#do you think he ever went through a mustache phase | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ohheyitsokay · 4 years ago

Text

classic

pairing: Jack Daniels (Agent Whiskey) x reader

wordcount: 3k

warnings: none, tropes on tropes on tropes, weird descriptions of things

summary: good, old fashioned fan fiction chaos

notes: there’s no getting around it - everything I write with Jack is inevitably influenced and inspired by @scribbledghost s version of him, particularly her neighbor!whiskey. I tried not to, but I still feel I should give credit!

It was the kind of razor your grandfather would have used – more of a knife than anything, because of course it was.

Of course this would be edge that your housemate used to slide along his jaw and chin and cheeks to make that perfect mustache before work in the mornings. He was the type to love old fashioned, traditional, dangerous things - it made sense. After all, that was why you were staying in the guestroom of his ranch home while your apartment was being renovated. Old fashioned courtesy between friends, of course.

Dangerous.

Jack had caught you watching him, impressed in spite of yourself as the sharp blade scraped over his neck, neatly slicing the hairs on his throat, and pushing your heart into yours. It was unnecessarily intense, dramatic, the touch of risk for the sake of vanity. It made you swallow, awed that he wasn’t covered in little cuts, and almost aroused at how casually he used something so akin to a weapon. And that alone made him smirk, cocky, as though he had been waiting for you to notice, hoping to impress you.

A few days later he’d coaxed you to him, settled in a chair with his legs spread wide with confidence as he handed you the tool, smug with confidence – almost a challenge. He had gotten wrecked at work – he actually had, and it was the perfect excuse to draw you close, make you bend to his will. Schoolyard tactics, really, but all of this was, and it was worth it to have your eyes on him alone, face a breath away from his.

It was about trust more than anything. Not that you would ever hurt him, but the power of being over him was heightened by the intimacy as you lathered the cream over his skin.

His deep eyes bore into you, not flickering to the blade as you tried to focus on your task. If he had asked you a different time, another day, you maybe could have refused, but somehow his wanting your steady hand felt heavy with implication.

Ignoring the quickening steps of your heart, your fingers grasped his chin, shaving away the stubble he’d let grow just for this. Each slice of smooth skin revealed left a thick line of froth and hairs on the blade, and you got to breathe as your turned away to wipe it off. You could feel his gaze, still, but you couldn’t bring yourself to meet it. Hovering over him while he was seated, touching his jaw, leaning close, and meeting those brown eyes would have been too much.

Your denial was as a solid as a wall with half sunk into the ground with cement – almost rooted in your fear of rejection.

It was a challenge to ignore the shots of adrenaline that filled you when he’d reach around you to grab something in the fridge, his chest against your back, hand on your hip. Already you had shoved down the butterflies in your stomach when he’d offered you a place to stay, carried your boxes, and called you sweetheart. You had spent far to long ignoring the way he hadn’t brought a single girl home since you’d been there to fold now and admit anything. Because if you did, there was a chance you would lose your friend forever, and that was out of the question.

You kept your eyes down to keep your hands steady.

For his part, Jack’s plan was only half working. He liked your attention, liked the way your breath hitched as you wiped him clean. But you were closer than you had ever been, patting in the aftershave and you wouldn’t look at him, wouldn’t open the door for him to push the tools and towels aside and kiss you. All he wanted was to grab hold of you and pull you into his lap and make you melt against him but there wasn’t a moment.

You’d been friends for a long time, been there for each other countless times and he had yearned for you almost as long. At first, he tried to deny it too, grabbing at random women and hating himself when he imagined they were you as he pulled them into his room.

Then he’d given that up, stopped pretending anyone could replace you, that anyone else occupied his dreams, anyone else could be as good a fit for him, and went after you full speed. It had honestly been innocent to invite you to stay, instinct instilled in him from his childhood. Still, he had begun to see the opportunities for the two of you to enjoy intimate domesticity right away, when he’d cooked you dinner and you’d talked at his table for hours, finally not worried about having to drive home. He ached for that – not ever really having to leave you, and he spent more nights than he’d like to admit thinking of knocking on your door.

Only… you were still in your denial phase. Not sleeping around just pretending it was normal to sink into his arms after a bad day, to let your friend play with your hair until you fell asleep, to watch his lips as you gently helped him shave.

It was too vulnerable, to high of a risk to go after you with the chance that you weren't ready. The last thing he wanted was to scare you away.

“What, really?” you said, genuinely surprised. When you’d accepted to stay, he’d promised you there would be no problems, but now you felt guilty.

His mama was coming to town, and would more than likely be staying with him.

“I’ll find somewhere else!”

Jack was already shaking his head at you, like you were missing the joke, but he looked… almost nervous? You couldn’t tell, it wasn’t something you saw on his face often.

“Actually, sweetheart, I was hoping you could do me a favor,” he was asking, but it’s not like you could actually say no you him, when he shot that winning smile your way. It was like not petting a puppy – and you were the opposite of allergic to cowboy secret agents.

“You know Mama Daniels,” he said and you smiled, having spent many a summer helping her in her garden, and being thanked with dinners heavy with butter and love. “She’ll like you here, she’ll be over the damn moon.” And you conceded. It would be more than nice, to spend time with such a wonderful woman, an Jack had invested in a very comfortable couch. For a week you enjoyed a hopeful bliss, that she would help remind you Jack was just your friend.

The sun was shining through the windows, the winding almost singing a quiet, breathy song, and everything was as spotless as you could manage. Well worn quilts were clean, and you had set up a little station for yourself in the living room determined to make it your home for the week.

Then she came with a jacket that matched her slacks and shoes with little buckles and a paisley suitcase full of presents for her son, who she insisted wasn’t really grown. She hugged you and scolded you for being at work instead of coming to pick her up, and finally settled at the kitchen table, her intentions clear. You were to sit and catch up - Jack was already pulling the sweet tea you’d made from the fridge and a reused sewing tin filled with butter cookies appeared out of her purse.

Meekly, you sat, knowing if you didn’t eat the cookies in quantity, she would pout her whole visit. You could feel Jack settle at your side as she talked, warm and solid, a comfort, despite the heat of the day.

The cookies disintegrated on your tongue, melting with a burst of sweet before the bite was gone. They were full of love and maternal affection and things that you hated to spend money on and made all bad thoughts disappear. You were thankful your mouth was full of one when she mentioned, offhandedly, how plum delighted she was when she found out the two of you were finally dating. Abruptly, you remembered just how wrong your previous hope was.

The sweet lady had been hinting for you to marry her son since before he’d mastered his first lasso, and apparently, she was sure that moment was well on its way.

“And living together, no less!” she was beaming with pride, tradition apparently irrelevant as she chatted happily about it.

Turning to the man by your side, you found him choking, trying to breathe through the cookie he’d accidentally inhaled. There was a white ring around his irises as he stared at you, panicking and aptly confused. Sure your face matched his, you jerked your head at his mother, a silent argument ensuing.

Did you do this?

No!

What do we do?

We can’t break her heart!

It went unnoticed. You felt helpless, drinking your tea and trying not to have a small meltdown in front of a very misinformed lady who had brought you cookies.

He was your friend! And sure, you liked the weight of his arm around your shoulders or could get lost in the drawl of his voice but that was normal! It was normal to be so comfortable with him as the beginning, end, and highlight to each of your days.

Sounding weak even to yourself, a crack, solid and formidable, formed in the wall you created to protect yourself and the friendship you had built.

“Ma’am, I’ll be back in a moment,” you whispered, grabbing your phone as you grasped at air, hoping beyond logic that you could pretend it was an important call.

You didn’t exactly run away, but you walked very quickly outside, mourning the loss of your little guestroom, and the privacy it offered.

Jack would never, ever smack his mama but he did want to say some choice words. Nothing could have prepared him for the last two minutes of his life, first the embarrassment of the misunderstanding and then… the fear in your eyes.

He hated it, hated it so much more than he ever thought he could, hated that it was probably his fault it was there. And he hated that it shrouded the longing he had begun to see there, these past few weeks. Long strides carried him after you, hearing his own voice distantly saying words, explaining maybe, as he left the table.

There was a tree, trunk too wide to wrap your arms around, thicket of leaves creating bean-shaped shadow on the ground, by one corner of his home.

You were behind it, almost like a child, letting the bark press lines into your forehead. The dappled lighting did wonders for you – you looked the perfect picture of a storybook wanderer in distress.

Jack slowed, overwhelmed with the desire to encompass you in his arms, slay your dragons, and whisk you away. Now was not the time.

He kept his voice soft, reaching for you in place of his hands, trying hopelessly to find the root of your panic.

You were just as quiet, telling him it was fine, you would pretend, as long as you’d talk tonight, after she went to sleep. His heart was creating dramatic movie scenes where you would float into his room, declaring your love for him, before settling in his arms, but he shook them away, agreeing.

Smile over-bright, you touched his smooth cheek a moment too long, before pushing past him back towards the house.

He allowed the afterglow of his daydream to wash over him only a moment before he jogged go catch up with you.

The quilt on Jack’s bed had chickens on it, of all things. It was one of those that had clearly been homemade, years and years ago, taken care of, but worn at the edges with memories and use. One pillow had a dent for his head, the other was squashed into an unrecognizable shape

You didn’t know that it wasn’t like that, before. That his arms had only started searching for something to hold onto since you had been around.

All of his room was new to you – it made you feel strange, realizing that for weeks you’d been in his home but not this part of his space.

The afternoon his mother came, he’d been called into the field. You had never quite seen the look on his face as he reasoning fell on deaf ears – desperation and frustration like ants ruining honey on a picnic. The flannel across his back bunched as his shoulders had filled with tension before he stripped it off to change into his work clothes. Jack kissed his mothers cheek and spewed instructions for the both of you, some apologies spilling out and others kept just behind his eyes as he grasped your hand.

His final command was for your ears alone - that you take his room, and you’d been too panicked to refuse. The last three days, the smell of him and the memorabilia scattered around the space kept you company when his mother went to sleep and you slept in his bed for the first time, alone.

It was surprising how sentimental he was. His hooks had another cowboy hat on them, a little wider, brown, and considerably more worn. There was a stack of printed photos in a little box by his bed – it was open, and some of the photos had oil-worn fingerprints along the edges. You found ones of you, and your heart flipped inside your chest.

You should have realized it was impossible to deny yourself, your feelings, with him surrounding you like this. Each thing you learned, each reminder of him practically reached off of the walls, as if he were there, coaxing your heart into his hands. It felt silly, almost, that you even tried to ignore it - you had missed him the moment his hand left yours. Now you had all the time to process, surrounded by his neatly folded shirts and the line of his favorite boots.

The idealized illusion of your relationship had only lasted half a day of living with his mother. Her warm brown eyes were too much like her son’s – you couldn’t lie to them. It was good though, for her to hold your hand a listen to you talk as the birds gossiped outside the window and steam seeped out of the pie you helped her bake. Miraculously, she wasn’t disappointed with you, commending your honestly, and explaining that if she was patient until now, then she could certainly continue to do so.

The more you talked to her, the more you suspected that she was right, all along. She helped you dig up the walls, her kind determination the shovel you needed for those concrete roots.

You would work and talk and tuck yourself into his chicken-clad blanket at night and finally, finally let yourself think of him, allow yourself to be in love with him. You didn’t know he had started actually living in his room again, when he’d started letting himself love you. That he thought of your smile when he’d found his old quilt. Still, the more you thought, the more you could admit to yourself that maybe, just maybe, he loved you too.

That was how Jack found you - absorbed in your thoughts - the whiskey in his hand as forgotten as the mission and the agent he’d played for the past seventy eight hours and twenty one minutes.

He watched through the half open door, words failing him as you sat up, startled and the way your eyes searched for injuries made him want to eat you alive.

There was nothing that could’ve prepared him for the sight of you in his bed, even though he had told you to be there and three days to daydream about it. It was intensely intoxicating, having someone care for you so intimately.

With his sheets sliding down around your waist, you looked as good as the pie on the counter, as if a single snapshot could encompass everything he wanted home to be.

You were wearing a shirt he’d given you, years ago, and he swallowed, hard.

“Are you up for that talk?” his voice was rough. It would have been nice, to relish in the feeling of you checking him over, attention on him as he unwound, but he couldn’t wait. This moment was three days overdue.

“I told your mom we aren’t dating,” you blurted and he smiled, having guessed as much. Smoothing the blanket, your hand patted the spot next to you, your legs crossing.

In that, Jack knew something had changed since he left you. The flickering fear had fled your eyes, and you seemed settled into your skin more than ever before.

He sat next to you, having played over how this talk would go a million times, and still not finding the right words. Confidence was easier to find when he was flirting, poking at you, but seemed foreign in the din lights of his bedroom. Instead he shifted trying to lean back with his arm along the headboard, hoping he didn’t seem like a teenager trying to buy himself time.

You began to talk, saving him, and all the things you’d processed with his mama tumbled out of you before you were realizing that you were confessing how much he truly meant you. In hindsight, it shouldn’t have been strange how comfortable you felt, but in the moment, you were in awe.

Jack was as handsome as always, if a little roughed up, like he’d worn the same clothes a few days in a row. You wanted to run your fingers over the short, patchy beard he had going, and without a second thought, you did, feeling his cheeks move as he smiled crookedly and leaned into the touch.

There was only a moment of quiet, crickets outside, before he said, “I missed you, too.” And then, “Will you stay, sweetheart?”

When you whispered, “Where else would I go?” he kissed you.

It was late, and there were still words unsaid, questions to be answered, but you both let yourselves get lost, exploring each other. Long moments passed, letting all the pent up yearning overflow like cool water after a long, hot day. Then the next steps came out, whispered between kisses and as he moved over you, shucking the final walls between you, you found yourselves actually dating, and maybe even actually living together.

Old fairy tales and historic romances played in the back of your mind, inserting their logic into your life like had never quite made sense before.

And you wondered if you had time in the morning, and his mama didn’t give you too much grief, if he would let you help him shave, and eat pie for breakfast. Because for the life of you, you couldn’t think of a single reason why not.

Taglist:

@fangirl-316 @scribbledghost @writeforfandoms @0celestialbitch0 @beautyagegoodnesssize

#this got away from me #jack daniels x you #jack daniels x reader #agent whiskey x reader #agent whiskey x you #kingsman #maybe i don't know people

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strawbunniiee · 3 years ago

Text

A Girl and a Ghost Ch. 3: The King’s Revenge

SOOOOO this is the part where the plot thickens :)

if anybody else wants me to tag them in these chapters so you know when they come out i will gladly do so andksnkfs

hope you enjoy! ive had tons of fun with writing these :D

dont mind me, just lettin my frendos know that this is a thing skfnkdjf

@salamifuposey @monsterbride99 aaAAA when i initially posted this i COMPLETELY forgot to do this a a a a a sorry

King Boo was furious.

How could that peasant, that foul impure abomination of a Boo do this to his beloved crown? It contained his power, it was so incredibly important to him...

And that filthy little purple haired brat! How could she so carelessly throw a rock at him like that?

He plopped his body down in a chair and marinated in his own rage for a few minutes.

After a few moments of enraged silence, he spoke.

"...I have got to get my revenge on those two. But... how will I do it?"

King Boo began to brainstorm a way to get the ghost Rabbid and his little idiot friend in hot water.

"Torture? No, no... one of them is a ghost. It wouldn't hurt him... Torture could be done with the little nuisance however. Perhaps a bit of childhood trauma will teach her not to mess with the wrong people." he thought aloud.

He spent almost fifteen whole minutes thinking of gruesome ways to get back at them, until it finally struck him.

"...Oooh, I know. I know exactly what to do now. It'll mostly affect that bloated rabbit, but I can still do some damage to his moronic pipsqueak pal."

He grinned maliciously and floated towards the doors of his manor.

"I'm about to open up some old wounds of yours, Tommy." he said to himself.

———

Meanwhile, Phantom was racing through the sky with Jawaii in his arms, panicking. He would never let King Boo lay his foul hands on her.

They were both absolutely dead silent the whole time until Jawaii opened her mouth.

"...Do you know that guy?"

Phantom halted for a moment and looked down at the young alien he held. "...Yes, I do, but I don't think I would like to go into detail at the moment. We have a very... rough history, I will say."

"Oh... I get it. It's okay, I won't pry. I understand." Jawaii said.

"Just remember that if King Boo ever tries to hurt us, I'll make sure he will regret it for the rest of his days." promised the Rabbid ghost. "I swear on it."

Phantom resumed his flight and soared down to the ground safely. He gently set her down in the grass.

"That was actually really fun! We should do that again sometime! ...without being scared off by an evil ghost, obviously. That would just make it less fun." said Jawaii.

"I'm glad you were entertained, I suppose... King Boo is quite intimidating. And rude." said Phantom.

Jawaii put her hands on her hips. "Well, yeah! I mean, he made fun of your weight! No friend of mine is getting made fun of like that!"

Phantom laughed a bit. "Oh, don't worry, I wasn't that harmed by that statement. I er, get that all the time."

She frowned. "Why do people tease you about that, that's dumb! Besides, I think you're perfect just the way you are!" She gave him a hug.

He hugged back and smiled. "Awww... thank you. I was born like this, I can't help it you see."

"You're a giant fluffy singing ghost bunny with a mustache, I have no idea how anybody could hate THAT! Cuz I don't."

"Oh, don't make me blush from all of these compliments!" said Phantom, smiling.

Jawaii jokingly grinned evilly. "Never. I'm gonna shower you in compliments 'til you DROWN!"

She cackled maniacally as she began relentlessly saying nice things about him with Phantom begging her to stop. Soon, it became a full-on flattery war to see who could out-compliment the other. They had a grand old time.

Eventually, the sun began to set.

"Oh yikes, I better get home. I had no idea we stayed out here for so long! Mom is probably having a heart attack as we speak!" said Jawaii.

Phantom was quite alarmed, his ears sprung up in worry and concern. "She's having a what?! Oh, poor child, I hope your mother is all right..."

She burst out laughing hysterically.

"Wh-what's so funny? I thought your mother was dying!"

"No, dummy! That was an exaggeration, I meant that she's probably WORRIED about me!" Jawaii continued giggling like a maniac.

"Ah. I see now... Thank you for correcting me!" Phantom joined in on the laughter.

They got themselves together after a moment.

"Oh yeah, mind if you could fly me over to my house..? We're kinda far away from home." said Jawaii.

"Of course!" Phantom replied happily.

Jawaii climbed on his back and the two flew home.

———

After flying back to town, Phantom gently set Jawaii down in front of her home.

"See you soon, my friend. I enjoyed showing you around Spooky Trails today!" said Phantom.

"Cya tomorrow Phantom! I had a good day today too!" She ran up to him and gave him one last hug.

She walked up to her door and waved goodbye to Phantom. He waved back.

"Moooom! I'm hoooome!"

Jawaii's stepmother Stella ran in.

"Oh, Jawaii! Thank goodness you're all right! I was so worried, where were you?"

"Sorry I came home late! But I spent today with a friend of mine."

Stella had a look of pleasant surprise on her face. "You made a friend? That's so wonderful! I know you haven't really ever had any friends, honey, I'm so happy to hear that you finally made one!" She smiled.

Jawaii grinned. "Yeah! I'll tell you allllll about him! He's the best."

They sat down at the dinner table with the food Stella made.

Jawaii dug into her mashed potatoes and ate it like a wild animal that had nothing to eat for the past 3 weeks.

"Honey, chew slowly. I don't want you choking!" said Stella.

"Sorry, Mom..." Jawaii said, frowning.

"It's okay. I don't want you in the hospital or anything, especially after you just made a new friend!"

"Oh, I've known him for a while, actually. We've been hanging out together a lot!" she smiled, her mouth still full of food.

"...Jawaii, sweetie, don't talk with food in your mouth.“

"Oh yeah! Sorry again Mom.."

"Anyways, that's why you've been out so much lately? I'm so happy for you, Jawaii!" Stella smiled.

Jawaii gulped down some water. "Yep! I'm glad I'm his friend too!"

They spent dinner talking about all of the fun adventures she and Phantom had gone on.

Jawaii however, conveniently left out any mention of them being in danger, she wouldn't want to worry her stepmother of course!

"Oh yeah! I meant to ask you this, but I got totally sidetracked but where's Dad? And where's Hakai?" asked Jawaii.

"Your father is out destroying planets again, and your sister is having a sleepover with some friends of hers." said Stella.

"Ohhhh. Wonder why Dad's out so late. Hope he's alright."

"I'm sure he's fine, hon."

Jawaii had another sister though, and her name was Roe. She went to a boarding school and wasn't home most of the time.

She stretched and yawned. "Hey Mom, I think I'm gonna hit the hay today."

Stella gave her a small look of surprise. "Oh! You are? Usually you're quite a night owl. Maybe you're just tired from all your little adventures with Phantom."

Jawaii smiled. "Yeah. Maybe. Anyways, g'night Mom! Love ya, don't let the bed bugs bite."

Stella gave Jawaii a hug. "Aww, good night sweetie. Love you too.”

Jawaii ran upstairs, changed into her nightgown, brushed her teeth and jumped into bed, quickly falling asleep after her long, tiring but fun day.

———

That same night, the Mushroom Kingdom was as quiet as ever when it was nighttime. The once colorful, cheerful inviting land was deathly silent, almost hauntingly so.

Princess Peach was safely tucked in her bed, sleeping peacefully.

But little did the sleeping princess know, this would not remain for long.

King Boo had finally made it to the castle after venturing there to exact his revenge. He knew how dearly Phantom loved Peach. Breaking them apart forever would be the ultimate punishment for stepping on his turf. He knew that either way, the plan would work. If Phantom didn't come to the manor, him and Peach would be separated forever. If he did, however, it would give the vengeful king the chance to trap him and Jawaii in his manor, to torture them and possibly even kill them somehow.

He knew he could kill Jawaii, that was no problem, but Phantom...? Could he possibly do it again? ...No, he's a ghost now. He can't be killed again. But the king knew that even if he couldn't die, he could still make him suffer for as long as he wanted. Possibly even for eternity.

He phased through the castle walls, not having any of the guards notice him. Then, he finally found her room. There Peach slept, defenseless, ready for the taking.

In the blink of an eye, he snatched her from her bed.

Peach immediately woke up and let out a shrill scream of horror, alerting the Toads guarding her door.

But it was too late. He had already burst out her window with her and was headed straight towards his mansion.

———

Tap, tap, tap.

Jawaii woke up very late that night to a tapping sound she heard at her window. She went over to it to find one of the Peek-A-Boos she had met in Spooky Trails, tapping away at her window.

"Hey... aren't you that kid who Phantom is friends with?"

Jawaii rubbed her eye and yawned. "Yeah. Why do you ask? And how are you at my house anyway?"

The Peek-A-Boo had a somber expression on his face. "Well... I have to tell you some... bad news."

Jawaii was horrified of what was about to come out of his mouth next. Did something terrible happen to Phantom?

"His love, Princess Peach was kidnapped by King Boo. And... Phantom is gone. He went off to go save her. Knowing King Boo, Phantom may not come back in one piece. ...The other Rabbids told me it was best to go tell you. That way, you would know where he is. You deserve to know..."

Jawaii was devastated. How could this happen?

She knew she had to save him. And if she couldn't save him... then she wouldn't let him suffer alone.

"...No. I'm not going to let this happen to him."

The Peek-A-Boo was taken aback in surprise by Jawaii's response. "...I dunno if you should go. You're only a kid. You could get seriously hu-"

"I don't care." said Jawaii.

She jumped into her closet and changed into her usual clothes, grabbed a lantern and ran out of the house and into the black, haunted forest that she met Phantom in.

#jawaiis cheesy fics #mario rabbids #mario + rabbids #mario + rabbids kingdom battle #phantom of the bwahpera #tom phan #rabbids #fanfic #fanfiction

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aforrestofstuff · 5 years ago

Note

What's the stupidest thing the heroes have done. (+Garou.) Gimme the most crackhead fueled idea you can come up pls.

Okie dokie! Thanks for the request, anon! ❤️🧡

Tornado of Terror: She was really out of it one day and ended up flinging herself off a building, thinking she was using her powers to fly when she was actually falling to the ground at Mach 20 speed. She snapped out of it just before hitting the concrete, and floated to the ground like normal. The passerby thought she was just playing tricks, when in all actuality, she was just running on 5% brain power.

Silverfang: decided to adopt Garou.

Atomic Samurai: He often mistakes Bushidrill for Kama whenever Bushi has his hair down. Kami would walk outside, see Bushi washing his hair, and he’d ask the disciple a question relating to makeup or something Kama would know, and Bushi would turn around (in all of his hairy, mustache glory) and say in a stupid voice, “whaaaaat?”

Child Emperor: he’s done a lot of stupid shit purely out of sleep depravation, but the thing that takes the cake is the time that he almost started a robot uprising by programming an ai that came really close to having the emotional intelligence of a human. Luckily, he had a lot of precautions to make sure things didn’t get out of hand and he ended that shit before his lab went all Skynet on his ass. He was just really lonely and he wanted a friend, ok.

Metal Knight: he does a stupid thing every time he wakes up in the morning: being alive.

King: accidentally ruined his progress on one of the hardest games he’s ever played because he thought cleaning the cartridge with a wet dishrag and drying it with a hairdryer would be a good idea. Granted, he was 7 years old, but it was still tomfoolery.

Zombieman: nothing he does really has lasting consequences because he’s immortal, but he once ate a rock just to fuck around and it has been in his stomach for over a decade because that shit can’t digest. It was only during the homeless emperor fight that the pebble was set free, and now Zombieman has additional room for beer. Everyone wins.

Drive Knight: had to get an anti-virus software installed in his brain because he tried to download government secrets from a sketchy website via Bluetooth. He survived the robot-equivalent of a stroke but he’s recovered and is alright now. Unfortunately.

Pig God: swallowed a child accidentally. The kid is fine, but now they have ✨trauma✨

Superalloy Darkshine: the stupidest thing he’s done was when he first started working out as a skinny lad, he went for the biggest weights first and decided to do reps without having anyone spot him and broke both of his arms! Oh boy, did the depression really hit in those times.

Watchdog Man: the dumbest thing he’s done had to have been when he decided on the dog costume, not knowing it would immediately become his Brand. Now he’s the designated furry of the hero association and even though he’s not exactly mad about it, he just sometimes wishes he didn’t have to wear something so fucking itchy all the damn time.

Flashy Flash: raced an airplane as it was flying through the sky and ended up running into a tree, subsequently breaking every bone in his face.

Genos: convinced Dr. Kuseno to not perform any bug checks after getting a new upgrade. This was some years back. Genos ended up almost getting a stroke because some robo-stuff got all fucky in his brain and he’s vowed to never convince Kuseno to do any dumb shit like that again.

Metal Bat: Thought it would be a good idea to do that thing where you jump on an air mattress while someone’s sitting on the other end and the force catapults them forward, except that person happened to be Zenko and she ended up being yeeted out of a second-story window because Badd is pretty much a full-grown man and Zenko is a tiny precious little angel baby. She was fine, but now she’s got a cool scar to show for it.

Tanktop Master: Back when he wasn’t as ripped, he decided to do deadlifts one day but didn’t secure the weights correctly on the bar, so they rolled off onto his feet and he now has a limp. Dumbass.

Puri-Puri Prisoner: became a sex offender.

Amai Mask: Started a performance onstage without realizing he had a face mask on and came out looking like Shrek. Of course, he owned it and said it was part of the show but only after the press had speculated over it for like 2 years.

Okamaitachi: has a track record of falling in love with monsters/villains she’s supposed to kill. Luckily, nobody’s gotten hurt due to her lovestricken-ness during combat (yet).

Iaian: called his Sensei a poopyhead at age 12 and got the ass-whooping of his life.

Bushidrill: called his Sensei a poopyhead at age 37 and got the ass-whooping of his life.

Fubuki: was teasing Tatsumaki while they were both kids and told her that she was adopted. Little Tatsu got really offended and ended up unearthing their entire house in a psychokinesis fit, causing a lot of propety damage. To this day, their parents blame Fubuki for having the family almost go bankrupt while trying to fix it.

Saitama: thought he was doing a pretty good job of taking care of his cactus, so he got a pet fish to serve as a bit of a challenge. The little guy lived for 3 years before Sai accidentally killed it by feeding it some off-brand fish food, since it was the only thing Sai could afford at the time. Saitama legitimately went through a depressive phase after the death of his fish and refuses to get another one because nothing could ever replace his old pal.

Mumen Rider: was about to go on patrol as per usual, but forgot to lift the brake on his bike and ended up doing a reverse-wheelie, subsequently face-planting on the concrete. It was the 17th time he’s ever broken his nose.

Sonic: same shit as Flashy Flash because every ninja from that godforsaken village shares a single brain cell, and its dying.

Garou: back at the dojo, he got really angsty one day and decided to try and poison daddy Silverfang. Garou mixed dish soap in with Silverfang’s tea in a dead-serious attempt to commit murder (not really, he’s just dramatic [plus I’m pretty sure Silverfang ain’t gonna die via dish soap poisoning but I digress]) but Silverfang literally fell over laughing because the old shit thought it was a prank.

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astrozones · 5 years ago

Text

It’s Hardly Art

Summary: Roman never deserved his prince costume anyway.He was too selfish, too arrogant, too idiotic. Those weren't the makings of a prince, they were villain characteristics.Glancing at the offending clothes, he made a decision.He didn't deserve the costume; it was time to destroy it. Characters: Roman and Virgil. Can be read as platonic or romantic.

Spoilers for Putting Others First

Discord Server: Astro’s Zone

There was no good or bad.

There were no heroes or villains.

There was no "pure" or "dastardly".

There was right and wrong.

There was everyone and… there was Roman.

Roman who was always wrong, no matter which side (heh, Patton would be proud of that one, if he even liked Roman after this fiasco) he chose, it was he who was in the wrong. Even when he went against his instincts and chose the other side, he was wrong, because he was Roman, and Roman is always wrong.

No matter what.

He let out a grunt of frustration, flopping down onto his unbelievably extra bed. Ugh, why did anyone even like him?

Oh wait, they don’t.

He huffed, snuggling closer into the sweater he had grabbed as soon as he sunk out. He didn’t deserve his prince costume anyway. His stupid, idiotic dreams were always getting in the way, he might as well start spring cleaning and throw them out. Starting with his stupid getup.

He set up his prince tunic on a mannequin, which he owned in case of clothing inspiration, even though that was more of Virgil’s thing. Of course it was Virgil’s thing, what good was Roman for? The other Sides could act just as well and- ugh, this wasn’t going anywhere.

He stared at the costume, the stupid, idiotic, creation of his that he had once adored. He curled his arms around himself as he shook. What was he doing? Why was he always so… horrible? Wrong? Painstakingly extra?

He sank to the floor, tears trailing down his cheeks.

He just wanted to be loved. Or, at least, feel loved. He thought Janus was wrong, they told him Janus was wrong, that siding with Janus made him wrong, and evil. As the hero, he wasn’t supposed to side with the villain.

But then Janus wasn’t the villain, and Roman wasn’t the hero, and Roman was in the wrong even when he took their side. He just... wanted to be loved. He poked fun at Janus’ name because he thought they wanted that. And if he did what they wanted, they’d love him.

Now, he’s figured out how much of an impossible feat that is.

He grabbed a pair of scissors from his desk, leaning up and quickly cutting off his sash with a snip! He watched as it fluttered towards the floor. He wiped the tears from his eyes before picking it up, staring at the jagged ends.

Snip!

Snip! Snip! Snip!

Cut, and cut, and cut some more. Watch the pieces fall to the ground as he snipped his worthless, good for nothing sash. A staple of his idiocy, really.

Snip! The last pieces fell into a neat pile. He grabbed a handful and threw it to the side, hiccuping sobs leaving his mouth. Biting the sleeve of his sweater, muffling his cries, he glanced back up to the rest of his outfit. It almost looked naked without the bright red.

It was still too prince-like to be worthy of him, though. The gold- stupid gold, stood out amongst the white.

He stood, picking at the edge of one of the gold lines. Seams ripped from cloth, and with a harsh tug, the gold was riiiiiiipped off.

He ripped off another. And another. And another. Until, finally, the chest of his shirt was practically ruined, along with the collar and sleeves.

It was almost perfect. Except for…

His logo. The one he had spent days over, carefully sketching picture after picture, searching for the perfect logo that represented him. All of him.

It looked awful.

Grabbing the scissors once more, he cut around the patches, holding them in his hands for a few moments. Or perhaps it was hours, he didn’t know.

Striding over to the other side of the room, he held them over the fireplace. He hesitated, even while his proximity to the fire caused his arm to ache like nothing other.

He was too loud. To brash, too harsh, too unsympathetic. Heh, he really put the pathetic in unsympathetic, didn’t he?

Even your jokes suck, the voice in his head said. No wonder no one likes you. Not even the fans.

He dropped his logo into the fire, watching as it burned away. His hand was red, nearly as much as his ex-sash. The injury hardly even phased him as he turned back towards the remains of his clothes.

After a couple more rips, Roman determined it was awful enough for him to deserve it, even if it was a little bit better than he deserved. Perhaps he would show up in it next time. Or, maybe he wouldn’t show up at all. They’d like that, wouldn’t they?

Slumping onto his bed, he stared emotionless at its remains.

He really was a jerk, wasn’t he?

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Virgil knocked on the prince’s door, awkwardly shuffling in place. Patton had informed him on what happened, once he walked downstairs only to see Patton and Deceit having a normal conversation.

No, not Deceit- Janus, apparently, because they trusted the liar now.

Virgil had watched them incredulously as they explained the events of today. About the wedding, the argument, Janus’ appearance, Patton turning into a frog- all of it. And when Janus left to go tell Remus, Virgil turned to his friend.

“Do you really trust him? After what he’s done?” Virgil whispered sharply. Patton nodded.

“Of course! Besides, he hasn’t done much,” because of course, they didn’t know. Not like Janus would tell them. Virgil scoffed.

“Of course,” he had muttered, turning away. “Of course you’d all take his side without a second thought.”

“Now kiddo, don’t hate on him! We hardly know him, after all!” Was he daft? “C’mon, Virge. It’s okay. I’m sure you and Roman will learn to love him eventually.”

Him and Roman? Was Roman the only other one who recognized Janus for who he was? Roman, who had tagged along with his flirts and manipulations?

At least he had one person on his side.

“Roman?” he asked. Patton nodded.

“Yeah… he said Janus’ name was very close to Janice and made fun of him for it. Then Janus said that if Remus didn’t have a mustache there’d be no way to tell the difference between the two,” he what- “Which is a little rude but I understand why he did it. Still, I’m certain both you and Roman will learn to come to terms with Janus! I know it!”

“Sure,” he had said. “Sure, we’ll go with that.”

And after walking up the stairs with a huff, Virgil found himself where he was now, at Roman’s door.

“Princey?” he called. “It’s Virgil.”

The door opened.

Virgil peered inside, glancing around the room until his gaze landed on Roman, laid on his bed, curled on his side.

“Oh, Roman,” he said softly. He glanced around the rest of his room, eventually noticing the ruined costume of his favorite prince. He gasped quietly, dread settling in his stomach. Roman loved that thing with all of his heart, he was so proud of it, and now it was… ruined.

Oh, Roman.

He sat down on the bed next to him. “Roman?” he asked. “Can I hug you?”

After a few seconds of silence, Roman gave a stiff nod, and Virgil gathered his friend in his arms.

“Did someone ruin your costume?” Virgil asked. Roman shook his head.

“Did it- did it myself.” He mumbled into Virgil’s shoulder where his head lay. “Don’t deserve… it.”

“What makes you think that?”

Roman sniffled, opening his mouth only to close it seconds later as a low keen escaped.

“I’m hardly a prince,” he said, finally. “I’m just… too selfish. Narcissistic. I’m idiotic, and naive, and unrealistic. Those aren’t things that make a prince. So I… I destroyed the stupid costume. It doesn’t deserve to be mine. I deserve rags, and- and torn clothes, and broken dreams.”

“Oh, Princey,” Virgil muttered, heart aching for his friend. He hugged him tighter. “I’m so sorry we ever let you think that. I know it’s hard to believe, Roman, trust me, I know, but it’s… it’s true when I say that you deserve all that, and more!

“Because you’re you, Roman. Beautiful, wonderful, you, who tries his best at everything he does and tries so hard to be a good person. Of course you’ve made mistakes, and you’ll make many more, but you’re still a good person, even after all that. What was said today was bad, but Dec-Janus’ response was bad, too. You know it’s not true, right? You and Remus aren’t alike. You know that, right?”

To Virgil’s relief- and surprise, Roman nodded.

“I know…” Roman whispered. “I know… and- and I know that… Remus is better than me and- and!” he cut himself off with a pointed look at Virgil, even through his tears. “And you don’t have to pretend like it’s not true. It’s okay. I’ve come to terms with it.”

Roman…

How did we let you get so bad?

“Nonsense,” he said. “That- that’s nonsense, true and utter nonsense, Princey. While I know that no one’s perfect, and no one should be compared, I know that if forced to make a decision, I would say you’re better than him. But since I can be a sensible person, at least in cases like this, I know that neither you or Remus are better than the other. It would be wrong to compare you two, because you’re both so different. You may have the same role, but you’re far from the same person.”

Roman simply shifted in response, hiding his head once more. Virgil carded fingers through his hair, humming softly.

“I feel so sad, Virgil.” Roman said eventually, desperation straining his voice. “It hurts. It hurts so bad.”

“What hurts?”

“Me,” glancing up at Virgil, Roman hiccuped. “Everything. It just… it hurts to be me right now. I feel so empty yet full with every negative emotion possible. I feel alone, even with you here. I miss feeling loved, Virge… Everything was easier back then. I knew things, or at least thought I did. I was confident, without faking it.

“Now I feel like I just… hurt everyone. Intentional or not, it’s all I’m good for, and it’s not even good! It’s bad. I’m… bad,” he shoved his face in his hands. “I’m evil, Virge, and I don’t know how to deal with that.”

Virgil frowned. “Ro… you’re not evil. Far from it. Mistakes were made, sure, but you’re still a good person. And you’ve been trying so hard for it too, and for the most part it's paid off well. I believe in you. I believe you can do it- no, I know you can do it, Roman. Because you’re Roman, and the Roman I know tries his best at everything he does and succeeds. Even when he’s been stepped on, he rises again and demands another challenge. He’s brave, and imaginative, and is willing to change bad behaviors. He’s a good person. You’re a good person. I promise.”

Roman stayed silent. Virgil gave a slight sad smile.

“I know it’s likely you don’t believe me, and I know that it can take a while to accept it as truth, but I’ll be there to help you every step of the way, alright, Roman? If you ever- whenever you feel bad, feel free to come to me. Even if I’m asleep or busy. I’d rather help you feel better than sleep, and it helps me to know that I can help you. Alright?”

Roman nodded, crying once more. “Thank… thank you, Virgil. I appreciate it. I really do.” Virgil smiled, hugging him closer.

“Of course. Anytime.” After a few seconds of thought, Virgil spoke again. “Wanna make a pillow fort and watch Disney?”

Roman nodded eagerly, causing Virgil to giggle.

Collecting the blankets from his room, Virgil allowed himself time to think. No, it wouldn’t exactly be easy to help Roman, but Virgil was willing to try. Because Roman was important to him.

Weeks later, Virgil showed up at Roman’s door with a new prince costume. When Roman cried, they were tears of joy.

Maybe things would get better.

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anistarrose · 4 years ago

Link

Chapter Summary: Barry gets a job offer. Kravitz sees a new side of the moon. Taako has a long-overdue chat with his umbrella.

Characters: Kravitz, Taako, Barry Bluejeans, Angus McDonald, Magnus Burnsides, Merle Highchurch, Noelle | No-3113, The Raven Queen, The Director | Lucretia, misc. BoB cameos, Julia Burnsides, Garyl

Relationships: Taakitz, Angus McDonald & Taako, Barry Bluejeans & Kravitz, Kravitz & Angus McDonald

Lately, I’ve been thinking of this fic as a story told in two acts. They’re not necessarily going to be equal in length, but this chapter is definitely the end of Act One.

***

“That’s basically the whole story, Your Majesty,” Kravitz concluded, after several minutes of talking at speeds that no being who needed to breathe could hope to match. Barry and Noelle stood on either side of him, mustering the most innocent expressions he’d ever seen on the faces of a lich or a robot, respectively. “Not that I’d blame you for having follow-up questions, because… well, holy shit.”

Holy shit, indeed, the Raven Queen agreed. A projected image of her visage was floating above a circle of five perfect raven feathers, having been carefully arranged on the cave floor by Kravitz. Istus said we were approaching unprecedented times, but…

She sighed. Well, I must admit that with the apparent exception of Istus, we gods hardly think about what lies outside our planar system. It’s… inconvenient, uncomfortable, how we hold so much power in this world yet understand so little about what’s beyond it. This threat, this Hunger, is news even to me — but didn’t you already know that, Barry, from all the Celestial Planes you’ve seen invaded before?

Barry nodded. “Yeah. I never saw stuff like that directly, of course, but Merle’s a cleric, so… he had his ways of knowing it was never a pretty picture.”

The Raven Queen let out a sigh, like wind escaping from beneath a whole flock’s wings. Then I have more important things to do than reconcile your undeath with the laws of this world, and you have more important things to do than defend yourself to me. Barry, Noelle, you are free to go at least until the apocalypse is averted — but if we get through that, and only then, I’d like you to start thinking about accepting jobs in the Astral Plane. Whatever state the world is in after the Hunger arrives, Kravitz and I will probably need your help.

Barry went dead silent, while Noelle’s whole display lit up with excitement.

“Are we talking afterlife office jobs,” she asked, “or something more along the lines of what Kravitz does?”

“We’ve got plenty of open positions, honestly,” Kravitz explained. “You could probably pick either.”

“Huh,” Barry finally muttered, so soft that Kravitz could’ve missed it. “I — I appreciate the offer, but — I gotta know one thing before I even consider it. Will I have to — to bring in any of my family? Anyone from the Starblaster?”

I’d like to speak with them all eventually, and I may ask you to facilitate that, the Raven Queen replied, but they won’t be punished.

Barry nodded. “Okay. That’s… that’s something I’m willing to consider, then.”

I hope you find out what happened to Lup. Her location is concealed from even me, but I know she’s never entered my domain, so I believe you’ll find her out there somewhere.

Barry’s eyes flickered, shedding drops of light that ran down his face for a few seconds before they coalesced back together. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

It’s the least I could do. From here, my priority shall be to warn the rest of the pantheon, but we’ll be in touch. The Raven Queen’s visage disappeared with a clap of thunder and a gust of wind that lifted the feathers into the air, carrying them back to Kravitz’s waiting hands as her voice boomed throughout the cave one last time. Good luck, my children.

“That went well, right?” Noelle asked when the echoes faded. “That felt pretty good for a conversation with the death goddess.”

“She’s a lot more reasonable than most gods, I think you’ll find,” Kravitz concurred. “But what’s the plan now? Because other than heading up to the moon, and bringing the boys back down for you to tell them what little you can, I haven’t got a lot of ideas.”

“I dunno either. I don’t like keeping them in the dark either, but it’s very little we can tell them aside from —” Barry paused. “Wait. You can go on the moonbase?”

“Yes? At least, no one’s tried to stop me. I guess I can see why you wouldn’t be allowed up there, but —”

“It’s more than a ban and a wanted poster keeping me off! It’s an anti-undeath ward —” Electricity crackled inside Barry’s silhouette, and he let out a laugh that could’ve woken the not-yet-reanimated dead. “But you, Kravitz, apparently possess enough celestial energy to balance out the undead elements of your soul — which is perfect! It changes everything!”

“Uh,” Kravitz began, reflexively taking a step back, “I think I’m missing some context here —”

“That ward’s the only thing stopping Barry from sneaking onto the moonbase and stealing the ichor he needs to inoculate his family!” Noelle explained, totally unperturbed by Barry’s mad scientist laugh. “I couldn’t steal it for him because the same ward keeps me from leaving my fuse for very long, and this robot body’s not exactly stealthy — but you can decorporealize for as long as you want on the moon, right?”

“I’m not sure I’ve actually tried,” Kravitz replied, rubbing his chin as the puzzle pieces fell into place, “but I’ve never had issues getting through anti-undead wards before, corporeally or otherwise!”

Barry rubbed his hands together, smoke and sparks pouring out from between them — but for the first time, Kravitz was sure he saw a glint of a smile flash on Barry’s face.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Barry asked. “Let’s head back to my place and plan a heist!”

***

“So what do we do now, Fantasy Columbo?” Taako asked, staring at the Umbra Staff in his hands. “I didn’t hear any jingles start playing for solving some sick higher power’s umbrella lich puzzle — how does this help us? What does it change?”

This should have been a revelation, Taako knew. This should have changed everything. But his mind was lagging behind his racing heart, struggling to fit together puzzle pieces that he knew should connect. Struggling to understand why he cared so fiercely about an evil ghost of an evil wizard being trapped in the arcane focus he’d looted her corpse for.

“I… I guess we should try to communicate with her?” Angus suggested. “She’s a Red Robe, so she must have something to do with —” He gestured wildly from his notepad, to Taako’s head, to the incinerated coffee table. “With all of this. Right?”

He removed his glasses, wiping off drops of sweat, and Taako realized that Angus, the smartest person he knew, had ran into an uncomfortable mental wall of his own — and after just a split second of looking at Angus’s pained expression, Taako made a decision.

“Hey, kid. I need your arguably expert opinion real quick — Magnus and Merle aren’t smart enough to be memory-wiping masterminds, right?”

“Oh, absolutely not, sir. We both know they’re no good at keeping their lies straight.”

“Could you check in on them for me? And try to bring ‘em back here — but, uh, only if you can do it without Lucretia or Davenport spotting you, and I need you to really focus on looking out for them. I don’t know who else I can trust with this —”

With a huge, determined smile on his face, Angus saluted. “I won’t let you down, sir!” He looked far less pained as he slunk out of the room, and Taako breathed a sigh of relief.

“Okay. Kid’s gonna be alright with his mind off of this, and now we can have some peace and quiet, Lup.” His mouth lingered on the name Lup but his mind didn’t, giving no thought to the affection he instinctively voiced. “So… let’s chat?”

***

Lucretia’s office looked just as Barry had described, and not all that different from the Reclaimer’s dorms in terms of architecture. The sole occupant was not the Director herself, but a mustached gnome man who sat at the oversized desk, focusing intently on a game of solitaire. He didn’t even look up as Kravitz’ soul drifted past, steering clear of the desk and floating right through a heavy, closed door.

Kravitz kept inside the left wall of the corridor — Barry may not have reported any traps in this stretch, but the puzzle that Barry had reported was nowhere to be seen, and Kravitz knew a suspiciously empty-looking hallway when he saw one. He phased through a second door at the end of the chamber, ignoring the computer that looked even more foreign to him than his Stone of Farspeech, and recorporealized inside a second office.

This close to the source of the ward, a spinning disk imbued with radiant energy, Kravitz could finally feel its influence — a faint burn and refreshing cold that coexisted, an antipathy towards his undead body and a resonance with the Raven Queen’s blessing. Tempted as he was to knock down the disk and short-circuit the ward, it wasn’t poised do much besides mildly distract him, and he was making this visit with a much different goal — one that he’d expose, if he ended up dramatically trashing someone else’s holy symbol.

At the far end of the office sat a murky tank, and above that tank, an alarm was ringing. A few feet to the alarm’s left, a needle punched holes in a steadily scrolling paper, recording what Kravitz inferred to be times and intensities — and there was a lot of information to infer from, because the paper output had not just reached the floor, but piled up to almost waist height.

A massive volume of alarms had clearly been accumulating, and someone — presumably Lucretia — was far too busy to check on every message. Ever since he’d died, Kravitz had been notoriously bad at keeping track of dates, but a quick comparison with the dates at the bottom of the pile and the dates of the current output revealed that the alarms had started trickling in last night, before a massive influx took shape only about an hour ago.

This was all very interesting to the part of Kravitz that loved a good mystery, but his pragmatic side won out, knowing this alarm could attract unwelcome attention at any moment. He switched his attention to the contents of the tank — which appeared just like Barry had said it would, but was still plenty fascinating. A jellyfish floated in murky ichor, illuminated from within by a dark purple nebula pattern, and recoiling away from Kravitz as he rested a hand atop the tank.

“Now, now. It’s alright,” Kravitz murmured, in the same tone he might use to calm a distressed soul. “No need to be scared…”

The baby Voidfish hummed two chords, far lower and louder than Kravitz had expected from such a tiny creature — but music, at least, was something Kravitz knew he could work with. He summoned his scythe in the form of a lute, plucking out a peaceful melody he’d been fond of for hundreds of years… and only a few bars in, the Voidfish began to echo him, humming along with increasing volume.

“I’m just here to do my friends a favor,” Kravitz promised. “It won’t take long at all.”

The Voidfish seemed to relax, so Kravitz let go of his lute, allowing it to float at his side with a faint blue aura suspending it in air. He pulled a canteen from beneath his cloak, slowly submerging it in the tank until it was full to the brim with ichor — probably a slight excess, but he’d rather have too much than not enough.

“See? All done,” he whispered, reattaching the canteen’s cap. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

The Voidfish hummed the refrain of his song once more as he reformed his scythe, and as if to say farewell, waved a tentacle in his direction as he stepped through the portal off the moonbase.

Just a moment later, the very second Kravitz’s feet hit solid subterranean ground, Barry was at his side with a barrage of questions. “How did it go? Have you got the ichor? Did anyone see you?”

“Good, yes, and no in that order,” Kravitz replied, handing Barry the canteen. “The only thing I’m worried about is… well, you’ve seen how Lucretia has an alarm system in her office, right? It’s going a little haywire right now — and has been since last night.”

Barry’s relief morphed into frustration mid-relieved sigh. “I was hoping we could avoid that, since the boys haven’t had a run-in with me in a couple days — but I guess someone’s still trying to remember something, and it won’t be long ‘til Lucretia picks up on it. We gotta get a move on.”

“I did talk to Taako about the stars disappearing last night, come to think of it,” Kravitz recalled. “I hope he’s not still hung up on that, but it sounds like he might be.”

“Shoot, that coulda done it. No fault of your own, obviously.” Barry sighed again, picking up a couple of scrolls from his desk and placing them on a much more neatly organized bookshelf. “Sorry for the mess, by the way. You and Noelle have been my only visitors so far this whole decade.”

Kravitz had seen Barry’s home before he left for his heist on the moon, and it had already been pretty respectable as secret lairs went. Aside from the stalactites and the dubiously legal cloning pod, it had looked more like a disheveled academic’s study than a necromancer’s dungeon — but in Kravitz’s absence, Barry had apparently gotten up to some spring cleaning. He’d draped a sheet over the pod, which was still glowing bright green and far from innocuous, and somehow gotten his hands on a decent-quality couch, either from a pocket dimension or a conjuration spell or gods knew what else.

“Before you got involved, my plan never involved the boys coming in here while they could remember me,” Barry admitted. “They’d still be far from seeing me at my worst, but — well, I dunno if I can make this place look welcoming, exactly, but I’d rather not make them worry about me ‘cause of it.”

“If it helps, this is easily the nicest cave I’ve ever seen a lich holed up in,” Kravitz said, which got a quiet laugh out of Barry.

“Yeah, I bet it is.” He opened the canteen, pouring a modest sample of the ichor into a glass vial. “Hard to believe this is happening so suddenly, but… I think now’s the time. Lucretia could catch on at any minute, and I — I’ll be ready by the time you get back, I think.”

“Good luck remodeling,” Kravitz told him with a nod, and tore open a portal back to the moon.

***

“So… let’s chat?” Taako suggested. He didn’t know what kind of reply he was expecting, but he had to admit it stung when the Umbra Staff didn’t move an inch.

“Okay, what you do isn’t exactly chatting. That one’s on me. Can you just give me a sign, a little poltergeisting or something, if you’re listening?”

Still nothing, which continued to hurt more than it should have.

“Are you mad at me? I thought you smacked me in the face today to get my attention! ‘Cause you wanted to talk, but…” He glanced away from the umbrella in his lap. “I guess you really hate Kravitz, don’t you? And I was helping him hunt you, even before we started dating…”

He sighed. “And you’re only here because I stole from your grave! What was I even thinking? Of course you hate me, and maybe I half-deserve it —”

The Umbra Staff twitched in his hands, subtly yet so abruptly that he jumped to his feet with a yelp and dropped it onto the floor. It spun over ninety degrees as it fell, landing to point at the shelf of seldom-used spell components that Taako and Merle shared.

“You… want me to cast something?” Taako knelt on the rug, gently wrapping a hand around the handle but not raising the umbrella from the floor. He didn’t feel even the slightest movement. “Hey, if you’re not mad at me, then… do something. Do anything.”

He thought the handle might’ve trembled slightly, but wasn’t sure — it could’ve just been wishful thinking. “Okay, flip side. Do something if you are mad at me.”

This time, he was certain there was no response. “Okay, I’ve narrowed it down to either ‘you’re not mad’ or ‘you don’t want to talk to me,’ but I don’t get why you’re being so subtle about this. I mean, I’m not asking you to cast Sunbeam on my boyfriend again, but I know you could be giving me more obvious signs than —”

He happened to glace back at the component shelf, noticing the chest of spare wands he’d stockpiled — arcane foci, just like the ones the Umbra Staff consumed — then just like that, it clicked, and there was finally one quirk of his rogue umbrella that Taako had an inkling of an explanation for.

“Unless… you can’t give me a bigger sign because I haven’t beaten a magic user in a while!” he gasped. “You’re not trying to ignore me — you’re running out of power!”

He unlatched the little chest, grabbing two cheap wooden wands and snapping them both — and sure enough, the Umbra Staff inverted with more vigor than Taako had seen from it all day, swallowing them whole.

“Better?” Taako asked, and a tiny pink flame sparked to life at the tip of the umbrella. Lup must’ve summoned it with a variant of Prestidigitation, because it smelled less like smoke and more like comforting home cooking.

“Now I know why you chose me instead of Merle at the cave! You’re an adoring fan of Sizzle it Up!” Taako teased, and the Umbra Staff bonked him on the head. “Okay, fine, maybe not. Gods know that’s not the only thing I’ve got going for me over Merle.”

He glanced around the room, rubbing his chin. “I was going to say you could turn that flame on and off real fast, send me a message in Fantasy Morse Code, but then I remembered I don’t actually know Fantasy Morse that well. Maybe you could, like, burn something into the wall —”

The flame atop the Umbra Staff intensified, excited.

“But I guess we’d run out of space real fast — never mind explaining it to Lucretia, yikes! We’d be toast… just like the walls.”

The flame died down, replaced with a disembodied, glowing red Mage Hand. With an upturned palm, it made a motion that Taako guessed was meant to convey a shrug and a then what?

“Oh, you didn’t tell me you could do Mage Hand from in there too! I can work with that!”

He made a beeline for the dorm kitchen, ripping open a fresh bag of flour and dumping it directly onto the counter. “I really don’t wanna leave written evidence, so you write stuff in this, and I’ll erase it when you’re done. Sound good?”

Lup squeezed his shoulder, then traced four words in the flour.

I’ve never hated you

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Taako muttered, pretending he couldn’t feel his whole chest seizing up. With a bare hand, he wiped the flour flat, and only sent a little flying onto the floor accidentally. “I… I wanna let you out. Because this is a really inconvenient way to talk, but — but also ‘cause I know you didn’t mean to get trapped in there, and living inside your arcane focus sounds like it’s the pits. Is there a way I can free you?”

yes but not right now

“Why not?”

no liches on the moon

“Oh, have they got wards to block you off or something? I guess we wouldn’t be able to talk at all if I freed you, and that… that wouldn’t be great.”

I’d miss you :(

“Yeah, I can imagine,” Taako replied, and he said it before he meant it. The figure of speech slipped out right away, ingrained after years of overwhelmingly insincere conversations, but his emotions caught up to him more slowly — starting with the loneliness and the longing, before they ate away at him and left an emptiness behind, a dread of never being whole again and a temptation to tear the whole world apart, because what would he have left to lose?

It ended with a throbbing skull, with static clouding the peripheries of his vision, with a mind that couldn’t fathom why missing someone would hit so close to a home that should have never existed. The last year notwithstanding, he couldn’t remember a time where he’d be caught dead missing someone’s company… but now all he could think, all he could feel, was I’m not losing you again.

“There’s gotta be a workaround — right, Lup?” he managed. “Like, is there a way I could take the wards down?”

maybe, but

Lucretia would notice

“I’m gonna go out on a limb, and assume… she wouldn’t be too thrilled to know you’re here.”

Lup took longer to reply than usual, erasing the first few letters of her response to start over several times.

it’s so complicated

don’t think I can explain

“Right. Of course. ‘Cause of the Voidfish.” Taako rubbed his cheek, expecting to wipe away stray splotches of flour — but instead, he felt his fingers grow damp with tears that he knew weren’t just from the pain of his headache.

“I — I don’t know what to do, Lup. I want to help you, but Kravitz is probably in danger because of me so I have to make sure he’s okay, and I know he won’t like me helping you — then there’s Angus and Magnus and Merle, too, I have no clue if any of them are in as much trouble as us. And I just… I can’t shake the feeling that there’s more to this. That the worst of all the bombshells still hasn’t dropped, and I’m about to lose all you while I still don’t know who I am, or who I can trust besides —”

The fingers of Lup’s Mage Hand interlocked with his, and it was a strange sensation — fuzzy and only about half-tangible, as simple magic constructs were expected to be, but warm like a living hand despite the lack of flesh and blood. Taako couldn’t say how long he was silent, just focusing on just that warmth and the inexplicable nostalgia that accompanied it, before he finally asked: “What do you think I should do?”

Lup withdrew her hand slowly, but didn’t hesitate nor erase as she traced four new words:

find Barry

trust Barry

“…I’m glad I’ve got you, Lup, ‘cause I never woulda come up with that on my own,” Taako muttered, chuckling in spite of himself. He didn’t doubt for a second that Lup’s advice was worth following, but he had to admit it was ridiculous how every time a problem came up in his life, someone insisted it could be solved by tracking down a denim-clad lich. “Do you know any of his favorite hangouts, or —”

As Lup’s Mage Hand zipped back into the Umbra Staff, Taako didn’t quite notice the scythe rending space behind him, but he whirled around at the sound of feet hitting the ground and an incredulous voice speaking up.

“Uh, Taako?”

Kravitz carried himself with considerably less poise than usual, wearing a tattered suit that had presumably once seen better days, but he appeared otherwise unscathed, and Taako’s heart jumped for joy.

“I — I — I’m sorry?” Kravitz’s words sounded less like an apology, and more like a sincere question of whether or not he should be sorry for intruding. “I should’ve just portalled to the hallway and knocked. I didn’t mean to walk in on — on whatever this is —”

Before he could stammer another adorably confused word, Taako rushed in for a hug — never mind how crazy he knew he looked, covered in flour and inexplicably teary-eyed over an umbrella.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe — I was so worried about you. I thought for sure you were in trouble and it was all my fault — it was all because —”

Kravitz slipped a cool, but unusually not cold hand under Taako’s hat, mussing up his hair to match the rest of his appearance. “I won’t lie, Taako — there were moments today where I was worried for me. But it turned out to all be a misunderstanding, which is always a pleasant surprise in my line of work — and even better, if you can believe it, one of my new friends knows what’s up with those deaths you can’t remember!”

Kravitz was beaming, but Taako’s blood ran cold like he was the dead man walking. Just when he’d been so sure, so relieved, that he hadn’t dragged Kravitz into the Voidfish conspiracy after all, it turned out that Kravitz had sleuthed his way right to its very center.

No wonder he gets along so well with Angus, Taako thought wryly. Two constantly endangered nerds of a feather.

“This friend can explain it much better than I can, so we’ll visit him by portal — but Magnus and Merle need to hear the truth, too,” Kravitz went on, still seeing no reason not to be enthusiastic. “Are they available?”

“Oh, those clowns? They’re off playing kickball with Angus or something — should be back soon.” Taako knew how Kravitz thought, and knew that Kravitz believed he was doing the right thing by digging up these secrets. He was fulfilling an oath to his goddess and helping Taako get some closure, which should have been great news as far as Kravitz knew — but now he was on the moon, speaking openly about truths a Voidfish had suppressed…

And Taako was conspiring with a lich, soon to be two liches, behind Kravitz’s back. He wasn’t expecting to like the truth behind his eight deaths, if he could even wrap his mind around it — and he had a feeling that when it came time to be judged by the Raven Queen, Kravitz would like the truth and its consequences even less, regardless of whether Taako could think clearly enough to defend himself.

So he withdrew from the hug, wiping the flour — and the incriminating mention of Barry — off the counter with a swoop of his hand. “Oh, drat! Did not mean to do that, ‘cause now I’ll have to mop the whole floor —”

“Okay, Taako. What’s wrong?” Kravitz asked firmly — and Taako didn’t know why he’d thought he’d be able to stall for time, given how Kravitz knew him pretty well, too. “You’re not in trouble with the Queen — I mean, we’ll probably have to invent and then fill out an entirely new form of paperwork about you and your pals, but I told her everything and she’s not mad, I can say that much. Same goes for Magnus, Merle, and — uh, forgive me, just Magnus and Merle. It’s been a long day.”

“Okay, that’s the second piece of good bird news you’ve dropped on me in like twenty-four hours, and I appreciate that,” Taako sighed. “But — okay, listen. We’ve got to be quiet about this, for both of our safety, but I think — I know I’m dealing with more than just memory loss here. I’ll try jumping through your portal and talking to your friend, but I really don’t think I’ll be able to understand —”

“Oh!” Kravitz gasped. “I think I know what you’re talking about — I ran into it with Angus earlier, and we should definitely have a way around it.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “My, uh, my new friend didn’t know if you could understand that there was a second Voidfish — but you heard that, right? It wasn’t garbled?”

Taako nodded frantically. “Yeah, and we’ve gotta get off the moon. If Lucretia finds out we know, I — I’ve got no idea how far she’ll go to keep this under wraps, and that’s the worst part. She’s already suspicious of me, and I —”

He felt a tug from his umbrella, and he cast Message as quickly and subtly as he could, hoping the Umbra Staff’s propensity to absorb magic like a sinkhole would somehow pull his unspoken words to Lup.

I’m not going to tell him about you. Not until I get more information.

Her reply must’ve hardly escaped from the umbrella, being little more than a distorted whisper — Be careful. Love you — but Taako’s legs almost gave out beneath him when he heard her voice, and Kravitz winced.

“We’ve really got to get you out of here, don’t we?” he murmured, taking Taako’s hand — and Kravitz’s skin was definitely warmer than usual, because of course this frankly adorable development would happen when Taako had a million other things on his mind. “You said the other boys will be back soon?”

“I hope.” Taako led the way into the living room, giving a wide berth to the remains of the coffee table. “I sent Angus to go find —”

On cue, the rattle of a doorknob and the sound of Angus’s voice rang out from the hallway. “Sir? We’re back! Could you unlock the door?”

The next sound was the telltale thump of a small child being affectionately shoved aside, followed by Magnus exclaiming: “Hey, I’ve got thieves’ tools now! Gimme a shot at picking it!”

Kravitz pursed his lips. “Don’t Magnus and Merle have their own keys?” he muttered under his breath.

“Of course they do,” Taako sighed, and the door swung open with a snap of his fingers and a Knock spell.

“Magnus, look!” Merle cheered. “You did it!”

While Magnus and Merle high-fived, Angus’s eyes lit up at the sight of Kravitz half-alive and well.

“You’re okay! I’m sorry I didn’t end up finding Noelle, but Taako said he was worried about you, so I started worrying too — did you have a nasty fight with a necromancer or something?”

“…Yes and no,” Kravitz responded after a moment of hesitation, “but I can explain that whole incident later. Right now, I need you all to come with me to —”

“A cool skeleton rave!” Taako butted in. “And… there’s also supposed to be skeleton dogs there! So you guys will definitely wanna get in on it!”

“Yes, exactly!” Kravitz corroborated without missing a beat. “It’s one of those, you know, very rare skeleton raves that receives the Raven Queen’s approval. Once in a century opportunity, so you won’t want to miss it!”

Magnus rubbed his chin. “I dunno about this. How do you pet a skeleton dog?”

“Only one way to find out!” Taako told him, then breathed a sigh of relief when it got an approving nod from Magnus.

“Fair enough! I’m sold!”

Angus narrowed his eyes, so Taako grinned and winked, hoping it came across as equal parts conspiratorial and don’t you dare blow this for me. It must’ve worked, because after a few seconds of surely intense mental calculations, Angus plastered on a convincing innocent smile and gave Taako a thumbs-up.

“Thanks for inviting me on this fun diversion, sir! I’m sure you could’ve come up with a more convincing lie if it was a trap or a prank, so I’m all in!”

Smiling awkwardly, Kravitz turned to the the lie’s final mark. “Merle, my bud, how about you?”

“Are we buds now?” Merle grinned. “You know what, sure! Anything for my bud!”

“Then away we go!” Kravitz tore open a rift and immediately stepped through, beckoning for the others to follow with the single arm that remained on their side of the portal. Magnus leapt through almost immediately, Merle hot on his heels, while Angus approached the rift more skeptically.

“Well, sir,” he announced softly once Magnus and Merle disappeared, “you and Kravitz owe me an explanation… but I trust the both of you.” He took Taako’s hand, and the two of them stepped through the portal together, emerging in a cold, dimly lit cave.

And Taako thought he’d been “moving fast” through a lot of things, lately — through worldview-shattering realizations, into a romantic relationship, into unofficially and semi-accidentally adopting a boy detective — but nothing could’ve prepared him for how fast everything moved in the next minute.

Kravitz faced Noelle and a now-familiar disembodied robe, very obviously struggling to suppress a mood-inappropriate laugh. “Can you believe I was planning to lie to Magnus about skeleton dogs, but then Taako interrupted and independently came up with the same fib?”

“That’s love, baby!” Taako exclaimed, in the moment before the absurdity of the situation dawned on him. “Wait. Why’s Barold here?”

As the rift fizzled and disappeared, Magnus drew Railsplitter, only to whirl around on himself with no idea who to aim at or threaten. “Hey, did we just get kidnapped? ‘Cause I’ve gotta say, this is the last combination of people in the world I expected to team up and kidnap us.”

“It’s not a kidnapping,” Kravitz began, “it’s just —”

“Did you kidnap a child, Kravitz?” Barry interrupted, gesturing at Angus. “When was that ever a part of the plan?! We didn’t need to involve —”

“With all due respect, Mister Bluejeans,” Angus butted in, “Kravitz didn’t technically kidnap me! I knew perfectly well that he was bullshitting, but I decided to come along with him anyway, out of my own free will!” He turned to face Kravitz, adjusting his glasses. “That said, he did deceive and therefore truly kidnap Magnus, Merle, and maybe even Taako by the sound of things — so if he could go ahead and explain his presumably very good reason for doing so, that would be just dandy!”

Barry sighed. “Real smartass kid you’ve dragged into the fate of the universe, huh, boys?”

“He was already involved enough in things that he deserves to know. We’re bringing him up to speed too,” Kravitz declared, and Barry shrugged.

“Alright, sure — but why the hell was there a child on the moon in the first place?!”

“He’s the world’s greatest detective,” Noelle spoke up, and Angus beamed. “I told you about him, remember? He’s the one who figured out that you were amnesiac when you were alive —”

“Oh, I do remember that, though I don’t remember you mentioning his age — so I guess it’s my bad, then, for assuming a secret lunar society would give a flying fuck about child labor laws!”

Kravitz ignored them both. “Merle, Magnus — I’m so sorry for the deception, and Taako, I’m sorry for not saying that Barry was my new contact. I didn’t want anyone eavesdropping on us on the moonbase, and I swear, I will explain myself as soon as I physically can —”

“Hey, hey, it’s cool!” Taako’s words were intended not just for Kravitz, but for Lup within the Umbra Staff, which had started trembling at the sound of Barry’s voice. “I would love an explanation, but I needed Barold’s help anyway, sooo… doesn’t this work out pretty great?”

“Needing Barry’s help is a new one, sir,” Angus commented, but no one in the room looked more incredulous than Kravitz and Barry themselves, who both froze in place.

“Um, that’s — that’s news to me too?” Barry stammered. “But if — if you don’t need any convincing, then…”

He floated a little taller, robe a little less ragged, voice a little more hopeful. “Let’s get you inoculated, bud.”

A glass vial appeared in Taako’s hand, and he sipped the dark liquid inside without a second thought, even though he gagged while passing the vial on to an apprehensive Magnus. No memories rushed back to him like he’d braced himself for, but he thought he felt the nature of his headache change — less like the roar of static, and more like the pressure on a dam about to burst.

“You should really sit down for this,” Barry told him, resting a cold hand on Taako’s shoulder. “Take it as slow as possible. You obviously figured out a lot, more than I thought you would, but you still won’t be ready for —”

“Relax, it hasn’t even hit me yet!” Taako interrupted. “So in the meantime, I can catch you up on this whole funny story about… my… umbrella…”

The metaphorical floodgates shattered, and the deluge of memories swept him off his feet.

Growing up bouncing between relative to relative, growing skilled as chefs and wizards on the road. The IPRE entrance exams, the best day ever, the Hanging Arcaneum, “back soon” —

His head burned as the static was expunged from his mind, displaced by visions of days and months and cycles that just kept hitting him. He was dimly aware of someone, two someones, clutching his arms and lowering him to his knees on the cool cave floor —

“Stay with us, Taako!” Kravitz pleaded, holding Taako’s left hand. “Listen to Barry —”

“I’ll walk you through everything,” Barry — the animal kingdom, learning to swim, “what if she’s just gone?” — promised from his right, clinging to the same arm with which Taako held the Umbra Staff. “Just don’t think ahead. I’ve been through this before, and I can get you through it now, as long as —”

“B-but — but Lup!” Taako cried. “How could I forget —”

“I know, bud,” Barry whispered. “I forgot too. I understand —”

“You fucking don’t understand!” Tears fell from his eyes, but his mouth twisted into a cautious, still half-disbelieving smile. “Barry, she’s right here!”

“What?!” The cave was plunged into red and black, blinding lights and impenetrable shadows, as the lich at its center seemed to fall apart and come together all at once. “WHERE?!”

Taako closed his eyes, and with a strength he didn’t know he had, snapped the Umbra Staff over his knee.

#taz #taz balance #taakitz #kravitz taz #taako taaco #barry bluejeans #lup taaco #angus mcdonald #taz balance spoilers #fic: ftrala #rosalia writes fic

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anthropologicalhands · 4 years ago

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r/n - i've been working on my backwards walk / there's nowhere else for me to go / except back to you just one last time / say yes before i change my mind

As Rebecca tries to be sanguine about nearing forty, seeing it as a peak rather than a slide into decay (a Naomi-fostered distortion that has proven remarkably difficult to shake), one thing that has comforted Rebecca over the last decade is that with experience, she’s learned how to handle all matter of situations with grace, simply because she’s seen them before.

Revisiting this particular situation, however, is not what she expected.

It starts with an invitation delivered to Rebecca’s house to Hebby’s fifth grade graduation. There wouldn’t be anything strange about such a thing, even after she gets over the orange-and-turquoise astronaut theme (Hebby was going through a bit of a NASA phase), were it not for the fact the invitation was also addressed to Nathaniel.

Rebecca and Nathaniel, specifically.

Still frowning and trying to ignore the weird ringing that just went through her head at the jolt of seeing hers and Nathaniel’s names juxtaposed across a piece of lurid cardstock—like they’re a unit, or something—Rebecca credits herself with just pulling her phone out and calling Darryl directly instead of diving headfirst into a panic spiral.

“Rebecca!” Darryl’s voice booms from the other end of the line, and Rebecca can’t help the reflexive grin—Darryl’s unflagging enthusiasm while raising four daughters remains nothing short than a scientific marvel. “What a surprise. How is my favorite pretzel singer?”

“Hey, Darryl. Quick question for you. I got your card—”

“Isn’t it great? Hebby picked out the colors specially.”

“I’ll bet she did. But that’s not why I was calling, actually. I was wondering if, perchance, you might have had a shortage of such eye-popping invitations?”

“What do you mean?”

“My invitation was addressed to me and Nathaniel, which, I can definitely send him the deets, no problem, but wouldn’t an email be easier?”

“Oh?” She can hear Darryl’s mustache frown from the other end of the phone. “You mean you and Nathaniel aren’t…”

“Well, he doesn’t live here,” snaps Rebecca, a little flustered. “Why would you think that? Why did you think—did he—”

“Hang on,” says Darryl, and she can hear him calling for April, leaving her stuttered rejection hanging.

Are her and Nathaniel—

How is that even a question anymore?

It’s been a decade, and everyone involved with that event has definitively moved forward with their lives. Her and Josh were a definitive ‘no’ from that fateful Valentine’s Day onwards, remaining dear friends instead, and she was very much the ‘cool aunt’ among his own children. Her and Greg had wavered briefly for a bit afterwards, ran into some seriously uncomfortable friction, and it took them the better part of two years to find a good balance. It probably helped that she accidentally connected him to the woman who would become his wife, but that was a story for another day.

And it was a similar story with Nathaniel. He went to Guatemala for two years, came back and split his time between helping at MountainTop and working with some volunteer legal capacity with the local zoos and her and him—

Ah. Well.

Okay, so it wasn’t quite as clearly defined with Nathaniel, beyond the general fact that she wanted him to be happy, and he wanted her to be happy, and generally their relationship since his return had been checking in on each other, making fun of their weird hobbies and still showing up to events that were important to each other. It was all very adult and friendly and open. Their friendship had appropriate limits and boundaries and they supported each other in the respective relationships they had tried over the years, and it was very platonic…

Well. Except when it wasn’t. There hadn’t been a repeat of the Mona incident ever, and Rebecca could honestly say that she really liked a couple of the long-term girlfriends he’d introduced to them since then, and was genuinely regretful when those relationships ended. Especially for Sylvia, the LA Zoo curator who had to move for her career. Not that the regret wasn’t complicated by other factors, like when Nathaniel had admitted privately to Rebecca later that as much as he liked Sylvia, he just couldn’t see himself leaving California again.

She didn’t get butterflies at that, exactly, because but there had been a comfort in knowing that Nathaniel was content to remain in her orbit.

Again, not entirely uncomplicated. But it was nothing beyond the usual messy spectrum of human emotion internally, and never acted on externally.

She’s dated on and off as suited her libido and her schedule and her desire to find a life partner. She’s had relationships that got serious enough to talk about the future on and off, but they’ve all ended too for reasons inherent to those dynamics themselves. Nathaniel had been a good friend while they were going on, and a shoulder to cry on after, and well, okay, they might have fallen back into bed together a few times over the years, but they never pretended that it was either more than it was or that it was some forbidden thing that wouldn’t happen again. It was what it was.

Well. And they hung out, sometimes. And occasionally were each other’s plus-ones to public events. And friends’ weddings. And quite possibly—

Hm.

It really, really doesn’t help her case that she’s going to see him tonight, either.

“Rebecca?” Darryl tears her out of her thoughts. “Sorry about that! I think there was just a mistake at the stationary shop and they put your cards in together. What are the odds? I might need to call the other parents on the list, just to make sure that they got theirs all right. Could you take that one to Nathaniel? I don’t know if it’s out of your way—”

“Not at all!” says Rebecca, smiling with all of her teeth even though Darryl can’t see her, her cheeks aching. “Not even remotely.”

“Good,” says Darryl, and she can hear him beaming from the other side of the line.

“So, a funny thing happened on the way to your apartment…”

“That’s ominous,” comments Nathaniel, taking the bag of groceries she shoves at him without complaint as he closes the door behind her. Rebecca kicks off her shoes and toes them out of the walkway, abiding by Nathaniel’s still oft-repeated entreaties to not leave her personal belongings strewn entirely across his apartment.

“It’s not ominous so much as luminous,” says Rebecca, reaching into her purse and withdrawing Hebby’s invitation with a little flourish of the wrist. “Well, fluorescent.”

“Oh my god.”

Nathaniel accepts the card and flicks it open, scanning through the cheerful, only slightly grammatically incorrect message, and cannot quite suppress an amused huff of laughter. Rebecca hides her own smile as she turns away to set her purse on the very useful hook Nathaniel installed for her own use. Like herself, Nathaniel has a soft spot for Hebby, despite his continued awkwardness around children.

“Right? She gets that from Darryl for sure.”

“I don’t know, I remember someone showing up in some pink and purple eyesore into a law firm the very first day I met her.”

“You just didn’t know fun when you saw it,” says Rebecca instead, perching on the edge of the couch. “But it was funny. I was worried for a second that he thought that we were a couple or something. How weird is that?”

She is completely, totally casual in her delivery of that line, she knows. A decade in community theater and singing gigs have certainly finetuned her ability to turn a phrase, if nothing else. But something must be slightly offkey, because Nathaniel snaps up from marveling at the card to eye her suspiciously.

“Very weird,” he says, after a slightly-too-long pause. “Do we seem like a couple? Why would we seem like a couple when we aren’t a couple?”

“That’s exactly what I thought!” She punches him companionably on the arm; apparently too hard, if the way he winces and rubs at his bicep is any consideration.

(She’s been taking workout classes with Valencia—she deserves something for all that pain.)

“But it’s probably nothing,” she adds, determined to address this weird little misstep directly, because they are both too old to be having any kinds of weird misunderstandings anymore. “We’re close. We have our own rhythm, our own special two step. No wonder Darryl got confused.”

“He’s getting old,” says Nathaniel.

“Dude, c’mon.”

“What? It’s true.”

“What about you, Mister Gray?” Rebecca challenges. Nathaniel pulls a face in response, clearly fighting the urge to brush his hand through the aforementioned silvering at his temples.

(He wasn’t quite vain enough to dye his hair yet, though Rebecca credits his restraint to the fact that she would never let him hear the end of it.)

“It’s just a couple of hairs,” he says inconsequentially, as though it hasn’t been long established that between the two of them, he’s the one with the greater fear of aging, and therefore in far more danger of aging gracelessly.

“Keep telling yourself that.” Rebecca hops off the couch and grabs him by the elbow. “Now c’mon, let’s make sure make these sweet potatoes are not oh-sweet-pies-don’t!”

Heading over to Nathaniel’s place had left Rebecca feeling on edge, not quite sure how to process the idea of someone, anyone, considering her and Nathaniel as a potential couple this late in the game.

Nothing is more grounding, however, than seeing Nathaniel being clearly so off kilter, missing steps in what should be a well-worn dance of theirs by now. Dancing has always been their thing—where they once threw each other off at every possible moment, shaking up their convictions about life and happiness and how that concept could exist within their previously compartmentalized existences. Now, they were familiar with each other. Comfortable. Predictable.

They knew each other’s moves now, which means that she could see Nathaniel’s as clear as water.

He’s unfocused during dinner, a little erratic in his answers, jittery, as if he’s had too much coffee. It’s putting her off her rhythm, and while she knows that not everything in life needs to be a big song and dance production, there does need to be some kind of continuity.

This evening was supposed to be easygoing and relaxing. And, yes, probably beneficial in that very particular friends-with-benefits way. But since that clearly wasn’t going to happen, they needed to execute a sharp left turn and get this all settled.

“Nathaniel?” she repeats, for the third time.

“Hm?”

“Are you getting hard of hearing in your old age?” He scowls deeply at her in response. “Yeah, yeah, I had to ask. So, what’s bugging you?”

He’s silent for a long minute. “Just something ridiculous.”

“Yeah?”

He shakes his head. “We don’t need to go through it again. It’s just spinning in circles around the same old subject.”

“Try a jazz square then.”

That startles a laugh out of him, much to Rebecca’s satisfaction. Good to know that she still has some capacity for surprise with him. She continues, “You know that move, right? Don’t tell me you forgot about Connie.”

“Are you kidding? I still have nightmares about her scarf strangling me to death.”

“Dark.”

“She was terrifying.”

“Yeah.” They sit in companionable silence. Then Nathaniel sighs.

“Sorry I’m being weird. I just…hearing that from you, I always thought it would just be a good laugh. You know, ridiculous to even think about romance again. But it made me feel weird instead, so now I’m acting slightly weird.”

“I wouldn’t say slightly,” teases Rebecca, unable to resist. Nathaniel doesn’t return her smile.

“Rebecca, I like where we are. I like that our relationship isn’t a big production anymore.”

“Don’t get me wrong—I love drama on the stage, but that’s definitely where it should stay.” She drums her fingers on her thigh, subconsciously tapping out a tune that’s been giving her trouble these last few weeks. “We can learn new steps, you know. Old dogs, new tricks? That doesn’t only apply to the bedroom.”

Nathaniel (again, predictably) groans.

“Aren’t you getting too old to have such a dirty mind?” But he’s smiling, now.

“Nah. I fully intend to be a filthy old woman. But seriously,” she adds, moving to sit besides him on the couch. “If just the thought of other people thinking that we’re a couple again is enough to send us both off balance, we need to center ourselves. Maybe it’s something worth talking about. What do you say?”

She reaches out and grabs his hand, and starts to tap a rhythm against his large palm—one of the first she ever composed, the first one her friends ever danced to. After a moment, he taps back, completing it.

“Yes.”

#writing meme reply #rebecca x nathaniel #crazy ex girlfriend #ellie writes fic #I'm not sure how happy i am with the denouement of this one #and it spun away a bit from the prompt #but i like enough of it #it's been forever since i've written fic #notbang

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kikoqueenofrats · 4 years ago

Text

Oh boi here we go again!

@toastraccoon

There is gonna be an end to this, don’t worry, I’m getting there slowly-

Tw Karen encounter

It had been a few days after their hostile encounter with a user and Cel was feeling confused. Waking up in Maris arms had been quite the experience, an experience he seemed to want to go through again. Much to his terror, Cel didn't think it was right.... No.... The protagonist didn't think it was right.

The protagonist who abandoned Cels village in their time of need didn't think it was right.

If Cel was being honest with himself, he wasn't really sure what his opinion on the matter was. He continued to think about this as Mari lead him into what looked like another cooking game.

"Welcome to Papa's Pizzeria!" A large shout from inside the kitchen startled Cel out of his thoughts, he looked over to where he thought the noise had come from to see a large man with a weird white hat and a large brown mustache currently making his way out of the kitchen area.

"You must be the new employees! Welcome welcome! Right this way!" The man beckoned for the duo to follow him into the kitchen.

Cel looked up at Mari confused, Mari looked back a large smile on their face. Cel couldn't help but feel comforted by Maris large confident smile. So when Mari grabbed his arm and began pulling him towards the kitchen he didn't feel as, bewildered as he usually did.

He actually felt quite excited.

After showing the duo around and teaching them how to use the different machines scattered around the kitchen Papa, as the man had asked them to refer to him as, left them to it. Customers slowly began making their way into the pizzeria soon after papa had left. Cel was tending to them to the best of his abilities whilst Mari was completing the orders.....

And by completing their orders I mean molding the dough into weird shapes and then decorating those weird shapes with the toppings. Most of the customers were okay with Mari's creations, some of them actually enjoyed them. Cels current customer however wasn't too pleased with their, leaning tower of pizza.

"What, is this?" The man yelled gesturing to a mound of dough covered in sauce, cheese and pepperoni currently sitting on his plate. Cel stared at it for a few moments "To be honest...I'm not sure...." He muttered.

Cel knew he could've just smooshed the thing into a more pizza like shape but he didn't have the heart to crush what Mari had made like that. A small part of him was still scared as to what Mari would do if he ended up really upsetting them, however most of him would just feel guilty for potentially ruining Maris fun.

He looked back into the kitchen and watched on as Mari made a dough teddy bear, humming out a happy tune as they did so. It made him feel warm...fuzzy even.

"HEY!"

The man bellowed startling poor Cel out of his thoughts "did you hear what I just said?" Cel shrunk slightly at the question. "N-no sorry" he muttered looking down at the floor in shame.

Cel yelped in surprise as the man slammed his fist onto the counter. "Look at me in the eye when I'm talking to you punk!" The man ordered glaring at in fury. "S-sorry sir" Cel whimpered trying to make himself as small as possible whilst also staring at the man like he wanted Cel to.

"HEY!"

Another voice joined the fray and Cel couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief at it. Mari brought their hand down on the space in-between Cel and the man, throwing the man one of their meanest looks. "Do we have a problem here?" Mari asked firmly, the man didn't seem phased by Mari's tough look and continued to glare.

"Yes actually" the man huffed "tell me is this a pizzeria?" A confused look fell upon Mari's face "yes?" "And does that look like a pizza to you?" The man gestured towards the mound of dough and toppings. Mari followed the mans hand, giving him another look before rolling their eyes.

"No, there's no need to yell about it tho!" Mari huffed, crossing their arms "It's an easy fix too, watch!" Mari then proceeded to pick up the platter and squish it into the mans face. "There, now all we gotta do is cook it!" Mari smirked going to pull the plate off the mans face, but hesitating when the man began shaking, loud grumbles and grunts coming from under the dough and plastic.

"Though I think you're doing that already" Maris smirk grew wider as the sound of Cel's quiet laughter reached their ears. The man quickly ripped the plate from their face, giving the duo a look of utter fury, before sticking up his nose and leaving the building.

After the man had completely left the building Mari and Cel both proceeded to burst into pelts of laughter.

"Did-did you see how red his face went?" Mari chuckled. "Yeah, it was almost as red as a...pepperoni!" Cel replied a large smile on his face. The duo began laughing again and Cel couldn't help but wonder how his life would've gone if he hadn't met Mari.

It probably wouldn't have been as fun, that's for sure.

"Hey Cel?" Cel looked at Mari. "Yeah?" They inquired so Mari knew they had his attention. "Since that was the last customer, how about we have some fun!" Mari grinned turning towards the kitchen before walking in. "What kind of fun?" Cel asked a he began following them.

Mari gave Cel a knowing look, "The largest pizza in the world kind of fun!" They replied kneeling down next to the dough bin. Cel looked at them in confusion before shrugging and walking over to stand next to Mari. Watching on as they pulled what looked like the entire lump from inside the bin and placed it onto the large table standing at the end of the conveyor belt like work space.

Mari began gently pulling out the dough, carefully kneading it to avoid ripping the delicate substance in two. Cel watched on for a while before noticing how thin the dough was becoming. It was too stretched out to properly support the toppings Mari would most likely assault it with when they were finished.

Cel was about to mention this to Mari when they reached into the dough bin and pulled out another large chunk of dough. Cel stared at them in shock, before going over to look into the bin to see how deep it actually was. Cels shock grew when he saw the almost fully filled bin of dough. He quickly reminded himself of the physic deifying game mechanics he had recently experienced, before shaking the shock off and going back to watching Mari.

A few moments later Mari stopped stretching the dough out, stepping back to look over their handy work. The dough was now unskillfully stretched out across the entire table, it was far from the worlds largest though it was certainly the biggest pizza Cel had ever seen.

Nodding proudly Mari looked over to Cel and smiled, Cel smiled back. "Hey could you grab the vat of tomato sauce for me?" Mari asked before walking off towards the pile of pizza toppings they had made whilst clearing the large table for their giant pizza.

Cel gave Mari a mock salute before running off towards the large container of tomato sauce. Grabbing it by the bottom Cel struggled to lift it up. Whimpering slightly as he slowly hobbled towards Maris work station the weight of the vat too much for his small body.

Mari noticed Cels struggle just in time to catch it as Cels legs gave out from under him and he stumbled forward. The contents slushing forward, resulting in Mari getting splashed by the red liquid. Cel stared at Mari in horror "S-sorry" Cel gasped as they both carried it over to Maris work station, Cel wanted to get the pot out of his hands as quickly as possible so he could help Mari clean themselves up. "It's alright!" Mari chuckled, not really minding the fact that their face was almost completely covered in sauce, as they tipped the entire vat onto the pizza.

Cel stared at Mari in shock and was about to make a comment when someone burst into the kitchen.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RA DOING!?!"

The loud shout cause both sticks to jump out of their skin, resulting in the large container to fall onto the floor with a loud clatter. The remaining sauce ending up on both of their trousers and feet as well as the floor below. They both turned to see Papa standing just inside the kitchen door, almost as red as the guy Mari had chased away. "We were...trying to break a world record?" Mari chuckled, hoping that would be enough to convince their "boss" not to fire them.

They were wrong.

"GET OUT!!" Papa yelled pointing to the now open pizzeria door. Mari sighed and nodded, gently taking Cel by the hand and walking out. As soon as the duo had walked through the doors, they slammed shut, causing the sign hanging just outside the door to twirl from its open position to its closed.

Cel and Mari both looked at each other for a few moments before beginning to chuckle.

"And I thought that last guy was mad" Mari grinned "I could literally see the steam pouring out of Papas ears" Cel began laughing more at that.

"He was almost as red as your face is!" Cel chuckled and Mari gave him a playfully perplexed look. Cels smile faltered slightly as his brain finally processed what he had said, he was about to back track when Mari began laughing. "Yeah it was!" They chuckled and Cel relaxed.

The duo continued to joke about until they were kicked out of the game entirely by Papa and a group of angry customers.

#Cel and Mari #stickocs #Alan Becker #animation vs animator #long post

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themusicplayedherlife · 4 years ago

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WIP: Ocean

summary: you never knew you’d ever feel so attached to someone, never knew that you could feel so strongly about a person; this is your start and end with javier pena, the man that would shake your life for better or worse a/n: i had posted this before but i accidentally deleted it--oops, so forgive me, i know its not wednesday

Summers in Los Angeles weren’t the worst you have experienced. You’ve been fortunate (but really, unfortunate) to visit many cities across the US during the summer and while there are places where the humidity destroys you, none have come close to the summers you used to spend in Bogota, Colombia as a child.

When you asked your father how it was possible for him to have grown up in a place where sometimes you felt you couldn’t breathe, he said you grow used to it. You couldn’t quite believe him, not when you watched him struggle with the heat himself.

Summers in Los Angeles, however, were just an inconvenience; a heat that caused your skin to grow hot and for your clothes to stick to your slick skin. Sometimes the humidity was strong, but it was just the heat that really killed you. You hated it, but you could escape it easily by ducking into a place with air conditioning or staying in your car with the air blasting on high until absolutely necessary for you to head out.

Except now, you’re stuck in a room used for interrogation and you’re 100% sure that the lack of cool air is meant to make criminals uncomfortable, make them want to confess faster to their wrong doings. But you’re not a criminal, even if the blonde with the funny mustache sitting across from you with a steely stare seems to think otherwise.

“I already told you, Detective, uh—“ what was his name again? God, you couldn’t care less whether his name was Al Pacino or Ronald McDonald, but you have a feeling that this particular Detective seems to like respect, and as much as you don’t want to give it, you know it’s the only way to get released quicker.

“Murphy,” he fills in for you as he leans back into the metal chair with barely any cushion—seriously your ass hurts.

“Right, Detective Murphy, I was only there because I was passing by and happened to get caught in the cross hairs. I have no idea who any of these men are.”

“These men” is referring to the candid photos of some of Los Angeles’ most well known drug dealers—well, not super well known, but well known to those who care, scattered on the table. There’s El Quica, the funny looking one, short and all teeth as he smiles to someone off frame, a sex worker most likely. Scorpion, lanky, and covered in tattoos from head to toe, hard to miss if he’s walking down the street. Poison, a cop killer, hitman and a man straight out of one of those hair salon posters from the 80’s. There are a few others you somewhat recognize as well, but none that you have catalogued as much as the three faces he put directly in front of you.

The door to the interrogation room opens and for one measly second you allow yourself to grow excited at the prospect of being released, however the next person to walk into the room isn’t exactly who you’re expecting.

He’s handsome. Good looking in those form fitting jeans and pink button down shirt that you’re sure he’d say is salmon, not pink. He’s glaring down at you with his dark eyes and you can’t help but look away.

“You really don’t know who they are?” The new man asks, his voice low and deep, smooth. A thought flashes in your head, his voice hitting your core, wondering how he’d sound if he were under you or maybe over you, if he was good to you. But you’re not as taken by his voice, doused in cold water, when he pulls out your camera from his hand behind his back, setting it on the table top in front of you. “That’s hard to believe when their pictures are in your camera.”

“You went through my car?” Is what comes out of your mouth, eyes wide as red hot anger begins to boil in your stomach as you wait for him to answer, but he doesn’t, leveling you with a glare of his own. This time you don’t look away, meeting those dark pools head on.

“Why were you taking their pictures?”

“I can’t believe you went through my car!” You lunge for your DSLR, but tall, dark and handsome pulls it away from your grasp. “Who the hell gave you permission to go through my stuff?”

He purses his lips. “We don’t need—“

The door opens once again and this time the person you’re exactly expecting to step through the threshold does—Horacio, intimidating gaze sweeping over the room and only growing more intense when he notices the state you’re in.

Shit. That is not a happy expression on your Nino’s face.

“Mi Capitan,” says the dark haired man causing his boss to turn his sharp gaze in his direction.

“Let her go,” is all he needs to say for you to quickly stand up.

Detective Murphy’s eyes fly between you and his Captain. “With all due respect, sir, we can’t just do that. I think she could be—“

“And with all due respect, Murphy, I don’t care what you think.”

Horacio tilts his head to the side, a silent command for you to leave the room, and you do as he motions. Quickly gathering up your camera in your hands before exiting the room with Horacio behind you, and his two Detectives hastily following.

“Qué estás haciendo, Horacio?” What are you doing? Tall, dark, and handsome asks, Spanish smooth and enough to make you swoon—if he hadn’t touched your camera, that is.

“My office,” Horacio speaks softly to you, in contrast to his hard gaze, and you nod, already knowing the way. You’ve been here enough times as a kid to know where his office is.

You can feel the hot gazes on your back as you walk away, but you ignore them in favor of keeping your head high and holding your camera tightly to your chest. Idiotas. Seriously.

Slipping into Horacio’s office, you place your camera down onto his desk, easily falling onto the comfortable padded arm chair for his guests.

God, what a mess.

You had thought you were being pretty sneaky, but somehow those two saw you as you tried slipping away from the busted drug deal you were trying to cover. When you realized you were being followed, you barely had enough time to stash your camera into your glove compartment and lock the car before Detective Murphy, or whatever his name is, was hovering over you and reading you your rights.

You sigh and settle into the seat just as the door behind you opens up.

“Ni—“

“What were you thinking?” He immediately starts badgering you, and you aren't surprised. He has a tendency to overreact, just like your father. “Do you realize how dangerous and stupid that was? What if you got caught by one of his men instead, huh? What then?”

You frown, your eyes following him as he stands in front of his desk and drops the items that the detectives confiscated from you onto his desk before crossing his arms taut as he glares down at you. “I was careful, Nino. I don’t know how your men even saw me! If anything, you should take it as praise. It means your men are getting more competent, right?”

Making a joke is risky, especially when he’s like this, but it seems he’s in a good because he doesn’t turn red and start telling you off like your father would. Instead, he snorts, releasing the tension in his body as his arms drop to his side. “You’re unbelievable.”

You crack a smile. “Lo se.”

Horacio pushes away from the desk to take a seat in his chair across from you. He studies you for a moment before drifting his eyes down to your camera. “Peña told me you have pictures of Sicarios, some that we don’t even have in our database.”

“Is Peña the Spanish speaking one?” you ask with a carefree grin, hoping to change the subject. While any other time you would’ve happily given him copies of the pictures you took, you weren’t ready to share your half information just yet. “Or was there another officer I didn’t notice? If there was, I’m losing my edge.”

He calls your name firmly, like a father reprimanding their child for not behaving, and you lazily blink up at him, not at all phased. “Where did you take their pictures?”

“Ask Detective Peña. He went through my camera, oh, and my car.”

He inhales deeply, rubbing his temple in exasperation. “Mija,” he starts slowly, “we need that information.”

“Even if I did give you a place, they don’t go there anymore. Besides the ones from today, the pictures are two weeks old,” you tell him, holding your camera up with the screen in his direction. “They’re getting smarter, Nino. They’re not sticking to one place anymore. They’re jumping around.”

“Jumping around?”

You lick your lips, thinking about whether to tell him. It wouldn’t hurt giving him a hint, would it? “They’re sticking to the DTLA area mostly, but they’re starting to push further into the surrounding areas like Pico-Union, Koreatown and even as far as East LA.” This is as much as you’re willing to tell him, really, but you’ve given him a base, enough to move his men freely and discover more details for themselves. The rest of your intel is still being confirmed by you, and you really don’t need a bunch of cops scaring them off before you can get the chance to track them down and uncover more facts.

He stares at you for a moment, the clock on the wall ticking loudly—once, twice, and a third time before he sighs. “You’ll give us intel when you’ve got it?”

Your lips tick into a half smile. “Of course, once I can confirm it.”

You can tell by the way he clenches his jaw, he wants to tell you he can confirm it himself, keep you out of harm’s way, but he knows better than to argue with you. You’re not about to give in so easily. “Fine, but be careful out there, okay? It’s already enough that your brother is getting ready for this mess, but I don’t need you getting caught in the cross hairs, too, mijita.” Mijita, he only uses that term of endearment when he’s really worried about you and your wellbeing. It’s a name you hated as a child—mijita, so condescending, but now? As an adult? You appreciate it a little more.

“I will, Nino,” you assure him, allowing a cocksure grin to paint your lips. “Can’t let anything happen to me before I earn a Pulitzer.”

#javier peña x reader #javier peña #javier peña x you #javier peña x y/n #wip wednesday #wip

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emwriterblr · 5 years ago

Text

welcome to my world

part one

gif is mine, please don’t repost

word count: 2.7k pairing: javier pena x oc warning(s): rape mention notes: this is part one of my javier x oc series. There isn’t a lot of javi x oc interactions in this chapter, as I wanted to focus on her initial meeting with Steve. But I promise there will be proper javi scenes in the coming chapters.

The embassy was bustling with the usual activity.

With the new DEA Agent arriving today, there seemed to be a bit more of a commotion than normal. And that didn’t help the pounding headache Elena was experiencing. People coming from left and right, vouching for her attention on certain matters. She deals with the mass appropriately then another round comes along. Every part of her wants to scream ‘fuck off’ but this was her job. It came with it.

By the time noon came around, Elena had managed to sneak to her office for some much-needed quiet. She sat down in her chair, mulling over the piles of folders and finished paperwork that needed to be organized. Elena checked her watch and decided against it. She wouldn’t have enough time. She pulled out the hair tie, her brown hair came out as a mess of waves. The tension in her head immediately waned. Maybe that’s what was causing her headache. Not even a minute later, there was a knock at her door, effectively halting her session. Glancing over, the sight of Javier just barely poking his head in would have usually made her snicker. But with how annoyed she already was, the only thing she could do was throw a glare in his direction.

He didn’t seem to phased by it though. “You good?” His eyebrows raised in question and she merely exhaled a deep breath. He took that as the only answer he would get from her. “The new guy just got here.” He said, pointing his thumb behind him and waiting for her to get up.

God, she had only been here a few hours and she was ready to go home and crawl into bed. But she had a long day ahead of her. With the new tip Javier managed to get from his informant last night, she, Javier and their new partner will need to follow up on it. Elena leaned back in her chair, took in another deep breath then nodded. She began to mess with her hair, try and make it look more presentable, as she swiveled in her chair to face Javier. “I’ll meet you out there, just give me a bit.”

Javier tapped the door frame once and nodded before taking his leave.

Elena started to pull her hair back into a bun when she stopped, allowing her hair to cascade over her shoulders. She figured having her hair down might help with the headache. She stacked all the files on her desk into a neat pile and finished the rest of her coffee before discarding the empty cup into the trash. “Okay,” she breathed out. Took a moment to fix up her jacket and then left the confines of her office. She was immediately met with the barrage of voices, phone calls, and fax machines. The noise attached her headache full-on, a wave of nausea followed soon after, almost making her vomit in the middle of the embassy.

Running on a few hours of sleep with nothing but coffee in her system, no wonder she felt like shit.

Elena felt her back straightened when she saw Javier entering the embassy with another man. She could only assume it was their new partner. He was around the same age as Javier, tall, slim with dirty blonde hair and an ever prominent mustache. She strode towards the pair, offering a smile when Javier gestured to her.

“Steve Murphy, this is Elena Caro, she’ll be running this operation with us.”

“Ma’am,” Steve greeted and stuck his hand out to her. She took it in her own, smirking faintly at the clear accent in his voice.

“Nice to meet you, Agent Murphy,” their hands dropped down by their sides. “I hope you’ve settled in well.”

“Save for the little gun show we were treated to last night.”

Elena hummed in response. It woke her up too. “You’ll get used to it.” She glanced down at her watch then looked back up at the men before her. “Well, the Ambassador is waiting for our meeting, so Javi,” she directed her gaze at him. “Should we show him around?”

For the next ten minutes, Javier guided Steve through the embassy. Introducing him to the faces of the various departments. Elena followed the group while not saying a word. Enjoying the fact that Javier was doing most of the work. It wasn’t until they were heading towards the Ambassador’s office did Steve sneak in a small conversation with her.

Steve slowed his pace, making sure that Javier didn’t notice. Once he was walking next to Elena, he barely leaned over and she met him halfway. “He seems like an asshole... given what I’ve seen.”

Elena pursed her lips together, holding back a smirk. “Javi can be an asshole but you’ll learn real quick that the sons of bitches down here deserve it.”

Steve nodded wordlessly. “How long have you been down here?”

“About eight months.”

“And how did you fare with him being your partner?”

Elena glanced over at Steve, an eyebrow raised teasingly. “I’ve been around men like him my whole life. It’s easy to navigate around him once you understand what’s going on.” She gave Steve a quick pat on the shoulder. “I think you’ll get the hang of it real quick.”

….

The trip to Medellin was anxiety-inducing, to say the least. Javier had received a tip from one of his informants. The narcos were gathering for a meeting and with a high number of prostitutes being flown out, it wasn’t hard to gather what was going down. Helena, Javier’s informant, would try and get as much information as she could.

Elena was stuffed into a small hotel room across from the meeting’s location. She was stood at the open window between Javier and Carrillo. There was a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as she thought about Helena. She doesn’t know the young woman well. She met her by chance as she was leaving Javier’s apartment the night before. Elena offered her a cigarette, they shared a few pleasantries and went their separate ways. Still, it was a dangerous thing to be an informant for the DEA. There was a deep understanding of informants that Javier and Elena agreed upon. That they should be protected in every way possible.

Cristina, Elena’s first informant she met three months after transferring to Bogotá, ended with the young woman getting killed. It was Elena’s first failure. And the event that shifted her dynamic with Javier. They butted heads quite a bit early on in the partnership. Both had strong opinions that sometimes differed from one another. Banters were common between the two of them. But losing Cristina was a turning point. They grew a better understanding of each other, knowing they were trying to achieve the same goal. Capture Escobar. No need for them to argue with each other. No need for being on opposites sides. It was an unspoken truce that came to fruition. And Elena was glad for it.

But the anxiety never waned. Once the meeting was underway, the team moved to a designated location agreed upon by Javier and Helena. And there they waited… and waited. One hour went by. Then two, then three. With each passing hour, Elena and the others grew antsier. Steve suggested that she might have bailed. But Javier knew better. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. The sun had already disappeared behind the city skyline and still no Helena.

Javier and Carrillo left to find out where she was. Elena and Steve were told to stay put in case she did show up. While Steve was annoyed at being left behind, Elena didn’t say a word. She was Javier’s informant, no way Elena would get involved with it. Elena leaned against the car and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She pulled out a cigarette, placed it between her lips, and held up the pack towards Steve, shaking it to entice him. “We’re going to be waiting for a bit,” she said before shaking the pack again.

Steve relented, pulling one for himself before handing the pack over to her. She pulled out a lighter, lit up his first and then her own. Steve took a large inhale, smoke billowing from his nose and mouth. The agitation in his shoulders was prominent as hell.

Elena could only eye him curiously. Probably wasn’t expecting his first day here to be on the sidelines. “Would it be alright if I asked a question?”

Steve pulled the cigarette from his mouth, gesturing for her to continue.

“Did you come to Bogotá alone?”

“No, my wife Connie came with me. I think you two might get along, I know she’s going to need friends down here.”

Elena nodded, then smiled. “I look forward to meeting her. But you both pretty much just uprooted and came down here, huh?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, his eyes staring down at the ground. “Yeah, we did. And you, how has working down here at embassy been for you?”

A curious question really. Elena pulled the cigarette from her mouth and blew, “For me?” She smirked as Steve nodded his head. “Well, it definitely is a man’s world in the DEA. I honestly didn’t expect it to be any different compared to what I experienced in the states. It was hell in the beginning, the only person who took me seriously was… Javi,” a small beat. “And Carrillo, and I hope you will be apart of that small list too.”

Steve didn’t hesitate. He gave a firm nod, “I can assure you I am already.”

She nodded in acknowledgment. “In the eight months I’ve been here, I’ve definitely had to work twice as hard. There’s no room for error, no room for slacking. You know I see so many of the other men lounging around, thinking they can do whatever the hell they want. But I slip up, they treat it like it’s the end of the word.” She hummed to herself, then took a long inhale from her cigarette. “I have to pick and choose my battles within the embassy. Most of the time it’s not even worth it. I’m here to do a job. I was transferred here because I was qualified to help get it done. And that’s what I keep telling myself every day.”

Steve silently regarded her, he could see the hint of dismay in her eyes. And he couldn’t begin to imagine what it was like for her. The amount of disrespect she must receive from people who were her colleagues. People she was supposed to trust. He could feel his shoulders tense at the thought. The day one of those men insults her in front of him, it would be the day all hell runs loose. “I”m sorry you have to deal with that bullshit.”

Elena gave a casual shrug, she tried to make it seem like a big deal. But it was. And it affected her every day. “Comes with the world we live in, right?” It was a sad fact indeed. “I’m lucky I have the ambassador on my side though.”

The car’s radio switched on garnering both Elena and Steve’s attention. The driver spoke into the radio for a brief moment, then slammed the side of the car door, speaking to them in Spanish.

“What did he say?” Steve asked.

Elena dropped the cigarette to the ground and stomped it out. “They found her, we need to move out.”

….

They arrived at a convenient stand a couple of blocks away. When they pulled up, there was an ambulance stationed on the side of the road. Carrillo was sitting at an outside table while Javier was leaning against the railing. Elena felt her stomach drop as she stepped out of the vehicle. Fuck, this wasn’t good. She and Steve crossed the street to join the others.

“How is she?” Steve was the first to ask.

“Sedated.”

“Is she gonna be alright?”

“Physically yeah, but mentally I haven’t got a fucking clue.”

Elena’s gaze moved from Javier to the ambulance just a few feet from them. She swallowed down the itch to go over and ask about how Helena was doing. “What happened?”

There was no response. Javier couldn’t even look at her. He continued to smoke his cigarette, eyes focused on the ground. The slight tremor in his hand was a key indication that he wasn’t in the mood to discuss what he had seen. But Elena managed to piece it together. Her blood ran cold when she finally realized what had happened. Those pieces of shit raped her. “And what about the people who did it?” This time she directed her question at Carrillo.

“Dead.” His one-word response was enough to somewhat quench the rage billowing in her stomach.

“Good.” Elena broke away from the group and ventured to the concession counter. She pulled out her wallet, silently cursing when she saw her hands shaking. At least, Javier got to her before they could kill her. But what about the trauma she would have to live with now? The nightmares she’ll have to deal with. Fuck. She was glad the men who did this to her were dead. If not, she would’ve hunted them down herself.

She asked for a beer from the man working at the stand and paid the fee. Out of the corner of her eye, Javier stood next to her, a newly lit cigarette hanging between his lips. She could feel his rage radiating off him. And she couldn’t blame him. It was justified. Elena took her beer and finally looked over at him, his jaw tense and still not permitting himself to look at her. Did he feel ashamed? Possibly. Guilty? Yes. After knowing this man for over eight months, she’s built up a foolproof guilt radar when it came to him.

The longer he felt her eyes staring him down, his chest tightened just a little more. He didn’t know what to say. He wouldn’t say that everything was going to be fine because it was bull shit. And expelling a false sense of hope wasn’t a stake he liked to pitch up. That usually came from Elena. She was smart, a hardened realist but still held a flame to having that sense of hope. Granted, it’s depleted somewhat since she first arrived. And while it wasn’t an ideal that he followed, he did rather enjoy it when it came from her.

And they’ve experienced harsh downhill moments in the last eight months. This one was a little too familiar.

Javier inhaled a long drag, his free hand leaned against the concession counter. From his peripheral, he saw her pop off the beer cap and take a long drink. Only then did he allow himself to look at her. Her eyes were quick to find his, she pulled the bottle away and wiped the bit that fell down her chin. Eyes glazed over and mouth parted open, she looked desperate. Struggling to think of something, anything to say to him. But she snapped her mouth shut. She knew that with Javier, sometimes the best thing to give him was silence.

Elena broke their gaze, knowing that the two of them just staring at each other would seem weird to the others. She stashed her wallet into her jean pocket and turned to join Steve and Carrillo when she stopped. It still didn’t feel right. Leaving him to simmer alone like this. She tilted her head to look at him, his eyes staring down at the counter. Without a single word, Elena reached over and gently took hold of his forearm, her thumb rubbing small, soothing circles. She saw his eyes focus on her hand, not knowing of his urge to take her hand into his own. He merely closed his eyes and soaking in every second of it.

A simple gesture that has been repeated by her several times. A silent token of reassurance that she was always there if he needed to talk. He never admitted how much he appreciated. But he had a feeling that she knew.

Her hand fell from his arm, despite the Colombian heat, his arm felt cold and that sense of longing crept its way into his stomach. Clearing his throat, he barely glanced back over his shoulder, seeing her talking with Steve and Carrillo. Javier shook his head and stepped up to the concession window. A hell of a night and he couldn’t wait for it to be over.

tag: @stevieharrrr (message me if you want to be added!)

#javier pena x oc #javier pena fanfic #javier pena x reader #wtmw #omg I'm so nervous #let me know what you think #its gonna be original chapters mostly from here on out

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sincerlypadfoot · 4 years ago

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Maledicite Terrae (Curses 3)

Word Count - 2600

“Have you decided on the tattoo you want putting on you tonight?” Remus asked as we both walked down to the library to study for our potions test.

“I’m not sure, I was thinking of a duck, I’ll show you the sketch I made in potions today,” I said to Remus opening the library door for us. “Speaking of potions do you got the notes?” I asked making Remus chuckle a bit.

“Yeah, you are James is so bad for not taking notes,” Remus said shaking his head, pulling out my chair and walking to the other side of the table and sitting down.

“Look this is what I was thinking,” I said to Remus, pulling out my sheet of paper that was supposed to have my notes written on it. “It’s this one, ignore everything else,” I said to him, pointing to the little duck, representing Ducky on the paper.

“I could do it, James and Peter have more complicated ones, well Sirius is just some footsteps under his right peck and a paw print leading up to them,” Remus explained looking back at the sheet of paper in front of us. “What's this one?” He asked pointing to the looking glass I drew.

“It's a looking glass, seeing into the future is what it represents,” I said without thinking anything of it. “I might get this one,” I pointed to the one in the top right corner, a dragon.

“I can do it tonight, I was thinking of the phases of the moon right here,” Remus said lifting his arm up, looking down at his scar filled arm, pointing to an almost empty spot.

“I like it, Remus, what does it mean?” I asked him taking my paper away, taking one more glance at the paper then tossing it in my bag.

“Just an inside joke of mine, and the other three, what does Ducky and the looking glass mean?” He replied asking the same thing.

“James calls me Ducky cause appeared to him I’m a duck,” I explained, smirking at myself. “The looking glass is just a look in the future, know what to expect,” I said rubbing my hands together under the table.

“That would be a nice quote for under the looking glass, so it doesn't look so bland,” Remus said taking out his notes. “Now come on, I said I’d help you study,” He smirked tossing papers in front of me, making me wanna barf.

“Are you almost done?” James asked Remus who both sat on the floor, James laying on his back, looking up at Remuwhose’s wand was pressed against his stomach. “How does it look?” He asked trying to look at his stomach.

“The antlers turned out great, I’m done,” Remus said taking his wand off James' stomach, causing him to sit up and look, right under his left peck, a pair of antlers laid.

“Peter are you ready, your next,” Sirius said tapping Peter on the back. Peter took off his shirt and laid on his stomach, putting his hands on his forehead so he wasn't completely laying on the ground. Remus gently put his wand in the middle of Peters back, slowly forming a pair of bats running away from the moon. “Awesome,” Sirius whispered then looked at me with a smile.

“Sirius come on, your next,” Remus said, looking at his own tattoo on his arm, slowly turning a less colour of red and now a normal colour of black and white. “Ready?” he asked as Sirius took off his shirt and laid down on his back.

“Ready as ever, right here the footprints and the two paws right here, please,” Sirius asked pointing to his right peck. “You’ll have to teach me this spell, so I don’t have to come back to you bugging you,” He said to Remus making him chuckle. Remus took his wand off Sirius, causing him to stand up, a pair of footprints trailed to his nipple, stopping there then two large pawprints laid above.

“My turn,” I said prying my eyes away from Sirius’ stomach and taking his spot beside Remus. “I think the duck should be right here?” I asked now nervous, lifting up my shirt, and revealing my ribs, pointing my finger to the middle of my left rib cage and then closing my eyes.

“Okay then,” Remus said with a smile, putting his wand on my ribcage, only came with a bit of stinging. “That one did,” Remus said causing me to open my eyes and look down at the duck now sitting on my ribcage. “Where's the next one?” He asked.

I turned around, lifting my whole shirt up revealing my back to him. “Just across my back, and the words you said earlier please,” I asked, I looked up to James who was looking at me with a smile. Remus’ wand touching my back, making my flinch a bit with the stinging following, After a couple minutes of staring at my feet his wand came off my back.

“This is awesome,” Peter said sitting on his bed shirtless, every boy in this room but Remus was shirtless, but they all were looking at their tattoos.

“That's my cue to go,” I said to the four who were looking at eachother then placing their eyes on me. “I’ll see you tomorrow okay,” I said looking around with a smile then turning around to walk out of the room. I stopped right outside their door, leaning on the wall with a smile.

“Hey,” James said to me, walking out of the room. “I like the duck,” He said with a smile. “Can I see your back one, I didn't really get to see it,” He asked so I turned around, moving my shirt up.

“Represents the future you know,” I said to him staring in front of my nervous. “And it's special, they're both special,” I put my shirt down and turned around to James. “They both something that only we understand,” I said with a smile wrapping my hands around him.

“Dean better not hurt you, or he’s a dead man,” James whispered in my ear. “You looked happy on your date last Saturday, the happiest I’d ever seen you in years,” He continued saying laying his head on my shoulder.

“Thank you for not hexing him into next week,” I smirked making myself laugh. “I want you to not worry about me with those things,” I said looking at him. “Nothing will ever break the bond we have together, no one,” I promised him.

“Goodnight Josie,” James said running his hand through my blonde hair. “Don’t change for anyone, this world is too good for you,” He said turning on his feet and walking back into his room. I did the same, walking down the hallway and entering my room to all the girls sleeping.

“Goodnight guys,” I whispered to the three of them fast asleep, crawling into my own bed and falling fast asleep. Not long I woke up in a large circles room. Looking down at my hands, I pinched myself hoping that it would wake me up but nothing happened not this time.

“In here!” I heard then a door swung open with six kids falling to the ground, stopping mid-air so they would hit the ground soft. I walked up to the four who stood in the middle of the room.

“James?” I said to myself putting my hand out to the kid in front of me. He was the perfect representation of James, looking just like him. But one difference, a scar on his forehead.

“Get behind me!” He yelled to his friends holding a profit in his hands, his friends behind him as black smoke entered the room around the six, ruffling and screaming filled the air.

“Betrix,” I muttered looking around the room, the black smoke was people, the dark lords following. Stopping at Betrix I walked over to her. “I could kill you,” I muttered then looked at the boy who stood in front of her with a wand at his neck. “Alice and Frank,” I said with a smile looking at their son who stood in front of me. “I’m too far,” I said to myself turning back to the boy who looked at James in the center of the room with a white-haired man standing in front of him.

“Don’t give it to him!” Alice and Franks's kid screamed causing me to look back at him then back at the scared boy handing the profit to the man, white gusts of light appear in the room, Sirius Black stood in front of me. Remus right behind him. I walked to Remus putting my hand to his face knowing he wouldn't know, Remus turned into a ball of light disappearing in front of me.

“Sirius?” I said walking up to him, he was much older, his hair was curled and he had a mustache, one I wanted to touch, he stood with the boy in his arms hugging him.

“Harry you need to go, take your friends back and go,” He said to the boy. Harry was his name. I looked behind as one of the death eaters tossed a spell hitting the rock that they hid behind.

“I’m staying here, I’m fighting with you!’ Harry yelled following Sirius into the battlefield. They fought with the white-haired man and another. Harry knocked the wand out of the other man's hand.

“Nice ones James!” Sirius shouted making both Harry and I look at him, I walked up to Sirius and looked at him, stood in front of him just watching him with a smile. A red light went through my stomach, stunning both Sirius and me, never has a spell in my dreams affected me.

I watched Sirius fall into a void that stood in front of us, Disappearing and dying at that moment, the scream of Harry rung my ears. “NOO!” I screamed running into the void but waking up in my bed, sweat-filled everything, my hands shaking my face wet from crying, black strands of hair landed on my face, not very noticeable to a half-asleep Lily.

“What's wrong?” Lily said worriedly. “Another nightmare again?” She asked knowing that it was, it wasn't the first time this happened but nothing like that has ever happened.

“I have to go,” I screamed throwing my blanket off me, waking everyone else up in the room but I didn't care, nothing matters in my head right now. “I’m sorry,” I cried at the girls swinging the door open and closed and running down to the common room and up the stairs to the boy's room, quieting myself.

“Sirius,” I whispered in his ear poking his head, he didn't wake up at first until I poked him harder. “Sirius,” I whispered again.

“Josie, what the hell are you doing?” He muttered rubbing his eyes, the moonlight shunned right on him. I didn't give him a chance to ask anything else before I wrapped my arms around him.

“I just had a nightmare I’m sorry,” I whispered crying into his arms. “Please don’t tell James about this,” I asked him leaning into him.

“Do you wanna tell me about it?” He asked running his hands on the back of my head. “I won't tell anyone,” He whispered.

“I can’t tell you,” I whispered looking at his face. “Can we go to the common room?” I asked him wiping my tears away. “Please,” I added.

“Of course, I’ll meet you down there,” He said kissing the top of my head and letting me go. “be quiet,” he whispered as I walked passed James, looking at him then prying my eyes away and walking down to the common room, sitting on the couch and just staring at the fire.

“You telling me your dirty secrets now?” He asked jumping over the couch, shirtless and sitting beside me. “Didn't take long for me to gain your trust,” He joked smiling but stopped when I didn't look at him and didn't smile back.

“You can’t tell James that I told you please, he would be so angry, angry that I told you,” I mumbled looking away from the fire and turning my whole body so I was facing. Sirius nodded his head at me. I looked at him for a minute, thinking back to my dream, they always come true, never has one been fake. “I’m sorry,” I cried out wrapping my arms around him and hugging him.

“You can tell me, Josie, you can trust me, I promise,” Sirius said grabbing my hand, holding my cold hands to his warm ones. I stayed silent not know what to say. “Josie,” Sirius said snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I can’t, not right now Sirius,” I mumbled leaning my head on the couch, his hands didn’t move from mine but kept still.

“I understand Josie,” Sirius said letting out a long breath. “Can I tell you something about myself,” He asked causing me to open my eyes. I nodded my head at him. “My whole family thinks I'm nothing anymore, since I’m not like them, and I can’t leave, I could never go back if I do,” He said, I sat up and looked at him.

“Sirius,” I whispered putting my hand on his face. “I’m always gonna be here for you, always,” I smiled bringing him into a hug. “My hairs blonde again,” I chuckled after waking up with black hair.

“Guess I helped, you know I think it’s pretty cool, how you could change your whole appearance in a though, I wish I was like that,” Sirius said smirking, letting go of my hands and leaning on the back of the couch. “But it’s not like you need to,” He chuckled making me smile.

“You don’t need to either, well I mean it would help with the bags under your eyes,” I joked punching Sirius playfully on his shoulder.

“Are you going back to bed?” Sirius asked looking at the window behind me. “The sun is coming up, I guess we’ve been talking for longer then I thought,” He chuckled.

“I can’t, not after what I saw,” I mumbled covering my mouth. “I mean in my nightmare, I could never go to sleep after I have them,” I said nervously smiling.

“I’ll stay up with you, it’s the least I can do, what are friends for, after all, Sirius chuckled putting his feet up on the ottoman that sat in front of the couch. “So tell me, Josie, when do I get to know the rest about all your dirty little?” Sirius said making me laugh and put my feet on top of his, leaning back on the couch, half on Sirius.

#JosiePoter #JamesPotter #SiriusBlack #RemusLupin #peterpettigrew #TheMarauders #Harry Potter #HarryPotter #marauders fanfiction #the marauders #hp marauders #Maraudersera #young marauders #metemorphagus

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inkribbon796 · 4 years ago

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Egotober Day 12: High Flying Adventure

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Prompt: Cloud

Summary: Eric and Illinois go on another adventure, and Illinois finds something a bit more valuable than gold or jewels.

Warnings: none

Interestingly enough, Eric hadn’t been aware that he was afraid of heights. But he was.

Eric and Illinois had snuck out of the city again to go on a little adventure. An adventure to a city that Eric had been too busy watching Illinois as he was explaining the name and history of the place. Seeing Illinois talking about something he loved was always so enthralling.

Then they stepped into a hot air balloon and Eric realized they were taking off the ground, it wasn’t until they got up a certain height that Eric understood why Illinois insisted he bring a sweater. It got colder the higher up they got, the sparse, thin cloud line misting over them.

Illinois was chuckling next to him as Eric screwed his eyes shut and held onto the explorer. “You’re fine sweetheart, I got us.”

The adventurer hadn’t intended the effect of bringing Eric up into the clouds to be that Eric had grabbed onto him, but he certainly wasn’t complaining. However he hugged his shy boyfriend back, “Dulcito, look at me.”

Eric peeked open his eyes to look up at Illinois.

“How can I help you dulcito?” Illinois asked. “You wanna get back on the ground?”

“Don’t you need to be up here?” Eric whimpered.

“Not for much longer, we’ll be on the ground soon,” the adventurer maneuvered so that he could pull on a pair of fire-resistant gloves and take out an almost clear golden orange gemstone. One of his vast collection, sacrificed for a nobler cause.

Illinois managed to convince Eric to sit in the basket so he couldn’t see the ground as Illinois tried to do the ritual almost blindfolded. The last adventuring party had to wait five whole years to get the phase of the sun right. It resulted in the two lead explorers marrying some of the locals and almost giving up to settle down in the area before they were able to actually perform the ritual.

Thankfully with aerial technology, they could skip all that uncertain planning. Illinois took out a laser pointer and tried to angle it, hoping that by some miracle that he was lucky enough to get the angle right.

Even with his normally abnormal luck it took over five minutes to get the angle right. The gem caught fire and disintegrated.

Only then did Illinois start their decent back towards the ground.

“We-We’re go-ing d-own?” Eric looked up at Illinois with huge eyes.

“Yeah, we just—” Illinois smiled and a strong gust of wind hit them, causing Illinois to need to fight to get the balloon under control and back towards the ground.

Eric was the first to leap out of the basket and jump towards the ground as Illinois and another attendant helped secure the balloon down and then Illinois pulled Eric away as another tourist group was scheduled to get into the balloon.

Illinois chuckled a bit when Eric held onto his arm as they walked into a nearby forest. “You sure you’re okay.”

The more timid young man shook his head, “H-H-appy to be on the gr-ound.”

“Got it, got,” Illinois laughed. “No more balloon trips.”

“Y-Yo-ou’re being mean,” Eric complained angrily.

With another chuckle, Illinois stopped to kiss Eric on the top of his head before leading him into the forest, Eric still holding onto his arm.

Illinois lead them deep into the woods where there was a clearing where the ground normal sat with dirt, grass and brush, but in the spread out roots of one of the trees a hole had ripped open in the ground and showed a passageway.

Quickly Illinois tossed down some rocks he’d collected on their walk over before jumping down and then helping Eric down.

Unlike every other excavation he’d ever done, the tunnel led into a small alcove that had a tall stone box that showed every damage, as if something inhuman had clawed and punched at the box. Almost like the creature had been trying to get something out. There were scorch marks against the walls were someone had been attacked and scorched and the wall had been protected from the elements.

But when Illinois walked up to it he could easily pull the empty box open to examine it.

“We’re t-too late?” Eric stammered.

“Oh yeah,” Illinois told him. “Over a hundred years too late. Big expedition team came in to try and deal with a demon that reportedly had impersonated a local spirit, once things were explained to them they were happy to see it gone.”

“Oh, umm, okay,” Eric trailed off, looking nervously at the marks. “So, uh, what made the, uh, marks, there’s n-none inside.”

“So far I don’t like that means anything big,” Illinois promised. “They got the big scary demon out of the area, never bothered the village again. Wait, no, technically not true but he wasn’t intending to harm this place, I don’t think he even remembers this city exists.”

Eric went quiet as Illinois took some pictures, but blushed madly when the adventurer snapped a couple images of Eric and immediately sent them to another file.

“Ills,” Eric complained.

“If my phone’s not full of pictures of your lovely face, sweetie, then I gotta take more,” Illinois grinned.

“Stop it!” Eric’s face was beet red, grabbing onto the front of Illinois’s shirt.

Illinois just laughed before he inclined his head a bit, “Only if you believe me.”

Eric’s smile dropped, and he looked away, “C-Come on, Illy.”

“It’s true,” Illinois reminded and reached over to inspect the inside of the box. Then he took out a necklace, “Okay, let’s dig up some secrets.”

Just watching, Eric took a step back and after a few hushed words in a language that Eric didn’t understand and the whole room exploded. There were almost like flashes of color. Illinois helped Eric out of the hole and they saw a red energy flash, it had a humanoid shape with a black energy mass around it. There were grey figures advancing on them, one of them had light swirls of colors around him and a book in his hand. Suddenly the black mass began shaking and the red figure disappeared. The man with the book had something that made his hand flash in and out of sight. Then the cloud seemed to get sucked into what looked like a large urn and the grey figures moved into the hole. Not too long after the red figure came back and followed the hole.

Illinois said something and the auras dissipated. “Yeah I know how that ends. I was looking for this adventuring group, I needed to make sure it was them.”

“Is it them?” Eric asked.

“Oh yeah,” Illinois smiled and figured that there was just an empty cave with no artifact or anything to steal beside an empty stone box. He figured that if anyone could get it out in the first place when it had nothing to do with the landscape or history, they deserved to have it. “Let’s get you back to town.”

Eric let the conversation drift to another topic and for Illinois take them back to town. He was mostly talking about the local delicacies and some street performers. While Eric was watching a movie that night and Illinois stepped out for what he promised would be ten minutes, and it turned into thirty and he walked back in with a smile and apologized for it taking so long.

Illinois took them to what seemed like a pub, they were talking and ordering food and then when someone Illinois was waiting for he got up to go stand by the bar.

“Ahh, Mr. Philly,” the man smiled as he walked up. “Still here I see.”

“Course, Sig,” Illinois smiled. “You have my report?”

“Yes, if you have my payment, it was hell-a-half digging them out,” he warned.

“A word of warning,” the man leaned closer. “I’m not sure your boss would want you bringing these guys back to his place.”

“Thanks,” Illinois evaded.

Quickly the notebook and money were exchanged and the man left to grab himself a drink as Illinois walked back over to the table where Eric was sitting. It was a nice, guarded place, Illinois was proud that his boyfriend had learned a lot from him.

They ordered something to eat and Illinois hunkered down to read the journal, setting aside a few old pictures to examine them later as he read the accounts of the adventurer who went around “witch hunting” and that term got an eye roll out of Illinois.

Eric was flipping through the pictures and smiled, “Aww, wh-what a cute little kid.”

Illinois looked over to see a team of twenty men and almost right in the center was what looked like a three-year-old boy. He had an oversized safari hat that matched the other men, except he had a huge smile plastered to his face. The man standing next to him had a rather stern expression with a bushy mustache.

Taking the photo he saw the picture was dated 1894, winter. “Guess he is,” Illinois agreed, already having a bit of a suspicion who the kid was.

Illinois smiled, “Hey, dulcito, wanna hear a secret?”

“S-Sure?” Eric said uneasily.

The adventurer pointed to the small kid, “That is a very young Warfstache.”

“No,” Eric gasped, leaning in. “Bu-But he’s s-so small. Is Dark in th-the picture?”

Illinois scanned back over the picture, “Nah, don’t think so.”

Eric thought for a second, “Are there any baby pi-pictures of D-ark?”

“Ehh, there’s probably a cave wall somewhere with some black paint on it,” Illinois joked.

They ate their food, went back to their hotel and after sleeping in a bit, started heading back to Egoton. Illinois reading through the journal and finding some pretty interesting spells. Each one for containing spirits and demons, and Illinois that Dark would want to take a look at that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Scene I sadly had to cut:

Wilford and Actor Mark’s father: Okay so we’ve got the dangerous demons that we’ve been trying to track down for years, team. Bad news, that vase we put it in won’t hold the powerful one. So I’m asking for some suggestions.

Damien and Celine’s father: we could bind it to your house. That gaudy thing should contain it.

Wilford and Actor Mark’s father: No I— how dare you! First off, me and my family live there. Second, I am not binding a demon to a house. My very well designed and decorated mansion.

Damien and Celine’s father: we can either bind it to your house or it’ll escape from mine with all my magical artifacts.

Wilford and Actor Mark’s father: shit!

(And then they put the Entity in the House)

#Superhero AU #Masks and Maladies #Egotober2020 #Markiplier #Illinois the Adventurer #ahwm Illinois #Eric Derekson #Ericilly #magic #part two of Illinois’s family investigation #Illinois is a good boy to Eric

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quackeroos · 5 years ago

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ONE WEEK || Day Four

Pairing: tom holland x dying ex!reader

Summary: you were dying, and tom still loves you. now he plans on loving you ‘til your last breath, and maybe get you to say those three words back to him.

Warnings: swearing, angst

Words: 4.9k

*gif is not mine!

General Masterlist | Series Masterlist

EYES SQUINTING, Y/N WOKE UP with the sun shining on her face. The blinds were open, and she groaned at the blinding rays of light. She never really was a fan of the morning sun. Well, when it came to waking her up, of course. She very much preferred watching it set rather than blinding her eyes.

Her body decided to wake up, a little early than her usual wake up time. Stretching her muscles felt good, she could feel her joints pop and give her that relaxing feeling. Blinking, her eyes wandered around her surroundings. It was weird, nobody was with her. She expected to see Tom laying down on the couch and her sister on the little spare bed beside hers, but instead, she was all alone. Her hand reached for her phone and rang their contact numbers. It immediately went to voicemail.

She tried ringing Tom's phone for the fourth time, still no answer. "Where could he have gone?" she hears the door open, her head turns at the source, expecting a curly haired brunette walk out of the shadows. "Tom?" she called out. But instead of Tom, it was someone else.

"Bold of you to assume I'm a guy, N/n." a giggle escapes her mouth, it was only Jamie.

"You look disappointed, what's wrong?" her sister approaches her bed bringing along some of the stuff she got. Y/n shakes her head. "Never mind that. So, where have you been? And what's with all the paper bags?"

"Just thought of buying a few outfits for us. I even sneaked this pass your nurses." Jamie opens the lid of the takeout she bought. Pancakes and Waffles. A grin makes it way up to her mouth, but falters at the sudden realization. "You know I can't." sadness in the tone of her voice was evident.

"Oh nonsense! I say that today is your cheat day, and that my sister should have a bit of freedom. Now here, eat." She pushes the breakfast plate towards her and gave her the maple syrup. Y/n ponders for a moment. Should she or should she not? It looked so good, but it could risk her health even more. One sweet breakfast couldn't hurt, right?

Still having second thoughts, she reluctantly takes the fork and knife, digging into the maple syrup covered carb meal. The sweet taste melted in her mouth, and she loved it. She missed the flavour of every dessert, sugar, and fast food she ate. She hated her diet, oh how much she missed living normal. "Good, right? Tom told me you'd like it." This caught her attention. Her face looked up from the plate, a little drop of maple syrup on her lips.

"What?"

"What?" her sister parroted. Y/n wasn't at all phased. Her eyes squinted at her while Jamie still pretended to not say anything. "Just go and eat your breakfast, I'm taking you to a trip around the hospital after."

***

"Can't we just stay in the room? I really wanna finish my sit-com marathon."

"Oh, quit you're whining! You should get out of that room more. It's suffocating in there." Y/n rolled her eyes at her sister. She sounded a lot like their Mum, and Y/n could already picture it out in her head. Jamie did take after their mother's looks and a bit of her mannerisms, and on their Dad's side, she got more of his personality. She stifled a laugh while looking at her sister. Jamie gives her a confused look. "What are you laughing at?" she asked.

"Nothing. You just sounded like Mum." Jamie gives her a sarcastic laugh and continues pushing. Y/n hadn't taken this route before though. The siblings pass through a skybridge leading towards the other building of the hospital. Her head craned and looked up at her sister, "Where are we even going?" She asked.

A smirk appears on her face. "You'll see."

The once transparent walls were changed into colorful walls painted with rainbows, flowers, butterflies and stars. This must be the children's ward. Y/n thought. The two pushed through two doors, leading to what seems "An activity center?" The girl spoke aloud. The venue was filled with a mix of teens and children, sick children. "Why in the world did you bring me to an activity center filled with children?" Jamie only looked at her with a hint of excitement in her eyes. Music blasted through the speakers and two familiar faces walked out from the makeshift stage.

"What's up guys! /Hello everyone!" the two greeted, waving to the crowd of children who also seemed to be hyped up. "I'm Jacob and this is my good friend Zendaya." The kids reply in chorus, waving at them saying 'Hi'

"So today we have a very special surprise for you guys! Do you like surprises?" Another enthusiastic reply from the young crowd, which brings a smile to Zendaya and Jacob's faces. At a far distance, Y/n could see a mop of curly ginger-brown hair holding a camera. It was Harry. Y/n could smell something fishy. The smirk her sister gave, Jacob and Zendaya's sudden appearance, Harry filming. She didn't want to go with her gut feeling. Y/n wanted to leave but at the same time, she wanted to stay and see where this was headed. "So, do you guys like heroes?" Jacob directed the mic towards the crowd and everyone in the room replied with another 'Yes'

"You know what Z? I'm not gonna delay this any longer. Everyone please welcome, our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!" the doors burst open and music played as the figure made an entrance. He momentarily glances at Y/n. Although the person was masked, she could feel his smile radiating. She knew exactly who it was behind it. Spider-Man did a flip, making the children around him wow and cheer at awe. "Hey! What's up everybody?" more cheers from the audience. He removes the red mask and his long brown curls flopped on his forehead, making him bring his hand up and brush through it. It was a signature move he did that Y/n loved, she still does, she's not gonna deny that. The Kingsleigh Sisters stayed all throughout the little meet and greet. Some stories and laughs were shared between Tom and his fans. She could tell he loved it, his job, his fans, everything. And when it was time for him to go, Tom lifts his mic.

"But before that, I'm gonna sing a song for you guys. Some of you might know this, so go ahead and sing along if you'd like." Sam takes out a mic stand while Tuwaine hands him a caramel colored guitar. Y/n recognizes the familiar instrument. She could feel her heart clench. Thousands of songs were played with it, and so many memories held in that guitar, both good and bad ones. She then started to wonder, did Tom ever stopped playing after everything that had happened?

The man positioned himself behind the mic, his guitar hanging around him with a strap to keep it's hold. He played a few chords to see if it was in tune, before he talks through the microphone. "This song is called, Introducing Me." Y/n hears a few of them gasp, most of it coming from the teenagers.

Tom starts strumming the intro, biting his lip a bit and smiling as he does. A few of the audience starts to sing along with him, their phones raised up, ready to record everything.

"I'm good at wasting time I think lyrics need to rhyme And you're not asking But I'm trying to grow a mustache I eat cheese, but only on pizza please Sometimes, on a homemade quesadilla Otherwise it smells like feet to me,"

She remembers one time, when they went out on a date, Tom insisted not to order anything that has a lot of cheese. It didn't sit well with his stomach and he heavily dislike the smell. And like the song, he only accepts it on pizzas.

"And I, I really like it when the moon looks like a toenail And I love you when you say my name"

Tom looks up from the crowd and finds the pair of e/c he loved looking into. Although she was far, he caught her staring back. Y/n didn't know what to feel. At the exact moment he said those three words, he looked at her. Her heart starts beating to the same beat to the song.

"If you wanna know Here it goes Gonna tell you this The part of me that shows if you're close Gonna let you see everything But remember that you asked for it I'll try to do my best to impress"

The song takes her way back to high school. It was lunch time, and hundreds of students were there to witness it. In the middle of the cafeteria, he stood there on the table, facing her, serenading her in front of everyone. And here they are now, nine years later, in front of a crowd, doing the exact same thing that made her see what could be if she said yes to him.

"But it's easier to let you take a guess at the rest But you wanna hear what lives in my brain My heart, will you ask for it For your perusing At times confusing, slightly amusing Introducing me"

His little humming to the tune made her giggle, Y/n found it very cute, with his head moving to it, it was double the times better. When it came to the second verse, he strummed faster, the lyrics also matching with his pace.

"I never trust a dog to watch my food And I like to use to the word "dude" As a noun, or an adverb, or an adjective And I've never really been into cars I like really cool guitars and superheroes And checks with lots of zeros on 'em"

Tom walks towards the audience area, serving his fans with a few smiles for them and for the cameras on their phones. Harry followed behind his brother, documenting everything with his camera.

"I love the sounds of violins And making someone smile"

His goofy face made her smile. A sweet and genuine smile. It was more than enough for Tom to send him to the seventh heaven. The corners of her eyes crinkled, cheeks blushed and face fully glowing. How he wished he could see her like this every day. He continues with the chorus, circling the fans, and from time to time, he would glance at Harry's camera. The bridge part of the song came, and little by little, y/n notices Tom coming towards her. Jamie moved back to give the two their limelight, her giddy smile evident on her face.

"So, if you wanna know, here it goes Gonna tell ya there's a part of me that shows If were close gonna let you see everything But remember that you asked for it I'm trying to do my best to impress

But it's easier to let you take a guess at the rest But you wanna hear what lives in my brain, in my heart Well, you asked for it."

At this point, y/n was already melting in her seat. Tom continued strumming, his left hand skillfully moving from one chord to the other on the neck of the guitar, all the while his gaze was focused on her. The crowd of children, teenagers, nurses and guardians all directed their attention towards the two, not only them but their group of friends too, and Harry at the side still holding his camera with a grin on his face.

"For your perusing At times confusing Hopefully amusing Introducing me" He slowly kneels on one knee, a cheeky grin plastered on his face. The brown locks on top of his head flopped on his forehead and droplets of sweat glimmered in the fluorescent lights. Being a habit of hers, her hands lift up and brush through his hair. The brown locks slicked back and stayed with the few waxes left in its hold.

"Introducing me."

Heavy breaths came out of him, his hands were a bit sore, and his head felt a little fuzzy. But it was fine for him, because the butterflies he felt in his stomach and the immense pounding of his heart both in exhaustion and adoration made it alright. Tom heard claps in the background, but he never turned. He just wanted to be with her and the moment that they have right then and there.

"You're shaking, Tom." She spoke softly. He couldn't feel it himself, but Y/n could see him trembling a bit. Probably because of the exhaustion his body had intake. Tom only smiled and dismissed the fact. "It's alright. I'm not gonna pass out I promise." A soft giggle escapes her lips. "Is this the reason why I haven't seen and heard of you all morning?"

"Yeah. But that was only the opening act." A smirk formed on his lips and pushed back the stray hair on her face. He quickly left and went back to the stage, thanking everyone who came and the hospital for having them. Y/n was left dumbfounded and confused. What did he mean 'that was only the opening act' ?

***

Tom quickly went to go to a nearby restroom and change back into his casual clothes, hurrying as he fixes his pants and combs through his hair. Sam was outside, waiting with a bouquet of Yarrows, and Harry waited with his twin, holding his brother's guitar. "So, now what do you do?" He asked his sibling from the door, and it opened to reveal a fresh-faced Tom. His hand runs through his hair, grabbing the bouquet in the other.

"Phase One: Nostalgia"

***

Jamie helped her change into the clothes she bought her. Y/n shivered at the cold air that was hitting her skin. She wasn't used exposing her skin that much, unlike a few years ago. Now, it felt like she was living in the Arctic Ocean. The air in her hospital room combined with the cold London air was not helping her condition at all. "Why do I have to wear a dress?" she questioned her sister, irritation visible in her tone.

"Because...."

She waited for her to continue, but Jamie only kept silent and fixed her hair. "Because what?" she urged on. "Oh, you'll find out soon." Her eyebrow perked up. She had a gut feeling this had something to do with Tom. It had only been a few hours since she had last seen him. And with the last sentence he had told her, made her mind run in circles and her gut clench that maybe what Jamie was doing was all part of it.

It all connected, but she had to find out if it really was true. So she let Jamie do her hair while she sat comfortably in her wheelchair, watching the telly in her hospital room. The younger Kingsleigh was already half through when her phone beeped from her pocket. She skillfully holds all three strands in one hand while using the other to open her phone and read the text message Harry had sent her.

Curlz™ Tom's done changing. We're heading to the car. Is everything set?

Jamie Jamz 🍯🍓 She's almost done. You got her exit permits?

Curlz™ Yup. Gtg. We still need to set up everything before she comes.

Jamie Jamz 🍯🍓 See ya later curlios read 12:28 pm

Jamie tucked away her phone and continued braiding the small section of her sister's hair. Y/n wasn't really a fan of her hair being tied up, she preferred it free from bands and bobby pins. But Jamie loved doing her hair, so on rare occasions, she lets her do hers. Once Jamie was done, she let Y/n look of her final look in the mirror. the sides of her hair were braided but it was loose, just as she requested. The remaining locks trailed down her shoulders felt free to her liking. "It's perfect. Thank you Jams."

"Glad you like it. Now come on, we gotta go. the car's waiting."

She blinks in confusion. "Wait, a car? I thought I wasn't supposed to leave before my surgery?"

"Nothing's impossible, darling. We've made a little arrangement. And besides, you have 48 hours before your surgery. Let's make the most of it, yeah?" Jamie excitedly pushes her wheelchair and they left the room.

***

Y/n couldn't see anything. After boarding the car, her eyes were immediately covered with a blindfold. She could feel Jamie at her side and another person beside her. She assumed it was the nurse that usually takes care of her, the one before Daisy. Harriet, she thinks her names was.

"Jamie, where the hell are you taking me right now?" She was getting impatient. They had been in the car for almost thirty minutes and they still haven't arrived at their destination, wherever it was. "Having some trouble with the directions. Don't worry, we'll be there in ten minutes tops." and in ten minutes, they did.

Y/n was carried down and placed on her wheelchair, Jamie pushing her to who knows where. She took in a deep breath. Oxygen, fresh oxygen. Not the air from the hospital or from the tanks, this one was pure oxygen. She had a guess, that they were in a park, maybe? The sounds of birds chirping, the smell of flowers, and the feeling of grass slightly hitting her skin made her think so. The next thing she knew, the cloth was removed from her eyes, and now she could see everything.

Her hunch was right, she was in a park. The park where Tom took her on their first date. "Surprise!" A deep voice said behind her. She turned her head around and found a pair of blue eyes looking back at her with a charming smile. "Harrison? I thought you had a photoshoot today?"

"We ended earlier than expected. And besides, I wouldn't miss this one for the whole world. Let's take a walk, yeah?" He grabs the handlebars and pushes her wheelchair, moving slowly to appreciate the view more. She inhaled a deep breath, nostalgia filled it. Memories flooded back in from their first date to their last one. Those were the only things that ran inside her head for the past few days. The smell of his hair, his cute laughs, dates, fights, kisses and everything they did together. Ever since Tom unexpectedly came to her room and back in her life, it was nothing but pure nostalgia and memories.

Now, she finally understood it. She really did miss him after all these years.

"Feels great to be finally out huh?" Harrison spoke. She hums in reply.

"Even if it's just for today, this is even better than the rooftop garden."

"And it's about to get even better." Harrison leaned down to whisper in her ear and his head nods forward. Her line of sight followed the direction and there she saw Tom, inside a big white playpen filled with dogs, there were at least ten or more of them in different breeds. Harrison can see the sparkle in her eyes, and he smiled when he saw the old Y/n at that moment.

The blonde pushed her towards the gate of the playpen, and when she was already near, dogs start to come up to her and their tails wagged in excitement. Tom notices her at the gate, cooing at the little ones while her hand reached out to them. He stands up, dusts himself off and jogs towards her. "Wanna come and meet them?" he asks her. Tom smiled when she nodded. He stuck his foot at the other side of the playpen and slid his arms under her legs and her small back. He carried her gently and placed her on one of the small cushions.

Dogs of different breeds and sizes came running up to her, smothering her with licks and pouncing on her. Y/n's giggles were the only things he could hear at the moment. Those beautiful giggles he loved to hear. It sounded so melodic; he couldn't get enough of it.

He couldn't get enough of her.

"Tom?" he was pulled back from his thoughts. Y/n was staring up at him, a golden retriever sat on her lap while a few other dogs laid under her hand as she scratched their heads. She patted the other cushion beside her, inviting him to sit down. As soon as he sat down a certain dog came up to him, running with a smile, tongue out. Y/n's face beamed up as soon as she saw her. "You brought Tessa!" The staffy's ears perked up upon hearing her name, she pounced on Y/n and licked her, tail wagging a mile per minute.

"Aww I've missed you sweet angel!" She cooed. Tessa barked; happiness etched on her adorable face.

"I figured I'd bring Tessa. She's been playing with that toy you brought her, never wanted to let go of if." Tom said from the said as he leaned in and scratches his dog's head. So close, her mind warned. His scent filled her nose. That familiar scent that was unique that reminded her that this was her Tom. "Would've been nice though if Haz brought Monty along."

"I'll ask him next time. In the meantime, let's eat." He pulls out a picnic basket from behind and opens it, revealing various snacks that she could eat without having to break her diet.

Her eyebrow quirked up, "You planned this out, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just happen to find this hiding behind my back."

"Whatever you say. Hey, do me a favour though, pass me that..." she points to the opened basket and one particular pastry was in view. The croissant.

His eyes squinted at Y/n, who was trying to contain her laughter. "Going for the old jokes huh? You pronounce it like that to you know!"

"Yeah. But it's not as lame as yours, Quackson." Tom rolled his eyes and lets out a sigh. Still as childish as ever. Tom took out a pack of dog treats and whistles. Dogs around the playpen immediately run towards Tom and it then are became a food frenzy. "I honestly still can't believe this. Where in the world did you get so many dogs? You didn't kidnap them, did you?"

"I asked a dog shelter I was sponsoring to lend them for a bit. They needed to go out and have a walk anyway, so I thought I might just let them play around. Honestly y/n, you think I'm that bad? And here I thought you knew me better than anyone else."

"Alright, alright, no need to get sappy on me Movie Star."

The corners of his mouth curls and he bites his lip to try and suppress the forming smile. Y/n could see this from her peripheral vision, and she turns around to face him. "What?" Tom just shakes his head and chuckles softly. "Nothing." She had still remembered that darn nickname. He hated being called like that, Movie Star, Big shot, most specially by his father. But with y/n, he didn't mind it. Well, just a little.

"You did great earlier, by the way. I'm glad you never stopped playing."

"Yeah, I'm glad I didn't too." he breathed out.

Y/n puts both hands on her lap. "I have a special request though, if you don't mind playing right now."

Tom waves his hand and moments later, Harrison jogs towards them with Tom's guitar in hand. "Wow, you really prepared for this."

Tom lets out a dry laugh. "Not gonna lie about this one. I was actually gonna do a concert for the kids earlier, But I figured I'd might as well do it for you instead." He puts the strap on and strums the strings, just in the right tune. "So, what song?"

"You choose. You know I'd enjoy anything you play."

And so, Tom positioned himself, sitting crisscrossed and facing her. She silently waits for him while he was choosing a song in his head. His face lit up and he starts strumming, humming the intro. Y/n immediately remembers the song and a grin makes it way up to her face. The song was her favourite, and Tom played it often, so it wasn't hard for her to recognize it. Tom matched her grin and continued playing.

"I'll hold the door Please come in and just sit here for a while. This is my way of telling you I need you in my life."

The next thing y/n did surprised Tom, in a good way. He never thought he'd be hearing her sing along with him again.

"It's so cold without your touch. I've been dreaming way too much Can we just turn this into reality.

And the two sang, hearts beating as one.

"Cause I've been thinking 'bout you lately. Maybe you could save me from this crazy world we live in. And I know we could happen cause you know that I've been feeling you."

A giggle escapes her lips as Tom repeats his humming.

From a far distance, Jamie, Harrison, and the others watched the two. They've never seen the two look so happy together. "It's as if they've never broken up in the first place." Sam commented. The others agreed with him. The two had been grinning, both obviously lovesick and comfortable with each other's presence.

Jacob nudged Harrison's side, asking him, "Do you think she's falling for Tom again?"

"No." All their heads turned to Jamie. "Because, even after my sister broke it off, she never really stopped loving Tom." Her head turns back again to the two. "She always had."

"There's no other love That I'd rather have you know."

And just like what he had done earlier, Tom never broke eye contact.

"There ain't no one there ain't no one else. I want you for myself"

He purposely made y/n feel like the song he was singing was meant for her. Honestly, it was for her. Every word that contained it was the message he wanted to tell her.

"I've been thinking 'bout you lately. Maybe you can save me from this crazy world we live in. And I know we could happen cause you know that I've been feeling you. I know you want me,"

She sang again.

"I've been thinking 'bout you lately. Maybe you can save me from this crazy world we live in. And I know we could happen cause you know that I've been feeling you."

"I know you want me too." The strumming continues and he moved closer to her.

"I know you want me too." Her reply came out more as a statement, but Tom continued strumming and humming.

He ended the song with one last strum. A half-smile was still etched on his face. "I'm glad you never stopped singing, Y/n."

"Yeah, well, I couldn't exactly dance, now can I?" She joked. "I might as well keep the next thing I love most before I lose it."

Tom puts his guitar to the side and offered some food from the picnic basket. Their time together continued, with more duets and playing with the dogs. When the sun was setting, Harrison texted Tom and informed him that it was time to take Y/n back to the hospital. Jamie came with her wheelchair and from that, Y/n knew that the day was over.

"I wish this never ends." Y/n says.

"Don't worry. As soon as you're done with your surgery and you get out of that hospital, we'll be doing this every day." Tom scooped her up and walked towards her wheelchair. He couldn't help but look at Y/n while he was carrying her. She looked like a bride, and he could hear the bells ringing inside his head.

At that moment, Tom had imagined everything. Him standing at the altar with Harrison by his side. His parents and Y/n's parents sitting at the front. Jamie walking down the aisle with her. Dressed in a white gown with beautiful laces that decorated it. Her veil covered her face, but he could still see the face of the love of his life.

It felt like Tom was looking into his future.

He sets her down and the grip around his neck removed once she sat. Jamie turns her wheelchair, "I'll see you at the room, Tom." she said before pushing her sister. Y/n looked back for a moment and waves at Tom. He waves back.

"Can't wipe that smile off can yaw?" Harrison teased, patting his friend's back.

"Nah. Not goanna come off any time soon."

"So, what's your plan now? You made Y/n the happiest she had been ever since she was admitted to the hospital." Tom quiets for a moment and stares off into the distance. He watched Y/n's car drive off before he spoke again. "Haz?"

"Yeah?"

"I've made up my mind. I'm gonna do it again."

"Again? What do you mean-" Harrison slowly realizes what he meant as his voice falters, blue eyes wide in shock. "Tom, are you sure? This is kinda big y'know."

He sighs. "I know." Tom turns to him, a sad look mixed with love and determination on his face. "But Y/n's time is running out, Haz. Her operation is in two days, her chance of survivability may not even make the cut. I'm not gonna take that chance."

Tom felt through his back pocket and took out a tiny velvet box.

day five of One Week

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komahinasecretexchange · 5 years ago

Text

Title: Traditions

Author: @dailyservingofhope

For: @hiddenkamukuraproject

Rating/Warnings: PG-13 (A few vague sexual references, Nagito joking about death, alcohol mention)

Prompt: Going out on Halloween and having fun

Author’s notes: AU where the tragedy didn’t happen. 100% pure organic fluff.

“You’ve never been trick-or-treating?!” Nagito smiled and raised his hands in a placating gesture, “Sorry, I had no one to take me when I was a kid. But it’s fine! It ended up being good luck!” “‘Good’?” Hajime asked pointedly as he rested his coffee mug on their kitchen counter. Nagito had a way of twisting things to fit his strange worldview. “I gave out candy instead. Since I could afford full bars of chocolate for all the other kids, I became sort of popular for a little while… at least until they got to know me better.” “That’s not the point,” Hajime said, “I just get upset when I think about your childhood. It’s not fair that you missed out on so much.” He felt robe-cloaked arms wrap around his waist and a soft peck on his forehead. “Don’t worry. I’m fine, promise,” Nagito reassured him. Hajime grumbled in response, wondering if it was okay to be annoyed at his partner’s cute attempt at deflecting. Sometimes Hajime felt that he was more bothered by Nagito’s troubles than Nagito himself. 'Fine’ to him often meant 'Not in the hospital’. How much disappointment and grief did he suffer in his youth before the bar lowered that much? This wasn’t about some silly holiday tradition, this was about making him feel included, and giving him access to experiences that most people took for granted. “You shouldn’t feel sorry for me, you know,” Nagito gently chided him. “I don’t,” Hajime said, worried that Nagito noticed his increasingly pitying expression during their conversation. “Good. Because I secretly switched your coffee with decaf.” “What?! Nagito!” “I’m just kidding. You always look at me like I’m a kicked puppy when I tell you about my past. I prefer it when you’re annoyed with me. Your voice gets this adorable lilt to it.” “No, it doesn’t! I… think?” Nagito chuckled. “Look, it’s not pity,” Hajime sighed, “I’m just worried you feel like an outsider because you had such a different childhood experience than many of us. It’s important to me that you feel welcome and have lots of happy memories. And if I have to take you trick-or-treating this weekend to make that happen, then I’ll do it.” Nagito’s face lit up, “You want to go trick-or-treating with me?” Aware that he just invited Nagito on a date involving an activity generally enjoyed by children still in the single digits of age, Hajime backpedaled, “Wait! I-It’s okay if you don’t want to! I know we’re too old for it, and we told Ibuki we’d be at her Halloween party, so we’ll get to dress up, anyway. There’s no pressure-” “I would love to! We can pick out costumes this afternoon!” Fear of embarrassment ranked high on Hajime’s list of top motivators, but it was nothing compared to Nagito’s sweet face. He couldn’t back out now. “O-okay! Sounds great!” ___ Hajime pulled a scarf around his mouth to warm the crisp, fall air flowing into his lungs. Yellowed leaves danced on the sidewalk with every breeze as he and Nagito strolled through the city. Their destination was a costume shop located in a quaint, less-trafficked district, popular among the dating crowd for its restaurants and shopping. They found it nestled between a cafe and a boutique clothing store. Walls painted black and covered in wheatpasted underground band adverts gave an eccentric touch that made it stand out from the conservatism of the surrounding businesses. Through the windows, there was a display of the typical bats and pumpkins, along with more unnerving props like costumed mannequins covered in fake blood and gaping wounds. Cosplayers and street fashionistas were the store’s year-round clientele, but nearing the holiday, they widened their selection to include Halloween costumes. Hajime pulled open the door for Nagito, “Have any ideas about what you want to be?” “Dead?” Nagito offered. “I really wish you wouldn’t joke about that.” “Aren’t ghosts popular this time of the year?” With a deadpan expression, Hajime poked Nagito in the belly. He then turned his attention to the racks and shelves, not wanting to take the bait. As they perused the aisles together, Nagito suddenly snatched a large package off a rack and hid it behind his back, “I’m going to try something on. No peeking!” Hajime continued to browse while his partner thrashed around in the fitting room. A rather seductive vampire costume caught his attention, and he briefly lost himself in a daydream involving Nagito and lots of sexy nibbling all over his body until he heard someone walk up behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. The glance turned into a double take. To say that Nagito was dressed up as a dog was about as true as saying The Big Bang Theory was a comedy. There was an element of objective truth to it, but it failed spectacularly to articulate that everything else about it was an abomination. The costume was like a long fuzzy tube, white on the belly and black and tan along the back, indicating it was probably intended to be a corgi. The head perched on top of Nagito’s head, its mouth gaping around his face as if it were a python swallowing its prey whole. His feet, which were only just visible from the bottom of the tube, were adorned with paw slippers. The hand-paws were so padded and fluffy that they appeared useless for any practical purpose other than being cute. “How do I look? Wanna be my owner for Halloween? I’ll let you walk me on a leash and give me commands! I know how to beg and lay down!” Nagito said as he shook his rear to make the stubby tail wag. Hajime blushed, looking around to see if anyone overheard, “Shhh! There will be kids around, so nothing… kinky!” “I would never do something I thought was weird around impressionable youth!” “That’s the problem, what you think is weird is a whole world away from what everyone else thinks is weird…” Hajime looked him up and down, “So why this, of all things?” “Most of these costumes aren’t really appropriate around children. What did you think I’d be? A sexy demon? A sexy cat boy? A sexy werewolf? A sexy…” “I get the point… they are a bit provocative, aren’t they?” “Don’t use big words like 'provocative’. I’m just a silly little dog!” he whined, covering his face with his paws in mock shame. “God, Nagito, can you be normal for like one second?” Hajime said, turning away to hide his laughter. Nagito closed the distance, picking up his hand and kissing it. He looked down into his eyes with a charming smile and whispered, “But this is what you like about me, right? There’s no way someone would ever go out with me for any rational reason. Doesn’t that make you abnormal too?” Hajime shivered at his touch. Even dressed in the most absurd getup he’d ever seen, Nagito was still hot, and when he cranked up the charm, he had a terrifying ability to render Hajime as helpless as a fawn. He pushed Nagito away, hoping he didn’t notice, “I-I guess I just don’t know how you do it. You can be so confident sometimes. I’d be afraid of wearing that in public.” “There’s a difference between confidence and being so resigned to loss that you stop feeling anxiety over the little things,” he said, a bit sadly. “Besides, it’s fun!” He waved his paws comically to accentuate the point. “Now we have to find something fun for you to wear.” “Okay, but let’s go by MY definition of fun.” “Whatever you say, Hajime,” Nagito beamed. His eyes darted around, then settled on a mustache and beard set which he handed to Hajime, “How about this? You can go as a grumpy old man. Bonus! You won’t have to be seen with me.” “Oh, come on.” Hajime said, snatching it from him. He looked it over then held it up to his face in front of a mirror. “Hey, I could go as Izuru Kamukura,” he joked, referencing their old high school’s founder. Nagito folded his arms and side-eyed him, “Don’t get all full of yourself now, Hajime.” He then backed away as Hajime approached him with a toy sword taken from a rack. “Wait! What do you plan on doing with that?!” ___ “Happy Halloween!” Hajime, who had been sleeping quite peacefully until then, would have fallen out of bed in fright if a heavy weight had not subsequently landed on him. He opened his eyes to find Nagito sprawled out over his lap. “Sorry, I missed you. I couldn’t wait any longer,” Nagito said. Hajime slammed Nagito on the back of the head with his pillow, “Being cute won’t save you this time.” “Noooo, don’t kill me! I’ve never been kissed!” “Yes, you have.” “Could you remind me?” Nagito said, puckering his lips. Hajime played along and kissed him, “There, now I can kill you.” Moments later, Nagito flew through the air from a good whack from the pillow. Their day went on with the two enjoying horror movies playing in the background as they enjoyed a peaceful afternoon together. After the sun set, they prepared themselves for the night ahead. Hajime had settled on being a black cat, largely because it worked as a couple’s costume, but also just looking at Nagito’s cumbersome outfit made a simple and light costume seem more appealing. The set consisted only of ears and a tail, with a fluffy black sweater and black jeans from his closet to complement it. There was also ancient makeup in the back of a drawer from his scene kid phase which was totally just an ironic experiment and definitely not anything he ever took seriously. He leaned over their bathroom sink to get a better look in the mirror as he used an old eye pencil to draw whiskers, a nose, and thick eyeliner with wings that swept out half an inch. “Who said scene was dead?” Nagito said, as he smirked at him in the mirror. “Hey, I can’t help it that I can do a perfect cat-eye.” “Can you do my makeup sometime?” “Oh please, Nagito, you don’t need it. People would kill for your lashes.” “You know, you’re starting to sound a little… catty.” Hajime groaned at the pun. He reached an arm behind him to blindly swat at his partner, only succeeding in stirring the air around as Nagito dodged the attack, “Is being sarcastic the only thing you’re good for? Why aren’t you dressed yet?” “I will, it’s just hard to move very well in it and I wanted to bother you more effectively.” Nagito draped his arms over Hajime’s shoulders and leaned in. “Actually, I’d like to thank you. I know you get scared of embarrassing situations, so for you to take someone like me out doing something meant for kids, knowing people will look at us funny… It’s sweet of you.” “Why do you think I’m putting on makeup? If all goes well, I won’t even recognize myself.” He chuckled, “But in all seriousness, you know I’d do anything for you.” Nagito buried his face into Hajime’s neck and said nothing. ___ “Everyone looks so happy!” Nagito said, gazing at the lively scene. Costumed kids flocked together at doors or ran around screaming and laughing in excitement. With jack-o’-lanterns on every porch and fake spider webbing drooping from trees, the neighborhood oozed Halloween spirit. Hajime caught himself staring at his adorable partner, “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself. Are you ready for some trick-or-treating?” “Tell me what to do! I’ve never done this before!” “Come on, you know what to do. Here, try this house.” “What if they yell at me because I’m too old?” “In that case, we threaten to egg their house, then run away.” He responded, hoping Nagito wouldn’t take it as a serious suggestion. Nagito’s eyes swirled. “I wonder if we’ll get chased. That would be exciting,” he said breathily. “You seem a little too excited by that…” Nagito wasn’t listening, he was already halfway up the driveway of a house. Hajime remained by the street to watch while Nagito knocked on the door. An old woman appeared. She looked him up and down as his outstretched arms presented her with a wicker basket ready for filling. “Trick-or-treat!” She gave a tactful, patient smile, “You’re so cute, but aren’t you too old for this?” “My boyfriend is forcing me to do this,” Nagito said, “He’ll be angry if I don’t come back with anything.” “Oh my… well, here…” She dropped a few pieces of candy into his basket, “You look like a sweet boy, you should get away from that awful man. Good luck, dear.” “Yes ma'am! Thank you!” Nagito chirped as he skipped back to the street, somehow managing not to trip over his slippers. “I couldn’t hear you guys, but it seemed to go well?” Hajime asked. “She wasn’t going to give me a treat, so I tricked her.” “Nagito, she was like… 80.” “It’s the Halloween code. I don’t make the rules.” “What did you say to her?” “Nothing to worry about. Let’s go on to the next house!” ___ “Really? You’re trick-or-treating at this age?” “I’m dying of lymphoma, it’s my final wish to trick-or-treat one last time.” “Oh my goodness, of course! Have as much candy as you want!” “Thanks!” Nagito said graciously as he took a few pieces. Hajime looked at him askance when he returned. “Wow, you’re getting a lot of candy. I… honestly wasn’t expecting this…” he said, gesturing at Nagito’s nearly overflowing basket. It seemed like every house in the neighborhood was eager to give him everything they had. “Yeah! Everyone has been so nice!” “I’m glad you’re having a good time, but what are we going to do with all this candy? You don’t even like sweets.” “I had no intention of keeping the candy, Hajime, this was all just for fun.” Nagito’s smile transformed into a grin. “But now that you’ve brought it up, there’s something I’ve wanted to do all night.” Hajime watched as Nagito trotted towards a group of teenagers. Sneaking up behind them, he reached into his basket and tossed a chocolate bar over their heads. They jerked back in surprise, and as they turned to see where it had come from, they were immediately pelted with handful after handful of candy. The next minute was pure pandemonium. Children ran from across the street to join in the fun, grabbing as much candy as they could while it rained down on them. And somehow in that moment, with the kids cheering and Nagito laughing joyfully among that beautiful chaos, Hajime swore his boyfriend never looked so handsome. Yeah, even despite the costume. ___ Ibuki’s Halloween party was well underway by the time Hajime and Nagito arrived. Blaring music greeted them at the door before she did. “You made it! Look at Nagito, so cuuuute! And Hajime, Ibuki loves your makeup! Meowwwww!” Being a world-famous musician, she could afford the finer things. Her house, which better resembled goth night at a club than a habitable dwelling, boasted enough space to host a party with room to spare for dancing. Witch-house played from an expensive sound system that cost more than Hajime and Nagito’s annual rent. It went without saying, Ibuki threw the best parties. Hajime hardly had a minute to take in the surroundings before Nekomaru had him and Nagito locked in a crushing hug. “Hahaha! We’re all here now!” Nekomaru beamed. “You made it, I am so happy!” Sonia said. “Yay.” Chiaki added in her trademark 'not sure if sincere or not’ tone of voice. “Look at you losers wearing a couple’s costume.” Saionji sneered as she eyed them up and down. Mahiru cleared her throat, “We are too, Hiyoko,” remarking on their Sailor Moon outfits. Saionji pouted, “But it’s cute when we do it!” “It’s too bad Teruteru died in that freak accident involving the helicopter tour over that active volcano, he would have liked to be here right now.” Souda said, idly scratching his head. Tsumiki dropped a piece of food on the floor and bent over to pick it up, showing her rear to everyone, “I’m sorry I’m so clumsy! I’m ruining everyone’s good time! Don’t worry about me!” “It’s okay, no one is worrying about you. No one is thinking about you at all!” Saionji cheered. “Waaaaaaaaah!!” Byakuya shook his head in disdain at Hajime and Nagito. “You’re late for the party, you missed out on donuts. Where are your priorities?” Akane’s mouth was too stuffed to respond, so she waved the last donut at them in greeting instead. Gundham held out his arms, letting his hamsters crawl up into his hands. “My Four Dark Devas are enraged at your tardiness for the most evil night of the year. Now the ritual can begin in earnest. Count yourself lucky that they have chosen not to kill you where you stand.” Peko had the eyes of a predator fixed on Nagito’s fluffy animal costume, while Fuyuhiko grinned and raised a shot glass containing an orange liquid, “Hey guys, come drink up! I brought juice!” Ibuki squealed, “Baby gangster is so adorable, only drinking mixer!” “I don’t need to drink alcohol to be cool!!” Amid all the shouting and arguing, Nagito turned to Hajime, “You know, this might be the best Halloween I’ve ever had.” “Same here. And I think you actually taught me a thing or two about the spirit of giving. Wrong holiday though.” “Yeah, too bad it doesn’t count.” Nagito grinned. “I’ll just have to fill up a stocking for you when Christmas comes around.” “I’d love that, Hajime! I’ve never had a stocking for Christmas before!”

#komahina #komahina secret exchange #fanfiction

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graglithans-library · 4 years ago

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Welcome to Paris Fur-ance Ch 12: Bakeries, Baddies, and Beatdowns

Michiru leads Nazuna on their merry hunt, and Shirou does Shirou things, a.k.a. beating the crap out of bad guys unworthy of his claws.

Also, BOTH HALVES HAVE MUSIC IN THEM! I chose to use a You-Tube link for them, so if you phone users are having issues, I apologize.

On top of that, THIS CHAPTER HAS SOME TRIGGERS! If you’re not comfortable with Gun Violence, Kidnapping, or Murder, Please be warned that the three all happen in this chapter.

Michiru sniffed the air, for what was probably the hundredth time, before humming. “I think he’s... this way.”

Nazuna just rolled her eyes as they walked down yet another random street. “Michiru, just admit you’re lost.”

His had been going on for the past few hours. Michiru would sniff the air, trying to use her sense of smell to track Shirou. The only problem was, she wasn’t allowed to use her beastman form. She would have, but Nazuna kept reminding her that they would cause a panic if she did.

It almost made Michiru want another weirdo to show up and start making the city explode. At least then, she could feel comfortable in her fur.

“We’re not lost; We’re wandering aimlessly.” Michiru dictated as she continued her march. “In fact, his smell has led me to,” Suddenly turning and pointing in a random direction, Michiru posed dramatically, “there!”

Nazuna kept staring at the bakery Michiru had managed to lead them to. It was fairly sized, being the literal end of the string of buildings, and was painted a pretty shade of white. It had many stories to it, but only the bottom floor was built for business.

Looking behind them, Nazuna also saw the school that Michiru had first arrived at and facepalmed. “Of course...” She’d been following her own scent this entire time. It wasn’t surprising, considering Michiru was trying to do everything while still human, but that did little to change Nazuna’s annoyance.

Michiru wasted no time as she started to walk inside and waved a hand lazily behind her. “Well, let’s find out if Shirou’s here!”

“Michiru! Wait-!” Groaning as she dragged a hand down her face, Nazuna ran in after her friend.

The two found themselves looking up at a frankly giant man. His overall size was reminding the two of them of Giuliano Flip. However, when he looked at them, his smile could be seen peeking out from under his bushy mustache. “Bienvenue! Comment puis-je vous aider?”

Michiru blinked a few times before rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “Um... Sorry for bothering you?”

The man blinked a few times before chuckling himself and looking over his shoulder. “Sabine, vous devrez peut-être prendre celui-ci.”

“Qu'est-ce que c'est Tom?” A much smaller Chinese woman came from the back, looking confused until she saw Michiru and Nazuna standing at the front. “Oh! Quelle langue?”

“Japonaise.” Before giving the small woman a kiss on the cheek and heading to the back, the large man said before leaving them with her. Michiru could see him start kneading a large loaf of dough and was impressed at how easily he worked.

The woman, however, cleared her throat and got her attention. “Welcome. How can I help you?”

The two blinked in surprise before Michiru started to lean over the counter. “You speak Japanese!?”

“Michiru!” Nazuna tugged her friend back and glowered, even as the woman behind the counter laughed.

The woman waved a hand gently and gave an amused smile. “Some. It has been a long time.” She put a hand to her chest and smiled warmly. “Cheng Sabine.”

Michiru hummed a bit. That last name sounded... familiar. She continued to sit there and ponder the name while Nazuna rolled her eyes and walked up. “Hiwatashi Nazuna. And this is Kagemori Michiru.” The two shook hands before Sabine gestured to the counter. Nazuna’s eyes went wide as she waved her hands frantically. “Oh, no. We don’t have any money to pay for anything. We were just-”

Sabine waved a hand and kept smiling. “It is alright.”

Nazuna sighed one more time. “Actually, we’re looking for someone.” Sabine raised an eyebrow, and Nazuna raised a hand while also getting on her tip-toes. “He’s about this tall, white hair, grumpy face, and probably wearing a trenchcoat?”

Blushing a bit, Sabine put a hand to her lips, and her smile turned apologetic. “I’m sorry, but I have not seen anyone like that.” She reached under the counter and pulled out a box, grabbing a pair of tongs, and started filling it.

Nazuna jumped a bit and waved her hands again. “But we don’t-”

Sabine silenced her by placing the box in front of her with a smile. “These are on the house.” Stunned, Nazuna took the box, and Sabine gave the two a wave. “Good luck finding him.”

Dumbly holding the box, Nazuna opened it. Sitting inside neatly placed were a dozen chocolate and strawberry macarons. “T-Thanks?”

Michiru, who’d been lost in thought through the entire exchange, suddenly went wide-eyed. If anyone could have read minds, there would have been an audible click just before she slammed a fist into her open palm. “Marinette!” The declaration was so sudden, Nazuna almost lost the box of pastries, if not for Sabine’s quick hand catching them. Missing that as well, Michiru excitedly turned to Sabine, who was raising an eyebrow at her. “Do you happen to know Marinette Dupain-Cheng?”

Sabine looked startled as she started to walk around the counter. “How do you know my-?”

The door to the bakery opened and a groan came from the person entering. “Ugh ... Si j'ai plus de devoirs, je vais les perdre...”

Michiru turned around and smiled, giving a wave to Marinette the moment she saw her. Unfortunately for her, the girl was tiredly rubbing her face too much to notice.

Still looking skeptically at Nazuna and Michiru, Sabine walked up to “Marinette, tu connais ces deux-là?”

Marinette looked up and only then noticed the two beastmen. Her eyes widened in surprise as Michiru kept smiling at her. “Michiru!?”

“Hey!” Michiru shouted, only to get dragged back down to earth by Nazuna pulling on her ear. “OW! Nazuna, what was that for!?”

“You could show some basic manners if you don’t want me doing that again,” Nazuna grumbled. The two were cut from their brief argument by the sound of giggling, which brought them back to Marinette, who was trying and failing to hide her smile behind a hand.

Sabine raised an eyebrow at her daughter and crossed her arms. “Vous savez que c'est impoli de rire, Marinette. Maintenant, comment connaissez-vous ces deux?”

Marinette blushed a bit and looked slightly ashamed as she looked down at her shoes. “Désolé maman.” Looking back up, Marinette pointed at Michiru. “En fait, je ne connais que Michiru. Nous avons couru dans l'autre lors de la dernière attaque Akuma. Je ne sais pas qui est son amie.”

Sabine turned to the two and raised an eyebrow. “She says she met you during an Akuma attack?”

Marinette’s jaw dropped as she stared at her mother. “Vous connaissez le japonais?”

Her mother just winked at her, “Je sais beaucoup de choses. J'avais une amie qui était du Japon quand j'étais plus jeune, et elle a proposé de m'enseigner.” Sabine paused for a moment, frowning as she noticed Marinette was alone. “Où est Alya? Elle n'est pas venue avec vous?”

Marinette sighed and shook her head. “Non, elle devait rester et aider Mme Bustier.”

“Je vois.” Sabine let out a long-suffering sigh before turning back to Michiru. “Now, my question?”

"Oh! Right.” Michiru blushed a bit and rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, it was kinda the first one I’d ever seen, and I was busy running away when I ran smack into Marinette.” She paused for a moment before perking up. “Wait a sec! She hasn’t met you yet, Nazuna!”

Nazuna looked between Michiru and Marinette before deadpanning. “I think we just did, Michiru.”

“But she doesn’t know who you are yet!” Michiru grabbed Nazuna by the arms and spun her around, making the poor girl stand stiff as she blinked in surprise. Michiru zipped up beside her and gestured at her friend while looking Marinette in the eye. “Hiwatashi Nazuna!”

Marinette laughed again at the two before giving a wave. “Bonjour, Hiwatashi Nazuna.” She looked up at her mother and pointed at the food under the counter. “Pensez-vous que nous pourrions les inviter à déjeuner?”

Sabine sighed a bit but kept her smile. “She wants to know if you’re free for lunch.”

Michiru’s stomach answered for them.

_______________________________________________________________

Shirou followed the scent trail of the two men to an elevator. It would take too long to wait for it to come back from wherever it had gone, so he pulled the doors open and looked inside. He was a little surprised to see just how far down the shaft went and could see the elevator resting four stories below.

It barely phased him when he jumped down and grabbed onto the cable to slide to a stop. Pulling up the emergency escape panel, he looked inside and saw nobody, but he could hear two men outside the door. He hopped down, landing with a small thud before cracking his neck. The sound of the two goons jumping in surprise and guns being armed made him smile, just a touch.

Jumping to the side the moment the doors opened, Shirou swung himself out using the edge of the door. His swing let him kick one of the goons in the face, breaking his nose and sending him flying into a concrete pillar. For the other guy, he let out a fearful gasp before readying his rifle, only to have it ripped from his hands and the butt slammed into his jaw, knocking him into the elevator. Shirou grabbed the first one, pulling him from the now cracked cement, and threw him into the lift on top of the second before letting the doors close.

He took another deep breath to steady himself and find where the scent had gone off to. He could smell a few more henchmen than before had all gone down a hall towards his left. Running, he followed his nose down the path, stopping at a room a few doors down.

Peeking inside, he could see a group of at least eight men surrounding something.

(TW)

“Well, this certainly is interesting.” The suit from earlier was raising an eyebrow before he stepped closer and smirked. “Liking the new look, Bourgeois. It certainly is something else.” He reached down, and there was a tearing noise as he ripped something away, making someone let out a pained cry.

That something was likely duct tape, as Shirou finally heard what Chloé Bourgeois sounded like. “You’ll pay for that! My daddy is probably tearing Paris upside down to-”

The suit backhanded her. “Shut up.” He stepped back and adjusted his glove before sneering. “As for your ‘Daddy,’ he knows full well where you are.”

“W-What?”

Shrugging a bit, he looked down at her with a smirk. “So does your lovely mommy, to be honest.” The men around her laughed as he knelt down in front of her. “When she heard about this, well, she should be here soon to tell you herself what she thinks.”

“Y-You’re lying.” Chloé spat back, struggling. Shirou was about to go in when he heard a door on the other side open. The clacking of heels on concrete echoed as a woman entered the room and looked down at Chloé with a raised eyebrow.

Chloé’s voice was barely a whisper. “Mommy?”

Audrey Bourgeois scoffed from behind her oversized sunglasses as she looked away and pointed at the suit. “What exactly did you imbeciles do to cause this?”

The suit suddenly looked nervous. “N-Not us, boss. Promise!”

One of the other guys shakily nodded. “Yeah! S-She started to bang into the door when-”

“Useless, utterly useless.” Audrey rolled her eyes before pulling out a pistol and shooting the man in the head. “I didn’t ask you to speak,” she said while looking down at the grey matter that was splattered across the floor. Chloé screamed at the sight of his body, landing on the ground at her feet. “Quiet, you stupid girl.” Placing the pistol in the suit’s hands and having him clean the blood off of both it and her hand, Audrey's glare mercilessly bore down on Chloé. “Did you really think that the stunt you pulled would go unpunished? Do you have any idea what you’ve cost us?” From the sounds of gagging, Shirou guessed Chloé was ready to vomit and was at a loss for words. Audrey slapped her across the face again, and once her hand was clean, she inspected her nails. “Millions of Euros is what.” The woman snarled as she slapped Chloé again. “We had such a lucrative operation going on, and you just had to ruin it like you do everything else!”

“What are you talking about?” Chloé asked with a tremble in her voice.

“Gambling.” Her mother answered with barely a care. “All bets placed solely on who would be Akumatized next, and who would cause it. The profits were more than enough to help that bumbling politician you call Daddy bribe who he needed to.” Audrey reached down and grabbed Chloé’s face, pulling her up slightly. “You were our most profitable source of income, even if you didn’t know it. All you needed to do was continue to be the spoiled brat you are.”

“You...” Chloé’s voice fell as she was tossed back, and the goons pulled more duct tape out.

“It doesn’t matter now, though. With you willingly helping that psycho, all the gamblers are going to think the odds are rigged and our turnout will be ruined, utterly ruined. On top of that, André’s chances of reelection are non-existent, so there’s no point staying here in Paris anymore.” She waved a hand at one of the men and started to saunter off. “Someone go make sure that worthless butler is disposed of along with that pile of waste on the floor. We don’t need anyone letting what happened under here go public.” Turning on her heel, she started for the door. “And get her ready for transport. The sooner we arrive in New York, the sooner I can have her skinned.”

“WHAT!?” Chloé let out one last scream before the tape was back over her mouth.

Her mother just stopped at the door and sighed. She looked over her shoulder, eyebrow raised. “Did you think you were worth anything else? Look at yourself, you little freak. Your skin’s the only part of you that has any value anymore.” Leaving the room, her mother didn’t spare another glance behind herself. “Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” The click of the bolt sent a wave of finality through the room.

The goons all chuckled a bit, reaching down and grabbing her. “Well, you heard her. I wonder what the boss will make out of her? Maybe a nice tote bag.”

Shirou narrowed his eyes as the goons started to pull Chloé away, getting ready to charge in.

That’s when he saw a grey tail amongst their legs.

Shirou’s snarl as he shifted into his wolf form sent a shiver down everyone’s spines.

The men all looked around in surprise, drawing various guns. “Who’s there!?” A shadowy blur moved overhead. The lights were smashed one by one until only a single lamp illuminated the room. “Show yourself, you son of a bitch!”

“Humans.” Shirou blurred through the room, picking one of the goons out of the pack and slamming him into the far wall hard enough to crack the cement. “No, less than human.” A second goon was picked out of the bunch, making them gasp in fear as he disappeared into the darkness. “You, who would profit off of the torture of innocents.” Only three goons were left after another was pulled away, the sounds of his pained screams, making them all flinch.

“Where is he?” One of the three holding a shotgun looked around frantically, firing a few shots at random and hoping for the best. “Where the fuck is he!?”

The gun was grabbed out of his hands and slammed into his face, knocking the man onto his back. The last two froze in fear as Shrou’s snarling visage was brought to light. “You bastards are not even worth using my claws on.” Holding one hand up in the air, his fangs bared into a twisted smile as he clenched his grip. “My fists will be more than enough!”

The suit who led Shirou down here unwittingly aimed his pistol. “Y-You son of a b-” A fist collided with his gut, making him fly back and land on the ground with a thud. The second readied his rifle at Shirou, only to have it knocked down as he fired, peppering the cement floor. Shirou’s fist connected with his jaw, knocking a few teeth loose and sending him into the air.

The one who’d been knocked onto his back scrambled to his feet and pulled a knife. He rushed over to where Chloé was and put the knife to her throat. The room was too dark to make out much detail, but her whimpering was enough. “Back off unless you want the bitch to die!”

Shirou’s hackles rose as he moved. The goon only saw a blur before Shirou’s hands were around his head, and his knife was clattering to the ground. “If a beastman couldn’t get away with that...” Throwing the goon into the air, Shirou pulled back his fist. “...What makes you think a human could?” His fist slammed into the goon, sending him into the ground hard enough to bounce back up into the air. On the rebound, Shirou’s leg kicked out and sent the man soaring into the far wall.

With all the goons unconscious, Shirou took a moment to let out a long breath before turning to the young girl behind him. Her seat was still slightly in the shadows, so he had to step closer.

That was when Shirou finally got a good look at the girl, and his eyes widened momentarily.

The most about her that still resembled the photo he retrieved from her school was her blonde hair, though her usual hairstyle had long been ruined. Her pale skin had been replaced with a coat of grey fur, and she had sharp claws on her hands. Small rounded ears poked through her hair. What angered him the most was the blood coming from a gash under her eye and possibly her lip from under the duct tape. Her wrists and ankles were handcuffed to a metal chair.

Carefully, he knelt down and reached towards her. When she flinched, he paused his advance. “I’m going to take that off of you. It will probably hurt, but bear with me.” With just enough care, Shirou removed the tape from her mouth, grimacing at the sight of some fur being taken with it. Looking down at her wrists, he grabbed the cuffs and frowned.

She was still looking at him, a mixture of fear, awe, and hope in her eyes. “Who are you?”

“Shirou Oogami.” He pulled on the metal around her wrist, and she flinched as it snapped under his grip. As he moved to the other ones, she held as still as she could.

As the final cuff was broken, she made no move to stand up and continued to stare at Shirou. “Why are you helping me?”

“I swore I would protect all beastmen. That's all the reason I need." He had his usual scowl on his face again as he pulled out the photo, just to double-check. "Are you Chloé Bourgeois?” When she hesitantly nodded, he hummed. “Then once we're out of this place, I need to talk to you in regards to several things.” Glancing over his shoulder when he heard one of the goons start to groan. He started to walk away before looking over and noticing she hadn’t started to follow. “Well?”

“Wait!” She hastily stood up and stopped just shy of running into him. “What about Jean?”

Shirou raised an eyebrow. “Jean?”

Chloé nodded. “He.. he was a butler that worked at the hotel. Daddy made him wait on me, hand and foot. He had followed them when they...” She looked down and started to hug herself, losing the words.

Even unspoken, Shirou understood what she had meant. “I see.” A commotion could be heard from the far side of the room, making both of them turn to look for a moment. Grabbing Chloé’s arm, Shirou ran for the door he came from and growled under his breath.

“He’s got the girl!” A gunshot rang out as it impacted the wall, making Chloé scream and duck as they ran. “We’ve got a situation. Someone’s in here, and they have the brat!”

Damn it. Now they know I’m here. Shirou mentally cursed as he found a stairwell. Kicking open the door, he turned to Chloé and grabbed her by the waist. “Hey! What do you think you’re-!” He hefted her over his shoulder and started leaping up the stairs. On the ground floor, he tried to open the door, only to find it locked. A swift kick to the handle made the door smash open, and several people gasp in surprise and fear.

Shirou didn’t care as he rushed over to a closet and put Chloé inside. “Stay here.”

“What!? This place is filthy! Why should I-!” Shirou shut the door on Chloé’s rant and pressed his head against the wood.

"Because it's safer in there than anywhere else right now," Shirou said before he ran back down the stairs. Closing his eyes, he followed the scents to see if he could find where they were keeping the butler.

It didn’t take him long before he found a room with two men that looked a bit tougher than the others. Inside, they were busy beating someone who was chained to a bed frame. “Who is he!?”

“Who... is who?”

Another fist flew into the beaten man’s face. “The guy who followed you! The one who just demolished a third of our guys!” He pulled the poor man up as far as the chain would allow and snarled into his face. “Either you tell me, or I’ll-”

Shirou entered and swept the other torturer’s legs out from under him, flipping him upside down. Once he was airborne, Shirou stomped his jaw, embedding his head into the floor. The one who had the beaten man by the shirt spun around, only to get a fist to the face that knocked him out cold.

The beaten man, who Shirou noted, was in a butler’s outfit, and he looked up at him in surprise. He stood, as best he could with the chains hindering him and frowned. “Is Mlle. Bourgeois, alright?”

Shirou was impressed that his first concern was Chloé but didn’t let it show. Instead, he just nodded slightly. “She’s upstairs for now.” He grabbed the chains keeping Jean tied to the bed and ripped them apart. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“Thank you, Monsieur.” Jean tried to bow but stumbled and almost fell. Shirou caught him, and he nodded.

Shirou was lucky that he managed to get back to the stairwell without being spotted. However, when they opened the door, a group of men came around a corner down the hall and started to open fire. He shoved Jean in and ducked in after him, slamming the door shut. “That won’t hold for long.”

The two made their way to the ground floor, where Shirou was alerted to the sounds of sirens. Someone called the police, good.

Exiting the stairwell, Shirou saw several police officers trying to open the door to the closet Chloé was locked in. “Officers.” When they turned to see Shirou, a lot of them flinched back in surprise. He walked over to them, and Jean was pulled away by the emergency responders. “He’ll need medical attention. As will the men you’ll find downstairs.”

While some officers started calling for an ambulance, one officer looked at him suspiciously and narrowed his eyes. “Have I seen you before?”

Shirou shifted back into human form but held his scowl. “I did help with one of those... Akumas, was it?”

The officer’s eyes lit with recognition, and he hummed. “So, you did.” Shirou nodded and walked over to the supply closet. “Hey! What do you think you are-!?”

Knocking on the door, Shirou leaned close. “I’m here. You can open the door now.”

The officers were surprised to hear something clatter to the floor before the door swung open. Chloé was eyeing the police officers with distrust before locking onto Shirou. The moment she saw him, she hid behind him like a frightened child.

Shirou couldn’t blame her.

The officer looked at her in surprise, taking in her new appearance but not recognizing her. “What in the world?”

“I would explain, but we don’t have the time.” Shirou gestured to the stairs again, where some officers were starting to head downstairs. “I’ll tell you everything I know about what happened down there, but first, we need to ensure that Mlle. Bourgeois is somewhere safe.”

“Did you say-!?” He looked down at Chloé again, recognition dawning on his face, before he scowled. “You’re right. This conversation can wait. I can take us to the station, and we can talk there.”

Shirou started to follow the officer but stopped when he felt Chloé holding onto his coat. He glanced back at her, raising an eyebrow before she shook her head. “Not him. He was supposed to be my parole officer.” Shirou stiffened for a moment before nodding. For this to be completely unnoticed as long as it had been, something had to be up.

Shirou started for the door. Chloé walked close behind him before taking her to an ambulance instead of the police cruiser. She was confused as he helped her get inside before looking at the driver. “Can I borrow a phone?” The dumbfounded man blinked a few times before handing over a smartphone, which Shirou passed to Chloé. “If you can remember their number, call someone you trust completely.”

Chloé looked at him in shock before looking down at the phone. “Someone I can trust? There’s not a single person in Paris that even trusts me.” She stared down at her hands again and scowled. “And what the hell am I? Some kind of weasel?”

Shirou sighed a bit through his nose. “Then, call someone you know it’s safe to stay with.” Looking over her appearance, he also raised an eyebrow. “Also, you're a Mink.”

Looking at the phone numbly, Chloé grimaced before letting out an insufferable sigh. “Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” She started typing in a number and scowled. “I can’t believe I’m calling her.”

The phone rang for a moment before on the third ring, someone picked up.

#Chapter 12 #Welcome to Paris Fur-ance #brand new animal #BNA #miraculous ladybug #chloe bourgeois #shirou oogami #Oh look another kid to adopt

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