waste!! I wanted to see you transform!"

Pulling out a baby transponder snail, calling Zoro and letting him argue with him briefly about his reasoning for slipping it into his band, Sanji hated making such a request of Zoro of all people.

"We're gonna win this but…after the finisher if I'm not…in my right mind, I need you to kill me."

"All right, fine! I'll kill you after this is over, whatever that means!"

"And I…need you to tell [Y/N]--"

"I'm not saying anything sappy!"

There was no time to argue or fight, so Sanji just nodded. He figured it'd be a long shot anyway.

"At least I'll have something to look forward to after this. So don't die until then!"

"Thanks."

"Hey," they were short on time, but Zoro decided he'd say one more thing, "I'll tell her."

"Appreciate it."

+!+

"Oh my gosh, Sanji, what happened?!"

You had finished helping Usopp and Nami get Otama somewhere safe, and returned back into the castle to search for anyone else that needed help or to find the rest of your comrades. After finding most everyone, though you had no idea where Zoro was really and knew Luffy was on the roof, you ended up finding a room with some geishas who were tending to Sanji's injuries. You were instantly on your knees beside him asking the geisha girl next to him what happened.

"He…he fought and defeated Master Queen!! He protected me after we accused him of attacking me!"

You might have to ask him about that last bit later, but you were so relieved to hear Sanji was all right, he was just injured but was being treated by the geishas.

Of course you protected her, you sweet man..

Leaning over, you gently kissed his forehead which surprised the geisha girl, Osome, you'd later learn.

"You're so amazing. I love you, Sanji."

"O-Oh, are you two…?"

You smiled at Osome with a nod. "Yes! He's the love of my life! Thank you for taking care of him!"

"I-It's the least I could do after he saved Chuji!"

The little mouse squeaked and made you smile softly. Osome explained everything to you, while you stayed by Sanji for the moment, brushing his hair back out of his face and holding his hand. After you heard the whole story, knowing Sanji wasn't at fault for Osome being hurt and that he'd beaten Queen, you stood up when you heard some shouting about the fire.

"Can you stay with him for me? I'm going to go help some others!"

"Y-Yes!"

"Thank you!"

You ran out of the room, promising yourself and Sanji that you two would get some time alone again soon, and you'd tell him how proud you were of him.

Soon, I swear.

#one piece x reader #reader insert #sanji x reader #blackleg sanji x reader #knowing fanfic #fem!reader #black leg sanji x reader

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elainsgirl · 1 month ago

Note

Eluciens seem to have made it their biggest argument that Elain hasn't returned Lucien's gifts. I don't think Sarah has ever written what Elain has done with Lucien's gifts, but we know how Elain reacted to them.

In ACOFAS:

I handed Elain the small box with her name on it. Her smile faded as she opened it. “Enchanted gloves,” she read from the card. “That won’t tear or become too sweaty while gardening.” She set aside the box without looking at it for longer than a moment. And I wondered if she preferred to have torn and sweaty hands, if the dirt and cuts were proof of her labor. Her joy.

In ACOSF:

He and Lucien did not exchange gifts, though the male had brought a gift for Feyre and one for his mate, who barely thanked him after opening the pearl earrings. Cassian’s heart strained at the pain etching deep into Lucien’s face as he tried to hide his disappointment and longing. Elain only shrank further into herself, no trace of that newfound boldness to be seen.

It's just sadness and no trace of her newfound boldness. Shrinking into herself. This isn't tension or angst. It's sad.

Compare that to "put it on me?" and getting wet from Azriel touching her neck.

Both Lucien and Azriel got Elain jewelry last Solstice. And her reactions to them is complete opposites. One is romantic, the other is just sad.

Hey anon 🫶

Elain is too polite to return Lucien’s gifts, she doesn’t even tell him to go away - simply stays quiet hoping he gets the hint and leaves himself - so idk why elucien stans think she would return his presents. And before anyone says “but she returned Azriel’s!” She was deeply hurt & embarrassed. It was an emotionally charged action where as with Lucien you get nothing. No emotion. Nothing said. Which is worse, because it shows how Elain truly does not gaf about Lucien and isn’t impressed or even affected by anything he does for her.

The fact Elain was smiling when receiving the box but it faded as she opened it because they were literally just gloves. In hindsight, sure it was a thoughtful but very surface level gift. Like getting your artist friend a set of simple paints. Its a good gift but generic. Plain. Shows how little thought went behind it. And here, Sjm tells us why Elain may not have liked the gift, because she liked getting her hands dirty. And I feel as though there’s two ways to interpretate that sentence: 1) Elain likes feeling the dirt as proof of her labour since it makes her feel capable of doing something. It shows her work, effort etc - it could be her way of making up for how she barely/couldn’t do anything during the archerons poverty era. 2) for someone ladylike, who would have been taught by her mother to always keep her hands clean and mess-free, gardening without gloves - feeling the dirt, could be Elains way of rebelling against her mother and her upbringing.

Anyways, this is why Eluciens have to make Luciens gift deep by saying he got her gloves cause he knows Elain “self h4rms.” And where does this come from? Feysands bonus where Elain got hurt by a thorn. What they missed is the fact, Elain wore gloves. They simply tore. She wasn’t gardening without gloves disproving that take.

Both Lucien and Azriel getting Elain jewellery in acosf was done on purpose by Sjm. To show readers how Elain feels about Lucien and Azriel. As you pointed out, Elain loses her boldness and simply sets the pearls aside. She doesn’t admire them. Yet with Azriel’s necklace? “It’s beautiful” “put it on me?”. Elain wants Azriel. She doesn’t want Lucien and that was Mass’s final way of making it clear to her readers.

The funny thing is, Sjm could have written a scene where Cassian catches Elain staring at the pearls, admiring them then blushing once realising Cassian was observing her. She could have had Feyre see Elain putting the gloves on or taking them out of the box - again, admiring them. Yet you get nothing. We do not know what Elain does with the gifts but we know how she feels and thats what matters the most. So whilst Eluciens can go on and twist it to be romantic that Elain hasn’t returned Luciens gifts because she secretly likes them or hates how well he knows her - those are HCs, completely made up and are not supported by canon material from the books. Its made up bs to make elucien seem deep & interesting when in reality they’re not any of those things.

#elriel #elain archeron #lucien vanserra #azriel acosf

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atzjieun · 3 months ago

Text

city lights

summary | wooyoung convinces jieun to leave her games for a late night adventure

circa | august 2024

contains | 1.6k words, fluff, comedy, kinda dialogue heavy

notes | HEY GUYS sorry it’s been so long since i last posted any writing </3 i’ve been working on this for a while but school + work has not been helping my writers block :/ but i’m glad i can finally post it!! stay safe everyone happy topaz month 🫶

taglist | @teezingsiyeon @moonkyeom

The sounds of the bustling city filled Jieun’s ears as she and Wooyoung walked through the crowded street. Without a known destination, all she could do was follow the boy as he led her through the sea of people. The day had only a couple hours left, a dark sky lit up by the bright city lights, but it was clear that the night had only just begun.

“Where are we even going?” Jieun asked, raising her voice over the crowd.

Wooyoung glanced over his shoulder and gave the girl a grin. “It’s a surprise.”

She frowned, narrowing her eyes at him, though didn’t argue as she continued to follow behind him.

After walking for a few more minutes, Wooyoung suddenly stopped in front of a building. He pulled out his phone, quickly checking something before motioning for her to follow him as he walked inside.

Jieun took in her surroundings as they walked into the building, multiple bowling lanes stretched out on one side while restaurants and a bar lined the other.

“Since I had to surgically remove you from my laptop, I thought it would be fun to play a different game instead.” She looked over at him, raising her eyebrows, though Wooyoung just chuckled. “C’mon, our reservation is in a couple minutes.”

As they walked further, Jieun caught sight of the live band playing on a small raised stage in the corner of the room. A smile made its way onto her face as they walked up to the front desk.

“Do you want me to-”

“Hi, I have a reservation for 8:30 for Jung,” Wooyoung told the worker. Jieun’s eyebrows raised, though she remained quiet and watched as he continued talking to the worker, giving them his card for payment and eventually the size shoes they’d need to rent. When the worker went to the back to grab their shoes, Jieun spoke up.

“I see you’ve been studying,” she said, nodding slightly.

Wooyoung simply shrugged, not turning to look back at her. “It’s nothing.” He smiled at the returning worker, bowing his head as they handed him the shoes. “Thank you.”

He turned around and with a small smile, handed Jieun her shoes. She took them from him and glanced inside the sole, eyebrows raising at the fact that he’d gotten her size right. She didn’t remember ever telling him.

They walked away from the front desk, Wooyoung taking the lead once more as they made their way to the lane.

“Have you ever gone bowling before?” he asked her once they got to their lane.

Jieun nodded. “A couple times. My brother and his girlfriend used to take me sometimes with Sunwoo.”

Wooyoung covered his mouth as he let out a small cough. “You must be good then.”

“I’m alright,” she shrugged. “And you?”

“I’ve gone bowling with my family a couple times,” he said. “Us older siblings usually let the youngest win though.”

“Yeah, that’s nice-” Jieun stopped, head slowly raising as she squinted at the boy. “Wait. What are you implying?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged as he stood up and walked over to the ball rack, Jieun following close behind.

“Jung Wooyoung, are you saying that everyone let me win because I’m the youngest?”

Wooyoung coughed once more in an attempt to hide the cheeky grin threatening to spread across his face, though he failed. He turned his head away.

“There’s no harm in admitting it,” he eventually answered. “Your brother just wanted you to be happy.”

Jieun let out a scoff as she nodded, placing her hand on one of the bowling balls. “Alright, but just know that you don’t have to let me win today. I can do that all on my own.”

“Is that a challenge?” Wooyoung asked, tilting his head down to look at her.

“And what if it is?”

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, though Wooyoung held her gaze. A smirk spread across the older boy’s face.

“How about this? Winner gets to choose what we eat for dinner, and the loser has to pay for them.”

Jieun stood up straight and crossed her arms. She gave a single nod before extending her hand toward him.

“Deal,” she said as he took her hand and shook it. “I’m looking forward to free dinner.”

“How’s the food?” Wooyoung asked her from across the table.

Jieun smiled, covering her mouth as she spoke. “It’s actually really good.”

He nodded. “Even though it’s seasoned with the taste of defeat?”

She stopped mid-chew, gaze slowly lifting with a blank expression as Wooyoung grinned to himself.

“Two points, oppa. It was two points.”

“Two points that I got and you didn’t.”

Jieun rolled her eyes lightheartedly as she shook her head.

“That place was really nice, though,” she commented. “How’d you find it?”

“I don’t know, I think I saw it somewhere,” Wooyoung answered with a shrug, taking another bite of his food.

They continued the rest of the meal in silence, enjoying the fancy atmosphere in the restaurant Wooyoung had chosen. How he found out about it she’d never know, but she made a mental note to write down the name in case they ever went back to the city.

When the waiter came around with the bill, Jieun fished through her purse for her wallet. After finally pulling it out, she looked up to see Wooyoung handing his card to the waiter.

“Oppa, what are you doing?” Jieun asked, turning to the waiter. “Sorry, you can use my card instead.”

“No, it’s ok,” Wooyoung interjected. “We’ll use mine.”

“We made a deal though. I’m ok with paying, it’s not a big deal.”

The older boy waved her off, shaking his head. “It’s fine.” He smiled as the waiter handed him his card back before turning to her, shrugging. “The place I chose ended up being more expensive than I thought. Why would I make you pay for it?”

“Wooyoung-”

“Jieunie, it’s ok,” Wooyoung said, chuckling at the bewildered expression on her face. “What? I can’t spoil my groupmate every once in a while?”

“Why’d you suggest the challenge then if you were planning on paying anyways?” she asked, crossing her arms.

Wooyoung just shrugged. “So I could win.”

An exasperated sigh escaped Jieun’s lips, though all she could do was let out a small chuckle as she shook her head. She pulled her phone out of her purse, feeling Wooyoung’s lingering gaze on her as she checked the time.

“It’s getting kinda late. Maybe we should start heading back to the hotel?” She looked up at him with raised eyebrows. He didn’t meet her gaze, eyes fixated elsewhere yet still on her. Jieun chuckled awkwardly. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

This seemed to shake the older boy out of whatever trance he’d been in, as he immediately blinked and stood up straight. He shook his head.

“No, sorry. I was just thinking,” he said, a glint in his eyes that she couldn’t describe. “Yeah, we should probably get back.”

Jieun noticed his voice was laced with slight disappointment, though she pushed away the urge to inquire further. Neither spoke a word as they stood up, wordlessly walking out of the restaurant together.

As they walked back to the hotel, the sound of the still-busy streets filled the silence between them, though it did nothing to stop the churning in her stomach from the idea that she was missing something.

They only broke the silence once they were in the hotel, waiting in front of Jieun’s hotel room.

“Well, here’s your stop,” Wooyoung said, eyes fixated on the door.

She nodded slowly, following his line of vision. “Thanks for tonight. It was really fun. And for walking me back to my room.”

Suddenly, Wooyoung turned to the girl, the corners of his mouth tilting upward in a small smile.

“Anytime, Eunnie.” He reached over, ruffling the girl’s hair. She unlocked the door, sending him a smile as she held the door open.

“Good night, Wooyoung-oppa.”

“Good night, Jieun.”

Without looking back, Jieun walked inside her room and closed the door behind her. She let out a sigh as she slipped off her shoes, running her hands through her hair.

“Why hello there,” San’s voice sounded as she walked over to the dresser. “And where have you been, young lady?”

Jieun rolled her eyes lightheartedly, giving a slight chuckle.

“I was out with Wooyoung-oppa,” she said, taking off her jacket. “We went to this bowling alley place with live music and then got dinner.”

San nodded slowly, watching the girl as she put away her things.

“Did you have fun?”

She smiled as she grabbed her pajamas from the drawer, nodding.

“Yeah, I did.”

“That’s good.”

A smirk spread across San’s face as he nodded, though she didn’t notice as she walked into the bathroom to change.

When she emerged, fully changed into her pajamas, San spoke up again.

“So bowling then dinner. That was it?”

She looked at him curiously. “Yeah, why?”

The older boy shrugged as he turned back to his phone, typing away. “Nothing, just wondering.”

Jieun didn’t push any further, putting her clothes away before turning off the lights and climbing into bed. She was about to close her eyes when her phone dinged, and Jieun reached over to check the notification.

Wooyoung oppa: good night eunnie >.<

Along with the message was an attached image: a blurry close-up selfie of Wooyoung that only showed about half of his face.

Jieun giggled as she opened her camera, sending an equally blurry selfie back before typing out a reply.

Me: good night oppa, sleep well :)

#jieun.story #jiwoo #9th member of ateez #ateez 9th member #ateez addition #fake kpop idol #kpop oc #fictional kpop idol #fictional kpop oc #kpop addition #ateez oc #ateez imagines

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newtthetranswriter · 1 year ago

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hELLO!!! ANNYEONGHASE- ok i'll stop

so may i ask for some megumi fushiguro crumbs??? fluff pleaseeee and i was thinking about a scenario where megumi tries to confess to reader his feelings... bUT every time he wants to he gets interrupted!! and when he finally manages to catch reader and say what he feels, reader takes out an uno reverse card from their pocket with a stupid smile... you can include gojo and other students as the wing people of megs but imma leave it to you!!!! thank you in advance, take the time you need and dont stress about it!!!! love u and have a nice rest after work 💞💞

Word count: 827

Paring: Megumi Fushiguro x reader

A/n: Hey Ness, thank you for requesting. Honestly I think this is my first time writing for Megumi so I hope you enjoy it. Also tried a different pov for this one so let me know how you like it. Have a good day or night, and remember to Hydrate or diedrate. REQUESTS ARE OPEN

He had been trying to tell you for weeks. And before that Itadori had spent over a month trying to get him to admit his feelings to himself. At this point Megumi was a wreck to put it simply. He tried to act like it wasn’t affecting him, but it was starting to feel like the whole world was against him.

Megumi had approached you during dinner two weeks ago, having come up with the perfect plan. Unfortunately a certain cursed corpse messed everything up. Here's how it went.

“Hey Y/n, can we talk for a minute?” He asked approaching the table you were sitting at. Smiling up at him you nodded, getting up to follow him out of the room. Once out of the crowded dining hall he began to speak again. “So, I’ve been meaning to tell-” Before could finish his sentence, the door burst open again.

“You guys have to come see this, Itadori and Inumaki are competing to see who can fit the most rice balls in their mouth at once.” Panda said in excitement, dragging the both of you back inside.

While the others were busy watching the two be idiots, you leaned over to Megumi. “Hey, what is it you wanted to talk about?” You asked in a hushed voice trying not to draw attention, silently hoping he was going to confess.

He paused for a moment, then turned away. “It was nothing.” He said getting up and leaving you feeling disappointed.

The next time he tried to confess was on one of the days off you get as Jujutsu sorcerers. Megumi was sure no one would interrupt him this time. And he had made Itadori promise to keep everyone busy and away from your dorm so he could tell you. Itadori being the good wing man he is, agreed and did his best. Unfortunately no one could predict what happened that afternoon.

You two had been relaxing in your dorm like you do on every day off, just watching tv and chatting. He figured this was as good a time as any. So he went for it. “Y/n can I tell you something important?”

Sitting up startled but curious, you responded. “Of course Megs, you can tell me anything.”

Not thinking he would get this far he started. “Well, we’ve been friends for a while now and I’ve been thinking about this a lot.” He paused for only a second to collect his thoughts when the door burst open revealing the bane of Megumi’s existence.

“Sorry to interrupt but I thought you would all like to know that Okkotsu is back from his overseas mission.” The obnoxious white haired man said.

Upon hearing of the return of one of your closest friends, you quickly jumped off your bed running out of the room. Completely forgetting the conversation you were having with Megumi. Leaving the boy to slump back into the bed.

Megumi had enough, he was going to try and tell you one last time and if something got in the way, he would accept that fate had other plans and give up. So he cornered you one morning before training started. He was determined for this to go well. He wasn’t going to beat around the bush either, he was going to be straight forward and rip off the bandaid.

“Y/n I’ve liked you for a long time, and not just in the oh you’re cool kinda way. I want to spend all my free time with you and protect you no matter what.” He didn’t even pause to get a reaction, he just kept going. “I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks, but something always came up. But this is the last time I’m trying this, so I need you to know that I love you.” Megumi didn’t even register all the words that came out of his mouth.

You stood frozen for a moment. This was a dream come true Megumi Fushiguro just told you he loved you and your mind was buzzing. After getting over the initial shock, you reached in your pocket confusing the dark haired boy in front of you. With the biggest smile he had ever seen you handed him a green Uno reverse card.

“What the hell is this supposed to mean?” It was his turn to be shocked.

Instead of giving him a verbal response right away, you leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “It means, I love you too. Now as much as I would love to skip training to go on a date, we wouldn’t hear the end of it from Gojo, so we should get going.” You said before walking towards the training field. Megumi was left frozen for a minute, not believing that just happened. Getting over his shock he realized you were right, so he carefully placed the uno card in his pocket and headed outside to join you.

#jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujustsu kaisen x reader #x reader #megumi x reader #megumi fushiguro #jjk megumi #megumi fushiguro x reader

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hopefulromances · 2 years ago

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22 with jamie tartt please!! she/her :)

I got two anons asking for this one!

INCREDIBLY SELF INDULGENT.

22. “You’ve saved me so many times; it’s only right that I return the favor.”

You and Jamie had been floating around your feelings for years. You were more than friends, that much was sure, but the timing always seemed to be off for something more. But you knew everything about him. You knew about his mother and his father, everything from what coffee he drinks in the morning, to his favorite Lynx smell.

And he knew everything about you. From your favorite toner for your printer, to the type of Lynx you hated for him to wear. And part of you was comfortable in the limbo you were in with him. But another, larger, part of you want to kiss the living daylights out of his and shut his stupid manurian ass up sometimes.

Tonight, you were out with some friends at a club. That included Jamie. As usually, you were rounding up drink orders to start a tab on. Jamie handed you his card to use, which you took cause that football money was no joke.

"I'll be back in 5 minutes," you assured the group as you turned towards the bar.

"D'you want me to come with you?" Jamie offereed, starting to get out the booth. But you waved him off.

"I'll just be a few minutes, surely you can last that long with out me," You teased.

He threw a hand over his heart as if he'd just been shot with an arrow. "I don't think I can, love, I'll wither away."

You rolled your eyes at him and started off towards the bar. You reached it with out much difficulty. You waited for your turn, tapping impatiently against the wood as you waited your turn.

"Hey," a voice from the side caught your attention.

Yeah, no, not interested. You didn't even need to look to know you weren't interested. Unless he had a thing for monocrome track suits and a mancurian accent, you weren't interested. You tried to ignore him but the man persisted.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, babe."

The man reached out and tapped your shoulder. You let out an annoyed sigh but put on a bubbly personality before you turned to face him.

"Oh! Sorry, hi!" You smiled, waving. "Music's so loud."

The man seemed satisfied with that excuse and leaned lazily against the bar. He wasn't much, compared to Jamie, but he wasn't bad looking at all.

"I agree, you want a drink?" He nodded towards the card in your hand. "I'll get you one."

"Oh, no," you scrunched your face up. "I"m getting drinks for my friends, too."

He shifted closer to you. "They don't have to know."

You tried to shift back but someone had filled in the space behind you, forcing you to stay in your place as the man shifted ever closer.

"No, I'm really okay," you insisted, looking around for some escape route. "I've got it."

"Well, maybe we can go somewhere quieter, then?" He was practically on top of you. You could smell the alcohol on his breath, the smell of beer and sweat. You cringed, jerking backwards.

"Please, I just want to get my drinks and go." You turned to the bar, hoping that he'd understand your body language. Then he touched you, he grabbed your arm and pulled you towards him.

"Why are you being such a bitch?"

"And why are you being such a cockhead?"

Jamie's voice surprised you. But, you'd be able to tell Jamie's voice if you were blind folded and standing in a crowd of a thousand people, which you kinda were.

The man looked over at Jamie, still not letting go of your arm. "Why do you care, mate?"

Jamie glanced down at his hand on you and something dark flashed through his eyes. "She said no, mate'"

He spat the word like it was poison. Like referring to his man in any sort of friendly way was hurting him. You knew that if you didn't move quickly this could escalate into something more violent. So, you ripped your arm out of his hand, not missing the way his nails dug into your skin, and pulled away.

"I'm just gonna get my drinks and go," you told them both, finally flagging down the bartender.

The man started to take a step towards you. "Don't be a cu-"

"You're not going to want to finish that statement," Jamie growled, shoving his way in between the two of you. You felt like you could breath again, knowing Jamie was between you and the predator. You felt yourself lean onto him. He was tense, his whole body stiff with anger.

"Is there a problem here?" The bartender asked, looking between the two men.

"No!" you interjected, slamming the credit card on the table. "I just want to start a tab."

The bartender kept an eye on the two men as he took the card. "Well, the two of you better seperate, I don't want to see any funny business."

The man on the other side of Jamie scoffed but took a step back. "Whatever, bitch is a lost cause."

You grabbed Jamie, feeling him flinch forward. You prevented him from moving after the man as you order the drinks. Jamie kept a glare on the man as he moved away before turning to face you.

"Are you alright?" he soothed, looking over you.

As he did, any sign of the agressive man that was there before was gone. His face was laced with concern as he looked over you. His eyes fell on your arm and the marks where the man had scrapped into your skin. You followed his gaze and bit you lip, grabbing onto his arm.

"I'm fine, Jamie," you assured him. "He was just a dickhead."

Jamie brought his hand up to gently brush over the marks. "I could kill him for this."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't." Then you paused before adding. "But thanks for the save."

“You’ve saved me so many times; it’s only right that I return the favor," he mumbled, his eyes dragging up to your face. You looked at him, sucking in your lips.

You moved your hand up his arm up to his shoulder. He didn't need much persuasion as he leaned down, nudging his nose against yours. After a moment, he captured your lips on his. You suddenly wondered why you had waited so long to kiss him. You pressed up into him, finally moving your hands to tangle in his stupid walnut mist air.

His lips moved against yours in languid breaths, letting his tongue explore your mouth sucking gently on yours. You could stay like that for the rest of your life, you're pretty sure, but alas no good think could last forever.

You felt something hit you on the side of your head. You broke off from Jamie and snapped your head to find the source of the intrusion. You saw Colin quickly trying to hide behind Isaac.

Jamie held you against him as he flipped the pair off, sending them in fits of laughter. You whined, missing his kiss as you leaned against him. Jamie laughed, wrapping you up in his arms and keeping you there.

"Don't worry, love, there's a lot more where that came from."

#jamie tartt #jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt x y/n #jamie tartt imagine #ted lasso #ted lasso show #jamie tartt fanfiction #drabble night #drabble

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kairilov3 · 2 months ago

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Hi, I hope you are doing well! I was wondering if maybe you could write a Gionna Daddio and female reader story.

Topic 1:

Maybe the reader decides to spoil Gionna and takes her shopping (or Gionna wants to go shopping, so the reader gives Gionna her card while she stays home and takes care of the farm and animals) and the reader tells her to go wild and they visit all of these different stores and the last place Gionna wants to go in is a shoe store and gets a whole bunch of different shoes but what the reader doesn’t know is that she gets them a lot of matching items as a surprise because she wants them to match and so when the reader asks her what all did she buy, she shows her.

Topic 2:

Maybe where everyone is getting ready for Gionna's (liv) match against Lina (Nia) at Crown Jewel and the reader is in her head and starts to have flashbacks to when Gionna got hurt, to getting surgery, then recovery to her returning and achieving all of what she has done, so when she wins and becomes the first-ever women’s Crown Jewel Champion, the reader gets emotional and when Victoria (Raquel) and Dominik ask her what’s wrong she explains why she's crying and just how proud she is and Gionna overhears and gets emotional and when they’re finally alone Gionna tells the reader that she overheard her conversation and that she is thankful for the reader being there and staying when times got rough (just being lovey dovey basically lol).

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I know it’s long my bad lol, just trying to get my concept across. Can’t wait to see what you can do with either of these (hopefully I can see both concepts come to light in the future) and thank you for writing other Liv Morgan stories they are a joy to read!

Also if you do not feel comfortable with using their real names then you can use their character name, I wouldn’t be upset.

Sorry it took me so long, I liked the idea so I had a little fun with it.

WN; Request, longg storyy, ton of fluffy

Spoiled to rots

It was a lazy morning on the farm, the sun just starting to rise as you finished feeding the animals. The clucking of chickens and the soft mooing of cows was music to your ears—a peaceful escape from the chaos of WWE life. Liv Morgan, however, had other plans for the day.

“I wanna go shopping,” Liv announced, leaning against the barn door with her signature playful smirk. Dressed in a casual crop top and ripped jeans, she looked every bit the city girl ready for a day out.

You chuckled, wiping your hands on your jeans. “Shopping, huh? I thought you loved the quiet farm life.”

“I do,” she replied, twirling a strand of her blonde hair. “But I also love spoiling myself sometimes. And I know you love spoiling me, so…”

With a laugh, you pulled your wallet out of your back pocket and handed her your card. “Go wild,” you said, shaking your head affectionately. “Buy whatever you want. I’ll hold down the fort here and take care of the animals.”

Liv’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she grabbed the card and kissed your cheek. “You’re the best,” she said before hopping into her car and speeding off toward the city.

---

The day flew by as you worked on the farm, keeping busy with chores and thinking about how much Liv would enjoy her shopping adventure. When she finally returned hours later, her car was packed to the brim with shopping bags, and her grin was as wide as the horizon.

“Jeez, Liv,” you teased as she climbed out of the car. “Did you buy out the whole mall?”

“Maybe,” she said with a wink. “But don’t worry, I stayed under your credit limit. Barely.”

You helped her carry the bags into the house, your curiosity growing with every trip. Liv was practically bouncing with excitement as she started unpacking everything in the living room. Dresses, tops, accessories, and—of course—a ridiculous amount of shoes spilled out onto the floor. But as you watched her, something caught your eye.

“Hey,” you said, picking up a matching pair of sneakers. “Did you get these in my size?”

Liv froze for a moment before breaking into a sheepish smile. “Maybe…”

You raised an eyebrow. “And these hoodies? Matching hoodies?”

“Okay, fine!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up dramatically. “I got us matching stuff! I just thought it’d be cute, you know? I mean, imagine us wearing these sneakers together or those hoodies when we’re out. Couple goals, right?”

Your heart melted at her enthusiasm. She looked so proud of her idea, her cheeks tinged pink as she nervously awaited your reaction. Setting the sneakers down, you pulled her into a hug.

“You’re adorable, you know that?” you said, kissing the top of her head. “I love it. And I love you.”

Liv grinned against your chest, her arms wrapping tightly around you. “Good, because I got a lot of matching stuff,” she teased. “Wait until you see the pajamas!”

---

That evening, as the two of you relaxed on the couch in your new matching hoodies, Liv rested her head on your shoulder, scrolling through pictures of her shopping spree. Lil Baby Saudi, Liv’s beloved kitten, curled up on her lap, purring softly.

“Thanks for letting me spoil myself today,” Liv said, her voice soft. “But honestly, spoiling you is way more fun.”

“You spoil me every day just by being you,” you replied, squeezing her hand. “But matching outfits? That’s next level.”

Liv giggled, tilting her head up to kiss your cheek. “Told you we’re couple goals.”

You smiled, content with the simple joys of the day—Liv’s laughter, the warmth of her beside you, and the thoughtfulness that made her so easy to love.

PROUD

The Crown Jewel arena buzzed with anticipation, the air electric as the roster prepared for one of the most significant matches of the night—Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax. Everyone was busy making final adjustments to their gear, stretching, and hyping each other up, but your focus was elsewhere. Seated on a bench in the corner of the locker room, you couldn’t stop the flood of memories from overtaking your mind.

It started with Liv’s injury—the devastating night she collapsed in the ring, clutching her arm in agony. You could still hear the sound of the medics rushing in, the hushed whispers of concern from the crew, and Liv’s tearful apology to you, even though she had nothing to apologize for. Then came the surgery, her brave smile masking the fear she tried to hide, and the grueling months of physical therapy and rehabilitation. Day after day, you’d been there, holding her hand, cheering her on, and sometimes just being the silent support she needed.

“Hey, you okay?”

Raquel’s voice broke through your reverie. You blinked up at her and Dominik Mysterio, who were both watching you with concern. It wasn’t until Raquel handed you a tissue that you realized tears were streaming down your face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you murmured, wiping your cheeks. But when you looked up at the monitor displaying Liv’s name in bold letters, the tears came harder. “I just… I’m so proud of her, you know?”

Dominik tilted his head. “We all are. She’s about to make history tonight.”

You nodded, your voice trembling as you continued. “But it’s more than that. I’ve seen everything she’s gone through to get here. The injury, the surgery, the recovery… There were days when she didn’t think she’d ever wrestle again, let alone achieve all of this. And now, she’s about to become the first-ever Women’s Crown Jewel Champion. It’s overwhelming.”

Raquel placed a comforting hand on your shoulder, her usual playful demeanor replaced with sincerity. “You’ve been with her through all of it. That’s why this moment means so much to you, doesn’t it?”

You nodded, unable to find the words to respond. What you didn’t notice was Liv standing just outside the room, overhearing everything. Her chest tightened as she listened to your heartfelt words, and she had to blink back tears of her own before heading to the gorilla position.

---

The match was intense, every slam and near-fall keeping you on the edge of your seat. Liv fought with every ounce of heart she had, dodging Nia’s crushing blows and finding her openings to counter. When the final bell rang and Liv’s hand was raised in victory, the stadium erupted into cheers. She fell to her knees, clutching the Crown Jewel Championship with tears streaming down her face.

Backstage, you couldn’t contain your emotions any longer. The sight of her standing tall, the culmination of all her hard work, broke the dam completely. Raquel and Dominik stood beside you, both smiling as they watched you wipe your tears.

“You’re really proud of her, huh?” Dominik said with a teasing nudge.

“More than words can say,” you admitted, your voice cracking. “She deserves every bit of this.”

---

Later that night, after the celebration died down and most of the roster had left the arena, Liv found you alone in the quiet locker room. She was still in her gear, the championship slung over her shoulder as she approached with a soft smile.

“Hey,” she said, her voice gentle.

“Hey, Champ,” you replied, trying to compose yourself, but the warmth in her eyes made it impossible.

Liv set the title down on the bench and took your hands in hers, her thumbs brushing over your knuckles. “I heard what you said earlier,” she admitted. “About being proud of me. About everything I’ve been through.”

You opened your mouth to respond, but she shook her head, stepping closer.

“I need to say this,” she continued, her voice thick with emotion. “I wouldn’t have made it without you. When I was at my lowest, when I didn’t think I’d ever be me again, you were there. You never gave up on me, even when I wanted to give up on myself. And now, standing here with this title, knowing you were with me through it all… I can’t even put into words how much that means to me.”

Her voice broke on the last word, and you pulled her into a tight hug, holding her close as her tears soaked into your shoulder.

“I’ll always be here, Gionna,” you whispered. “No matter what.”

Liv pulled back just enough to look into your eyes, her hands coming up to cup your face. “I love you,” she said, her voice steady despite the tears. “More than anything.”

“I love you too,” you replied, your heart swelling as she leaned in to press a soft, lingering kiss to your lips.

When you finally pulled away, Liv rested her forehead against yours, her smile brighter than ever. “Now,” she said with a playful glint in her eye, “let’s go find Raquel and my kitten. I think Lil Baby Saudi deserves to see this shiny new title.”

Laughing, you grabbed her hand, ready to celebrate not just her victory, but the love and partnership that made the journey so meaningful.

#wwe #wwe x reader #wwe x you #liv morgan #liv morgan x reader #liv morgan wwe #wwe liv morgan #dominik mysterio #raquel rodriguez

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anotherstudtouse · 5 months ago

Text

What Are Friends For?

CHAPTER 2

SUMMARY: You and Lex work out some of the details of your fake relationship.

WARNINGS: None.

"Okay, rule number one -- I get to decide how we got together." You've quit pacing the length of your living room to speak, hands on your hips as you look down at Lex. She's sitting on your couch, feet kicked up onto your previously pristine coffee table, and as you speak, her gaze leaves the family portraits adorning the wall to focus on you instead.

Thirty minutes ago, you'd invited Lex to your apartment in order to work out the details of this whole 'fake relationship' thing. Despite Lex trying to assure you that you could just wing it, your insistence that preparation was the key to success had her finally agreeing to come over.

With a shrug, she responds, "Hey, less thinking for me."

"Another rule -- We need to agree on boundaries beforehand so neither of us are taken off guard."

"Boundaries?" She furrows her brows.

You gesture between you both. "Like, holding hands, kissing, stuff like that. How far are you expecting us to go to keep up this ruse?"

She appears amused by this, lifting her boots off of your coffee table and planting them firmly on the floor instead. Her legs are spread wide and your gaze is drawn to them for the briefest of seconds before returning to her face. Her head is tilted as she regards you curiously. There's something else in that look that you can't quite decipher. "How far are you expecting us to go?"

You feel heat creeping up your neck as the question is turned back around on you. You try your best to appear nonchalant when you respond, "However far you need us to. I'm doing this for you, after all; I just want to be properly prepared."

"We can't prepare for everything, y'know. Some things we're just gonna have to make up on the spot, and that's okay," Lex says in what is meant to be reassuring tone.

You're pacing again. "Yeah, well, I've never been good at that." The room falls silent as you become lost in thought, trying to think of every possible way this stack of cards could come tumbling down so you can prevent it from happening. You're so deep in your own mind that you don't even realize Lex has left her seat until she's standing in front of you, hands coming to gently but firmly grip your biceps in an effort to stop you in your tracks.

It certainly works, the sudden close proximity stopping not only your physical movements but every coherent thought in your head. You wait for her to back up but she stays. "Would it make you feel better if we practiced?"

"What?" God, you hope your face isn't as red as it feels, but the amusement beginning to light up Lex's eyes again are enough of an answer.

"You said you want to be prepared, right?" She raises her brows, and you nod. "So we practice. We tell each other how we got together so many times it starts to feel real. We get so comfortable touching and kissing each other that it looks natural to everyone else." As if to demonstrate, her hands slide up your arms, your neck, finally resting on your cheeks. She watches you intently, eyes switching focus between each of yours as if searching for something within them. You swallow.

"That's... actually a good idea," you say, a little distracted by her thumb stroking your cheek. Her hands are softer than you expected.

A smile spreads across her face. "I have one of those every once in a while," she jokes. It puts you a little more at ease, and you roll your eyes as you smile back down at her, forcing yourself to relax into her touch. It needs to look natural, not like you're freaking out on the inside. With a thoughtful hum, she adds, "I definitely asked you out. You can decide whatever else but we need this to be believable."

You scoff, pulling away from her in indignation as she laughs. "Anyway," you begin, attempting to divert attention from the fact that she's extremely correct, "since it seems like we're going to be here a while, do you want to order a pizza or something?"

The grin on her face tells you she sees right through you, but there's something else there that takes you off guard a little. There's a fondness in her expression for a moment; you barely see it as she turns to head back to the couch before dropping herself onto it. "It's like you read my growling stomach." As she speaks, she pats the seat beside her expectantly, raising her eyebrows at you.

You're nervous. You've sat beside Lex before, of course, but this feels different. Lex wants to practice, and maybe you didn't think it all the way through when you made the decision to let the woman you've been trying to suppress feelings for kiss you and touch you and call you pet names and --

"Y/N." Lex's voice is a beacon calling out to you before you can lose yourself completely in your overthinking. "I don't bite. Unless you're into that, then we could work it into the arrangement."

You let out a nervous chuckle as you finally move toward the couch. "Funny," you respond instead of giving her any kind of real answer. You know she isn't really looking for one anyway; she just enjoys flustering you.

You sit beside her and she turns to face you, folding one of her legs underneath the other and draping her arm across the back of the couch. Pulling out your phone, you and Lex take a few minutes to decide what you want. By the time you finally click 'order' and slip your phone back into your pocket, you think you've worked out how the two of you got together.

"We were working together after the store closed a week ago. We were on our lunch break out back, sitting against the wall, our arms touching. It was just like any other lunch break -- Talking about nothing and everything, making each other laugh. Maybe it was the peace of the early morning that made us open up to each other more that night or maybe it was just inevitable, but either way, something changed. We looked at each other, and our faces were so close... and feelings we hadn't realized ran so deep suddenly hit us all at once. You'd had the urge to kiss me before that moment but now it almost hurt to hold yourself back -- so you didn't. You kissed me, fully prepared to be pushed away, and I kissed you back. And now here we are." You finally turn your gaze toward Lex as you finish your story -- a story rooted in a very real moment from a week ago, one where it had been you who'd ached so badly to press your lips to hers after you had opened up to her about your struggles being pushed out by your parents and living with your grandmother instead (a lovely woman -- you have no complaints about her) until you moved out, after she had opened up about her struggles with her family and with trying to make it on her own while also supporting her sister. It really had almost hurt not to kiss her right then and there, but you had. You had torn your gaze away, focusing instead on the few stars you could see in the night sky.

When your eyes meet Lex's, you can tell she remembers that night, too. She's silent for a moment, just looking at you, and for that moment you begin to feel as though you've made a mistake. You'd thought that choosing a real moment would make the part that's a lie more believable, but now you're wondering if you've accidentally uncovered the truth about your feelings buried underneath it.

"Like this?" As Lex breaks the silence, her hand reaches up to curl into a fist around your shirt collar before tugging you toward her. Before you can react, her lips are on yours, her other hand tangling in the back of your hair.

A surprised, "Mmh--" escapes your throat, your eyes fluttering shut. Lex is kissing you. It's softer than you expected, especially after the rough tug at your shirt collar, and you lose yourself in it quickly -- in the name of practice, of course.

As your lips move against hers, her hand leaves your shirt collar to rest on your hip. What started out soft and even a little hesitant, as if testing the waters, begins to grow heated. Her tongue traces your bottom lip and you part your lips for her immediately. She tilts her head a little, her tongue sliding into your mouth to begin its exploration -- and God, it's thorough. You to moan into Lex's open mouth. Her hand on your hip tightens its grip, her other hand resting on the back of your neck and firmly holding you in place. Your hands come to rest on the sides of her face, fingers tangling in her hair as your tongue slides against hers. She groans into your mouth, her hand tugging at your hip now. Does she want you closer? If you get any closer, you'll be in her lap. Does she know that?

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

You break the kiss, pulling back as if you've just been burned. Out of breath and more than a little disoriented, you're relieved to see that you're not the only one in such a state. Lex is almost panting, licking her lips as she watches you. It's as your eyes follow the movement of her tongue that you realize your hands are still on either side of her face. You remove them, averting your gaze and standing before Lex can see how affected you are.

You clear your throat. "That was good -- good practice. You're good at that." You wince at your own words as you turn to walk around the couch, heading toward the door. "Anyway -- Pizza."

You have no idea how you're going to get through this.

#angela giarratana x reader #lex foster x reader

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the-fiction-witch · 1 year ago

Text

... I've killed an angel

Media The Artful Dodger

Character Jack Dawkins

Couple Jack X Reader + Jack X Belle (Dodgerfox)

Rating Sweet + SAD!

I stood at my small stall in the Port Victory Street doing some business with the people in town. The sweet sun beat down harshly, as usual, enjoying the pleasant day.

"Morning Y/n," I heard,

I glanced up and saw Doctor Jack Dawkins as he headed over to the stall, in his dusty brown shoes, faded brown trousers, washed out and tattered white shirt with strained cuffs on his sleeves poking out his jacket sleeves, his blue textured waistcoat, his straggly green tie tucked into it, his purple patterned jacket and his black velvet hat on his head. He smiled and gave me a wave as he made his way over.

I blushed hard and adjusted myself, fixing my green cotton dress brushing off some dust and dirt from the day, and pulling my braid of Y/H/C hair over my shoulder a little.

"G-Good Morning, Jack," I greeted with a warm smile,

"You alright?" he asked warmly,

"I'm alright, everything okay with you?"

"Same as usual, You coming to the cat and the bagpipes tonight? I need my back up especially with Darius still sniffing around."

"I don't know I have a lot of work to do,"

"Aww work's more fun than cards with me is it? Come on Y/n I need you, Angel," He said as he came close and fixed some of my Y/H/C hair from my face, "Please," He pouted giving his pouty puppy eyes,

"Course, how did seven sound?"

"Perfect, I'll see you later then." He said starting on his way but he turned back, "Actually."

"Yes, Jack?" I asked excitedly,

"I think you know what I'm gonna ask," he smiled wickedly,

"what do you need?" I jokingly rolled my eyes,

"You think you could get your hands on some beeswax?"

"Why?"

"Hey! That happened to the no judgment part of our deal?"

"Alright, I'll see what I can do, when do you need it by?"

"Whenever you have time Y/n," he cooed and headed off on his business.

I blushed and got on with my work making a note of what he wanted.

I smiled as I headed to the cat and the bagpipes to play cards with Jack, Darius and whoever else was there tonight, I saw Jack waiting outside so I headed over with a smile.

"Evening Jack,"

"Evening, you seem chipper tonight?"

"I like playing cards with you," I smiled, "Ohh here I found you some," I said handing over the beeswax candles I found for him out of my pocket,

"Ahh, you are an angel, Y/n," He smiled happily taking them and adding them to his pockets, kissing my forehead.

"What do you need them for anyway?"

"Hey, you know our deal. I don't ask how you find stuff you don't ask why I need it."

"Alright fine, come on let's get going." I encouraged going to head inside but I noticed he was looking, I thought for a moment that he was staring at me and I blushed hard feeling so giddy with joy to see him look at me with such sweet loving eyes, "Ohh, Jack... You're staring?" I giggled,

"Hum? Ohh uhh yeah I uhhh I guess sorry she uhh she's just -" He explained shaking himself out but immediately returning,

"She?" I asked turning on my heels to see the busy street with various people heading away for the day I saw a sight.

Across the street, a woman stood in a beautiful impressive red plaid dress, with sweet blonde curls and a lady-like hat and parasol, she walked on the arm of the governor as they went about some business.

He was looking at her, not at me.

And I felt my heart shattering to see him looking the way I had always wished for him to look at me, but he didn't look at me. I have been standing and waiting by his side for so long but now he looks at a girl he doesn't even know the name of that he sees briefly across the street.

"shall we go then?"

"Yeah, Yeah I uhh I'll meet you in there okay," He said as he walked away heading down the street,

"Jack-" I began but he was already gone,

I sighed and headed in sitting at the table and starting the card game without him, I played a few games wondering and worrying where he was until finally, Jack arrived, "Hey, You finally joining us?"

"Yeah, sorry." He said sitting down beside me and we started a new game,

"You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." He answered as he took his lucky coin from his pocket and began his usual trick of tossing the coin between his fingers as we plaid,

"What did you have to do?"

"Nothing Y/n," he chuckled and we got on with our game,

"...Alright," I sighed,

I got on with my work at my stall doing my business for the morning,

" Y/n," Jack greeted as he approached,

I smiled widely as I hadn't seen him in a few days odd as I was used to seeing him daily, "Morning Jack,"

"I have a little job for my angel." He smirked leaning on my stall,

"Oh?"

"I need you to go do a little whisper searching, a little recon, a little digging for me,"

"Digging? around what am I digging? Are you trying to find out Sneed's secrets again? cause I keep telling you he's a very boring man he doesn't have interesting dirt to dig though," I chuckled,

"No, No not Sneed." He said, "Belle."

"Humm?"

"Lady Belle Fox. I want you to... do a little digging for me."

"For what exactly?"

"I wanna know... What she's like, what she is interested in, her little secrets and such like, Come on your good at this stuff."

"I will have a dig but why do you-"

"You don't judge that's the deal." He said, "Come on, Please" he pouted,

"Alright, when do you need it by?"

"As soon as possible." He winked, "You're an angel, I'll see you soon." He said before he headed off,

I didn't like doing this but I knew I wanted to do as Jack had asked me, I snuck my way to the governor's estate in my cloak. I found my way into her room and dug around for information about her but I didn't need to dig for long her room reminded me of Jack's, filled with surgical diagrams, and equipment, Belle's room showed her lack of care for art, for music the often frivolous lady things, she was focused, driven, wrote to surgeons overseas, kept medical journals of her experiments.

... all of it froze me to my core, to think of how she and Jack would be so perfect together.

How much he would surely love her.

I got what I needed and headed to the hospital where I found Jack in his room waiting for me,

" Y/n!" He perked up getting to his feet from his bed where he had been laid with his waistcoat and tie gone, "Did you dig?"

"I... I did."

"Well, what can you tell me?"

For a moment I considered lying to him, telling him lies about her to try and convince him to completely stay away from her but I couldn't bear to do so. I told him the truth, I told him everything he wanted to know and he couldn't be happier. He held my arms and kissed my forehead.

"You are an angel." He smiled, "Thank you, Y/n,"

"You're welcome," I nodded,

"I need to get to work then," he smiled,

"I uhhh I'll let you get on then," I said trying to hide my feelings forcing them away and forcing myself to leave before my pain overflowed.

I got on with my work as usual on my stall, I missed Jack more than anything but I hadn't seen him in weeks now. Not even in passing, but I couldn't bring myself to go and see him especially without a reason to. I felt like... He'd abandoned me.

When I packed my stall for the day I noticed a book in my box, I was meant to give it to Jack a while back when he asked me to find it for him and I never did give it to him. So I packed up and headed to the hospital book in hand, I went up to his room but I found it empty, so I went to his ward and again found it empty, I checked the theatre but still empty, I was confused wondering if perhaps he was out. But as I wandered the halls and corridors at last I found him, in the morgue cutting open a body, with Belle beside him. She looked beautiful in her black dress their hands connected and bloody as he guided her and aided her, his head inches from her shoulder.

"Somewhere in there is how we think, and feel," she said, As she watched the surgery they worked on, "And Love,"

"And die,"

"It's so much more than plumbing"

he smiled to her giving her this look of utter devotion, the look I had always wanted, "Oh- Y/n."

"Hi, Jack,"

"what are you doing here?"

"I uhh I have that book, you were looking for," I said stepping closer fixing my hair and offering him it,

"Ohh! right! course. Sorry, I forgot I even asked you too look for it for me." he laughed, "Thanks." he said, almost cold, No angel, no kiss, nothing.

"Y-you're welcome," I nodded trying to fight back tears as I turned around and headed out,

"Right on to the next thing Milady." He said to her,

I began to walk out and by the time I was at the hospital entryway, I was balling tears flooding down my face and my feet were causing me to run, bursting out the door and quickly finding a wall to try and hyperventilate.

That's it.

I've been replaced.

I had been doing my best to deal with everything, but it wasn't going well, I hadn't seen Jack in ages, he hadn't come to see me at all and I missed him so badly, I knew I couldn't wait anymore I had to go and tell him the truth, tell him how I felt. So I slipped on my cloak and headed through to the hospital I checked his ward, he wasn't there, I checked his room, he wasn't there, I went to check the theatre but the door was locked that's odd? so I went around into the prep room door and thought there to go in that way I stopped short.

I looked through the prep room glass window into the theatre, and I saw Sneed on the table knocked out for his surgery. Lady Belle on one side of the table, Jack on the other. The surgery hadn't begun yet so I planned to rush in but-

Before I could even move I saw this moment in slow motion, as they leaned in, leaning over the table and even if it broke my heart into a million pieces I saw as they're lips met and they kissed.

My mouth fell open and I wanted to scream but no sound came out.

Tears flooded down my face.

I turned and ran out of the hospital onto the darkening streets, through my tears and broken heart I accepted it, finally and completely.

He loved her, and I was nothing.

I went home and I cried for what felt like weeks, unable to even leave my bed.

Slowly I accepted that I had to get on, make money, and pay my way, even with a shattered heart. I tried to rationalize it by feeling happy, that Jack had found someone he could love so utterly, that he and Belle were happy together, they'd be together in love, get married, have a house with surgical equipment everywhere, little blonde doctor children and live a happy life. Even if that meant I wouldn't get what I wanted, even if I wasn't a part of this life he was to build.

I got on with work at my stall when I saw a sight that... even after this time still brought me such pain, Jack walking arm in arm with Belle down the street he barely noticed me the two walking past like I was nothing, just another market girl. But he stopped,

" Y/n?"

"Hi Doctor Dawkins," I answered part of me hoping he wouldn't have to stop,

"Hi, Sorry I haven't seen you Everything has been so busy at the hospital."

"That's alright,"

"You know I uhh I'm going out for cards tonight, if you wanna come?"

"No, I uhhh... I'm busy tonight."

"Oh, Really? you never miss cards come on."

"I really can't I'm sorry,"

"Shame. Alright then. But as I see you I do have a little job for you."

"Ohh I uhh I don't do that sort of thing anymore."

"wh-what?" he chuckled,

"I don't do that sort of thing anymore Doctor."

"You don't?"

"Jack we should be going we have to be back at the hospital for Mr Martin's amputation," Belle spoke up,

"Yes, just one second." he told her, "You really don't do it anymore? but it's always been your little job? You're my angel? and what's all this doctor stuff? what's going on with you?"

"Y-You should really get going."

"...Alright, we're not done talking about this." He says the two heading off,

I had hoped it was over, that he would simply forget. But I saw as they walked away heading to the hospital, I saw a black carriage the horses going crazy, the carriage heading through the town on a course. But I couldn't let it happen I bolted across the market and shoved Jack and Belle out of the way hearing them both complain as they hit the dirt. And I screamed as my body hit the carriage and the earth.

" Y/n!" I rushed over as the carriage hurried off, I picked her up in my arms seeing her bloody and her body broken, her green dress stained with her blood and the muck of the carriage wheels, her Y/H/C hair cascading around her, her pale skin even more so than usual, her Y/C/E eyes looking up to the meet the blue sky. " Y/n, Y/n," I muttered,

"she- she pushed us out the way," Belle spoke up as she came close,

"She pushed us... she saved us..." I muttered already tears welling up, "Get a cart we have to get her to the hospital now!"

She nodded and quickly fetched one so I picked Y/n up and carried her in setting her in the back,

"You're gonna be okay, it's all okay, I'm gonna fix you, It's all gonna be okay angel I promise," I told her,

She couldn't speak, she could barely look at me, we rushed her to the hospital and into the theatre where both Belle and I worked attempting to piece back together her mangled body being careful not to damage her further having given her a decent dose of morphia to dull the pain,

"Jack..." Belle spoke up as she held Y/n's neck and shoulder her pale skin purple, red and swelling by the moment, and I knew what the issue was,

"No. No. say it isn't so."

"... If we don't the bone will continue to pinch her jugular-"

"and it'll kill her."

"But if we reset it-"

"We have a fifty-fifty chance we miss nicking the jugular which if we nick... she bleeds out and dies." I finished and she nodded,

"what do we do?"

"...I... I don't know."

"If we do nick it... can we sew it with surgery?"

"Not the jugular if we nick it she has two minutes maybe before she bleeds out or drowns in her blood. I'm fast I'm not that fast. not on sewing a jugular." I explained,

"I-I'll give you a moment," she said heading out leaving Y/n and me alone,

" Y/n, Y/n. Y/n angel please, please just open your eyes for me." I pleased her holding her head in my hands, she heard me and slowly opened her eyes staring at me with those Y/C/E orbs her breath harsh as she could barely deal with the pain. " Y/n, There is something we have to do, if I don't do it you'll die, but if I do... it's a coin toss if you'll survive. I-I can't make this decision on my own. I don't want to rush you but uhh time is an element here,"

"Jack..." her voice breathy her hand came to stroke my cheek, "I loved you."

"wh-what?"

"I loved you, from the first moment we met. I never was an odd job girl... I just did whatever you asked me no matter how foolish."

"You- You did that for me?"

"I did. Becuase I loved you, and I wanted to do whatever you asked to try... and make you look at me." she gasped,

"If you loved me why have you been so distant?"

"Becuase I watched you fall for her."

My heart broke as she told me,

"I watched you fall for her, Love her, I watched her take up the place I dreamt of, I saw you look at her how I always wanted you to look at me."

"why didn't you tell me? if you had just told me we-"

"What?"

"We could have been together, I love you of course I love you, I've always loved you. You're Y/n. My Y/n. My odd job girl. My sweet sweet compainion, My Y/C/E eyes siren, My card partner. My- My angel." I explained through my tears, "If you had just told me we could... we could have been together."

"It's too late."

"It's not too late-"

"But I'm not her." she gasped, "and I can't replace her in your heart."

"But I love you..."

"And you love her, but you can't love us both." she said, "and you'd be happier with her-"

"You don't know that, you don't know that I wouldn't be a million times happier with you."

"I can't make you choose between us, that isn't fair." she said, "...like this moment, there is nothing you can do, no choice you can make, without the risk of hurting one of us."

"I don't want to hurt you, or her."

"I'm not making you. I'm letting you be happy."

"You can't make this decision for me."

"Please, Jack... Just let me go... you can't let me live in a world where I will never have the man I love,"

"what if I choose you? what if I pick you? We can get married, have a house, a family everything you've ever wanted, if I made you feel loved, if I told you how much I love my angel for the rest of our days,"

"Then that's not fair to her is it?"

"She's a lady she has a thousand suitors."

"But there not you. She's perfect. I knew that the moment I met her you couldn't give her up for me Jack."

"what if I want to. What if I want to give her up, to be with you?"

"I will not have her broken heart on my hands," she gasped, "I know that in this world I can't have what I want."

"I want you to have what you want. I want to love you, I want to be with you."

"Jack, please... don't make this harder." she pleaded, "let me go please, let me go and I'll be happy to know you're happy."

"You cannot ask this of me." I pleaded between tears, " Y/n, please. Angel. I love you, and I am a doctor both are reasons I can't just let you die in my arms."

"Please Jack," she begged, "Go, be with her, build a life with her, give her everything she has ever wanted, I ask only... for one kiss, and for you to hold me and look at me as I go, like I'm the only girl in the world."

"I-I will." I nodded even if it broke me apart, I held her close and kissed her sweet lips as I did I felt this horrible agony as I felt a firework a feeling I had never felt before, Belle might be perfect on paper but Y/n gives me a spark I can't feel with anyone else. But it was too late. As I kissed her I did as she asked and I purposely reset the bone making sure I nicked her jugular immediately seeing the pain wash over her, watching her skin turn red the agnory in her eyes. I counted the seconds as I kissed her again, I stroked her cheek and I looked into her sweet eyes with the look of the purest and sweetest love I could give her, I looked at her as if we were all that mattered, all that existed. And she was all that I wanted. "I love you, I have always loved you, My sweet Y/n, My Angel. I love you now. And I will love you until I am on the ground beside you." I whispered to her, "I will find you, in the next life, and I will show you all the love I should have given you in this one," as I watched the life leave her eyes and I held her in my arms, as I saw her into the next life.

As soon as her heart stopped, I felt this agony, this crippling pain like my own heart was ripping apart, tears flooded down my face as I kissed her one final time her lips cold and the spark... gone.

"Jack?" Belle spoke up as she had returned, she had seen what I had done and heard what I had said to Y/n, her eyes teary. "What have you done," she whispered,

"... I've killed an angel," I answered,

#thomas sangster #thomasbrodiesangster #tbs smut #tbs imagine #thomas sangster imagine #tbs imagines #thomas brodie sangster #tbs #thomas brodie sangster imagine #thomas brodie sangster smut #jackdawkinsartfuldodger #jack dawkins #jackdawkins #jack #doctor jack dawkins #thearttfuldodger #theartfuldogger #theartfuldodgerjack #the artful dodger

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sunshine-overload · 8 days ago

Text

[BSTS] Main Story S6CH1 'Our Hands Can't Reach Tomorrow' - Part 3

Part 2 - Final

Common Chapter 3

-starless hallway-

-zakuro standing close-

saki: (Uu… How did this happen…?)

zakuro: Averting your eyes and not giving a response is quite rude. Please answer my question. But before that, a word of advice. You should be more careful, your defences are too lax.

saki: I’m sorry, I was caught off guard…

zakuro: Either way I shall not let this chance slip me by. My apologies but I shall be taking advantage of it. Have you remembered anything yet? My little bird of destiny.

-flashback, rehearsal room-

saki: …What do you want from me?

zakuro: As I said, all I want is your memories. The memories sleeping deep within you that were wrapped up in a black cloth and forgotten.

-present, starless hallway-

zakuro: I cannot rely on anyone else but you regarding this matter. Please answer me, for the sake of this pitiful jester.

saki: So you're saying that it's something that I should know? The owner said something similar to me…

zakuro: Oh my oh my, now that is a name that I was not expecting to hear. And whatever was it that the Boss asked of you? It couldn't have been about the black cards, could it?

saki: Yes, it was. He said that I must have one and that I know how to access what’s on them.

Except, I have no idea what any of that means… From what you're saying though, I should know, right? Why do you want to know what it is that I’ve forgotten, Zakuro-san?

zakuro: Oop, and now I’m the one being questioned. However I cannot provide a response if you do not remember.

If you wish for something then you must also give something in return. A fair trade is most important when it comes to both information and compensation.

-qu appears-

qu: Hey, Zakuro. What are you doing blocking the hallway?

zakuro: What's this, what's this? My dear teammate has decided to make an appearance. And if it isn't Team P’s problem child as well.

menou: Problem child? Are you referring to me? I’m not so sure about that. I’d be a saint in comparison to you.

Though, I am curious what you two were talking about just now. A singer is necessary to perform on Starless’ stage, so if I were to give you something in return, would you continue to sing for me forever?

zakuro: Please forgive me. I already have my hands full pleasing our madman of a leader. I don't need another one giving me orders.

menou: Huh~? Working for me would be so much easier compared to Mokuren though. Well whatever, I already have Maica, Sinju and Rindou on Team P to sing for me. Rindou seems like he’s still holding himself back. I want him to cut the breaks already.

zakuro: Woah now, as expected of you Menou. What an insane statement to make.

qu: Give it a rest and back away from her already, Zakuro. You're being way too persistent.

zakuro: Oh my, excuse me. The little birdie here is so used to my closeness that she hadn't pushed me away.

-he steps even closer to saki-

zakuro: Please remember what it is that I desire from you. I beg of you, remember for both of our sakes.

–end

SideA Chapter 4

-locker room-

ran: Heya Sinju, how is Team P doin’? Gettin’ worked to the bone?

sinju: I wouldn't say that. We're just diligently training and rehearsing. Wait, are you trying to pick on me, Ran?

ran: Ahaha oops, you saw right through me~ Ya I was just teasin’ ya.

Don't ya think P is like a sports drama straight outta the showa era right now? I’ve always thought that the sports and idol genres would go together well!

sinju: I’m not exactly sure what you're trying to say, but I’m glad you seem to be having fun… I think?

ran: What's gonna happen to P from here on out? We were talkin’ about it the other day. Are ya gonna change your direction from bein’ sparkly idols?

Oh and also, is Rindou ok? He’s still always wearin’ a smile, but it's like his resolve has changed.

sinju: His resolve–

-flashback, rehearsal room-

rindou: I want to create a new Team P.

-present, locker room-

ran: He’s got that ‘come any closer and I’ll cut you down!’ vibe to him. It's so cool, like the samurai Tange Sazen!

sinju: I’m seriously not following this conversation at all. But Rindou is fine. I’m the one who's at fault, I still don't know what it is that I want to do. I don't know what direction Rindou is planning to take with Team P.

ran: What? Ya seriously think that he seems ok? Y’know, before I came to Starless, I saw all sorts of broken people on the daily. And surprisingly, it's the ones that were closest to ‘em that understood them the least.

Shouldn't you be treatin’ this a little more carefully? The same thing happened once before, right? Ya told me yourself, about that time Nekome did some kinda therapy thing.

sinju: You remembered that, Ran?

ran: Of course I’d remember! It was such a weird story. What was it again…

Rindou hadn't been able to perform, so Nekome put a set of headphones or somethin’ on him? Rindou went all uwaahh! and collapsed, but despite that he took to the stage the next day like nothin’ had happened.

Maybe ya should try give him that therapy again? Though I don't really understand the details.

sinju: Don't say that like it's so simple. There's no way I could tell Rindou to do that again.

sinju: …….

–end

SideA Chapter 5

-starless hallway-

qu: Are you on floor shift today, Yoshino?

yoshino: Yeah. I suppose you are too. Is something the matter?

qu: Team P don't have an understudy, so I was wondering if I should offer to lend them some support.

yoshino: Ah… Is this about Rindou? I understand why you’d be concerned but… It's a difficult situation.

The current Team P is different from the one that we used to be members of. They all have their own challenges that they need to overcome themselves.

So I’m not sure how much help we’d be, since we only know about how P used to be.

qu: I know that, but still.

yoshino: Qu, a lot of time has passed since we transferred from Team P. I get that seeing Rindou like this is reminiscent of how he was when P was first created. But the current Team P has their own way of doing things, if we try to intervene we’d just be a disruption.

qu: You think so?

-sinju appears further down the hall-

yoshino: It's not like anyone from P has directly asked you for help, right?

sinju: What's this? What are we talking about?

yoshino: Woah, Sinju! That surprised me.

sinju: Were you talking about Team P? …Was it something I shouldn't have overheard?

yoshino: You mean something we want to keep a secret from you? That may be true.

sinju: Huh? Seriously? I’m so curious~ But I can't ask!

yoshino: It's a secret but I can let you in on it if you want.

qu: Yoshino.

yoshino: We were just talking about how Team P are really giving it their all. Weren't we, Qu?

sinju: Really? Aw, thanks! I’ve been worried about whether or not I’ve been doing well, so I’m happy to hear it.

yoshino: So are things going well on P? You seem to be trialing a lot of different things.

sinju: Yeah, we’ve been doing things a little differently compared to before. As to whether or not it's going well I’d say…

sinju: ……. (frowns)

qu: Is it like that time at the previous Starless?

sinju: Ah, you might be right. Did somebody say that to you?

qu: No, it's just the feeling that I got. A lot happened back then, so I might just be overthinking it. Sorry, Sinju.

sinju: No, don't worry about it. I’m sorry too. I was wondering if I should discuss it with Nekome.

yoshino: Why Nekome? Oh right, of the current P members, only Nekome was also a standard member back then. But, this is Nekome we're talking about here. I wouldn't expect too much from him.

sinju: Yoshino.

yoshino: If you need to talk we’re willing to hear you out too. Right, Qu?

qu: Of course. The offer is always on the table, Sinju. We were all founding members of P after all.

sinju: Yoshino, Qu… Thank you. If I need anything I’ll let you know.

yoshino: He may not be very reliable but I think you should still discuss it with Nekome too.

sinju: Ahaha, yeah. I’ll try talking with him.

–end

SideB Chapter 4

-locker room-

nekome: Rindou, you took your time getting here today~ I thought you’d arrive earlier.

rindou: That's because I had to stop by the government office first. I still got here on time though.

nekome: Yeah, the others should be arriving soon too, but before that I wanted to talk to you, so I’ve been waiting.

rindou: Sure, we can talk after rehearsal.

nekome: Could we talk now instead? It won't take long.

rindou: …Ok. What is it?

nekome: Say, Rindou. You're taking to the stage at the moment, but is it really sustainable? This has happened in the past, remember, that period of time when you couldn't bring yourself to perform.

rindou: I was wondering what you were going to say… I’m standing on the stage just fine though. This is different from back then.

nekome: But still, it feels as though you're pushing yourself. So wouldn't it be better to look after yourself with some treatment?

rindou: Treatment?

nekome: You don't remember? That treatment that I gave you back at the previous Starless.

rindou: Oh… That thing you called ‘simple therapy’...

nekome: Yeah. And it really was simple, wasn't it?

rindou: I think it was. To be honest I don't really remember the details. I’d rather not remember that period of time. I was in total disarray. So, I am at least somewhat grateful to you.

In the end it was thanks to whatever you gave me that I was able to stand on the stage comfortably again. However, this time I will have to refuse.

nekome: Are you sure?

rindou: I think that this is something that I need to overcome on my own. Thank you for your concern though. Also, if you can up the quality of your performance for me then I won't have any complaints.

nekome: So harsh!

rindou: Is that all then? Rehearsals will be starting soon, we need to get changed.

nekome: Got it. Just one last thing. Would you happen to have a black coloured card in your possession? A black card with nothing written on it.

rindou: Why do you know about that, Nekome…?

nekome: As long as you have it it's fine. I just wanted to make sure. With that I’m gonna go get changed~

-nekome leaves-

rindou: That black coloured card… If I remember correctly it was back when Starless caught on fire that I found it in my locker. Nekome was also found caught up in that fire the day he returned…

–end

SideB Chapter 5

-break room-

kasumi: What's this? Heath and Taiga? Now that's an unusual pair~

heath: We were talking about Team P’s show and how it's pretty amazing they've still been making adjustments to the show since it opened.

kasumi: Ah~ Yeah it does seem that way. Their whole team is made up of diligent members after all.

heath: Huh? But Nekome is with them, so it's not the whole team.

taiga: That's true.

kasumi: Well I’m sure Nekome can be diligent sometimes too~ …Probably.

heath: Seriously? Then compared to Hari, who would be more diligent?

kasumi: Hari of course. That's an unfair comparison no matter who the opponent is.

taiga: He took some kind of exam recently, didn't he? That fact alone makes him crazy diligent.

heath: I hate exams.

taiga: Agreed~ I don't see the point in taking one willingly.

kasumi: Some professions require you to take exams in order to gain the needed qualifications.

heath: Hm? Qualifications, huh~

taiga: He sure is amazing.

kasumi: You two could try to act at least a little interested. Passing the bar examination is pretty impressive.

taiga: Do you have any qualifications yourself? You seem like you’d have some unexpected skills. No wait, lemme try and guess. Uhh, what about a qualified cleaner?

kasumi: I suppose there are certification tests for things like building cleaning. I’ve never taken one before though.

heath: Do you have qualifications in managing people?

kasumi: Like human resources and general affairs? Oh, or a licensed social insurance consultant? Nope, I don't have any qualifications like that~

taiga: Huh, I thought you'd have at least something.

heath: I guess Kasumi is normal after all.

kasumi: I have my drivers license though. I even have a large vehicle license.

heath: Oh, that's pretty cool. That means you can drive trucks and things right?

taiga: That's awesome! Can you operate a forklift too?

kasumi: Yep, I have a forklift license too. They're essential for moving heavy objects.

heath: Do you use them at work?

kasumi: I haven't used one since coming to Starless. I’m basically only a license holder on paper. If I were to return to a job that uses one I’d have to take a short course beforehand to remember everything~

taiga: With the existence of short courses and exams this world really is a tough one.

kasumi: Ahaha, that's society for you.

–end

Common Chapter 4

-starless office-

unei: Nekome-san, should you really be here right before your show starts?

nekome: I heard Saki-chan was here so I wanted to greet her before the show. we’ll be heading right back don't worry.

saki: Thank you. But you didn't have to greet me, you should go and get ready for your show!

nekome: Aw come on, don't brush me off so easily~ I just wanted to have my heart warmed up before I stepped onto that awfully cold stage.

maica: Hmm, is that really the case? Then how about I set a fire to warm you up then?

rindou: While it is true that Saki-san is a special guest, I feel as though the way you dote on her has ulterior motives, Nekome.

nekome: N-no~~? It's not that way at all, I’m just, y’know?

unei: How come you suddenly can't speak properly?

rindou: My apologies, Saki-san. Nekome, you can't be bothering her like that. Keep it in moderation.

Maica, I’m going to go ahead and check the stage equipment before we start. I’ll leave him to you.

maica: Ah, sure. Go ahead.

-rindou leaves-

nekome: Hm? Is Maica going to scold me next then?

maica: (sigh) I’m not going to scold you, you're an adult too after all.

nekome: I kinda can't stand this tension anymore…

maica: You're the one who brought it on yourself, so you have to deal with the consequences. But still, quit half heartedly poking fun at things. Rindou won't play along, his responses have been really cold and it’ll only make the mood even more stifling.

nekome: So it's ok if I poke fun wholeheartedly then?

maica: If you want to get punched, sure.

nekome: Ah. No thanks.

saki: Um, what are you talking about?

maica: Hm? Oh, it's nothing. It's P’s problem to deal with. Rindou’s just been fully absorbed in the stage, that's all. To the extent that he's been discussing things with the team less…

nekome: Or to put it frankly he hasn't been talking to us any more than he needs to. He doesn't talk about anything other than the stage. Though he is still friendly about it.

unei: Aren't Team C and K the same way? B is the only team where I get the impression that they're a big group of friends.

nekome: That may be true but he could crack a joke every now and then. The moment he opens his mouth it's just stage this, show that. It gets dull, y’know?

maica: And that's why you keep cracking jokes only for Rindou to ignore them and make the mood freeze over even more?

nekome: I was only trying to warm things up.

maica: Well it didn't work.

unei: Being ignored by Rindou-san sounds like it'd be terrifying. If I got brushed off whilst he was still wearing a smile I think I’d be sad. The reviews for your show have been really good though. They're praising that it's a heart wrenching tragedy.

maica: A heart wrenching tragedy? Where on earth is that interpretation coming from?

nekome: Since Rindou is concentrating on the show the quality of his performance is scarily high. I’m worried as to whether or not he can keep going like this.

saki: (I wonder if Rindou-san is ok…)

–end

SideA Chapter 6

-park, day-

nekome: Sorry for the wait, Sinju~ What is it that you wanted to talk about? I’m a little nervous since you said we couldn't talk at Starless.

sinju: Nekome. Do you remember how I used to always try and avoid you? Back at the old Starless building.

nekome: Ahh, yeah I remember that. It was like you suddenly couldn't stand being around me anymore. We spoke about how it was just a misunderstanding though didn't we?

sinju: Yeah, but I didn't tell you the reason for why I acted that way.

nekome: That's cause you didn't look like you wanted to elaborate. I don't mind either way, things are fine between us now after all. Unless you want to explain?

sinju: Yeah, I do. You see, I saw what you did. Back then when Rindou was struggling to stand on the stage.

nekome: (surprised)

-flashback, old starless back rooms-

sinju: (That was a close one, I’m so glad I found my house key here in the store. That could’ve been real bad if I’d dropped it on the street somewhere… Hm? Is someone else here?)

-sinju peeks into the storage room-

nekome: Well, I guess you could say it’s a simple type of therapy?

rindou: Sorry Nekome, I’ve even made you concerned about me…

nekome: No worries, to make sure Team P’s on the right track, you’re necessary no matter what, Rindou.

nekome: (on computer or something) Ok, the card’s all set up, how about you?

rindou: I’m fine.

sinju: (Nekome and… Rindou? I wonder what they’re doing… he said something about therapy.)

nekome: Here we go, put these headphones on now.

rindou: Ok.

nekome: Okay, concentrate real hard on the sound that’s gonna come from the headphones, I’ll start it now.

sinju: (I wonder what they could be talking about, a new show maybe? I wish I could listen in too but I’m just the understudy…)

-rindou jolts in pain-

rindou: Guh— graaahhhh!

sinju: !?

nekome: …Hm?

sinju: (What was that? What, what happened? Nekome noticed me, shit, I need to run…!)

-present, park, day-

nekome: Huh, so that had been you, Sinju. I thought I’d just imagined hearing someone.

sinju: …….

nekome: So after seeing that you were afraid of me.

sinju: After you did that, Rindou stopped being so unstable and settled down. But on the flipside, I was the one who got scared and Rindou staggered our shifts because of it.

nekome: I just thought you wanted to avoid interacting with me. A lot was going on back then so I didn't really have time to let it concern me.

sinju: Not long after that, you disappeared.

nekome: Yeah. I’m sorry about that too.

sinju: Nekome. About that therapy, do you think you could do it once more?

nekome: Are you seriously suggesting that?

sinju: If Rindou needs it then…

nekome: I can't do it right now. Certain conditions need to be met and I don't have all the necessary equipment. Not to mention– I’ve already talked to Rindou about it and he said that he didn't need it.

sinju: If Rindou said that he's fine, then he must be, right?

nekome: Yeah, he's fine. He’s different from how he was back then, it was a long time ago after all.

sinju: Yeah. I’m sure he'll be fine. As long as we perform the show as best as we can, we'll be fine.

nekome: Yep, our show just keeps getting better and better. Let's keep doing our best until the closing show.

sinju: Thank you for hearing me out.

nekome: So… Does that therapy not freak you out anymore?

sinju: You just said it yourself, things are different compared to back then, it was a long time ago. I was scared at the time, that's true but…

I can remember it now, the fact that not being able to stand on the stage is what was causing Rindou to suffer the most. So, that's why I think that what you did back then was necessary to help Rindou.

–end

SideB Chapter 6

-starless back rooms-

rindou: Taiga? What are you doing back here?

taiga: What, you ask? I’m just hanging out with laptop-chan. Sometimes we like to play here.

rindou: Hm, is that so?

taiga: Yeah, you don't look the least bit interested. Oh well, everyone has their own preferences. To be honest I’m running from Unei-kun. He’d catch me if I stayed in the office.

That guy keeps casually asking me to format SD cards but then after I finish doing so he’s suddenly like ‘wait no I need that data!’. Ah~ It's so scary, I can't believe it sometimes. Those who can't handle technology are so difficult.

I’m the most knowledgeable when it comes to machines here at Starless though so it's no wonder everybody has to rely on me~

rindou: …That's true actually.

taiga: Uwah, I said too much. Was I acting like an otaku? I totally was.

rindou: Say, Taiga. Could you lend me your abilities as well?

taiga: Huh? You have a favour to ask of me? Now that's a rare event.

rindou: I’d like for you to keep this a secret from Nekome, but could you analyse this card for me?

-rindou hands taiga his black card-

taiga: Huh, this card is completely black. What is it?

rindou: I don't know. It randomly appeared in my locker one day… I previously had Maica try to look into it but in the end nothing came of it. I’m still curious as to what it is though, so.

taiga: Hmm? This is surprising. And how come I need to keep it a secret from Nekome?

rindou: I’m not entirely sure myself. Nekome might not have anything to do with it, but I’d like to keep it a secret from him just in case.

taiga: Hmmm. Sure, I’ll give it a shot. It's not like Nekome and I talk much to begin with, so it's not like I need to report it to him. Is it ok if I borrow this card?

rindou: Yes, I don't mind. All I was doing with it was holding onto it. But make sure you don't lose it, if you can't find out anything about it please return it to me.

-flashback, haseyama’s hospital room-

suspicious man: It's not here…? You haven't hidden it have you?

doctor: Of course not, I’m telling the truth…! I checked his clothes, his bag, everything! There wasn't a black coloured card anywhere.

suspicious man: Shit. Just when I thought I was finally gonna be able to obtain a black card…

-present, starless back rooms-

taiga: Of course. I’ll be taking it off your hands for a few days then~ Just give me some time until the closing performance of your show.

rindou: Ok. I’ll be counting on you.

taiga: Do your best on the stage.

rindou: Of course. I will not compromise.

-rindou leaves-

taiga: Uegh, is it just me or did it suddenly get chilly in here? Rindou seems so on edge lately.

-takami appears-

takami: So this is where you were, Taiga. Running away again are you?

taiga: Running? Oh, you mean from Unei-kun? Yeah, I did. Just how many SD cards does that man have? Confirming what's on them, or telling me to format them whilst checking the data. Just where is he even getting these tasks from?

takami: The owner, I suppose.

taiga: Ah, there's no way he could refuse him then. However, I am refusing. I’m not doing it.

takami: Taiga, that card you have…

taiga: Ah, crap, I forgot to put it away. Oh well, you're not my brother. Rindou gave it to me, he wants me to analyse it for him.

takami: Rindou gave it to you?

taiga: He told me to keep it a secret from Nekome. So you should do the same. Anyways, I should go and get ready for my shift.

takami: A-ah, yeah sure.

-taiga leaves-

takami: A black card… Why would Rindou have one?

–end

Common Chapter 5

-outside starless, day-

-screen shakes-

saki: (What was that? Perhaps I’m not feeling too good…)

saki: Maybe I was just imagining things…

-starless lobby-

sinju: Oh, welcome, Saki-chan. I’m glad I was able to greet you, I’m happy to see you!

saki: Hello, Sinju-san.

sinju: You look pale, are you ok? You should rest backstage for now. Aogiri, could you give me a hand? Saki-chan doesn't seem to be feeling well.

aogiri: Of course, I can assist.

-flashback, hallway-

aogiri: I knew that the chances of you remembering would be very low but— It would be helpful if you remembered. Don't worry, I’ll assist you.

-present, starless lobby-

saki: (Huh…? I think I really am feeling under the weather…)

aogiri: It's ok, there's no need to push yourself. I’ll escort you backstage. Let's go so the other customers don't notice.

-flashback, restaurant area-

aogiri: Speaking of, I was going to go and check what's happening behind the scenes. Would you like to come with me? Here, follow me quietly so the other customers don't notice.

-present, starless lobby-

-kokuyou quickly steps in front of aogiri-

kokuyou: Are you feeling dizzy? Does your head hurt? Or are you not even sure yourself…

gui: Kokuyou, Aogiri. I will take her.

aogiri: I’ll head backstage before you then, I’m about to be on break.

-aogiri leaves-

kongou: I’ll prepare you something hot to drink. I’ll leave the rest to you, Gui, Kokuyou.

-kongou leaves-

sinju: Kokuyou, I’ll also–

kokuyou: You have a show to perform, don't you? Don't forget.

sinju: Saki-chan…

saki: I’m ok. Do your best in the show, Sinju-san.

sinju: Ok, thank you. Don't overdo it either.

-sinju leaves-

gui: Let's go, Kokuyou.

kokuyou: I’ll join you later, you take Saki.

-black screen-

saki: (I feel so dizzy– It’s not going away…)

-time pass, starless office-

kongou: Ah, you're awake. How are you feeling?

gui: I think she's ok. I can tell by her scent.

saki: Yes, I’m feeling better. Sorry for worrying you all…

aogiri: Here is the hot lemonade Kongou made for you, would you like to drink it?

saki: (flinches) Ah, um… Yes, thank you.

kokuyou: Here I’ll pass it to her. Take it, Saki.

aogiri: It appears I surprised you, my apologies, Saki-san. Sorry for bothering you too, Kokuyou.

kokuyou: I don't care, but the hall is probably understaffed right now. You should return Aogiri. You too, Gui.

aogiri: Understood.

gui: I’m staying here.

kokuyou: Tch. Fine.

aogiri: I’ll be taking my leave then. Take care, Saki-san.

-aogiri leaves-

gui: Saki, Aogiri made you flinch.

kokuyou: Did that guy do something to you?

saki: No, at least I don't think so…

-flashback, hallway-

aogiri: It would be helpful if you remembered. Don't worry, I’ll assist you.

-present, starless office-

saki: I don't really remember.

kokuyou: Is that so? Well for now just make sure you rest up.

saki: (I feel as though I’ve forgotten something…)

gui: P’s show has ended. I can hear the sound of applause.

kokuyou: Sounds like another great success. How praiseworthy.

–end

To Part 4

#bsts translation #bsts main story #bsts team p

9 notes · View notes

heongiu · 2 years ago

Text

Kim Goo x Reader

"More than a secret friend ♥︎"

Warnings: NSFW, sexual content, anything else that isn't meant to be said out loud ;)

(A/N: first of all thankyou for the Goo requests! Second, It's my first time actually writing a whole ass smut fic so if there's some parts that might need to be corrected please do tell me 😭 I know fs this fic is shit- anyways hope you like it... 🥹)

“Hey!! So we meet again Y/N!!~” Goo spoke to you, waving at you whilst he sat down a chair. “ah hello" you spoke, you sounded down, well since you were tired from all these errands your voice would automatically sound gloomy.

“Oh cmon! Why are you all down?~" Goo taunted

"Ah it's.. Nothing" you replied, eyes examining the area around the blonde.

Looking around the place, for a second this made you remember the first time you had met him.

Which obviously, didn't go as planned.

~~~~~~

“Jeez.. I’m glad I walked away from that maniac..” You stood at the top floor of the 4th affiliate’s building, you walked around to find Samuel’s room where you had to meet someone, and search for something important of course.

“Why is it so dark here? Is the power out?” You looked around for a while. “Phew this is gonna take me a while" you wanted to get out of the room but suddenly an object tripped you, and you fell into a chair. Well it felt weird,

and.. it was a man.

“AHH WHO IS IT?!” You got up immediately. The power returned and the lights were on, finally you could see his face, he had a smug grin on his face, blonde hair, he had a blue Gucci suit on, with a yellow tie, all which seemed to compliment his complexion. You would've thought he was some celebrity if he didn't act like an idiot quite literally.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t see you sitting on the chair-“ you apologised to the man

“Oh oh~ well, I’ll forgive you for that I suppose” he laughed though from his expression he did seem to have enjoyed that. “I suppose you are a VVIP as well?” He further questioned. “Yeah.. I just got here to see how the 4th affiliate is working but, it seemed something had happened a day or two ago”

“Whats your name? I never heard about you from anyone” he asked

“its y/n l/n" You replied “well you’ve got a pretty name huh?~” he remarked to which you simply smiled

“My name is Kim Jongoo, Perhaps you’ve heard of me before?” He asked,

intrigued by you “Yes, I know of you sir” “sir?! Don’t call me that honey, you can just call me Goo~” something about his honeyed words was so mysterious, he just seemed like there was so much more to him.

Slowly you were getting tired from standing too long, you wanted to sit down but to your demise there was no other chair around. “You looking for something to sit on?” He asked

“perhaps”

"well here it is” he teased you signalling to his lap. the blonde seemed proud of his joke, you felt more embarassed and guilty than ever “I suppose I’ve found what I was looking for, I’ll leave soon-“

"Oh? well I thought I had some company but it seems you’re busy as well” Goo said with a noticeable frown on his face.

“Well then, bye, see you agai-" you spoke, hurrying out of the room. “wait!!!” The blonde gave you his business card.

“since we’re friends now, call me anytime you feel like you’d want to sit on me~ haha!”

he laughed at his lame joke again, you murmured a few curses under your breath, walking away from the place. You could still hear him yell from the background “dont forget me honey!!” He yelled at you.

“What a strange man.."

~~~~~~

Well to be honest after the incident you had only met him 3 times but not really at the 4th affiliate, he just seemed to be everywhere you were.

----

"Y/N?!! ARE YOU LISTENING?" He yelled at your face as you immediately unfocused your gaze, you realized you had zoned out for a long period.

"Sorry.. I zoned out a bit" you rubbed the back of your neck, as you stood there uncomfortable and in an awkward pose.

"You sure do look uncomfortable, something wrong?" He asked, slightly tilting his shades to have a better look at you. "Aah not really, why do you care?"

He laughed "why shouldn't I? You're my secret friend~"

"when did I agree to-"

"Anyway so I was telling you-"

And you tripped again on him. But he was quick enough to catch you.

"Hey, you seem to have quite a thing for my lap or some?" He cackled.

You did get a lot of second hand embarassment from this

But.. Why won't he let you go?

"Um.. Are you gonna let me go?" You asked, face red from embarassment.

"Do you want to be?" He asked, this time it was a joke or anything, his tone was kind of, serious.

Your voice won't come out.

"Fuck fuck!! Whats happening to me?!? Y/N SNAP OUT OF IT YOU ARE JUST HERE ON AN ERRAND, ahhh I'm getting distracted.. Fuck"

You thought to yourself. You thought for a second, his features from up close were indeed beautiful, this man was a heavenly creation of God himself, but God did miss out on his brains.

"Ah ah, caught you staring~"

"Ah n-no I wasn't-"

He brought his face close to you, examining your already embarassed expression and now your face had just turned 50 shades of red.

"You sure look cute when you blush" he laughed, flicking off some locks that laid in front of your face.

"I-"

Words wouldn't come out your mouth.

"Shh you don't need to speak" He grabbed your body to shift you even more closer to him, he kissed you, his light fingers traveling up and down your body. Your hands rested upon his chest.

Oh how his kiss was just as sweet as his words. You wished he didn't pull away so soon.

"Whaa~ You want me to kiss you more?~" he teased, but from your expression the answer was so evident.

"You sure do seem to enjoy it huh?~"

Yes, yes you did, and a lot. And honestly, who wouldn't? Definitely not you

You had come here to get some work done, but now that things have turned out this way, you really don't regret it. This is much fun isn't it?

He stared into your irises, examining ever feature you've got to show, slowly his hands began to undress you, piece by piece, inch by inch.

"Doesn't this feel exciting?~"

He asked you, once again. You responded with a soft 'yes' as he rewarded you with humble kisses on your neck, fingers fondling with your breasts gently.

His hands grabbed and massaged every part he could possibly see, which was, well untouched by him. He kept undressing you until you were entirely bare.

"Oh look at you princess, you look like you were made for me~"

You were indeed made for him, melting into his soft and firm touches like a lit candle's wax. The way he caressed every part of you like you were a sculpture. He was really into it.

He kept kissing you passionately, your tongues colliding with eachother. His hand slowly but smoothly slipped under your skirt, into your panties, and to your slick, throbbing cunt. He was sure to very slowly massage your clit with one of his fingers. His member rubbed against your bare ass, making you whimper.

Goo was a flirty man, the way he touched your body like it was his last day, but he took his sweet time enjoying you. He really fucking loved it

His slow, but teasing movements made you let out all your suppressed slutty moans. All which you wish nobody else would hear.

"Since you're being such a good girl, let's reward you mhm~?

He took off his pants, revealing his hard cock.

He picked you up and laid you down on the table nearby, your legs wrapped around his torso as he slid inside you without giving you a second to adjust, making you moan out loud.

"F-fuck.. Ngh it's too big.." You felt weak, so weak in front of his cock. It could undoubtedly obliterate your insides. And just the thought of it made you throb even harder than before.

"Shhh I know you can take it"

He caressed your forehead gently, slowly thrusting into your pussy. Now you could really make out he was a very experienced man.

You held an intense eye contact with the blonde. he started to thrust into you faster, you struggled to take him in at this point, but to him your struggle was quite an entertainment.

"Aww~ Can't take me?"

Fuck you didn't want to admit it, but you were downright and completely dominated by him. You were a woman who naturally didn't like submitting to a man, being under his rule, giving in into their control. You hated it, but the fact that you were letting a man you only met for a few days fuck the daylights out of you was improbable.

Goo grinned at you, your poor attempt to take him in. This sight of you might had just become his favourite.

"Fuck..fuck you look so goddam pretty when you're struggling like that"

He placed your legs on his shoulder, adjusting himself even deeper inside of you, he brought himself even closer to you, hitting your sweet spot even harder, grinding himself deep inside of you.

"Fuck do you like that? Yeah?"

You moaned loudly, throwing your head back at the speed of his gruesome thrusts. Your brain was completely lost in the pleasure of this building orgasm.

"Ah..f..fuck b-bouta cum" you whimpered, he kissed your collarbone, gently sucking on your breasts, your supple nipples, his tongue moving around in circular motions, you felt so dizzy and so sensitive.

"Aha? Yeah? cum on my cock princess, come on you can do it"

His hips moved even faster than before, the table started making a creaking sound, added to this was the sound of your skin slapping and the wet noises your pussy made. The room ringed with such lewd noises, but this all never really mattered, you wanted to cum.

"So close hah.."

Fuck, the fact he moaned pretty, his moans were like music, not all men moan like this.

And then you came, legs trembling in the extreme pleasure. You tried to muffle your moans with your hands but still they were loud enough for everyone to hear.

And it didn't take him long to cum too, hot thick cum filling your insides to the brim, he held you in his arms, kissing you, your neck, your ears, Everything.

So it was all over... Or was it?-

"Ah Ah Princess, I'm not done with you yet~"

~~~~~~~

(OMG I was so nervous writing this I hope you guys enjoyed it even though it's half baked, reblogs and likes are appreciated, thankyou so much <33 ~ Kira)

#kim goo #kim jongoo x reader #kim jongoo #lookism #lookism x reader #kim goo x reader smut #heongiu writes #Goo x reader smut #lookism smut #kim joongoo x reader #kim joongoo

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