#could we try to imagine a world totally without that violence?

[metanarrates]

"queernorm" worlds are fine and i do understand why people like them + why there's a desire to make their depictions of queer experiences legible to an audience who lives under real-world gender and sexuality norms. but for me i always end up feeling a little dissatisfied by them because they still end up implicitly adhering to certain real-world norms that in-universe have no real reason to exist. can we not imagine a world in which gender/sex assignments entirely don't exist? what could gender and gendered expression even mean in that world? how would romance and kinship and care be reimagined there? how far could you potentially go in totally deconstructing those norms? wouldn't it be nice to imagine a world so different from our own that even the language we have to describe certain experiences is no longer the same? im dissatisfied by the inability to go much further, even if i do understand why people don't

[cinnamoonblue]

Chapter IV | Sweater Weather

Summary: You moved to one of the biggest cities in the world - Grand Line to pursue filmmaking career. Soon enough your path will cross with the vocalist of upcoming band called “The Neighbourhood”. At first you decided to be just friends - because it would be easier, but sadly as everything in life sometimes by taking the easy path we regret a lot of things.

Main characters: Portgas D Ace x Reader (female)

Supporting characters: Nami, Usopp, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Law, Deuce, Shanks, Buggy, Sabo, Eustass Kid, Koala, Marco, Robin (more to be add)

Description: Modern AU | Musician Ace

WARNINGS: ALL CHARACTERS ARE AGED UP this story will contain descriptions of violence, 18+ only, contains explicit sexual themes and content, explicit language, use of alcohol, use of cannabis, use of nicotine/cigarettes, angst, hurt/no comfort, hurt/comfort, implied injury, family trauma, slow burn, destructive behavior, toxic behavior, illegal activities, NSFW, conflicted feelings, loneliness, pain, conflicted relationship, emotional distress, jealousy, suggestive themes, violence, substance use, mentions of death, mentions of suicide, mentions of depression, mentions of loosing a loved one, mentions of violence, PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE WARNINGS

Word Count: 15,2K

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NOTE: I’ve planned to write this chapter even longer, but then I decided that it would be pointless as most of the things would be repetitive. Here are the descriptions of some filmmaking terms, so when you are reading you know what the characters are talking about: D.O.P - Director of Photography/Cinematographer, the person who works closely with the director, and the person who determines the framing of the shots and capturing the scenes AC - First Assistant Camera, the person who is responsible for the focus of the camera and the lenses Call Sheet - The daily schedule, filled with all the information needed for the actors and the crew about when, where and what will be filmed Storyboard - Visual representation of a film sequence and breaking down the actions into individual panels, sketching out how the video will unfold shot by shot I hope that all of this Filmmaking things are not boring you, but I feel like if I don’t write them down the story will feel super fake and the logic will be missing and it won’t be clear why certain things are described a certain way, if you get what I mean 😅 Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the previous ones, or even more hehe… also … there are some major foreshadowing in this chapter 👀 hihi enjoy ♡

It has been two weeks since the Halloween party, which I try not to think about much. Nami was quite upset with me the first few days after it, as I left without saying goodbye and because I wasn’t answering the next day. I wasn’t in the mood to talk about the party with anyone. When we met on Monday in lectures, I lied to her and Usopp that I felt super sick and because of it I left without saying anything not wanting to ruin their funny, and they bought it. Everything was fine, until I saw Ace once at the coffee shop, luckily for me he had his back facing me, so he didn’t see me. I recognised him by his orange beanie, but I quickly left as I wasn’t ready to see him again. Still, almost everyday I caught myself thinking about him at least once, going back to the moment we “shared” at the party. He had his ways to get under someone’s skin, I gave him that. We have barely spoken or knew each other, yet I couldn’t shake him off my thoughts. The way his actions and words were so contradicting. I still remember the burning feeling he left inside of me by just barely touching my skin, I can only imagine what it could have been if he had kissed me. Or maybe I totally misread the situation, but I would never know.  

The only thing keeping me from thinking of him was the fact that I was extremely busy with the upcoming short-cut projects at university. I was stuck writing and rewriting my script, not being satisfied with it fully, and we must submit our final draft by the end of this week. Because of that we didn’t have any classes this week and I haven’t gotten out at all. Nami and Usopp texted me a few times to join them outside for a drink, even Luffy texted me to hang out, but I turned them all down, as my main focus right now was submitting my final draft.

Today I had consultation with one of my teachers regarding my script, as I wanted a second opinion if the story and the actions were clear. My meeting was scheduled at 2PM, so I got plenty of time as I woke up quite early, not being able to sleep in the past few days. I decided to get dress and grab a coffee from my favorite coffee shop. I put a pair of dark baggy jeans and just a basic grey cotton t-shirt, not feeling like dressing myself up today, as stress was taking over me. I didn’t even bother to put makeup or anything, I just put my jacket on, grabbed my bag over the shoulder and headphones and left. As I was on my way to the coffee shop when the next song that started to play from my headphones was Ace’s song. I had saved them all on my playlist; aside from Ace’s confusing behaviour at least his band’s music was good.

Touch my neck and I'll touch yours You in those little high-waisted shorts, oh

The song started to bring memories from the party, especially when the choirs hit.

'Cause it's too cold for you here and now So let me hold both your hands in the holes of my sweater

I wasn’t in the mood for this, so I quickly changed the song.

“Fucking Ace.” I cursed under my breath.

The sky was cloudy today, and I didn’t check the weather app, and it seemed like it was going to rain. Soon drops of rain started to pour from the sky and I started to run towards the cafe. My jacket didn’t have a hood, and my hair got wet and messy by the time I reached it. It was quite busy when I got inside, and my usual seat was taken so I went to wait on the queue before I sit somewhere.

“One black coffee, please” I ordered to the barista. My card declined as I was trying to pay. “Oh, I’m so sorry, give me a second.” I apologised to them, as I probably ran out of money, and I had to transfer from my savings.

“I will pay for her and make them two.” This smooth, low voice that I would recognise from miles away said behind me.

“Ace” I turned around immediately facing him. He just winked at me, paying for the coffees. The barista handed us the coffees and we thanked him.

“Thanks for the coffee.” I glanced at Ace and went to find a place to sit, leaving him by himself. I found a small table at the back of the shop. I sat down and pulled my laptop from my bag, trying to calm myself down. Of course, off all possible days I met him today. As the day couldn’t get any more stressful for me it had to serve me Ace on top.

“Mind if I take a seat?” Ace stood next to me, waiting for my respond. He had this little smug smirk on his face, and that slightly irritated me.

“Sure.” I gave him a short response. He sat down across from me, leaning his back on the wall, resting one of his arms on the back of the chair and the other on the table, his whole body facing away from me. I took a quick look at him. He was wearing baggy jeans with an oversized grey hoodie, which was wet from the rain, and his red bead neckless hanged around his neck as always.

“We are matching today.” He pointed out, tilting his head towards me. I looked down at myself and realised that we were wearing matching outfits. I gave him a simple nod, looking away from him back to my computer. “You look tired.” He said taking look at my tired face.

“I am tired.” I sighed.

“Is everything okay? Are you okay, doll?” His voice had a hint of concern.

“Don’t call me that.” I snapped at him.

“Why are you so moody? Someone stepped on your tail this morning... doll?” He mocked me. I shoot him a glance from behind my laptop not in the mood for jokes. “You look cute when mad, you know.” He chuckled at me, the smirk not leaving his face.

“What do you want Ace?” I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Nothing, just to sit and chitchat with a friend.” His answer pissed me off, like he forgot what happened two weeks ago.

“Ace...” I took a breath calming myself down before continuing. “I don’t want to be rude, but I’m under a lot of stress right now, so if you want to sit here – sit but I’m not in the mood for a chitchat.” I didn’t want to be mean at him, but also, I couldn’t hide my irritation right now. He just nodded and sipped from his coffee. We were sitting in silence – me on my laptop, writing and rewriting whatever felt right or not, and Ace was just scrolling on his phone. I took a sip from my coffee and couldn’t help but wrinkled my nose and furrowed my eyebrows as always. I heard Ace chuckle under his breath.

“What?” I asked Ace.

“Nothing.” He shrugged, his smug smile not leaving his lips.

“You are laughing at me, aren’t you?” I nagged.

“Please, doll explain this: why drinking coffee if you hate it?” He turned his body to face me, putting both of his forearms on the table, holding his coffee cup.

“Because if I drink something that I like I will get addicted to it and then I will want to drink it all the time – that’s why.” I responded.

“How may coffees you drink a day?” He had this mischievous spark in his eyes.

“Depends on the day, but sometimes two or three.”

“Doll, I think you are already addicted.” I rolled my eyes at his comment.

“Stop calling me ‘doll’, Ace.” What was with this pet name, he hasn’t stopped calling me ‘doll’ since Halloween.

“Why? You don’t like it?” He teased me.

“You call all your friends ‘doll’?” I teased him back.

“No, only you.” His voice was low, almost like a whisper, eyes glued on mine half lidded as always. Instead of a smirk he had this little smile playing on his lips. I broke the eye contact looking back at my laptop, starting to type on the keyboard again.

“What are you writing there?” He leaned on his hand, his voice soft.

“My script for the short-cuts.” My respond short, eyes not leaving the computer as I was re-reading the script, checking for mistakes or if I need to add extra remarks.

“Is that why you are so stressed?” He straitened up his posture, studying my face as he was sipping from his coffee. I simply nodded in response. “What is it about?” He asked and I looked at him hesitating if I should tell him.

“It’s about a man, who fell in love with this woman from the moment he saw her, but so did his best friend.” I chuckled feeling a little embraced telling Ace the plot of my script. “But his best friend hit on her first, so they started to date, and the whole scene is about them announcing their engagement and the man – the main character, gets lost in his thoughts of ‘what if’. ‘What if’ he did a move on her first, and they were the one dating and he knows how he would have treated her better ect.” I was babbling as Ace was just looking at me, taking every word, I said. “And then the ‘what if’ moment gets interrupted by his girlfriend who shakes him off the thoughts asking him what’s wrong and why he doesn’t congratulate them, and he quickly brushes it off and congratulates them only to whisper to his best friend's now fiancé that it should have been him.” I took a deep breath and raised my eyebrows in anticipation for Ace’s opinion on the script.

“Can I read it?” His voice and eyes sparkled with interest, so I turned my laptop and handed it to him. His face was unreadable while he was reading it until he handed me the laptop back.

“Well... what do you think?” I felt my confidence leaving me, as he wasn’t saying anything.

“I think that I don’t know much about scripts, nothing at all actually, but...” He paused for a second. “I can’t wait to see your film, doll. I really liked it.” Ace leaned on the back of the chair; arms crossed around his chest as he smiled at me.

“What? You mean that? You really liked the script?” My eyes widened of surprise hearing his response. “Like, you really, really mean that?”

“Yes, doll I do.” He chuckled. “Have more fait in yourself.” I didn’t know how to respond to this. I've heard this a lot – be more confident, have more fait in yourself, yet the ‘imposter’ syndrome could never leave me.

“Thank you, Ace. This means a lot.” I smiled at him.

“Nothing to thank me about.” He raised his cup of coffee to his lips and before he took a sip he added. “And if it sucked, I was going to tell you.” I playfully rolled my eyes at him.

“I rewrote it like a hundred times. I have a consultation with my teacher at 2PM, because we are submitting them tomorrow, so I hope he likes it, and I don’t need to rewrite again.” I closed my laptop and put it back in my bag. Ace looked at his phone to check the time.

“You still have some time, like almost two hours.” We stayed in silence for a moment, I was avoiding his gaze, as my shyness started to take over me, the memories of the party surfacing on my mind.

“How are your ears, by the way? I forgot to ask you at the party.” The mockery in his voice was so clear.

"My ears?" I didn't understand what he meant my that.

"Yeah, that video with you and Usopp." A big grin spread across his face when he.

“No, no, no don’t remind me.” I got all flushed as I covered my face with my hands, embarrassed of the accident with the microphone and Usopp. Ace laughed at my reaction.

“I love that video, I made Nami sent it to me.”

“What? No! No, no, no!” ‘Nami how could you?’ I was thinking to myself, why would she do that, why would Ace want that video. “Please, Ace delete it.” I begged him. “It’s not even that funny.”

“Yeah, it’s not funny – it’s hilarious.” He snorted, clearly enjoying mocking me like this. I shook my head giving up, my face still covered with the palms of my hand, as I knew that he wouldn’t delete it. “Hey, look at me.” I looked up only to see my shocked face zoomed on his phone screen as a screenshot.

“Ace!” I squealed, reaching with my hand to snatch his phone away to delete the picture but he quickly pulled it away. “Aceee.” I stomped my food like a little kid.

“Easy, doll. Going through someone’s phone is not polite, you know that?” He snapped his index finger hitting me on my forehead, laughing at my reaction, as I pouted.

“You are so mean.” I told him. “What are your plans for the day?” I leaned on my chair, mimicking his posture.

“Go to the studio, play a little with the guys, then talk with our manager about some marketing stuffs and deals – nothing interesting.” Ace shrugged; he didn’t sound very enthusiastic.

We stayed for an hour more – talking and laughing. It was so easy to be myself around him, yet sometimes I caught myself getting a little tensed when he smirked at me or made some teasing comments. I wanted to ask him what exactly happened with him at the party two weeks ago, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment we were having. Even thought we had four years difference I couldn’t really feel it as Ace was still carrying this very boyish energy in him. I got to learn a little bit more about him, and what he likes and dislikes. When it was time for me to head to university he suggested to walk with me to there since he still had some time before him and the guys meet.

The weather outside was still the same but at least it wasn’t raining. We were walking next to each other, almost no distance between our bodies. He was telling me more about his brothers, and things they did as kids.

“So, wait, wait.” I interrupted him. “You are telling me that your aunt Dadan didn’t have any money for your vocal lessons, but the moment Sabo said that he wants to learn how to play drums she immediately signed him up?” I was in disbelief.

“Yea, he is her favourite, as he is you know – blue eyed, blonde, cute.” He mocked her voice as he was describing Sabo. “Then you have Luffy, and last one is me – the black sheep.” He winked with a mischievous smirk.

“Why are you the black sheep?” That piqued my curiosity.

“Our friendship is way too fresh for this conversation, doll.” He bumped me with his elbow on the side, chuckling. I laughed it off, not wanting to push his boundaries.

“Okay one very, very important question before I go.” We were almost to the university when I stopped him before we part our ways. I stood in front of him, with the most serious look on my face, looking straight at his eyes as I pointed my finger at him and spoke. “Which is your all-time favourite movie?”

“Hm...” Ace frowned his eyebrows, thinking for a moment. “I’m not sure, I have to think about it, doll.” He smiled at me.

“I will be waiting for your answer.” I turned around and started to walk towards the school gates.

“Hey, doll.” Ace called after me. “You never gave me your number.”

“Not until you tell me your favourite movie.” I yelled behind my back, waving him goodbye as I entered the gates. My cheeks flaming hot, my heart was bumping fast, and for the rest of the day I don’t think that I would be able to take off the smile from my face. Maybe just being friends wouldn’t hurt, I’m sure I could put my little crush aside and before I know it, we would have this amazing friendship. Some people are better left as friends – and if Ace and I are one of them, so let it be it.

Ace was watching (Y/N) leave and as she disappeared from his sight, he laughed to himself. She was very interesting person. The way she changed her moods so fast, the way her eyes sparked when she talked about things she loved or was excited about, the way when even without saying anything her face betrays her and says it all – she was very fun to hang around. (Y/N) crossed his mind a few times in past two weeks, part of him regrating not taking his chance with her at the party, but then that was for the best. She was a nice girl and a friend of his friends, and he didn’t want to hurt her or give her some empty promises that he couldn’t keep. The least you two could of do was to try being friends, after all better friends than strangers. And she was quite young, Ace remember how he used to behave in his early 20s. The last thing on his mind was to keep someone for a longer than a month, when the world offered him so much; it should be the same with her – after all she was such a catch for the eye. Even today, all tired with sleepy bags under her eyes and messy hair, she was still very cute to look at. Ace wasn’t stupid he did feel the attraction they shared towards one another, but he was doing her a big-time favour by setting their boundaries straight. Although teasing from time to time wouldn’t hurt, she was such a tease herself, which was making it so hard for him.

Ace got to the building where the studio was located. The building was old and had five stores. The studio the guys were renting there was on the second floor. Before going up Ace wanted to light a cigarette or two. He leaned on the staircase and lit up one. ‘Favourite movie, hm...’ he was thinking about an answer he could give you of a movie that he really liked and could say that resonated with him.

“Yo, Ace.” He tilted his head to the side and saw Law walking towards him. They gave each other a quick bump on the shoulders. Ace pulled out his cigarettes from his pocket offering Law one, but he refused.

“What’s up with you? You seem moody.” Ace asked him, as Law seemed not to be in the mood. Law and Ace had been best friends since high school. They met after Ace was kicked out in 9th grade, from the one where him and Sabo were attending together. The first day Ace and Law met, they didn’t really like each other or spoke. It wasn’t until one day when Law was getting beaten up by some 11th graders bullies, and Ace jumped to help him, only for them to end up with detention. Since then, their friendship started. No one else but Law knew off Ace’s darkest secrets, and vice versa; even Sabo and Luffy didn’t know as much about Ace as Law knew. They both could easily read the other like an open book. Which was why Ace could tell something was disturbing Law.

“Nothing.” Law replied, but Ace wasn’t falling for that.

“Come on, bro. If you don’t tell me then who?” Ace took another cigarette lighting it up. He looked at Law again, raising his eyebrows questioningly if he was sure that he didn’t want to smoke one. Law sighed annoyed and took one, lighting it fast and taking long puff from it.

“So?” Ace waited for his respond, but he thought he already knew the reason behind it.

“Robin.” Law glanced at Ace knowing that he got the whole picture already. Ace snorted, shaking his head knowing that he guessed right.

“What did you do this time?” He looked at his friend frustrated face, knowing that it was probably him that messed up something again. Robin and Law were an on and off thing, that only Ace knew about, and it has been two years since this was happening.

“Why do you assume that I did something immediately?” He snapped at Ace, which only confirmed that he did in fact did something that lead to them fighting again. If Law was in a bad mood because of Robin then it meant that he fucked up, if he was going mad, almost insane then Robin did something. That has happened only once and it was when she wanted to end everything with him, and Ace swore that for the tenth years of him and Law being friends, he had never seen Law losing his mind the way he did that night.

“Fine.” Law said after a while. “You remember the chick from the Halloween party? Well, somehow Robin found out that I slept with her, so she is nagging on me now, how for a thousand time I broke our agreement.” He threw the finished cigarette on the ground, stomping it frustrated.

“Why do you even have this agreement in the first place?” Ace got annoyed as this wasn’t the first time this happened; since Robin and Law started seeing each other, they decided that they didn’t want anything serious, but if something was happening between them, they must not sleep with other people.

“I don’t know man, I just don’t want to go through this again.” Law exhaled. “Plus, we haven’t done anything in a month and so, so.. I thought to myself why not, you know.” He shrugged, the sound of regret could be heard in his voice.  

“Did she tell you how she found out?”

“No, no idea. But there was this chick that walked on me at the party, but I was wearing the mask, so I doubt it that it was her. Even thought she looked familiar.” Ace didn’t say anything, he knew that (Y/N) walked on Law, but he decided to keep this information to himself, after all he doubt that she knew Robin.

“What are you planning to do then?” Ace threw his finished cigarette and nodded to Law to get going inside.

“Find a way to fix it.” Law murmured as they were going up the stairs.

The apartment where the studio was, was quite small a one room apartment but very practical. The whole space was turned into one big, isolated sound room. Thanks to Deuce and some of his connections the guys were able to rent it for themselves only for a very nice price. Going in Ace and Law were met with Deuce and Sabo, who were here since the morning. The guys greeted each other and started to chitchat as they were waiting for their manager. Some time passed and he finally came.

“Yo, what’s up Marco?” Sabo was the first one to greet him. Marco was a man in his mid-thirties, blond hair styled in a very interesting mullet style. He had been recently become the guys’ manager, as he had been in the music industry for the past ten years now. It happened after they were performing in some underground night club, and by chance Marco happened to be there that same night. After they were done with their set, he went to speak with them and gave his business card to get in touch with him.

“Same as usual, how are things with you boys?” Marco smiled at them as he pushed his glasses up adjusting them.

“Same as usual here.” Deuce replied, the rest of the boys agreeing.

“I don’t have much time today so I will get straight to business.” Marco clapped with his hands. “We can not afford to postpone this anymore so it’s time for you to finally decide which will be your debut single from the EP and we need to film a music video for it, as soon as possible.”

“Easy answer – ‘Sweater Weather’” Ace said not waiting for the rest of the guys to have a word.

“Are you all on the same page for this?” Marco glanced at the other guys to make sure that they all agreed with Ace’s choice of song.

“I think we all agree, it is our most streamed song.” Deuce said, Law and Sabo agreeing with the choice that Ace made as well.

“Okay, that was faster than I expected.” Marco chuckled. “I was thinking between ‘Sweater Weather’ or ‘Cry Baby’, so I agree with your choice guys. Now for the video, I already have some directors in mind. The first one is Ja-“

“We already have.” Ace interrupted him.

“What do you mean we already have?” Sabo looked at his brother confused, they have never talked about filming a video, let alone them already having the crew for it.

“Yes, Ace; what do you mean by this?” Marco asked, as confused as the rest of the guys.

“I have already spoken with some people, and they are down to film our first video. That’s it. No need to search for director or crew, we already have.”

“And they are?” Marco raised his eyebrow waiting for Ace to give him more clear answer.

“Luffy's friends.” Ace shrugged.

“You must be kidding me?” Sabo quickly snapped at him. Ace just shook his head, looking at his brother questioningly. “Ace, we need professional director and crew, not some kids who barely started to do this.”

“They are not kids, and I’m sure they will do pretty well. Plus, you don’t seem to call Usopp a kid when he is producing music for us, do you?” Ace snapped back at his brother.

“Because he has the talent for it, but he said it himself he is not such a good director.” Sabo tried to reason his brother. “Also have you asked him?”

“No, I haven’t.” Everyone whined annoyed with Ace. “But I will. And also, I didn’t say that Usopp will be the director.” All eyes were again on Ace.

“Who will be then Ace?” Sabo hissed, waiting to hear whatever his brother had come up with.

“(Y/N).” Ace shortly answered.

“Who?” Law and Deuce asked at the same time, the name sounded familiar, but they couldn’t put the face to the name.

“You are kidding me, right? Is she even good? Have you seen any of her work at lease?” At this point Sabo started to have a headache. He knew who his brother was referring to. Sabo also saw the way Ace and this (Y/N) girl behaved around each other at the party, so it better not be what he thought it was.

 “Yea, she is pretty good.” Ace quickly lied. He had never seen any of her work, he was taking a big risk suggesting that, he wasn’t even sure what gotten into him to even suggest it. But something in his gut was telling him that it would work, that it would be worth taking the risk.

“Ace, I swear to Go-“ Sabo got interrupted.

“Guys, guys.” Marco raised his voice. “This is serious, this would be your first video ever, it must be professional, and very well made, not some school project. I don’t care how good these kids are or not, we are hiring you professionals.” The rest of the guys agreed with Marco, but not Ace.

“Listen, I know that this sounds crazy but trust me on this one. Plus, if its turs out bad then we can go for a professional, okay?” Ace tried to fight back.

“Ace this will be waisted time, why don’t you understand this?” Marco took off his glasses massaging his eyes, Ace was the hardest to work with.

“Yeah! Ace this will cost double.” Sabo stood up and looked at Ace, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It won’t, believe me because it will turn out good, I have a good feeling for this.” Ace also stood up getting closer to his brother. “Come on, trust me on this one, when have I ever let you down?”

“How do you guys feel about this?” Sabo turned toward Law and Deuce.

“As long as its turs out good I don’t care who will film it.” Deuce said, as he only cared for the final product.

“How are you sure that they will even agree to do it Ace?” Law asked.

“I have a feeling, okay.” Ace snapped. “Look I will ask them, we meet with them and if our ideas don’t match, we don’t hire them for it, and we go with whoever Marco has in mind.”

 “Okay, this works for me.” Law sighed, not at all in the mood to argue today.

“Ace..” Sabo hissed his finger pointed at his brother. “You- you better be right or else I will beat the shit out of you for this.” He turned around and angrily sat on the couch.

“Um guys, it’s me who has the final word here, remember?” Marco looked at all off them in disbelief.

“Marco, you make sure to speak with the right people to make this viral, we fix the rest.” Ace patted him on the shoulder and left without saying anything more.

“He is unbelievable to work with.” Marco threw his hands in the air looking at the rest of the guys who weren’t paying him much attention as well.

“Hey, Usopp. What’s up my man?” Ace said over the phone. It was around 6PM when he got home and decided to speak with Usopp, about the video.

“Chillin’ with Kaya at home, you?”

“Just got home and wanted to speak with you.”

“’bout what?” Usopp asked. Ace was close to all Luffy’s friends, Usopp was even one of them that he could call his own friend.

“How do you feel about you and your friends from uni, filming our first music video?” Ace got straight to the point.

“Ace, we are still learning, plus I’m not the best director.” Usopp was more than surprised by Ace’s proposition.

“I know, I know, but think about it wouldn’t that be a great opportunity for you and your friends?”

“It would definitely be, but again we barely started I don’t know how we would manage to do something as big as a music video for you guys. Plus, it will be your debut video why don’t you go for professionals, you surely ain’t that broke.” Usopp joked.

“It’s not about money.” Ace quickly responded. “I just want you guys to do it.”

“I don’t know Ace. I really don’t think that this is a good idea.” Usopp hesitate.

“You don’t need to be the director, someone else can be.” Ace was quick to add.

“(Y/N) is good, but I doubt that she will be down for it.” That was exactly what Ace needed to hear.

“Do you mind giving me her number, so I can speak with her?”

“Yeah, sure. But good luck, again I don’t think she will agree. But I will send you, her number.” Usopp huffed, knowing that (Y/N) would not agree, but still it wouldn’t hurt if Ace wanted to try. Before they hung up Ace thanked Usopp and waited for him to send the number.

My consultation went pretty fast, as my directing teacher was super pleased with my script, he gave me some advice on what I could possibly change to make it easier to film after, but other than this it went well. Before I got home, I stopped by our chill area as I saw some of my classmates. We talked for a bit, exchanging some ideas and jokes here and there. It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one being so overly stressed for the short-cuts.

I got home and prepared myself something to eat. After it I sat down to make some last changes on the script before I submitted it. I sighed in relief, knowing that I was halfway done with this assignment, and all we have left was to film and then edit it. I was just hoping that the actors I have assigned for my movie would do their roles good.

I laid down on my coach trying to find something interesting to watch. I wasn’t sure what I was in a mood for. While searching for something to watch I could feel that my fatigue started to take over, as my eyes were slowly starting to close. I had fallen asleep when I heard my phone ringing. I looked at the screen and it was unknown number, usually I never pick up if I didn’t know who was calling. I looked at the time and it was almost 8PM. Exactly before whoever was calling hung up, I picked up the phone.

“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” The voice on the other end said.

“What? I’m sorry who is calling?” I sat on the couch, rubbing my eyes.

“The answer that I couldn’t give you earlier, doll. ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ – that’s my favourite movie, or at least one I can say that I really liked.”

“Ace? How- How did you get my number?” I was fully awake now; how did he find my number.

“I have my ways.” He chuckled.

“Creep.” I snorted.

“Are you happy with my answer?”

“Surprised. But not a bad choice at all.”

“What are you doing, doll?” I could feel his smirk over the phone.

“Nothing, I had fallen asleep on the couch, you?”

“Oh, sorry for waking you up then.”

“It’s okay. Now how did you get my number?” I was curious to know how or who gave it to him.

“I told you; I have my ways.” His tone was so teasing. “But I’m actually calling for business not for chitchat.” Now that piqued my interest.

“What business?”

“How do you feel about directing a music video?” I was taken aback hearing this.

“Um, I have never done it so, I’m not really sure how I would feel. Why?” I was confused by this sudden question.

“I want you to direct our first music video.” Ace blurted out.

“What?” I shouted not expecting this at all.

“Please, don’t shout in my ears.” Ace laughed at my reaction.

“I’m sorry. But seriously, are you insane? I’m so new to all of this, like the whole filmmaking thing, and music videos are slightly different to shoot than films, so I can’t Ace, I’m sorry I-I can’t take such responsibility.” I quickly said, turning down his offer even thought it would have been such a great opportunity, but he must contact someone professional.

“Come on, doll. I believe in you, I’m sure you will come up with something great.” He chuckled, not giving up.

“Listen, Ace...” I took a deep breath. “I’m so flattered that you believe so much in me, but I’m not that good.”

“Please.”

“Ace.” I sighed.

“Please, doll. We don’t want something over the top, we need super simple video, so we can put out there, plus we will pay you. So, please consider it and give me a call back tomorrow, okay?”

“I don’t think that my mind will change but sure.”

“Thank you, doll. I will be waiting for your final decision.” He said before hung up.

I sighed once again, but this time loudly. Why? Why he wants me to do this? He hasn’t even seen my work, why he trusted me so much to a point where he wants me to direct his band’s first ever video. It’s not that it would be that hard, it’s more the fact that with this video they are establishing themselves officially as a band, and their overall look. The offer really piqued my interest, and my mind started to think about a possible video idea, but I forgot to ask him which song they were planning to film it for. I grabbed my phone and saved his number, before I texted him.

“Which song will be the video for?”

He replied shortly after: “Sweater Weather”

I opened Spotify and went to their profile. It was their most streamed song, so it was logical that they chose it for their debut music video. I played the song and started to create a storyboard in my mind. Ace didn’t give me much information, so I if I agree to do this, I have a lot of questions for him. Do they have a crew already, or I will have to think of someone to help me? Do they have something in mind that they will want us to recreate in the video? When do they want to film it? And so many more questions popped up in my head.

“Oh, Ace....” I sighed to myself.

“So, you gave him my number?” I turned to Usopp when we finished with our class for the day.

“Yeah, he called me and asked me if we want to shoot their video, but I turned him down, as I’m not very good with directing, but they he told me that it can always be someone else, and I mentioned you and he wanted to speak with you... so... what are you down for it?” Usopp looked at me, trying to read my face.

“Well, that’s the thing. Part of me wants to, but another one tells me that I lack the skills.”

“You know,” Nami interrupted our conversation. “Dave from year two has done some music videos before, why don’t you guys speak with him, he might help you.” She suggested.

“This is a very good idea, Nami. I didn’t know that.” I hugged her. “But, yeah I’m down only if you guys are?” I looked at them both.

“Oh, no. I have too many things to do because of the short-cuts, and my group sucks guys, so I’m out.” Nami quickly turned me down.

“I can be your D.O.P, but I will need a first assistant camera.” Usopp said.

“We can ask Dave, if he is up for it, he can help us.” I smiled at Usopp, happy that he was down for the job. “Otherwise, it will be just you and I.”

“I’m actually surprised that you are planning to do it.” Usopp was right, I was surprised by myself as well, Nami also agreed with him.

“I know, but I have an idea that I think it will match their band’s vibe very good, and it won’t be hard to film at all so I think it would turn out pretty well, if they like my idea as well.” Nami and Usopp were both aware that I was not the most confident person when it came to how talented and good I was with filmmaking. Even thought both had told me millions of times that I should believe in myself and my skills more, sometimes it was really hard, yet I was always down for a challenge.

“Does any of you have Dave’s insta or something, so I can text him?” I pulled out my phone opening Instagram, to search his name.

“Yeah, here.” Usopp showed me his phone so I can copy Dave’s username. I followed and texted him. It didn’t take him long to respond, saying that we can meet somewhere later and talk about it. We agreed on meeting for a drink around 7PM, so I had quite some time until then.

“Usopp, will you come as well?” I asked him before we say goodbye.

“Nah, I won’t be able to, Kaya and I already have plans.” He hugged me and Nami goodbye. “But keep me updated.” He said before he left.

“What are you doing tonight?” I asked Nami as we were walking towards the metro station.

“Going out with Luffy and Vivi, if you wanna join after you finish your meeting with Dave.”

“I will think about it, as I will have to speak with Ace after it.” I didn’t want to promise anything for later, as I might be too tired to go out. Nami smirked.

“What?” I looked at her suspiciously, as her smirk was quite mischievous.

“Mmm, nothing.” She just glanced at me, her smirk growing.

“You don’t get to tell me, nothing with this smug smile growing on your face.” I nagged her.

“Well... Ace, hu?” Her eyebrows wiggled playfully. “Did you two know each other before? I remember Usopp mentioning something.” She pushed me a little with her elbow.

“Oh no, no, nothing like this.” I brushed it off quick. “We met accidently that’s all, it was even that Friday when they were preforming at my uncle’s bar, so it was pure coincidence.”

“But Sabo told me he saw you going somewhere with him at the party two weeks ago, and then you left without saying anything and you weren’t speaking with us much after that...” She looked at me, trying to study my face if I was lying to her. “Did something happen? You know I will not tell anyone. I’m just concern and Ace... well, Ace is Ace.”  She chuckled.

“No, I swear nothing happened. We just talked for a bit inside and then we went somewhere, and I decided to go home.” I didn’t really lie to her, because all of this did happen, I just didn’t mention any details.  

“Okay, I believe you if you say so.” Nami wasn’t fully convinced but decided to let it go. “But don’t fall for Ace or anything like that.” She added. “He is an amazing person, no doubt about that, but he is a womanizer, so for your own sake don’t cross this lines.” Her warning was valid, and this wasn’t the first time I heard this, but Ace and I already set that boundary anyway, so I didn’t need to hear it again.

“Don’t worry I don’t see him that way.” Now this time I lied, but my little crush on Ace was something Nami didn’t need to know.

I started to get ready around 5PM. I decided to wear something casually just a pair of flared dark blue jeans, with a black off shoulder blouse with a belt around the waist. I added some silver earing and quickly fixed my hair and makeup before checking the clock and to see what time it was. It was almost six, so I took my purse, put my black kitten heels and coat on, and left.

It took me around forty-five minutes to reach the place where we agreed to meet. It was a very nice and cozy jazz bar. I’ve never been to this place before, but just from the looks of it, it seemed like a place I wouldn’t mind coming to again. I looked around and I saw Dave sitting on a small table for two. I waved at him as he saw me.

“Hey, Dave thank you so much for meeting me.” I smiled at him as I was sitting down.

“No worries, the pleasure is mine.” He smiled back. “What would you like to drink?” Dave was super nice, I have spoken with him only twice so far and only in university, so I felt a little awkward right now.

“Just a glass of sparkling wine would be perfect.” I told him and he went to order for us. Dave was also a nice-looking guy. His hair was dark brown and full of curls, his jawline was sharp, and his beard was nicely shaved in a goatee style. He was dressed in a relaxed fit short sleaved black shirt and some linen white pants; he also had an earing on his left ear. Dave came back and handed me my drink with a smile. He sat back on his chair and we both shared an awkward laughed.  

“So, music video, hu?” He said, flashing me another of his charming smiles.

“Yes, I got the offer last night, and I still haven’t accepted it, as it’s the band’s debut video, so I’m quite unsure if I should take the risk, you know?” I took a sip of the wine, glancing away from Dave.

“I know the feeling, don’t worry about it.” He reassured me. “Which band are you talking about?”

“‘The Neighbourhood’, you know them?” Dave shook his head. “Oh, you need to check them out, they are pretty good and growing popularity quite fast.”

“I will take your word on that.” He chuckled. “So how did they end up asking you to direct their video?”

“I’m a friend with the vocalist, and he really wants me to do it, as quote-unquote ‘he believes that I would do an amazing job’.” I waved my hands around in a question marks.

“That’s good, if you ask me - take the opportunity. Plus, I have heard that you are one of the tops of your class, and that you have quite a different vision from the rest so go for it.” Dave encouraged me. 

“Yeah, ‘different’.” I shook my hands to my head, but Dave just looked at me confused, not getting the reference so I just brushed it off. “Um, I was wondering... would you like to help us? It will be just Usopp and I, and we will really appreciate it if we have a AC.” I bit my lip, looking at Dave from under my lashes.

“Well, depends on when you guys are filming, but sure.” He nodded, a coy smile forming on his lips. “But wouldn’t it be better if I’m your D.O.P as I have more experience with the camera than Usopp?” He made a very good point.

“Yes actually, you are right, we should do this instead.” I eagerly nodded as he also had experience with music videos. “And as for when we are shooting, I have no idea, I will call Ace later and hopefully he will give me more info.”

“That’s the lead singer, I guess?” Dave asked, hit of curiosity in his voice. I nodded with a smile in response.

“Now tell me more about your experience with music videos.” I playfully nagged him, as I was interested to know more about how things work with music videos. Dave started to tell me how even before he attended university, he had already done some music videos. Most of his friends were apparently musicians, and as amateurs they couldn’t afford to pay a professional photographer, so knowing about Dave passion with the camera they would always go to him. Time passed quite fast as we were talking, but we got interrupted by my phone, as I received some message.

“Don’t tell me you forgot about me, doll.” I read the message. I cursed myself as I totally forgot to text Ace today, but I wanted to speak with Dave first before I confirmed anything.

“Will you, please, excuse me for a second.” I told Dave, standing quickly from my chair and went outside to call Ace. The phone rang a few times before he picked up.

“Hey, doll.” His low raspy voice filled my ear.

“H-hey Ace. I’m so, so sorry for not calling earlier, I just wanted to check with a classmate from year two if he can help Usopp and me with the video.” I blurted out quickly as I felt embarrassed for making him wait for so long.

“So, I take this, as a ‘yes’ then?” His voice still low.

“Yes, I would love to film your video, Ace.” I whispered, my heart was beating fast against my chest, like I was making a deal with the devil or something close to this. The feeling hit me like a sudden wave, I couldn’t even explain it.

“Glad to hear this.” He whispered back. “What are you doing by the way?”

“I’m out with the classmate I told you about.” I cleared my throat.

“Date?” He teased me.

“No, no. We are talking about the video mostly.” I quickly explained myself. Ace laughed at my response. “What are you doing?” The question slipped my lips before I could stop myself.

“Chillin’ at home.” He hummed.

“Nice.”

“Mmm... if the date is bad I can always safe you, you know?” He joked.

“It’s not a date.” I whined at his comment.

“Sure, sure.” He mocked me again. “Well, wanna meet tomorrow with me and the guys to speak about the video?”

“Yes, this would be actually amazing if we can do this as soon as possible.”

“You got it. Send me your address I will come and pick you up.” A little smile twitched on my lips as he didn’t ask, he just stated it. “Bye, doll.” He quickly ended the call.

I slowly moved my phone from my ear, I could feel my cheeks burning and I quickly shook the feeling away. Opening my messages, I texted Ace my address and got inside the bar. Dave smiled at me as I sat down.

“So, what were we talking about?” I smiled back.

I woke up around 9AM the next morning, as Ace was going to pick me around 10:30. I was tired as I stayed until late last night, creating a storyboard with pictures so they could easily understand what my idea was. I got up, brushed my teeth and made myself a quick breakfast before I got ready. After I did my makeup, I looked around my closet wondering what I should wear today. I set my mind on a flared jeans again and just a simple cropped white t-shirt. My phone vibrated, notifying me that I have a message.

“Here.” It was short and simple; I caught myself smiling at it. I quickly put on my snickers and jacket on, before grabbing my backpack with my laptop in it. I ran down the stairs and when I opened the building’s entranced door, I saw Ace leaned on a motorcycle. He was smoking a cigarette, head tilted on the side. Dressed in all black with a black leather jacket on. He quickly turned around when he heard the front door closing, blowing the smoke away and throwing the cigarette on the ground. When I stood in front of him, he straightened his posture, looking down on me he winked.

“Ready to go, doll?” He smirked at me, handing me a black helmet. I took it and looked at it, then the Kawasaki motorcycle behind him. It was all black and scary looking. I looked back at Ace and shook my head with a scary look in my eyes, handing him the helmet back. He hearty laughed at my reaction.

“Come on, don’t be a baby.” He nodded me to get on it, as he put the helmet on my head. “I got you, doll. Nothing to be scared off.” Ace reassured me as he got on it and waited for me to do the same.

“Ace, I swear to God, if you had told me, you were picking me on this thing I would have never agreed.” He laughed again at my comment as I was shaky getting on it.

“Hold on me tight.” He grabbed my hands and wrapped them around his torso. My poor heart was going to explode. Not only I have to be on this scary thing but on top of it I had to be this close to Ace. “Lean your body on my back.” He looked at me over his shoulder before putting his helmet. I just nodded in response, too scared to speak. Ace turned his bike on and the engine rumbled. I tightened my hold around Ace. I could feel him laughing as his body trembled in my arms. Then he took off. As he was driving, I started to think to myself how much the motorcycle suits him. With getting to know him more and more with every passing day him owning a bike was making a perfect sense. It was as wild and free as his spirit.

Twenty long minutes, we finally arrived where their studio was. Ace parked the motorbike and took off his helmet. He looked at me over his shoulder and chuckled.

“You know, you can let go of me now.” He teased me. I immediately released my grip and took of the helmet. “So how was your first every ride?” The smirk on his face growing bigger, as he saw my flushed and scared face.

“I made it alive, so I give it eight out of ten.” I quickly got off from it.

“Eight out of ten? What should I do to earn the other two stars?” He chuckled, his smile big.

“You drove too fast.” I crossed my arms across my chest.

“I drove fast?” His eyes widen in amusement. “Doll, I swear I have never, ever, driven my bike as slow as I did today.” His whole face was in disbelief.

“Next time even slower.” I pointed my finger at him.

“So, there will be next time?” He teased me with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at him, but I couldn’t hide the little smile that played on my lips.

Ace got off the bike and nodded me to follow him. We entered the building and went to the second floor. Ace opened the door to their studio for me, and I thanked him. Inside Sabo, his girlfriend Koala, and Law were already there.

“Hey you two.” Koala welcomed us with a smile. “Nice to meet you again (Y/N).” She came to hug me. Sabo nodded at me, and Law’s eye widen when he saw me, and I quickly looked away. It was nice to know at least that it was him and not Ace that night at the party.

“Where is Deuce?” Ace asked.

“He is coming, caught in traffic, Marco as well.” Sabo explained. “So, you will be our director?” I could feel the hint of doubt in his voice, and I understood why he would doubt me in a first place. I barely started to study; I was an armature with a capital ‘A’.

“A-as long as you like my idea – y-yeah.” I awkwardly shrugged.

“Well, better be good then.” His tone was quite serious and a little harsh.

“Sabo.” Ace snapped at him, glancing at his brother warningly. Sabo just huffed and looked at me again.

“Sorry (Y/N), I just want the video to be perfect.” His tone was a little softer now. I lowered my gaze to the ground and just nodded.

“You want to drink something?” Koala asked me nicely. I thanked her but denied her offer.

After ten minutes, Deuce and Marco walked in. Deuce greeted me, and Marco introduced himself to me with a handshake.   

“So, you are the director that Ace is putting all his trust for the video on?” Marco patted me on the shoulder with a smile. I glanced at Ace, but he quickly avoided my gaze.

“I guess, I am.” I cleared my throat. “Let me take my laptop, so I can show you the plan that I made yesterday, you can disagree with everything or add things to it as well.” I felt my heart beating fast again, my anxiety starting to built up. I pulled my laptop from my bag and held it in my left hand towards them. “Please let me know if you can’t see something or if it’s not clear enough.” I took a deep breath and started to explain my idea for the video. “The video will be shot in a greyscale, mostly medium shots, with some close ups here and there. The vibe of the whole video should represent the general vibe of the EP itself, so taking the things you guys sing about in the song and the album in general, I suggest that we take some shots of them all together driving around Grand Line coats line in a vintage car, then walking around at a funfair, lounging in an apartment and walking along a beach.” I added at the end that if they were satisfied with the idea, we must shoot next Monday and Tuesday as we would need sunny weather. I patiently waited for their reaction. I looked at Ace, who was leaned on the wall, arms crossed over his chest, he just nodded at me and wink. I heard clapping and turned my head to see who it was.

“Bravo.” Sabo clapped standing up from the sofa. “I love it. And I’m surprised. Wow.” He had a big grin across his face.

“I like it, too.” Law said, nodding at me granting me his approval.

“Same, here.” Deuce added. Koala gave me the thumbs up with a big smile across her face.

“I like the idea as well, but I would like to add one small detail.” Marco said clapping his hands, looking at the guys. “It is romantic song after all, so we need to see some romance. So, I would like to suggest that we hire a model, and we have some scene with her and Ace.” Marco looked at me with raised eyebrows, expecting to hear my opinion on it.

“Y-yeah, o-of course.” I chuckled, nodding my head slightly. “As long as Ace feels comfortable with it, we can include it.” We all looked at Ace.

“Why me, tho?” He raised his eyebrow toward Marco. “Can’t Sabo do it with Koala? This will save us time and money.” He pointed out.

“Because you are the lead singer in the group Ace, and as one, the main focus is on you.” Marco explained short and clearly.

“Ha, Ace, since when you mind making out with models?” Deuce mocked Ace.

“I don’t, I’m just thinking if we are doing this on Monday and Tuesday, how we gonna find a girl so fast?” Ace rolled his eyes.

“Like you don’t know a hundred pretty girls.” Law snorted at him. Ace laughed at him and told Law to shut up. Marco interrupted them.

“Guys if you can’t find a girl, this is why I’m here for.”

“What you gonna dress up as a girl and make out with Ace?” Sabo joked and everyone burst out laughing at Marco.

“Of course not, but I can always contact a model agency.” Marco huffed, as much as these guys were talented, they were as much as hard to work with as well. “So, we make it possible, right?” He turned to look at me. I just nodded at him. “Perfect, I will contact you for the payment later and you sent me an email with what you would need for the set and what we should rent and whatsoever.” He handed me his business card and bit us all goodbye.

“Have you guys ever been in a video or something before?” I asked them as I was putting my laptop inside my bag. They all said ‘no’. “Well, better prepare as it will feel strange to see yourself on the screen.” I laughed a little.

“Have you done it yourself?” Deuce asked me.

“Yeah, and I hate it, that is why I prefer to be behind the camera.” I have always felt bad for the actors, as I knew it wasn’t easy at all for them to look at themselves on the big screen. I have done it a few times and I hated the feeling of seeing myself. The difference between a phone camera versus film camera was so big people had no idea. Even my father, till this day doesn’t feel comfortable to see himself, and he is pretty self-obsessed person. “Well, I will have to contact Usopp and Dave and let them know that we are doing it this Monday and Tuesday, I will have to go now as I will need to find locations where we could film without a problem.” I announced as I grabbed my bag and bit everyone goodbye.

“Wait, I will come with you.” Ace came after me.

“No need, I can do it alone.” I reassure him.

“I didn’t ask, doll.” He winked at me, closing the door behind us.

We arrived at the west coastline beach after almost forty-minute ride. We got of his bike and Ace smirked when he locked at me.

“How was the ride this time?” Ace teased me.

“Honestly this time you could have driven faster.” I teased him as well.

“You little...” He hissed at me, biting the inside of his cheek as he shook his head.

“Hop, hop, we don’t have all day mister.” I clapped my hands and made him follow me. I started to take some pictures of where would be best for us to stand and shoot them driving by as we had to be careful with how fast they should move. Ace was quite polite to write down every note for me, and things that we would need. Then we went to look around at the funfair.

“Do you wanna get on one of the rides?” Ace whispered in my ear as I was taking pictures making mental notes to myself.

“Oh, I would love to, but now we have to work, so some other time.” I moved my head slightly as I answered him, not realising how close he was standing to me, only for our faces to end up millimetres apart. We both took a step away from the other quickly. Ace cleared his throat telling me that I was right, and we should focus on work.

Time passed so fast and before we know it the sun was setting. It was beautiful, the sky was coloured in light pink and purple, the waves were crashing softly, as today it wasn’t windy at all. Some people were sitting on the beach, others were running around or playing with there kids or dogs. It almost felt like a summer day even thought it wasn’t. We were walking on the beach, shoes in one hand as we were talking about random stuffs, it was so easy to open and speak with Ace. The comfort I felt around him was so strange and nice at the same time, something that I have never experienced with another person before.

“And how are you and Shanks related?” Ace asked, his eyes not leaving my face.

“Well, we are not blood related, let me clarify this first.” I waved my hands around. “But him and my dad have been like brothers since they were kids, so yeah. Ever since I can remember Shanks has been part of my life...” I paused for a second, swallowing the bitterness in my voice. “Especially after my mother left me and my dad, he literally became my second dad.” I exhaled the breath that I didn’t even realise I was holding.

“I’m sorry to hear this, doll.” Ace gave me a soft look, as he ruffed my hair. I pouted at him as I tried to fix it, and he chuckled. “Look at least, you grew up with a father that from what you’ve told me so far, loves you unconditionally.” His voice was so gentle when he told me this.

“Yes, I am lucky to have a father like him.” I smiled thinking of my dad.

“But... I don’t know if I should ask this or how...” Ace paused for a second, gathering his thoughts. “Why she left...?” He glanced at me, to make sure that he didn’t overstep some boundary. “Actually, don’t answer this forget about it.” He brushed it off quickly.

“No, it’s okay.” I shrugged, I felt like I could open about it to him. “She never wanted to be a mother in a first place, so after she gave birth to me, she got in a very deep postpartum depression, and it did take a big tool on her.” I paused for a minute. “My dad tried everything to help her, but she refused, and she turned to hard drugs, so... yeah my mother is a junkie.” I breath out, looking at Ace who was listening to me, but his gaze was lowered to the sand. “When I was around five, she just left a note that she doesn’t want to hear or see us anymore, and since then I have no idea where she is. My dad still cares for her, and I never really understood why, especially after all she put him through. I found a few years ago that he is her emergency contact, and I got mad about it, as she doesn’t deserve him. Last year she tried to contact me, but cut her off fast...” I bit on my lip, looking at the sand as Ace and I were walking in a silence for a moment. “But yeah, this is the short version.” I clapped my hands, dropping one of my shoes and picked it up. “Your turn now. I’m curious to know how you are all brothers, yet your last names are all different” I pushed Ace’s shoulder a little bit, causing him to chuckle.

“Well, we are not blood related at all.” Ace laughed when he saw my reaction.

“Wait, what? Even with Luffy? You two are like twins.” I couldn’t believe what I’ve heard.

“Yeah, I know it’s scary how much we look alike, but no, not related at all.”

“I’m really curious now, but if you don’t feel like speaking about it’s okay.”

“Nah, it’s fine. I can share a little bit.” Ace poked my side, and I giggled. He cleared his throat before he spoke. “My mom died when I was born, and my father has been killed a little before my mom gave birth to me, so I know nothing about my parents.” I saw his jaw clenching hard as the tone of his voice changed as well. “Then her sister, my aunt Dadan, took me and raised me.” He snorted, his tone sounded lightly but his face was giving him away. Sadness and pain were written all over it.  “Then she applied for a foster parent, and that is how Sabo came to the picture. As you know he is her favourite.” Ace looked at me tossing his hair aside the same way Sabo does all the time, and I couldn’t help but laughed. “Then the most annoying, gut wrenching, cry baby ever came into our home aka Luffy. God, I hated him from the bottom of my hear at first.” The way Ace was telling his story was heartbreaking, as he was trying to turn it into comedy so bad. My heart was aching for him. “Then some things happened and as of today, I can really say that Luffy is the only person I’m willing to give my life for.” The smile he had on his face when he was talking about Luffy was so pure and honest.

“I don’t know Luffy very well, but he does look like quite the pure soul.” I smiled at Ace as he nodded.

“You should definitely get to know him; he is the best.” Ace eagerly said his mood totally changed now. I felt my stomach growing and Ace looked at me. “Someone’s hungry, eh.”

“Yeah, I have only eaten a breakfast today.” I chuckled.

“I know a very nice Italian place here, wanna go and try it?”

“You don’t need to ask me twice.” We both shared a laughed and started to walk toward the restaurant.

The drive to my place took us almost an hour. A long and a very scary hour, as I had to ride on the back of Ace’s motorbike for a third time today. When he finally stopped in front of my place I relaxed on his body. We stayed like this for a minute – my hands wrapped around his torso and as I was leaned on him, and he had his hands on my knees. He was he first one to take of his helmet, running his hand around his messy hair. I pulled away from him, taking my helmet off as well. Ace looked over his shoulders at me.

“You had fun today, doll?” His eyes half lidded; he seemed a little tired.

 “I did.” I smiled at him, getting off from the bike. He nodded with a smile at my response. “We see on Monday then. Thank you for the rides, and the dinner by the way.” I added, but Ace brushed me off.

“Please, that’s nothing.” He winked at me, pinching my cheek. I scrunched my nose at him, and he laughed at me. “Well, see you on Monday, doll.” He went to put back his helmet before I stopped him.

“Wait, Ace.” I grabbed his hand, as he lowered it and looked at me, raising his eyebrow. “You were the only one who didn’t say anything about the video idea... did you not like it?” My hand still on his, he just gave it a little squeeze and smiled at me.

“I loved it, doll.” Then he went on and put his helmet on. “Now go home.” He ordered me. I nodded and turned around to go. As I opened the front door, I waved at him one more time, as he was waiting for me get in safe, before he drove off.

I woke up at 6AM on Monday, as we were going to our first location at 8AM. Yesterday Usopp, Dave and I spent the whole day making the floorplan and the storyboard based on the pictures I took on Saturday at the locations. I sent the call sheet and a list of things we need for the shooting. Marco surprised me so much by how fast he arranged and found everything that we would need for the shoot. I quickly dressed myself in a pair of baggy jeans and oversized hoodie. I put some day cream and mascara on as I didn’t have much time to get ready, and received a text from Usopp that him and Dave were downstairs. We were going with Dave’s car as the west coastline was an hour drive away. I quickly put my sneakers on and left. Usopp and Dave greeted me when I opened the passenger door.

“Ready to film your first music video?” Dave charmingly smiled at me. I nodded with a smile. “Good, we got you some coffee.” Dave said, and Usopp handed me one, him sitting on the backseat.

“Are you guys ready? It’s going to be a long day.” I took a sip of my coffee, hating the taste of it as always. They both nodded and we drove off. Usopp was in charge of the music in the car, so we had a fun ride. We arrived on time and started to unload the equipment Marco rented for us, as he wanted the best quality for the video. Law and Deuce were the first ones to arrive. I spoke with them on the side while Usopp and Dave were fixing the camera.

“Do you know when Ace and Sabo are coming?” I asked them, as I wanted everything to go according to the time schedule.

“Yea, they will be here soon.” Law replied.

“They had to go and take the car that Marco rented for today.” Deuce explained to me. While we waited for them, I explained a little bit to Law and Deuce what I would need them to do while we film. After fifteen minutes we heard a honk. We all turned around and saw Ace and Sabo driving slowly towards us in a very nice 1969 Mercedes-Benz. Sabo was the one behind the wheel, and Ace was chilling on the passenger seat. They parked and got out of the car.

“Yo, what’s up people, you liking my ride?” Sabo pointed at the car. “I will be the one driving it, keep this in mind.” He squinted his eyes at Law and Deuce giving them a warning look. “How is the director doing?” He gave me a hug which surprised me.

“I’m doing good, thanks. You, Sabo?” He gave me the thumbs up and went to speak with Usopp and Dave. “Hey, Ace.” I waved at him as he was standing next to the car, smoking a cigarette.

“Hey, (Y/N).” He gave me a little smile, but I tilted my head and raised my eyebrow at him. What happened with ‘doll’? I walked up and stood in front of him.

“Are you okay?” I was concerned, was he in a bad mood or something. Ace looked at me confused, moving his head on the side blowing the smoke away.

“Yeah? Why?” He chuckled. I blinked a few times and shook my head.

“Nothing, just... just checking on you.” I murmured. “Are you excited to start shooting?” I bounced on my heels, as I waved my hands in the air. Ace laughed at me as he took another puff of his cigarette.

“I think you are the most excited among all of us.” He smiled at me.

“(Y/N)! Can you come, please?” Dave shouted, him and Usopp needing me to help them. I mouthed a quick ‘sorry’ to Ace and went to check on them.

After twenty minutes we were ready to start shooting. I explained to the guys what I would need them to do for the first scene we were shooting and they all nodded understanding my instructions.

“Oh, and one last thing when we shoot a take, I will be most likely first check with Dave and then with you guys and it’s technical stuffs, so don’t think you are doing a bad job, okay.” I gave them the thumbs up, and we were ready to start. The first scene we were shooting was of them driving down the street, we shoot it from five different angles, and we were switching between medium to medium close-up shots. It took us around an hour and a half to be done with this. Then we drove besides them in the same speed so we could catch a better close-ups of them in the car. We finished around lunch time, so we decided to take an hour break. I wasn’t hungry, as when I’m working, I get too focused on the task that I skip meals, so instead I wanted to go and take some shoots of the buildings around us and the palms.

“You guys go, and remember we will meet at the funfair entrance, okay?” I said as I picked the camera stand under my arm and the camera case I was holding in my other hand.

“Don’t tell me you are not going to eat.” Ace scolded me.

“I want to take some shoots of the buildings around, so we don’t waste time later and I’m not hungry, so you go guys.” I reassure him. He was going to protest when Dave interrupted him.

“I will come with you (Y/N). I don’t want you to carry all of this by yourself.” He came next to me and took everything from my hands.

“Are you sure, Dave?” I didn’t want to take from his time of the break as he was already doing too much by helping me and Usopp.

“Of course, I am. Come on, I’m following you.” He gave me a coy smile and I nodded. I waved the guys goodbye for now, everyone else waved too, except Ace. He side-eyed me and shook his head before following the guys. I frowned confused as of why he did this. I nodded to Dave to follow me, and we started to walk. The hour went fast, but luckily thanks to Dave’s experience we captured everything I had in mind. Dave was fun to hang around with. We were laughing and joking the entire time.

“So, you want me to handheld the camera when we shoot at the funfair?” He asked me again, making sure that he understood correctly.

“Yes, exactly.” We went back to his car to leave the camera stand as we wouldn’t need it anymore.

“Have I done something bad to you?” He joked with me, and I giggled at his expression. Doing a handheld shoot was probably the worst thing for the cinematographer. I messed around with him and squeezed his bicep.

“Nah, Dave, I think you can handle it perfectly.” I winked at him, and we both laughed. We started to walk towards the funfair where we were meeting the guys next. When we reached the entrance, everyone was already there. “Hello, again guys. Hopefully you had a nice break, as now we are back to work” I gave them a big smile, Sabo and Deuce cheered, Law just nodded, and Ace’s face was unreadable. I cleared my throat and explained to them that right now they just need to have fun, and we will try our best to capture everything that we would need for later when editing. Usopp and Dave were switching every few minutes, so their hands didn’t get too tired. I was having quite lot of fun with them and so did the guys, at least it seemed like it. Ace and I locked gazes a few times, but he was the one who broke it first every time. Was he mad at me for something? I tried to shake this feeling away and focus on my main priority right now.

 “And it’s a wrap.” I shouted and everyone clapped.

“Uh, I hate you (Y/N).” Dave smirked at me as he took off the camera from his shoulder and gave it to me so I can check the last footage we shoot. I stuck my tongue out at him, and he chuckled at me. Usopp came next to me to check the footage as well.

“Do you guys want to see it?” I looked at them four, but they shook their heads.

“We want to wait and see the finished material.” Sabo exclaimed.

“Okay, then we see you all tomorrow at...” I turned to Usopp as he knew the call sheet better than me.

“3PM, the attic apartment Marco rented for the day. You have the address on the call sheet. Also, Ace should I contact the girl that’s coming tomorrow and give her the info, or you will do it?” I have totally forgot about this part, a little pang of jealousy grew inside of me, but then I remind myself ‘no lines to be crossed’.

“I will be picking her up, so I will take care of this.” I bit the inside of my cheek when he said that. I gave him a quick glance and I saw a little smirk playing on his lips.

“By the way, who did you ask?” Law raised his eyebrow at Ace with curiosity.

“Samantha.”

“Wasn’t she pissed at you for ditching her at the Halloween party?” Sabo mocked his brother.

“Not anymore.” Ace snorted. I cleared my throat and turned to the guys who were messing with each other.

“Well, then guys.” I clapped my hands and put my fake smile on. “Thank you for today and see you tomorrow then.” I avoided looking at Ace while waiting for Usopp and Dave to put everything back in the case. Once they were ready, we all said goodbye and went back to Dave’s car.

“That was fun, can’t wait for tomorrow.” Usopp exclaimed once we were in the car.

“Yeah, these guys are fun to work with.” Dave agreed with him. “Hey, are you okay? You seem a little down.” Dave observed my face. I recomposed myself and smiled at him.

“Yes, yes, I am. Just a little tired.” He patted my back gently, believing what I told him. We drove off and I leaned on my head on the window. Tomorrow was going to be an even longer and tiresome day. I closed my eyes for a second and I fell asleep in the car.

“Everything set up?” I asked Usopp and Dave.

“Yes, it’s all done.” Dave nodded at me. I breath out as I looked at the band.

“Where is Ace?” One thing I would never tolerate was someone being late on set, without notifying anyone. And Ace was almost forty minutes late.

“He is coming, maybe he is in traffic or something.” Sabo tried to defend his brother.

“You know what guys, lets start shooting.” I clapped my hands. “Which one of you wants to be filmed first as we will roll some close-ups?”

“I can do it.” Sabo volunteered. I nodded and gave them some instructions as it would be easier if they interacted between each other even though the camera would be focused mostly on Sabo.

An hour later Ace finally showed up with his arm wrapped around the shoulders of the girl, which I guess was named Samantha.

“Sorry guys for being late.” He bit us a quick apology. I didn’t even look at him as I was so pissed. “This is Samantha, and she will be helping us for today so be nice.” She giggled at his introduction, and she waved everyone ‘hello’. Usopp and Dave greeted her, as they introduced themselves by shaking hands with her. She came to me reached her hand for a handshake. We shook hands and I bit her a quick ‘hello’.

“At least, you aren’t the only girl now.” She smiled at me; I nodded at her and returned the smile. She was beautiful – tall, blonde, with a very nice body; she was like a real-life Barbie. I cleared my throat.

“Well now that everyone is here, we need to take a master-shot of you guys, then some medium and the last thing we will do is the close-up of Ace and his scene with Samanta, clear?” My tone was quite serious.

“Can’t we take mine and Samantha’s first?” Ace asked me and I finally glanced at him. He had this smug look on his face, that pissed me off even more, but I kept my composure and answered him with a smile.

“No, Ace we can’t. Why we can’t, you may wonder? Because we waited for you for almost two hours, so now you will have to wait, am I clear?” The smile might have been on my face, but my tone was sharp and clear that he shouldn’t mess with me right now. He just smirked and nodded, not saying anything further. “Then let’s start rolling.” I clapped and explained what they should do now for the master. Two hours later we were done with it and only Ace and Samantha’s scenes were left to shoot.

“Thank you, guys so much. It was so nice to work with you. We don’t need you in the rest of the pictures but it’s up to you if you want to stay here or go and do whatever you want.” I spoke to Sabo, Law and Deuce.  Sabo came and hugged me as he thanked me and said he can’t wait to see the final result. Deuce did the same, and Law just high-fived me. They bit goodbye to the rest and left.

“So, according to the story board we have two close-ups left and one medium close-up of the two of them.” Dave came to me and spoke over my shoulder. I looked up at him and nodded. “Which one should we take first? Hers or his?”

“Let’s take hers first.” I nodded at him. “Hey, Samantha.” I called her, as she was standing in front of Ace, as they were obviously flirting with each other. She turned to face me, looking at me a little confused. “Sorry for interrupting your conversation, but we need to take some shots of you alone, so I will need you to stand next by the window and then on the couch.” She quickly did as I told her to, and we started to roll. It didn’t take us long to shoot her angles only around twenty minutes. I thanked her, and then turned to Ace. He was looking at me, face unreadable again. I clenched my jaw as today he was really walking on my nerves.

“It’s your turn Ace.” I called him. He pushed himself from the wall and came closer to me.

“So, what do you need from me, director?” His tone was light, but his face was like a stone. I bit the inside of my cheek before answering him.

“The same as her.” I gave him the shortest answer possible. He nodded and stood next to the window. There was this built-up tension between us, Dave looked at me raising his eyebrow. I shook my head at him like everything was fine, and he slowly nodded. We had to readjust the camera as Ace was quite tall. We started to roll, and I couldn’t take my eyes of the screen. He did look very good in front of the camera; I couldn’t deny him that. The way his hair was falling around his face, his freckles, his dark brow eyes and his full lips, he will definitely sweep away many harts once they become known name. “And cut.” I softly said moving my gaze from the screen to him. Our eyes locked, but I locked away.

“Okay, let’s move to the last scene we have to film and it’s a wrap after it.” I cleared my throat before looking at Samantha waving at her to join. “Now I need you to get closer to each other, and the most important thing is that Samantha feels comfortable with whatever you guys spoke about doing, so the moment you feel slightly uncomfortable we cut on the second, okay?” I locked at her seriously, as I didn’t want to put any woman in a position where she might feel uncomfortable on set.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry (Y/N), I know Ace very well.” She winked at me mischievously. I shared a fake laughed with her, but good thing she didn’t catch it.

“Okay, so whenever you guys are ready, just let us know and we will start to roll.” I stand between Dave and Usopp. “And action.” I called. Samantha went and laid down on the couch, taking Ace’s hand in hers, making him hoover over her. She ran her hands up and down his back, up to his neck, pulling him closer to her. Then she buried her fingers in his hair. She pulled him even closer as she pulled herself up a little. They were inches away from kissing each other, and I bit the inside of my cheek, my hands squeezed in a fist. I couldn’t watch this any further.

“Cut.” I called out. Everyone locked at me confused. “What?” I smiled innocently at them.

“Why did you cut?” Samantha asked me and frowned when Ace pulled up from her. I could see his smug smirk on his face. I moved my attention back to Samantha and with a smile I replied to her.

“Because we have it, it’s perfect, you can check it out if you want.” I suggested looking at the footage again.

“It’s pretty good.” Dave reassured her.

“Well, you are the professionals, so if you say it’s good, I believe you, but still, I want to see.” I moved aside so she could look at the screen. “Oh my, Ace.” She squeaked excitedly, looking at Ace. “We look so hot; you should see that.” Ace made a grimace and shook his head. I covered my mouth to suppress my laughter. Ace saw me and rolled his eyes at me, which lighted up my mood. I calmed myself and announced that we were done.

“It’s a wrap guys.” Dave and Usopp cheered, and Samantha clapped her hands. Ace only nodded. “Thank you so much for the opportunity, Ace.” I was still pissed at him, but at the same time grateful. “I should edit it by Friday and when it’s done, I will send it to Marco.” I told him as we started to pack the equipment.

“No need to thank me, (Y/N).” Ace patted me on the shoulder, before he nodded to Samantha to get going. She wished us good night and they left. The bitter feeling of jealousy came back. I couldn’t deny it, but also there was no point of me being jealous. He was just my friend, a friend who was walking on a thin ice around my nerves, nothing more or less.

“Well-done guys, well-done.” Usopp high-fived me and Dave. “I can’t wait to see how it will turn our after you edit it (Y/N).” He exclaimed excitedly.

“You know if you need help with the editing, you can always call me.” Dave added, coming closer to me.

“I think I will manage, but I will keep this in mind.” I smiled at him. “Let’s pack these faster guys, I’m starving, and I really want to go home.”

I was laying in bed; it was almost midnight, and I couldn’t fall asleep. I was tossing and turning in bed for the past hour and a half. Ace was stuck in my mind, and that scene between him and Samantha. On top of it, the whole ‘Me and Ace know each other good’ was like on repeat in my mind. Knowing that I will have to edit and look at the footage of it was eating me from the inside. And what was with his attitude in the past two days? I swear Ace from Saturday and Ace from the past two days, were two completely different people. My phone vibrated. I grabbed it and I sighed loudly as I read the message on the screen.

“Did someone step on your tail today, doll?”

I hesitated if I should reply. The audacity this man has.

“Yea, someone who was almost two hours late.” I angrily typed and sent. Not even a minute later he replied.

“Sorry, about that doll ;(” I just left him on seen. “I would love to be the first one to see it btw” he sent a second message.

“I will think about that” I replied.

“Don’t be mad at me, doll” I just looked at the message from the notification banner and didn’t even mark it as seen. Also, the ‘doll’ thing was back, not that I wanted him to call me this, especially in front of everyone else, but I kind of got used to him calling me that. I turned on the TV to watch something that would hopefully put me to sleep. ‘Fucking Ace’ I cursed under my breath.

NOTE: Sooo.... I really hope you liked the chapter, and the interactions Ace and Reader had. From now on there will be more and more of it. Also I gave you a little bit of Ace's pov in this chapter, but still there is so much more to reveal of his character, as in general Ace is a very complex persona. Please leave your opinion or text me, as I would love to get to interact with more of you ♡ and a big thank you for all of you who take off your time and read my fanfic, I know it's not the best written one but I appreciate your support with all my hear ♡

writing, format & dividers © cinnamoonblue fanart @a_phu14 on IG ©cinnamoonblue, do not copy or plagiarise my work.

[neotibicen-linnei]

been stressed lately so I'm fixating on The Character (Charon) and why I love him so much, so like. he's kind of a blank slate, right? all we know is that he was brainwashed, he has to obey the contract holder and has (according to Ahzrukhal, who mentions his "annoying sense of morality") some sort of personal values. his in-game dialogue shows that he's grouchy and a little sarcastic, when given the opportunity, though most of his responses are formal and to the point. also he likes guns.

everything else is up to interpretation, and that's what makes him so fun & interesting to me. there are a thousand different versions of the same guy and technically, any one of them could be canon. love characters like that.

now here are my personal takes <:^) keep in mind that this is 99% speculation and headcanons, based more on Vibes and Projection than actual in-game info. also it's a Lot. because I think about this guy a lot. basically a whole-ass fanfic in outline form. ok here we go

starting off with history:

he's a pre war ghoul, & was somewhere between 25-40? when he started turning. starting age doesn't really matter, to me he just seems Old as Fuck and Tired of Everything. like he definitely witnessed the fall of humanity- and its violent aftermath- firsthand.

given the political climate in the decades before the bombs, it's easy to imagine there being some pre-war, top secret super soldier program where he was initially trained and brainwashed. he was likely nabbed as a kid (more info from Ahzrukhal, who said Char "grew up around an interesting group of individuals") and indoctrinated into it, maybe volunteered by his parents? also could've been orphaned/homeless/otherwise an easy target that no one would miss. maybe they weren't federal but privately funded, like by some radical billionaire building an army for the apocalypse. I've got my own version of this in a google doc somewhere, might turn it into fic someday but! the point is, violence and obedience are all he's ever known; though the older he gets, the more he sees through the lies and pushes the boundaries of his contract.

he would've finished training at age 16-18 probably? graduates like him worked for high ranking military personnel, politicians, paranoid ultra rich types, or anyone else with the funds and need for a totally obedient bodyguard. he was loaned out to these people under a pre-specified time limit (i.e. someone could hire him for a set number of months, or for the completion of a project, before he was supposed to be returned). Charon spent the next ~10 years traveling around with different employers, witnessing the pre-war world without ever getting to participate in it. never knowing a life beyond his designated purpose.

while each boss had his attention so long as they held the contract, Charon's true loyalty lay with the organization that raised him. he was barred from forming personal connections with anyone, including employers, beyond what was expected of him professionally. this was a crucial part of his conditioning, ensuring he'd always return 'home' when an employer's time was up. he never once questioned this until long after his trainers were gone.

the bombs fell when he was in his mid to late twenties. he survived thanks to an employer's private bunker, which sheltered them both through the worst of it. they didn't have enough supplies to stay there indefinitely, so a few weeks into the apocalypse, they left to try their luck topside.

in the event of total devastation, Charon was supposed to return to base for reassignment. but with all the chaos and rioting and lack of transportation (even if he found a working vehicle, everything was still on fire and covered in nuclear fallout, including roads) he decided it best to stick with his current employer until conditions were safer. his boss was shortly killed by an attacker- a first in Charon's career, which he definitely wasn't thrilled about. up to this point he probably hadn't failed much, if at all (get ready buddy there's gonna be a whole lot more of that). I agree with the general fan interpretation that failing gives him headaches and anxiety, all the way from mild twinges to incapacitating migraines, depending on how badly he's fucked up.

after walking the whole way home, he found an empty, ruined compound devoid of survivors. anyone important spent doomsday in vaults and bunkers, while those left above-ground died or fled elsewhere. with no one left to report to, Char followed emergency protocol and handed his contract to the next living person he encountered. a cycle that would continue for the rest of his life.

losing the closest thing he'd had to a family, as awful and traumatizing as they were, affected him more deeply than he'd admit. it was less of an emotional blow and more a loss of direction. his entire being was crafted around serving his creators; what was he without them? all he could do was keep finding employers and hope things worked themselves out (or that he'd meet an honorable, contract-abiding end in the line of duty).

though post-bombs survival was definitely part of his training, nothing prepared him for ghoulification. having never formed an identity beyond servitude, Char wasn't exactly vain or attached to his appearance as a human. but let's be real. even the most practical, emotionally detached hardass is gonna be at least a little upset when their nose falls off, and their hair falls out, and their skin starts peeling, and it feels like their organs are shutting down- he probably kept it together, because that's what was expected of him, but by now he was certainly being pushed to his limits. once he got unpleasant enough to look at, his employer at the time was quick to pawn him off on someone else. employers past that point treated him noticeably worse, escalating from haughty and dismissive to downright sadistic (within the bounds of the contract, of course. Charon found what satisfaction he could in killing those who didn't read it closely enough).

once Charon gathered that he wasn't dying, and could still perform his duties like before, life went on. it was only decades later, when he realized that ghouls don't age, that it truly started to bother him. death had been his only hope of freedom from the contract. now even that was out of his reach. his training would never allow him to seek it willingly, and despite all the dangers of the wasteland- and the ineptitude of his many employers- he was finding it pretty difficult to get killed by accident. he kept throwing himself into fights and somehow pulled through every time. not always unscathed, yet alive.

and he just kept getting angrier. more cynical, more bitter, more tired of it all. outwardly blank, nothing more than a gun to be pointed at enemies, but resentment simmered just beneath the surface. his self control started to slip, and he found himself talking back to employers, purposefully twisting the meaning of their orders, indulging in violence as an outlet. for most of his life, he'd been fed propaganda about protecting his superiors and his country (which country is that? undecided, though I like to headcanon his ethnicity as half Russian half Chinese, meaning he was trained by someone on the "communist" side of the war). but there are no more countries, not in any way that matters, and the masters he serves act solely in their own interests- not that this is any different than his pre-war employers, but it takes him a while to wake up to that.

as for how he ended up in the Ninth Circle- it sticks out to me how Ahzrukhal says that Charon "made some choices landed him in my employ". implying Ahz didn't just come across the contract or happen to be present when the previous employer died. I'm thinking that Ahzrukhal tricked him somehow, maybe got him to void the contract by accident? though after 200+ years of living with it and finding all the loopholes, that'd be pretty hard to do. idk it's a fun concept to explore but I have no concrete ideas right now. in any case, I think Char spent quite a while there, longer than he had with most wasteland bosses.

Ahzrukhal had him do more than toss rowdy drunks out of the bar. along with his chems dealings, I could see him dabbling in the slave trade (Ahz tells the LW that he Abhors Slavery, and that chains are earned rather than given. but it wouldn't take much for a guy like him to twist that meaning to his own purposes or just like. straight up lie about it). even if he wasn't directly involved in the business, he wouldn't be above turning in any escaped slaves they came across, sending Charon to deliver them for a bounty. he was a particularly cunning and cruel master, fond of giving out arbitrary punishments for every little mistake. Charon got accustomed to rarely sleeping or eating, to taking micro naps sitting up, finding new and terribly dull ways to entertain himself while standing in the same corner every day. he starting looking forward to side work, no matter how unethical his tasks were, because it was the only time he got to go outside and exist unsupervised. by the time LW shows up, he's just so over it, lowkey wishing to go feral or encounter an enemy he can't beat.

ok now to the present/LW timeline:

you really thought we were done. that 1000+ words of rambling, poorly formatted speculation was enough haha no there's more.

despite his love for combat and bloodshed, he's not sadistic for the sake of it. there are lines, never mind that employers force him to cross them all the time. Char doesn't like to hurt innocents unprovoked. if attacked by someone who clearly doesn't stand a chance- like a desperate wastelander or a child- he prefers to take them down non-lethally. he is pretty sadistic towards those who have it coming (how does he determine who has it coming? depends on his mood). his kills are efficient yet brutal, and he's not above drawing it out if they really tick him off. morals are there but they're grey as hell.

he doesn't like slavers or raiders, but also doesn't go out of his way to save their victims. looks on super mutants with a sort of detached pity, knowing that like him, they don't have any choice in being what they are. he sees killing them as both a necessity and an act of mercy- not that he's all that merciful, but even after all this time and misery, there's some small, painfully human part of him that still finds reasons to care. at least, when he's got the energy for it. sometimes he doesn't know why he bothers. if just trying to do the right thing is the only factor he can control, the only resistance he can show towards his selfish masters. sometimes he gives in to cruelty for the same reasons. he tries not to think about it and finds himself doing so anyway; especially in Underworld, where he's got all the time in the world to dwell on past mistakes. his time there starts to feel like some rightful punishment, as does his ghoulification- of course he'd end up immortal, hideous and confined to one corner like a misbehaving dog. he's earned this fate several times over. even wishing for death feels undeserved.

he's autistic. just because I think it fits and want it to be so. he stims with his hands sometimes, though he's learned to repress it- most bosses don't want a twitchy, distracted bodyguard. as a compromise, he finds ways to keeps his hands busy, like compulsively cleaning his gun, repairing equipment, taking inventory of supplies. when given the freedom, he also enjoys whittling, usually handmade knives or little animal figurines. but like cigarettes, this is a luxury he's rarely allowed under Ahzrukhal's management. but god how cute is it to think of him carving little dogs and molerats or whatever in his free time. once he has a space of his own, he lines them up on a desk. gives them away as gifts to the few people he tolerates. maybe he gets a big collection going and gets defensive when it's pointed out; he's just keeping his motor skills sharp, it is not a hobby it's practical you just don't get it.

it takes him months minimum to start trusting Lone. possibly years. at first, he resents them the same as any other employer. his self-esteem is at its worst, he's closed off to anything that's not strictly related to his duties, and he can't seem to view their kindness as anything but manipulation. so what if they tell him to speak freely, and sleep whenever he wants, or make his own decisions without waiting for their approval? it has to be a trap. he's constantly waiting for the hammer to fall, and his new boss's easygoing nature only serves to make him more nervous. it can't be real. others have tried this, and he fell for it, and it will not happen again.

Lone makes a great effort not to phrase things as orders, but this is sort of unavoidable- all it takes is a careless word shouted mid-combat to set Char into action. Lone tries to have open discussions with him, and teach him about boundaries & such, which is like pulling teeth until he actually starts to take them seriously. when they continue to be consistent, and it's clear they're not playing some fucked up mind game to get his defenses down, Charon starts to relax. it's subtle until it's not, but the simple fact that he starts conversations unprompted, or lets Lone touch him without flinching, is already a massive improvement. it helps that they never punish him for making mistakes. or that they don't force him to do things he's not comfortable with- not like he'd tell them directly, but they've learned to read his reactions, deciphering all the grunts and micro-expressions and acting accordingly. it's definitely messy sometimes (my version of Lone is a chem-addicted, traumatized burnout with his own hangups, so their personalities do clash) but the respect, and eventually love, is always there.

my Lone is an escaped slave, and meets Charon a few years after the canon timeline of FO3. they're a neutral karma mercenary type, intent on taking down every slaver in the Capital Wasteland. with their shared experiences of living under others' control, and Lone's insatiable need to Fuck That Old Man, there does end up being some shippy stuff down the line. however, whether it's platonic or romantic or whatever, there is something so sweet and special to me about Lone & Charon's relationship. finding someone who knows your pain, or at least something similar to it, and does their best to show you that you're in safe hands. even when you don't believe them, and keep pushing them away, they keep trying, and keep being there until you find you've got no choice but to let them in. seeing yourself as less than a person until someone comes along and helps you rediscover your humanity. auuughhhh.

there's also something fun about an evil Lone who makes him Worse. but I mostly want him to be happy :')

if you read this far hey thanks. I could write even more, but this is enough for one post probably. tell me your own Charon headcanons or I'll explode

[h0estar]

What do u think is the difference between the Apothecary diaries world and our current world's reality? Is the modern world we live in now, capitalistic as a primary? What do you think Jinshi and Maomao's position would be in our world? I mean regarding on their circumstances— I have a scenario like Tamaki and Haruhi from Ouran Host Club. But still, our world is more complex and diverse in technology fields than Ouran Host club world. And given the revolution of artificial intelligence, coming next 5 years would be totally different.

okay, first of all, very interesting question. second of all, my brain isn't built for something like this but i will try to answer as best as i can. sorry if i don't answer it as well as you expect me to but i'll try!

i'm going to point out the obvious here and say our modern reality (esp for women) isn't as harsh as it is in the apothecary diaries' world. for one, women in their time had practically zero rights and respect (though that is still very much happening today in some places). however, at least most women irl have access to education, voting rights, vast career options, free will and speech, and generally just be able to live their life independently without relying on men. at least in our world, women have laws protecting them against violence and sexual acts, and it's no longer a requirement to marry, bear children, and live for your husband; that's just a choice out of many—something the average woman in TAD universe could never dream of experiencing.

i'd say capitalism is one thing both this fictional story and our current reality have in common. just like irl, characters (mostly commoners) in TAD are scraping by to make profit: maomao with her apothecary shop, granny with the verdigris house, quack's family with their paper business, gyokuen with his family and the WC, and we've got mentions of merchants a lot in the story. there's also a moment in the manga i remember where maomao was carting books to the palace and she planned to overcharge Jinshi (wringing him out for his money to gain extra profit. go maomao!), too bad suiren caught her lol. anyway, yeah, like IRL the commoners are doing what they can to survive, while the important and rich ones (the royalty and ministers) cozy up in the court and palace, completely indifferent to the state of small villages and townsfolk outside (the farming villages affected by taxes, women in the red light district, kidnappings, slavery, etc).

as for jinshi and maomao's positions in our world, hmm, this is purely imagination but if we follow their ages (maomao at 20 and jinshi at 21), that'd make them college students. maomao would definitely be a pharmacy student and might even go to medical school. she'd also own a flower shop 100%, or at least a botanical shop. jinshi would probably be studying economics, anything business-related, or international relations. that's as far as my imagination will take me.

and if they're going to be like tamaki x haruhi in this little modern world, then maomao might accidentally ruin one of jinshi's projects (in the name of science!) and she'd have to pay him back by working for him (idk how; maybe by being his personal medic or offering him tips on how to make business out of medicines lol). or maybe jinshi just might stumble in maomao's little flower shop by chance, and find her studying, completely disinterested in him (despite his popularity), and this throws him off, lol. either way, i'm fairly certain they'll still find each other in this world, and in many worlds.

the two of them would also be fascinated by technology (both their hypothetical degrees often heavily rely on it), but they would probably reject the notion of using AI in extremely simple, practical, or professional tasks. however, jinshi has a progressive mindset and maomao just goes with the flow. they might accept this technological advancement (as part of the world)—they wouldn't try to fight it—but they also wouldn't use it as often.

thanks for this question lol. sorry i took so long to respond, i haven't been on tumblr for 2 days oops.

[total-drama-brainrot]

Total Drama Psycho Noah AU, what if Sierra (who knew everything about everybody) tried to warn Heather + Alejandro NOT to mess with Noah, cause he's a total psychopath (but they don't believe her) ... Sierra doesn't have to worry about Cody getting hurt, cause he's a sweet boy, and Noah only hurts people that attack him first... What if after Heather + Alejandro later learns the truth, Sierra simply tells the duo: "I told you so..." 😒

You're so right about Sierra being one of the few who's In The Know about p!Noah (without his express input), thanks to her superfan status.

Sierra throws a bit of a wrench into this whole AU, really. Because there'd need to be justification for her either not saying anything about Noah's true colours, or having the others not believe her claims about Noah despite it being abundantly clear that her knowledge on them is pretty infallible.

But.

Playing in to the whole 'obsessive superfan' thing, Sierra wouldn't want to jeopardise the ruse Noah's so carefully crafted if he were, say, one of her favourite characters.

Because Noah (every version of Noah) is a fairly private person, all things considered. She doesn't have a lot of information to go off of- not in comparison to the fountain of knowledge she has about the rest of the cast, at least- but she does know that he must be keeping his true colours a secret for a reason. Would you want to ruin someone's carefully laid web of deception when it's been one of the most entertaining aspects of the show thus far?

Or.

You could take it down another route, and have Sierra outright dislike Noah because he's A Danger to her beloved cast, but have this dislike become evident before she can warn the others; Sierra's pretty crazy herself, so the cast would dismiss her warnings are her trying to rally them against the person she so clearly hates instead of a genuine effort to keep them safe. After all, wouldn't it be in character for someone as evidently unstable as Sierra to lie and spread 'baseless rumours' about the person she clearly despises?

(That second option's fun, because it adds an aspect of dramatic irony for the audience both in-universe and IRL; they/we know that Sierra's right, so her struggle to be listened to would be almost Cassandra-esque.)

Either way, she'd make a point of staying as far away as possible from Noah. Because Sierra (like the rest of the in-universe audience) are working under the impression that Noah's a ticking time-bomb, a constant threat of incredible violence against the cast, since that's exactly what Noah painted himself as during his confessionals. (Speaking of confessionals, I do have a justification as to why the contestants eliminated before Noah are also unaware of his unhingedness, that I'll cover in it's own post.) That's not entirely true, of course; Noah's a psychopath with a grimdark sense of humour, sure, but he's not about to start randomly attacking people in bouts of spontaneous hysteria- but the audience, and therefore Sierra, don't have the comfort of that little tidbit of information.

It all circles back to Noah being a private person. He holds his cards close to his chest; in this case, the audience knows what he's capable of, but they don't know that a lot of his Baby Craves Violence act is just that- an act. A joke he's pulling on the viewing world, that he admittedly gets a little too into to. The perils of being dedicated to the bit. Not that he doesn't have the occasional urge to commit felonies and acts of brutality against others, but he's got enough self-control to redirect that energy into causing less destructive chaos (most of the time).

-

So when his true colours are eventually revealed? Sierra is so vindicated, she almost forgets the danger (she thinks) she's in. Almost.

(In the context of the second option;) She's spent the majority of the season thus far warning the others against Noah, only to have her good intentions brushed aside time and time again (which, ouch! Imagine trying to help the people you idolise enough to literally stalk throw your concern for their safety back in your face) by their incredulity. Being proven to have been in the right the entire time would be a power trip and a half, because it'd validate her skills as the unofficial-official expert on all things Total Drama and she'd get to shove the consistent rebuffs back in the others' faces.

It's a shame she'd be so dead-set on disliking Noah on principle, because the two of them could be great friends. If Sierra had a stronger craving for chaos and disorder, she could form a Terror Trio with Noah and Izzy.

[yellowcry]

Fighting for the new day to come

Somebody tried to attack Encanto! And, protecting her family means Luisa had to do whatever it takes.

TW: Deaths, violence, blood

Luisa sighed, wiping her forehead. What time was it? It's should be an hour or two before her lunch break. Her stomast grupled, imagining a good yammy portion of the food that Mirabel would undoubtedly bring to her.

Her heart jumped at the scream. Old Arthuro yelled at the street, attracting attention. "We're under attack!" Luisa's eye twitched, fists tensed. Okay, don't panic. What was happening? Her blood pumped fast, warming her with adrenaline. "Doña Alma demanded for everyone to get to safety."

Encanto was attacked? By whom? Luisa's chest ached. The cold fingers of dread clipped her shoulder. She could almost feel their invisible weight grabbing her by the throat. Shoking her. She knew Abuelo Pedro died in attack on their village many years ago. Were everyone okay? Oh no,.what if they will be murdered the same way. The fear twisted her stomach, making Luisa gulp to hold back disgusting sickness. Shit, the situation was really bad. Luisa's own heart was pounding way too fast. "Where are they?" Luisa's throat felt way too dry. Her teeth gritted, craking against the pressure. Somewhere, under the panic and fear for the safety of the people, Luisa felt rage bubbling up. Somebody dared to some here, in her hometown and try to destroy it? No fucking chance in the world she would let it slide. 

The old man breathed out, almost relieved at the sight of Luisa. "Good, you're here... Can you.." He took off his sombrero vueltiao, holding it tight. 

Luisa took rapid breath, clenching her fists so tight that her knuckles paled like a moulded cheese. "I will deal with this." She was protector of the family, of the Encanto. It was a titular she wore with a big pride. The promise to ensure everyone's safety. "Where are they?" Luisa let out a low guttural sound. Her muscles tensed so much that a vein popped out, swelling from the iced pressure. 

The fear of what would happen if Luisa didn't  interfere was breaking her bones, twisting her inside out. Tiny drops of the burning sweat ran down her forehead. Her chest felt tight, anxiety wrapped it like a wrong-made corset. She needed to keep everyone safe. It was something she wished to be as long as she could remember herself. Keep everyone safe, protect them. 

Luisa's legs scudded too fast, way beyong anything  of a human ability. Which was probably because of her gift. And also from feeling bottling under her skin. Steaming like a boiled coffee. She heard a bang. It rang in her head with more strenght than an endless list of chores. She felt the smell of fire ripping inside her nose. There were several of them, wearponised. "You think it's blue hideover?" One asked, presumbably so someone who was their commander. At least if Luisa judged by the gold trimming of their suit. More proper than so the others had.

"We had no information about this place on the map. It must be a criminal place."

Luisa narrowed her eyes, gnarring throught her teeth. Did they just accuse Encanto in being a bad place?

She jumped onto the closest person to her, making them yell in surprise as Luisa twisted a muzzle pointed at her. Crashing in under her fingers in just mere seconds before they could even react.

The bullet cut into her skin, ripping the back of her blouse. The injury stinged with a nettle burn. Not too bad, somebody without her gift would have it way worse. But still barely pleasing. The fabric got stuck to her skin with sweat. The closest person to her, the one whos gun she broke was sent to the bright grass. While Luisa slammed his head against the hard ground. Seeing how it was swelling red with the blood.

"What the fuck is this thing?!" Somebody yelled so loud that Luisa's head ached. Luisa heard a numerous gunshots but wasn's sure how many was in total. 

"Stay away from my home!" Luisa growled, rushing into attack again, not paying attention to insults. Her opponent managed to turn to the side  just mere second before Luisa would've launch at him. They pulled out a slasher, scratching her side. It dig deep, drawing the blood out. Luisa twisted the blade on instinct, breaking it in just mere second. Her free fust tried to him the person next to her, who again, jumped back just a moment before it would happen. Not for long because Luisa pushed  herself forward, sending her opponent fly for several metres. Probably cracking several bones in the process. 

Another shot came to her head. "AHH!" Luisa yelled, gripping her head, while a bullet got stuck in her head, cracking her scull. Not even crazy amount of adrenaline she was on could wash away this amount of pain. It popped in her head, rising in agony. 

She grit her teeth. It wasn't  a proper time to cry about pain. Luisa rose up, just slightly trembling. At least of before the attackers looked afraid, now they were outrage terrified. Some part of Luisa's mind that wasn't  busy with the fight could understand it. Most people probably wouldn't be alive after getting shot in their head. 

"This isn't a human!" One of two yelled, trying to shot her again. Just for Luisa to fling to the side, only allowing it to sligtly scratch her cheek. Unpleasant, but nothing  compared to the shot that blew her brains up. Luisa let out a low breathe, annoyed.

Another hit, Luisa ran with a wind speed. Not thinking about anything  else. That one was blocked with a gun. The metal cracked from her strengt. But Luisa's fingers twisted, now drawing with blood. The same gun hit her shoulder. Probably  leaving some bruise with the cold metal. At the same time it got snapped in two, killed to the end. While Luisa's another hit got blocked again. Unluckely for them with their arms this time.  They uelled in horror as the bones snapped, breaking against Luisa's strength. Not for long until the strenght of the hit pushed them down. Luisa stepped on them, cracking their ribcage.

She had washed the last one of them down the horse they tried to climb on, ripping the fabric of their clothes in the process. Most likely to get away. Not for long. Luisa pulled them of, squeezing their neck so tight it cracked. 

Luisa looked around, panting through wide open mouth. She pressed her palms against her knees. Trying to see if there still was any danger. It seemed safe. Good. Luisa grinned in relief. It was over, everyone was safe for now. She just needed to get home and break the news to Abuela. That’s, of course, if Dolores hadn’t told them already.

Luisa wasn’t sure how she got to Casita. Now, as immediate danger had stopped beimg a threat, adrenaline stopped running so much inside her body. And when the hormone stopped controlling her body, pain that was drowned in the sea before crawled over, rising all over. And, hell, it hurt. Luisa’s blouse was soaked with blood, her back was getting red. The trickles of thick blood ran down the muscles of her arms and clung to her brown hair, which now were wet. The agonising pain jumped inside her head, making her feel like her brains were smeared out of her scull. Yes, her head was definitely the one that was killing Luisa the most. More so compared to the rest of her body combined. Unable to feel or think about anything else. The blood drawned out of the injuries. Luisa felt like she was a balloon about to pop out.

Luisa groaned, trying to keep her eyes shut tight. Light outline of pain was left inside her. Not hurting too much, but reminding she was not so long ago. What happened?Her head was foggy, but memories were crawling outside. A fight, yes. Luisa’s brething shortened as she practically jumped into sitting position. Were everyone okay? What if somebody else was hurt?

“Luisa, mija!” Her Mama placed a hand on her shoulder. “You’re awake, how do you feel?”

Luisa stared up at Julieta, looking around the calm blue tones of the room. Her parents’ room. “I’m okay, was anyone else injured?” She asked, ready to get up if anything was wrong.

The healer shook her head, petting Luisa. “Everyone is safe.” Luisa brethed out in relief, allowing herself to relax against the fluffy bed once again. “Do you want to rest? I can call your sisters if you want to.”

“Yes, please,” Luisa would love to see them and know they’re okay. She could probably just go herself. She wasn’t in any discomfort after being healed. But there was something cozy and home-sweet in laying in her Mama’s room like this. It’s been a while since Luisa was resting like this. She remembered being a little girl and curling between her parents after a nightmare. It’s been a long time since then. The probably wouldn’t even fit in the bed together.

It didn’t take long. Mirabel had clung to her in the moment she saw Luisa. “Lu, how are you? I was so worried.” The teelager felt Luisa’s back, making sure no damage was left untreated. Even is Mama’s food would’ve made it impossible for Luisa to still be hurt.

“Better than ever!” Luisa smiled at her to assure her little sister. Ruffling her curly hair before scoop into a hug. Heavens, she was so glad everyone was okay.

Isabela sad to the bed next to them. “Dolly is such a bitch!” The eldest sister chuckled, ignoring Mirabel’s demand to use proper language.

Luisa blinked, rasing her eyebrows. “What have she done?” Tilting her her head, and hugging Mirabel even tighter.

The youngest girl muttered, choking on her words. Okay, maybe Luisa held her just a bit too strong. “She tied us and Camilo to chairs. Said it was ‘so we wouldn’t get ourselves killed’.”

“Yes! Can you imagine?” Isabela made a theatric gasp, pressing her hand against her forehead. “I’ve lost my chance to be abadass in a very cool fight!”

Luisa couldn’t help but laugh at her sister being a drama queen, she couldn’t be surprised in the slightest at Dolores’ actions. Isabela wouldn’t miss a chance to throw fists, Camilo would treat it like some performance, and Mirabel… Well, Casita’s fall spoke for itself. Mirabel sniskered too, but hid it with fixing her glasses. Here Isabela herself was giggling. 

“But, if serious,” Her tone became more serious. She placed her hand on Luisa’s shoulder, sitting closer to her. “Are you okay? You were in am awful state earlier.”

Luisa’s eyes glimmered at the care. She could imagine, concindering how she didn’t even remember getting to Casita. “It really wasn’t that bad.” She assured Isabela. “It’s really only my head that caused problems.” She knew she had to thank her gift for this. Anyone else would’ve been dead on her place. Nothing else wasn’t coming beyond a simple discomfprt that a nornal person would get from a scratch. But all the other injuries probably weren’t making her family happy by looking at them.

Isabela and Mirabel seemed relieved by this. Luisa chuchkled, pulling her older sister on a hug with her free arm too (that’s why she has two arms). Everything was okay…And Luisa felt calmness spreading throught her body. She handled it well, her family was safe. And she couldn’t ask for more.

Luisa had to admit she felt strange about what she had done. Killing. The word tasted bitter on her tongue. She could never imagine she would have to do something like this. But did she regret it? Not in the slightest. These awful people would do the same thing to her family if Luisa didn’t stop them. She was protector, and everyone knew it. And she would do whatever it takes for everyone to sleep safe and sound. Sometimes she had to do things that were consindered bad to be on the good side.

“You’re better to prepare for Abuela’s teaching you about self-preservation!” Mirabel smiled weakly, but still was looking closely in case of Luisa’s possible harm. The stronger sister gulped. She remembered this with Mirabel. Damn, she would meet a long lecture of how worried she had made everyone by risking her life(which she actually hadn’t done!) and putting herself on danger.

“I’m terrified now.”

[mysteriouslyunabashedpeanut]

So 30 years ago a Tumblr named Fredrick Martin Tretter who went by ephedrine 555 on this site heard about a hustle from a bartender named Maggie Perez. Who had done beastiality porn with horses and all sorts of under handed crap , about a long con she ran pairing poor friends with unmarried men whose parents were wealthy . The con was simply marry in before the home owner dies. And after which you can leave and take half or stay if you want .

Because he's always desperately looking for. Female appreciation

He immediately offered up my family to get burned despite being one of his only friends in the world .

They first sent Maggie's niece to throw herself at me who Insisted the after our first date that she went all the way on , that she could "sense" she was pregnant in the morning and was I going to step up .

Obviously not ,

But she preservered

However , the difficulty she had in locking me up convinced Maggie to try from the other side ,

My brother who was a school teacher

And they found a 17 year old from the ghetto and explained the plan

You only have to be with him until the mom dies

Once that happens , we will take care of setting up and getting rid of the other brother , me

And burn the will up ,

And he will be the sole owner and you can stay with him or leave with a million which would have been the others (me)

Unfortunately ,

To try and make it happen for her the one they sent at me had a child with me already

Under one at the time ,

So to remove any resistance she had they lied to her and told her I had been cheating on her which is for some weird reason for these women the one and only unpermitted act .

Absolute control of the relationships is necessary to run the con

A man that cheats is not going to make it easy for you to walk away with. Half his families money

So without cause or explanation

She demanded the end of our entire relationship and despite breaking up and making up several times before

Her aunt who was entirely behind the entire con

Immediately began speaking hate and filth to me and about me

Because she was the only one who knew that nothing could reverse what she needed to have happen .that was the first obvious failure .

No one does that ,

They wait in case you make up

But she was very loud and clear to even my friends she didn't even know

From that point on , she my brother and his wife with help from my neighbors pig rat cop

Spent from 2003 until the very day

Harassing me , stealing from me , calling my employers to rat on one ,

If I called out or lied about anything

While my one year olds mother

Refused to spend so much as 5 minutes visiting him at our home

Because she knew what Mark arm Maggie and his wife Cynthia and my son's mother had all agreed to do to steal half of my mother's estate

Which was about 2 million total

So my son has no mother for 5 years

Her deathly need to avoid my home and family despite. Her son living there made no sense .

Leading to quarrels which she had been told to say

That he's jealous and angry and violent and bitter

This continued for 15 years with them doing everything they could think of to create a criminal history of violence petty theft or substance abus

But never could

Leading to my ex wife calling and saying after remarrying 10 years later that she was worried about my being depressed and thought I should see a therapist at The VA .

I couldn't. Imagine how that would further their scheme

But once I did

She started reinforcing the 15 year long lie of my being. Angry and bitter .

*see I told you he's even going to therapy"

And now married she wanted more time with my son and convinced him that your dad is all messed up in the head and we have this great plan to get him help which he was way to young to think through or around

So with his help they staged. A couple. Ridiculous conflicts .

No one has a 15 year delayed reaction of anger over being dumped but that

Is what she said

And my mother being told lies that it was me my aggression my depression

Etc

Ask that I leave the house .

Once our ob the street

They convinced. Me to go to VA

And say your suicidal .?

Why would I do that

Well because you have many benefits and different people to speak to to get everything your entitled to and it can take weeks

BUT, if you say your suicidal ,they will put you on a evaluation hold and all the services you qualify for will come to you in your room .

I asked if it was protected by HIPPA. Confidentiality and they assured

Me yes

This turned out to get an intentional lie

Statements of self harm or violence are reported to and the individual identified ans monitored. By the va police

And the local police

Through this new status I didn't know I had

These agencies provided ongoing endless intelligence to a criminal my number of proxy agents that , not being law enforcement could do whatever they wanted

So a half dozen gay men were sent to

Try and sexually assault me

And endless people insulting threatening criticizing and abusing

Robbing and trying to set me up for the criminal history they needed most importantly to defend the plan if I ever challenged it .

They offered me drugs and called the police to shake me down

Saying we know you have it where is it

They claimed I downloaded . Child pornography in their home and then reported I had done it when I was visiting

They called my mother and made the same claims and told her to search her hard drive and they planted what she was looking for into her computer .

They tried to have me beaten , attacked. Assaulted , they defrauded me out of over 150k

And have continued trying to provoke a fight or crime of any kind to land me in jail and keep me there so they can liquidate the home. And disappear. To ensure I get fucked out of my half of 2 million dollars

Now ,.

I'm not going to hurt my flesh and blood or his family

Or my son and his new family

But the other two

Maggie Perez the drug trafficking. Horse cock sucking

And family targeter to defraud out of their parents estates

And her accomplice

A verified pedophile

Convicted. Narco trafficker

Long time rat for the local cops

Dog killing sociopath

And mother abuser

What do I owe either of them

And if they can steal my only child and tell him his dad is an insane drug addicted. Abuser

And steal one million dollars leaving me. Struggling to survive for the rest of my life

I'm wondering if any of you tumblers would just show up at their homes and shoot them. Dead

Is that too extreme or would you think it. Justified

Before I decide ,.id like a sample of the general publics opinions

To see if I'm in line with the consensus

[neowinestainedress]

i’ve been so busy this week that i didn’t even open tumblr at all (so i will reply later!!) but i was trying to fall asleep but i couldn’t stop thinking about fake dating enemy haechan but then they fall in love. i literally have no plot or any more details i just saw a tweet talking about fake dating being the best trope and i agree!! i love that process of slowly falling in love without them realizing and starting to break boundaries without them even knowing and idkkk its just sooo good and never fails to make me giggle and kick my feet in the air and i just also love haechan sm and i really think he suits so well every trope but especially the e2l or anything that includes bantering and fighting (like fake dating…)

anywaysss have a nice week rebs, read you later 🩷

- 💌

don’t worry! we have so many long asks to reply to each other i know it takes time

you know what i think would fit haechan a lot? a fake dating fic that is also arranged dating/marriage in a royal/fantasy setting (maybe even abo but with the right world-building). something where the families have been hating each other for YEARS and generations but now they’re both about to lose their status and relevance and the only solution is to get together through them. but imagine being raised to hate the other person and have nothing to do with them and boom all of a sudden you have to pretend to be madly in love 😍 i can’t really see enemies to fake dating to lovers in a modern setting. also i think that if there’s some political tension or something like this there could also be a risk of violence and you could get the scene where one of them is hurt and the other goes feral even if they totally do not care for each other (if one of the two dies the other will kill themself) + haechan screaming “where’s my wife?” when something happens to mc>>>>>>>>

one of my favourite things about fake dating is when they do something sweet or romantic when there’s nobody around and realise it after a while. i eat it up every time!!!

i also have another e2l idea in the drafts for over a year now i think but i doubt it will see the light of day 😭

i love how you write to me at the start of the week and i always reply in the weekend ajsoids

[theoutlasttrials24]

Outlast Trials: A Cold War Nightmare Unveiled

Imagine being a homeless dude, totally down and out, chilling on the streets, scraping for any leftovers in the trash. Then bam, you stumble upon a flyer promising a fresh start—a legit chance to shine, to be a hero, all while still finding time to buy PS5 games. Picture joining this Academy that sees your real worth, your true potential that's been held back. But here's the kicker: turns out it's all a Cold War-era hustle, just propaganda to recruit desperate folks nobody gives a damn about. Once you step into Murkoff's world, reality hits, but by then, you're already in too deep. The first mission is like a setup, stripping you of everything—your past, your fam, even your ID. You gotta erase your existence to survive. Kinda reminds you of that flick by David Fincher with Brad Pitt, the one that's too edgy to name. The game's all about "Trials." Not every loser Murkoff grabs can handle the big change, so you gotta pass tests—some pretty brutal—to prove you're up for the worst jobs, like whacking innocents or schooling kids in manners, Murkoff style. It's like being stuck in those fake towns they used to test nukes, except here, it's all about not knowing who's fake and who's real. And trust me, the psychos you meet? They're on a whole other level, armed with everything from sticks to drills, itching to bash your skull in or strangle you 'til your vision blurs out.

Stealth Tactics in The Outlast Trials

The Outlast Trials is hands down the most hardcore video game I've ever played. The enemies are grimy thugs yelling and cursing in decrepit corridors smeared with blood, piss, crap, and occasionally debating where to buy Xbox games. It's like a horror movie mashup of Hostel's sadistic tourists, Saw's brutal punishments, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre's psycho killers, all set in a vibe straight out of Stasi interrogation rooms or Argentina's Escuela Superior de Mecánica de la Armada. Plus, there are these monitors blasting propaganda like something out of John Carpenter's They Live, which adds a real masterful touch. But all that violence wouldn't mean squat without solid gameplay, and The Outlast Trials nails it. The stealth gameplay is top-notch. These maniacs trying to off us are way stronger, so even clocking them with a brick just buys us a sec before they're back on our tail. So, dodging them is key, though the maps are set up to make that a real pain. Best bet? Hide in wardrobes, under beds, or stay dead still in the dark, relying on night vision that chows down on batteries. And we gotta move quiet, dodging broken glass and noise traps like dangling cans or proximity alarms that scream like banshees.

The Outlast Trials: Authentic Cold War Prison Camp Vibes

In a scenario like this, anyone would go nuts. Besides keeping your health in check, you've gotta manage your mental state too. Neglecting it could lead to full-blown psychosis and hallucinations, messing up your vision and even making you hurt yourself, resulting in HP loss. Thankfully, after each mission (if you make it through before using up all your chances), you earn some virtual cash. It's not gonna flip the game, but you can grab a few gadgets to stun your tormentors a bit longer. This game is punishing, where every move could be your last, but that's exactly what The Outlast Trials is all about. In a nutshell: It's a killer stealth game where you dodge enemies by skulking in shadows, under beds, or in closets—silent as a ghost. Beyond that, it's hardcore survival horror, forcing you into grim acts while fending off psycho killers who'd love to rip you apart in the nastiest ways. The Cold War-era prison camp vibe is spot-on, and you really feel for the protagonist, heartbeat pounding like mad. Plus, there's multiplayer coop with three pals to round out the package.

[atmosphericradar]

Change Takes Time

Most people seem to have a warped understanding of social change throughout history. The two most common schools of thought appear to me to be: "Nothing ever changes; those behaviors that are fringe or hated today were always fringe or hated," and "Everyone has always secretly wanted to live under my personal idealized social order, but some secret powerful cabal has always prevented it."

Both of these conceptualizations are wrong, but they both reflect the fact that most societies change slowly. For people who don't want their social climate to change, the slow changes can be written off as statistical errors or resolvable mistakes. For people who want social change, the slow pace of progress can be agonizing to the point of conspiratorial thinking (or worse).

Why is social change so slow? Frankly, it's because societies are bigger than individuals can really conceptualize. To fully understand a society is such a monumental undertaking that very few people ever try to totally comprehend the whole of even just one. Critical Analysis would use "lens" to understand a society, but how many lenses would you need to understand the whole of just one society? How many professors would it take to form complete understanding? Could they even create a complete index of a society? Could they do it objectively? Or if not, could they acknowledge every last bias they might all have?

This is a gargantuan task. Nobody has time for this and also living their lives. And yet, social change still happens. Without knowing how the machine works, and while it is still working, it is modified and carries on.

This is why social change is slow. The machinery of a society is not just governments or businesses or religions, but it is also all of the people in that society. Every one of them must also change. All of the institutions trail inertially behind the people.

It's tempting to say: "people don't like change" and investigate no further, but that is such an oversimplification. People can adapt to small changes fairly easily, but big changes are traumatic. Someone concluding they like now fried fish is not likely to be a traumatic change, but someone concluding that they must cut contact with their mother probably is. The difference is in how fundamental the change is to the identity and material conditions of the person making the change.

Now stack everyone together, and we can see why societal changes tend to take decades of effort, violence, and discourse to truly change a society. Serious social changes require each and every person in the society to change not just their opinion, but also the way they view the world. Even a small change in perspective can have massive knock-on effects on people's sense of self, possibly unseating decades of assumed "facts of life". For some, those changes are too much to bear, and they will never change their social behaviors.

Now let's take a step back. If society shapes it's people's perception of what is possible, then it will also limit the typical imagination of its people in certain ways. If lots of people aren't questioning a particular aspect of a society, then that aspect will not change. Over the slow course of individual changes occurring or not (and the peoples' understanding of what is possible shifting), it may take many major changes before a society makes a particular change which, to a future observer of history, seems very obvious or deeply needed.

[saratogaroadwrites]

For King and Country (89/122)

For King and Country | saratogaroad rating: T total wordcount:  280,466 characters: Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, Roland Crane, Aranella, Batu, Tani, Lofty, Leander Aristidies, Bracken Meadows relationships: Roland Crane & Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, Aranella & Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, Roland Crane & Aranella, Batu & Tani, Batu & Evan, Tani & Evan, Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum & Lofty, Rolander other tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Mother-Son Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Place Slowly Becomes Home People Slowly Become Family, Found Family, For Want of A Nail warnings: none

Pulled from his world by mysterious powers, former president Roland Crane finds himself caught in the middle of a coup meant to take the life of the young King Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum. Joining forces with Aranella, the pair of them set out to aid Evan in making his dream of a kingdom where everyone can live happily ever after a reality.

But the road to peace is a long and treacherous one and there is no promise of success in a world where darkness spreads ever thicker with each passing day. If they are to stand a chance, they must stand together, for king and for country.

(A retelling.)

=

“What do you mean, you haven’t found Teeheeti?” Evan asked. Confused, he tilted his head. “It’s an island, isn’t it? I understand that it’s hidden, but surely it remains in the same place…”

“Aye,” Lofty scoffed from his perch on Evan’s shoulder, “But Mum keeps movin’ the bloomin’ place all over the flippin’ world. One day it’s south ‘o Autumnia, the next it’s over by Jack Frost’s place! Can’t get to it without a flippin’ airship!”

“That seems a bit odd,” Leander said, adjusting his glasses as they walked through Goldpaw’s winding roads. “Why is she so intent on never staying in one place? Is someone hunting the Fairies?”

“Pah!” Lofty pulled a face, “Like to see the bloke who’d try that flippin’ trick. Nah, she’s just tryin’ to stay ahead of the Darkness, yeah? Us Fairies aren’t immune to the gunk, and make a right mess if it gets us.” He shuddered. “Trust me, the last thing you want to see’s a corrupted Fairy. Youe’d end up with somethin’ a whole lot worse than the White Witch!”

“If things would be so dire, why come into the world at large?” Leander asked, getting the door to the Library. Evan lowered the hood of his cloak, shaking off the excess snow before he stepped inside. “Why not remain safely hidden?”

“Really?” Lofty sagged, eyes narrowed. “Youe’ve got to ask? We live in this world by yur too, you know! Kinda gotta make sure it stays safe!” He heaved a sigh and lowered his voice. “I saw things were gettin’ dicey and wanted to help, so when Evan came lookin’ for a Kingmaker, I just jumped at the chance.”

Evan couldn’t help but smile. Lofty had certainly leapt at his chance, but his landing…

Well. Maybe it was best to just never speak of that landing ever again.

“I’m certainly quite grateful that you did, Lofty,” He said, “I can’t imagine doing all of this with any other Kingmaker.”

“Yeah, I bet!” Lofty laughed. “Somebody as stuffy as ol’ Oakenhart’d be real hard to deal with, eh?”

That was one way to put it, yes. Evan nodded, letting his feet guide him to the back of the Library. Madam Boddly’s usual spot was furthest from the door, and as chilly as the rest of the Library. As wood creaked beneath his boots and Leander’s, the old woman raised her head.

“Hmmm? If it isn’t little catkin king. Here to visit old Boddly, hmmm?”

“Hello, Boddly,” Evan said, finding his smile came a little easier than he’d been expecting it to, “How have you been? It’s rather cold in here.”

“Winter comes, winter goes. Bookie-wookies rather like the cold, keeps the bugs away, keeps them dry,” Boddly said, seeming content as could be. As Leander came to stand behind Evan, a knowing glint slipped into her eyes. Evan leaned back as she said, “Ooh! Pretty, pretty man. Come to visit Boddly as well?”

Rather gracefully, Leander put a hand to his heart and bowed his head.

“I have, Madam Boddly. We come to seek your guidance on a matter of utmost importance.”

“Oh?”

Evan spread a hand. “We’re looking for any knowledge you have on shielding people from magical backlash, especially if it’s from a large spell being broken unexpectedly.”

"Hmm?” Boddly seemed confused, “Why would kitty-cat king need such a thing like that? Going to cast Astra?”

That was possible? Evan shoved the thought away. “No, we’re.” He took a breath. Boddly was older, wiser, and would likely know the most out of any of them. Honesty would be best here. “We’re looking for a way to sever a bond between Soul Mates. I was told that the magical backlash would be severe, and so we’re also looking for a way to shield people from that.”

Boddly stared at him for a few seconds, blinking. He’d never seen her so surprised; he didn’t think someone as wise and experienced as Boddly could be that surprised! She shook herself, rings clacking against the head of her cane.

“Sever Soul Mates?” She asked, “Not possible, never possible! Magic of Soul Mates is old magic, very very old. Much older than kitty-cat king, older even than Boddly! Older than the world! Gift from God of Gods to humans many many years ago, the stories go.” She shook her head again. “Gifts from Gods cannot be broken, cannot be returned.”

“Told you,” Lofty muttered. Evan glanced sidelong at him, a distressed whimper building in the back of his throat. Surely it couldn’t be entirely true! All magic could be broken somehow, it was just a matter of finding out how. He shook his head.

“Are you sure?” He asked plaintively. “There’s no spell that could do it? No ritual?”

“No. Gifts from Gods old, old magic. Spells of life and death; raise the dead, end a life.” Her rings clinked, one after the other. “Dangerous, dangerous magics, not seen since the time of the Dark Djinn. No.” She thumped her cane to the ground and eyed Evan sternly. He fought to hold his ground and her gaze as she said, “No. Soul Bond cannot be broken. Must not be broken!”

“But—”

“Too dangerous! Catkin king’s heart too precious, too loved! Cannot be risked on such a thing, no.” She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Must be kept safe.”

Why was it always that he needed to be protected? Evan clenched his fists. His entire family always put him first, protecting him, guiding him, risking life and limb to keep him safe, and what had he been able to do in return? Nothing! And now that he had the chance to do something, he was being told he couldn’t? No. No! He wouldn’t accept this!

“Please, Boddly!” He took a step forward, “We must know!”

“Must? Why must? Why not leave old magics where they belong, hm?”

“Because—” Tears prickled at the back of Evan’s eyes, threatening to spill over. “There’s. There is a…” He had to take a deep breath in order to get the words out of his throat. “Someone very dear to me is bound to someone doing very bad things, Boddly. If we do not break this bond, I fear he will not survive.”

Lofty rubbed the back of his head, trying to calm him down. Leander lay a comforting hand on Evan’s shoulder as Boddly contemplated them all. For a few minutes, only the sound of Evan trying to get his breathing under control filled the alcove. Once he had calmed himself down, Boddly made a pensive sound in the back of her throat.

“Little kitty cat king has good heart, strong heart, but must learn wisdom. See things more clearly, see with mind, not just heart.” Leaning forward, she reached over until she was able to crook a finger beneath his chin. Her skin was chilled, thin and papery, as she lifted his head to meet her eyes once more. “Answer Boddly a question, hmm?”

“Yes?”

“Would pretty-man want kitty-cat king to risk life like this?”

Evan and Leander both startled backwards.

“How did you—”

“Would father want son to risk life to save him?” She asked, speaking over Evan’s startled yowl, stealing the breath from his lungs with her one simple question.

Unable to answer, Evan stared at her. Would Roland want Evan to be doing this, looking for magic that would carry a high price, in order to save his life? No. Evan knew that he wouldn’t, even if he would have done the same had their positions been reversed. They already were! Roland was risking everything to help Evan, so why shouldn’t Evan do the same? He shook his head, a hand coming up to clench in the material over his heart. Whatever it took, he was going to find a way to save Roland. He took a breath, steeling himself.

“No. No, he wouldn’t.” He said honestly. “But I don’t care. I won’t let him go so easily.”

He would never abandon his family. No matter the cost.

“So please,” He said, “If there is anything you can tell us, anything at all, please. We may be able to find a way to safely use the magics if we’re given time to study them!”

At least, more safely than if they just jumped straight into casting. Boddly didn’t seem convinced. She looked at him for a long moment, searching his face. She seemed to find whatever she was looking for, however, because a soft smile slowly curved across her face.

“Stubborn kitty-cat king. Very well.” She sighed and began to rise to her feet. “Old, old magic will be needed. Spells from times long past. Wizard’s Companion might contain answers catkin king seeks.”

“A Wizard’s Companion?” Leander startled. Evan couldn’t blame him; as far as he knew, no one had seen a Wizard’s Companion since the time of Sage Oliver! “Such tomes still exist?”

Boddly’s smile widened.

“Let old Boddly keep secrets, hmm? Boddly will search, Boddly will find. Will send for kitty-cat king when time is right. Do one favor for Boddly before then, yes?”

“Of course!” Evan nodded, ignoring Lofty muttering about deals and headlong runs, “What is it?”

“Remember one thing: Gift from God of Gods strong, unbreakable.” She said sternly, “But gift between family much stronger. Hope, and trust, and love.” She reached over and booped his nose with the tip of one finger. Evan went cross-eyed to look up at her. “Never forget.”

He blinked, confused. What did that have to do with any of this? His uncertainty must have been written on his face because she simply smiled and began to shuffle past him.

“Return home, kitty-cat king. Much work to be done, world to build, nations to protect!”

Turning a corner, she disappeared out of sight. Evan tilted his head, glancing first at Leander and then at Lofty.

“Did…either of you two understand what she meant?” he asked. Lofty heaved a huge sigh.

“Tell you the truth? I never understood a word outta that old bag’s mouth.” He snorted. “Must be part Fairy or somethin’.”

“Perhaps so,” Leander adjusted his glasses, “Though I do wonder…”

“Leander?”

He shook his head, a pensive frown crossing his face. “I cannot help but wonder at her choice of words,” He said, “Perhaps it is nothing, but…”

But Evan knew what it felt like to cling to any hope one could find. He thought back over what Boddly had said; the bond couldn’t be severed, but the bond between family was strong than the old magic? Did that mean…he frowned.

“But it is worth looking into,” He said quietly. Any hope they could find, he would take. He took a deep breath. “We will find a way. I swear it.”

[kaziee2]

Not yet but soon

Summary: Reader a soft omega with a ready to kill alpha

Warning: Cursing, like really small violence, smug men

Pairs: [Alpha Yelena x Omega reader]

[Words: 2.4k] [A/n: not totally proofread, been in my drafts for like months, first ever writing a/b/o hopefully you guys enjoy]

“Yelena you have to let go of me,”

“No,”

“Whyyyyy,”

“Because I said so, I’m the Alpha..hmp,” Yelana complained with pouty lips, holding onto you tighter. 

You mentally groaned at her, after a minute of trying to wriggle yourself out of Yelena’s arms, you gave up and wrapped your arms around her, hearing a contented sigh from her. You look down Admiring her sleeping face, you never understood what made everyone so afraid of her. She is such a sweetheart. You both stayed in the same position until you fell asleep on top of her, cuddling to one another. 

It was late into the afternoon when you both started to wake up, neither of you wanted to leave the bed, but you knew you missed the morning report and most probably will expect a disappointed Fury, you wince at imagining his disapproval look staring at you. 

You looked to see your mate’s sleeping face, you savor the peace of the moment you and Yelena were in. These were just one of the rare times you both could relax without the thought of the world ending at every opportunity it gets.

But every peaceful moment doesn't last when suddenly you jumped out of bed surprised, when your door room burst open with a very angry looking Natasha. Her angry pheromones radiate around the room and you suddenly feel sick to your stomach. 

Yelena finally stirring awake when you suddenly jumped out of her arms, she instantly feels another Alphas presence (which she feels is familiar). She turned her head to face the door, ready to practically fuck up the person who dare ruin both her and your moment together but most especially for scaring you. 

Once Yelena sees Natasha at the door, she stands up and rushes to push her and her sister out of the room, trying to rid of the angry pheromones in the room. 

Once both were outside, you stared down the door feeling more calmer than you were seconds ago, the pheromones of an angry alpha still lingered in the air but soon it started to dissipate. You sat at the edge of the bed, hugging the blanket which Yelena uses often, her scent was strong on it. You can hear the bickering from the other side of the door, but you didn’t really delve yourself to know the reason for the outburst of the redhead alpha. You just laid down and waited for Yelena to return and fill you in.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Yelena whispered with a harsh voice to her sister, “You were scaring (Y/N)! What is so important that you couldn’t have just knocked like any regular normal person would do?” she raises one brow while crossing her arms. 

“Well if you didn’t make me wait for you for fucking two hours in the training room, then MAYBE I wouldn’t be so mad,” Natasha with the same harsh voice, she points to her sister. 

“Pshh, I don’t need training, it's one damn day! I’m practically better than everyone here in physical combat, I’m at par with you сестра (sister),” Yelena huffs, “If anybody needs training, train the damn newbies. They have no combat training, go bother them.” Yelena was mad, she didn’t need this daily training all the time, her fighting skills are perfect.

“Yelena, you know damn well, we need to keep on training to better ourselves and for your information, those kids can technically still beat you up,” Natasha points out, “With powers maybe,” she hears Yelena mutter. 

Natasha thinks for a moment before having an idea that will surely get Yelena to train, “Why don’t you bring (Y/N) to train with us, they could just sit and watch us train,” she offers, “And why should I let my precious omega be bored to death with watching us?” 

“Why would they get bored, you’re there to entertain them. Flex your muscles, show your omega how strong you are,” Natasha says with a cogent voice. 

Yelena doesn’t seem so convinced but does think about it, you watching her, and her very broad muscles, you’ll practically drool over it! 

With one last attempt to get her sister to train with her, she gives her a deal she know Yelena would never refuse, “If you train with me now, I’ll let you beat me couple of times, to show off,” and with that Yelena agrees, “Not like I need that to beat anyway,” a smug smile on her face.

Natasha pats herself on the back on being able to convince Yelena to train with her. Technically it wasn’t so important and she could’ve just let Yelena miss a day at best, but nobody else was available or capable to match her hand to hand combat. Steve may be strong but his combat skills could truly need some work, she internally sighs at that. 

They both start to prepare themselves with Yelena going back inside the room with a smile on her face, excited to bring you to training with her (even with you just watching). Natasha, on the other hand, goes to the training room to set up a spot for them, since most likely there would be agents scheduled to train today.

The moment you saw Yelena walk back in, you knew something was up. She had this smug smile on, and her scent smelled of pride, now you're wondering what she's planning. 

“Detka (baby), change of plans! We’re going to train with my bitch of a sister,” Yelena announced while changing into her gym wear. 

“Don’t you mean you’re going to train with your sister, as you know. I am not an agent or an Avenger, I’m an assistant and you know how Maria feels about me joining your training sessions,” you remind her, Maria has always been so protective of you since you were the only omega female that has been hired into S.H.I.E.L.D.    

Yelena looks at you perplexed to why she would have to worry about Maria at all, “Oh detka (baby), you misunderstand me, I will be training with my sister, you will be there to accompany and cheer for me as I beat my sister,” you roll your eyes at that. 

“I guess it's fine. At least I’ll have a good view of something while waiting for you,” you purr your words while walking up behind Yelena and wrapping your arms around her midsection, putting your head to her shoulder, “None of that milaya(darling), do not start something you can not finish,” her voice held want but she held back. 

“We should go before my sister comes barging in again,” Yelena removes herself from your hold and holds your hand in her own dragging you with her as she leads both of you out of the room.

Upon entering the gym, you immediately recoil due to the smell of every alpha scent that hits you. It's not strong enough to make you want to puke but it does slightly make you dizzy. Yelena squeezes your hand to bring a sense of comfort when she notices you recoil when entering. You love her so much for that, she always knew when something felt wrong for you and would always try to help you feel better, marked or not.

Your loving gaze on her was quickly cut short when Natasha approached you both from the other end of the gym, “Yelena glad you could make it,” she said with sarcasm,”(y/n), it’s always nice to see you, glad you could come too, makes it easier for this one to comply simple orders,” she points at Yelena with a pointed look, “Well as you know Nat, if Maria finds out I’m here you're done for,” you smirk at her, “And you will most probably be sleeping on the couch for the month,” 

Natasha's eyes widen after some realization and now she looks absolutely scared, “Oh please don’t tell Maria about this,” she practically begs. 

“The black widow begging now, never thought I'll see the day,” you and Yelema both laugh at her, barely being able to hold it in. 

Natasha looks mad but keeps a calm and stoic face, “Let’s just start our training, come on Yelena. I set up a bench near out training spot, you can sit there (y/n),” 

When everyone was settled, Yelena walked over to you and kissed you on the cheek, “Watch me beat my sister,” she puffs her chest in pride, ready to show her mate how strong she is. You just roll your eyes at that. 

Few minutes goes by, and you’ve kept score on who won each time. You were about to score another win for Natasha when someone blocked your view, looking up you see a man standing in front of you, just by inhaling his scent due to him pumping it out to show himself off to you, he was an alpha. “Uhm…excuse me you’re blocking my view, can you please move,” your voice came out low, you were never good at asserting yourself. 

“What’s a sweet omega like you doing in a training room, hm?” he ignores your request and continues to flaunt at you. Showing his broad muscles, that just makes you want to gag, but you’re just too polite to do it. You give him a nervous smile, starting to get really uncomfortable with how close he’s trying to get to you, but you just keep on moving away until you reached the end of the bench you were sitting on. 

“Come on, don’t you want a strong alpha like me to take care of you,” he grins at you, “An omega like you need an alpha like me,” he gets closer to you prompting to wrap an around your shoulders, but before he could even get close he was quickly punched in the face, him staggering a bit to the left due to the force of the punch. 

“DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT A MATED OMEGA LOOKS LIKE! Ty sukin syn (You son of a bitch)!” Yelena yells at the male alpha, she was angry, angry like you have never seen, her chest was heaving and her eyes had dark intentions. 

You immediately snap out of your shock and stand between her and the alpha that was currently cowering in pain and fear. “Move out of the way omega, let me deal with this!” she yells at you, her pheromones overcome you, trying to make you submit but you stand firm. You felt if you let Yelena move towards him, there will be blood. 

Yelena growls in frustration that HER omega was protecting a piece of trash, she moved towards you but suddenly was held back, and she knew who the culprit was, her own fucking sister, “LET GO! LET ME AT HIM! I'LL SHOW HIM NOBODY TOUCHES MY OMEGA!” Natasha’s hold on her is strong, “YELENA! Calm down, just let him go, he learned his lesson,” but Yelena still tried to wiggle her way out of her sister's hold. 

From this point on, you couldn’t handle the stressful situation more so after defying Yelena’s orders is taking a toll on you. You immediately helped the male alpha recover and ordered him to get out, you hoped with him gone it would help relieve some tension in your alpha. But when it didn’t and you saw Natasha starting to struggle holding down an enraged Yelena, you took a more direct approach. 

Walking up to Yelena, she looked at you with anger and possessive eyes, you cupped her cheeks and kissed in the lips. The longer the kiss went on, you felt her body slump in ease, Natasha deeming it safe to let go, she did, and when she did that, Yelena quickly held onto you, Natasha took that as her que to leave both of you alone. 

Both of you only parted ways when needing to breathe became a necessity. Yelena looked at you softly, any residing anger in her had died down, she could never be mad at you, never at you. She loves you too much to let anything happen to you, and when that alpha started to approach you and started making you uncomfortable, she couldn’t handle it anymore and just marched her way to separate him from you, punching him just came to instinct. 

“I’m sorry moya lyubov’ (my love), I couldn’t bare the look at that svin'ya (pig) being near you and when he tried to touch, I lost it…oh I know you hate violence, bu-” you stopped her apologizing, knowing it wasn’t really her fault.

“I know love, I don’t blame you, it was probably my fault too anyway, I should have said something instead of just sitting there,” you kiss her on the cheek in gratitude, “Well he should’ve known better,” Yelena puffed her chess, and started to nuzzle her face in your neck, just right where her mark should be. 

You love when she does this, it always brings comfort to you. “I guess we made everyone leave,” you giggled softly when looking around the gym over Yelena’s shoulder. 

Yelena didn’t really care if there were other people around she just wanted to hold onto you and never let go. You quickly noticed how different she was acting when her hold on you got tighter, “Hey are you ok, what’s wrong?” you ask her softly. 

Yelena didn’t know when she started to feel this way, so vulnerable…she hates it and loves it all at the same time, she’s scared that the more she falls in love with you and you suddenly think she isn't a good enough alpha for you, it might just break her. She doesn’t want to lose you. 

“Yelena,” you gently called her and she looked at you, “Whatever you're thinking, it will never happen. I know you're new to this whole love thing and I know you get scared sometimes being soft, but I promise you, that I will always be there for you and we can explore the new things together,” you smile at her, and kiss her on the lips, but Yelena knew this kiss was different from the rest, it was filled with passion and love, and she loves the feeling of it. 

“I love you, my alpha,” 

“I love you too, my omega”

[not-wholly-unheroic]

15 and 16?

It took me awhile to think about how I wanted to answer these because they’re pretty deep questions.

(Content warning: Mentions of violence/torture, though nothing super graphic.)

15. Worst thing they’ve ever done

Okay, don’t kill me for this one but…as much as I love Hook, even Disney’s Hook has done some TERRIBLE things. We may not see it all play out on-screen, but within minutes of his first appearance, when Hook is contemplating how to get Tiger Lily to give up Peter’s hideout, he mentions some pretty gruesome possibilities—“boiling in oil…keelhauling…marooning!” If you’ve ever been burned by hot cooking oil, you can imagine how bad BOILING in it might be. As for keelhauling…it involved basically tying a person to ropes and dragging them under the bottom of the ship so that they would scrape against any sharp barnacles there, slicing open their skin. A person who was keelhauled might eventually die from blood loss or infection, assuming they didn’t drown first. A marooned person might starve to death or die of thirst if the little spot of sand they were dropped off on didn’t have much in the way of food or fresh water. And Hook is talking about doing these things to A CHILD. Presumably, if he’s considering such things, he has likely done something similar before. And then, of course, we DO actively see him trying to leave Tiger Lily to drown in the first film and tying Peter to an anchor to be sunk to the bottom of the sea in the sequel. Considering all of that, I suspect Hook has done many terrible things in his past and probably got creative with his torture methods. One of the worst I’ve heard of in legend (and one appropriate for someone with a flying nemesis) is the Blood Eagle of Norse mythology. I won’t describe it here because it’s pretty bad. But you can look it up for yourself. I wouldn’t put it past Hook to do something like that in his villain days…

16. Deepest, darkest secret they won’t even admit to themselves

This one depends on where we are in his story. Pre-redemption arc, I think the biggest thing he wouldn’t admit to himself was likely how much he actually NEEDED Peter to give his life a purpose and meaning. If he had actually ever managed to kill Peter…then what? If it happened before Tink dusted the ship, they might not even be able to leave the island. It would likely be more peaceful but I have a feeling the crew would have gotten extremely restless. And even if they COULD leave the island…after a certain point, they would no longer have a place in society. Pirates on wooden ships don’t belong in Wendy’s world. They’re a relic. A bedtime story. Nothing more. A modern ship of the time could have taken them out easily. He would have been happy for awhile but with no real friends or family aside from Smee and nowhere to go…his life would have still been miserable without Pan and he’d have even less of a reason to get up in the morning.

Post-redemption arc, I think the thing he doesn’t want to voice aloud but which really gets to him is the fact that he still struggles with his “old self.” He’d love to say that villain in him is dead and he’s a totally new man, but it doesn’t entirely work that way. The “old self” is still there, dormant but still lurking in the darkest parts of his heart and mind. And what legitimately scares him the most is the question, “What if the better me is just a fraud? What if the REAL me IS that man and I’m just lying to everyone…including myself…that I can be a better man?”

[lesbianjackies]

Run Boy Run

Chapter Two of Book One of Riddle Me This

Five Hargreeves x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 4,580

Warnings: language, violence

Summary: You and Five put your plan into action, but neither it nor Plan B seem to go as planned.

Taglist (lmk if you wanna be added!!): @insomniacwreck, @justbookworm

Vanya comes back with two mugs of coffee and a mug of tea. She hands you the tea and Five the coffee and takes back her seat on the couch. You deal each of you eight cards as Five recounts his experience in the apocalypse.

“We survived on scraps,” he tells Vanya. “Canned food, cockroaches, anything we could find.”

“I was able to find instant coffee and a couple boxes of tea,” you add. “Lasted us a couple years. The tea was pretty good.”

“The coffee was shit, though. At least it wasn’t as bad as that old box of twinkies I found.”

You shudder at the memory. “Oh, yeah. That rumor that twinkies have an endless shelf life is total poppycock.”

“I can’t even imagine,” Vanya says, her expression filled with horror and sympathy.

“You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die,” Five continues. “So we adapted. Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it.” He holds up his mug. “You got anything stronger?”

Vanya nods, going to the kitchen and pouring him a glass of something alcoholic. She offers one to you, but you decline, pouring yourself some more tea instead. The three of you play your game without much conversation for a few moments, the shock in Vanya’s expression never leaving her face.

Five scoffs, noticing. “You think we’re crazy.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” you say, keeping your eyes on your cards. “I’m most definitely crazy, and I think it’s what gives me my whimsical charm.”

Vanya blinks at you but quickly shakes her head. “No, it’s just… it’s a lot to take in.”

“Exactly what don’t you understand?” Five’s voice seethes with a controlled anger.

“Why didn’t you just time travel back?”

Five scoffs again. “Gee, wish I’d thought of that. Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorned.” He looks at her, pain glimmering under the surface of his irritated expression. “You think I didn’t try everything to get back to my family?”

Vanya nods, looking a little nervous. “If you grew old there, you know, in the apocalypse, how come you still look like kids?”

“I told you already.” The irritation in Five’s voice grows as he pours himself another drink. “I must have got the equations wrong.”

“I mean, Dad always used to say that…” Vanya swallows, “time travel could mess up your mind. Well, maybe that’s what’s happening?”

“This was a mistake.” Five slams the drink on the counter, alcohol spilling over the edge. “You’re too young,” he walks over to you and grabs your hand, leading you over to the door, “too naive to understand.”

“We didn’t get to finish our game!” you whine, scrabbling to pick up the cards.

“No.” Vanya walks after you. “Five… Five, wait.”

Five stops just short of walking out and turns around.

“I haven’t seen you in a long time, and I don’t want to lose you again.” Vanya’s voice is shaky. “That’s all. And you know what, it’s getting late, and I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I’m sure you do, too. Both of you.” She walks over to the couch and pulls a blanket over the cushions. “Here. It’s small, and you’d have to share, but I don’t have a spare room. Please, just… sleep, and then we can talk in the morning.” She starts to walk out of the room. “It was nice to meet you, (Y/N),” she says to you before she leaves.

“You too!” You wave as she leaves. “Goodnight!”

“Night,” she says with a thin smile before disappearing into another room.

Five sits down on the couch and you plop down next to him, wrapping the blanket around you. “We’re not really going to sleep,” he says, noticing.

You frown. “Why not? I’m so very tired, Five, and you need sleep, too. We’ll talk to Vanya in the morning, just like she said.”

“Vanya doesn’t believe us,” Five says, trying to keep the frustration in his voice contained. “Talking to her will be no use.”

“Who are we going to get to help us, then?”

“We’ll do it on our own.” Five pulls the eye out of his pocket. “We have this, don’t we?”

“Okay,” you say. “Sleep first, though. I can’t save the world with no rest.”

“Fine,” Five relents, seeing the desperation and exhaustion in your eyes. “But we leave first thing in the morning. Before Vanya wakes up.”

“Alrighty,” you say brightly, then yawn. “Goodnight, Five.” You curl up in the blanket with your head in his lap, falling asleep almost immediately.

“Night, (Y/N),” he says quietly, softly trailing his fingers through your hair. He stares ahead, far too many thoughts in his head and too much coffee in his system to sleep himself. He looks down at your sleeping form. You mumble a bit in your sleep, something about talking cats and rabbits, and he chuckles a bit before placing a kiss on your forehead. “I love you,” he whispers, wishing he had the courage to say it to you when you were awake.

“What if you somersaulted?”

Five stared at you. “What?”

“I said ‘what if you somersaulted?’”

“Yes, I heard you. What do you mean by that?”

“Maybe if you somersault and then keep somersaulting eventually you’ll end up in your own time.”

“That makes no sense.”

“It’s an idea, though.” You tilted your head at him from your place upside down on a bar. “Maybe if you count back from the year it is now time will move with you. Like two thousand and twenty-two, two thousand and twenty-one, two thousand and twenty - “

“Why are you saying so much nonsense!?” Five turned to you in frustration. “If you want to help, give helpful suggestions.”

“I’m just saying what comes to mind,” you said, unphased by his anger. “If I think long enough I’ll come up with something valuable. And what’s the harm in trying nonsense? We’re stuck in the apocalypse. I’m sure anyone who’s never been stuck in the apocalypse before would say ‘Oh, what nonsense!’ were we to tell them we were.”

Five shook his head and turned back to his chalkboard. He paused before writing down another number. “What other ideas do you have?”

Your face brightened with a smile and you spouted off a dozen more nonsensical suggestions, including making a circle of breadcrumbs and performing a ritual, trying to pull 2005 out of a hat, and seeing if a rabbit hole would lead you to the right time (which was the most ridiculous idea of all, considering all the rabbits that had previously existed were dead). Five didn’t really believe any of your ideas would work, but it was true that the very fact of being stuck in the apocalypse was almost as nonsensical as your suggestions, so he decided to humor you for the next few minutes. Which turned into the next few hours, which turned into the rest of the day, and at some point Five had to accept that he was humoring you because he had fallen head over heels in love with you.

He didn’t know how he fell in love with a crazy girl, but maybe the fact that you were crazy was what made him love you so much. Maybe he was crazy himself, or maybe the fact that you were literally the last person on Earth had something to do with it, but it didn’t really matter why or how. What mattered was that Five Hargreeves was infatuated with your madness, and he thought it might kill him if anything killed you.

Five wakes you up at the crack of dawn, as he said he would, and immediately teleports the two of you to the Umbrella Academy for quick showers and clothing changes. He rushes you to the point where you feel time might literally be slipping out of his hands and down the drain and you’re at the hospital in such a short amount of time you get whiplash.

A man wearing a lab coat walks over to you. “Uh, can I help you?” he asks, looking confused.

“We need to know who this belongs to,” Five replies, holding up the eye.

“Where did you get that?”

“Five found it in - “ you start, but Five cuts you off.

“We found it at a playground,” he tells the man. “Must’ve just…” He clicks his tongue. “...popped out.”

“Your name is Five?” the man asks, growing more and more confused and suspicious by the second.

“It’s a family name,” Five tells him. “We wanna return the eye to its rightful owner.”

“Oh…” says a woman sitting at a desk, “what thoughtful kids.”

“Yeah.” Five gives her an irritated smile. “Look up the name for us, will ya?”

The woman’s smile disappears, taken aback.

“Uh, I’m sorry, but patient records are strictly confidential,” the man tells him. “That means I can’t tell you - “

“Yeah, we know what it means.”

“But I’ll tell you what I can do,” the man continues. “I will take the eye off your hands and return it to the owner. I’m sure he or she will be very grateful, so if I can just - “

“Yeah, you’re not touching this eye,” Five cuts him off.

“Now, you listen here, young man - “

Five grabs the man by his lab coat. “No! You listen to me, asshole. We’ve come a long way for this, through some shit your pea brain couldn’t even comprehend, so just give us the information we need, and we’ll be on our merry way. And if you call me ‘young man’ one more time, I’m gonna put your head through that damn wall.”

“Oh, dear.” The woman picks up a phone.

“Call security,” the man whispers to her.

“Yeah.” She dials a number.

Five reluctantly lets go of the man and grabs your hand before storming out of the building. “Well, that was a complete and utter waste of time.”

“We could come up with something else,” you suggest. “Do you want a riddle?”

Five sighs. “If you think it’ll help.”

“We’re children right now

“So we’re not allowed

“To do anything without adults around

“If we had a parent with a goal like ours

“They’d help us achieve it with their adult powers”

“You want us to get some adult to pretend to be our parent?” Five says.

“Mhm! One of your siblings, probably.”

“No one is gonna believe us,” Five deadpans.

“What about your crazy brother?” you suggest. “He seems like he’d be up for just about anything.”

“Klaus?” Five thinks for a second. “I’d hate to fund his drug habit, but he might be willing to help if he paid him.”

“There! We have a new plan,” you say triumphantly.

“As long as it doesn’t go downhill like the last one.”

“Oh, stop being a Negative Nancy!” you scold him. “This plan will work.”

“Stop being a Negative Nancy!?” Five explodes. “The world is ending in a week, and you want me to be positive!?”

“Are you finished?”

Five fumes.

“Yes, I want you to be positive. I want you to be positive because the world is ending in a week. There is absolutely no point in being negative because all it does is waste time we could be using to try and keep the world from ending in a week.”

Five’s anger seems to fade, and he sighs. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you,” you say with a smile. “Now, it’s time for Plan B.”

Five teleports you to the Academy where you conveniently find Klaus in the living room, rummaging through the liquor cabinets. “Klaus,” Five calls.

Klaus swivels around and laughs at the sight of his brother. “Oh, hey, little bro! Looking to have a chat with your big brother? Need me to teach you how to shave, to give you relationship advice?”

“We aren’t here to play games, Klaus. We need you to do something for us.”

“Oh?” Klaus saunters over to you. “And what would that be?”

“We need you to pretend to be our dad,” you tell him.

Klaus laughs. “You’re kidding. Nobody’s gonna believe you two are related.”

“That’s not the point, Klaus,” Five says. “We need information from the hospital and we’re more likely to get it with the help of an adult. And you are the only adult unhinged enough to possibly get us what we need.”

“Why, thank you, Five. But if you want this to be believable she can’t be your sister. You look nothing alike, it’s just unrealistic.”

Five huffs. “Couldn’t she be adopted or something?”

“No,” Klaus says with a devilish grin. “She’s your girlfriend.”

Five rolls his eyes. “What? Fine, whatever.”

“And one more thing,” Klaus adds. “I expect generous compensation for my valuable efforts.”

“You can have twenty bucks if you do this for us. Deal?”

Klaus holds his hand out for Five to shake, who leaves it in the air. “Deal.”

“Find something professional to wear,” Five calls as Klaus leaves the room. Klaus salutes him. Five leads you up to his room.

“I told you it would work,” you say, plopping down on his bed.

“It hasn’t yet,” he replies, looking out the window.

“It has so far.”

Five doesn’t reply. Vanya walks into the room a few minutes later. “Oh, thank God,” she sighs. “I was worried sick about you.”

“Sorry we left without saying goodbye.” Five turns to her.

“No, look, I’m the one that should be sorry,” Vanya says. “Yeah, I was dismissive, and… I- I guess I didn’t know how to process what you were saying. And I still can’t, to be honest.”

“Maybe you were right to be dismissive,” Five says, and you sit up, confused. “Maybe it wasn’t real after all. It felt real. Well… like you said, the old man did say time travel could contaminate the mind.”

“I was there too, though,” you speak up. “I saw it.”

“Yes, and when we met you told me you were prone to hallucinations,” Five points out. “Maybe we both made it up.”

“We both had the same hallucination!? Five, that’s - “ He gives you a look and you cut off your sentence. “That’s… possible, I suppose.”

“Then maybe I’m not the right person for you to be talking to,” Vanya says. “Look, I used to see someone. A therapist. I could give you her information.”

“Thanks, but… I think we just need to get some rest,” Five says. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a good sleep.”

“Okay.” Vanya exits the room.

You and Five start to leave after her but then Klaus falls out of the closet. “That’s so…” He holds a hand to his heart. “...touching, all that stuff about family and Dad and time. Wow!”

“Would you shut up?” Five hisses. “She’ll hear you.”

“I’m moist,” is Klaus’s reply.

“I thought I told you to put on something professional.”

Klaus is wearing a hideous floral suit with gold buttons and a hot pink lining. “What? This is my nicest outfit.”

“I quite like it,” you comment.

“Thank you, Five’s girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Five says, annoyed. “We’ll raid the old man’s closet so you can wear something actually nice.” He walks out of the room, you and Klaus close behind.

“Whatever,” Klaus says. “As long as I get paid.”

“When the job is done.”

“Okay, but just so we’re clear on the finer details, I just gotta go into this place and pretend to be your dear old dad, correct?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

“What’s our cover story?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“I mean, was I really young when I had you? Like, sixteen? Like, young and…” His voice takes on a mocking tone. “...terribly misguided?”

“Sure.”

“Your mother, that slut. Whoever she was. We met at… the disco.” Klaus chuckles. “Okay? Remember that.” He snaps his fingers. “Oh my gosh, the sex was amazing.”

“What a disturbing glimpse into that thing you call a brain.” Five grabs your hand and starts walking down the stairs.

“Don’t make me put you in time-out,” Klaus says, following after you.

Five leads you into what you assume to be Reginald Hargreeves’s room and digs through the closet, pulling out a nice suit. “Change into this,” he instructs Klaus. Klaus begins to take off his clothes and Five snaps, “Not in here.”

Klaus sticks his tongue out at him and leaves the room. “I like your brother,” you say. “He’s fun.”

“You’re one of the first I’ve heard say that,” Five says.

“Really? That’s kinda sad.”

Five shrugs. Klaus comes back, finally wearing something nice. “Good. Let’s go now.”

“Goodness, you’re in a hurry,” Klaus comments.

“Yeah, well, the world is ending in a week, so…”

“The world is what?”

Five doesn’t respond, just grabs you and Klaus and teleports to outside the hospital. You walk in and meet the doctor you met earlier in his office. He sighs irritatedly but allows you to have a seat. “Like I said to your kids - “

“My son and his girlfriend,” Klaus corrects, earning an eye roll from both Five and the doctor.

The doctor sighs again. “Like I said to your son and his girlfriend earlier, any information about the prosthetics we build is strictly confidential.” He knows why you’re there before you get a chance to say anything. “Without the client’s consent, I simply can’t help you.”

“Well, we can’t get consent if you don’t give us a name,” Five says through clenched teeth.

“Well, that’s not my problem. Sorry, Now, there’s really nothing more I can do, so - “

“And what about my consent?” Klaus speaks up.

“Excuse me?”

“Who gave you permission…” He fakes a sob. “...to lay your hands… on my son and his girlfriend?”

“What?” everyone but Klaus says in unison.

“You heard me.”

“I didn’t touch your son, or his girlfriend,” the doctor says.

“Oh, really? Well, then how did he get that swollen lip, then? And how did she get a bruise on her cheek?”

“He doesn’t have a swollen - “

Before the doctor can finish his sentence, Klaus stands up and slaps Five across the face. You almost scream and then his hand is on your face too. Five runs over and cups your chin in his hands, eyes full of worry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” You look at him. “Are you?”

He nods and lets go of your face, turning to Klaus indignantly. Klaus inhales sharply and leans over the desk to talk to the doctor. “I want it. Name, please. Now.”

“You’re crazy.”

Klaus chuckles. “You got no idea.” He picks up a snow globe sitting on the doctor’s desk. “‘Peace on Earth’. That’s so sweet.” He smashes it over his head. “Oh, that hurt!” he groans.

The doctor picks up the phone. “I’m calling secur - “ Klaus rips the phone out of his hands. “What are you doing?”

“There’s been an assault,” Klaus says into the phone, “in Mr. Big’s office, and we need security, now. Schnell!” He throws the phone down. “Now, here’s what’s gonna happen, Grant.”

“It’s… Lance.” The doctor stares at him, eyes wide with fear.

“In about sixty seconds,” Klaus continues, ignoring him, “two security guards are gonna burst through that door, and they’re gonna see a whole lot of blood, and they’re gonna wonder, ‘What the hell happened?’ And we’re gonna tell them that you… beat the shit out of us.” He fakes a dramatic sob. “You’re gonna do great in prison, Grant. Trust me, I’ve been there. Little piece of chicken like you. Oh my gosh, you’re gonna get passed around like a… You’re just- You’re gonna do great. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Jeez, you are a real sick bastard.”

“Thank you.” Klaus spits out a shard of glass.

Lance leads the three of you into the file room and looks up the owner of the eyeball’s name. “Oh, that’s strange,” he says after a moment.

“What?” Five demands.

“Uh, the eye. It hasn’t been purchased by a client yet.”

“What?” Klaus jumps down beside him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, uh, our logs say that the eye with that serial number…” His expression turns into confusion. “That can’t be right. It hasn’t even been manufactured yet. Where did you get that eye?”

Five sighs and shakes his head. “C’mon. We’re leaving.”

“Wh- what? I asked you a question - “

Five ignores him and leaves. You and Klaus follow after him. “Well, this is not good,” he says as you walk out of the building, defeated once again.

“I was pretty good, though, right?” Klaus says. “‘Yeah. What about my consent, bitch?’” He explodes into hysterical laughter.

“Klaus, it doesn’t matter.”

“What? What? What’s the big deal with this eye, anyway?”

“Whoever owns it causes the end of the world,” you tell him.

“Yeah, can I get that twenty bucks, like, now, or what?” he asks dismissively.

“Your twenty bucks?” Five repeats incredulously.

“Yeah, my twenty bucks.”

“The apocalypse is coming, and all you can think about is getting high?”

“Well, I’m also quite hungry. Tummy’s a-rumblin’.” Klaus imitates the sound of his stomach growling.

“You’re useless. You’re all useless!” Five grabs your hand and starts walking away.

“Oh, come on.” Klaus follows you. “You need to lighten up, old man. Whatever her name is - “

“(Y/N),” Five tells him irritatedly.

“(Y/N)’s all loose and fun! Why can’t you be like her?”

“Because I’m not like her,” Five says darkly.

“Five is sane, that’s why he’s no fun,” you tell Klaus.

“That is an excellent point, (Y/N). Hey, you know what, why don’t you come with me? We could have so much fun away from Mister Uptight over here.”

“We could,” you say. “But I like him. And we also have to save the world.”

“Goodness, what is all this about saving the world?”

You open your mouth to respond but Five grabs your hand. “We’re leaving,” he says. “And you’re not getting your money,” he tells Klaus.

“What!?”

Five teleports you and himself into a passing taxi cab before Klaus can say anything else. “Don’t stop, just keep going,” he tells the driver. The driver falters for a moment but does as he’s told, a bewildered look on his face as he continues to drive. Five tells him to take you back to the Academy.

“Do we have another plan?” you ask.

“Rest,” he says. “You need it, I need it, and I’ve been putting way too much pressure on you.”

Your eyes flutter in surprise. “Oh. Can we… Can we find Delores tonight?” you ask quietly.

Five smiles and squeezes your hand. “We can. But for now, we’re just going to rest.”

You nod, smiling back, and he puts his arms around you before teleporting to his room. “Will you read to me?”

He nods. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?” Your smile widens. He truly knows you as well as you know yourself. You nod. He grabs the book and lays back on his bed, pulling you close to him so your head is resting on his chest. “‘Chapter One,’” he reads, “‘Down the Rabbit Hole. Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversation?”’”

You’re asleep before he can make it to the next sentence; even though Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is your favorite book of all time and you would never dream of falling asleep during a reading of it, the small bit of sleep you got last night was not nearly enough and you were too exhausted to stay awake even for Alice and her mad Wonderlandian friends.

When you’re shaken gently awake it’s dark outside, and Five whispers, “Do you still want to get Delores?”

The sleep immediately leaves your body and you sit up excitedly, nodding. Five smiles and teleports you outside, getting in the car and driving to Gimble Brothers. He teleports inside the now-locked store and grabs a flashlight off a rack so you can see more clearly. You walk through the store, searching for your beloved mannequin friend, and eventually spot her in between two other mannequins.

You smile. “Delores!” You run toward her, Five following close behind. “It’s so good to see you,” you tell her. “Five and I have missed you so incredibly much, isn’t that right, Five?”

Five nods with a small smile. “It’s been a rough couple of days,” he says softly.

The moment is perfect, for a second, and then it’s ruined by gunshots completely destroying your newly found friend. “No!” you scream, and Five grabs you, teleporting you out of harm’s way.

He peeks out from behind a rack of clothes. “Oh, shit, it’s them.”

“The Commission?” you whisper.

“Hazel and Cha-Cha.”

You press your hands to your mouth in horror. Hazel and Cha-Cha are the Commission’s most skilled assassins now that you and Five are gone. And they wouldn’t be here unless they were trying to kill you. You dart out from behind the clothes rack and grab the now broken Delores.

“(Y/N), no!” Five yells, pulling you back right after you get her. “Stay here,” he tells you, but you shake your head, not willing to let him fight Hazel and Cha-Cha on his own. “Please,” he whispers. “I can’t let anything happen to you.” You open your mouth to object but he teleports away, leaving you behind. You sit there, covering your ears and breathing heavily and hoping it’s over soon, and then Five comes back and he grabs you. “We’re getting out of here.” You hold on tight to Delores and he holds on tight to you, running and teleporting through the store to avoid the bullets.

He eventually stops behind a large desk, holding you and stroking your hand with his thumb until Hazel and Cha-Cha leave. You hear police sirens and take it as a sign to leave; he teleports out and back to the Academy. You run into Luther and Allison on your way upstairs.

“Five?” Allison says, concerned. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Are you okay?” Luther asks. “Can we help?” He reaches his hand out but Five grabs his arm before he can touch him.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Five says, voice shaking. “There’s nothing any of you can do.” He releases Luther’s arm and pulls you the rest of the way upstairs.

He pulls you close to him and buries his head into your shoulder, and after a moment you realize he’s crying. You wrap your arms around him and rub his back as he sobs, saying nothing until he finishes.

“We’ll worry about everything later,” you say softly, wiping his tears away from his face. “Right now you need to sleep. I know you haven’t been while I was.” Five swallows and nods, letting you pull him to his bed and curling up close to you, falling asleep almost instantly. “I love you,” you whisper, something you wish you could say while he was awake.

[wandaromanova]

can i request wandanat x r? r wants to propose to wandanat and has been sneaking around to hide her plans of proposal. wandanat thinks r is cheating and maybe leaves her? you decide but angst please and i just love all your work i can't stop re reading them💕

Ruined

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader x Natasha Romanoff

Warnings: cussing, arguing, very slight violence, cheating allegations

A/N: hi! thank you for your request! im flattered to know that you love and re read my work! i may or may not have intentionally left this on a cliffhanger whoops 🤭 <3

Ruined | Regret

Word Count: 1.8K | masterlist

(gif is not mine)

You had first met Wanda and Natasha when you were tasked with being the Avengers’ liaison. You were tasked to handpick missions that you believed required the attention of the heroes and assigned team members onto those missions.

You worked very closely with the team, you even lived with them in the compound for convenience. In the time spent working for them, you had grown super close to everyone; most especially Nat and Wanda.

It first started off with the pair going into your office, always asking for missions. You had found it odd considering they never took a break. You didn’t understand why they’d seek out missions when they were clearly exhausted. You figured that maybe they just loved helping people so much that they got excited and anxious for missions, but little did you know what their true intentions were.

They wanted to spend time with you. They wanted to observe you close up and not across a conference table. They wanted to know everything there was to know about you. As creepy as it was, they wanted to get close enough to know what you smelt like. They wanted to know what your lips tasted like. They wanted the relationship with you to surpass professionalism.

Eventually, the two Avengers stopped asking for missions when they came in; they just went to your office for the sake of going there. They’d bring you various lunches every single day and shower you with small compliments.

You’d brushed it off as the women being very good friends that just so happened to be flirts. You were wrong. They were interested in you, in the same way you were in them. You couldn’t help but admire the two beautiful women.

Their green eyes, fit bodies, and kind smiles were a recipe for disaster, in the best way possible. With one look, you’d drop to your knees and do whatever they wanted. They just had to say the word and you would do it, no hesitation. Yeah, it sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it’s painfully and embarrassingly true.

Over the course of time, you had grown closer to Wanda and Nat. Your daily lunches turned into daily movie nights and dinners too. You saw them all the time and you didn’t mind it one bit.

They finally asked you out after a year of spending time with and getting closer to you. It was safe to say, you instantly agreed with a smile on your face as you let out an, “of course! fucking finally!”

•❅────────✧❅✦❅✧─────────❅•

Now, you had been dating the two women for five years. Yeah, it’s been a long ass time, but it still wasn’t enough for you. You wanted to spend forever with Wanda and Nat.

You wanted to get an actual house in the suburbs together. Not an apartment in the middle of New York, but a place you could call home. You craved the domesticity of it all.

You wanted to settle down and have kids with them somehow; whether it be by adoption or via surrogate. You just wanted to have a family of your own with the two woman you loved more than anyone or anything in the universe.

So, you’ve been sneaking around trying to keep your secret, well… a secret. You were planning on proposing to your girlfriends. Yes, this was a very huge step in a relationship, but you felt as though it was the right time. You guys had been together for five years! You were practically married to them already!

You would sneak off suddenly during your usual movie nights with Wanda and Nat or before breakfast to go and meet with different jewelers. You didn’t want to go into a store and buy their rings. That was not an option in the slightest. They were special and deserved special rings. They needed rings that were as unique and one of a kind as they were. It’s what Wanda and Nat deserved.

So, you were constantly leaving, whether it be early in the morning or the late hours of the night, on the search for someone who could make your ideas for their rings, a reality. You would hide your phone from Wanda and Nat’s view and even changed your passcode in order to prevent them from finding out. You’d face your phone down whenever you left it in a room with the pair, as well.

Unfortunately, in your excitement of what was to come, you didn’t realize how suspicious your behavior had been. You figured that you were being pretty discreet, coming up with pretty believable excuses. You even had some of the team help you with your lies, since you let them know what you had planned.

However, you forgot you were dating a world class spy and a witch. You were wrong, obviously. As each day passed, your girlfriends worried and assumed the worst. They let their minds spiral and searched for worst case scenarios. The worst one of all seeming the most likely; infidelity. They came to the conclusion that you were cheating on them.

•❅────────✧❅✦❅✧─────────❅•

Natasha and Wanda cried to one another on one of the nights you bolted off and zoomed out of the apartment with a lame excuse.

Wanda sat on the couch as Nat held her in her arms. They both had tears cascading down their faces as their thoughts were plagued by you; by your supposed betrayal.

“How? How could she do this to us? After everything we’ve been through? She’s goes and cheats on us?” Wanda spoke brokenly as she released a sob. Natasha pulled Wanda closer, the Sokovian woman placing her head in the crook of Nat’s neck.

“I don’t know. I really don’t know, Wanda. All I know is, this can’t go on any longer.” Natasha spoke, trying to keep her voice steady, but her voice failed her. She came out shaky as the sadness and hurt seeped in. You had betrayed them, or so they thought.

They sat there in the same position, waiting for your return. Finally, four hours later. You had come back to the apartment.

You were ecstatic as you made your way up to the front door. You finally found a jeweler that could make the perfect rings for Wanda and Nat! You couldn’t wait to get on one knee and present the rings to the two women who would forever hold your heart. You were over the moon excited right now.

However, your joy was quickly wiped away the second you stepped foot into the apartment. You took in the sight of Wanda and Natasha on the couch, staring at you with dried and fresh tears on their faces. You instantly shut the door and tossed your keys onto the counter as you rushed towards your girlfriends worriedly.

“Nat, Wands, what’s wrong loves?” You asked as you approached them, but Natasha abruptly stood up before you could get too close.

“Don’t you take another fucking step!” Nat snapped at you, and you stumbled backwards a little, in total shock. Your concern increased as you looked between the fuming redhead and the heartbroken looking brunette.

“Did something happen? What’s wrong?” You were so confused and desperately wanted to comfort your girlfriends. You don’t recall doing anything that could anger and upset them this much.

“Yeah, something happened. Our girlfriend is a fucking pathetic, cheating ass bitch who can’t keep it in her pants.” Natasha spoke with venom dripping from her tone. You literally let out a gasp, her words physically hurting you.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not cheating on you guys! I love you both more than you guys could even imagine!” You raised your voice, getting frustrated with the situation.

Wanda suddenly stood up and stuck beside Nat. She stared at you with anger clouding her sadness now.

“You’re not cheating on us? Then why the hell have you been running off at weird hours of the day? Why have you been hiding your phone from us?” Wanda began to fire a bunch of questions towards you.

You froze in your place. The answers to their questions weren’t what they thought they would be. The true answers were the complete opposite of cheating, you were acting weird because you were planning on proposing! But you couldn’t tell them that!

You stood silently as the two women stared at you, breathing heavily. They took your silence as confirmation of their suspicions.

“We fucking knew it. You’re a fucking joke, Y/N. Were we not enough for you? Was two women not enough for you?” Wanda inched her way towards you, eyes glowing red.

You backed away, not in fear, but in sadness. You really wished you could tell them the real reasons behind your behavior, but you couldn’t without blowing up your surprise.

“Did you really think you could go behind our backs without us noticing?” Wanda continued to stalk towards you, like she was about to murder you.

“I swear to you both, I would never, ever, cheat on you guys. You’re both more than enough for me. You’re my home, I’d never jeopardize that.” You tried to convince your girlfriends to believe you, but they weren’t having it.

“Stop lying to us!” Wanda screamed out as she sent you flying back with a scarlet colored blast as she used her powers on you. Your back connected with the front door as you groaned. That was going to be a huge bruise later, for sure.

“I’m not lying. When have I ever lied to you both, huh? Why the fuck would I start now?” You asked exasperatedly as you stood up slowly. You cringed at the pain radiating from your back.

“And here you go again, more lies coming out of your slutty mouth. The fucking nerve you have, Why don’t you go and fuck whoever you’ve been seeing and leave us alone?” Natasha spoke as she moved forward, placing her hand firmly on Wanda��s waist.

Before you even have the chance to speak, Wanda opened the door with her powers and tossed you out of the apartment. She abruptly slammed the door in your face. Wanda and Nat’s angry, pain-filled faces and scarlet colored magic being the last things you saw before the door blocked your vision with a harsh slam.

You sat on the ground in front of the door in shock. They thought you were cheating on them. They didn’t want anything do with you now. What the fuck were you supposed to do now? What did this mean for your proposal? Should you cancel on the jeweler? Or should you hold out hope and pray that they’ll hear you out eventually?

All you did know was that your proposal had been ruined regardless. Whether you told them about your plans or not, the moment was doomed the minute they began to suspect cheating.

Withholding the information from them, caused them to push you away. But now that you look at it, if you had just told them about the proposal, you’d at least be in their arms right now and not on the floor of your apartment complex hallway with tears streaming down your face.

You were at a loss, and you didn’t know if you could gain back the trust of the women you loved.

───────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────────

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[mariacallous]

I woke up on Sunday morning to a call from a CNN producer asking if I would come on the news to talk about what had happened in Colorado Springs. I had no idea what she was saying, but as a Pulse survivor I could feel it in my gut. While she had me on the phone, I tried to get up to speed on what happened.

The news started to filter through: five dead, many more injured. I called friends in the area to make sure they were OK. Immediately, my heart was broken, and I was transported back to the worst night of my life.

I often refer to 11 June 2016, as my “last normal day”. I was a totally different person then. I worked at Starbucks. I was content to enjoy the sliver of happiness I found in the world. My best friends Juan and Drew were also my chosen family. I lost them that night. Nothing will ever be the same for me. It’s a weight I will carry for the rest of my life.

When I was young, I didn’t know the term “safe space”. But I knew how gay bars made me feel. There was a bar where I grew up in Portland called the Escape where I felt like I could be myself for the first time. But I was living at home back then, and going to a gay bar still felt like a dirty secret that I had to hide.

Then I moved to Orlando. Pulse was the first place I can remember holding hands with someone I liked without looking over my shoulder first. I dared to wear a real pair of skinny jeans in public without having to worry about what people would say. I came of age in that bar. It was a place where you can exhale and dare to imagine a better future for yourself.

I dabbled in music production for a time and Pulse was the first place I heard one of my songs play. I ran from one corner to another saying: “That’s me!”

It’s impossible to think about Pulse without remembering the horrible events of 12 June 2016. But Pulse was also a home. Obviously the night that the tragedy happened is emblazoned in my memory for ever, but it’s the beautiful, joyful times that stick with me.

Just over six years later, I’m filled with rage. My community has been under assault. We’re angry because we’ve been worried this type of thing was coming. We’ve spent months listening to hateful, vile, disgusting rhetoric spewed by rightwing figures like my own governor, Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis and Texas’s governor, Greg Abbott, have been caught in a pissing match over who can treat the LGBTQ+ community worse. They are supported in the media by a slew of rightwing talking heads who make money when they say shocking things: Christopher Rufo, Candace Owens, Charlie Kirk, Ben Shapiro. Their hate trickles up to Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity, through conferences like CPAC and to wealthy figures like Stephen Miller, who spent millions running anti-trans ads through the midterms.

My community knew a tragedy like what happened at Club Q was coming. We kept sounding the alarm when armed protesters showed up at drag shows, when white supremacists were arrested outside of Pride festival after threatening violence, when a donut shop was firebombed because they dared to host an art show featuring drag queens. We begged those on the right to turn the temperature down, to stop assaulting an already marginalized community. They wouldn’t listen.

A recent Trevor Project poll found that 66% of LGBTQ+ young people said the current political climate had an impact on their physical and mental health. It breaks my heart that a place like Club Q, and especially the trans people who were there, had to pay the ultimate price of the hateful rhetoric of politicians trying to win votes.

I’ve seen a lot of people in my circle on social media saying: we’re all we’ve got. And that feels so relevant right now. I know that in this hostile political environment, it’s my community that has my back. It’s the drag performers, who have their reputations shattered by politicians every day but still show up on Saturday to entertain us with their artistry. It’s the Black trans women, who have been under assault not just for the past months, but decades. And as we saw with the trans woman who helped take down the Club Q shooter with her high heel, they’re willing to put their bodies on the line to defend us. The challenge for the rest of us is simple: are we willing to do the same for them?

When you’ve been touched by hate violence, you become part of this unfortunate club. There’s a look in someone’s eyes when they’ve seen the same things I’ve seen. There’s a dim to their shine, as if the innocence and naivety has been ripped from them. I remember seeing this very vividly when I first met the Parkland kids. I feel it with every survivor I meet. I would tell the survivors in Colorado to please lean on the rest of us. The cameras will go away when the next crisis breaks out, but we know what you’re going through. Most of all: be good to each other. Do what you need to do to feel well and whole and don’t feel guilty about waking up tomorrow. You belong here.

I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year. Drew and Juan should be there. If they were, they’d cook, because I sure don’t. After we lost them, some of their friends, from all different points in their lives, came together. We’re bonded by trauma, and a fierce love for our friends. We’ll spend the day drinking lots of wine, playing video games and looking through old photos. We honor our friends with the joy of being together. And when we go home, we’ll take our rage and try to use it to change the world.