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thedelusionreaderbitch · 4 years ago

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Kaz Brekker x Reader - Your What?! Part 1/2 (Soulmate au)

A/n: So I can't believe I'm doing this but... This a soulmate au! With Kaz fucking Brekker! I'm just going to cry in the corner now... I also decided to split this into two parts, so part 2 will be out tomorrow!

Warnings: language, mentions of trauma, mentions of the menagerie, mentions of death, I think that's it? You have been warned!

Summary: You and the crows are on a mission and your soulmate mark starts burning

All rights go to Leigh Bardugo, Netflix, and you! I just own the plot!

Soulmates are the bane of my existence.

You can say otherwise, tell me that I live in a wonderful world to have a chance to even meet my true love or whatever. Personally, I think it's bullshit.

Come on! Most people probably don't even meet their soulmate because the whole system is stupid! Maybe it was different billions of years ago when people couldn't have the same initials but now it's not about the initials.

It's about the pain.

Knowing the initials is just a slight sign to help you along your journey. The pain where those initials are is what it really is.

When your soulmate is hurt or in danger you mark will burn. Depending on the level of how much pain or danger they will be in it could feel like a mosquito bite... Or feel like your getting stabbed multiple times.

In my opinion well really... I don't give two fucks about it. It is what it is but the worst part about soulmate marks is when the person dies.

So when your soulmate is going to die, or is VERY close to death your soulmate mark fill start to flicker. Apparently it's worse then the normal pain you face with soulmates. When the person dies though...

In the case that your soulmate dies, the mark will slowly fade away causing you excruciating pain that could last YEARS. (Dramatic I know.)

That's what I used to think anyways.

When my sister finally escaped the menagerie I was ecstatic, but then she got dragged into the whole 'ice court heist,' so that was fun. In the time that everything happened I eventually got dragged down with her when Ketterdam was on lock down looking for criminals.

Then I found my soulmate.

Kaz fucking Brekker. Or Kaz Rietveld would be more correct, I guess.

After the whole heist was finally over we decided that fine, we could bond and we did. Being us, we didn't tell anyone not to stir up trouble, (we both had enemies) and because Inej Ghafa was my sister. Her and the others would be very protective of me.

Not like they can stop me though.

"Y/n." I snapped my head to look up to Kaz and he raise's an eyebrow at me.

"Don't kill Pekka." I roll my eyes at him. Since Kaz did tell me about his past I told him if he wouldn't kill Pekka I would.

Or at least his son.

I sigh. "Fine but don't expect me to give him a fucking birthday present."

"I never said you had too." Kaz says blankly and I almost grit my teeth together at the thought of Kaz having no emotions. Wow, people really don't know him. Though I guess that's the point.

The Crows and I start walking towards the warehouse-club and Kaz walks with me step by step. That must means he's worried because most times he doesn't even look at me when we're on a job to not show weakness.

Shit.

I brush my hand quickly up against Kaz's gloved ones and I give him a nod.

A promise.

A promise to make it out alive as long as he does. I step back and lower my pace so I'm not leading with Kaz anymore and I fall into pace with Inej and Nina.

My mind goes to when Kaz found out I was his soulmate. I had found out on when he went on a mission one time and I just... Didn't tell him.

*Flashback*

The walls of the Crow club all the sudden become suffocating as I stare intently at Kaz. I spin on my heels and dash out the doors tears filling my eyes. I don't even know where I'm running, I just needed to escape out of the Crow Club.

I need to escape the disappointment.

I slide down onto the wall of the alleyway feeling like a fool. How could I have ever thought someone like Kaz could love me. Regardless of the soulmate mark he didn't even know about.

I sense a someone is in front of me and I go to lift my head up and a man has me at gun point. I go to grab my knives. Shit. I curse every saint ever in existence. They aren't there. I don't even have a gun.

Bare fists I guess it is for me.

We turn in a circle and he clicks the safety off his gun and in a split second I duck when I hear a short, boom!

I growl in pain as a bullet goes through my shoulder and he goes to shoot again and...

BANG!

The man drops dead to the floor.

I turn around and behind me is Kaz holding a gun, but his face is in pain and worry is there as well, spread across his face more plainly then I had ever seen before.

"Your my soulmate." He mutters and I barely hear it. My chest heaves and I just nod my head not being able to speak.

He come's over and pause's right in front of me, just a foot away. Slowly, he takes off his gloves and he nervously takes my hand and laces our fingers together.

Then we start walking back to the Crow Club.

To a new future. Together.

*Flashback over*

"What do you even have against Pekka Rollins anyways, Y/n?" Inej questions me as we speed-walk to the warehouse where some Dime Lions are stirring up trouble.

My brain scrabbles to put something together but I have always been a efficient liar. No offense to my sister she's fantastic at what she does, but lying had never really been her thing.

"Rollins is a barrel boss." I shrug my shoulders seemingly uncaring even though there is so much more layers to it. But I guess I'm not lying.

Yet.

"So is Kaz." Nina points out but I already planed for that response.

"And we're dregs. Pekka is a big barrel boss, he scares off people from coming to the dregs. It's a problem and it's getting on our ass's." I grumble.

"I didn't know it mattered to you that much." Inej states. I wanted to scream in her face. He killed Kaz's brother! He almost killed Kaz! He creates monsters where ever he goes and tries to control them like caged lab rats! But I couldn't do that, so furiously I snap at her.

"Well it should to me, it's my job."

Nina and my sister both look at me weirdly, oh crap. They don't know I have basically the same authority as Kaz. Fuck.

*Flashback*

"Why give me a promotion? Isn't there other people who could use it? Who would do better than me?" I ask Kaz as he goes through the papers on his desk.

"I wouldn't trust anyone else to do it." He looks up to me and starts to get out of his desk. He goes to the door but before he can open it I grab his arm.

"I basically have the same power over the dregs that you do. I don't think that's a good thing."

Kaz just shrugs his shoulders and opens the door.

"What's a king without his queen Y/n?"

*Flashback over*

"Wait what?" Nina asks confused.

At least it goes off the topic of me hating Pekka Rollins with everything I have. Internally I sigh at my foolishness, I had only accepted Kaz's request recently, so no one really knew who was helping him out all the time.

*Flashback*

"Nemesis." The man whispers as I circle around him using the blinding light and the darkness to my advantage.

"Yes, and I get to decide if you live or die. Tell me, did you kill that little girl - Oh what was her name? Sarah was it?" I say loudly my voice confident and dangerous.

"No-no!" The sleaze ball yells and I throw one of my knives at his hand. The knife goes through his hand sticking it to the wall. The man screams out in pain.

"Liar." I hiss.

"Fine! Fine! I killed her!" He manages to scream out. "I killed her." He sobs as he says those three words again.

"Good." I say as I secretly pull a knife out behind my back into my right hand.

"I will grant you mercy." I whisper into his ear.

"Oh thank you!" The man sobs. "Thank you!"

I quickly slit his throat and he chokes on his blood for a few second and horror frames his face, before he falls to the ground.

Dead.

I hear a click of a cane and I whip my head around to face the one and only Dirtyhands.

"You know killing him was accepting my offer, right?"

"I know." I don't have to look at him to know a small smile that has become reversed for me, is sitting on his face.

Then I remember what he said to me when he first gave the offer. I turn to face him as I try to hide my smirk, and I look at him right in the eye.

"My Crow king."

And I turned and walk away.

*Flashback over*

"Well-" I start to say but I'm cut off from Jesper's very excited 'we're here!' Thank the saints though, because it gives me time to escape they're questions for now.

"You all know the plan."

Nina puts her hands on her hips. "Only the parts you deem important enough for us to know."

I nearly snort and a small smile grace's my lips. They really have no idea, well obviously some idea being that the ice court heist existed.

Kaz rolls his eyes and makes a go motion.

Inej goes to slip through the shadows but before she's totally gone I make eye contact with her before she leaves. It clearly says our conversation is not over and stay safe.

I suck in a breath, I always hate it when I have to say goodbye to anyone. Especially when that some person could die.

Running over to back of the warehouse, I pull my hood up trying to be the most concealed that I can be.

Wylan is going with Jesper to go make a distraction so they'll be going through the front doors. Nina will be going to go flirt to go get some extra info, perhaps steal some things on the way and wiggle her way into the top floor where the Dime Lions are. Matthias and Kaz will be going together with them posing as the warehouse-club guards. Inej will be going through the roof, while I'll be going through the back.

In the end everyone will get to the top floor so we can exterminate some Dime Lions, and get into the vault where a whole bunch of kruge is. Hopefully there will be enough so I can put my share's with Inej's so she can get that upgrade on her boat that she needs. It's not like I'm going to use the money to do anything useful, she deserved it and plus I intended to stay with this city.

I silently slide sneakily into the window, coming out of the other end with a knife in my hands. If I have learned one thing from living in Ketterdam, it's that you can never be too prepared.

I stay close to the wall as I see someone roll down the rope-ladder. I grin to myself,

Right on time Inej.

I climb up the ladder without fear of falling down even if the ladder was just made out of rope. I get to the top and Inej offers me a hand and I take it.

The top floor is basically empty except for some Dime Lions henchmen that are laying around, dead or knocked out.

Then, I guess there is also the vault full of kruge.

I look around the room everyone is here except for-

Kaz.

"Where's Kaz?"

Matthias looks a bit uncomfortable and guilty as he shifts nervously on his two feet.

"He said he had to take care of something and to just go."

I sigh, well I know he isn't in danger... Yet. My heart is screaming for me to go after him, but it wouldn't look good for Dirtyhands or Nemesis. Knowing Kaz he's probably fine, he would just want me to open this vault I guess.

The fact that my soulmate mark isn't burning is probably also a clear sign that he's fine.

Get yourself together Y/n.

"Can we open the vault without him?"

The others look mildly surprised at my response (excluding Nina, and my sister).

"You might be able to do it, your one of the best lock pickers there is. Only second to Brekker." Nina states.

I bit my lip and start to walk over to the vault. I let my hand fall over the lock. I let it feel the certain gears and the parts that make up the lock.

The shank of the lock would be easy enough to undo with some man strength to help pull that open. Though that would be the last step - I need to stop thinking too far ahead.

It's a very simple lock that any petty thief could probably do in 32 seconds flat. Besides the fact that it was absolutely ginormous to fit over a fucking vault.

"Inej I'm going to need some help!" I yell across the room to my sister who is in the shadows on a look out, to make sure no ones coming here.

She comes and strolls over to stand beside me. I put my hand up the lock, and I grab one bar and I move it to the side but I hold it there with my hands.

"Can you find the bar to the left and pull it up once?"

Inej does and I hear a huge click! ring through the room.

"We should wait for Kaz till we open it." Inej states and I nod my head in agreement.

"So while we wait." Nina start's talking... Oh no, that can't be good. "We should maybe share the fact that Y/n is Kaz's second hand!"

Angry courses of what! come throughout the room.

"The fuck does Kaz think with putting you in all that danger!" Jesper yells and I see Matthias nod along with him.

"I'm already in danger most of the times I'm Inej's sister!"

"You should have told us!" Nina shoots back.

"You guys are really talking about this while were on a heist!" I shoot back.

My soulmate mark starts to tingle a bit but I ignore it, being that this conversation will most likely take a lot of energy.

"It still puts you in unnecessary danger." Inej and Wylan point out.

Fury rakes through my body. Who are they to tell me that's it's 'dangerous'?! I live in fucking Ketterdam!

"I don't know if you haven't noticed, but I'm not a doll! I can take care of myself! And you can't say anything because 60% percent of you guys don't even fucki- Ahhh!" A string of curse leave my mouth as I collapse against the vault.

"Y/n!"

To be continued...

Words 2480

-thedelusionreaderbitch

Shadow and bone taglist: @kaqua @rika90 @thefandomplace

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headheartbellarke · 4 years ago

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I Wish You Would | CHARLIE GILLESPIE

Requested by anon: “hello🌼 could u please write a charlie x reader imagine when he posts a picture on his instagram story with a girl to makes his crush jealous, but she end up distancing herself from him bc she's hurt and respect what she thinks is his relationship” PAIRING(s): Charlie Gillespie x fem!reader WORDS: 2,445 WARNING(s): angst w a happy ending, some language SUMMARY: “I wish you knew that I'd never forget you as long as I'd live."

A/N: hi, everyone!! really, really sorry that this took so long. haven’t had the best march tbh, and writer’s block is a bitch. && this isn’t very good, either, but i had to get something done. love u <3

TEN HOURS EARLIER

“And… post!” Charlie taps his phone, grinning brightly.

Owen cheers from behind him, his voice meshing into the humdrum of the bar they’re currently at. “I’m so proud of you!”

His friend laughs, spinning around in the bar stool to face him. “She’ll finally understand what it feels like!”

Owen nods frantically, taking another sip of the drink in his hand.

Charlie copies his movement – a part of him knows that he is absolutely hammered, but the bigger part of him doesn’t care. He’s had a long day, and he deserves this.

Besides, how else would he and his best friend have thought of this wonderful plan if they didn’t have a billion drinks in their system?

PRESENT

A knock on the door pulls Y/N from her thoughts. “Come in!” She yells, but her voice comes out feeble and hoarse, probably from all the crying she’s been doing for the past hour.

As the door swings open, her best friend, Savannah, pokes her head in. “Hey, babe. You all right?”

Y/N sniffs. “M’fine.”

Savannah enters the room, closing the door softly behind her. She walks to the window, opening the curtains, and Y/N groans when light floods into the previously dark room.

She sits on the bed beside Y/N, and Y/N rests her head on her shoulder as she pulls the covers up to cover their bodies.

“I’m sure that they’re not dating.” Savannah says, wrapping an arm around her best friend.

Y/N chuckles sadly. “You don’t have to lie to make me feel better, Sav. I mean, in the photo, he was kissing her cheek. Literally. And he put a heart between them.”

Savannah sighs. “That’s so not Charlie, you know… kissing random girls in bars and posting pictures with them.”

“Yeah, that’s so not Charlie, because she’s not a random girl. Her name’s Francesca and she went to high school with him, so, technically, she’s known him longer, and probably better than me.”

“I – I had no idea.”

“Yeah.”

“Y/N, babe, just tell him about how you feel. I’m sure that he likes you too.”

“If he liked me, then he wouldn’t be kissing Francesca!”

Y/N exhales, as Savannah gulps, not knowing what to respond. “Y/N, I – I swear, he’s crazy about you. I don’t know what happened between last Friday and today, but I swear – the Charlie that I know – has eyes for no one but you.”

Y/N rolls her eyes, feeling a pang in her heart at Savannah’s words. “Savannah, we kissed and then he ghosted me for a day and now he’s posting pictures of him kissing another girl! I think he has eyes for everyone!”

Savannah bites her lower lip, not knowing what to respond, again. Her best friend feels tears prick at the back of her eyes when she says, “Maybe I’m a bad kisser.”

Savannah’s eyes widen, and she sits up, straight. “No. No. Babe, no. Don’t say that, ever. You’re a great kisser, okay! You’re an amazing kisser. Your lips are fine as hell, believe me. He’s the one with crusty ass lips. They’re not even lips, they look like… like… peanuts.”

Y/N stares at her best friend for a moment, before saying, “Peanuts, Sav? Really?”

“It’s the first thing that came into my mind!” She says defensively, before the girls break into a fit of laughter.

“I’m never talking to him again, ever.” Y/N says after they’ve calmed down. “I’m never even gonna look in his direction. Fucking asshole.”

Charlie sighs, taking another sip of his coffee. It’s eight in the morning, and he’s normally a morning person – he loves the mornings, the peace, the quiet, and the feeling that comes along with it more than anything, but right now, he just feels… sad.

On regular days, he would be talking to his best friend, Y/N, about everything that’s on his mind. But today’s different.

Last Friday, Y/N kissed him, and long story sort, it was the best thing that’s ever happened to him. After work that day, they went to get some food at a drive through, like they usually do. All throughout the ride, they made plans to go hiking once the production for season two finishes. She drove the car to a lookout, and oh, god, it was so pretty. The midnight sky was littered with stars, and since they were at the edge of town, there was less pollution, and they could see bits of the galaxy, too.

But, for some reason, the girl next to him seemed more beautiful than anything he’s ever seen, and after they finished eating, he just sat and stared at her talk about the last book that she’d read, for a while. He knows that it was terrible that he wasn’t listening – but how could he pay attention to anything when she looked like that, especially with passion illuminating her face like times square on New Year’s Eve?

She had looked at him as if he’d just grown a third head. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Li – like what?” He’d asked, embarrassed to be blatantly caught.

“Like that…” She’d said and kissed him, and it felt like he was seeing colour for the first time. Although, the next day, everything turned to shit.

Now, it’s Monday, and she’s nowhere to be seen. He desperately wants to know if his and Owen’s plan actually worked (no reason that it wouldn’t), and he feels so impatient right now, and he misses her. Also, his massive hangover isn’t helping, either.

He hears his name being called, and sees Kenny smiling at him.

“Hey, so we’re gonna do a different scene today, since Y/N and Savannah are out, is that okay with you?”

His heart races. “What happened to them?”

“Y/N’s sick, and Savannah’s taking care of her.”

“Oh. Yeah, it’s okay with me.” He says, feeling his heart sink to the bottom of his stomach.

“This is the last time I’m asking you this…” Y/N sings, wiping her nose with the sleeve of her sweater.

“Put my name at the top of your list!” Savannah sings, using Y/N’s straightener as a mic.

“This is the last time I’m asking you why!” Madison joins.

“You break my heart in the blink of an eye, eye, eye!” Jadah sings, jumping on the bed.

As the second verse comes on, the girls sit on Y/N’s bed, huddled close to each other.

“You know, I’m feeling better now than I did when I woke up.” Y/N says, resting her chin on her knees.

“Taylor Swift can fix anything.” Madison says, leaning her head on Y/N’s shoulder.

She nods. “And y’all. Thanks for being here.”

Jadah grins, wrapping an arm around her. “We couldn’t let you have a pity party all alone!”

Savannah laughs. “I’m gonna kill him, I swear.”

“As relieving as that would be, don’t. I’ve decided what I should do.”

Madison quirks a brow. “You’re gonna kill him yourself?”

“Madi! No. I’m gonna distance myself.”

Savannah tilts her head. “I think that maybe you two should talk it out.”

“I don’t think so. I need space, time to figure it out. My head feels like a mess. And I respect him and Francesca, and I’m not gonna dip my toes between them.”

The other girls solemnly nod their head.

“You do realize that that’s not actually the saying?” Jadah says, after a while.

“Don’t embarrass me, kid.”

Charlie exhales, watching his breath crystallize to tiny ice particles in front of him. Even though, he’s a Canadian, he still feels cold. Although maybe it’s not due to the weather, but due to the coldness in Y/N’s eyes.

He watches her chat with Jeremy a few feet away, both of them discussing something that is out of bounds to him. He knows that it’s probably decisions regarding their characters, considering Y/N’s character is Jeremy’s character, Reggie’s love interest, but a part of him feels like it’s shit about him.

He has no reason to feel that way, of course. He hasn’t spoken to Y/N in four days, and this morning, when he saw her after for what feels to be eternity, he was blatantly ignored. He had only watched helplessly as Y/N exited the room the moment he entered and had sunk into his chair feeling like absolute shit, especially with everyone’s pitiful stares.

Charlie’s mind keeps replaying each moment, torturing over every tiny detail, wondering what he did wrong.

And that’s when it hits him: she really doesn’t want him anymore.

Last Saturday, he had hopelessly watched her with her long-term boyfriend of god-knows-how-long – he had come to surprise her on set, and it was Charlie that was more surprised. Because he thought that they were over, for good. And it wasn’t like they seemed like they weren’t dating. They were acting just like they used to when they were dating, and he was too close to her for his comfort. They still laughed the same, joked around the same, and were just as inseparable as they used to be.

A question kept rising in Charlie’s mind, like an icicle to his heart: why would she kiss him when she already had someone else? Why would she give him hope, and then take it all away? Why would she dangle his hurt in front of him?

So, he decided to give her a taste of her own medicine, and posted a picture with Francesca, his high school friend, who he had run into that night.

Owen sinks into the chair beside Charlie. “You okay?”

“I’m starting to believe that our plan didn’t work.”

“Hey, uh, Y/N?”

The girl in question hears Charlie’s voice, and turns around, avoiding looking into his eyes.

“Can we talk?” He says, and for a moment, her defences are down again. He looks so… tired, almost like he’s going through the same things that she is. Almost like there’s an explanation as to why he broke her heart, why he ruined something that had the potential to be extraordinary, why he made her feel so bad about herself.

And she almost believes it, too. Like the fool she is.

She presses her lips into a thin line, and says, “Nothing to talk about.”

As Charlie opens his mouth to protest, she smiles and walks away.

“Okay, Charlie, you two need to talk it out. This is too much. Both of you are obviously hurting, and there’s obviously some serious miscommunication here.”

Charlie shakes his head at Savannah’s words. “She hates me.”

“No. She could never hate you.” She says, thrusting her phone in Charlie’s face. His eyes squint to read the text on the screen – from Y/N.

Sorry – forgot to leave a note. Drove down to Dad’s, gonna stay here for a while. It’s too painful – honestly, you know what? I’m still very, very, very mad at him. But I’m also missing him very, very, very much. So, I need to flush it out. Flush him out. He might be a jerk, but he’s still one of the best people that I’ve ever met. Love you, okay? Will return when the time is right.

Charlie’s eyes widen, and he stares at Savannah’s face for a while. “There – there is still hope!”

She nods frantically. “You should call her –”

“I’m gonna drive down to her dad’s house, too!”

“That works, too.”

A frantic knock on the front door pulls Y/N from her thoughts. She stops typing on her keyboard, and flips the lid shut, keeping it on the dining table in front of her.

She runs to her dad’s door, knowing that it’s him, back from his shopping. She opens the door, saying, “Let me take those for – Charlie?!”

Y/N’s heart swells at his sight as he grins sheepishly.

“So, there’s been some misunderstandings… can I come in?” He asks, and Y/N pauses, considering.

He sighs, and adds, “Please?”

She stares at him.

He juts his bottom lip out. “Pretty please?”

“Fine, come in.”

He closes the door behind him, wordlessly following Y/N, who feels like she might hurl right now. They sit on the couch, and it’s really, really awkward for a few seconds.

Y/N sighs. “You said you –”

“Yes. Yes, yeah. OK, so – I, uh, I –”

She couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Why would you do that to me? Do I really mean that little to you?”

“I could say the same about you!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I saw you with Shahid that day, I know that you two are back together –”

“Shahid?!”

“Yes!”

She stares at him, baffled.

“So…so… Francesca….”

“I only posted the picture to make you jealous! She asked me if I wanted to go out with her and the rest of my high school friends, and of course I went, and she saw that I was being a little… unsocial. So, I told her about how the girl that I’m completely crazy about has a boyfriend! And a long term one at that, too! And then Owen came up with a brilliant plan, and I guess you know what it was. Now, I’m realizing that it might not have worked.”

She stares at him for a moment, before she bursts out laughing. Charlie throws her a confused look.

“You – you thought that Shahid – Shahid, my best friend since we were in nappies, Shahid who is married to this amazing man, and at whose wedding I was the maid of honour – you thought that I was dating him?”

“He’s gay?!”

“Bisexual. Oh my god, I have to tell him. This is hilarious.”

Charlie bites the corner of his lower lip, feeling his cheeks heat up. “This is really embarrassing. But you two act like you’re dating!”

“No, we don’t. You’re just being insecure and jealous. I’ve known him forever, and yes, I am the most comfortable around him. Because he’s my family. He’s my brother. Oh, god, I can’t believe that you were jealous of him – wait, have you thought that we were dating this whole time?”

“Kind of. I thought you guys broke up when he didn’t visit you on set during the first two months of production.”

“He was helping feed kids in Somali.”

“Oh. Oh. God, I feel so –”

“Dumb? That’s because you are.”

He grins sheepishly, his cheeks crimson.

Y/N smiles. “But I forgive you. And I wouldn’t mind if you took me on a proper date this time.”

“Deal. Also, promise that we’ll always talk it out before… you know… doing anything?”

She laughs, and nods. He wraps his pinkie finger around hers.

“Well, Owen’s plan did kind of work, though.”

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babymetaldoll · 4 years ago

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The morning after (Spilling drinks on my settee part 2) Spencer Reid/Reader

Requested: Yes! it’s my first request! thank you, anon!!

Prompt: Hungover Spencer has to face Reader after she caught him drunk, puking outside her house. He also has to face Morgan’s teasing after he confessed he was in love with Reader.

Pairing: Spencer/Reader

Warnings: none

Category: Fluff

Word count: 1,9K

Part one here

Masterlist

If it had been up to Spencer, he would have never left his bed that day. As soon as he opened his eyes, the headache that hit him made him realize that was going to be a long day. A long and shitty day.

He sat on his bed slowly ‘cos the whole room was spinning. He was still fully dressed, why? There was puke on his shoes and pants… and a Gatorade on his nightstand? He was confused, he didn’t leave that there, right? no… maybe? he didn’t really remember. Why was he still dressed? he didn’t remember. How did he get home? he didn’t remember

- “Shit!”

Until he did.

There was a flash of embarrassment, guilt, and nausea on his face, suddenly it was all coming back.

- “Shit!”

That was the only word Spencer could use. He had gotten drunk, confessed to Morgan he was in love with (Y/N), he had actually tried to…

- “Shit!”

Maybe alcohol had managed to unplug a part of Reid’s brain, ‘cos apparently, “shit” was the only thing he was able to pronounce, at least for a few minutes.

All the embarrassing memories of the night before kept coming back to his mind, they were fragments of someone else’s life he was watching from outside. It was all too humiliating. (Y/N) saw him puking outside her house. He was outside her house ‘cos he wanted to know why she had been out on a date with a guy from a dating website. He had told Morgan he loved her, and nearly cried.

Spencer Walter Reid was doomed, and he knew it. It was going to take a lot of courage, patience, and Gatorade to go through that day.

His cellphone kept buzzing, but once he realized it wasn’t a case, but (Y/N) and Morgan trying to reach him, he ignored it the whole subway ride to work. He couldn’t even read, his brain wasn’t working, he couldn’t concentrate at all. He just wanted to disappear forever. What had he done? how could he ever face (Y/N) after what happened? And what if Morgan had already told everyone what happened? of course he had, Reid thought, and his red cheeks were now purple.

Humiliation was written across his face and his stomach tightened as he set foot into the bullpen. He took a quick look around and sighed relieved. Apparently, there was no one else there yet, the whole place seemed empty, although there was a fresh cup of coffee with extra sugar on his desk, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a chocolate frosted donut with sprinkles.

That could only mean one thing.

- “Hey, how are you feeling this morning?”- Spencer froze in panic and turned around very, very slowly. His heart was beating so fast, he was sure (Y/N) could listen to it. She was waving at him with a shy smile on her face. She didn’t look mad, or uncomfortable. She looked… worried.

- “H… he… hey, (Y/N)-” he stuttered and waved. He knew he had to say something- anything- but nothing seemed to come to mind. He was literally speechless.

- “How are you feeling?”

- “G… g… good, I’m good, I’m ok”- Spencer wanted to slap himself. He was humiliated already, but his behavior wasn’t making it any better. He had to put his shit together somehow.

- “I’m glad”- she sighed relieved, rubbing his arm sweetly, and her touch made him shiver right away. He tried to smile at her, but he was left speechless again. It was a painful scene to see.

- “I was worried sick, you didn’t pick up your phone earlier”- Reid just nodded and looked down.

- “I got you the best recipe to cure your hangover, coffee of course, and I filled half the cup with sugar, just the way you like it”- the way (Y/N) stuck out her tongue and giggled, hypnotized him.

- “I made you a grilled cheese sandwich, I don't know how many times you've woken up feeling like shit after a party, but I'm pretty sure I’ve got a lot more experience than you, and greasy food always helps me coming back to life.”

Spencer nodded, trying to follow the conversation, but his brain was still malfunctioning and his head was pounding sharp and heavy.

- “And your favorite donut 'cos you need extra sugar”

- “Thanks”- his voice was a sweet whisper. (Y/N) looked at him worried and rubbed a hand on his arm gently again.

- “Are you gonna tell me what the fuck happened last night?”- the painful grimace on Spencer's face was enough.

- “I'm just worried something bad happened to you “

- “No, no, no”- he shook his head frenetically and regretted the movement immediately. His head was killing him- “I just couldn't handle my drinks, that's all.”

- “Are you sure?”- lying to profilers could be the hardest thing on earth.

- “Yeah, yeah”

- “Good, I was worried you were going to call in sick…”- there was a short silence between them, they just stared at each other and sighed.

(Y/N) couldn’t stop thinking he had called her “Buttercup” and didn’t know how to ask him to do it again, and again, every day. And Reid had no idea what to do next. So he just said the first thing that came to mind.

- “Did you know hangovers are estimated to cost $148 billion each year due to hangover individuals calling in sick to work or performing poorly on the job.”

- “Pretty boy!!”

Derek’s voice walking over them made Spencer’s heart stop in fear, he just waved at his friend with his less expressive smile - the one (Y/N) called “frog face”- and just prayed to whatever god that might exist, that Morgan wouldn’t embarrass him more than he was already.

- “How are you feeling today, kid?”

- “I’m ok, thanks”

- “You are lucky there’s no case, yet”- Dr. Reid nodded and looked around, trying to find a way to run away from Morgan and (Y/N).

- “Nice breakfast”

- “I thought he was going to need extra energy today”- the young woman smiled proudly- “And when are you going to explain to me what happened last night? why did you let him get that drunk?”

Morgan knew (Y/N) was going to be mad at him, so he just looked at Spencer and waited to see if he had made up any lie already

- “I… I told you, I just couldn’t keep up with Derek”

- “Yeah”- his friend immediately supported his lie. Which wasn’t a complete lie- “I pushed Reid to drink at my pace, and I guess pretty boy ain’t ready to drink like a man.”

On a regular day, Spencer would have hated that last comment, ‘cos he was sick and tired of his friend treating him like a toddler. But under those circumstances, he just nodded and tried to stay calm.

- “And why were you outside my house?”

- “We were looking for a cab, started walking… and Reid remembered you live close to the bar”- Spencer’s eyes opened wide at those words- “And he wanted to stop by.”

- “No I didn’t”- Reid knew he would lose in a fight with Derek, but he was willing to give it a try and punch him if that successfully stopped him from talking.

- “Kid, you were drunk, you don’t remember, but you wanted to stop by and see (Y/N)”- the girl looked at Reid and bit her lips

- “Is that so? you got drunk and started thinking of me?”

Spencer couldn’t speak. He felt his hands shaking, so he hid them in his pockets and tried to come up with anything, literally anything to say. But he had nothing.

- “Yes, pretty boy wanted to see you…”- Morgan just smiled, tapped on Spencer’s back, and walked away chuckling. He knew Reid needed a push to open up to (Y/N). Maybe this was what he needed.

- “Why did you think of me?”- (Y/N) was now intrigued and excited. Drunk Reid was a whole new side of her friend, and the fact he had dragged Derek to her house when he was intoxicated gave her a little hope. Maybe he liked her too, the way she was head over feet for him.

- “I…”- Spencer was chocking with words, he turned around, grabbed the coffee, and took a sip of it.

- “You?”

- “I don’t remember”- disappointment was written all over (Y/N)’s face. They just stared. Spencer drank his coffee and the girl simply sighed.

- “I see”- he could read there was something there, but he didn’t want to get his hopes high. He was sure (Y/N) could never feel the same way he did. Right?

- “Can I ask you something?”- he whispered- “Why didn’t you tell me about the dating website?”

Now (Y/N) was embarrassed. She couldn’t take her eyes from her friend’s as she kept thinking about what to say. How to lie?

- “It wasn’t important, Prentiss forced me, I didn’t want to do it”- she simply confessed and smiled- “Why?”

- “I don’t know, it was weird, I thought… well…”

- “You know I tell you everything important”- (Y/N) wanted to make sure Spencer understood that the date had meant nothing.

- “And… are you planning to do it again?”

- “Never”- the smile on her lips was so honest, Spencer’s heart was relieved- “So, tomorrow’s Saturday, got any plan?”- those words, they were music for his ears.

- “Actually, there is a Russian horror movie festival tomorrow night, they’ll be showing Solaris, Viy, and Lyumi”

- “Original Russian, I presume”

- “But this time I’m pretty sure there will be subtitles”- (Y/N) pouted disappointed.

- “Bummer, I like when you have to translate the whole movie for me”- and she meant it, having Reid whispering every word in her ear for two hours was the closest she had been to heaven in her entire life. The young doctor chuckled with a huge grin and turned to his desk again.

- “Usually, translation doesn’t represent the intention behind the dialog…”- Reid was full of it and he knew it, but he had nothing to lose and lot to win- “So if you want, I can still whisper the English version for you”.

Those last words left his lips as quickly as possible, ‘cos he was embarrassed.

- “Then it’s a date”- her smile was bigger than imagined when she turned around and started walking to her desk.

Was it a date? why did she say that? Reid tried to stay cool and not overthink everything, but it was Reid, which meant it was hard, nearly impossible. Overthinking was his thing.

He wanted to go out on a date with (Y/N), but… was that actually a date? what if he brought flowers for her and she didn’t mean “date” as a date but just as two friends going out together? that would be mortifying.

(Y/N) didn’t know if Spencer had thought she wanted it to be a real date. She did, she just didn’t know if she was asking or if he had or…

Yes, they were both excellent overthinkers.

- “Hey, honey”- if she was already embarrassed and anxious about using the word “date”, she could always make it worst.

Spencer turned to look at her he took a bite of his sandwich.

- “It was really sweet last night when you called me Buttercup”- Reid nearly choked. He had completely forgotten about it, and suddenly he felt the urge to run and hide. But he couldn’t even move. He couldn’t even swallow the food he was chewing

- “You had never called me by a nickname before…”- she bit her lips and took a deep breath- “I loved it… in case you want to use it again.”

Spencer nodded and watched his best friend walk away to get herself a coffee. He could feel someone else’s eyes on him from across the office. Morgan winked at him and nodded.

- “Nice, kid”

#spencer reid #criminal minds #matthew gray gubler #spencer reid fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid fanfic #fluff #spencer reid x reader #criminal minds x reader #dr. spencer reid #requested #fanfiction #babymetaldoll writes

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royalty-subway · 3 years ago

Note

How would the twins react to their s/o owning a body pillow of them?

(Not for sexual reasons, just because they do)

\( •_•)_†

Sordward

Probably immediately assumed that you did sexual stuff to that body pillow. You probably have to tell him that you didn’t if you want to avoid him calling you a weeb.

Yes, he’s a bit weirded out by this. (Like, if you saw someone having a body pillow of yourself, you’d bitch slap them-). But he knows that sometimes “fans” can go fucking insane to a point where they'd own this piece of shit.

And yet, he wonders who even made this. Like, he’s flattered but so confused at the same time. Doesn’t this person need permission from him before doing this kind of thing?

Like the thing is, he’s the real deal. Why bother having a body pillow of him when he’s quite literally in front of you.

And funny enough, if you cuddle against the body pillow. He’ll actually get jealous of the fucking thing. You should be cuddling with him, not with this pillow-

Shielbert

Also probably immediately thought you did sexual shit with the body pillow. Like, he’s a bit weirded out by that, but hey, do what you want to do.

Honestly, the idea of someone even making body pillows of him and his older brother seems bizarre- (like who the fuck would want a body pillow of a man with a peepee hair, besides you and me-)

But the idea of you even owning a pair of this fucking thing certainly makes his heart beat fast and his face all red. He’ll cover his face if you tease him about it.

It’s constantly on his mind really, like, if you saw someone that has a body pillow that has your face on it, how would you feel? You’d be traumatized just like him.

He’ll even get embarrassed if you cuddle the body pillow while you guys are trying to sleep. Since he’s right there beside you and THAT BODY PILLOW HAS HIS FACE ON IT-

Emmet

Unlike everyone else, he didn’t immediately assume that you did sexual stuff to the body pillow (since he doesn’t know what that is or means). But he still has a gut feeling that you did something that’s considered cringe.

He’s a bit weirded out. But this is the same guy that owns about 9 billion Joltiks or more, so he can’t really say much.

He’ll probably laugh his ass off (and get a bit embarrassed) if you ever bother bringing that shit in public. Mainly to see how others would react. (But it’s HIS face on the body pillow, so-)

If he ever starts a pillow fight war with you, and you bring up your body pillow of him. He immediately surrenders. Like what made you bring that unholy fuck-

He couldn’t really care much if you cuddle with it. I mean, sure, he’s right there beside you. But it’s whatever. He has his own plushies-

Ingo

Immediately thought you did sexual cringe with the body pillow. Literally everyone who owns a body pillow with a fictional character on it does that shit.

Like no matter what you say or do, his point still stands (even with him being flattered-). You definitely did cringy stuff, and he’s banning you from the Discord server because of that-

Please, for the love of Arceus, don’t ever bring that body pillow of yours in public. You will destroy his and your own dignity within a second.

And please, for fuck sake, don’t let Emmet see this disaster you have. It's not because of the “implications” (he's an innocent boi anyways-), it's mainly because he’ll never hear the end of it.

If you cuddle your body pillow while he’s legit just beside you, he’ll constantly ask “why”. Like he’s literally there and you’re doing this shit-

I remember that my friend (who really hates the SwSh twins) made a joke about me owning or wanting body pillows of the SwSh twins and the Subway Bosses. Or say that I’d draw it.

I felt physically attacked when they said that-

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viia01 · 4 years ago

Text

A random thing I wrote that has no ending

Bruce hid a sigh as he listened to the third speaker of the night tell another terrible joke. He laughed with everyone else, too tired to do more. Ordinarily, he would lean into the opportunity to act the part of Brucie Wayne.

But he really wasn’t in the mood tonight.

The last mission with the Justice League had run overtime and Bruce was running on two hours of sleep. Ordinarily, lack of sleep wouldn’t slow Bruce down any, but for some reason he just wasn’t in the mood tonight.

Briefly, he wondered why he hadn’t allowed Alfred to make his excuses.

The presenter came back onto the stage, not so subtly wrestling the microphone away from the rambling, somewhat drunk speaker from Luthor’s company.

Bruce tuned out the speech about Wayne Enterprises’ contributions to the development of new jet propulsion technology. He had had very little to do with the development, only funded it, so most of the technical talk was going straight over his head.

“You look like you’re having fun.”

Bruce glanced to his right and saw that Hal Jordan had sat himself down in the chair behind Bruce. “Go away. We’re not supposed to know each other. People will talk.”

“Please, they’re too busy making eyes at the pretty boy you got up there singing Wayne Enterprises praises,” Hal scoffed. He was dressed in a well fitted tuxedo, though he had swapped the black jacket out for a forest green jacket decorated with elaborate rose designs.

There was a thump against the back of Bruce’s chair, and he looked down in confusion and saw that Hal had tipped his chair back on two legs, the back of it now resting against the back of Bruce’s. “Really? Are you five?”

Hal grinned at him lazily and leaned his head on Bruce’s shoulder. “No, but we’re both bored so I thought I’d entertain myself.”

“You were invited because of Ferris Air’s work with Wayne Enterprises, not to entertain yourself,” Bruce said, putting on a smile when he saw a few people looking over at him. It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Brucie Wayne to be distracted by a pretty face at an event, but Bruce didn’t have the energy or patience to put on the act tonight. “Go back to your table and Ms. Ferris.”

“See normally, I’d just put up with the crappy puns and eat all the food, but the food sucks. So now I’m not just bored, but also hungry,” Hal said, ignoring Bruce, head still resting on Bruce’s shoulder. “Is that your doing? Because if you paid them for this catering… you should get your money back.”

Bruce sighed again. “Hal…” he warned.

“Watery champagne and tiny canapes, Bruce!” Hal said teasingly, tilting his head to look at Bruce. There was a mischievous glint to his eyes.

Bruce looked at him, putting on another smile. Most people were still listening to the presenter talk about the new jet propulsions, but there were bound to be a few people watching them. “Go. Back. To. Your seat.”

Hal blinked at him a few times. “I really don’t want to. There’s an old couple there that keeps asking me if I want to ‘join them afterwards for drinks’,” he said with a grimace. “Somehow I don’t think they want drinks.”

Bruce was tired. And sore. And the last thing he wanted right now was to listen to Hal Jordan’s whining.

“And I’m getting the vibe that the rich-guys-masturbating-over-their-own-money scene isn’t exactly your speed either,” Hal continued blithely, still ignoring Bruce’s irritation. “What do you say we go and find somewhere that’s serving actual food?”

“I have responsibilities,” Bruce said immediately, clapping politely when the presenter introduced General Thomasson as the next speaker.

Hal tipped his head back further to look at the stage. “Oh shit, the big wigs are here,” he said dryly. “What do you say, Spooks? Wanna go find a burger joint?”

“No, now go back to your seat.”

Hal sighed dramatically. “You’re boring,” he said, letting his chair fall back onto all its feet with a muffled thump. He rose, the dim light playing over his face in a way that made his eyes look more amber than brown. “Guess it’s back to eating stale canapes.”

Bruce sighed as Hal walked away, ambling back to his table. In his ridiculous suit jacket, Hal looked very much the epitome of flashy West Coast flyboy and Bruce wasn’t the only one watching him.

Bruce shook thoughts of Hal Jordan away, focusing on the stage again.

------------

Bruce ran through the notes he needed to hit in his speech. It was a fairly standard speech, talk about the minds behind the advances, explain the advancements as the video played, make a few jokes, and then close out by thanking everyone for coming.

For all of Bruce’s practice at playing the gregarious, fun loving Brucie Wayne, he actually didn’t enjoy it very much. It was exhausting, wearing the mask all the time and he was tired.

And hungry.

Hal had been right about the stale canapes.

“You did some really good work, Wayne,” General Thomasson said gruffly, clapping Bruce on the shoulder. “These planes will give us the edge over our enemies.”

“Anything for our troops,” Bruce said, mustering up a smile. “Can’t have them going without the best.”

The General chuckled. “And it’s only going to set the taxpayer back a couple billion, right?”

“Got to keep those stocks high,” Bruce countered jokingly. In reality, he and Lucius were already planning to wean Wayne Enterprises off the military contracts that sustained the R&D department and supplement it with investment into green energies and space exploration.

But the General didn’t need to know that just yet.

“Well, I need to go and prepare for this speech of mine,” Bruce said, even though he really didn’t. “Lots of technical speak tonight and I have to make sure I pronounce everything right.”

The General gave him a patronizing smile and wave. “Off you go, Wayne. We’ll talk business some other night.”

Bruce ducked behind a set of piled speakers and sound equipment. He pulled out his phone, to give himself a convenient cover of taking a phone call.

He took a moment to compose himself. All the small talk had taken a toll on his patience and his eyes stung with exhaustion. He knew he needed sleep and a good meal, considering how fuzzy and slow he was feeling. And the thought of going up onto that stage and enduring hours more so small talk and smiles-

“You make a big sale with the military brass?”

Bruce didn’t jump but he was surprised that he hadn’t noticed Hal’s appearance behind him. “What are you doing back here?” he asked.

Hal was holding a tray of canapes and his bowtie was untied and hanging around his neck. “Hiding from the creepy couple,” he said, offering the tray to Bruce. “You want one?”

“No. Go back to your seat,” Bruce said in exasperation. “How did you even get back here in the first place?”

Hal crunched on another canape and pulled a face. “My good looks and charm. Sure you don’t want a stale canape? It tastes like cardboard.”

“I don’t want a canape.”

Hal shrugged lazily. “So why are we hiding behind a bunch of sound equipment?” he asked through a mouthful of canape, looking at one of the speakers curiously.

“I’m not hiding, and you’re not supposed to be here.”

“I’m not supposed to be a lot of things,” Hal countered immediately. “And you’re totally hiding.”

“I am not hiding,” Bruce snapped, irritated by Hal’s very presence. He had hoped that tonight, Hal would just spend his time as far away from Bruce as possible, especially since they had had a blow out the mission before. “Go away.”

Instead of listening, Hal just arched an eyebrow at him, munching on his cardboard canapes. “You don’t want to go on that stage, huh?” he guessed.

Bruce waited for an insult or a joke at his expense.

But Hal just looked around the speakers, in the direction of the stage. “Well, I can’t say I blame you. We’ve had like ten different speakers and I remember nothing of what was said or who said it.”

“Maybe you should pay more attention, then,” Bruce replied. “And I enjoy honoring the men and women who worked hard on this latest breakthrough.”

“None of them are even here,” Hal pointed out blandly, shoving the canape tray behind one of the pieces of sound equipment. “You probably already gave them a billion dollars anyway.”

“If I gave everyone a billion dollars, I wouldn’t be a billionaire for very long,” Bruce couldn’t help but say in exasperation. He really wondered if Hal ever thought before he spoke or if he just made it up as he talked.

Hal swiped a tongue over his teeth, giving Bruce a funny look.

On stage, Bruce could hear the presenters winding up to his introduction. He steeled himself with a sigh, pulling Brucie Wayne back over himself.

Hal tilted his head and then smiled, cocky and self-assured. “I wasn’t kidding about that burger, by the way,” he said.

“What?” Bruce asked.

Hal held out a hand, palm up. “You wanna blow this popsicle shop, Spooks?” he asked, eyes glinting mischievously.

“Popsicle stand,” Bruce corrected, irritated.

“Whatever, Bruce Wayne,” Hal said, rolling his eyes.

There was a beat and Bruce could hear the presenters bantering with each other. It was nearly time for them to introduce him.

Bruce had responsibilities.

He had to give this speech and thank the team for their hard work. It was their accomplishment and the least Bruce could do was show up to thank them publicly.

He couldn’t just leave and galivant around like Hal seemed to think he could.

Hal arched an eyebrow at Bruce questioningly, hand still out. His eyes were alight with amusement, the same cocky self-assuredness that got on Bruce’s nerves.

Only now it seemed less annoying.

“Offer’s expiring,” Hal sang, eyes darting to the stage and back.

Bruce took his hand.

#batlantern #hal jordan #bruce wayne #halbruce

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louiseleblancdiggory · 4 years ago

Text

Rowaelin massive fluff

As I said yesterday, I was writing a massive Rowaelin post filled with small fluffy scenes of them. Most are very domestic, and all are very lovely. My friend said it was better if I didn’t add smut to this, but I might write it if anyone has interest. Well, enjoy!!

Warnings: Cute

“He’s in love!” Fenrys was shouting out of the apartment windows.

Rowan had half a mind of going up to Fenrys and pushing him out, but was blessedly stopped by the apartment’s door opening and the rest of their friends filling in. Lorcan, Vaughan, Connall and Aedion stared strangely at Fenrys, as if the man had definitely gone mad this time.

“What the fuck?” Lorcan asked.

“He’s in love. He’s in love. He’s in looooooove.” Fenrys laughed maniacally, singing the last part.

Vaughan and Connall sat in the sofa in front of Rowan’s armchair while Aedion and Lorcan took the loveseat. The four kept looking at Fenrys, hoping for a better explanation. Fenrys, realizing the stares, grinned like a wolf and threw himself on Rowan.

“Get off of me, you stupid prick.” Rowan grunted, but Fenrys did nothing of the sorts. Instead he just sprawled himself more.

“Rowan is in love.”

Lorcan smiled humorously. “With you?”

Fenrys grinned. “Always. But I am actually talking about Galathynius.”

All eyes went immediately to Rowan’s face, and although he tried to control it, a dopey grin appeared on his lips. There was a chorus of grunts and pained moans, and both Rowan’s and Fenrys’s smiles grew.

“I’m not in love. I just really like her.” Rowan tried to say before Fenrys shoved his elbow into Rowan’s mouth.

“Shut the fuck up. If she asked you to walk in all fours you would. No questions asked.” Fenrys replied, earning laughs from everyone but Aedion who seemed to be in physical pain.

“I can’t believe that you and my cousin…” He shuddered. “I never want to know details. Never. I already miss the times you two despised each other.”

“Well those times are gone!” Fenrys announced, getting up and walking to the kitchen. He more hopped than walked, to be honest. He came back with a pile of red cups and a bottle of cheap champagne Lysandra had left here the other day.

Fenrys threw a cup at everyone, going around and filling it with the sparkly liquid. For Rowan, however, he just handed the bottle so he could drink whatever remained. Fenrys cleared his throat dramatically, and even with his face hurting from smiling so much, Rowan rolled his eyes.

“I have been, for years, trying to get these two together.” Fenrys announced and Rowan scoffed. The others laughed, undoubtedly remembering some of Fenrys’s attempts of making Rowan and Aelin get together. “And today, this man right here made my dreams come true.”

He grabbed Rowan’s shoulder with a hand, and when Rowan looked at the rest of the guys, he could see that all were trying very hard not to laugh.

“We kissed once, Fen.” Rowan tried saying.

“Nonetheless,” Fenrys shouted to drown Rowan’s words.” It is the start of something that I will not allow to be broken.”

Fenrys’s gaze went around the room, stopping at everyone’s eyes at once. Rowan bit the inside of his cheeks not to laugh, but nodded just the same when Fenrys looked at him. Seeming pleased with himself, Fenrys gave himself a nod.

“And so let’s celebrate tonight! Because today we celebrate what will one day be a long lasting and loving marriage!”

“Marriage?!” Aedion choked.

“Shut up!” Fenrys screamed. He took a deep breath before plastering a smile back on his face and raising his cup. “To Rowan and Aelin!”

All the guys were laughing their asses off, Vaughan had even tears rolling down his cheek, but all raised their drinks and all let out an animated shout.

——

4 years later

“Let me start this speech by saying that I was fucking right.” Fenrys said, earning a laugh from everyone in the party. Rowan shook his head, but Aelin was beaming by his side.

Rowan tore his eyes from his best man to look at the woman that was now his wife. She was smiling so much as Fenrys went on about being the one bringing the two of them together, that Rowan couldn’t help the smile on his own face. He put an arm around her shoulders, hugging her side as he gave her a kiss on her temple.

“I spent four years trying to get these two together, and four years ago Rowan finally put his big boy’s undies on and kissed the girl.” Rowan scolded at Fenrys’s words, but Aelin laughed freely.

“She could have kissed me!” Rowan shouted.

“Shush, I like where this is going.” Aelin said, giving him a playful slap on the chest.

“Yeah, Rowan, shush.” Fenrys winked at the newly-wed, and Rowan could only roll his eyes as everyone else laughed. If he had been hoping for a serious best man speech, then he should have chosen someone else to be his best man. “But, despite me being right as per usual, the night is not about me and my intelligence. Unfortunately.”

“I should have picked another best man.” Rowan muttered against Aelin’s hair. Although he couldn’t see it, he knew she was smiling.

“I think Fen would have died. After killing you, of course.” She muttered back, putting her hand on top of his on the table. She rested against his side, raising her head to give him a quick kiss on his jawline. “Besides, he’s your best friend.”

Rowan simply grunted as Fenrys went on with his speech. His voice went unbelievably soft, and he gave Rowan and Aelin a serene smile. “No, tonight is about Rowan and Aelin. Just so everyone here knows, the two of them are so in love. I mean, they are getting married so everyone knows that they love each other, but I don’t believe everyone knows to what extent. For you to have an idea, you see that dopey grin Rowan has because he is hugging his wife? Well, he has had that same grin since their first kiss.”

At that, Aelin looked up at Rowan at the same time he looked down on her. Her eyes were brimmed with tears, and Rowan cupped her face to give her a soft kiss as Fenrys continued his speech.

“I saw the two of them falling in love. It was beautiful, the type of shit you see in movies. It was slow, and natural, and so pure that there was no doubt in this universe that the would end up together forever. Rowan, I have been your best friend for twenty seven years now. I knew you since before we were one, and I had the immense pleasure of being by your side during most important moments of your life. I saw you travel the world, get into college. I saw you have hundreds of stupid adventures during your teenage years, saw you have hundreds of dreams throughout your whole life. I saw everything, from the best to the worst, and yet I can’t remember one single memory in which you seemed happier than when you simply look at Ace.”

Moments ago, the whole party had been laughing at Fen’s jokes. Now, there was a sweet silence, all the guests looking at Rowan and Aelin.

Rowan felt his throat constricting, and gripped Aelin’s hand harder as she melted even more against his side.

“In all you adventures, all your dreams, I am so, so happy you found Aelin to be the greatest of them all, Ro. Because a love like the two of you have? That’s a one in a billion, man. You found what everyone looks for their whole life, and you are so unbelievably lucky that you are also Ace’s greatest dream. You deserve each other. You deserved the four amazing years prior to this night. You deserve the beautiful wedding, the people here to witness your love. And I am sure that you deserve the next decades together, the good and the bad, the funny situations and the sad ones. You deserve to be together through them because I don’t think there is any other way the two of you can overcome the hardships of life if not together. I never believed in soulmates, but if I did, it would be you, Aelin and Rowan. Because there is no Rowan without Aelin, and no Aelin without Rowan. Not anymore.”

Aelin was fully crying now, just as she had been during Lysandra’s speech, and Rowan also felt his eyes watering even though no tears came out. He raised his glass the same time Fenrys raised his. The two of them shared a knowing smile before Fenrys turned to the whole party, willing them to raise their own glasses.

“To Aelin and Rowan! Let their love last until they draw their last breath!”

Everyone screamed and shouted merrily, drinking down the champagne in big gulps. Rowan took a single sip, offering the rest to Aelin who was still resting against his side. She raised her head, taking the glass and drinking a small sip before setting the glass down. She turned to him, taking his face in between her hands.

When Aelin smiled at Rowan, his heart seemed as if it was going to burst inside his chest. Even in tears, Aelin was the most radiant thing he had ever laid his eyes on. She was so beautiful that sometimes Rowan would wake up earlier just to look at her while she slept. Since the beginning, Aelin had been like a magnet, and Rowan couldn’t help but feel pulled towards her.

He cupped her face back, thumb brushing over the tears as he bent down to kiss her. She met him halfway, smiling into the kiss. Her hands sneaked from his face to the back of his neck, going down his back until she was hugging him. Rowan felt Aelin’s body flushed against his, and his smile only widened when she laughed against his mouth. “I love you so much, Ro. I can’t explain how much I love you.”

He withdrew a little, resting his forehead against hers. Their eyes were closed, but they knew that both were smiling. “I love you too, Ace. I love you so, so much.”

When he opened his eyes, he saw Aelin already staring at him. Her smile became soft, another single tear falling down her cheek. Rowan kissed it away, pulling her deeper into his arms. She sat on his hap, face burrowed in the crook of his neck. She brushed her nose against his throat as his hands went up and down her back. They stayed like this for a while before getting up to enjoy the rest of the party.

To enjoy the rest of their lives.

———

Rowan had gotten rid of his tie and blazer hours ago, and Aelin’s hair was a mess of curls and pearls as the night went by.

She laughed merrily when Rowan spun her around and then pulled her back into his arms. Her white and silver dress caught in the light, and it made her seem like a star while she danced animatedly with her husband.

Her back hit his chest, and his arms sneaked around her body, hugging her body against his. She had forgone her heels a while ago, and so the top of her head only reached his neck. Rowan bent down to whisper on her ear, his smile as bright as Aelin’s.

“Mrs. Galathynius-Whitethorn.”

She giggled. “You’ve said this a thousand times in the last hours.”

“You’re my wife.” The dopey grin Fenrys had cited earlier took over his lips.

Aelin bit her cheeks to keep another giggle in. “I am.”

“You are legally bound to me.” He sounded so dreamy that Aelin couldn’t help but titter.

She turned in his arms, looking up at him as her arms hugged his neck. “And you are legally bound to me. Forever, buzzard.”

He nodded, kissing her before retreating, the smile never leaving his face. “I am married to the same woman that said she would rather die before being alone in a room with me.”

Aelin scoffed, rolling her eyes. “That was years ago.”

“I seduced you.” Rowan said, ignoring Aelin’s words. He looked so smug that Aelin narrowed her eyes.

“Be quiet.”

“I seduced you so bad that you married me.” He kept ignoring her, his expression more and more complacent.

“I will divorce you.”

“My amazing personality and incredible techniques in bed convinced the most stubborn human being in the world to change her mind.” He had a shit-eating grin on his mouth now, looking down at her extremely pleased with himself.

“Definitely more your dick than you brain, love.” Aelin singsonged, and Rowan narrowed his eyes at her.

He grabbed Aelin in his arms, bringing her up against his body until their mouths were at the same level. He kissed her, tongue sweeping over her lower lip. Aelin let out a small whimper, opening her mouth against his. As Rowan’s lips moved lazily against hers, he muttered. “Liar.”

She opened her eyes, staring at his pine green eyes until both of them were smiling. She nodded, one hand cupping his face as her thumb stroked his cheek. “I do love you, though.”

He nodded too, hugging her more strongly against his body. “I love you too, Mrs. Galathynius-Whitethorn.”

Rowan felt his face hurting from smiling so much at her answering chortles.

Aelin laid her head on his shoulder, ignoring the party around them as she breathed her husband in. His pine and snow scent had always reminded her pf her childhood, of her home. Maybe it had been the universe’s way of showing her, since the beginning, that Rowan was destined to be her end point, her permanent home. Every day with him had her thinking that she couldn’t be happier, couldn’t fall deeper in love. And yet, every night Aelin went to sleep, she loved him more than she had in the morning, and every morning when Aelin woke up in between Rowan’a arms, she loved him more than she had in the previous night.

There was a difference between falling in love and loving someone, she realized. A difference between the passion and the feeling of being home. The burning from inside out and the warmth that took over her body whenever she was near Rowan. A difference between knowing she would wake up every day and fall in love with him again, but that loving him would be forever, never needing to start again.

Falling in love had been hot and intense, but loving him was calm and welcoming. The intensity of passion morphed into the unbreakable feeling of being safe, of being welcomed. Aelin would constantly be falling in love with her husband, but she couldn’t help but be glad about the already established love she felt and how good it felt.

As Rowan held her in his arms, her beautiful wedding gown brushing against the floor, she couldn’t help but feel like she had reached the peak of love, the peak of happiness. She couldn’t help but believe that if she loved him a little more, she would burst.

And yet she also knew that, as always, she would wake up the next morning a love him a little more.

“Mr. Galathynius-Whitethorn.” She whispered, and she only knew he had heard when his arms crushed her against him, face burrowing in the crook of her neck.

————

“Ro!” Aelin called, her bare foot sounding against the wood floor as she went around their new house looking for her husband. They had just moved out of their apartment into the new house a two days ago, and neither of them seemed too excited about organizing everything. “Ro!”

She reached the living room, seeing Rowan sitting on the couch, a laptop in front of him. He was typing lazily, eyes squinted behind his glasses. He tore his eyes from the screen, looking Aelin up until his gaze landed on her face. A small smile took over his lips, and he closed his laptop, setting it on the coffee table in front of him.

“What happened?”

“The shower.” Aelin grunted, walking in his direction. She stopped in the middle of his legs, crossing her arms. “It’s not working properly. I’ve been trying to fix for thirty minutes now.”

Rowan scoffed, pulling Aelin by her elbows until she was straddling his hips. “And?”

“And I need help.” She said impatiently, but she did put her arms around his shoulders, fingers playing with his silver hair in the back of his head.

“What do you need a shower for, anyways?” Rowan asked, nose grazing her neck.

Aelin fought a smile. “Take a fucking wild guess. I’m all sweaty and disgusting.”

His grazing evolved into small kisses, and despite her best intentions, Aelin arched her neck back slightly. “You’re not disgusting. And I don’t exactly mind the other one.”

Aelin laughed, taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her. He had a smile on his lips, and she couldn’t help but smile back. “Fenrys and Lysandra were very nice in throwing us a two anniversary party. A party that starts in three hours. Meaning I have to shower.”

“Or we could ditch it and spend our anniversary in bed.” Rowan mumbled, hands gripping her hips.

“We don’t have a bed yet.” Aelin replied, brows raising.

“I can fuck you in the couch just fine too.”

Aelin laughed again, quickly leaving his lap before he convinced her that his idea was the best one. He narrowed his eyes at her, and Aelin must gave him a saccharine smile. “Party. We are going to the party.”

“Sounds boring.”

“Sounds like you have to help me with the shower.”

Rowan rolled his eyes, but he got up. Aelin turned to walk to their bathroom when she felt Rowan’s arms coming around her chest. She rested her head against his chest as they tried to walk to the bathroom. In a matter of moments they became a mess of legs getting in the way of one another, and Aelin could only try to hold herself up as she felt them falling. Rowan hugged her and turned his body so Aelin wouldn’t hit the ground.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds after falling, opening them to find Rowan staring at her face.

They looked at each other in silence before both started laughing uncontrollably. Rowan’s arms were around her waist, and Aelin fixed Rowan’s glasses on his face while she laid on top of him. She could feel his body shaking with laughter, and her own laughs got more intense due to the happiness in his. Her hands here playing with the strands of hair that fell on his face, and as the laughter gave out, Aelin smiled down at Rowan.

He smiled back at her, the hands on her hips making sweet circles against her skin. Aelin leaned down, brushing her nose against his before giving him a soft kiss.

“Are you hurt?”

“If I say yes, do we stay home all night?” Rowan asked, a knowing smile on his lips. He winked at her and Aelin shook her head, a single laugh coming out of her.

“No, but I will refuse to do any activities after the party that can worsen your condition.”

Rowan grunted, sitting up with Aelin on his lap. He rested his back against the wall. “In this case, I never been better.”

Aelin scrunched her nose quickly, giving Rowan another kiss before standing up. His hands gripped her thighs and he looked up at her. He had an ironic smile on his face, and it only grew when Aelin shook her head and sat back down.

“So predictable.” Rowan mused and laughed when Aelin gave him a playful slap on the shoulder.

“Shut it. I’m your wife for two years. It would be an absurd if somethings weren’t already predictable.” She tried to sound angry, but the pulling in her mouth gave her away. “We are going to that party.”

Rowan nodded solemnly. “Later, though. The shower can wait.”

Aelin didn’t have the chance to reply before Rowan’s hands tangled in her hair, pulling her in. His mouth was hot and soft against hers, and Aelin felt herself melting against his body as his lips moved against hers. Even after years together, kissing Rowan was still one of the best experiences of her life. His mouth was like heaven, and whenever he kissed her, all other thoughts fled from her head.

Rowan and Aelin remained seated in that corridor for the next hour, boxes full with their lives all around them. It would take weeks until they managed to get through all of them, but neither was worried about that at the moment. Instead, they just kissed, touching each other, loving each other.

It was only when Rowan’s phone rang that Aelin drew back, eyes wide at the time. She got up quickly while Rowan cursed the stupid phone.

“The shower!” Aelin said, rushing to the bathroom.

Rowan grunted, getting up. He sighed, walking after his wife. “I need a shower now. A cold one.”

———

“Are you sure this is right?” Aelin crunched her nose, bending down to look at the pot in front of them. “I don’t think this is the right color. It’s supposed to be beige.”

“What the fuck is beige?”

“What the fuck do you mean?” Aelin looked at her husband, his confused expression matching her own. “The color beige.”

Rowan just stared at her.

“Aren’t you an architect? How the hell do you not know what beige is?”

Rowan grunted, ignoring her question and going back to the recipe in front of him. He red it once more, looking around the mess they had created in the kitchen. It was impossible to know if they had used the right measurements and ingredients, because the measuring cups were all around the place. Flour, sugar and cocoa powder smeared against the kitchen island, floor and even some cupboards. It looked like a hurricane had hit their kitchen.

“We don’t know how to cook, Ace. Let’s give up.”

“Give up?” She almost shouted, incredulous. “If I can create seven marketing campaigns in less than a week and you can build a building with a hundred floors, thousands of rooms and make that shit safe, we can bake a goddamn can.”

Rowan had to bite the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from laughing. He shook his head, looking up and down his wife. She was as dirty as the kitchen, sugar and cocoa powder all over her.

She looked at him, eyes narrowing at his expression. “What?”

Rowan didn’t know if it was her expression, the anger in her words or her appearance, but he couldn’t help but start laughing. He was laughing so much that he had to grip the island while he doubled over, flour falling from his hair. He saw his reflection in one of the windows, which only caused him to laugh more.

Aelin was strangely quiet, and when Rowan looked up to see if she was a little pissed or majorly pissed, he received a blow of flour right to his face.

His laughter was immediately ended, and he took a step back. He was so shocked that it took him a moment to realize what had happened. He looked at Aelin, his wife with a smug smile on her face and a hand completely engulfed by flour. She pressed her lips against one another, nodding to herself. “You know what? This is funny. I understand you laughing.”

Rowan gave her a dangerous smile, taking off his glasses and sweeping a hand over his face. When she turned back to the recipe, Rowan grabbed one of the sugar bags on the counter.

“Enough of the jokes, Ace. If you want to do this cake, focus on the cake.” He said, stepping behind her and looking over her shoulder at the recipe. She nodded, reading the instructions.

Even though she couldn’t see it, Rowan smiled as he raised his hand holding the sugar bag and turned it upside down right on top of Aelin’s head.

She let out a screech, immediately turning around to face Rowan. She cleaned her eyes angrily, tilting her head back to glare at him.

“I am becoming a widow today.”

He chuckled, grabbing a handful of cocoa powder when he saw her reaching behind her to grab some more flour. They threw the ingredients at each other at the same time, the air becoming misty.

Rowan could barely see what was happening, and he could only have an idea where Aelin was based on the sound of her loud chortles. He himself was laughing too, throwing more sugar in the direction he thought she was.

Suddenly, she went quiet. Rowan looked around, the air still clearing from all the cocoa, flour and sugar thrown around. He had a hand full of sugar and was about to call for Aelin’s name when he felt something cold and wet being thrown on top of his head.

“Bloody fucking hell.” He screamed, turning around to see Aelin holding the pot they had been using to make the cake. She was laughing so hard that tears were streaking her cheeks, extremely evident as they made their path through the cocoa powder on her face. She let go of the pot, taking careful steps back when she saw the expression on Rowan’s face. She tried to control her laughs, raising her hands. “Truce?”

“Fuck truce.” Rowan said, taking big steps to catch her. Aelin tried running, but she didn’t got two steps before Rowan’s arm sneaked around her waist. Her back hit his chest, and although she knew she shouldn’t, Aelin couldn’t stop laughing.

Rowan turned her around, pinning her back to the fridge and her chest against his. He reached back an arm, coming back with the full bag of cocoa powder and dropping it on top of Aelin’s head. She coughed as she laughed, shaking her head to make it all fall down.

When she looked up, her whole face was dirty. “You’re a terrible cooker.”

“You started.” Rowan said, looking at his reflection on the fridge and knowing he wasn’t much better than Aelin.

“You’re older. You’re supposed to be the responsible one.” She said, hands on his shoulders. She brushed some sugar off, doing the same with his face.

“The responsible thing to do is never let you cook again.”

She snickered, giving him a sarcastic expression. “I would have done just fine if it wasn’t for you.”

“Me?” He raised his brows, a half smile on his lips. “This mess is my fault?”

“Uh-hum.” She muttered, raising on her tip toes to kiss his jaw line. She peppered his jaw with open mouthed kissed, tongue sweeping over his skin. “If you didn’t have a terrible concentration and got distracted by me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Oh?” He said, pressing her more against the fridge. His hands went from her waist to the back of her thighs, fingers squeezing her skin. “Aren’t you the one distracted?”

She kissed the hollow of his throat, going up his neck with the tip of her tongue. She went all the way to his earlobe, biting it gently. “No.”

Rowan hauled her up, Aelin’s legs going around his waist. “My bad then.”

Aelin smiled as she there her head back, Rowan’s mouth on her neck and the cake they were supposed to do absolutely forgotten.

———

“Ro. Ro.” Aelin shook her husband. “Rowan. Love.”

Rowan slowly opened his eyes, gaze immediately falling on the woman sitting down on they bed. Her hair was a mess, and the moonlight filtering through the curtains made her creamy skin glow. Her eyes were shining as always, the turquoise and gold looking like they irradiated light.

“Did something happen?” He grumbled, turning his body so he could rest his face on his wife’s lap. His arms went around her waist, and although he could feel her impatience, her hands started playing softly with his hair.

“It’s snowing.” She whispered.

“Ok?” He asked, more awake now. He looked up to see Aelin beaming down at him.

“Want to go play?” She looked so excited that if Rowan hadn’t been laying on her lap, she would probably be jumping up and down the bed.

“Now?” He said, slowly. She nodded animatedly, and although it was three in the morning, Rowan couldn’t bring himself to say no. He just grumbled, getting up.

Aelin let out an excited squeak, rushing to their closet to put on her winter clothes. Aelin had always loved winter, every year waiting for the perfect snowfall to go play outside as if she was a kid. Rowan had never been as spontaneous, even when he was younger, but he had to admit that hearing Aelin’s delighted laughs as she threw snowballs at him was the closest thing to heaven he had ever witnessed.

He got dressed slowly, and the moment he finished putting his boots on, Aelin grabbed his hand and pulled him to the backyard. Rowan had to walk faster to match her steps, a smile already taking over his face at his wife’s excitement.

She giggled happily the moment she stepped outside, arms wide open as she looked up. Snowflakes immediately covered her honey-gold hair, a few on her lashes too. She opened her eyes and looked at Rowan. He had been resting against the threshold, arms crossed and a grin on his face as he watched Aelin.

She extended a hand to him, and he grabbed it, pulling her into a hug. “Are you happy, Ro?”

He rested his chin on top of her head. “Yes, of course I am.”

“I don’t mean only about this. I mean about us, about our marriage.” She looked up at him, fingers brushing away a strand of hair from his temple.

He cupped her face, cleaning her cheeks and eyes from the snowflakes. When she opened her eyes again after the swept his thumbs lightly over it, Aelin found Rowan smiling down at her. It wasn’t the grin from moments ago, of the smile he usually gave her whenever she entered a room. No, this one was the smile he gave her whenever he wanted her to know how deeply in love he was with her.

“I can’t imagine a life that would make me happier, Ace. I can’t even believe how happy I am in this one.”

She nodded, bitting her lower lip. “It’s just that I love you so much that it’s sometimes hard to believe that you can possibly love me as much.”

Rowan hugged her tightly against his body, her chin against his chest as she looked up at him. “I can’t explain how much I love you, Fireheart. I can’t explain how happy just being around you makes me. We’ve been married for more than two years, together for even longer, and having you for myself still feels like a sacrilege.”

She gave him a small smile. “A sacrilege?”

He nodded, grinning down at her. “The biggest one.”

“Do you believe you have violated something sacred, Ro?”

He held her face I both hands, fingers tangling in her hair. “Having all of you, Ace. It feels like a sacrilege to know that you are mine, and only mine. Maybe it’s a violation to get you all for myself, nothing left for the rest of the world.”

Aelin’s fingers squeezed his waist, and she had a beaming smile as she raised herself to kiss him. Rowan’s mouth seemed even hotter due to the cold weather, and Aelin realized the if she could lose herself in him, she would. If she could spend the rest of her days feeling his soft mouth moving lovingly against hers, his tongue brushing hers, she wouldn’t hesitate in saying yes.

“Loving you is sacrilegious, Ace.” He breathed against her mouth.

“Loving you is sacred, Ro.” She breathed back.

—————

Aelin relaxed against her husband’s chest, her head resting on his shoulder.

He kissed her cheek, hand on her bent knee. Aelin’s hands were playing with the misty water in the bathtub, drawing small circles with a single finger.

Rowan’s arms were embracing her against his body, and he was humming softly.

“Ro?” She said, voce somewhat tense.

Rowan immediately opened his eyes, trying to see her face. “Yeah?”

“We need to talk.” She said, fingers playing more agitatedly on the water. “Can I ask you something?”

Rowan’s heart constricted, and he felt his throat twisting. Something like terror was creeping up his veins, and he had to clear his throat and blink a few times. He gripped Aelin more strongly, as if he could stop what was about to happen from actually happening. The best way to stop it was from showing her why this was a terrible idea before she even started explaining the whys, before she started breaking his heart.

“Do you want a divorce?” Rowan asked before she could say anything, voice so low he could barely hear his own words.

Apparently, Aelin had heard them without a problem, because she immediately sat up, turning around to look at him. Where she had been sitting moment ago with her back against his chest, she was know kneeling, looking at him. Her face was crumpled in worry and pain, and she could feel her eyes watering.

“What?” Her voice sounded small, sounded so careful. “You want a divorce? I— I thought we were fine. I thought we were happy.”

She bit her lower lip, trying to control the tears. She honestly thought everything had been fine, that he still loved her but if he wanted a divorce, didn’t even want to give them a chance to fix things, then maybe she had been blind the last few—

“What? No!” Rowan sat up, eyes wide and voice frantic. “No. No, of course I don’t want a divorce. I thought you wanted one.”

She felt a single tear falling down her cheek. She furrowed her brows, crossing her arms. “Why the fuck would you think that?”

“You sounded as if you were about to say exactly that when you came with the whole ‘we need to talk’ speech.” Rowan answered, clenching his fist to not reach forward and wipe Aelin’s tear away. He hated when she cried, and he had never been the reason for it before. It was tearing him apart inside.

“No, of course not.” Aelin shook her head, staring at Rowan. “Of course I don’t want to divorce you. That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard you say.”

Despite the situation, Rowan felt his whole body relaxing. His racing mind came to a stop, and he felt like he could breath again. Of course she didn’t want a divorce, of course things were fine. They hadn’t argued in months, and they were genuinely happy. Rowan had been crazy in even considering that.

“I’m sorry.” She said, coming a little closer to Rowan. “I didn’t think you would think I wanted to end things when I said we needed to talk. I should have worded it better. I don’t want to talk about anything bad, it’s a different topic.”

Rowan nodded, relief setting even deeper into his body. He pulled Aelin in, hugging her. She rested her chest against his, head on the crook of his neck. Aelin could feel her body relaxing against Rowan’s, could feel the blinding fear leaving her body. The prospect of losing Rowan was terrifying, and she had never been more relieved then when Rowan explained he had no interest in divorcing her.

“I’m sorry, Ace. I should have been more delicate about it. I should have let you talk.” His hands went up and down her spine, half to calm her down and half to show both of them that they were still together, that they still had each other. “I’m so, so sorry, love. I didn’t mean to make you scared or sad.”

Aelin simply nodded, bitting her lip. “I don’t want a divorce, I want a baby.”

Rowan tensed beneath her, and Aelin felt herself become tense. She wanted to have this conversation for weeks now, but she never knew the best way to bring it up. Obviously, the one she had chosen wasn’t the best.

“I want us to have a baby. I know we never talked about it before, and that we’re still young but I want a baby. I want a baby so bad, Ro. I’ve been trying to talk to you about this for weeks now, and I will completely understand if you don’t want it. You’re thirty and I’m still twenty six, we have time, but…” She said it too rushed, the last words trailing down.

When Rowan didn’t say anything, Aelin slowly raised her face. She was nervous to look at his expression, but all worries vanished from her body when she found Rowan beaming at her. Incapable of holding herself back, she beamed back at him. “Can we have a baby?”

Rowan laughed, hugging Aelin until she was breathless. He gripped her face, kissing her strongly before drawing back and laughing some more. “Yes. Yes, we can have a fucking baby. No to divorce, yes to baby. Fucking Gods, yeah we can add a new person to the family.”

Aelin laughed with him, the tense mood immediately disappearing. “No to divorce, yes to baby.”

———

“Mrs. Whitethorn?” Maeve, Rowan’s coworker at the agency, asked. She had a puzzled look on her face. “Is everything all right? Do you need help?”

Aelin knew how she looked. She had ran here, too anxious to risk the chance of getting caught in traffic. Her hair must have been a mess, the winter clothes he had on looking all disheveled. She was breathing hard, a hand over her heart. “Is my husband in?”

“Yeah, he’s finishing a meeting with Gavriel and Lorcan. Everyone else already left.” Maeve said, getting up. She offered Aelin a hand, expression washed in worry. “Are you sure everything is ok?”

“It’s January.” Aelin said as if that explained it all.

“Ok…” Maeve said cautiously.

“Me and Rowan started dating in January.”

“Is today some sort of celebration?” Maeve asked, a smile on her lips.

“No, no.” Aelin said, trying to control her breathing. Maeve looked so confused that Aelin calmed herself down enough to explain. “It was so unexpected that for the past seven years January is the month we have our little competition. Whoever surprises the other the most wins. It’s a joke regarding how surprised people were when they discovered about us.”

Aelin didn’t tell her the prize the winner won.

Maeve laughed, finally understanding what was going on. “And I assume you have something surprising for him.”

Aelin nodded, a smirk on her face. “It’s the last day of the month and. I can’t tell him by phone, and if I called him to come home instead of going out with the guys, he would refuse just so I would only be able to tell him tomorrow. In February. Rowan thought he had won with the surprise trip for Italy during spring break.”

“But no?” Maeve seemed extremely interested in their little game.

Aelin shook her head, and the moment she opened her mouth, she saw a door opening and her husband coming out with Gavriel and Lorcan behind him. He took a few seconds to realize that Aelin was standing there with Maeve, but the moment he noticed her, his face was washed with confusion and worry.

“Is everything all right, Ace?”

Aeling laughed almost maniacally. “You lost.”

“What?” He approached her slowly.

“You lost this year.” She grinned brightly and animatedly. “You fucking lost, dipshit.”

Aelin heard Maeve choking on laughter as she left the room, and even Lorcan and Gavriel smiled at that even though they had no idea what was going on.

“The hell you mean, Aelin?”

“You thought the trip would be the biggest surprise? Idiot.” She laughed again, and now that Rowan finally understood, he narrowed his eyes.

“It was.” He declared.

“No, no, dear husband. Because I know something you don’t, thus it is a surprise. So, so much bigger than yours.”

Rowan crossed his arms, tapping his foot on the floor. “Oh, yeah? What is it then?”

Aelin’s grin became a full smile, and she was beaming as she continued. “I’m pregnant.”

Rowan looked at her in silence for what seemed an eternity. He looked down her belly and then up her face, a huge smile breaking on his face. He laughed just as hard as she had. He ran up to her, grabbing her in his arms. Rowan spun her around as they both laughed, Aelin’s arms going around his neck to hug him back.

“I’m gonna be a dad.” He announced, and smile even harder when Aelin nodded. Rowan turned to Gavriel and Lorcan who were smiling at them. “I’m gonna be a fucking dad!”

The two men laughed, muttering their congratulations. Rowan hugged Aelin more tightly, peppering her face and neck with fast and lovingly kissed.

“We are going to be parents.” Rowan said, voice full of joy as he looked down at Aelin’s stomach.

Aelin nodded, tears swelling in her eyes. “We will.”

“We made a baby. We are going to have a baby.” He sounded so amazed by the words that Aelin laughed again.

“Yeah. Yeah, we will, love.” She said, voice soft and gentle. Rowan raised his head to look at her, and Aelin could see the tears brimming his eyes. She cupped his face, kissing him before laughing against his mouth. “We are going to be a mom and dad.”

Rowan rested his forehead against Aelin’s, one hand on her stomach and the other one in the back of her neck.

When he heard her voice again, Rowan opened his eyes to stare at the turquoise and gold staring back at him. She gave him a smug smile full of hidden meaning. “I won. And I know exactly what I want.”

———

“What is all this?” Aelin asked, a smile on her face. She entered the living room, loosing at the lights hung from the ceiling. They casted a yellowish hue to the whole room. The furniture had been move away, and now the room had a huge empty spot in the middle.

Rowan came from behind her, embracing her body. “As much as I loved our second anniversary party, this year we’re staying at home.” He said against her ear, giving her a small kiss. “Alone.”

“The baby.”

“Alone with the baby.” Rowan corrected, a hand going down to Aelin’s stomach.

Rowan let go of her, walking up to an old victrola. He turned it on, the vinyl immediately turning. A soft melody filled to room, and Aelin smiled as she recognized the song.

“Nostalgic?” Aelin asked, walking up to Rowan.

He took her in his arms, one hand around her waist, the other one holding hers. Her free hand went to his shoulder, and they slowly swayed around the room under the melody of the song they danced during their wedding party.

“Whenever I’m stressed at work I listen to it.” Rowan said, a small smile on his lips as he looked down at Aelin. “Remembering our wedding night always makes me calm.”

Aelin matched his smile, gripping his hand and shoulder more tightly. She closed her eyes, focusing on Rowan’s touch and the melody only. “I love this song.”

“I love you.” Was all Rowan replied.

Aelin kept dancing, the melody and the movements so peaceful, so tranquil, that she felt as if she was floating. She felt her smile becoming more serene, and when she opened her eyes, Aelin looked at Rowan reverently. “I love you.”

Rowan nodded, and Aelin laid her head on his chest as the two celebrated another year together.

A year that had so many memories that they would tell their kids, so many memories that they would tell their grandkids.

Memories that they would remind each other, memories that they would whisper against each other’s skin.

And so Aelin and Rowan danced throughout the whole night. Danced alone for hours and hours.

Well, alone with the baby.

Tags:

@in-love-with-caramel-macchiato @jlinez @courtofjurdan @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln @ladywitchling @lexflame @sleeping-and-books @annejulianneh111 @perseusannabeth @linshryver @mu-si-ca-l @camilamartinezdunne @dank-queen7 @minaidss @starborn-faerie-queen @booksofthemoon @loveofbooksandwine @jesstargaryenqueen @bluejaberry @multifandommessblog @yesdreamblog @abookishfreak @faerie-queen-fireheart @maastrash @morganofthewildfire @queen-of-glass @heirofthenightcourt

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whatifyoulivelikethat · 3 years ago

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i want to ask for help. but i cant tell when would be a good time. because u've said before that therapy doesnt work unless YOU want it to, and i dont know WHEN i will want to. i just know that ive been feeling like this for as long as i can remember and that if i dont do SOMETHING about it, i might not even live.

i feel like im scared to ask for help because what if? what if i actually do better? i cant imagine living without thinking about dying every second. there is a scary sense of comfort in it, but its familiar and its me but its ME and i dont want it like that.

i,,, i dont know why this is going to you, but i do know i admire your opinions and i guess i just want to know. when. when does it get better.

When... hmm, as Yoongi has said before, these kinds of feelings are like seasons. I don't personally think they ever "go away" - you have good times and bad times, sometimes with reason, sometimes for no reason at all. At least, that's how it is with me. Going to put the rest under a break.

"Get better" is a vague term. You can argue you're already "getting better" because you recognize something needs to change, but that doesn't really feel statisfying because you're still in the same mental state, right? Then, is "getting better" a generalized state of more happiness? Could be. But, if you've always been in the darkness, well, shit, how are you supposed to know the light is the light? You've never seen it before. Then, does "getting better" mean... being like everyone else around me that seems like they're "good"?

That's the greatest lie of all.

I've said therapy doesn't work unless you want it to, not because you need to feel a certain measure of desire to change, but because you can't walk in there thinking the therapist is going to change you. If you have the means to try, you should to to therapy and just try it, because knowing you need to do something indicates that you already want to change. Reaching out to someone, stranger or not, already indicates you don't want to be like this forever. It might work, it might not. Therapy really depends on the therapist and finding a good fit is very difficult.

I'm going to tell you a bit about my journey. I have no idea if it will help you, but maybe you're interested.

I grew up not knowing love. My parents had an arranged marriage and, in their case, they did not love each other. Probably still don't. They're still married. I guess they tolerate each other, I don't know. In any case, it was very dysfunctional. I didn't know anything about maintaining healthy relationships, showing affection, or the value of people. I was seen as a means to an end, not really as their child. It was mostly my mom, but my dad was neglectful and wasn't really part of my life even though he was there the entire time. Because of this, I didn't value myself. I became very depressed and, if you've read my work, there's hints of what I've done to myself. I thought about dying. A lot. All the time. Planned it, dreamed it, wished for it.

Then, I moved out and entered the next phase of my life. Made a shit ton of mistakes. Destroyed friendships, had a ton of questionable relationships, chased love that was never there, fell apart. I was an "adult" but I was still the same - still wanted off this fucking Earth. But there was a difference. This time, I finally realized something.

These had be been my desicions.

My choices put me in that position. Nobody made me do anything. I was being self-destructive because I wanted to. And just like how I put myself there, I could take myself out.

So I did.

Not easily, mind you, but I did. I switched my surroundings again, put myself among people who had my best interests in mind, found my close friends, had a great time. Did shit everyone else did, went on cute dates, hung out with friends, traveled a lot, took pictures of delicious food, had an Instagram life.

Hated it.

I wasn't myself. I had pushed down my past and pretended like that shit wasn't real. I had a good life, so I'm good, right? I'm cured! I have what everyone else wants - I do what I want, have a good job and loving people around me. Yeah, no. I was "better", but I wasn't better. Far from it. I used to draw, write, create. In this phase I did none of that. I felt empty. But I was happy! Shit, what else can I do?

And then I discovered BTS.

Music does a lot of things. In my life, they defined the phases of my life. Rock and metal saved me from ending it when I was stuck in the darkness. In the time of empty happiness, I listened to music, but nothing stuck. I did, however, broaden my horizons and listen to everything, finally learning that all music has its merits and that I could find something I liked in nearly every genre.

However, I wasn't committing to anything, and that was because I couldn't commit to myself.

At first when I listened to BTS, I thought they were really cool. I went from era to era, mostly listening to title songs. Then I was bored and listened to their other stuff. I was curious about the lyrics I liked. They were usually rapped by this one guy, and I learned to recognize his voice and wait for his parts, because they always ended up being my favorite.

Yeah, just guess who it is. :)

I thought, well shit, I have no idea what he's saying. I should look it up. Went to look up the lyric translations of their songs, finding SUGA's parts and yet another epiphany.

Why am I pretending?

I'm reading these lyrics and I'm like, shit. This is it. This is me. These are all thoughts I've thought and they're here. They're real. Someone else thought them in the same way I have. And I am, indeed, still feeling these things, but pretending I'm not. Pretending it's impossible to acknowledge the person I am, that teenager wondering why I have to live when I could just fucking not, and who I've become, an adult with no sense of self but happy, and how they somehow can't coexist even though they already do. They're all me.

It wasn't very fun facing those feelings again, but I did it because I needed it. I needed to work through them and stop pretending so I could be myself. And now I am, because I can see it. You can see it. I create, not for anyone, but because this is me.

Maybe a little hypersexual. Kind of insane. Borderline cocky (but I am hot though, I'm just saying). I write, I draw, I create, I have fun, I cry, fuck, I do it all (swallow dick real fucking well too!). I do everything I want to and live how I want to.

This is just one way, one life among billions. You might not go though this (technically, you're already on the BTS phase, you know) and most likely your journey will be different. Because "getting better" is a personal thing. It is what you want in life, who you want to be, and I didn't know who I wanted to be until I lived though all kinds of shit, learning about other people's lives, and found someone who let me know, hey, you can brush past or you can soak into a heart. Change will always happen. You can live however you like. In some ways, you grow up and become an adult. In some ways, you stay the same, always young, always learning, always growing up. Sometimes people give up their young self because they think they have to. And maybe they do. You don't really have to though. You only have to be open to the idea there is also comfort in other things, that the you that you've known all your life is not the only you that will be.

To live a full life is to have many things, not physically, but mentally - memories, thoughts, past, present, whatever you want to hold on to, hold on to. No one can take them away from you. You will become more than just that. Every day, you will wake up to a new self that encompasses all your other selves before that. If you're impatient and want it now, run. Read up on things, surround yourself with all kinds of people, try activities you've always wanted to try, experience shit and find out what you like, what you hate, what you can modify to suit you better.

Find out what it means for you to get better and you'll discover, hey.

You're already there.

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eyesforjade · 4 years ago

Text

2: the snap

Summary: The situation wasn’t going as Tony wanted, not even close. When he went out for a walk with Pepper that morning, he didn't expect to be on an alien ship going to another planet, much less that a magician would appear during this walk, accompanied by Bruce Banner with yet another threat for them to confront. Stark hoped his life would become easier after he had partially abandoned his armor and chosen to live a normal life with Pepper and his daughter Elisabeth, but things had to get worse in one way or another.

Word count: 10,5k.

Warnings: I’m from Brazil, I write in portuguese and translate to english, with what I know and learn from the language, and with some help of google translate, it may oy may not be understadble, but I’m trying my best, and hope you like it.

Masterlist

The situation wasn’t going as Tony wanted, not even close. When he went out for a walk with Pepper that morning, he didn't expect to be on an alien ship going to another planet, much less that a magician would appear during this walk, accompanied by Bruce Banner with yet another threat for them to confront. Stark hoped his life would become easier after he had partially abandoned his armor and chosen to live a normal life with Pepper and his daughter Elisabeth, but things had to get worse in one way or another.

He remembers the tranquility of things before leaving home. Lisa was talking excitedly about an excursion the Midtown school would take the students, and how excited she and Peter were. He remembers to smile, and to face Pepper who had a huge smile on her face, he remembers when his daughter left home to go to school, and Pepper looked at him saying that these two were unexpected, and that she was curious to know where that relationship would go. Tony thought the same thing, and so he fought tooth and nail to keep the boy safe.

Thinking on a positive side, Tony was happy to be with Peter, because it meant his little girl was safe on Earth. It was selfish to think about it like that, the boy took an important part in Tony's life, he was like the son he never had, and he has won this place since he started a friendship with his daughter a few years ago. The boy had acquired powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider and assumed the mantle of Spiderman after that, years later, Stark would recruit him to help him with the Captain America X Sokovia Accords case, or as his daughter nicknamed "Civil war".

Which led him to the current situation. Trapped in a spaceship, with a plan based on a movie about aliens, without many options, Tony follows the boy's plan without hesitation, and in the end, it was a good plan, perhaps not the best way to save the wizard, but a plan that had worked. The spaceship belonged to the three now, and the next step was to think about what they would do next, Stark watched Peter talking to Strange's magic cloak, while his own costume retracted, turning over the clothes he wore for his walk.

"We got to turn the ship over." Stephen speaks, getting up quickly, the cape quickly adapts to his body.

“Yeah, now he wants to run. Great plan”. Tony replies approaching Parker, seeing if the boy hasn't been hurt in any way. If in Sokovia his daughter had gone against him, just because he was using Peter in a battle that wasn’t his, imagine what she would do if the boy got hurt here.

"No, I want to protect the stone". After checking it, Tony turns to the steering part of the ship, it wasn’t designed for human hands, but rather, Thanos's hands, alone he wouldn’t be able to control the ship.

“And I want you to thank me. Go ahead, I’m listening”.

"For what?" He hears the man's voice. "Nearly blasting me to space?"

"Who just saved your magical ass?" Tony turns around, facing the man. "Me".

"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet." Tony goes back to analyzing the system, while Stephen approaches him.

"Admit it, you should have ducked out when I told you to". Peter didn't dare say anything while the two argued, so he just kept close to the two of them watching. “I tried to bench you, you refused. Almost as stubborn as my daughter...”

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."

"And due to that fact, we’re now in a flying doughnut..." The comment made Strange roll his eyes, this conversation wouldn’t take them anywhere. "Billions of miles away from Earth, with no backup".

"I’m backup". Peter takes the comment as an opportunity to join the conversation.

"No, you’re a stowaway". Tony says quickly, pointing a finger at himself and then at Stephen. “The adults are talking”.

"I’m sorry, I’m confused as to the relationship here." Stephen looks at Stark with a confused expression, pointing his finger at Peter. "What is he, your ward?"

"No". Peter quickly extends his hand. "I'm Peter, by the way."

"Doctor Strange". Stephen speaks quickly, not shaking Peter's hand.

"Oh, we’re using our made-up names". Peter steps back nervously. "Um… I'm Spiderman, then". Stephen looks at him, and without saying anything else, starts to approach Tony.

“This ship is self-correcting its course. Thing’s autopilot". Tony informs the other man.

"Can we control it?" Peter begins to approach the two, while Strange leads questions about the situation. "Fly us home?" After a time of no response from the other man, Stephen speaks again. "Stark?"

"Yeah?”

"Can you take us home?" Tony nods, but his mind doesn't want to follow that plan. "Yeah, I heard you". Stark folds his arms, looking back at the wizard. "I'm not so sure if we should".

"Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos". The wizard makes it clear once again, making Tony sigh. "I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here".

"No". Tony approaches the man. “It’s you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years, since he sent an army to New York and now he's back!” Peter remembers the 2012 attack, like it was yesterday, Lisa was at his house when the attack started, Pepper had left the girl there before going to a conference in Washington, and he remembers what it was like to see his best friend worried about her father. "And I don't know what to do, so, I’m not so sure if it’s a better plan to fight him on our turf or his... But you saw what they did, what they can do". Stephen regarded Tony as if he was as crazy as he seemed, that plan could end terribly badly, and trial and error wasn’t a viable option. “At least on his turf, he’s not expecting. So, I say we take the fight to him”. Tony was silent for a few seconds, considering the other man's expression, he didn't know how far they could go, and it was a very risky thing, but it was worth the try. "Doctor. Do you concur?"

"Alright, Stark". The man speaks calmly, he knew what he was risking there, and understood the responsibility he had the moment he put the necklace holding the stone on his neck. “We go to him. But you have to understand... If it comes to saving you or the kid or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let either of you die”. While Tony didn't look shaken, Peter's heart had probably skipped a beat or two, it was a lot of responsibility, planning such an attack, and it was at times like this, that he would rather have listened to his best friend, he should have stayed on the bus. "I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it".

"Nice. Good. Moral compass”. Tony fiddles with his cloak, as if fixing it, and starts to approach Peter. "We’re straight. Alright, kid". Peter didn't move, and just watched Tony make a hand gesture, from one shoulder to the other. "You’re an Avenger now." Despite his nervousness, and as the whole situation scared him, Peter couldn't help but smile at what the man had said, he understood the responsibility of carrying that title, and he knew that he couldn't let Tony down, he couldn't let anyone down.

☼

It was supposed to be just another excursion, or that was what Elisabeth Stark thought when she left home. When you're the daughter of the famous billionaire and philanthropist Tony Stark, you can expect literally anything when you leave the house, going from being recognized by your father's not-so-secret "identity" to a donut-shaped alien spaceship invading Earth, and today, the tour to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan had been interrupted by the second option, and Lisa couldn't be more nervous.

Elisabeth had seen the ship from the place she sat near MJ, who was just talking to her about her friends and the place they were going to. She could see that Peter had also seen the ship and knew well that the boy wouldn’t be on the bus for very long, which made her even more nervous. She knew him well enough, knew that he wouldn’t miss an opportunity to help the city, and understood that she wouldn’t be able to stop him for anything in the world.

"Holy shit!" Lisa and MJ turned their gaze to Peter and Ned, the four now aware of the ship in the sky, and Elisabeth was sure that Parker had asked Leeds to distract the rest of the students. “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” Without having to do anything else, Ned gets up and goes to the back of the bus, followed by MJ and several other students, leaving Peter and Lisa sitting in their seats. "THERE’S A SPACESHIP!"

"Think about what you're doing". Lisa whispers to her best friend, watching him put web shooters on his wrists.

"Saving the city". He responds with a smile, trying to reassure the girl.

"Putting yourself in danger". Peter with a quick gesture, puts his hand on his friend's face, giving a huge smile.

"I wouldn't be the friendly neighborhood buddy if I didn't do that". Before Peter could move, Elisabeth held his hand, making him look at her quickly, Ned's distraction had worked, but he needed to be quicker if he wanted to leave before anyone noticed that he was gone. "I'll be right back".

"No matter what you think at the time..." He looks at his friend confused, not understanding where she was going. "If my father thinks about getting on that ship, stop him, and above all, if he gets in that thing, get back to the bus".

"Lis, I ..."

"Promise me". Without saying anything else, the boy nods, leaving through the emergency exit quickly, leaving Elisabeth alone on the seat. Taking a deep breath, Elisabeth gets up, following the example of the other students, but soon realizing that one of the students hadn’t followed Ned's distraction, sitting on the seat in the back, Harry Osborn was smiling towards her.

"That was... interesting?" With a nervous smile, Lisa notices the students return to their seats and the bus stops, quickly, she sits down next to Harry. "So, Spiderman and Iron Heart, great partners..." Harry was one of her best friends, she met the boy at a science fair when the boy complained about his father giving more recognition to other people than to his own son, this started a friendship between the two, and has been expanding, and now Harry, Peter, Ned, MJ and Lisa were inseparable.

"Didn't you go see the donut-shaped ship?" Harry smiles widely at the comment.

“Are you kidding? This to me is like a weekend dinner at home”. Lisa accompanies her friend, laughing about it. The driver suggested that everyone stay calm and reported the situation to the teacher responsible for the excursion, and it seemed that Roger Harrington didn’t have a smooth trip.

"I urge everyone to remain calm, the roads leading to Manhattan have been temporarily closed." The professor points to the ship. “Because of that. We have no prediction for when we can continue our journey, or if we should continue, so stay together and stay on the bus, and...” All students remain silent, and the teacher seemed lost in his lines, just nodding his head and sitting back down.

"You know, I'm starting to think that this guy should take a vacation". MJ says quickly, approaching the bench that Osborn and Stark sat on, Lisa turns around with a smile, seeing that Ned and Flash were with her.

"Stark, you who are experienced in this kind of thing..." Flash starts making MJ roll his eyes, waiting for something stupid to come out of her mouth. "How likely are we to die on this bus?"

"That’s so low mood, Thompson." Brad yells from the back of the bus.

"Yeah, nobody's going to die." MJ replies, but in her eyes, I could see that there was a certain uncertainty in what she said.

"We will only be stuck on the road for a few minutes, it's not like the world is going to end for this". Betty speaks, rolling her eyes and sitting down next to Ned.

However, what would be minutes ended up becoming hours. Stark remained vigilant with the ship practically all the time, talked to her friends to distract her mind, while the bus wasn’t moving anymore, and after practically an hour, the ship disappeared from the skies, and she had no news of Peter and neither of her father, indicating that the two of them would probably be inside the ship. After a few more minutes, Elisabeth realized that she also couldn't stand there, she had to get off the bus and find help as soon as possible, to know what was going on outside the bus.

She could hear Harry and Flash talking about the ship, and Ned was asking her what would happen next. MJ sat in silence on the bench next to her and looked out the window as if all of her problems were going to disappear while she didn't look, Betty stayed close to them, but hardly talked, Lisa was sure she liked the company of Leeds, and that somehow it comforted her. Stark didn't know how to answer all of the questions, and felt almost immediately, her heart ease when her cell phone started ringing. She looked quickly at her cell phone, seeing the contact name “Uncle Rhodey”, without thinking twice, she answers.

"Hello?" Her words came out almost in a whisper, and she felt relief when James Rhodes started talking to her.

"What's up, little princess?" The group of friends she had around her were practically silent, and all she could hear on the bus was the other students talking to each other.

"He's on the ship, isn't he?" Elisabeth knew the answer to that question, she understood that everyone needed to act quickly to stop the threat, including her.

"According to Pepper, he is". The girl hears this, and closes her eyes in agreement, as if she is trying to assimilate it yet, the chances of Peter being on the ship with him were enormous. "And that's why I need you, there's something coming, and we don't have enough people to fight it".

"Which is?" She opens her eyes again, seeing Harry looking worried, he even holds her hand, and she realizes that her friends had practically the same expression as Osborn.

"A big guy named Thanos, he's after some Stones". Stones? Stark had so many questions in his head, who was Thanos? What did he want? And what were these Stones he was looking for? “Listen, I need you here, where are you? Do you need me to pick you up?”

"On a bus on the Queensboro Bridge, where do I need to go?" From the expression that Harry had now on his face, he knew that she wouldn’t be with them, and quickly, the boy was already getting up to talk to the teacher, being followed by MJ and Ned.

"Do you have your suit with you?" She quickly says yes. "Perfect, meet me at the Avengers headquarters, I'll explain everything here".

Ignoring Flash's various questions regarding what was going on, Elisabeth gets up, passing Harry and MJ, looking at the teacher. He seemed nervous, but he wasn't sure how to deal with the situation, letting one of his students out was practically irresponsible, all the students on the bus were under his supervision, not that Peter Parker cared about this, but looking at situation, he knew that the girl wouldn’t be useful here, and wherever the Avengers were, it would be the best place for her to be.

That was her cue, and she quickly went out of the bus, feeling every single eye of each classmate on her back. She passed a few cars, until she found the perfect takeoff point without damaging nobody’s property. Her suit had the same technology as her father's suits, Lisa had designed it herself, but always with some adjustments from Tony, the nanotechnology used in both suits was put on their bodies succinctly, while Tony's armor fit in his body according to the clothes he wore, hers fit inside a nanotechnological bracelet, where the armor stayed when she wasn’t wearing it, and with just a touch, the armor fit on her body.

With the armor on her body, she starts to take off, going to the meeting point. Passing through Manhattan made her aware of the damage done by the invaders, the records of her father's armor, indicated that Friday had evacuated the streets until 43, and notified the rescuers in the case of injured civilians. The streets were practically impassable, cars abandoned in practically the entire region of attack, and some places destroyed, probably due to the fighting that happened there.

Without thinking too much, Lisa accelerates the flight, needed to get to the Avengers headquarters right away, and find out how she could help. She took advantage of the flight to check some things about her father and Peter, Tony had activated the sending of 17: A, a new suit for Peter that the two had work together, with nanotechnology the suit would give an upgrade in everything that the old uniform of Peter had, including a way to go after his father in space, both his suit and Tony's were far from being traceable, and that worried her a lot.

Arriving at the base, she didn’t need to be received by anyone, her costume had already retracted into the bracelet, and she walked quickly through the halls of the place, meeting James in one of the meeting rooms, having a conference with the secretary Ross. Elisabeth remained silent, waiting for Rhodey to finish that conversation, she didn't know what was going on, but from what she heard from the conversation, Vision hadn’t yet been found, which only opened more questions in her head, why were they after Vision?

"Still no word from Vision?"

"Satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh". Rhodey sends a smile towards her, being returned, she leans against a wall near the door that she had entered, crossing her arms.

"On a stolen Quinjet with four of the world’s most wanted criminals”. That's when she realized, Steve and Natasha were involved in this, she was sure Wanda was with Vision, just as Sam would be with Steve wherever he wanted him to go. If the situation was a case of life and death for the four to reveal their location to the world, it meant that it was imminent danger, just as Ultron was to Sokovia.

"You know they're only criminals because you’ve chosen to call them that, right, sir?" She looks back at Rhodes.

"My God, Rhodes". Rhodes had a serious look; it was the kind of look she only got when she did something that no one would approve. "Your talent for horseshit rivals my own”.

"If it weren't for those Accords, Vision would’ve been right here”. She looks at the hologram, seeing Ross quickly approach James.

"I remember your signature on those papers, Colonel".

"That’s right". Rhodes nods. "And I’m pretty sure I’ve paid for that".

"You have second thoughts?"

"Not anymore". The noise of the door; indicates that new people arrived at the place, she approaches Rhodes, seeing Steve, Natasha, Wanda and Sam, who was helping Vision to walk, her heart squeezes, she hadn’t seen the four in a long time.

"Mr. Secretary". Steve speaks, stopping at the door, looking at the three, Elisabeth can't help but smile at him.

"You got some nerve". The secretary walks again, facing Rogers. "I’ll give you that".

"You could use some of that right now". Natasha replies, the woman is completely different from what Elisabeth remembered, her hair was short at the shoulders and blond, as if she had changed to be easier to not be recognized.

"The world’s on fire". The secretary looks back at Steve. "And you think, all is forgiven?"

"I'm not looking for forgiveness." Steve speaks quickly. “And I'm way past asking for permission. Earth just lost her best defender. So we’re here to fight”. Rogers gets closer to the hologram. "And if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you, too".

"Arrest them". The secretary says, turning his gaze to Rhodes, that he does not lose his serious expression.

"All over it". Without thinking twice, Rhodes disconnects the communication with the secretary, making the holograms disappear. "That’s a court-martial". Elisabeth smiles at the comment, making James smile too. "It's great to see you, Cap". The two shake hands, while the others enter the room smiling.

"You too, Rhodey." Elisabeth quickly hugs Steve, while Natasha hugs Rhodes, and then quickly hugs Lisa.

"You grew up so much, what did two years did to you?" Natasha comments, staring at the girl, while Steve smiles and agrees, the little reunion is short-lived when Rhodes speaks again.

"Well... You guys really look like crap". Lisa turns her gaze to the other three, Wanda looked a little shaken, Sam had the same expression he always had in situations like this and Vision had a serious wound in his stomach. "Must’ve been a rough couple of years".

"Yeah, well, hotels weren't exactly five star". Sam says, giving a big smile.

"Uh, I think you look great". Another voice appears, and almost instantly, everyone turns around, seeing the new presence in the room. "Uh… heh… Yeah, I'm back”. Bruce Banner had a nervous smile, the Hulk had stolen a ship two years ago and fled far away, and now, he was back.

"Hi, Bruce". Natasha says, making the man practically speechless, the two looked at each other as if nothing else was important, while the rest of the room just watched the two.

"Nat".

"This is awkward”. Sam whispers, making everyone look at him, and then everyone started moving, going to another room, where they finally discuss what to do next. Elisabeth went to the other room with Natasha and Steve, and the two were telling about how much they had lost from her growth in the past two years, the two have been with her since the attack in 2012, where her father had become friends with the other Avengers, everything changed with the Sokovia Accords.

"So, we gotta assume they’re coming back, right?" Elisabeth turns her attention to Rhodes, who was facing a hologram of the two aliens who called themselves Children of Thanos, who ambushed Wanda and Vision.

"And they can clearly find us." Wanda comments, looking at everyone, Bruce walked around the room, and seemed to be the one who knew most about Thanos.

"We need all hands on deck". Bruce says aloud, looking at Natasha. "Where's Clint?"

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal." Bruce nods his head. "It was too tough for the families, they’re on house arrest".

"Who's Scott?" Bruce asks.

"Ant-Man". Steve responds, making Bruce turn around in confusion.

"There’s an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Elisabeth nods, making Bruce wince. “Okay, look... Thanos has the biggest army in the universe... And he is not gonna stop until he...” He pauses, as if trying to ease the situation. “He gets… Vision’s Stone”.

"Well then, we have to protect it". Elisabeth speaks, getting up from the chair.

"No, we have to destroy it". Vision joins the conversation, making everyone look at him, who has a calm expression on his face. “I’ve been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature”. Everyone was silent, just watching him, as he approached Wanda. "But also, its composition. I think that if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps… Its molecular integrity could fail".

"And you, with it". Wanda looks at him calmly, everyone had understood what Vision was suggesting, destroying the Stone meant that Thanos wouldn’t be able to catch her. "We’re not having this conversation”.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it”.

"That’s too high a price”. Vision holds his partner's head gently, staring at her.

"Only you have the power to pay it". Without saying anything else, Wanda moves away from his touch, walking away. "Thanos threatens half the Universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him". Vision alert everyone, nobody seemed interested in following that plan.

"But it should". Steve speaks. "We don’t trade lives, Vision".

"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people". Vision approaches Rogers, making him turn completely towards him. "Tell me, why is this any different?"

"Because you might have a choice”. Elisabeth lets go, facing Bruce.

"Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays". Vision is silent. “J.A.R.V.I.S., Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another”.

“You’re saying Vision isn’t just the stone?” Wanda asks.

"We are saying that if we take out the stone..." Elisabeth turns to Wanda, gesturing with her hands. “There’s still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts”.

"Can we do that?" Natasha asks, facing the two.

"Not us. Not here". Bruce replies, looking at Lisa, the two knew that alone, neither of them were capable of that nor they didn’t have none of the resource needed.

"You better find someone, and somewhere fast". Rhodes speaks quickly. "Ross isn’t exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back”.

"I know somewhere". Steve concludes, giving everyone a smile.

☼

"You alright? That was close". Tony lets go, helping Stephen pull himself together. They had controlled the ship to land on Titan, ready for a surprise attack on Thanos. "I owe you one".

"Let me say…” The two turned to Peter, who was hanging upside down on one of his webs. "If aliens wind up implanting eggs in my chest or something, and I eat one of you, I’m sorry”.

"I don’t wanna hear another single pop culture out of you for the rest of the trip. You understand?" Tony says quickly.

"I’m trying to say that… Something is coming". Peter concludes, making Stephen and Tony look at him crookedly without understanding, and that's when a bomb is dropped between the two adults, making the three fly with the impact.

"THANOS!"

Everything happened very fast, the three attackers entered quickly where the ship had landed. Attacking without thinking twice, the same man who had screamed attacked Stranger, who quickly defended himself with magic, and then immediately sent his cloak to disable him. Tony fought with another man, who were wearing what appeared to be boots with thrusters, two guns in his hands and a strange mask, in a blow to fight back, the attacker attached a magnetic device to his armor, causing it to be pulled onto the beam of nearest metal. The first thing that Peter manages to focus his vision on, is a woman with antennae, which makes him move away as quickly as possible.

"DON’T PUT YOUR EGGS ON ME!" He quickly gets up, throwing webs in her direction, holding it in place, then Peter is hit by the same man who fought Tony earlier.

"Stay down, clown". The man starts to shoot, making Peter move quickly upwards, trying to avoid the shots, the boy commands the armor to open the new feature, the four mechanical arms attached to his back, helping him move faster, an attempt who was thwarted by the man, who threw a device towards him, who dispersed itself on two electric cords that he tied around his waist, stopping him.

"Die, blanket of death!" Tony quickly detached himself from the beam and put his foot on the attacker's chest that had been trapped by Stranger's cloak, he now looked at Tony, while he pointed one hand at him, ready to shoot.

"Alright, everybody, stay where you are…" The man who arrested Tony on the beam screams was holding Peter hostage, aiming the gun at his head. "Chill the F out". Strange had a spell ready, and hoped he didn't have to use it, the man holding Peter tightens something on his helmet, revealing his face, his weapon turns to Tony. "I'm gonna ask you this one time. Where's Gamora?"

"Yeah, I’ll do you one better”. Tony's helmet retracts showing his face, while he aims at the fallen man and the man who had Peter. "Who’s Gamora?"

"I’ll do you one better". The man on the floor says. "Why is Gamora?"

"Tell me where the girl is, or I swear to you, I’m gonna Fench-fry this little freak". The other threatens again by pressing the gun further on Peter's head.

"Let’s do it!" Tony shapes a large nanotechnology weapon, aiming at his partner lying on the floor. “You shoot my guy, I blast him. LET’S GO!"

“Do it, Quill! I can take it". The man on the floor screams, revealing the name of the man aiming the gun at Parker.

"No, he can't take it!" The alien that Peter had webbed screams after Quill.

"She's right." Strange speaks. "You can’t ".

"Oh yeah? You don’t wanna tell me where she is?” Quill speaks again. "That’s fine. I’ll kill all three of you and beat it out of Thanos myself”. Quill turns his gaze to Peter, tightening his grip on the gun. "Starting with you".

“Wait, what. Thanos?” Stephen asks looking at Quill. “Alright, let me ask you this one time: What master do you serve?”

"What master do I serve?" Quill repeats looking confused. "What am I supposed to say? ‘Jesus’?” Tony takes a deep breath, looking at Strange, rolling his eyes as he turns to Quill.

"You’re from Earth?"

"I’m not from Earth, I'm from Missouri". Quill responds, staring at Stark.

"Yeah, that’s on Earth, dip-shit". Tony removes his foot from the man and returns his armor to normal. "What are you hassling us for?"

"So, you're not with Thanos?" Peter asks slowly.

"With Thanos?!" Quill repeats, facing Tony. “No, I’m here to kill Thanos! He took my girl-” Quill stops aiming the gun at Peter. "Wait, who are you?" Peter follows the example of the other two, and removes his helmet, revealing his face.

"We’re the Avengers, man". Quill takes his arm from Peter's neck, moving away.

"You’re the ones Thor told us about!" The woman speaks again, making Tony look at Quill.

"You know Thor?"

"Yeah. Tall guy, not that good-looking, needed saving”. Peter looks at Quill with a confused expression.

"Where is he now?" Strange asks.

"He went to a planet called Nidavellir, with two of our teammates". Quill speaks, approaching Tony and Stephen. "We split up, we went to Knowhere to retrieve the Reality Stone, but by the time we got there, Thanos had already taken it, well, the Reality one and two more".

"Excellent". Tony says quickly, starting to get out of the ship's rubble. "And who are you?"

"We are the Guardians". The woman speaks quickly, the other partner had helped her with Peter's webs, and soon everyone was outside.

"I am Quill, Star Lord, this is Mantis and Drax". Tony nods, Peter was beside him, and Strange was analyzing things. "We are a team, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thanos took Gamora, and Rocket and Groot are with Thor."

"Tony, Peter and Strange". Tony speaks quickly, pointing to each one. Quill starts to fiddle with a device, and soon starts talking again.

"The heck happened to this planet?" Everyone was watching him. “It’s eight degrees off its axis. Gravitational pull is all over the place”.

"Yeah, we got one advantage." Tony approaches Quill, leaving Peter to watch Mantis, who randomly jumped where she was. "He’s coming to us". Tony turns to the others. “We’ll use it. Alright, I have a plan. Or at least the begginnings of one”. Quill turns to him. "It's pretty simple. We draw him in, pin him down, get what we need. Definitely don’t wanna dance with this guy. We just want the gauntlet”. Drax yawns, making Tony turn to him without patience. “Are you yawning? In the middle of this, while I’m breaking it down? Huh? Did you hear what I said?”

"I stopped listening after you said, we need a plan". Tony takes a deep breath, it seemed that the three were seven times more difficult than his daughter.

"Okay, Mr. Clean is on his own page". Tony turns to Quill.

“See, ‘not winging it’ isn’t really what they do”. Quill informs Tony and Peter.

"Uh, what exactly is it that they do?" Parker asks, looking at Quill.

"Kick names, take ass". Mantis replies.

"Yeah, that's right". Drax agrees, making Tony roll his eyes in silence, thinking about what they have in hand.

"Alright, just get over here, please". Quill looks at Tony confused. "Mr. Lord, can you get your folks to circle up?"

"‘Mr. Lord’. Star Lord is fine”. With a quick nod, Drax and Mantis join the three at the circle.

"We gotta coalesce". Tony crosses his arms. "‘Cause if all we come at him with is a plucky attitude…”

"Dude, don't call us plucky". Quill speaks, rolling his eyes. “We don't know what it means. Alright, we’re optimistic, yes. I liked your plan. Except it sucks, so let me do the plan, and that way it might be really good”.

“Tell him about the dance-off to save the universe”. Drax says, making Tony take a deep breath, where had they gone?

"What dance-off?" Tony asks.

"It’s not a… It’s not… It’s nothing". Quill responds quickly.

"Like the Footloose, the movie?" Peter asks, making Quill smile.

"Exactly like Footloose". Parker looks at him confused. "Is it still the greatest movie in history?"

"It never was". Peter responds quickly, getting quiet again.

"Don’t encourage this, alright?" Tony tells Peter, who quickly agrees. "We’re getting no help from Flash Gordon here". Tony approaches Peter, standing beside him.

“Flash Gordon? By the way, that’s a compliment". The two turn to Quill, who was approaching them. "Don't forget, I'm half human. So that 50% of me that’s stupid..." Tony nods. "That’s 100% you".

"Your math is blowing my mind". Tony comments, turning his gaze to the floor.

"Excuse me, but…" Mantis says softly, making everyone look at her, and consequently at Strange. "Does your friend often do that?" Tony looks nervously in his direction, the man was doing something with the Time Stone, but it didn't seem to be doing him any good, his head was moving all over the place and the man was floating, definitely not normal.

"Strange, we alright?" He didn't seem to hear, so Tony approached slowly, and soon the man woke up from what he was doing, falling to the ground, Tony holding the same, who was breathing quickly. "You’re back". The others approached the two with concerned looks. "You’re alright".

"Hey, what was that?" Peter asks nervously.

"I went forward in time to view alternative futures." Strange was speaking with difficulty, still trying to breathe properly. "To see all the possible outcomes of the coming conflict".

"How many did you see?" Quill asks.

"14,000,605".

"How many did we win?" Tony asks worriedly.

"One".

☼

When the Quinjet landed in Wakanda, Elisabeth didn’t know what to expect. Steve and Natasha left first, and it was possible to see that the new king of Wakanda was already there and accompanied by some of his soldiers. She never imagined that she would visit Wakanda, and if she ever did, it would be under better circumstances. Lisa was walking beside Rhodes and Banner, and she could hear when the scientist asked if they should bow, she could practically hear the smile when Rhodey said they should, because T’Challa was a king.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." Steve speaks looking at the king, who just smiles, shaking his hand, is when Bruce starts to kneel, earning him a disapproving look.

"What are you doing?" Elisabeth whispers as she joins Rhodes, who keeps a smile on his face.

"Uh, we don't do that here”. Bruce gives an embarrassed smile, exchanging looks with his partner beside him. "So how big of an assault can we expect?" T’Challa speaks, starting to walk with the other Wakandians, being followed by the team.

"Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault". Banner speaks, approaching Rogers, who just looks at him with a weak smile, Bruce was gone for two years, but it seemed that he had never lived on Earth, lost all customs from there.

"How we looking?" Natasha asks, looking at the girl who was in the middle of Steve and her.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." Elisabeth's eyes followed Wanda and Vision being guided by two guards, but she soon gained something new to look at, coming towards the group, James Barnes approached with a smile.

"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man". Steve smiles widely, hugging his friend.

"How you been, Bucky?"

"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world". Bucky responds, and then T’Challa guides them to where Vision had been taken for analysis, that’s where the team met Shuri, the king’s sister. Bruce and Elisabeth offered to help her, since Bruce had helped with the creation of Vision, and Elisabeth read just about everything her father had about him, and the knowledge needed to be able to help. Banner was impressed with how smart the girl got with each passing day, he couldn't wait any less, the girl was a Stark.

"Whoa, the structure is polymorphic". Shuri says after evaluating the structure of the Stone.

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially". Bruce informs, receiving a curious look from Shuri.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Vision looks at Bruce curiously, Banner just looks at her without knowing what to say and takes a deep breath.

"Because… We didn’t think of it"

"I’m sure you did your best". Shuri says with a huge smile on his face, eliciting a weak laugh from Elisabeth.

"Can you do it?" Wanda asks.

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here”. Shuri stares at the three near the table, looking back at Vision. "One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures". She looks back at the king. "It will take time, brother".

"How long?" Steve asks, they didn't know how much time they would have for this to work, they didn't know how long they would have before Thanos attacked again, they needed to do it right.

"As long as you can give me". Suddenly, the technology on Okoye's wrist starts to fire, indicating that something was not right around Wakanda.

"Something’s entered the atmosphere." Elisabeth joins the others, approaching the window of the room, seeing what had entered, several ships falling around the land of Wakanda, they didn’t have much time.

"It's too late". Vision speaks, having difficulty sitting. "We need to destroy the stone now".

"Vision, get your ass back to the table". Natasha speaks, leaving the room.

"We will hold them off". T'Challa speaks, starting to walk around the room, being followed by the guards, Steve turns his gaze to Wanda, taking a deep breath.

"Wanda, as soon as that stone’s out of his head... You blow it to hell".

"I will".

“Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses procedures”. The king turns to Steve. "And get this man a shield." Everyone started to leave the room, except for the one who would be responsible for the stone, Stark and Banner.

"Your green friend isn’t going to join the battle, is he?" Banner shakes his head. "Maybe he doesn't have to..." Bruce looks at her confused, and Lisa instructs him to follow her. Elisabeth quickly informs her what she needed to do for the king, and it gives her enough space to call for the armor she needed.

The Veronica suit was worn when the Hulk lost control during one of Ultron's attacks, and it was time for her to be used again. Elisabeth quickly accessed the satellites, and waited for the King of Wakanda's cue, where he would allow a piece of the dome to open up for the armor to pass, and it would be in this way that Bruce Banner would join the battle, not with the Hulk, but with a Hulkbuster.

☼

"Oh, yeah". Strange says when he sees Thanos leaving the portal created by the Space Stone, the plan was set, ambush Thanos and take his gauntlet out, and Strange would follow the plan, making the enemy think that only he would face him. "You’re much more of a Thanos."

"I take it the Maw is dead". Thanos replies, noting that his partner wasn’t there with the stone, but rather, the stone keeper himself, who just nods. "This day extracts a heavy toll. Still, he accomplished his mission". Thanos starts to approach the stairs that Strange was sitting on.

"You may regret that". Stephen warns. “He brought you face-to-face with the Master of Mystic Arts”.

"And where do you think he brought you?" Thanos continues to approach.

"Let me guess. Your home?" Thanos stops at the beginning of the stairs.

"It was". With a quick movement, his hand closes, and the Reality Gem begins to shine, and soon all around him is transformed, showing what that planet once was. “And it was beautiful. Titan was like most planets. Too many mouths, and not enough food to go around. And when we faced extinction, I offered a solution”.

"Genocide". Strange completes, watching Thanos' expressions.

“But at random, dispassionate, fair to rich and poor alike”. Thanos turns his gaze to Doctor Strange. “They called me a madman. And what I predicted came to pass”. He stops using the Reality Stone, showing the destroyed planet.

"Congratulations. You’re a prophet".

"I’m a survivor".

"Who wants to murder trillions".

"With all six stones, I could simply snap my fingers…" With his free hand, Thanos snaps his fingers, demonstrating how easy it would be. “And they would all cease to exist. I call that mercy”.

"And then what?" Strange gets up, starting to approach.

"I finally rest..." Thanos takes a deep breath. “And watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require strongest wills”.

"I think you’ll find our will equal to yours." Strange moves his hands quickly, summoning his Mandalas, preparing for the fight.

"Ours?" Thanos looks up, seeing the piece of stone that was coming at high speed towards him, with a quick movement, he closes the hand of the gauntlet, using the Power Stone to defend himself.

"Piece of cake, Quill". Tony speaks, dropping the stone and passing the Starlord, who just rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off."

Quill activates his helmet, starting to fly. Thanos soon breaks the stone dropped on himself, and the team could see when the purple stone on the gauntlet stopped glowing and the red one took over, causing the stone's debris to turn into bats and attack Stark. Peter throws a web under Thanos eyes, and quickly kicks him, while Drax stabs one of his legs, and soon starts attacking his upper part, followed by Strange, who emerged from a portal.

With difficulty, Thanos throws Drax away, holding the sword created by Strange. He finally takes the web out of his eyes, staring at Strange, in a quick stroke, he breaks the spell of the sword, and kicks Strange away, which resists the blow, and already does another spell to fight back. An attack from behind made by Quill, hits Thanos back, who tries to fight back, but fails because Star Lord and Doctor Strange coordinate an attack together, which results in Quill depositing a shock bomb on Thanos back, which disoriented by the shock suffered. Strange quickly opens a portal and Quill leaps out of it.

"Do not let him close his fist". Strange orders to his cloak, which quickly grips the hand with the gauntlet, leaving Thanos trying to get it out of his fist.

"Magic!" A new portal opens behind Thanos, and Peter passes him by punching him in the face, and then entering another portal. "More magic!” Again, and Thanos seemed to be paying attention to the coordinated attack. "Magic with a kick!" Peter yells through another portal. "Magic with a--" Thanos let himself be hit one last time, and when the portal opened again, he grabbed Peter by the neck, hitting the boy on the floor.

"Insect!”

With a quick move, he throws Peter against Strange, knocking them both down, and that's when he finally rips the cloak off his wrist, only to be met with an Iron Man missile attack. Thanos closes his hand, using the Space and Power Stones, to suck the energy from the explosions and turn them against Tony, who is hit and thrown away. Peter hits the gauntlet with a web, pulling his fist down, Thanos soon breaks the web, tearing what is left of the gauntlet, without being able to attack back, a small ship is thrown against Thanos, revealing a new fighter.

"Well, well". Thanos lets go, staring at the woman he knew very well.

"You should have killed me!"

"It would’ve been a waste of parts!" The woman follows a series of attacks, which didn’t appear to affect Thanos.

"Where's Gamora?!"

With a kick, Thanos tosses it away, being met by another attack by Strange, several magical threads trying to pull the gauntlet, something Thanos tried to loosen with his other hand, but was kicked in the leg by Drax, even so, he reacted to that, and started pulling the magic threads, pulling Strange close. Quill used a device to pull Thanos hand, making him unable to pull anymore, while Peter held him with one of his webs.

Tony takes the place of the wires, and begins to pull the gauntlet, under Thanos head, Strange opens a portal, through which Mantis passes and sits with his legs around Thanos neck, quickly placing his hands on his head. From there, everyone collaborated to hold Thanos. Mantis held him still, controlling his mind, while Drax held his legs, Peter and Strange his other hand and Tony was still trying to pull the gauntlet off.

"Is he under? Don’t let up" Tony says, analyzing the situation.

"Be quick. He is very strong". Mantis informs with difficulty, Tony takes a deep breath, looking at Peter.

“Parker, help! Get over here". Peter quickly runs to his side, holding the gauntlet. “She can't hold him much longer. Let's go!" The two begin to pull, while Quill lands in front of everyone.

"You need to open your fingers to take it out." Peter speaks by pulling hard on the gauntlet.

"I thought you’d be harder to catch." Quill looks at Stark. “For the record, this is my plan”. Quill looks back at Thanos, approaching. “Not so strong now, huh? Where's Gamora?”

"My Gamora…?" Thanos speaks with difficulty, as if he is in pain.

"No, bull-shit". Quill speaks quickly, facing the other angrily. "Where is she?"

"He is in anguish." Mantis informs.

"Good". Quill speaks, facing Thanos, but Mantis' expression changes.

"He… He mourns”.

"What does this monster have to mourn?" Drax asks.

"Gamora". The woman who had joined the fight later says, she was standing behind Quill, and looking at Thanos angrily.

"What?" Quill turns to the woman, taking a deep breath.

"He took her to Vormir”. The woman speaks slowly. "He came back with the Soul Stone, but she didn't."

"Okay, Quill..." Tony retracts his helmet, looking directly at the man, everyone there seems to understand, and all they didn't need was to miss this opportunity. “You gotta cool it right now, you understand?" Quill seems to ignore the same, turning his gaze to Thanos. "Don’t, don’t engage, we’ve almost got this off!” Tony screams, seeing that it would be useless to keep trying to talk, then pull the handle back with all the strength he has.

"TELL ME SHE’S LYING!" Quill screams. “Asshole! Tell me you didn't do that!”

"I… had… to". Thanos speaks with difficulty, making Quill take a deep breath.

"No, you didn't." Quill speaks slowly. "No, you didn't." He repeats again, before placing a punch in Thanos's face, moving the structure they had set up to hold him. "NO, YOU DIDN'T!" He punches one more, feeling the anger seep through his body, and before he can deliver more, Tony takes his hand, holding him back.

"QUILL!" His helmet comes back, and he looks at Quill, holding the man. “Hey, stop! STOP!"

“It's coming! I got it!" Peter announces, but before he can take it out, Thanos awakens, headbutting Mantis, and pulling the gauntlet back on quickly, he holds one of Mantis' legs and throws it away. "Oh, God..." Before jumping quickly and holding her against his body, using the mechanical arms to fall to the floor without getting hurt.

Thanos kicks Drax forward, hitting Quill and the woman. He pulls the wire that Strange was holding, throwing it away too, Tony tries to attack him, but Thanos retaliates with a punch, pushing him away. Quill, Drax and the woman start to get up and run, but using the Power Stone, Thanos knocks them down again. Tony molds one of his armor's arms into a giant sword, and tries to attack again, which doesn't seem to affect the man, who just defends himself and throws Tony away again.

From where Tony lands, he could see Thanos wearing another of the Stones, to pull a moon from the sky, he tries to fly when he sees the huge stone approaching, but he cannot escape and ends up trapped under it. The other pieces of the moon still fell under Titan, and Peter swung from web to web saving the companions from the remnants of the moon, with the impact of the larger stone, all who were temporarily fallen flew away.

"I got you, and you!" Peter tried to remain calm, he knew the plan had gone wrong, and he feared what would happen next, but he tried to remain calm, he needed to make sure that everyone was well and safe from the rest of Thanos's attack. "Sorry I can’t remember anybody's name!"

While Peter was sure he had saved everyone and placed them close to where he had left Mantis, he could see Strange fighting Thanos, all of Doctor Strange's movements were precisely calculated, and Thanos didn't seem to be affected by any of that, just dodged and remained trying to attack. Peter continued to follow their struggle and saw Strange perform a doubling spell. Thanos didn't seem to be affected, he just wore a combination of Jewels and found the real one, eliminating the copies, using the stones again he pulled Strange close to him, holding his neck.

"You’re full of tricks, wizard." Peter sees Thanos pulling Strange's eye necklace, seeing him despair. "Yet you never once used greatest weapon”. Peter approached, watching Thanos crush the necklace. "A fake". Thanos tosses Strange away, and Parker was about to act when he saw a part of Tony's armor cling to the gauntlet's hand, preventing him from closing his hand again.

"You throw another moon at me..." Tony says after landing near Thanos. "And I'm going to lose it."

"Stark".

"You know me?" Tony asks nervously, the man in front of him was his nightmare for years, and he was finally face-to-face with him.

"I do". Thanos says calm. "You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge".

"My only curse is you."

Peter sees Tony resume the attack, and although it started well, it didn’t end gloriously for Tony. He managed to fight back in the best way he could, and even managed to make a bleeding wound on Thanos, something that the man mocked Tony for having managed to do, the fight continued, and it was Thanos's turn to fight back, which ended up with Stark being stabbed with a piece of his own armor.

"You have my respect, Stark". Thanos says, holding Tony's head, who held the spot where the armor was tucked. "When I'm done, half of humanity will still be alive." Thanos releases his head, moving away. "I hope they remember you." Without saying anything else, Thanos closes his hand, ready to use the four Jewels.

"Stop!" Strange speaks, drawing Thanos's attention. "Spare his life..." Tony turns his gaze to Stephen, not believing what he heard. "And I will give you the stone."

"No tricks". Stephen nods in agreement, and Thanos changes the target of the stones, ready to end Strange if he were lying.

"Don’t". Tony speaks with difficulty, something that Strange ignores, since he reveals the stone with his hands and hands it to Thanos, seeing the same quickly put it on the gauntlet.

"Only one to go". Quill last tried to attack Thanos, but he creates a portal with the Space Stone and disappears from there. Leaving everyone there, aimlessly.

"Did we lose?" Quill asks, taking a deep breath, Tony uses a last resort of the armor, to stop the blood from his abdomen.

"Why would you do that?" Tony asks, staring at Strange.

"We’re in the Endgame now."

☼

Things weren’t going well, not even far. Elisabeth fought with everything she had, she had already fallen and stood up several times, and that didn't seem to be enough for her. She saw when Thor and two other partners joined the battle, and she saw when Wanda started to fight too, she saw Vision being attacked and heard Banner's call about Vision. She flew as fast as she could, and saw Bruce pull the largest of the ‘Children of Thanos' away from the Vision, leaving the other, she tried to defend Vision, fought the alien, and was thrown away after delivering a few blows, the alien didn't seem affected and just attacked Vision once again.

"I thought you were formidable, machine". Elisabeth gets up, checking the damage to the armor, there were many, but she couldn't think about it now. "But you’re dying, like any man". She ran towards the alien, pushing him away from Vision, who just stayed on the ground, trying to recover from another blow, so she saw Steve running towards her, making a coordinated attack with her.

"GET OUTTTA HERE!" Steve yells towards the Vision, who just looks at him taking a deep breath. "GO!"

The attack of the two continued, until the alien threw Steve away, and Elisabeth was left alone to fight, which didn’t end very well, since he hit a part of her leg, causing her to fall, and the alien grab her neck with his hand. Steve tried to focus his eyes on her, and help Elisabeth, but it wasn’t necessary when he saw Vision with the enemy's spear attack the alien, taking him off Lisa and finally killing him. Vision was weak, so as soon as the attack ended, he fell to his knees next to Elisabeth, who was trying to recover her breath, Steve ran close to the two, helping Vision to get up.

"I thought I told you to go." Steve says looking at him, that he just smiles weakly and replies.

"We don't trade lives, Captain." Elisabeth remained with Vision until Wanda arrived, when the woman ran close to him, Lisa got up and went towards Steve.

"How are things going for the others?" She asks worriedly, her helmet retracts with the rest of the suit and Steve can see her tired face, her blond hair was stuck in a bun made at the last minute, and her face had several bleeding bruises, he couldn't even imagine how the rest of her body was, it was not the place he wanted her to be, and he couldn’t think how much Tony wouldn't want her to be there too.

"Everyone is holding on as they can." Elisabeth nods, taking a deep breath. "Are you okay?" Before she could respond, Vision let out an agonized cry of pain, causing the two to turn to Wanda and Vision.

"What?" Wanda asks. "What is it?"

"He’s here". Stark turns his gaze to Steve, putting her suit back on and standing next to him, Rogers puts his hand on the communicator to his ear and starts talking.

"Everyone, on my position". If what Vision said was right, Thanos had finally arrived, and none of them were in any shape to face him alone. "We have incoming". Everyone approached quickly, and watched the blue-colored portal open, and a large man emerged from it.

"Cap". Bruce says softly. "That’s him".

"Eyes up." Captain pulls his shield, starting to walk towards Thanos. "Stay sharp".

Elisabeth saw when Bruce tried to attack him, and all Thanos had to do was use one of the stones and pin the man into a wall. She saw him use another stone to send Steve away, she saw him take down T’Challa and she saw him turn Sam’s wings into nothing. She tried to attack him too, but like the others, she couldn't even get close, her body was tired, and she had bruises over most of her body, her heart was pounding, and she felt like everyone had failed.

All that was left of everyone there was to see Wanda fight. Watching her kill the love of her life and at the same time preventing Thanos from getting close, she fought, and fought and in the end, the Mind Stone was destroyed, as was Vision, who was now dead. Elisabeth tried to get up, like the others, Thanos approached Wanda and the corpse of Vision, and started talking to the woman.

"I understand, my child". Wanda looked at Vision, she cried, and she didn't have the strength to fight him again. "Better than anyone".

"You could never." From where Elisabeth was, she could see Thanos put his hand on Wanda's head, and take a deep breath.

"Today, I lost more than you can know". He gets up looking at the Vision. "But now is no time to mourn". He starts to get closer. "Now, is no time at all." Unable to react, Thanos uses one of the stones, and as if by magic, Vision who had died within seconds, was alive now.

"NO!"

Wanda tries to attack him, but he just throws her away, pulling Vision by the neck, he pulls the jewel off his head, and throws it to the side as if it is nothing. And finally, he has the last stone, Elisabeth looks desperately towards Steve, who seemed mesmerized by what had just happened, thunder strikes Thanos, and Thor announces his arrival to the titan, throwing his axe in his direction, hitting his chest. Thor approaches, holding his head.

"I told you..." He holds the ax head. "You’d die for that!" With that Thor squeezes the axe across his chest, making Thanos scream.

"You should have..." Thanos starts with difficulty. "You should have gone for the head." Thor looked at him confused, but soon realized what he meant, quickly Thanos snapped his fingers with the gauntlet, making Thor scream. The stones shone brightly, and when Thor finally saw it, the gauntlet was destroyed, burned, as was Thanos's arm.

"What’d you do?" Thor asks, looking at Thanos. "WHAT’D YOU DO?" Without saying anything else, Thanos uses the stones as a way to escape Thor’s grip.

"Where’d he go?" Steve asks approaching Thor. "Thor?" Steve catches your eye. "Where’d he go?"

"Steve?" Rogers quickly turns to the source of the voice, Bucky approached him, but something was wrong, his body were disappearing, as if he were disintegrating, his legs disappeared causing him to fall to the ground, but before his body hit the ground, he had turned to dust, gone. Steve approaches, playing in the same place where Bucky disappeared, he exchanges glances with Thor, who seemed shaken and without understanding.

Soon, many around Wakanda started to disappear. Warriors who fought against Thanos's army had the same fate as Bucky, Thanos got what he wanted, it was happening all over the world, half of humanity erased. Steve took a deep breath, and watched one by one, his partners disappear, T’Challa disappeared right after, the tree that came with Thor, Groot, Wanda, Sam, and finally, the girl he considered as a daughter, Elisabeth.

She felt nothing, it seemed that her body was no longer in her control. She remembers looking at Steve with a weak smile, before feeling her legs gone and fall to the ground, Steve ran towards him, being followed by Thor, he hugged her, and assured her that things would be fine, that she would be fine. He will never forget her last words, "Tell Dad and Peter that I'm sorry". And as if it were nothing, they were left there, the survivors of Thanos's snap.

☼

On Titan, Peter helped Tony to his feet. They had lost the fight, lost everything, nothing could fix things now, Strange assured them that was the only way to fix things, Tony didn't think so. All Tony thought about was taking Peter home, he wanted to go home, meet Pepper and Elisabeth, have another normal day with them, it was all he wanted, but things were not going as planned.

"Something's happening." Mantis says, and then, her body begins to disintegrate, the woman disappears, and all that is left of her is ashes, dust. They turned to Drax, and the same thing was happening to him.

"Quill?" Quill turns to Tony, and somehow, Stark knew, it was happening to him too.

"Steady, Quill".

"Aw, man". It was Quill's last words, before the same thing happened to him.

"Tony". Stark turns to Stephen, who is sitting on the floor, and looks at him seriously. "There was no other way". And then the same thing happens to him, Tony takes a deep breath, it couldn't be happening.

"Mr. Stark?" And Tony realized, the fear on Peter's face, realized that it was happening to him too. "I don't feel so good…"

"You’re all right?” Tony says calmly, and Peter quickly approaches him.

"I don’t know what’s-- I don't know what’s happening…” Peter stumbles, and Tony quickly takes him in his arms, Parker was crying, and Tony didn't know what to do. "I don’t wanna go. I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark, please". Peter kept repeating this, and Tony bent down with the boy in his arms, not knowing what to say or do, Tony laid him on the floor, and Peter looked at him. "She was right, I should’ve stayed on the bus..." Tony didn't understand at the time, but he tried to smile, tried to make sure everything was fine, even though in the end, he knew he wasn't. "I'm sorry..." Those were Peter's last words, Tony hoped it would happen to him too, it was the only fair thing to happen, but he didn't disappear, neither he nor the woman, the two survived it, and Tony wished he hadn't.

Add yourself on the tag list

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tartagliaxx · 3 years ago

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hi. i only got to play in inazuma today so here's me live reacting to the archon quest. it's a lil out of context tho so have fun trying to figure out which parts im talking abt. also, this is the only time i'm going to be talking abt spoilers for at least one week so... 🤷‍♀️

swordfish ii? cute.

Jesus Christ. and here i thought it was my lowest settings that made his hair grey… this poor kid. teppei i admire your determination but no… just no...

SCARAMOUCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

IF EVIL WHY SO HOT

you know.... scaramouche could stand still and the air would get electrified. and yknow,,, that's p... that's p attractive

ugh im disgusting myself. and here i thought i still had an inch of sanity left in me.

of all people it had to be this little jerk

scaramouche is so fucking evil. i’d like ten of him, please.

man,, they expect me to dodge this shit? that’s the biggest l i’ve heard today. none of that shit. i’m bringing out my zhong and my sweet madames skrrt

sayu is adorable… i remember when i had hopes of growing up too… alas, it has come to this.

OH MY GOD AYATO CRUMBS. I AM LICKING THAT SHIT UP. PLEASE— HE HAS A SECRET UNIT. THATS SO HOT WTF. AYATO MY DEAR, PLEASE DONT BE A REGULAR ICKY NPC BUT WHITE HAIRED…

SNEAKY SNEAK. SNEAKY SNEAK.

THOMA OH MY GOD MY MALEWIFE. HOW HAVE YOU BEEN? also, sayu’s sleeping again. this girl’s got talent. is her circadian rhythm okay?

pains me to be the bearer of all bad news and no good news…

WAIT THOMA IS LEAVING NO DONT LEAVE YET I WANT TO LOOK AT YOU MORE

oh nvm he’s still in the background.

EYY WHATS UP AYAKA. YOU’RE AS FINE AS EVER.

i… i don’t like where this is going… i refuse to be the bait. i’m too hot for that. so spicy they’ll spit me right out

DONT VOLUNTEER YOURSELF LUMINE— GIVE ME AN OPTION OR AT LEAST AN ‘OH SHIT HERE WE GO AGAIN’ LINE

YES FIREWORKS THAT WOULD WORK RIGHT? PLEASE TELL ME THAT WOULD WORK-

oh thank god… wait... they… they wouldn’t ask me to be the one to set off the fireworks right?

UNFORTUNATELY NO. AFTER YOU BECOME A FREE MAN, YOU’RE IMMEDIATELY MARRYING ME THOMA ANJKFHAIGHLANGKLAHOFJLKAB

oh crap… i’m… i’m in deep.

HE’S BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING US AGAIN EVERY DAY SINCE HE GOT THERE ANFLaglvbajlfblabvljabefva;bfalLJBLJDABVBAALSNADL tumblr user @tartagliaxx is broken. she is now irreparable. she has no regrets. goodbye.

ehem… what if… you and i… and hotsprings… together?? JUST KIDDING. PG-13 OVER HERE. NOTHING INDECENT WHATSOEVER MOVE ALONG NOW

poor thoma,,,

oh come on ayaka… cut us some slack… i just watched lumine wheeze bc of evil purple mist only to be dragged into 2 timeskips and an entire training arc. dont let her be yet another traumatized shounen manga protagonist… altho, it might be uh… too late for that…

oh dear… is thoma going to get another round of diarrhea?

OF COURSE. OF COURSE IT’S ME DOING ALL THE WORK. OF COURSE IT’S ME WHO’S RISKING MY LIFE ALL OVER AGAIN. GOD! GIVE LUMINE A BREAK. BEING A TRAVELER DOES NOT MEAN IT’S FREE REAL ESTATE.

hello yoimiya… still looking as bomb as ever i see……… mhm… gonna see myself out rn…

HELP MY SHITTY GRAPHICS COMPLETELY ERADICATED HER BROWS

oh god… are we dying because of fireworks? forget getting caught by the patrol… we’re about to light up an untested firework that was made to be a billion times more explosive….

NO. SHE SAID IT. SHE SAID THE CURSED SENTENCE. WHATS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? IDK YOU TELL ME. YOU JUST SENTENCED US TO DEATH YOIMIYA GREAT GOING still love you tho.

man… these patrol guards aint shit… i literally walked an inch behind their backs and they did nothing… its a surprise the rebellion still hasn’t won when they place guards like this in their ranks………. ok that was kinda mean i’ll apologize in a bit.

SAYU OMG… DONT WORRY I’LL SNEAK YOU OUT AND RISK MY LIFE willingly JUST TO RESCUE YOU. ILYSM HONEY YOU’RE DOING SO WELL

no, paimon. it’s not but we’re doing it anyway 🤡

NO ONE TOLD ME WE’RE GOING TO RUN. I WENT COMPLETELY OFF COURSE. first try tho 😏

HELLO THOMA. HELLO AYAKA.

HELLO SAYU. HOW DID IT GO? IM GUESSING IT WENT WELL BC YOU’RE STILL ALIVE?

oh no….. she’s worn herself out…. man,,, this is why you dont make convicts out of kids….

WE ASKED SAYU FOR AN INCH AND SHE GAVE AS TEN THOUSAND MILES. SAYU MY CHILD YOU EXCEED EXPECTATIONS

god, don’t remind me. as hot as the shogun trying to kill us w her blade was, i don’t appreciate almost getting murdered on screen (even if we most certainly have plot armor)

awwww is thoma worried about me uwu owo? dw i have like… a lumine w 6% crit rate by my side

sigh… i dont want to leave yet… cant i just stay by thoma’s side and not go to war for a change?

it was at this moment that tumblr user lei saw the wonders of being a housewife.

oh sara… my stars… i’m so sorry. i feel so bad for you but at the same time… this oddly makes me want to write a song for you ABJFJKABJABCABVABVKA I KNOW JACK SHIT ABT SONGWRITING WHY AM I THINKING LIKE THIS

well… there she goes…

oh…. oh….. yae is stealing my heart. WHAT DO I DO WHAT DO I DO (i have an alt for a reason heehee)

DEAR LORD. PLEASE STEP ON MY NECK SARA.

these guys got guts to say ‘i’m sorry ma’am’ to THE kujou sara.

oh old man… you’re dead. you’re so dead.

man… this old man is a simp? sheesh.

YES. GO TELL EM PAIMON. PREACH THAT SHIT LOUD AND CLEAR.

oh my god… is that dude dead? i probably should’ve uh apologized b4 he flopped down to the ground ig…

MAN,, SARA’S DOWN FOR THE COUNT?? tbf i didnt expect much but…. also, AYE SIGNORA’S SO ICY.

she’s calling me out for being a simp ;-; heart been broke so many times or smth

OH SHIT LUMINE SPOKE. MAN,, WHY IS SHE SO COOL.

oh… i love this part of the vow… im suddenly inspired to write… how about a wedding au? an angsty wedding au?

goddamn… it’s been nice knowing you all…. i dont think i’ll come out of this alive if signora went out like that…

WHATS HAPPENING? ARE YOU SAYING KAZUHA WENT THROUGH THIS BS? IS LUMINE OKAY-

DID THEY REALLY JUST STORM THE ENTIRE FUCKING CAPITAL?? THEY HAVE SOME NERVE.

FUCK OMG KAZUHA AHHAHFHAFHAHGKJABKASBGA IM TEARING UP WTF WHY AM I GETTING EMOTIONAL- HONEY BUN THATS SO HOT OF YOU TO DO

oh… oh it’s time for round two? haha… time to… say my goodbyes….

yo… there are actual tears in my eyes… like… idk why… but that cutscene? shit man… that hit me…

hm… i feel bad for the shogun… ultimately, there is reason behind every act no matter how horrid. no matter how unreasonable, the reason one thinks of is always justified on their end. whatever everyone else thinks pay little effect on whether the act is fulfilled or not. also, her little laugh? i’m extra deceased.

the animation's fire as always wtf

oh but my kokoro... oof... my kokoro... ugh...

I’M SO FUCKING DONE AJKFHAKJBVAK- WE BEAT A HARBINGER AND FOR WHAT? she should’ve just tossed that gnosis into the ocean or smth...

HAH OMG SCARAMOUCHE. WHAT A MAN. I’M- I WAS RIGHT OMG. I HAD A LIL THEORY AND ITS JUST SMTH I HAD IN THE BACK OF MY MIND. I NEVER THOUGHT IT’LL ACTUALLY COME TRUE DEAR LORD. so now ig i have to admit i think abt him a lot and he has a soft spot in my heart 🥺 he’s evil you see and you know what my type is? evil men or at the very least, men with the potential to be evil. ugh so annoying.

scaramouche banner when

bc i sold everything worthy of money in me (read as my organs) for albedo, i'll sell my soul for him how about that?

EYE- makoto huh… well… fuck…

it’s day 400 of being ayato less even if he’s like… teased a million of times (jk it’s like… a grand total of seven but thats still p high)

im so… sigh…

i wonder if i’m still alive by the time sumeru releases… at the very least, i know my brain wouldn’t be.

....we were literally a captain for like... one second. that is so sad.

#˗ˋˏ°• afternoon tea rambles •°ˎˊ˗#inazuma spoilers

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chasingthepoguelife · 4 years ago

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Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, but don’t forget ankles

Got to my first request! The next few will be coming this week. Thanks for requesting and being patient. I love you all!

Summary: Y/N has been a pogue for only a few months. Keeping up with the pogues meant spending time with JJ and knowing all about his hook ups all around the island. JJ and y/n had no trouble admitting the other was attractive, but left it at that. It isn’t until JJ notices something on y/n body that surprised both of them.

A/N: I apologize again for the terrible writing. I’ve only started writing again after a few years. I’m sorry if you don’t enjoy it, I’m trying. Also not my gif! Credit is under the gif.

Warnings: smut, a bit of angst, swearing, un safe sex ( wrap it up kids), jewelry kink

Hanging out with the pogues came with a lot of advantages. You were always doing something fun and crazy, always in the know of everything going on around island. Keeping up with the pogues seemed liked a full-time job most days between all of John B’s spontaneous adventures and Pope freaking out about what you guys did the next morning. Sometimes you’d get a nice break when the boys would throw parties at the bone yard. Pogues, kooks, and tourons would flood to drink and have fun, especially with JJ Maybank. If it had a pulse, JJ would swarm to add that person to his body count. Kie had filled you in on each of the three boys when you met the group a few months ago, and almost everything she said has been proven right. JJ’s adventurous life style made it hard not to know where he’s been and everything he’s done. Whether you overheard conversations between him and John B, or the touron girls giggling in town over what they let JJ do to them the night before, you knew pretty much everything he was into. The list ranges from daddy kinks to choking, but nothing compared to the night you were trying to sleep on John Bs couch and you had to hear JJ pretending to be a vampire for over an hour. Your crush on JJ had been put to a stop after a few weeks of just listening to him talk. There was always some sassy banter between the two of you, with the occasional civil chats. You had no trouble admitting he was beautiful, but after knowing about every encounter, you decided you didn’t want to be another body count to JJ.

The pogues spent all say setting up for Pope’s surprise party. After all the shit he’s been through, JJ knowing the most, it seemed like the least everyone could do for him. For once, something was going right and smoothly for the pogues, not a trouble insight. Everything was ready to go until the power had gone out at the chateau.

“Can’t we have one nice thing?” Kie screamed into the air.

“It’s not that bad,” y/n said. “We have a few hours till the party. If we get a holder that is big enough and lots of ice, we can keep the food and drinks cool until we make it onto the beach.”

“Easier said than done,” JJ mumbled.

“Do you have a better idea?” y/n yelled in JJ’s face.

“Ok that’s enough you two,” John B interfered. “If one of you messes up Pope’s big night I’m dumping you at the Crain house and you’re walking back. Kie and I will head out for the supplies, and you two will stay here and get your shit together before Pope arrives.”

John B was the voice of reason in this group, and you hated it when he was right. You’ll just have to wait until he leaves to get a few good passes at JJ. Kie and John B had left 30 minutes ago, and with no AC and no breeze from the beach, the chateau was burning up. JJ was already shirtless, sitting on the floor, sweat droplets already running down his abs. JJ and Pope had a nice mid-section on them, but no other abs in the OBX can compare to JJs.

JJ was about to absolutely lose it. It’s a billion degrees in here and he’s stuck with y/n. Just when he thinks he’s starting to like her she has something to say. He’s found her arrival into the group difficult. This is not what he had in mind when Kie said she’s be brining a new girl into the group. He was busy daydreaming when he noticed y/n in the corner of his eyes. She was down to nothing but her bathing suit now. He’d seen her in her suit plenty of times by now but as he watched her shift, his eyes landed on her ankle.

“Is that new?” JJ’s mind asked him.

His eyes grew wide on that shiny material wrapped around y/n’s ankle. It looked so right on her thin ankle, connected to long tan legs. JJ had eyes, he knows y/n isn’t exactly ugly, but something went off in his head seeing her leg pointed up as she laid on her bank, keeping his eyes on her ankle.

“Hey-y y/n?” JJ stuttered. “What’s that on your ankle?’

“This?” y/n pointed. “It’s an ankle bracelet, you know a bracelet that you wear on your ankle.”

Normally this kind of response would’ve riled JJ up, but this time it went right over his head.

“Have you always worn that? It looks different? Does Kie or Sarah wear one because I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen one before,” JJ rambled.

“You’ve had to of seen dozens on all your touron girls,” y/n snapped.

“I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed on before, but if you must know, I’m not really looking there most of the time,” JJ smirked.

“We live on an island, I’m pretty sure you’ve seen one before JJ.”

Without warning JJ scooted over and sat down in front of you.

“I know what it is y/n, it just looks different on you,” JJ said as he began to play with the piece around your ankle.

“I like it on you. It’s different,” he said softly.

“This is another one of your weird kinks isn’t it?” y/n asked in disgust.

“Y/n, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous,” JJ said.

“If I was jealous, I could’ve had you from the moment I met you,” y/n said confidently.

The room was now quiet. JJ hadn’t said anything else, which made the tension worse. He was just staring at you, up and down. He started to move, lowering his head to your feet.

“W-what are you doing?”, y/n asked.

“Proving you right, that you could’ve had me from the start,” JJ said.

JJ grabbed your ankle and began kissing on and around your bracelet. This was definitely a first for you, but there was something about the feeling of the cold metal and JJs lips on you. He paid more attention to your ankle and began working his way up to your inner thigh. Your hands made their way to JJ’s hair as he licked up and down your things. JJ’s head was in between your legs and you couldn’t fucking believe it. In just your swimsuit bottoms, you could feel JJ’s breath close to your core.

“JJ,” y/n whined.

“I know baby, me too,” JJ smirked.

JJ’s hands were circling all around your stomach and core. You made the deepest eye contact with him than you ever have before. It was a sweet moment between pogues in the midst of all the sex. You could feel his hand inching closer into your swimsuit bottoms, giving him the nod to proceed. JJ’s hand landed on you, all soaked and trembling. You knew JJ was skilled from all the chatter, but you can’t believe how much he’s affected you with so little.

“If you must know y/n, I never spend this much time,” JJ said as he kept his hands on your core.

“It’s always a quick tap and bounce. I never take the time to get them this worked up.”

“You know what the say JJ, hate sex is great sex,” y/n whined.

As JJ was working his hands and tongue all over your body, he still couldn’t believe that you were under him like this, that after all the name calling and bickering fights, a tiny ankle bracelet connected the two of you like this.

“I’m going to have to declare John B’s no pogue on pogue macking rule void for now, I need to be in you y/n”, JJ whined.

With both you fully naked now, there was only one thing to left. Both JJ and y/n could feel the sweat of each other, feel the hot air only made hotter by your activities, and especially JJ’s hot breath as he whispered into y/ns ear.

“I always thought you were beautiful. I was so excited when Kie brought you into the group, and then it all went downhill. I think we all know you threw the first insult so you have to continue to make it up to me baby,” JJ commanded.

So close to your entrance, something didn’t feel right to JJ.

“Not so fast baby. I’m going to need you to lift your left ankle up and keep it on my shoulder. Don’t move it until I tell you,” JJ ordered.

Upon placing your ankle on JJ’s shoulder, he slammed right into y/n, causing her to moan louder than JJ had ever heard before. Her nails were tearing up JJ’s back and shoulders as he was tearing into her.

“Every, thrust, is -for -all -the- times -I- wish, you were nicer to me,” JJ said in between breaths.

JJ was on cloud nine. Between your moans, letting him control you, and the sound of your ankle bracelet on his shoulder every time he thrusted harder, this has been the happiest he’s felt in a long time.

“JJ!”, y/n yelled, Y/n really didn’t know what to say. JJ was so rough but caring at the same time, lasting more than you thought. He was really taking care of you, unlike that random kook that was your first time a few months ago.

“Oh god y/n! I don’t know how much more I can last. I need you to finish with me!” JJ yelled as he brought his hands now to your clit.

“JJ my god, please don’t stop,” y/n yelled into the crook of JJ’s neck.

Before either of you knew it, JJ was spilling into you, your release onto his cock following. Pure, raw JJ has been in you in several ways today, dare you say your soul as well. Still in disbelief even after JJ pulled out of you, you stared into each other’s eyes as he laid on top of you.

“I’m not just saying this y/n, but that blew away every touron that I ever laid eyes on,” JJ complimented.

“You should know that I never hated you JJ. Moving here and not knowing anything about the future was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. It seemed easy to hate you because then at least I knew where you stood. Although I’m not sure what to think about that ankle bracelet kink,” y’n laughed.

“Well I hope we can change things between us,” JJ said cupping your face.

“I’d really like that,” y/n smiled into JJ’s neck.

“And I’d like it to” a feminine voice was heard from the back.

JJ and y/n turned around bright red to see Kie and John B by the door, grabbing each other’s faces.

“I’d like it to, so much,” John B said to Kie, clearly making fun of his friends.

“But seriously, we’d like it if you would put on some clothes, just imagine if it was Pope that caught you, “John B said.

Both you and JJ laughed at your friends reaction, getting dressed and following them out to the beach, into the first night where you and JJ wouldn’t hate each other.

#jj maybank #jj #Outer Banks #obx #jj maybank imagine #rudy pankow

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mythrilhusk · 4 years ago

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!!Kill Techno-sensei!! - Chapter Two

Words: 2,076 Chapter One (Last) AO3 Version Chapter 3 (Next)

The class absorbs the threat, stunned, hushed. Quackity clenches his fists. "Why the fuck would you do that?" His defiance shatters the silence.

"Because I can." Technoblade replies dismissively. "But I am here to teach, so please, open your textboo-"

"No." Quackity smirks, wearing a confidence he doesn't feel. "Why would you destroy the Earth? You're immortal, sure, but you seem like the kind of guy who's easily bored. What would you have left after your little temper tantrum?"

One floppy ear flicks irritably. "You see, the idea is, I'd die as well."

"If you want to die so fucking bad, why don't you just let us kill you, asshole?"

"That kinda defeats the purpose of the threat. You see, you're completely correct in your assessment. I am bored." Technoblade's light yet nearly monotone voice grates on Quackity's nerves. "I'm simply too good. Unbeatable, even. I've searched and searched, but haven't found a single worthy foe."

"So you failed!" Quackity crows, slamming his fist on the desk. Psychological warfare, baby.

Tommy takes up the jeer as well, "You failed, big man, ho, ho!! Eat shit!"

Technoblade scowls and buries his muzzle in the thick textbook. "Why don't we move on. Page three-hundre-"

"Move on?? Move on?? You killed my family, Technoblade, you fucking killed them all! I can't fucking move on from that!" Quackity snarls.

Exhaustion leaks from Technoblade's glower. "I've killed many families, Quackity. All for one goal."

"Fuck you and your motherfucking anarchy!! You think I'm scared of you?? I- I-" The words choke in Quackity throat as Technoblade stands up. He shrinks in his seat.

"Stay away from him." Sapnap growls.

Technoblade ignores the students completely, instead turning to the whiteboard and picking up a marker. "History is not circular."

"What's the fucking point." Quackity grumbles under his breath. There's no winning against a man who'd have no qualms about punting him.

"Nor is it straight."

"Pfft, knew it. Now everyone who hates history will get cancelled for being homophobic." Tommy somehow manages to both lighten the mood and make everything worse at the same time.

Technoblade doesn't get angry or annoyed, however. "Heh. History is pretty gay, not gonna lie. It's also-" He steps away from his crude drawing of a squiggly line, "a helix. History repeats itself in stages. Anyone want to guess why?"

Tommy leans back in his chair. "Because you're fucking dumb, that's why."

"Ranboo?" Technoblade addresses the creepy, quiet boy huddled over his desk in the back of the class.

"Uh- well-"

"Nothing ever stays the same, big guy." Tubbo interjects. "It's not as simple as stuffing it all into a one dimensional form. Who's to say it's even a line at all?"

Technoblade shrugs. "Fair, fair. Why don't y'all discuss."

With that, most of the tension in the room dissolves. Groups form as students gravitate towards their friends. Chatter fills the former silence. Quackity forces himself to join in, laughing and pretending like everything is normal again. But nothing about this is normal.

He can't kill Technoblade through sheer strength. But he could easily outwit him. The gears spin in his mind, working out a plot.

++++

The first week has gone by uneventfully. Nobody's tried to kill Technoblade yet, who in turn has behaved like a responsible teacher, refraining from punting anyone. It's so boring.

The last class of Friday ends with the bell, and the kids file out. Technoblade ignores the bitter glares from the little ‘gang’ that calls themselves Ducklings. They haven't attempted anything yet, and Technoblade doubts they'll ever find the guts to actually go through with their plots. Pity, really.

Tommy remains behind, trying to shoo Tubbo, who refuses to leave him. "Teacher!" Tommy stomps up to Techno and slams his notebook on the desk. He's a blustery scamp, but Technoblade has seen how he brightens the classroom and helps his peers.

"Tommy."

"Let me kill you."

"Us." Tubbo corrects.

"Let us kill you or else."

"Or?"

“I'll fail all my classes." Tommy grins, seeming confident he's found a bargaining chip. "And I'll tell everyone else to fail theirs, too. You'll be known as the worst fucking teacher to have ever teachered!"

"Oh, the horror." Technoblade deadpans. He's got to admit, the kid has guts. "You think I care?"

"You've gotta. You're our teacher, after all."

"K." Technoblade doesn't smile. "I'm afraid I can't just let you kill me."

"Then prepare to be failed upon!"

"But." Techno holds up a hand. "But, if you try to pass your classes, I will teach you how to kill me. Deal?"

Tubbo pipes up, "That will be adequate. Come on, Tommy."

Technoblade waits until both are out of the classroom. He doesn't feel guilty at all. What should he feel guilty for, after all? Simmering rage burns in his chest, a constant companion to the acid in his mind.

Next class, he promises himself. Next class, the training will begin. He'll be one step closer to achieving his goals.

Technoblade rises and lets his human form melt away. The voices in his head scream, as they always have, as they always will, hundreds of thousands of souls trapped in here with him. His eyes-- all millions of them-- blink open as his hundreds of wings unfurl. Anyone who could see him now might name him a beast or an angel, and either could be correct. But Technoblade knows both are false promises. Humans can't create beasts or angels, after all.

Demons, however, are apparently a different matter.

++++

Ranboo only went back to get his notebook. He can't forget his notebook; that is the one thing he's not allowed to forget. Shadows seep from every corner of the classroom. He shivers as he hastily scrambles to his desk.

His book isn't in his desk. Where is it?? He can't lose it. He rummages in the desk frantically. Where is it, where is it, where is it??

The window creaks, and Ranboo yelps, leaping away from the sudden draft. "Wh-who's there?"

"Hey." The kind voice greets him from the darkness. "You're out late."

"I- I just- uhh, who are you?"

"Who are you?"

"I- uhh, I'm Ranboo." He backs away to the door. On the floor, silver glints in a shaft of moonlight. The spiral of his notebook. Crap. The shadowed form leaps silently into the classroom and kneels to pick up the book. Crap, crap. "Uh- that's- that's mine, actually."

"Is it, now?" The gentle mockery in his tone sets Ranboo on edge.

"Yes, actually, so- so give it back. Please?"

The mysterious form opens Ranboo's book and flips through it. "Interesting. Alright." He hands it back to Ranboo, who snatches it and scrambles for the door. "Actually, Ranboo, I wanted to talk to you."

The words yank Ranboo to a halt. He wants to retort, he wants to say no, he wants to leave, but instead he turns back meekly. "Okay?"

"You're in class 3-E, yeah?"

"Y-yeah...?"

"Good. That's good. Do you want your teacher to die?"

"Huh?" Ranboo tenses, confused by the seeming non sequitor. "I- I mean." Does he want Technoblade to die? Does he want anyone to die, for that matter? "N-not necessarily?"

"Hm. Alright."

"Who are you?" Ranboo gathers what little courage he has and steps back towards the door.

"You, hm, you can call me Dream." The man steps out of the shadows. The mask over his face grins eerily at Ranboo. "I've got a proposition for you, Ranboo."

++++

"Metal melts in the bastard's skin, so anything with metal is a fucking waste of time." Quackity spreads the pages of his plan over the tree-house's table.

"Maybe he's a vampire." Karl offers, sitting on the table and messing up Quackity's perfect layout. "Try wood stakes and garlic."

"Vampires aren't real, dumbass." Connor rolls his eyes.

"Well, neither are immortal pig-men mutants, but here we are."

"He's a pig-man, not a vampire. Maybe try something for werewolves? Silver?" Sapnap joins in, swinging on the hammock.

"He's not a fucking werewolf!" Quackity shoves Karl off the table. "Or a vampire. He's a motherfucking demon, that asshole is, and we need to fucking kill him!"

"Language!!" The screech from the roof of the treehouse freezes everyone in place.

"Karl." Quackity says calmly. "Who the fuck did you invite to our secret hideout?"

"Nobody!" Karl cries.

"Connor?"

"He said he'd bring coke!" Connor cries.

A short man dressed in goth black and red accents drops through the window and smiles at the Ducklings. "I did, but the cans burst on the way."

"Not soda-"

"Language!!" The man cries again, shushing Connor. "You kids shouldn't mess with bad stuff, anyway."

"We don't." Quackity shoots a glare at Connor. "Anyway, it's none of your fucking business. Why the fuck are you here?? What do you want??"

"I, uhh, just thought I'd help with your problem." The man grins. "You want to kill your teacher, right?"

"Yeah? But-"

"Well, there you go! I can help you! Name's Bad, by the way. Badboyhalo."

"How can you help? And what do you want in return??"

"Oh, hmm, how about seventy-five percent of the bounty."

"Deal." Twenty-five percent of ten billion is still more than enough, and Quackity would prefer revenge on Technoblade over riches, anyway. "How do we kill him?"

"I've got associates working on that tiny problem. We stole- uh, developed a way to hurt him temporarily, but he can't be killed unless you hit his heart, and his regen powers are too strong to let you reach that with any weapons we currently possess."

"How the fuck do you know all this??"

Bad smirks. "Social networking."

++++

Ranboo paces in the chilly alleyway, reading and re-reading his book as shivers wrack his body. He found it. Good. Everything is fine, now. He's fine.

He shuts out the uneasiness caused by the blurry darkness over his memories. He's never had a good memory, which is why he has this book in the first place.

He huddles in the corner of the grimy alley to complete his homework, and wonders briefly why there's a second notebook in his backpack also marked 'Do Not Read'. Maybe he forgot he already had one. No worries. It's fine.

Everything is fine.

++++

"Class." Technoblade greets his students as they file in. Quackity glares at the monster. He's in his piggy form today, his cloak swishing across the ground.

"Rise." Tommy calls out the traditional honor given to teachers. But the class hadn't done this before for Technoblade. Quackity glances around at his fellow students, who all seem just as confused. He stands up. The others hesitantly follow his lead.

"Bow." Tommy sets the example of a shallow bow. Then he straightens and draws a revolver. "Lock on!"

Quackity stares as Tubbo, Eret, and Wilbur also draw out guns and take aim on Technoblade.

"Heh??" Technoblade chuffs in confusion.

"Target on Korosensei!" Tommy snaps out the order. "Fire!"

"Korosensei??" Quackity's disbelieving laugh is drowned out by the ringing cracks of the guns and the shrill shrieks of students.

"HEH??" Technoblade chuffs again amidst the chaos. Quackity makes the signal to his gang as they stay out of the line of fire.

"All stop!" Tommy barks. The gunfire ceases.

Technoblade stares at his class, a tusky smile cracking across his muzzle. "For your first assassination attempt, that was four stars, kids."

"Wow, that's really good!" Tubbo cheers and high-fives Tommy.

"Out of ten."

"Oh. Awww, come on, we deserve some credit for actually getting guns!"

"You missed." Technoblade replies. "And you ruined my whiteboard."

"That's your fault, innit, though, big man. If you'd've taken the bullets, the whiteboard would be alright."

"That's true, that's true." Technoblade's smile fades into a scowl. "But you also put your classmates in danger."

"They could've asked us what the plan was." Wilbur hums. "It's really their fault for sitting between us and you. And therefore it's your fault for assigning their seats there."

"True." Eret agrees. "It's all Korosensei's fault."

++++

Philza walks between his guards, Punz and Ponk, as the two escort him through the compound. "What happened?" He asks, faking calm.

"Technoblade added another term to our deal." President Skeppy walks backwards in front of Philza. Beside him, Awesamdude keeps a hand on his holstered revolver.

"Did he."

"He wants his class trained for assassination. In return, he told us his weakness."

"Hm." Philza smiles, hiding the whirlwind of chaos and bloodlust behind his eyes. "Pog."

@@@@ KOROSENSEI NEVER DIES @@@@

Chapter 3 (Next)

#technoblade #quackity #dream smp au #philza #ranboo #tommyinnit #tubbo #cw violence #cw threats #no ship

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angel-bazethiel · 4 years ago

Text

What, How, Why is Flame Alchemy?

--or how Roy Mustang can potentially bottle up a star. --or I’m sleep-deprived and writing this fic that relies on a deeper understanding of how Flame Alchemy works and I’m posting what I thought of bc why the hell not? and if I read another post saying it’s plain ole combustion and how easy it is, I will probably lose my mind --or goddammit, where is Flame Alchemy?????

Content:

I. Introduction II. Mass-Energy Equivalence and Nuclear Energy III. Flame Alchemy? More like Nuclear Alchemy (and Other Myth Debunking) IV. Why would someone study such a research topic? V. Summary

Note: Long post and a lot of Science ahead.

I. Introduction

First we establish that whatever we know of Flame Alchemy is utterly bogus. Solely because of the fact that if Roy and Riza really wanted for the knowledge of it to die, no one will ever know of it. No one. So that explanation by Havoc about aligning oxygen molecules and then snapping to ignite them is not true. I mean, “reactive cloth?” What is that even made of? For a show that was extensively researched, that seems a bit lazy.

Also, this explanation makes Flame Alchemy sound so easy. So why isn’t everyone doing it? For a military-run country, one would think that something easy and can be weaponized would be mass-produced, right?

Another fact, fire feeds on oxygen, yes. But fire is a combustion reaction of oxygen and a C-H compound. Something I hope that the air in a 1900s FMA-Earth isn’t abundant of.

Although, I haven’t thought about what if the fuel Roy uses is H2 compounds instead of Hydrocarbons. That would be funny. Roy deconstructs H2O molecules only to create them again. But if you still want to see whether or not I’m crazy, by all means, do read on. I will still use Flame Alchemy = Nuclear Fusion for my fic. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, it got me thinking how does Flame Alchemy actually work? And my highly convoluted train of thought started while I was writing this fic where I based Riza’s mother on Marie Curie. (Which I may expand on but now is not the time.)

I thought then, so how about Berthold? Is he Pierre? Naw, man. Who else has had his research mishandled during a war? Who else was a brilliant thinker but is also such a shitty dude to the women in his life? Yeah you guessed it. And what is one of his greatest works?

II. Mass-Energy Equivalence and Nuclear Energy

Albert Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equivalence is such a simple and very elegant equation saying that mass is interchangeable with energy. This postulate led to this branch of physics (or chemistry, whatever) called Nuclear Physics/Chemistry. Bear with me.

Did you know that when you add up the masses of an atom’s nucleons (the collective protons and neutrons) the actual mass is not equal to the calculated? Where did that mass go? As it turns out, that mass defect takes in the form of energy that holds the nucleons together. And when we substitute that missing mass on Eq. 1, we have a specific number for that binding energy.

So what do we mean by nuclear energy?

Nuclear energy is the binding energy released when a nucleon is taken out of its nucleus. And that can happen by either of two reactions: nuclear fission or nuclear fusion.

Now I didn’t think much about nuclear fission because that’s shit’s nasty. And I’m sure that Roy doesn’t have Uranium just lying about. So let’s talk about nuclear fusion. Specifically, the fusion of Hydrogen atoms:

When you fuse two Hydrogen-1 atoms it has three products: deuterium, a positron, and energy. Fuse that deuterium with another Hydrogen-1, we get Helium-3 and energy in the form of gamma radiation. Fuse two Helium-3 atoms, we get helium-4 and hydrogen and more energy. Then start the process again if you want more more energy.

So what has that got to do with Flame Alchemy?

III. Flame Alchemy? More like Nuclear Alchemy (and Other Myth Debunking)

I firmly believe that the “Flame Alchemy” we see in FMA is just the H-H fusion reaction (Eq. 2).

And like an idiot, I only did my research after I thought of all that shit and found this interpretation of Riza’s tattoo.

I don’t know how how much of the tattoo is canon, I tried looking for it in the manga and the anime is too small to see. But I see it everywhere so-- it must be canon?

But in that post, in the upper left part of Riza’s tattoo, we see the fusion reaction of deuterium. And of deuterium and tritium. To which I say, why? Those Hydrogen isotopes are rare. I mean, fine, a D-T fusion reaction gives 40 times the net energy from an H-H fusion reaction.

And, sure, Roy can create deuterium and tritium himself, but it’s just not efficient. I don’t know how alchemy works but I do know that to do that (by which I mean an H-H fusion, then a D-D fusion, then a D-T fusion) would require more energy than just stopping at the H-H fusion.

So I stand by my statement that the “Flame Alchemy” we see in FMA is just the first part of the H-H reaction (Eq. 2).

a. So how does it work as seen in the manga?

Roy would line up the atoms to where he wants the reaction to happen. And here’s the kicker, he can use other light atoms just no heavier than Iron-56.

But I think he uses Hydrogen-1 because that shit is everywhere. Again, not the heavier isotopes. So we’re sticking to that.

How do we know that that’s what’s happening and not Roy doing whatever the hell Havoc said? Because we see this:

I don’t know about you, but I think the sparks we see when someone is doing a transmutation aren’t just there because it’s cool.

Atoms require energy in order to stay bonded as a molecule. So when alchemists transmute, they break the bonds and release that energy. In this case, the energy released is in the form of light. (I also have some thoughts about why we see red and blue sparks but, again, now is not the time.)

If Roy is just controlling the O2 molecules in the air, we shouldn’t see any sparks because there is no deconstructing happening.

Hydrogen-1 is usually present as part of the many water molecules in the air. So, I think, what we see is Roy deconstructing the H2O molecules and pulling the Hydrogen-1 atoms to where he wants them to be. The Oxygen-16 atoms bond with each other and form O2 molecules but we don’t care about them.

Unless Roy fuses Oxygen-16 instead of Hydrogen-1. In that case, we will see an even bigger release of energy. OH! Maybe that’s why he uses his left hand for smaller and more controlled explosions and the other for bigger ones. Because the gloves are different! One is for H-H fusion and the other is for O-O fusion.

Anyways. Hydrogen-1 atoms, by themselves are positively charged. So to fuse two together we have to overcome the repelling force by those same-charged atoms. To do that, they must meet either at high velocity or at high pressure. In the manga, they do the former.

Remember the sound whenever Roy does his thing? That isn’t actually caused by his snapping. After all he is wearing gloves. The sound when you snap is made by the pad of your middle finger striking your palm. If your hand is clothed, you won’t produce any sound when you snap.

No. That sound is the sonic boom of Hydrogen atoms going faster than the speed of sound. Also, I don’t think his gloves is made up of some special material. He just snaps to cover up the sound. Everything is just nuclear fusion.

b. How about those “flames” that we see, then?

That is how we perceive the energy released by the reaction. When the energy is transferred into the surroundings, it gives off heat. Not only that, but the other atoms in the air get excited (this is a technical term btw) and glow. For all intents and purposes, I guess they are flames? Just not caused by a combustion reaction.

c. But if that’s how the Flame Alchemy works, then what is up with the useless when wet schtick?

That is a misconception. Sort of.

Roy’s alchemy will still be useless in the rain because there is just too much macromolecules in the air. He can’t align the atoms properly and the Hydrogen atoms may collide with the water molecules. That would decrease speed which he maybe can take account of. But the time to calculate then recalculate for each atoms can be too long. So he just lets Riza take care of the imminent threat when it’s raining.

As for when it isn’t raining, but he’s wet… I think he can still do his Alchemy, he just doesn’t. Because in doing so, it would deconstruct all the lies Roy and Riza have built around “Flame Alchemy.” Like that fight with Lust with Havoc. He manipulated Hydrogen atoms and I think he could have just fused them. Instead he let Havoc throw his lighter. Good thing Hydrogen is flammable. And this:

This is just Roy Mustang being the drama queen that he is.

d. Why would Roy and Riza lie about the Alchemy?

They feed false information surrounding Nuclear Alchemy because there can never be another Nuclear Alchemist. They created a version of the Alchemy and make up some magic cloth that supposedly becomes useless when wet. All of that so that no one can learn the actual secret. Maybe even discourage other alchemists, seeing as “it has such a huge weakness.”

IV. But why would someone want to study such a research topic?

Now, I don’t claim to know how Berthold Hawkeye’s brain works. But have you ever looked up to the sun and think, “Woah. That big ball gives life on this piece of rock? How does that even work?” I hope you haven’t because you will hurt your eyes. Please use protective eye-gear if you’re going to look directly to the sun.

All joking aside. It all comes down to energy. The sources of energy we have today have their pros and cons. Our main source, which is burning fossil fuels, is very much harming the environment.

So we look up. The sun has millions of Hydrogen atoms that undergo nuclear fusion. And the energy from that keeps all of us 7 billion little shits alive. What if we bottle up a star?

If we could ever recreate even the smallest fraction of that reaction, we can power hundreds of cities. And with Helium to spare, which we can use to blow out the balloons for our party in celebration of the fact we can finally stop killing our planet.

If nuclear fusion is so clean, then why aren’t we using it?

Because we still don’t know how to contain and control it. Today, there are two designs of fusion reactors and there are research facilities that conduct experiments. But so far they are still developing the technology.

And get this, this is a very hard and expensive thing to do. Whatever Berthold did, it’s genius. Way ahead of his time. He’s still an ass of a father though.

To add salt to the wound, like with what happened to Flame Alchemy in FMA, governments have used this research to create weapons instead. Because why try to contain that energy and use it for technological advancement when we can let it loose on a city, right? Hah. We are such dumbfucks.

V. Summary

So in conclusion, human beings suck. Kidding! Well, not really. But yeah. So. Flame Alchemy is a nuclear fusion reaction of Hydrogen-1 atoms. And it’s very hard to control and contain that even in 2020 Primary-Earth, we haven’t figured that shit out.

It could have been used for the people if the Amestrian government actually cared about the people. And after the trauma Roy and Riza experienced in Ishval, we may only see Nuclear Alchemy in the distant future when humans are kinder – not just to the world they live in – but to other humans they are living with as well.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

#fma #flame alchemy #fma meta #riza hawkeye #roy mustang #berthold hawkeye #science behind fma #fullmetal alchemist #fma reference #fma ref #I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO REPOST THIS BECAUSE IT HAS PICTURES BUT HERE WE ARE.#ugghhh it still won't show up on the tumbr-wide tags so iguess it was all for nothing skskskkss

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harrysgloves · 4 years ago

Text

Fine Line (Chapter 6)

>>>Catch up with the Fine Line Masterlist!<<<

word count: 2k

story summary: Since you were kids you and Harry had always walked that fine line of friends or something more. Now, pregnant by someone else, you find yourself staying with your long time best friend after things go sour with your boyfriend of 3 years.

Singlemom!Reader x Harry Styles

chapter summary: Your friends leave town. Old feelings come back to the surface.

warnings: Language // Angsty? Harry’s a bit stupid too but we love him for that.

a/n: The cute stuff is coming. I’m so excited. Woot!

>>><<<

You tried your best to hide your sniffling and water eyes as you walked through the airport. Your hands balled tightly against your sides as you walked those overcrowded hallways as far as you could possibly go without a ticket. The security guard stopped all three of you once you reached the TSA line.

"This is shit." Abby said as she turned to you. Her eyes were just as red and puffy as yours.

"You guys come back when this one's born." You managed to say through the depressingly sad little coughs that always happened when you cried too much.

"Of course, we gotta see our little niece when she arrives." Gemma cooed as she touched your stomach, your eyes rolling at her determination that your baby was a girl.

"We love you baby." She smiled, hugging around your waist as you let out something between a laugh and a sob. Your arms wrapping around the parts of them both that you could reach from your awkward angle.

"I'll let you know when I get a place and you two can facetime me to pick out where my stuff goes." You three were still tightly holding onto each other, causing people around you to stare longer than necessary.

You didn't miss Gemma slyly flipping off an older lady who scoffed at you three.

"We'll text you when we land." Abby said, pulling back from you first. Her hands wiping away her tears.

"Yeah. Okay." You agreed, Gemma standing up from you, and even your least emotional friend had tears brimming in her eyes.

"We love you." She said, giving you a hug and not your stomach. Her body thrown against you hard as she clutched her hands around you.

"Be good to my brother, yeah? Make sure he's taken care of." She whispered into your hair. Your head nodded as she broke away from you.

They gave you one last wave goodbye before heading for the line. Suddenly, you felt like you were 19 again, standing in the same exact spot as you watched your two best friends leave on an adventure you couldn't join.

You rubbed your shoulders, trying your best to comfort yourself as you made your way back to your car. Your eyes fixed on the shitty off white tile that covered the abnormally long hallways. Every step felt like a huge task you had to force yourself to do.

Only a few more steps until you could have your breakdown.

Deep breaths in through your nose and out your mouth as your car came into your sight. Throwing passenger door open so hard you could hear the metal protest to your violence.

"'M sorry." He mumbled from the driver side. Your eyes not daring to move over to look at him as the tears leaked down your cheeks.

You'd blame hormones but you knew that wasn't the only reason you were crying this hard.

You always seemed to be the one who got left behind. Always alone.

"'S fine." You sniffed as your sweater covered hands wiped away the mixture of tears and mascara off your face.

Harry's hand covered your thigh as he backed out of the parking spot. Your head against the headrest as you closed your eyes.

"Don't 'ave to tell me y'fine when y'not." He said as he entered the motorway. The other cars swerved to avoid your slow old vehicle as he floored it to try and keep up with the flow of cars.

You could tell he wanted to say shit about your car being dangerous. A hazard to have around other cars. His one free hand having a death grip on the steering wheel but he knew better than to push that button. He knew better than to criticize the last thing your dad ever gave you.

"We're not doing this." You shot back, his eyes glaring at you. His pursed lips tightened as he looked away from you rolling your eyes at him.

You always were a brat when you didn't want to talk.

"Top five." He said with his hand on the broken volume knob of your car. His black painted fingers trying to fiddle with the radio to turn it down.

"I'm not eight anymore, Haz. Not doing that." You huffed as you watched him grow more and more frustrated with the fact your car radio wouldn't work the way it was supposed to.

"Fuckin' hell, jus' humor me and do it, yeah?" His eyebrow raised as his irritation slipped off him seeping around the car. Your hands slapping his away as you tapped a memorized pattern of hits and bangs against the old controls until the machine finally quieted the speakers around you.

"Need a new radio for y'birthday." He muttered, face set in irritation as he stared at the road.

Hormonal anger flaring inside of you as you looked at the smug bastard sitting in your seat, driving your damn car.

"Fine." You huffed out as your hands flew around. His eyes immediately widening as he looked from you to the road and back again. Very aware he'd woken the beast within.

"You wanna do top five? You fucking asked for it." Anger dripping from your voice as you felt your face heat.

"Number one, you don't get to tell me what shit I need and don't need. Mainly, my fucking radio." Your voice vibrated along the metal and glass as you held up your pointer finger to show the number you were on.

"Two, don't you dare say anything bad about this car. You know I can't get rid of it and even if I wanted to get rid of it not everyone has billions to drop on a new car whenever they want."

"Three, I'm fucking pissed and upset with Jesse. Then I feel terrible for being pissed and that's just a whole ass mess."

"Four, I have to start apartment hunting and I don't even know how to tell if a place is decent or not and I don't have my fucking dad with me to help me anymore."

"And finally five, I miss my fucking friends and I feel like I'm always the one who gets left behind all the time. You, Abby, Gemma, my dad, hell my mom is even technically gone and now Jess."

"It's like I'm a fucking neon sign saying abandon me it'll be fun." You said, your hands finally done flinging around with every word as the hard sobbing set. Choking on your own breath. Tears flooding every inch of your face.

You didn't even notice you two were parked in his driveway. Your hands over your face as you leaned into your legs. Crying your heart out.

The hand on your back rubbed soothing circles. Shushing you quietly. The waves of pain and anxiety started to slow as your eyes stung.

"One," he said quietly as he hunched over the armrest, his head laided awkwardly against the back of your shoulder "'M sorry 'bout the car. Know it means a lot to yeh, jus' don't want y'and the baby in somethin' that might break down somewhere."

"Two, 'm stressed 'bout this next album. Got no muse and nothing done. Feel like've taken a year off and got nothin' to show fo' it."

"Three, 'm scared to leave yeh if I go on tour or promote an album if I do get it done and yeh go into fuckin' labor or have a problem and I can't be there fo' yeh."

"Four, my damn socks 'ave been half way down my foot fo' the last hour but I'm too tall to reach it and fix it in this miniature car." He said, your head lifting from your legs to glare at him. Not being able to suppress your smile as your faux anger cracked, laughter coming from deep in your chest.

Of course he'd find a way to make you laugh when your world felt like it was falling apart. His own laugh joined yours and at a certain point you were sure you two were laughing for no reason other than loving to hear the others giggles.

"What's number five?" You asked once you finally calmed back down, your back against the seat in the car as you stared out the car windshield. Harry's posture mimicking yours. His hand in yours over top of the armrest in the middle of the car. The cool faux leather on the back of your hand. His warm skin almost felt clammy in your palm.

"Five," he sighed, his fingers dancing across the sensitive spot in the middle of your hand. Instinctively making you look over to him lost in his own little word. His mind running. You could practically see him rehearsing the conversation in his head.

"Hey," your other hand against his cheek to pull his face towards you. Your thumb stroking to the stubble on his cheek. "'S just me."

His eyes finally snapped to yours. Those eyes of rolling green pastures that reminded you of the crisp summer winds blowing through your hair held so many words behind them. Paragraphs and books worth of this he'd never tell you. Poems and lyrics of all the secrets he held onto.

Even though you both made promises to never hide things from each other. You knew everyone had things they'd never let slip from their mouths. Things they grasped and held on to so tightly. Kept close to their chest out of fear from rejection or regret of consequences.

You knew you had things like that. Thoughts of you with him. Daydreams of a life where you weren't so different.

"Want yeh to move in with me, bunny." He said as your eyes closed, forehead leaning against his.

Your mind raging a war within as you sighed. Torn between wanting to and knowing better.

But God, how you wanted to.

"Can't, Harry, you know that." You sighed, your eyes not opening even though you felt his gaze on you.

"Always said yeh wanted to live with me." Your eyes opened just enough to see him pouting at you. That puffy bottom lip sticking out.

"When I was 10. Now you're old and have smelly feet." You laughed as you pulled away from him, your back against the worn out fabric of your seat. Harry's glare trained on you as you moved.

"Love, I've smelled y'feet 'fore. Trust me yeh’s are way worse." He said with a simple shrug. Your eyes widening in shock before hitting him in the shoulder with your hand.

"Hey!"

"And yeh steal all the hot water in the mornings and y'eat all my pickles." He pointed out. Your lips pushed together as you looked at his overly lavish house.

Prick could afford for you to eat all the pickles in the world if you wanted to.

"I do not!" You lied, knowing damn well you had just finished off the jar the hour before leaving the house. Right after you'd taken all the hot water for your shower.

"I promise yeh right now there's no pickles in there and I jus' bought sum." He said with a little smile playing on the corner of his lips when he finally looked back to you.

"Why would you even want me to move in then?"

"Cause I love you." He said easily, his hand wrapping around yours again as you sighed.

"Love you too, Haz." Your fingers fiddled with his own, not looking at him. "Just not smart to move in together. Camille would be uncomfortable, you know?"

"Nah, I'll talk to her." He said with a wave of his hand like it was no big deal. Your very judgmental stare being shot his way.He was a fucking idiot if he thought that conversation would go over well. The girl might not have hated you but she would if you moved in with her boyfriend. "I promise. I'll talk to her."

"I'm still not moving in with you." You shook your head as you opened the door. Your legs slung over the side of the car before he could argue with you.

"Just think 'bout it." He said as he caught up with you. His arm around your shoulder as you walked to his doorsteps.

You rolled your eyes but nodded your head. Knowing you could never move in with him and maintain the distance between you two.

#Harry Styles #Harry #Harry Styles x Reader #Harry Styles x You #Harry Styles x Y/N #Harry Styles Fanfic #Harry Styles Fanfiction #Fanfic #fanfiction #writing #mine #FL #Fine Line

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falcor-thee-luck-dragon · 4 years ago

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What a Time to be Alive - Diego Hargreeves x reader Season I

Chapter 9- Changes

Summary: Getting poisoned didn’t feel very nice, but alas the world moves on, and it needs the Umbrella Academy to find the source of its demise.

Masterlist - where all the other chapters are⚔️

Tagged: @sambucky8 @white-wolf-buckaroo @2cuteforyourlies @la-vie-en-amour1 @fandomoverlord221 @thatfandombitcch @alonewolfsblog @starrrybarnes @winterboobear11

You wake up with a jolt, memories from last night flooding into your mind, the wind, screaming, and the blood. Allison and Vanya, and that psychotic prick who stabbed you with a poisoned Swiss Army knife, evidently leading you to a gruesome couple hours of living through a half-death.

You look around the room, studying your surroundings as you lay on your back. You’re in your old bedroom in the Academy. Well that’s good, they got you here safe and sound. You sit yourself up into a seated position, leaning yourself against the headboard. You look down at yourself, sighing in relief as you realize that your clothing has been changed. You push the covers off of you, swinging your feet over the edge of the bed, you look down and notice your boots are nicely set out, patiently waiting for you. As well as your hooded denim jacket that’s hanging off of a nearby lounge chair. You stand up, grabbing your boots and pulling them on, while you hold onto the lounge chair. When you’re finished you hear the familiar footsteps of Diego creaking down the hallway towards your room.

You swiftly open the door just as he’s reaching for the handle, “I’m gonna assume you changed my clothes, so thanks for that.” You tell him quickly, as you hold the door open for him to step inside. “You have no idea how worried I was when you wouldn’t respond to anything we did. You just looked dead, but you were still breathing....uh...Klaus had to calm me down.” He rambles on, as you touch his arm to comfort him. “Leonard Peabody stabbed me with a poisoned knife as him and Vanya were leaving. I didn’t see it coming....He knows more about us then I realized, sick bastard new my weakness.” You growl, angry that you were blindsided by his gutsy yet calculated attack. It was honestly ballsy of him to just stand there so confidently like that. Of course he would, he knew what he was doing.

“Jesus, that’s horrible. It made me sick to see you in such a vulnerable state like that. You looked like you were in so much pain....Pogo said you had some type of venom or deadly poison running through your veins...and we’d have to wait it out.” He tells you, his voice on he verge of breaking, Diego’s a lot more shaken up then you’d first realized. “D, I’m right here. Safe and poison free.” You smile up at him, tugging at his sweater collar as you give him a sweet kiss on his plush lips. He instantly relaxes into your touch, wrapping his good arm around your waist and pulling you in closer. This intimate moment is fully needed and deeply appreciated, you’ve missed Diego even if you both haven’t seen each other for only a single day. You slowly pull away, another question surging through your mind.

“Uh, how are you not behind bars right now. I mean, last we saw each other cops were pulling guns on you?” You ask him curiously, he gives you another kiss in response.

“A friend of mine let me out, he knows I didn’t kill Patch. He’s still working on finding more evidence....but until then we have work to do.” You take in a deep breath, laying your head on his shoulder.

“Never a moment to rest, huh.....alright fine, let’s go downstairs.” You tell him, looking back up at him, his eyes flick down to your lips for a quick moment. You smile at how adorable he’s being without even realizing it, he smiles back unsure of what’s causing your joy.

“I like your shirt today, it’s really bursting with the autumn colors.” He chuckles at your teasing comment, giving you another pleasurable kiss. He happens to be wearing his black and blue sweater that you bought him for his birthday. That’s the legitimate most color you’ve seen on him in months, even though most of your clothing is considerably darker too, you still flash in a bit of color here and there.

“Come on, Five’s waiting in the main living room for us, he’s got a new game plan.” Diego tells you, still holding onto your waist. You take his arm wrapped around your waist and pull him away from you, he frowns until you bring him in for another heated embrace, before pulling away and squeezing his bum as you hastily walk out the door.

——

“The bastard that nearly killed Y/N and Allison is still out there, with Vanya. We need to go after her.” Explains Diego as Five paces back and forth in front of him, you, and Klaus. You’re sitting on the couch opposite of Klaus, the both of you listening intently to the plans.

“Vanya is not important” Grumbles Five, wanting to only focus on finding Harold Jenkins.

“Hey, that’s your sister. A little heartless even for you, Five.” Jabs Diego, actually sticking up for Vanya for once.

“I’m not saying I don’t care about her, but if the apocalypse happens today, she goes along with the other seven billion of us. Harold Jenkins is our first priority.” Replies Five, needing everyone to understand what’s really important. Diego looks away for a second to think, “I agree. Let’s go.” He answers with, making up his mind about what needs done first. You agree with the two of them.

“You guys count me out. I mean, you know, no offense or whatever. It’s just...I kinda feel like this is a whole lot of pressure for newly-sober me, so...” Klaus trails off, waving his hand in the air.

You get off the couch, standing in between Diego and Five, “Get your ass up, your coming with us.” You tell him bluntly, stating it as an order rather then a suggestion.

“No, no, no. I mean, I think we can all agree that my power’s...I mean, it’s pretty much useless. I’d just be holding you guys back.” He whines, really not wanting to budge.

“Klaus get up.” Demands Five dryly. Klaus frowns giving Five a bit of sass.

“You can’t make me.” A second later Diego throws a knife at him, landing it perfectly into the couch, right in between his open legs. Taking the not so subtle hint, Klaus begrudgingly gets up, “Oh, then again, a little exercise couldn’t hurt.”

——

Five pulls up to Harold Jenkins house, the same one that you, Allison, Diego, and Five broke into just the other day. You all get out of the car, making your way to the front door, you stop on the sidewalk catching a nasty whiff of something or someone that’s recently deceased. Oh shit. The others walk past you oblivious, you shake your head and continue forward. The door’s unlocked so its easy access, then when all of you walk into the house, you see him. Harold Jenkins himself, laying dead on the floor, with a hefty multitude of random kitchen knives piercing his torso.

“Gross.” You mutter, walking in closer as you cover your sensitive nose with your arm.

“It’s not exactly what I was expecting.” Says Diego, staring down in shock at the bloodied up dead guy in front of him.

“The understatement of the year.” Quips Five. “No sign of Vanya.” Adds Klaus, yeah, where is she?

“Let’s get out of here before I vomit or the cops show up.” You mumble, covering your nose with your shirt now, turning to leave, Diego and Klaus following.

“In a minute.” Says Five as he walks over to the dead body, taking off the eye-patch as he unwraps the glass eye he’s kept with him for a long time. “Come on, Five, what are you..” Starts Diego who goes to cover his mouth.

“That’s not...very sanitary.” You add as Five touches the bloody face.

“Same eye color, same pupil size. Guys this is it. The eye I’ve been carrying around for decades, it...It’s found its rightful home.” He says in awe, taking out the glass eye.

“We got the guy we needed to kill to stop the apocalypse.” States Diego, half saying that as a question, not quit believing that this is it. “Yay! Let’s go.” Claps Klaus who turns to leave, Diego grabbing his green army vest to stop him from exiting the house. “No way, it can’t be that easy.” You tell Five, he stands up pulling out a piece of paper, “Look, this is the only note that I got from the Commission. The one that says -Protect Harold Jenkins- aka Leonard Peabody. But who killed him? Who did this?” Wonders Five.

“I have an idea...how about we ask Vanya..” Klaus begins as Five teleports away. Shit you were about to explain something very important to them. “I know who did this.” You interrupt Klaus, him and Diego’s attention snapping over to you.

“This is gonna sound wild, but trust me okay? Vanya has powers, she’s always had them....No one ever knew...because Reginald gave her those pills and had four year old Allison rumor her into forgetting. She’s wicked powerful too, and probably terrified.” You explain to them, their faces a mix of confusion, curiosity, and slight apprehension.

“What? Are you serious?” Diego asks you, you give him a small nod.

“She can throw things without touching them and she can make it windy when she’s upset, I don’t know what else, but she probably really needs our help right now. So let’s get out of here.” You urge, not a hint of a doubt in your voice, Klaus nods, believing you. Diego still looks a little unconvinced, “Trust me Diego, I saw everything. I have no reason to lie.” He looks up at you in understanding, deciding that even though he hasn’t seen anything yet, he trusts in your word.

——

“No sign of Vanya.” Says Five to you and Diego as the three of you walk side-by-side on the upstairs balcony, heading for the wooden staircase to get to the first floor. All of you have been searching around the Academy for a missing Vanya, but with no luck. “She’s not in any of the rooms.” Adds Diego, as Klaus comes into view. “She’s not downstairs either.” He tells the three of you. Not that you needed to be told she wasn’t in the Academy at all, if she was here you’d be able to smell her, but the boys went about to look anyways.

“Well, I’m out. Diego you coming?” You walk past the three of them, headed for the stairs.

“Wait where are you guys going?” Wonders Five and Klaus.

You turn back around, one hand still on the railing, “As long as Hazel and Cha-Cha are still breathing, I’m not gonna stop hunting them.” You explain to them truthfully, they look at you at a loss for words, but none of them make an attempt to stop you. “Y/N, I’ll be down, I gotta get some of my things first.” Diego tells you, turning down the other hallway. You nod, giving Five and Klaus a quick glance as you continue down the stairwell.

Deciding that you’d like to have a tiny shot of something strong first to help awaken your senses...well...possibly...eh who are you kidding you just need a drink. You maintain walking through the living room doorway, heading straight for the bar. You find a shot glass and something strong that will help satisfy your taste. As you’re preparing your drink, you eavesdrop on Five and Klaus’ argument in the front room, the conversation focused on how Five has an addiction to the apocalypse, he then smashes his glass eye against the nearby wall. Grumbling something else to Klaus before he briskly struts his was into the main living room and right up to the bar. You smirk at him, “Trouble in paradise?” He glares up at you as he sits on a barstool angrily, “You wouldn’t happen to know how to make a good margarita, now would you?” He wonders, honestly hoping you won’t disappoint. You take a quick shot, downing the tiny glass in one clean motion, enjoying the scratchy buzz of the cold liquid sliding down your throat. You set it down with a loud clank, “Yeah, I could do that.” He nods, giving you a tight lipped smile, as he goes to say something to Dolores who’s perched on the bar to Five’s right. You get the ingredients out, shoving ice into the blender and pouring in the important stuff.

Once finished, you grab three glasses. One for Five, you, and Dolores. Pouring out the cold neon green slushy, you grab a twisty straw and a tiny umbrella. Touching up the best margarita you’ve ever made, “It’s on the house.” You wink at him, sliding the glass over the counter with ease. He gladly accepts, sucking down the liquid as soon as it’s in his grasp. The both of you sit in a comfortable silence, each enjoying your own margarita.

“Y/N, do you think we really did it? Think we actually stopped the apocalypse?” He suddenly wonders out loud, you set your glass down, leaning yourself against the other side of the bar to better face him. “Hard to say. In my experience you should always be alert for anything. But I don’t know....something just doesn’t sit well with me yet. I can’t explain it.” You tell him, he furrows his brows thinking hard about what you just said. In all honesty, Five’s always considered you to be the most competent and level headed out of everyone. Although he may have only of known you for two years before he timetraveled. You did make a lasting impression, one that you’ve never realized. But then again, when does Five ever truly express any of his more deeper feelings?

Out of nowhere a random knock is heard at the door, both you and Five make knowing eye contact. “Eh, I’ll get it.” He turns around getting off the barstool, heading for the front door with a margarita still in hand. You can hear him open it, then someone speaks, who’s definitely not Vanya. Their conversation is so casual and unbothered, but who is he talking to?

Five walks peacefully into the living room, as Hazel follows behind him. You unclasp a hidden pistol from underneath the bars counter-top. Cocking it, and raising it up to shoot in one swift calculated motion.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” You hiss at him, he quickly raises his hands into the air, gun still in his left hand, but not pointed towards anyone.

“Please. Just give me a couple minutes to explain some things. It’s important.” He says calmly, not wanting to get shot.

“Drop the gun. Then we’ll talk like adults.” You tell him, your tone still hostile. He nods, dropping the gun onto the floor, and kicking it over to Five. Who’s just casually sipping his margarita from the barstool, watching the whole interaction.

“So, you’re here to kill me?” Nonchalantly asks Five.

“Well, I can understand why you might feel that way, you know” Hazel mutters, standing there weaponless and slightly awkward.

“Well you attacked our house, tried to kill my family, and kidnapped my brother.” Says Five, you quickly cut in. “Not to mention that you stabbed me with an antique metal boat. And you killed Patch, the detective who was looking for Klaus...she never hurt anyone that didn’t deserve it.” You snap at him, your gun still raised. He looks down with a sigh.

“Cha-Cha was the one that killed her, I was just gonna knock her out....to give us enough time to leave. Sorry about your friend.” Your eyebrows furrow, Hazels voice surprisingly holds no lies, you stay unswayed still angry about it. But now you have a clearer idea of who’s on your hit list now, it’s just Cha-Cha. You know Hazel’s not a good person, but you can read people very well, and he just looks so tired of everything, he lacks that coldness that most true killers have. Deciding he’s harmless for now, you lower your gun, keeping one arm on the counter as you bring the gun down to your side.

“Well, there’s not much I can do about the past. I’m not the only killer in this room. You two got your own bloody histories. Speaking of which, that job you did in Calhoun, Five, that shits legendary.” He tells the two of you sincerely, looking up to you as he continues, “Y/N, when you busted that sex trafficking ring in Madrid, killing all the guards and leaving the main pimp alive for the feds. Granted, you blinded him in one eye and shattered his right arm beyond repair. But still...impressive.” You think about that moment briefly, it was more of a ruined vacation to say the least. “I can’t believe I’m actually in the same room as the two of you, after all..” Five looks up from his drink, half annoyed and half curious.

“Hazel why are you here?” Hazel stops for a second to speak, “Well I..” Suddenly he’s cut off when Diego appears out of nowhere, kicking him hard from behind. “Diego, stop!” Shouts Five, “You know, before you kill him, you might wanna hear what he has to say.”

Diego completely ignores him, you’re not even sure if he saw you behind the bar. Completely over taken by his own sense of tunnel vision when it comes to fighting bad guys. He tumbles around with Hazel, getting a punch in here and there, stepping back to pull out a knife, “I’m gonna kill you for what you did to Patch.” He growls, throwing his arm out, slicing where Hazel just was. Thankfully Hazel’s a trained assassin, so he’s able to dodge Diego’s blows. That is until Diego stabs him right in his thick left thigh, you and Five grimace, yeah that looked painful. The two of them duke it out for another couple seconds before Hazel aggressively bear hugs Diego, holding his arms down while lifting him up. Diego does not like this in the slightest, and a moment later he bites into Hazel’s ear. Five finally gets off the stool, grabbing an empty tequila bottle, teleporting behind Diego, and hitting him over the head with the glass. Diego gets knocked out instantly, Hazel letting him go, as he falls unconsciously to the floor. “I draw the line at biting. Hazel, whatever you came here to say, I suggest you make it quick, before he comes round.” Says Five, walking back over to his drink.

“I left my partner, quit the Commission, came to volunteer.” Says Hazel quickly, straight and to the point.

“For what?” You ask him puzzled, not 100% convinced that now he’s all gun-ho and ready to stop killing people. “To help stop the apocalypse.” Five starts to chuckle, Hazel’s face falling in confusion.

“What on earth could be so funny to you right now?” Five then goes on to explain things about how the apocalypse is over and how we found that random guy who supposedly causes it. They then converse about what life could have been like for Five if he never got caught up with the Handler and the Commission or if he never even timetraveled at all. Hazel says his farewells and even gives you the weapon that killed Patch, so Diego’s name can rightfully be cleared. You don’t stop him when he finally leaves, you’ve figured enough blood has been spilled this week already, and you’d rather not add any new stains onto the Academy’s carpet.

——

When Diego finally comes round, you and Five are sitting on the barstools watching him wake up. “Good, you’re up. Ready for a drink now?” Says Five as casually as ever, Diego suddenly jumps to his feet, looking around for a missing Hazel. “Where is he?”

“We let him go.” You tell him, Diego’s eyes shoot open in astonishment, he was so close to avenging Patch. “You what?”

“Now that the apocalypse is over, it’s time for the fighting to stop.” Reasons Five, Diego’s face turns into a scowl, as he leans down to pick up his dropped knife off of the floor. “He didn’t kill Patch. Cha-Cha did.” You try getting through to him, but he seems to not care.

“So what? They were both there that night.” He snaps, you raise an eyebrow at his moodiness and abrupt change in tone.

“So? He happened to give us...both of their guns. Which will clear you, because the ballistics will match Eudora’s crime scene.” You tell him as he thinks about the information. “Hazel came looking for a way out. He wanted a fresh start. And he happened to have in his possession the one thing that could do our family a little good. So it’s time to move on.” Five says, adding more to what you’ve already said in hopes Diego will listen.

“Not a chance.” He answers with, you let out a sigh at his stubbornness. Five gets up, walking over to Dolores to pick her up so he can leave, not wanting to try and argue with Diego about his refusal to stop hunting both of them. “Suit yourself.” He adds, turning to walk out of the room, you watch as he goes knowing that you’re gonna have to be the one to talk some sense into Diego.

“I’m done hunting Hazel. He’s far from innocent, I’ll say that much. But...he’s not worth my anger anymore....I’ll kill Cha-Cha, and then I’ll sleep better at night knowing she can’t hurt anyone else anymore...and the bitch got what she deserved.” You truthfully tell him, hoping that he’ll take your side and understand your meaning. You look over to him, he frowns hanging his head down.

“I can’t, she was my friend.” He whispers honestly, avoiding your disappointed gaze.

“And she was mine. I doubt Patch would have wanted you to kill a faultless man. He didn’t kill her, Diego.” He looks up at your sincere gaze, he knows you’re right, but it’s just so difficult for him to accept that. You study his face, and in all honesty you’re not 100% certain in what he might say next, so you give him a hard decision that will feasibly sway his mindset.

“If you try and kill Hazel....I’ll stop you.” You pause for a moment to look at his conflicted face, he looks away from you. “You know I can stop you if I really wanted to. You’re not an idiot to how dangerous I can be...so don’t be an idiot.” You’re voice is almost harsh with the small threat you’ve just made, Diego hasn’t felt this nervous around you since he was a teenager. He looks back up to you, letting out a shaky breath, he puts his dagger back into its holster.

“Fine. You’re more important to me than killing Hazel....I can live with that.” He finally says, catching the big relief in your eyes. You give him a small smile, “Good, I really didn’t wanna have to break your arm.” His eyes go wide at your statement, “Oh calm down, I wouldn’t touch your face, I gotta keep you lookin pretty.” He rolls his eyes at that, revealing the smallest of hidden smiles.

——

You’re lounging on your bed, absentmindedly throwing a small bouncy ball against your wall over and over again. When Allison walks into your room, she gives you a tired smile, but you can see past that, noticing the deep worry that seeps out. You catch the ball without looking, standing up and setting it down on your bed. “Glad to see you’re alive and well. I don’t know where anyone else is right now if you’re trying to find Luther.” You tell her, she shakes her head, giving her notepad into your hand. Follow me. He has Vanya. Is what the note reads, your eyebrows furrow in confusion, but wanting to know more you nod ready to help in anyway you can.

She leads you down the hallway and down many flights of stairs, and then finally into an elevator before you both are standing at the end of a creepy metal hallway. You’ve never seen this part of the Academy before, but you have a terrible idea as to why that might be. She continues forward as you hear the agitated voices of Klaus, Diego, and Luther. As well as someone faintly pounding on glass. What is going on?

When you reach the end of the hallway, Allison stops, your eyes find the three boys heatedly yelling about Vanya. Then you finally see her, she looks terrified and is almost in tears as she silently screams, pounding her hands against the glass opening in the metal door. Luther turns around, immediately noticing the two of you. Who are staring on in shock and rising anger. “Y/N. Allison, what are you two doing down here? Allison you should be in bed.” Says Luther, more concerned for Allison then Vanya, who’s fucking imprisoned in a soundproof metal cage. Allison begins to furiously scribble down some words on her notepad. Let her go, it reads. Luther shakes his head, “I can’t do that. She hurt you.”

Allison scribbles more down, holding it up for them to see when she’s done. My Fault. Luther won’t be moved, “I’m sorry but she’s staying put.” Allison shakes her head, walking over to get Vanya out, Luther puts his large arm out to stop her. “Just until we know what we’re dealing with.” She goes to walk around him as Diego and Klaus walk over to you by the doorway, but he stands unmoving, she steps back in frustration, “She stays put.” Says Luther, giving the final word. Allison’s face makes an angry but pained expression as she pushes his chest twice, letting out her frustration physically, knowing whatever hits she deals on Luther, won’t hurt him in the slightest. He doesn’t even budge, even when she makes an attempt at throwing weak punches into his arm that’s currently holding her back. “Come on. You need to rest.” He tells her, Allison doesn’t want to listen but she’s getting tired and knows she won’t be able to get past Luther. Diego and Klaus don’t even make an effort to try and fight him either, it’s not worth it.

You stand defiantly in the doorway as Klaus walks past you, Diego tugs gently on your arm, silently asking you to go with him, knowing that fighting with Luther will only make things worse. “We can’t just fucking leave her down here.” You snap at Luther, and a bit at the others. You brush Diego’s hand off of you as you walk up to Luther and Allison. “I’m not leaving without Vanya. So get out of my way.” You growl at him through clenched teeth, seething with anger at what he’s done. How dare he leave Vanya down here all alone, like a caged animal. You won’t stand for it.

Luther let’s out a discouraged sigh, really dreading a fight with you, the legitimate only person who could kick his ass and definitely hurt him. If you truly wanted to, and right now you do, very badly. “We don’t need to do this.” He pleads, fearing what he might have to do next.

“It wasn’t a suggestion. Move.” You hiss, he nudges Allison to get out of the way. She gives you a sad look as she walks past you, standing next to Diego and Klaus who came back to see what’s going on. “I know what it feels like to get a broken leg. It doesn’t feel very nice. So I advise that you step aside, before I make an example out of you.” He takes a step forward, staring dangerously down at your unflinching form. Taking this as your answer, you punch him in the stomach as you kick his right leg out from under him. He swiftly falls to the floor, catching himself on his hands and knees with a pained grunt. As you go to walk around him, he throws his right arm up, stabbing you with something tiny but cold. The fuck? As an answer you kick him in the face, he falls back a couple feet, landing near Allison and Diego who are watching this in shock. Not knowing how to handle the two of you.

You turn back around to look at Vanya, she’s looking at something on the ground next to your boots with a scared face. You follow her gaze to see a lone surgeons needle, empty on the cold floor by your feet. And then it hits you, Luther fucking drugged you, he knew you’d fight back. And he’s smart enough to know that you’d win, so he drugged you, preventing you from being able to help Vanya for awhile. Fucking bastard. The effects take hold of you quickly as your vision begins to go spotty, you suddenly feel numb all over and extremely tired. Shit what did he put in the needle. You look over at him, falling to the floor, as you land hard on your hands and knees. The room seems to sway as you sit down, your arms sliding out from under you. As you fall sideways onto the hard cement floor, Diego races over to you as Luther stands up, wiping a trail of blood from his nose.

“Fuck you.” Is the only thing you have time to rasp out, your world falling away into darkness, as Diego tells you something that you can’t even hear anymore.

——

A loud thunderous smashing sound of metal on metal vibrates violently throughout the Academy. Rousing you from your slumber, you suck in a deep breath, sitting up instantly from your spot on the couch. Your cloudy mind is trying to pick up the pieces of what happened before you got drugged. Oh, that’s right, Luther drugged you so you wouldn’t release Vanya from her steel confinement. But, onto the current problem of the hour, that sound came from below the house. Swallowing hard, you know exactly who’s the cause of this monstrous racket....Vanya.

#the umbrella academy #diego hargreeves #diego hargreeves x reader #diego hargreeves x you #the umbrella academy x reader #what a time to be alive fic #falcor the luck dragon stories #tua #tua season one #number two

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stones-x-bones · 3 years ago

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Pretty Weird Problems || Milo and Bex

TIMING: Last Night PARTIES: @wickedmilo and @inbextween SUMMARY: Bex runs into Milo on a midnight walk and the two decide to stop skirting around what they both already suspect. CONTENT: Domestic abuse mentions, internalized homophobia, Medical blood

Bex was having a good day, and good days usually led to good nights. She’d opted to go for a walk through the Commons, enjoying the fact that it was no longer so flooded. They’d even managed to get the fairy lights that lined the gazebo working and Bex cut across the field to stroll over to it. Mina was busy this evening and Bex had needed a distraction, and what better way to distract herself than taking a nice, long walk. She’d...walked really far, actually. It was strange how free she felt. She’d rode the ferry across the canal and walked all the way from the station to here, without missing a beat. Being normal felt so-- normal. No aches in her body, no fear about being seen, no worries about having to go home and wondering which set of hands was waiting for her. No, she could just go out and do what she wanted, live her life. Live the life she’d always wanted. She finally had everything she wanted.

She wondered if it would all go wrong at some point. That was something that would happen, especially here, especially to her. But, for now, she’d enjoy it. She circled back around the gazebo to the little rock archway and started down, when she heard a familiar voice. It was hazy through her drunken mind, but she recognized it. Moving quickly through the brush, she turned and came upon the boy that had helped her out not too long ago, by swiping a bottle of alcohol for her. She beamed, she couldn’t wait to tell him she was normal. And if she could get what she wanted, maybe he could, too. “Milo!” she called out, waving, “It’s Bex. What’re you doing here?”

Milo had been on the phone to Rio, talking about next to nothing as he cut across the common in a bid to make it home. There was plenty of time before the sunrise was due, but sometimes it was a nice change of pace to sit in the apartment he shared with Harsh. They would cook together, or watch tv, or even pay Summer and Quinn some attention. The older vampire had become a comfort, though he would never admit that out loud. When things were beginning to overwhelm him, he felt safe with Harsh. He felt capable. White Crest, as always, had other plans for him though. And despite having just left Orion’s home, he begrudgingly said goodbye, ending the call as he turned to face whoever had called his name. Slipping his phone back into his pocket, it didn’t take him long to notice Bex. She looked decidedly more upbeat than the last time he had seen her. He wasn’t sure whether that was due to the lack of alcohol in her system, or something else entirely. Glancing up at the sky, as though double checking it was dark, he caught her eye again with a quizzical grin. “How could I forget?” He teased, crossing the distance between them both so that she would no longer feel the need to shout. “What are you doing here?” He countered. “Isn’t it a bit late for a walk?”

“No, I don’t really think so,” Bex said, shrugging. She looked back up and to the sky, fading quickly from sunset oranges to nighttime blues. “I mean, maybe, but the Common is pretty well lit and safe at night. Usually. Back when the portals were open, it sure wasn’t, but that’s all over now! Just a strange bit of gravity fluctuations and occasional snowfall,” she pointed out, grinning. “And I guess the constellations are all whacky, but there’s not much we can do about any of those.” Even if everyone else she’d talked to had been rather distressed about it all, she was finding it hard to be. Not when everything felt good, great. She brought her eyes back down level with Milo’s and smiled. “If you’re worried about me, you don’t need to be. And I uh-- never properly said thanks for last time.” It was still a blur in her mind, stumbling drunk in the park, then being walked back to his apartment and laid in a bed. When she’d woken the next morning, she’d crawled out of the apartment, wincing under harsh sunlight and pretending like she wasn’t curious about his ‘don’t look in the fridge’ rule. Her curiosity had always seemed to be a bane, but like this, it felt more like a boon. Asking questions didn’t get her in trouble anymore. At least, not with her parents. “You never answered my question-- are you just out for a walk, too?”

It wasn’t the first time Bex had said something Milo struggled to keep up with. He only knew about the portals through the experiences of others. Whatever was happening with gravity, and the weather hopefully wouldn’t affect him. Deciding not to ask too many questions, lest he accidentally tempt fate and start floating up towards the sky, he laughed quietly. “White Crest can be really fucking weird.” He muttered, glancing up at the stars himself to see if he might notice any difference in their arrangement. “I mean… it’s probably better to just ignore it, right?” He was only half serious, but it had proven to be a rather efficient coping strategy. Especially when he was faced with the supernatural, things he still didn’t understand, or feel familiar with. Turning his attention back to Bex he was glad to see she seemed to be taking the same approach of acceptance. If something happened to them, they could deal with it. Until then, how was worrying going to help? Returning her smile, he hurried to brush off her thanks. Taking her home to sleep off the alcohol had been far easier than first anticipated. As predicted there was human food in the fridge which he had encouraged her to eat before sleeping. And she had been more than respectful of the boundaries put in place to stop her from finding anything distinctly vampiric. “We’ve all got our shit to deal with.” He shrugged, letting her know he wasn’t about to baby her because she used alcohol to deal with her baggage. Wasn’t he guilty of doing the very same?

“And I trust you.” He added. “If you say you’re okay, you’re okay.” It was the very least he could offer her. He had been told so many times that he had problems, even after adamantly denying the fact. It was important to feel heard, to know you could trust the person you were with. “I mean- you look okay. Good-” He corrected himself. “You look good.” He caught her eye, his smile growing in response as he properly took her in. There was something different, a weight that seemed suddenly absent from her shoulders. “Your question? Oh-” He laughed, pushing his glasses further up his nose. “I actually just left a friend’s house, so kind of? I’m supposed to be walking home, but if you’re up for some company I wouldn’t mind a midnight stroll.” He prompted, secretly hoping she would take him up on his suggestion. He wanted to know why she looked so content, what had compelled her to call out his name. “You can tell me about how miserable it was trying to get home with your hangover. That can’t have been fun.”

“I don’t think ignoring it is really the right answer, no,” Bex said, wringing her hands together, “but knowing what you can and can’t handle is probably a good idea around here.” Her eyes went back up to the stars, and the distress they’d originally caused her was still there, floating just above their heads, millions of billions of miles away. Stars didn’t move. But she had to remind herself that that also meant she wasn’t capable of moving them, either, and therefore nothing could be done. Especially when she didn’t have magic anymore. And she didn’t want it anymore. She smiled. “True, we do, but, like, sometimes we can help each other out with our shit, you know? At least, I’d like to be able to be someone who can help others out, like how you helped me out. It was-- nice, not having to go home for a night.” And it was nice, now, to be able to go home to a life that didn’t threaten her every moment she did something wrong. “Well, thanks, then. For trusting me.” Not many people did, in that way. She’d always been too naive, too ignorant, too “out of the loop” as far as the supernatural was concerned.

She let out a gentle chuckle, in stark contrast to the ridiculous laughter that had consumed her while she’d been drunk. “It’s fine, I know what you mean. I feel good, too. But sure! Yeah, I wouldn’t mind the company. I was just gonna kinda walk around here, maybe towards the lake. Where the night takes me.” Even if she’d been reminded several times that the lake was dangerous and now, without her magic, maybe even more so. She didn’t really care, though. “Oh, god, please don’t make me recount that tale. It was miserable. More so because it was so damn sunny out. I’ve never hated the sun more so than that morning. Or...afternoon. I don’t remember what time it was, just that once I got home I slept the rest of the day.”

Milo laughed, unable to help himself. Despite strongly suspecting Bex was more than human, or at the very least somebody who knew about the supernatural, the idea of her being able to help him with his problems didn’t quite feel believable to him. Even his closest friends couldn’t take away the pain or the trauma. And apparently there was nothing he could do about the constant thirst for blood. “No offense, but I’m not sure what you could do to help me with my shit. Ignoring it has proven to be a pretty reliable mechanism.” Maybe not always, but on the few blissful nights he had been able to drink and forget, he almost, almost felt normal. Human again. And that was as close as he seemed to get to being genuinely okay. A smile tugging at his lips despite the bitter nature of his thoughts, offering Bex a place to stay had been the obvious course of action. He hadn’t considered the fact that he might be helping her beyond ensuring she was safe. “Oh, I- it wasn’t a big deal, you know?” He brushed off her comment with a shrug. “I just- you didn’t want to go home so… I wasn’t about to make you.”

Watching her carefully, curious to understand why trusting her was something she felt the need to thank him for, his smile began to grow. He really did enjoy her company, he wanted her to know that. “You don’t need to thank me for trusting you.” He insisted. He figured he should probably thank her for trusting him too, for not going through his things, or trying to look inside of the fridge. But that would only draw attention to the strange rules he had put in place, and he wasn’t sure that would be a very smart move. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.” He added, hoping she could see he was being sincere, while simultaneously diverting the conversation. It didn’t take a genius to realise she was going through a lot, and everyone deserved a break from their struggles, regardless of how they managed to achieve that temporary escape. He laughed again at her reaction to her hangover being mentioned. But this laughter came easily, it was a product of good company. Of memories that were tinged with underlying emotion, but happy on the surface. He could look back on them with a strange sense of fondness. “Yeah, me and the sun don’t exactly get along.” He admitted. “I’m sorry about the blackout curtains, I guess they can make it pretty disorientating when you leave the apartment during the day…” Shit. He realised too late that he had essentially done exactly what he had been trying to avoid. Maybe he hadn’t drawn attention to the fridge, but he had just reminded her the entire apartment existed in a perpetual state of darkness. Nice one, Milo.

Bex had never thought that she was all that good at making friends, but that was back when fear had dictated her every move. Fear of if people might judge her for how she was born, fear of if they would find out about her magic (although she hadn’t called it that back then), fear of if she might hurt them or them her. Fear of if her parents wouldn’t approve and they’d get taken away before she even got a chance to grow close. But that was before, and this was now, and maybe she liked the idea of being friends with Milo, because he was sweet and he was helpful, and she liked that she could make him smile in a way that seemed almost relaxed. “Well, if you ever do think of a way, anything, really, just lemme know. I’d like to, you know, pay it back somehow. Even if it’s just a small thing.” She was quiet for a moment, her face drawing pensive for a moment. “It was a big deal, for me, at least. Even if it wasn’t for you.” She smiled again-- whatever the situation was back then, it didn’t exist now. “But we don’t have to talk about it.”

She perked back up, smoothing her hands along the fringes of her dress. It was one of her dresses that her mother rarely approved of, except at gatherings where she could catch the eye of some rich politico that could help the family. Bex liked it because she felt nice in it and she looked good in it and she’d wanted Mina to see her in it. “Thanks. I hope things are going well for you, too. There seems to be a bit going on around town, huh?” She shrugged, trying not to less the curious questions in her stomach bubble up. Her tendency to run her mouth and ask too many questions had been a downfall for her quite a few times. “Do you like, work overnights or something?” she found herself asking before she could stop herself. She didn’t want to automatically assume anything, but not being out in the sun, having blackout curtains, and an aversion to people looking in the fridge gave Bex a few too many questions.

Milo wasn’t necessarily touched by the sentiment, many people had said similar things to him in the past. He was touched by the fact that Bex obviously meant what she was saying. There weren’t many people he felt like he could genuinely approach with his problems, but despite only knowing each other for a night, and maybe half of a day, Bex was quickly becoming one of those people. A rather impressive feat, all things considered. “I’m not making any promises.” He teased. “I have, uh- some of my problems can be pretty weird.” His smile faltering as he noticed his company’s expression shift, he fell silent again, giving her the space she needed to feel comfortable. “Oh…” He wasn’t sure what he had been expecting her to say, and the rush of emotion that followed her words was unexpected. Not for the first time he felt the unusual urge to protect her, to keep her safe. Was this the way Dani used to feel about him? Before he changed? Before she stopped loving him? He cleared his throat, feeling awkward in the face of such unguarded honesty. “You know the offer is always there… I mean- if you ever need a place to stay. You know where I am.” He might be taking a risk but he almost didn’t care. Her wellbeing was suddenly far more important to him than being sensible.

Not failing to notice the way she brushed herself off, seemingly putting the conversation behind her in preparation to move on, he nodded, taking a moment to contemplate her question. “I didn’t notice for a long time,” he scuffed his feet as he spoke, feeling ridiculous for being so oblivious now that he knew how obvious the Weird of White Crest actually was. “But yeah, there always seems to be a lot going on in this town. The chaos has become pretty hard to escape these past few months.” Would he ever be able to escape it again? He tried not to dwell on the question. “But you know… I guess it is what it is.” Lowering his gaze, the phrase never really helped him to feel any better, but every time he uttered it he found a part of him was secretly hoping it might. He only looked back up again when Bex mentioned the blackout curtains, and he cursed himself for being so stupid. Of course she was going to pick up on that. Of course she was going to be curious. “Oh, I… my roommate does.” It wasn’t technically a lie. Harsh worked nights more often than not, only sneaking out for the occasional day shift when the weather was dark, and gloomy. “I think it’s easier just to leave them up, his schedule can be pretty unpredictable so…”

“Good, you shouldn’t make promises,” Bex said, perhaps a little too excitedly for the topic. It was hard for her to not be happy right now, really. She had everything she ever wanted, and while it wasn’t much, it made her entire life different. Better. “Especially to people you don’t know-- know well.” She caught herself, giving a chuckle at the end of her sentence to try and cover up the slip. “Just cause, you know, sometimes people get weird about that stuff. Especially here. Speaking of which, I was kinda like that, too. Technically I grew up here, but I didn’t ever notice how--” she chewed her tongue a moment-- “strange the place really was until recently.” Until she started leaving her home regularly. Until she’d met Nell in that computer lab. But those details weren’t important. She didn’t even remember telling Milo about Morgan and Nell last time they’d been together, drunk in the park. “And thanks, for the offer. I won’t say it’ll never happen again, but I think I’ve got a good thing going now, so hopefully I won’t have to crash your pad again any time soon.” But in a town like this, she supposed it was a ‘never say never’ sort of situation.

“The offer is there for you, too, you know,” Bex said suddenly, noting the way the conversation shift had turned a bit tense. Maybe not tense, but sometimes people had secrets that they didn’t want to share, and Bex’s curiosity could be seen more as nosiness or digging into things she shouldn’t be digging in. She hated that idea, but people were allowed their secrets, no matter how bad she wanted to know. “Does he? That’s cool. It’s nice that you don’t mind the curtains, either, then. I’m such a morning person. And a night owl. Actually, I don’t really sleep much, but I definitely have never been able to sleep long in the mornings.” Even when she was laying next to Mina, wrapped in her arms. “Are you like, more of a night person, then? The two times I’ve run into you have been at night, which technically isn’t enough for a pattern, but it could be leading to one. No judging if you are! Of course not. It’s just that this place is kind of-- you know, dangerous at night.”

Milo had only been suspicious until now, but after hearing Bex warn him about making promises he would be willing to bet almost anything on her knowing about the supernatural. But how? She didn’t strike him as a hunter, although Dani had always presented herself as caring, and kind. If she was a slayer, wouldn’t he already be dead? So what? A witch, a mara, a werewolf? Or maybe even a human in the know? He wanted to ask, to sate his curiosity, but he forced himself to hold his tongue. “You’re not the first person to tell me that.” He said carefully, wondering whether she might out herself if he hinted at being a part of her world. Raising his eyebrows when she mentioned taking a while to notice the truth of White Crest, he ran over the implication behind her words. Had she been turned too? Was there any way for him to uncover that information without actively asking her? “I know how that goes.” He admitted, framing his words as casual. “Waking up and realising everything is just… different. It’s not an easy thing to navigate but… we’re still here.” He smiled at her, hoping she was right. He had never been the type to judge others but the idea of her being happy enough to no longer need her crutch was a genuinely nice one. One he was willing to root for.

Surprised to hear his own offer echoed back to him, he felt his demeanour soften. Every instinct in him was telling him he could trust Bex. It was so hard to remind himself that those instincts could possibly be wrong. “They don’t… they don’t bother me.” He said, debating how far he could conceivably push the conversation before he was being too open, before he was putting himself at risk. “I don’t really sleep anymore… but I used to sleep until noon when I could.” Not that he hadn’t tried more than once to do so again, the best he could achieve was a strange, trance-like lack of consciousness. He hated it. “Oh, yeah… I’m definitely a night person. I always have been… before I started partying I used to study at night.” He laughed quietly at the contrast in activities. “My life would be very different if I didn’t abandon academia.” A soft sigh escaping him, he caught his friend’s eye when she told him the town could be dangerous. He could still remember what it felt like, living in blissful ignorance. He missed it. “Believe me, I know. I kind of found out the hard way… but I appreciate the heads up.”

“Really? Well, that’s good.” Bex nodded slowly. Her suspicion was slowly being confirmed-- Milo knew something about the supernatural. She didn’t know how he fit in, but she assumed he had the same thought about her. How did they both fit in? And who would break first? It would be Bex, she knew that. Being a witch wasn’t as precarious as being something like a zombie or a werewolf. Something that people actively hated and hunted. Witch hunters, for all she was aware, were a rare and unnecessary occurrence. She wasn’t in danger of them. “You should listen to that advice, then. And also maybe even hold off on saying ‘thanks’ too much. My girlf--” the word stuck in her throat, like it always did, and she swallowed it, “--one of my friends told me to try and replace ‘thanks’ with ‘I appreciate that’ or ‘I’m grateful for’. They’re better to say, anyway.” Smiled, trying to brush off the mishap. It was strange to her that possibly telling someone she had magic was easier to swallow than telling someone she was dating a girl. “I think, for me,” she started off, brows knitting together a moment, “it was less waking up and just realizing it and more...finally admitting to myself that things here were different. Like, I’d always known, but pretended I hadn’t. But then things happen and you can’t really deny it anymore, you know? And so I admitted it,” she shrugged, “I think things technically got better after that, although sometimes it doesn’t seem that way.”

She examined his face as they walked and wondered what the strange curve of his brow meant as he answered her. She’d never been good at reading expressions on people, unless they carried anger. She tilted her head in contemplation. “You know, you can always go back,” she said, “to school. College doesn’t have an age cap.” Sometimes she’d wished she’d been able to wait to start college, but not because she was disinterested. But because her life had been messy back then, and maybe if she’d been smarter, had known more about the world, she wouldn’t have fallen into bed with the first girl who cast her an empathetic glance. She turned away, cheeks slightly tinged. “Yeah, me, too. I-- I take it you’re okay now? It-- I mean, physically? Whatever happened. Was it--” had something attacked him, too? Did he also have the sting of scars on his body from an ignorance that had left him vulnerable?

“I guess my friends are much smarter than I am.” Milo was only half joking. Even after suffering at the hands of the supernatural, he was reckless in his behaviour. Without Rio constantly pressing him to stay focused, to pay attention, he would probably be in a lot more danger, and he wasn’t afraid to admit that. “I try.” He admitted, being entirely honest. Trying meant he failed more often than not, but the warning was always there in the back of his mind. A knowing smile tugging at his lips as Bex stumbled over the word girlfriend, it was an act he had seen many times before, and one he knew not to interrupt. That didn’t stop his eyes from shining as he wondered who this ‘girlfriend’ might be. “My friend told me the same,” he thought back to his conversation with Orion. It was the first night he had ever spent in his house, and he held the memories very close to his heart. Falling silent to listen again, he dissected the explanation he was given in his mind. If she hadn’t woken up to a different White Crest then maybe she had been born into it. Surely it took Dani a long time to realise the way she was being raised wasn’t normal. Could it have been the same for Bex? “They did?” He asked quietly, hope lacing his tone as he wondered whether there was a chance for things to get better for him. Maybe one day he could fully embrace being a vampire. It could become what he was and not what someone had made him.

“Go back?” It took him a few seconds to realise what his company meant. He laughed quietly, shaking his head. “I don’t need to,” he explained. “I got my degree, you know? I did what my parents wanted me to do, even if it wasn’t in the way they wanted me to do it.” Hiding whiskey in his coffee during exams, and skipping out on morning lectures because he was hungover from the previous night definitely wasn’t a part of their plan. Neither was a degree in English Literature. But as far as he was concerned, it was an achievement, all the same. What would he study if he did decide to return? And how would he work around the schedules when the majority of classes took place during the day? Furrowing his brow, he forced the thought to the back of his mind. He had chosen his path, and it had led him here. There was no going back. “Oh- I-” He wasn’t prepared for the sudden change in direction, and his hand absentmindedly moved to rest against the scars on his neck. “That kind of depends on your definition of okay.” He murmured, thinking about Dani, how she saw him as a monster. Then Harsh, who told him he was dead, but being dead was simply an opportunity to start anew. Then Macleod, who insisted with vehement conviction that he wasn’t dead, he hadn’t died. Only changed. Evolved for better or for worse. “How did you find out?” He asked, uncharacteristically bold in his question. They had been dancing around the subject, but he wanted to know now, far more than he wanted to protect himself. Even if he wasn’t quite ready to give up his secret. “That White Crest was different?”

“They did? Oh, well, then, you should definitely listen to your smarter friends,” Bex nodded. Had she said too much? Did Milo know about the fae? Was Milo’s friend a fae? Oh, she hoped she hadn’t just exposed someone, even if she was curious. But the tone in his voice stopped her short of any other thoughts on the subject, when he gave the smallest response to her announcement that things had gotten better for her. It was hope, and it felt like it might strangle Bex. Should she tell Milo about Erin? Was that her place to? Was his pain anything like hers? Did he need saving like she had? She swallowed. “They did. Get better. But not easily. Not out of nowhere.” She lifted a hand to her ribs-- the injury was gone, but she could still remember the pain. Still remembered what it felt like when her head had hit the dumpster, over and over and over again. “I had help, too. So, if-- just, you know, so you know...it’s okay to accept help, if you need it.” Maybe that was the best answer she could give for now. She clasped her hands together behind her back as they walked and watched her feet a moment, shoes brushing against grass under the rubber soles.

“Well, you know, you could always go back and do what you wanted to, you know,” she pointed out. “Instead of what your parents wanted of you. But only if that’s something you want to do.” She didn’t much like his answer to her question, either. Things didn’t seem as at ease as she’d thought they were when she first spotted him. She bit her lip, then sighed. “I blew up a computer lab with my mind,” she blurted, suddenly. “Well, not my mind, technically. Maybe? I’m still not sure what magic actually comes from. My mentor says it’s from the soul or the energy inside of us, but if our bodies are our minds, then I guess technically it is my mind. From my mind. So, yeah-- I blew up a computer lab with my mind and after that, it was hard to deny all the things I’d known for so long but never wanted to accept.” She looked over at Milo. “What um...what about you?”

Milo laughed, nodding in agreement with Bex. “I don’t think I would be here if I didn’t.” He admitted. Maybe there was an element of exaggeration to his words, but the information provided by people like Rio, and Macleod was invaluable. There was no doubt in his mind that it might save him one day. Fingers still pressed against the base of his neck, he could feel the scars beneath them. A frown creasing his brow as he listened to Bex explain things were difficult, they hadn’t miraculously changed for her overnight, it was impossible for him to understand what she meant without a little extra context, so he nodded quietly. Letting her know she still had his full attention. “Help?” He asked, curious to know what kind of help. “Do you mean your friends?” Lowering his hand, chewing thoughtfully on his bottom lip, he wondered what things would look like for him if they did get better. It was a vague concept, it could mean so many different things. “I don’t need help-” He insisted, breaking off as he reminded himself she wasn’t talking about his habits. Repressing the instinctive response, he forced down any part of himself that was becoming defensive. Bex clearly wasn’t about to order him to walk into an AA meeting. She was talking about something else. “I mean… thank you. But I think I’m okay… kind of, anyway. I have some good people in my life… when things get weird, they’re usually there waiting for me to freak out.”

Thinking for a moment, allowing a few beats of silence to pass, he realised with a start that he didn’t know what he wanted to do. For so long he had told himself he was content with working in the comic book store, couch surfing to avoid any form of genuine commitment. Even English Literature had been the easy choice, not necessarily the choice he would have made if he was a different person. If he had more motivation, a determination to do well. “Even if I knew, I don’t know how possible it would be to just go out and do shit.” He shrugged, brushing off his honesty before it could hurt him, before he could dwell on it for too long. But then Bex was distracting him with her own honesty, honesty he had prompted, but definitely not been expecting from her. It took him a few minutes to fully process what she was saying, but when he did he faltered to a halt, eyeing her with an even mixture of disbelief, and satisfaction. “Wait- what?” So not only was she supernatural, she had totally caved first. Was it wrong to feel so smug about that? “You’re a witch?” He asked, despite her just having confirmed the fact. “I…” He trailed off as she turned the question back on him, not prepared to answer it himself. But he owed her, he couldn’t exactly walk away after she had put herself in such a vulnerable position. A soft sigh escaping him, he steeled himself to tell her his own story. Or a part of it, at least. “Someone with fangs decided I looked like a snack… I guess they overindulged because…” He offered her a hesitant smile, revealing his fangs in the way Harsh had taught him to. He tapped one absentmindedly, wrinkling his nose. “Well, I woke up with these.”

Bex was a little perplexed at his immediate denial of needing help, clearly he needed help-- anyone in this god forsaken town needed help, if she was being honest. But just as much as she’d needed to understand that she couldn’t do things alone, so did he. She wouldn’t push it, it wasn’t a lesson she had the right to teach anyone, when she was still learning it herself. She nodded slowly. “Okay, well, if you do ever need it, just know I’m here. Don’t hesitate to ask. And--” she looked at him sincerely, genuinely hoping he understood that, even if they’d only known each other from two run-ins, she would help him. It was really all she wanted to do, help people. Understand things better so she could do that better. Understand this world. “I’m glad you have people there to help you. Having a support system is always good.” She wouldn’t have survived this town without hers, that was for sure. A subconscious hand ran across her chest. Kyle’s life would have been ruined had he actually killed her that first night. She wanted to make sure something like that never happened again. And it wouldn’t, now that her magic was gone.

“Why not?” Bex asked, not understanding the restrictions Milo might face without knowing what he was. She didn’t want to push, though. She turned away, even as he stopped in his tracks, and shrugged. “I prefer the term spellcaster,” she said, picking at a seam on her dress. And the proper wording would’ve been was a spellcaster, thanks to the wish. She didn’t feel like explaining that part yet, though. His hesitation brought her gaze back up. “I-I’m sorry! You don’t have to answer, I understand--” but then he was answering. Someone with fangs. A vampire. Bex felt her chest squeeze and she swallowed, trying to remind herself that vampires were people, too, and her one run-in with the woman outside the library wasn’t representative of all vampires. She had no reason not to trust Milo. What would Mina say? She shook her head. “Oh,” she answered, finally, “I-- that must be difficult, to-- to adjust to.” A pause. “But,, you know, night school is a thing. And there’s plenty of overnight jobs here. And-- I have a friend who’s also undead. They go to the butchers here to get food and they’re really good about it. And being discreet. Do you-- I mean the blood thing-- do you have enough? Do you get enough food? You drink animal blood, right?”

Milo looked at Bex as she paused, somehow everything she wanted to say was conveyed in her brief moment of silence, and he knew. He understood. “Thank you.” He said, his voice gentle and sincere. They hadn’t known each other for long but he felt as though they had more than a few things in common. Coping mechanisms, and trauma. The kind of things you could bond over. The kind of things that made you want to protect each other. When he had helped her into the bar, when he had stolen her that bottle of vodka, he had recognised something in her. Something that reminded him so deeply of himself. Even without the alcohol it was still there. He could still see it. “Do you have one?” He asked, remembering her mention of Morgan, and Nell. People she had been so sure she would never be able to see again. “A support system?” Making a vague gesture with his hands, brushing off her question as to why he wouldn’t be able to follow his non-existent dreams, he offered her a smile instead of an answer. “Spellcaster?” He echoed, using her correction as a way to move the conversation forward. Away from the things he could no longer do. “Is that personal preference, or just a general rule?” He was reminded of Macleod, the way she hated any terminology that referred to her as dead.

His smile growing somewhat as she hurried to insist he didn’t have to tell her what he was, keeping the information to himself would feel incredibly unfair, but he appreciated her attempt at making him feel comfortable. “No, no- it’s okay…” He did his best to assure her. “You were honest with me… it’d be kind of a dick move if I wasn’t honest with you too.” His hand moving once again to rest over the scars on his neck, he heard her heart rate elevate, but she made no outward move to imply she was nervous. He didn’t enjoy the idea of scaring people, and hopefully it wouldn’t take long for her to realise he wasn’t a genuine threat. But it still hurt, jut a little. “It was.” He agreed. “It is… I mean- I was thrown into this world I didn’t even know was real. The guy who did this to me, he left… I literally didn’t know anything.” A quiet laugh escaping him at the mention of night school, he shook his head. He couldn’t even begin to imagine going back to school. What would he achieve? What would he gain from doing so? This was his life now, and there was no escaping it. “I assume you mean Morgan?” He asked, at the mention of a friend being dead. “You mentioned her when you were pretty out of it… but I know her. I’m pretty sure she hates me.” His eyes shining to let Bex know he was half teasing, he thought back to his last conversation with Morgan and wondered whether there might be some truth to his words. They didn’t exactly see eye to eye. “Oh-” He was pulled out of his thoughts by the mention of blood, caught off guard by what felt like an incredibly personal question. “For a while…” He admitted. “I got lucky. I don’t want to out anyone but I have a friend with a habit of taking a blood bag or two from the hospital... It’s enough to keep me going.” Maybe more than enough, but he didn’t want to make Harsh sound like more of a deviant than he technically was. If he got the man into trouble then their collective supply would be in danger. “Everything kind of worked out…”

“I do have one, yeah,” Bex answered with a nod. For a while there, she hadn’t. Or, well, she’d rejected it, because she thought they’d be hurt by her family if she’d kept trying. They’d all been hurt, anyway, though, so it hadn’t mattered in the end. She’d made the wrong decision. But that was the past, and she couldn’t change that past anymore than she could change the way she grew up. “It was...rough for a while, i tried to do it without them, but it was a mistake. There’s--” she took in a breath, wrapped her arms around herself, “--I learned the hard way that I can’t protect anyone by keeping them away. Even if keeping close means they might get hurt, it-- it’s better that way. It really is.” And she was still learning that, too. Even now, with a normal life, a regular life, she was learning to accept people back into her life, despite the possible threats she’d be introducing them to. She shook her head, grateful for the change of conversation. ‘Nope, just a me thing.” She glanced over at Milo. “I think it’s all kind of the same meaning, but I just-- witch carries a weird connotation for me, I guess. I’m not pagan so I just...don’t feel right being called that.”

HIs next words made Bex’s heart constrict a bit. He was right, it was really only fair of someone to be honest with another if they shared something deep and personal. Her thoughts jumped to Eddie and his confession to her and she bit the inside of her cheek. She needed to tell him. He deserved to know, even if she could barely admit it outloud still. “Oh, I-- i did? So you know about her?” she was surprised, but not too surprised. She loved Morgan, of course she’d talked about her while wasted. She rubbed her hands together. “I-- I don’t think she hates you. I think it takes a lot for Morgan to hate someone. I’d probably know if she hated you, she’s not subtle about it.” It was her turn to falter and pause, and she felt herself take a small step backwards. “You-- so you--” her eyes went to his fangs, then his eyes, his hand still pressed over his neck, presumably where his scars were. She had some of her own, even if they hadn’t turned into a reminder of death. “You drink human blood?” ethically sourced, at least. Well, more ethical than getting it from a warm body itself. Stealing blood from the hospital wasn’t exactly the most moral thing to do, but morality, she reminded herself, was skewed in the supernatural world. She rubbed her neck. “I-- I should probably um, head home, though. It’s getting late and Mina is expecting me back soon.” She didn’t want to things to suddenly feel tense, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t know how she felt about a vampire who still drank human blood, and she didn’t think figuring out here was the best idea. She liked Milo, she didn’t want to ruin that.

“That’s good.” Milo smiled, remembering how insistent Bex had been when she was drunk, determined to believe she couldn’t let people in. The fact that she seemed to have changed her mind felt important, and he was reminded of her telling him things were better now. Better how? What was suddenly so different? “I think there’s always a risk of getting hurt… or of other people getting hurt. Isn’t that just the nature of friendship?” And romance, though he could hardly say he was experienced in that particular area. “What matters is that you care, and that these people care about you too… that’s all you can ask for, really. Isn’t it?” Staying silent as his company began to explain why she preferred using the term spellcaster, he hadn’t been expecting to understand her logic, even he was determined to respect it. But he did understand. It was so similar to Macleod, and sometimes even the way he felt. Vampire had connotations too, dark ones, and ridiculous ones. Honestly, there was something appealing about the theatrics of sleeping in a coffin. He was almost sad that wasn’t a legitimate thing.

“I do, yeah. And you might have mentioned her.” He teased, catching her eye with an easy grin. “Only in passing, don’t worry. You didn’t tell me anything you shouldn’t have. You made it pretty clear you were friends, that’s all.” Laughing at Bex insisting Morgan didn’t hate him, he shook his head, remembering some of what was said during their last meeting together. If she didn’t hate him then she was about as close as a person could get before crossing that line. “Ask her about me, see what she says.” He wasn’t being entirely serious, but he had a strong suspicion the zombie wouldn’t have anything positive to say. Not that it mattered. If she wasn’t going to help him then he didn’t give a shit what she thought. Faltering at the sudden shift in the way Bex was looking at him, he saw her gaze flicker from his fangs, to his hand, and he realised he was still touching his neck. Lowering his arm, he retracted his fangs with a surprising level of ease, his own expression shifting too. “I do,” he said quietly, watching her with open concern, trying to ignore the way his heart was sinking. Maybe he was wrong, maybe she didn’t trust him in the way he thought she did. “I- what?” He cursed himself for being so emotional, but he couldn’t stop tears from stinging at his eyes. “I’m not- I wouldn’t hurt anyone... I swear…” He swallowed, unsure what he could say to make her believe him. If she was uncomfortable, he wasn’t about to force her to stay. But did she really want to leave because of what he was?

“Yeah,” Bex admitted quietly, “I guess it is.” Even if she still hated the thought of people getting hurt because of her, for her. But they returned the sentiment, and wasn’t rejecting their help hurting her? It was still confusing, but the one thing Bex did know was that being at Morgan’s, even if it put her and everyone in that house in possible danger, felt better than being alone, trapped in her room where people got hurt because of her anyway. She rubbed her palm against her cheek before folding her arms across her chest again, nodding. “Yeah, it is. And it’s-- a lot. But I know now I can ask for that. And-- I think everyone deserves that.” Even people others deemed bad or evil. No one deserved to suffer alone. She wasn’t even sure she believed her mother deserved that.

“Oh, good. Good. I...can run my mouth sometimes. I’ve been told it’s very unbecoming of me, but I don’t really care anymore,” she said, the last words bitter on her tongue. She swallowed it. Her heart clenched again, at the way Milo was looking at her. She was caught between her own trauma and her want to change, to accept people, to accept this world, and it felt sticky. She hated it there. But she’d forgiven Kyle, and he’d been the one to directly attack her. Fuck, she probably even forgave the wolf that attacked the Moose Caboose, even if everyone around her seemed to think that was wrong to do. “No, no! It-- I don’t mean it like that. I swear it’s not because--” she stopped herself, trying not to let the shame crawling up her throat tinge her words, “I just-- something happened to me. With a vampire. And I don’t want that to, to affect how I feel about you. I really don’t. But it’s-- you know, hard? I don’t think you’re going to hurt me, Milo. And-- and if you did, I know it would be an accident. I promise it’s not because of you. I promise.” She’d promise to a fae, too, but there were none around, and she knew Mina would chastise her for it. She offered a hand out to him, instead, in a show of faith. “I really do need to be home, though.” She held up her phone, “they get worried if I’m late.” Because of the one time she’d been kidnapped by Frank, but that wasn’t important to mention. He was dead, now, and her life was normal. Things like that just didn’t happen anymore.

Milo had a feeling Bex was talking more to herself than to him, so he allowed her to speak, listening patiently until she fell silent once again. It wasn’t something he considered very often, so wrapped up in the chaotic nature of his life. Friends used to come and go, aside from Dani who had stood by him for so many years. Only now was he beginning to realise how badly he had taken her for granted. Though he had new friends now, friends who weren’t about to abandon him because of something he couldn’t help, a part of himself he couldn’t ever hope to change. She was right. Everybody deserved to be cared for, to be surrounded by friendship, and unwavering support. Offering her a smile when she told him she had a habit of saying too much, he could definitely relate to that. His love of bitter quips, and sulking petulantly about his new state of being had resulted in him essentially outing himself on more than one occasion. “I can relate to that.” He admitted. “But don’t worry, you didn’t say anything you should be concerned about. And you’re right not to care. Screw unbecoming, just be who you are… there’s no point in trying to be anybody else. It’ll only make you miserable.”

His expression faltering when Bex hurried to insist her sudden desperation to leave had nothing to do with him telling her he was a vampire, he wanted to believe her, but he couldn’t. “No offense, but I don’t know how else you could mean it…” He muttered, letting out a quiet huff of breath. He averted his gaze, avoiding eye contact so that he could stare down at his feet. He should let her go, he knew he should. What use was there in trying to cling to a friendship as new as this one when she was so clearly uncomfortable now that she knew what he really was? Swallowing his emotion, he frowned, hesitantly catching her eye again. “No shit... something happened to me with a vampire too.” He pointed out. “I didn’t ask for this. You think I don’t know how hard it is to get over? Try waking up as the thing that attacked you…” Feeling his shoulders drop when she assured him she felt safe, part of him still felt worried she wasn’t being entirely truthful. But the sentiment mattered, the fact that she was even trying to assure him mattered. Allowing his anger to dissolve, he knew it was too late to take back his words. So he moved on. Caught off guard by the unexpected promise, a weak smile began to tug at his lips. “You know… you really shouldn’t make promises.” He teased, unable to help himself. He couldn’t think of a better way to alleviate the tension. Ignoring the phone as it was held out to him, he gently reached out to take her hand, linking their fingers for a brief moment, hoping to convey everything he didn’t know how to put into words. He was trying. He was good. He was a victim too. “You should, uh… you should get home.” He said finally, ignoring what was left of the awkward tension. “It’s okay…”

Bex gave a sigh of relief. At least she hadn’t outed Morgan or Nell. She never would’ve forgiven herself, even if it was to someone who wouldn’t use it against them. She’d never had problems drinking before, but those nights had been spent locked up in the library or her room while she cradled the bottle as if it were her only lifeline. She gave a short, self-deprecating chuckle before her lips curled into a thin smile. “Trust me, I know that.” She’d been miserable her entire life because she’d done just that. But things were different now, she reminded herself. Things were better.

Her heart sank, knowing that she’d already done more damage than she’d ever meant to. But Morgan had told her to not just ignore her trauma, that wasn’t good for her. And as much as she didn’t blame the vampire on campus, she still thought about the attack and what Dani had said. She wasn’t going to stop. And if she hadn’t, Bex would be standing with the same pain as Milo, or not here at all. She let him be upset, he was allowed to be upset. She hadn’t asked for any of this, either. She understood that feeling. “You’re right,” she said, “I don’t know how that feels.” But she did know how waking up after being attacked by a friend felt. She did know the fear of thinking she might wake like that, or not wake at all. She rubbed her chest. Smiled enough to try and brush off the feeling. “You can if they’re really important,” she answered. Squeezed his hand back, before pulling away. “I’ll talk to you later, okay? Maybe next time we can just hang out somewhere nice. I know a few good places.” Her phone buzzed again and she glanced down at it. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t,” she said to him, a small tease, before she waved and headed off back towards home. She wondered what Morgan might think. She wondered what Mina might think. She wondered if, at the end of the day, it mattered. She liked Milo, and she wanted to be his friend. She owed it to him to try, at least.

#chatzy #chatzy: milo #wickedswriting #pretty weird problems #milo #domestic abuse tw #internalized homophobia tw #medical blood tw

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