#file under: snaps that i sent to a cutie

[depravedangelbaby]

♡ lazy, lazy sunday ♡

[clearlydiamondz]

New Partners

Erik Stevens x Black!Reader

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(Y/N) and Erik are partnered up on a mission. After getting stuck together, things get a little heated between the two.

Warning: Cursing, SMUT, 18+ Content, Semi Fight Scene, mention of infertility, self harm

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(Y/N) looked around the table with men as she rolled her eyes. So many men sitting here with their pride so far up their ass, it was showing in their face. She knew they had a problem with her being here, but it was more that just that. She was one of the best assassins this organization had to offer. They were intimidated by that. Who wouldn’t be. 

You were on of the girls that escaped the Red Room. That’s right. You were a black widow, trained along side the infamous Natalia Romanova. Better known as Natasha Romanoff. After loosing you’re home from S.H.I.E.L.D, you joined this organization. Just one thing threw it off. You were the only women here. Even though you irked something in their head, they couldn’t help but find you sexy. The only person in here who’s never given her a hard time was Erik. 

Erik was to himself. He didn’t speak to no one unless it was call for for a mission. He was just to himself.

“Good morning everyone.” Your boss Ricky came in as you put your phone away. “I’m going to keep this meeting short and simple. We heard a big deal going around the streets that some of the alien space craft parts from the attack on New York in 2012 is floating around the black market. We will be attending a bidding so that we can get those parts in our hands. Each of you guys here have been handpicked by me because you are  one of the best that we have here.” he said. 

After going her case file, she saw that was playing the role of Isabella Hardaway.  The wife of Simone Hardaway. She looked at all the information that was given to her. 

After the meeting, she was walking to her office when she felt someone tap her shoulders. She turned around seeing Erik standing there with his arms cross. It looked as if she just came back from a mission considering he had all of his tactical gear on. 

“I am going under as Simone Hardaway. Meet me at my office to discuss details before you go on lunch..” Was all he said before stepping away. She turned around walking back to her office and shutting the door. 

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

Before her lunch break, she walked to Erik's office knocking on the door. She heard a come in before walking into his office. The first thing she noticed was the interior of it. Everything was black and gold. It smelled good in her, kind of like Pine Cone. And he had a lot of Wakandian artifacts. The only reason she knew about it was because back in the red room she would read all types of articles and books about Wakanda. 

“You have a very nice office..” she trailed off. 

“Let’s just talk about the mission, yeah?” he said. She nodded. 

“Sure.”

Erik was a cutie. She was always attracted to the guys who didn't say much. Due to some research, she knew it was always the niggas that didn't talk a lot knew had to handle business.

And there was nothing more than she wanted for him to handle her...

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

(Y/N) rode the elevator back to the quarters that same night. It was time for them to start the plan and she was only a couple of  minutes late. As the doors opened, she walked into the building and instantly everyone's eyes were on her.

She ignored their stares as she went to the tactic room grabbing the gear that she needed. As she was signing out her equipment, Erik came beside her leaning against the wall. 

“You’re late.” he simply said as she looked up at him giving him a fake smile. She closed booklet before looking at him standing up fully. 

“Sorry but I have to look the part of a billionaire.” she said then looked at herself. “It just doesn’t happen sweet heart.” she finished before walking out the room. Erik turned around as she walked past him, looking at her backside as she walked outside the door.  

There was no hesitation that Erik wanted to have his way with her. She was fine, smart and witty. She’s been working here a little over two years now and this was the first time he could actually talk to her. Even the first time on a mission. 

They received their instructions sitting in the back of the limo, riding to the place where they were doing the bidding at. (Y/N) was looking over the notes she had tucked into her clutch before Erik spoke up. 

“You shouldn’t hide the notes in your hand bag.” he said in a suggestive tone as she looked at him. 

“I’m not. I just bring it with me so that I could go over everything before the mission.” she said folding it and tucking it under the seat. He shook his head chuckling. She looked at him raising an eyebrow. “Oh wow.. he actually laughs. Someone record this.” she said shaking her head.

“Anyways...” he trailed off turning around and looking at him. “There are somethings that you need to know about this place. It’s heavenly guarded. Metal detectors everywhere. So.. those weapons you have is useless.” he said. 

“Yeah I figured that out. But that’s why I have this.” she pulled her dress up to see a knife strapped to her thigh. Erik wasn’t really focused on the knife, more of how full her thighs looked. Damn, he wouldn’t mind being in between those thighs and getting lost. She pulled it back down, Erik not making it noticeable that he wasn’t paying attention at all. 

“A knife. You are going up against a bunch of men with guns... and your defense is a knife?” he asked pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Oh.. you have a lot to learn my friend.” 

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

They inserted the hall, their arms linked with each other. “Their holding the parts on the 5th floor but it’s heavily guarded.” They heard in their coms. 

“We need to make our presence known a little bit, then we can sneak off.” she told him as he nodded.

“Ah, you must be  Simone and Isabella, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” An Italian man walked up to them. Erik reached his hand out for him to shake.

"Ah, you must be Giovanni." Erik said to him as (Y/N) shook his hand.

"Oh wow, you're even beautiful in person." he winked at her. Deep inside, she was disgusted. But she had to play along with the roll.

"Oh stop, you're making me blush." she playfully said as he smirked at her.

"Well the bidding is going to start an hour so make yourselves comfortable." he said. They were left alone as Erik whispered in her ear.

"We need to get back there before they start bidding." he said as she nodded.

"I memorized the floor plan of the place. There is a hallway on the left side of the building behind the bar. It should direct us back there." she said. They saw the entrance was blocked by two guards standing there with AK-47s.

"Yeah, but those big ass niggas standing in the way." he said as she smirked at him.

"Well, all we need is a distraction." she said to him as he leaned back in the chair. "What do you mean you have a plan?"

"Just follow my lead..."

- - - - - - - -

She walked to Fabian tapping his shoulder. He turned around about to snap until he saw who it was. "Oh, Mrs. Hardaway. Is everything alright?" he asked placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Actually, one of your guests here have been incredibly rude to me. A-And it's just making me and my husband a bit uncomfortable and I really just don't appreciate it." she said shaking her head.

"Who!?"

She pointed in the direction where a man by the name of Rodney stood. She knew who he was. Rodney was one of the dudes that ran a drug ring on the West Coast near Compton. He was a hot head that didn't mind popping off on anyone at any minute.

Mixed with Giovanni, who didn't think with his head but his fist. If this was going to be a distraction, she didn't know what was.

"Aye, what the fuck Rodney!" Giovanni yelled walking over to him. "Why the fuck you're being a bitch!?" he exclaimed as Rodney eyes went wide with pure anger.

"Nigga who the fuck are you calling a bitch, bitch."

And they fell right into place. The two guards standing at the door ran to the commotion as Erik walked calmly to the back door. She followed as they ran down the hallway.

"See, easy work." she said to him as he shook his head.

"No you're just lucky that the two of them don't know how to control their emotions." she responded as she shrugged.

"Same thing." He followed her as the posted behind a wall. She turned her head to see more guards standing at the entrances. She turned to look at Erik putting up five fingers to tell him that there were five guards.

She dug into her purse grabbing the penny electricity lock before turning around smirking at Erik. She flipped it around the corner before she heard the groans.

"Yo.. you're fucking crazy." he shook his head as she smirked.

"Okay, well look where it got us." she said walking down the hall. She picked up the guns only to see that they were digitally activated. "What kind of..." she whispered looking at this.

"Yeah we can't use these." Erik said looking over her shoulder.

"Whelp the only form of weaponry is my knife so let's get this thing rolling." They grabbed the key card opening the door letting themselves inside. Erik shut the metal door before he walked in shutting the metal doors.

"I have a feeling that Ricky only sent me on this mission for the if it goes wrong because it seems like you got this figured out." Erik said leaning against the table. She dug into her purse grabbing a pair of tweezers before she chuckled. "

"I've seen you're record file, you have some pretty impressive stunt work under your feet." she said as he tilted his head to the side.

"So you stalked me?"

"No, I was just making sure that Ricky didn't put me with an idiot. And he has not." she said cutting the wires to the safe. She heard the air exit the safe before Erik opened the safe. He grabbed the piece as (Y/N) looked at it.

"That's it? It literally just looks like scrap metal." she said as he nodded.

"Well, this is what we need so-"

"Hands up!" Both of them turned around to see a guard standing at the door. "Put it down and step away from the safe." he said as she looked at Erik. He placed it on the ground before the guard walked further inside.

"Alright, lift your dress up."

"Nigga what the fuck?'

"Excuse me?"

"I'm the one with gun here, lift it up." he said as she nodded.

"You don't have to do this? I mean-"

"Shut up! Lift it." she nodded, faking pouting. She lifted up her dress before grabbing the knife aiming it at his arm than throwing it making him drop the gun.

"What the-" Erik punched him the nose the nose before flipping him on his back, grabbing his arm and bending it before she heard a crack. Before he could scream, Erik punched him again in the face as his eyes went shut and he laid limped on the floor. She grabbed the wreckage before smiling at him.

"A bunch of men with guns.. and you bring a knife?" she mocked him as he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah yeah.. okay. You can handle yourself. I like that." he said licking his lips as she raised her eyebrows.

"Don't look at me like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like that. You lookin at me with some, 'I wanna fuck you' eyes." she said as he smirked.

"Maybe I do."

"Boy bye. You wouldn't know what to do with all this even if it came with instructions. Now come on." she said walking out with a sway in her hips.

"Damn..."

- - - - - - - - -

They were outside walking to the limo when the agent on the phone started talking. "Change of plans you guys. They found that there has been a breach with the stuff. So you guys have to stay in character. We guys got you a hotel downtown." they heard as Erik mumbled a 'shit'.

"Well let's get out of here before they think of something?" he said, she agreeing. They got into the car before the limo driver pulled off.

They made it to the five star hotel and settled into their rooms before she sighed. "We don't even have clothes." she groaned as he shrugged.

"I sleep naked anyways." he said walking into the bathroom. 

“By the way, they have the room wired just in case something goes left!” she yelled out for him but he didn’t hear her. She smacked her teeth before taking off her shoes. I mean she did too, but sleeping next to him. She wasn't going to lie, she was a bit intimidated by him. But oh well. 

As she waited for him to get out the shower, she went through some paperwork she bought with her before she stripped from her gown laying it on the sofa that was in the living room. She grabbed a whiskey glass from the bar before pouring herself a glass of crown royal that Erik purchased. She drink a little more before she felt herself have a little buzz. 

  She had a wet rag wiping the make up off when he stepped out of the bathroom. She didn’t even notice the shower stopped running. He had the tower wrapped around his waist before looking her up and down. She noticed the scars that sat over his body. 

Damn that shit looked sexy... 

He wasn’t hiding that he was checking her out. His eyes traced over her frame. His tongue traced his bottom lip as he looked up at her. He looked further down noticing the scar above her abdomen. 

“What happened to you?” They both said at the same time.

“I said it first.” she said quickly, as he rolled his eyes. 

“Do you want the simple version or the extended version.” he said crossing his arms over his chest. “Extended version?”

“It’s just something that I did to myself to remind me how many people I killed. You know, never make me loose sight of who I really am. Also to remind myself of what I can become.” he responded honestly. 

“You did that to yourself?” she asked, shocked. He nodded. “And you call me crazy...” she said as he chuckled. 

“And you?”

“Do you want the simple version or the extended version?” she asked him. 

“Extended.” 

“So, I grew up in the program called the red room.” she started. 

“Oh yeah. I heard about that shit. That’s why you’re so good at what you do.. huh?” he said as she nodded. 

“Yeah, well anyways. At your graduation ceremony, we had this procedure done. They told us it was just tying tubes so you don’t mess up and get pregnant. But turns out, they took... everything.”

“Ohh...” he trailed off. “That’s-”

“Yeah, It sucks. I want my life to be more than just this. I want to have a kid one day but that’s never going to happen so.. yeah.” she responded.  

“Damn, I’m so sorry.” She didn’t want to end so awkwardly, so she used a little bit of her dark humor. Something she did to avoid having to dig into her feelings.

“But on the bright side, I don’t have periods. The sex is amazing, well depending on the person I’m fucking.” she responded as he squinted his eyes. 

“Why you say that?”

“Well, if their clean, I don’t need protection. And sex is best when it’s raw.” she winked at him.  His eyebrows raised with a sense of caution. He didn’t know if that was a sign or something, but he took it as one.

“Well, I need to get going into the shower.” she walked passed him, walking into the bathroom before turning around and shutting the door. Apart of her wished that he would turn around and follow her inside but she knew he would never do that.

She stripped naked before turning the water to a comfortable temperature. After that, she stepped in letting the water drip down her skin. The water pressure in the shower was no joke.

While she was in her own little world, lathering her body up, she didn’t even notice that Erik came into the bathroom with her. He took the towel off placing it on the sink before putting his hands on the glass. She still didn’t notice that he was in the bathroom with her. Erik wanted that.

He slid the door open, (Y/N) turning around in shock to see him standing there. Dick standing tall and him breathing hard. (Y/N) was stuck. Here he is, one of the sexiest man she has ever laid eyes on, is butt naked in the shower with her. Something took over her as she wrapped her tiny hands around his dick slowly stroking it up and down.

“You want this dick, (Y/N)?” Oh his voice was deep deep. “Once I start I ain’t going back. I plan on ruin your little ass.” he said as she looked up at him.

“That’s what I want..” she whispered to him. She leaned forward placing a kiss in his chest before making her way down, placing kisses all the way until she was face to face with the monster.

His dick was just as beautiful as him. Long and thick, a vein very noticeable and his tip leaking out with ore cum. “You want this pussy?” she asked him, putting her hand down there rubbing her clit in a circular motion. “She stay wet and ready to take some big dick like this..” she whispered kissing along his dick. He clenched his jaw as he leaned against the shower wall.

“Keep talking like that. Watch me fuck that mouth of yours.” he warned her as she smirked. She wrapped lips around the tip, swirling her tongue around it collect all of the syrup he had to offer. Sweet but tangy. She liked it.

She slowly made her way down his dick as he closed his eyes throwing his head back. “Yeah... you know what you doin. Show me what ya little freaky ass got.” he said to her. She wrapped her other hand around the base stroke it as she sucked him properly. It was nice and slow. For her sake, this man was big. Way too big to fit in her mouth. She don’t even know how she managed to get this much of him.

“You’re so big Erik.. you sure it’s gonna fit in this tight ass pussy?” she asked him as he chuckled.

“You should be asking yourself that question. I’m digging in that shit no matter-ooh.” his sentence was cut short when she started to stroke him faster while sucking his dick. “Show off then. Little nasty bitch, I love me a nasty bitch. Play with that pussy. I want the shit dripping down my chin when I eat that shit you hear me?” he said as she nodded.

“Yes sir.” Oh that made his dick jump. She noticed the little peak of excitement before smirking to herself. She focused her attention on his dick before letting him fuck her mouth. Her hands were on the floor as he grabbed her hair keeping her still as he attacked her throat.

“Fuck! Your shit is dangerous ma!” With a final thrust, he came all down her throat. It came out of no where and she coughed. She wasn’t no bitch though and swallows it.

“Swallow all that shit.” he directed her. He saw her swallow it before smirking. “Stick ya tongue out.” she stuck her tongue out before he grabbed her by the throat pulling her to her foot. Within a split second, he had his tongue down her throat. He sucked on her tongue, tongue gliding along each other as she moaned.

“I know, I’m finna play in that pussy right now. I know she’s wet.” (Y/N) stuck her tongue out once more as he looked at her confused until it finally hit him.

This is just one nasty bitch... yeah he definitely keeping up with this one.

He spat in her mouth as she smiled bringing him into a soul crushing kiss. “Go put your leg on the counter, I’m hungry and I want some of that pussy.” he told her as she smiled in content. She opened the glass door before stepping out. He followed her to the counter as she placed her leg on the counter stretching out. He walked behind her wrapping his arms around her waist. She felt his hard dick rubbing against her thighs as she leaned back against him. With his other hand, he rubbed her ass then giving it a slap.

She gasped then moaned as he smirked at you. "You like that, don't you?" he said as she nodded. His fingers traced around further before he was rubbing her clit from the back.

"You got this wet just by sucking my dick?" he asked her a she nodded.

"Yes.. I love sucking dick." she told him as he smirked.

"Yeah, slutty ass." Unexpectedly, he dipped his finger in her pussy as she gasped. Damn this nigga have some thick ass fingers.

"Shit you tight.. you sure she can take all this dick." he said rubbing his dick against her ass as she nodded.

"Yes I can take it- ooh." she moaned closing her eyes throwing her head back. He curved his finger hitting her G-Spot as she moaned.

"Fuck daddy, Right there. Shit!" she gasped out as he kissed her shoulder. His pace went faster as she felt a pressure in her abdomen. "I'm going to cum.." she whispered.

"Yeah, let me get that." he said as she smirked. A couple of seconds later, she came all over his fingers. He kept going like nothing ever happened. She was overly sensitive, and he could tell bu the slight shake she had.

"Fuck... Erik wait." she gasped as he shook his head laughing.

"Nah, all that fucking teasing you did. Keep your leg up. Don't fucking move." He bent down gliding his tongue along her folds as she fluttered her eyes shut.

Erik moaned as her wetness dripped down to his tongue. He thought it was damn near impossible for someone to be this wet but here she is like a faucet. He stood up as she placed her foot on the ground. He turned her around lifting her up and sitting her on the counter. She bit her lip looking at him as he shook his head.

"It doesn't make any fucking sense how wet this pussy is.." he said to her. He grabbed his dick rubbing his tip along the fold as he sighed in pleasure.

"Stop teasing me.."

"Don't tell me what the fuck to do." he grunted at her. He teased her a bit more before entering his slowly.

"Fuck..." she whispered out as he stretched her out. "Fuck you're filling me up."

Erik on the other hand went silent. He was in complete shock about this. He slowly started to thrust as she gripped the counter top for support.

"Good ass pussy, this my shit here. You understand?" he said as she nodded.

"Yes.. oh my god." she groaned. She put her hands between their bodies, rubbing her clit in circular motions. "Faster please." she moaned a nodded. He started to fuck her faster, the sounds bouncing off the bathroom walls.

"Fuck..."he groaned picking her up. He walked out into the room, pushing her against the wall, thrusting faster into her. She let out a loud scream before he kissed her to muffle the noise.

"Fuck baby... you beating my shit up."

"Like I'm suppose to. You hear her, making all that fucking noise." he said a she nodded.

"Talk to me."

"Yes, I hear her!" she moaned.

"Yeah, she like that shit. Slutty ass pussy.." he grunted. She bit his shoulder in attempt to keep her from screaming.

"I-I think I'm about to cum." she whispered as he smiled. "Let me feel that shit." With a tight squeeze, she released all on him as she hit her head against the wall.

"FUCK!" she groaned. Her body shook once more as he carried her to the bed. He flipped her on her stomach before arching her back.

"We not done.. far from it." he said. Without warning, he thrusted fully into her, thrusting into her at a fast pace. She bit the sheet as she moaned. Tears rolled down her eyes as she let the pleasure overwhelm her.

"What happened to me not being able to handle yo ass? What was that shit you was talking?" he taunted her. Now it was her turn to be stuck. He grabbed a fist full of her hair, pulling her back to his chest. He laid his chin on her shoulder whispering in her ear. "Answer me when I'm talking to you? You got some good dick and now you can't talk?"

"Baby.. please." she whispered as he smiled at her. Oh that shit was wicked.

"Baby please what? I can already feel that pussy tugging on my shit. You about to cum again?"

"YES!" she screamed as he smacked her ass. "Stay just like that while I bust this nut all in your guts bitch." he grunted letting go of her hair. The pressure came quick again, and within a couple of seconds she squirting all over him and the bed. She lost balance falling into the bed with him following her.

It triggered his own orgasm as he let his cum drip deep inside of her. "Fuck!" he grunted out as she spasmed a bit feeling it.

"We ain't done..." he whispered to her as she groaned.

- - - - - - - - -

Meanwhile, in the control room, the entire team was in shock. At first they were confused.

"It's silent, why can't we hear them?" Ricky said as one of the tech geeks, James, started typing away.

"Everything seem to be connected. We don't know. We can hear the shower running..." he said as Ricky stood up biting his nail.

"Maybe we should-"

"Fuck daddy, Right there. Shit!" They heard that shit loud and clear.

"Uhhh...." James awkwardly said. It was silent for a few moments before the heard smacking noises. That's when they heard a loud scream.

"Fuck baby... you beating my shit up."

"Like I'm suppose to. You hear her, making all that fucking noise."

"Should we turn it off?" James said about to push the mute button.

"Just put them on low. We can't risk not hearing anything if something happens." Ricky said, his face in utter disgust. "Jesus Christ..." he said walking away shaking his head.

- - - - - - - -

The next morning, they woke up to a loud banging on the door. (Y/N) shot up looking around to see Erik laying next to her snoring." She grabbed the robe that the hotel provided wrapping it around her body. She ran to the door to see guards standing outside of her door. She opened it.

"Oh well how can I help you gentlemen?" she asked smiling at them.

"We are reporting to all the guests that was at the bid last night. Some artifacts was stolen from us." she said as she gasped.

"What? Oh my goodness, who would do such a thing?" she asked.

"Well we suspect you two. You guys aren't really together are-"

"Everything alright baby?" Erik came into view as they looked at him in shock. Not because of his scars but because all of the hickies and scratch marks that was over his body. They took notice of the ones that you had on your neck.

"No, they are accusing of us of not being together! They think we stole some artifacts from that place. Well I tell-"

"So why were you the first ones to leave?" he asked as she scoffed.

"After that fight, we decided that it was out of control and unprofessional. We can take our business else where." she said rolling her eyes. "Y'all don't have any cameras or security. Just ghetto if you ask me."

"We did have cameras, they were all out."

"So you're accusing us of stealing? We don't need to steal."

"Do you want us to show our wedding pictures? Because we-"

"Actually Mrs. Hardaway, we don't have any more questions. We are sorry for bothering you." he said. She slammed the door in their face before turning around.

"I'm surprise you can even walk."

"Shut the hell up."

- - - - - - -

They made it back to the quarters for the briefing. After the briefing Ricky went to your office to talk to you and Erik. "First I would like to say congratulations. You guys did an excellent job." he smiled at the two.

"Well you know I always try my best." (Y/N) said smiling back to him.

"And another thing. If you know the room is wired, please be a little more quiet when you guys do the do. It's very uncomfortable." he said before walking out. (Y/N) eyes went wide as Erik chuckled shaking his head.

"I totally forgot that it was wired..." she said putting her hands in her face.

"To be honest... I realized half way through but I was like fuck it." he laughed as she threw a pen at him but he caught it. "While we're on topic, I need to finish up my report. But meet me in the quiet room in an hour. I want some more." he told her and with that he left.

Damn...

[amydancepants-peralta]

10 and 24 for the festive prompts :)

(please excuse me while I hang my head in shame, for this was 1: received last year, and 2: still didn’t manage to appear before Christmas this year.) 🤦🏼‍♀️ Best laid plans really do be elusive, huh?  @ Anon, I'm sorry this is so late, and I hope you’re still around! ♥️ 

Prompts - 10: I don’t care what you say, The Nightmare Before Christmas works for Christmas and Halloween! and 24: Secret Santa is bullshit. 

(for the sake of this story and b99′s vague timelines, this is set pre-manhunter and post-casecation).  (ao3)

all the lights are shining (so brightly everywhere) 

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la lah, la la lah lahhh …

Amy sighs, tapping her feet - sadly, trapped in a curled up shoe, and does her best to ignore the jingle that comes from its dangling bell.

Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la lah, la la lah lahhh …

Christmas Carols have always been a favourite of hers, forever singing along to the melody despite being told by many that she really shouldn’t.  They were joyful and uplifting and reminders of everything wonderful about the holiday season.  But tonight, she’s been standing post for three hours, listening to Z-List celebrity covers of sacred songs of hope; and as a result has spent 85% of her time hatching a plan to find the source of the music and put an end to everyone’s misery.

Don we now our gay apparel, fa la la, fa la la, fa la lahhh …

Jake’s off-key singing voice filters in through her earpiece, and a tiny smile finds it’s way onto her face.  

“Troll the ancient yule-tide carol, fa la la la laaaa, la la la laaa! … Wait, troll?  That can’t be right!  Hey Ames, do you think trolls celebrate Christmas?”

Knowing that answering would blow her cover, Amy remains quiet; nodding slowly both to the beat and her husband’s question as the track fades away and a new atrocity begins.  

Seriously, she needs to find out where this music is coming from.  

From underneath her undercover position as Head Elf of Candy Cane Lane, Amy shifts uncomfortably, resisting the urge to tug down the tinsel edged skirt that hovered just a little too high for her liking.  She wanted to burn the bra she had chosen to wear tonight (digging into her ribcage like it did), save for the fact that it was very expensive and very beautiful, and very much worn this evening with the sole purpose of seducing her husband.

Work had descended into pure madness in the past fortnight, with both her and Jake’s schedules descending from holding relative similarities to polar opposites.  And maybe it was the surplus of romantic movies on every single TV channel, or the scores of advertisements reminding her that the holiday season was for being together with loved ones (for Jake Peralta was most certainly Amy’s Loved One) - either way, Amy had begun to miss spending nights alone with her husband something fierce.  

Tonight’s plan had been so simple, it had barely required a binder.  Wait until it’s nearly Jake’s finish time, don sexy lingerie, cover up with comfy clothes and go pick up her unsuspecting husband from work.  Let him unlock the door when finally home, then jump his bones right there on the couch - giving Jake just enough time to discover the red lacy set and look at her the way he always manages to do - like she’s the most beautiful woman in the world.  Then, sexy timez.  Lots of sexy timez.

And it had all been working so well - until she’d shown up at the precinct unannounced (Jake being too distracted to notice the text she’d sent him), and immediately found herself getting wrapped up in a sting her old squad were devising.  

In a spark of true evil, one of Brooklyn’s most elusive drug runners - Art Akemi - had invented a new way to dodge any of his drug shipments from being discovered; deciding to build candy canes around the narcotics so that to the unaware eye, they would appear completely innocuous.  

Unfortunately, one of his most recent handovers had gotten mixed up with actual candy canes, resulting in several innocent members of the public ending up in hospital with mysterious drug overdoses.  It had taken the 99 and their neighbouring precincts days to piece together Akemi’s plans, and just this afternoon Rosa had been given a lead that suggested a handoff with the kingpin and one of his henchmen would be happening at Santa’s Village that very evening.  

It was brazen, to set up an exchange of illegal narcotics in a public access area - particularly, one frequented by children and families alike - but also completely on brand for someone like Akemi.  The squad needed to work fast, and work smart; running through the finer details of their mission when Amy had arrived.    

And yes, perhaps her FOMOW had reached an all-new peak as she listened to the detectives speak, and perhaps she hadn’t really thought about what she was volunteering herself for - but the next thing Amy knew she was Holly the Christmas Elf, toes squeezed into surprisingly curly shoes as she fielded questions from children and waited for any signs of wrong-doing.   

It has been twenty-five minutes since Santa had disappeared to ‘feed the reindeer’ (aka disappearing to the back docks for a quick drag of a cigarette), and just as Amy was beginning to wonder if a search party needs to be called, she feels a gentle tug on her hand, looking down to find a little boy no older than five gazing up at her with awe.

“D’ya think Santa is busy making da presents?"

His eyes are wide - filled with the kind of awe that every child seems to get when they are lulled by the magic of Christmas - and as Amy crouches to match his diminutive height, she can’t help but notice how the unkempt curls on his head remind her of a photo with a similar aged Jake that Karen had once shown her.

(He had been mid-discovery of a fairy garden, one built by his Nana and immediately claimed as his own, and the sheer joy in his face had made Amy’s heart swell, even years later through the faded colours of an oft-cherished photograph.)

“You know, I bet he is.”  Scanning the crowd for that familiar mixture of red and white but coming up blank, she turns her attention back to the little boy.  “Santa’s magic like that, don’t you think?”

The child’s nod is so enthusiastic the tiny curls on his head begin to bounce, turning quickly as his searching father calls out his name.  “Just a little longer, and you can tell him all of your wishes, okay?”

“Da elf said Santa’d building da presents Daddy!”  The child runs back towards his father’s outstretched hand, and Amy gives the adult an understanding smile as he lifts his son back into his arms.  From his undercover position at a nearby popcorn stand; Jake catches Amy’s eye as she returns to her earlier position, giving him a tiny smile when he throws her a wink.  

The topic of parenthood - of them trying to have a baby, one day - had been mentioned by both more than a few times since their anniversary; and the regular use of the word when rather than if ignited a sense of hope in Amy that made her stomach flutter every single time.  While the enormity of it all still scared Jake - still scared Amy, if she were to be completely honest - what always seemed to remain after each conversation was the understanding that even if it scared them: together they’d figure out how to get through it.  

(Last month’s arrival of Miguel’s baby girl Adamaris, and the sight of Jake cradling her in his careful arms, had definitely not helped, playing on a loop in Amy’s mind for several days after their visit.)

“Nothing beats a bit of Santa magic, hey Santiago?”  Jake’s tone is light and playful, and only serves to remind Amy just how much she’s missed talking to him these last few weeks.  

Rolling her eyes slightly, she tucks her head downward, playing the pretence of adjusting her costume as she speaks into the hidden mic.  “Ha ha, Peralta.  Santa is magic, especially to cute kids like that one.  No way was I going to be the one to burst the Santa bubble.”

With a stuttered gasp, Jake slaps a hand against his chest, and a passing stranger gives him the side eye.  “Wait a minute.  Are you suggesting that Santa is fake?!”  

“Santa is real, Peralta.  As is this very real mission to take down Akemi.  Time to focus up.”  Terry’s firm tone breaks through the earpiece, busting into Jake and Amy’s conversation, and a sheepish grin breaks out on Jake’s face.  

“Right you are, sarge.  This is Super Serious Santa Shutdown Situation.”  Shoving several pieces of popcorn into his mouth, Jake waits a beat before continuing.  “Ames wasn’t wrong, tho.  That kid was a cutie.”

The unspoken addition of but ours will be cuter lingers between them, and Amy feels her skin warm up under Jake’s faraway gaze.  

Maybe this bra was going to come in use after all.  

Rosa’s voice cuts through the unsaid, her tone steady as she moves in closer from her position at a nearby payphone.  “Heads up - Santa’s back.  And it looks like they’ve swapped out their player.”

Immediately switching into detective mode, Jake shields his face from the new Santa’s sight as he passes, already very aware of earlier (unsuccessful) run-in’s with the kingpin.  “That really looks like Akemi.”  

“Santiago, can you get close enough to confirm?”

Handing out Christmas tree shaped cookies to the children milling around her position, Amy glances up just in time to catch the replacement Santa as he walks into the village.  With the cocky swagger of a man who rarely pays any consequences for his actions, this version of Father Christmas looked paler and far more arrogant than the man wearing the costume earlier.  

Pushing past the waiting children with barely any acknowledgment of their tiny hellos, New Santa pauses on his way to his plush red throne; snapping his gum and giving Amy a very jolly (read: creepy) once-over with his eyes.  Glancing quickly in Terry’s direction, she gives a subtle nod.  Akemi’s case file has landed on almost every detective in New York’s desk at one point or another, and she’d recognised that hard gaze anywhere.  

“Well, well, well … don’t you look good enough to sit atop my Christmas tree.”

Acutely aware of their audience, and knowing that the red and white striped stockings covering her legs would definitely be restrictive if she needed to go full ninja on Santa’s ass, Amy quickly chooses to plaster on a bright and shiny grin.  “So glad you’ve made it back from the North Pole, Santa.  We’ve got lots of excited children just bursting to see you!”

“Yeah, whatever.”  Akemi leans in, an unwelcome mixture of tobacco and sweat washing over Amy, and it’s all she can do to not recoil in disgust as he lowers his voice.  “I’m only interested in one thing, lady, and once I got it I’m outta here.  But don’t you worry, there’ll be plenty of room on my sleigh for you.”

“Ok.  I don’t give a damn about any Christmas magic, Ames.  If he tries to make you kiss him under that mistletoe, I swear to god I will punch Santa right in the face.”

“Cool it, Peralta.”  Terry’s clenching jaw is almost audible in his response, and Amy takes a slow and calming breath, safe in the knowledge that her squad most definitely has her back. 

“Right.  Yep.  Cool it.   Cool cool cooling it.”  Each member of the team watches from their position as Santa saunters over to his seat, throwing several finger guns to waiting mothers as he goes; and Jake lets out a snort of disgust.  “So … has everyone gotten their Secret Santa present organised yet?  Rosa, you need some shopping tips?”

“No.  Secret Santa is bullshit.”

“It’s a fun holiday tradition that you are definitely participating in and if you picked my name I’d really love a voucher for that sneaker store on 28th.”

“I don’t have you, Peralta.”

“Yep.  No problemo.  Just saying.  In case you do.”

To her right, Amy notices Terry’s unmissable frame break through the crowd.  “Heads up, guys.  Looks like Santa’s buddy has found his way into the queue.”  With his wooly beanie and scores of shopping bags clutched in his hands, their sergeant blended in relatively easily as just another father doing some last minute panic shopping; but they all knew one flex of his oversized muscles would break that facade fairly easily.  

A silence falls over the comms as they watch Santa breeze through child after child, giving them barely any attention as his target draws closer; and slowly both Jake and Rosa close the gap from the other sides.  

Pulling out a poorly wrapped parcel and handing the gift to Akemi, the unshaven man at the front of the queue feigns surprise when Santa reaches into the sack next to his throne, handing the supposed stranger an oversized bag of ‘candy canes’.  

“There’s the exchange.  Boyle, can you confirm you got the footage?”

“With a beautiful slow zoom that really captures the thrum of festive anticipation hovering amongst the crowd, sarge.”

Cringing slightly, Jake shakes his head at Charles’ description as his eyes follow the bag of candy canes, their new recipient now walking at a steady pace towards the exit.  “We’re going to lose this guy if we don’t move now.”  

“Go, Peralta.  Diaz, you run backup.  Amy and I will take care of Santa.”

With a grin, Jake breaks into a fast walk, already focused in his pursuit.  “Alright, taking down a bad Santa in a public environment.  Now it feels like Christmas!”

“We’re going to wait until Akemi has left the village, Peralta.  You know, try not to break a bunch of children’s hearts?”

“You do you, Terry!”  

*

*

There are still remnants of festive glitter in Amy’s hair as she and Jake walk up the stairs of their apartment building several hours later, both of them slightly weary from the hours of paperwork and debriefing that took place after Santa’s Village.  

“Boy, bet thats the last time you come to the precinct and pick me up on your night off, huh Ames?”  The apology is obvious in Jake’s tone, and Amy glances over her shoulder to give him a reassuring smile.  Even if it hadn’t been in her original plan, she still got to spend the night hanging with her husband (although in a slightly different capacity than originally planned), and she was choosing to count that as a win.  (A small win, but a win all the same.)

“Yeah, maybe.”

“I’m really sorry you got pulled into all of that, babe.  I just didn’t see your message in time, or I would have … hey, Ames?”  The touch of his hand against her forearm is gentle, pulling her in with the quiet strength she knows her husband to possess, and Amy turns towards Jake without hesitation.  His eyes search her face, immediately seeing through her concealed defeat, and he really is the only one for her.  “Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.  I just …” she feels a blush rush over her cheeks again, suddenly feeling ridiculous as she thinks of how to divulge her secret plan.  The underwire from the damn bra digs into her skin again as she squirms, and if tonight has taught Amy anything, it’s why lingerie like this is only designed to stay on until your partner rips it off seconds after reveal.  

“Babe?”

“It just feels like forever since we’ve had a night at home, just the two of us.”  Jake’s brows knit, and Amy leans in to rest both hands against her husbands chest.  “And I know that work has been crazy lately, and that it’ll eventually calm down again, I just … I’d sorta planned on tonight going differently once you were home.”

“Oh god, and instead you ended up in a glittery elf costume with a creep leering at you.”  Left hand slapping against his face in shame, Jake shakes his head in obvious frustration. 

“I mean, we can mainly blame my FOMOW for that, babe.  It doesn’t matter, really.  If I hadn’t been there, you might have gotten home even later so when you think about it, it’s way better we - mmfph -” the rest of Amy’s argument stops in it’s tracks as Jake pulls her in for a kiss, the gentle but insistent press of his lips against hers casting any other thoughts far to the side. 

The familiar touch of his hands as they roam against the outline of her butt causes Amy to melt entirely in Jake’s arms, resting her arms against his steady shoulders as her fingers slide into his hair.  This - these tiny moments where the world seemed to fade away and all she could feel was Jake - was what she’d been craving for weeks.  

Jake sighs against her lips, letting her tongue slip into his mouth as he shuffles ever so closer to her, and maybe he’d been missing this just as much as she.  

“So,” Jake whispers as he pulls away from the kiss, leaning in to brush his lips against Amy’s once more.  “Time to get this night back in track.”  Another kiss.  “What kind of plans did you make for us, Santiago?”

“Lets just say … the lingerie I’ve got on under here is going to blow your mind, Peralta.”

“Going to blow your mind, title of our sex tape.”

Amy nods, biting her lower lip as she steps out of Jake’s embrace, gesturing towards their apartment.  “But it’s also really uncomfortable.  C’mon, let's get inside before it ends up in the dumpster.”

Jake’s footsteps echo behind Amy’s, hands landing on her hips as she digs for the keys.  “I’m declaring it now, Ames.  Tomorrow night we’re both leaving early and staying in for movie night at home.  Phones off, popcorn, everything for the full movie experience.  We can watch Die Hard and Love Actually and Nightmare before Christmas …”

Amy’s nose crinkles at the last movie, unlocking their front door and tugging her husband through as it swings open.  “Didn’t we watch that last one for Halloween?”

“I don’t care what you say, The Nightmare Before Christmas works for Christmas and Halloween!”

“Jake …”  

“Christmas is literally in the title, babe!”

Pulling him closer, Amy takes a leaf out of her husband’s handbook, silencing him with a definitely not PG rated kiss now that the risk of being discovered by a neighbour had slimmed to none.  

Jake’s arms wrap around her middle in response, holding Amy close as her fingers begin to trace the edge of his buttons, and she lets out a sigh of satisfaction that finally her initial plan was coming to fruition.  

Next time, though, she might add a sub-section into the binder about potential diversions, and how to avoid them (not join them) - FOMOW be damned.  This stuff was way more fun.

[ladyblastexecution]

-`Deity Of Light´- K.D X F!Reader

The threat of rain meant one thing, you were not coming over today.

Kaminari looked up to the clouds covering the sun and frowned. His day off hadn’t gone over like he planned.

First off, his favorite bakery had run out of the croissants he had craved all week, and he had to drink his coffee with a raisin cookie, then when he went home and was ready to cook, his apartment filed with smoke as his pizza was burnt to a crisp. Around noon, when was the time you came around to say hi to your favorite mortal and play Mortal Kombat, the sky turned dark, and the wind picked up.

‘This day can’t go worse.’

As that thought appeared in his head, his whole world was engulfed in darkness. Just what he needed... A blackout. If he was planning to distract himself from your absence with video games or one of those dumb movies he liked, now it was out the window.

It was dumb, really. He still had a hard time believing he knew a real deity. You were such a cool person to hang out with and the fact that you found his plain and Mortal self amusing was surreal.

Almost an entire year had passed since he met you on a sunny day where he was patrolling. If he closed his eyes, he could hear the sounds of sirens and screams of the civilians that were terrified of the villain with a snake like quirk. The heroes were struggling to keep him at bay, it’s monstrous size and flexibility difficult’d things. Kaminari had been injured while attempting to stop him, the villain’s fangs grazed his arm and it left him unable to move from the neck down. He was sure he was going to die under the huge scaly body, and almost all of the heros were in the same position as him.

Kaminari tasted the metallic taste of pure horror in his tongue and as he saw the impending doom of the end of the snake’s tail coming down to crush his body, but then the sky opened up, and in a halo of gold a figure came down, speeding at an alarming rate toward the ground.. Kaminari could only open his eyes in horror, believing that, whoever it was, they there was no chance of them surviving the impact.

At the last second, the figure stopped, hovering a few inches off the ground, above Kaminari, protecting him. You wore a sheer gown that seemed to be made of pure light, feet bare and not a speck of dirt could be seen on your body. With your hair appearing to flow as if it was under water, a crown made of two branches laurel rested on your temples, framing your face.

You were ethereal, and he felt his brain lag, with a similar effect from when he overused his quirk.

With a hand up to the sky you let a blast of blinding light that burned a hole in the snake’s body, preventing it from colliding on both of you. A spray of green blood sprayed, and you threw herself on top of his body, shielding him from the impact.

A sizzling sound came from everywhere the fluid met, and he realized it was acid. And you just had taken a shit ton of it on your back. Wincing, you got up and blasted another attack, aiming to the head this time, while maintaining the protective stance in front of his sprawled body. From that perspective, Kaminari could admire your bare back, where iridescent scars, that sparkled under the sun covered almost the entire surface He was surprised to find them and instead of being disturbing, they had a heroic feel to them. thick trails of smoke rose through the air, emanating from the scorched tears on her skin and golden liquid cascaded down your back, pooling the iridescent fabric of your gown and sticking it to her form.

A deafening squeal of pain reverberated in the air, and the snake’s upper body slithered in agony. Your light had met the snake’s eyes, and you smirked, skin literally glowing from within. But as soon as the corner of your lips went up, they came down, because the snake’s fauces barreled towards both. Grunting, your arms pushed him away, and his heart clenched when you were swallowed whole.

Everything felt lost, the ray of hope that appeared when you hurt the beast, extinguished like a cigarette under someone’s boot.

The screeching sound that the snake released seemed delighted and as its bifid tongue ran through its lips, almost as if it could still taste you on them, Kaminari noticed something bulging, and expanding the skin in the mid drift of the monster.

The surrounding air seemed to heat up, oscillating in waves that disturbed the sight, the image of the snake wobbling, as if it was a reflection of itself in one of those silly mirrors they usually had in fairs.

The commotion stirred something in him, but the monster was oblivious to it all, too focused on its joy and apparent victory to notice or even feel that something was off. At least until a blinding ray of pure white pierced its skin.

The smell of burning flesh and the humming sound of the surge of power rose the hairs on Kaminari’s arms and his stomach dropped at the sight of green blood oozing out and dissolving the pavement below, craters being formed. The wails of the thing grew in volume before it came crushing down, it’s long body twitching for a few seconds until going completely still. Kaminari held his breath, expecting the reptile to lounge at someone, but the only thing that assaulted him was the solemn silence that followed after a shocking event. Even the humming of a fly’s wings could be heard.

His body was still deemed useless, and no matter how much he wished to go in there and rip your body from the beast entrains with his bare hands, he was stuck as a bystander, observing in the sidelines as those heros that could still move took the reins of the situation.

The hushed voices of the pros were not enough to drown the groaning that preceded your emerging from the pile of charred meet.

Fabric torn and body painted golden, there you stood tall and proud, stretching your shoulders like you had just finished a workout.

“Fucking Phyton, and his resolve to make my life even more complicated...” He saw you sigh while trying to wipe the stream of gold out of her eyes. Even battered and torn, you were the most beautiful creature he had laid his eyes upon. “Oh, shit... Here, let me help you ChargeBolt sir.”

Squatting down next to him with the grace of a ballerina,yourr fingers rested on top of his forehead, and a sudden feeling of calmness numbed his mind. With a warm flutter in his chest, he wondered if you were in reality an angel of death, and if what he was feeling was that story he always heard from those who had experienced a close to death experience. Because all he could see was light.

It took a few seconds of his lethargic brain processing to realize. It wasn’t a light what he was seeing per se; it was your body, shining like the sun, but in a way that his eyes didn’t burn while looking directly at it. Images of him laying beneath the sunlight at the beach flashed in his mind, and if he closed his eyes for a second, he had a similar sensation right in that moment.

Then, as if he was a solar panel and you were the very sun charging him up, a wave of energy he never experienced drummed beneath his skin.

Opening his eyes, your face was the first thing that he saw, hair cascading around your head as you leaned over him, and his fingers twitched for him to caress the strands and confirm if they were as soft as they seemed.

Then it dawned on him.

His body no long felt disconnected from his brain, In fact, he felt every single thing, including the goosebumps that invaded his skin everywhere your eyes met.

Tentatively, he sat up, afraid to fall right on his back and make a bigger fool out of himself. After confirming he felt good, even better than before hell broke loose, he opened his mouth.

“Just how many quirks do you have!?” His sentence came out louder than he intended, and he wanted to sew his mouth shut when you flinched back a little, but the serene smile you sent his way eased his nerves

“Wouldn’t you like to know...” You teased, with crinkles by your eyes.

“Seriously, how did you do all that?” he stood up, and towered above your frame “Anyone else could’ve died...”

“Oh! That reminds me...” Interrupting him, and turning around, you willed a scepter out of nowhere and tapped it in the ground with force.

The floor shook and for a second he feared another threat was around the corner. A crack on the floor appeared beneath what was the remains of the villain, and just like that, what once was a frightening monster, now was disappearing to the center of the earth.

Kaminari’s heart stopped for a second as he saw you lean dangerously over the edge of the abyss, and he rushed to grab your arm just in case a breeze blew past and threw you off balance. A zap coursed through his skin once he made contact, and he wondered if that’s what it felt like to be electrified by his quirk.

“Thanks Uncle Dis!” you called out

The ground melded back together in a second and there was no evidence let of it ever being torn.

Kaminari tried to keep his cool, and after living in a world where everything was possible because of the diversity of existing quirks, he thought nothing could ever disturb him anymore. But after only five minutes of knowing you, that was rendered false.

“Okay... Now I would like to have an explanation sunshine.... Who exactly are you?”

“You just said it cutie...” Winking at him and outstretching your hand, you flashed him the brightest smile he ever saw. “I’m Delian, or Smintheus, or Loxias, or Pythan, or Apollo or any of the names you people had given me through the years, but now I mostly go by (Y/n), deity of the Sun, Nice to meet you”

Kaminari Cringed at the memory of what happened next and tried to think of something else to ease the embarrassment that came after your introduction.

Snapping out of his remisicing Kaminari walked outside, sitting in the porche and he noticed the sunflowers you planted on his frontyard seemed to be lacking a bit of water.

He never understood why you had done that, if he had to guess he would’ve said your favorite plant would’ve been a bay tree, since it was the plant most associated with you and all that, but when you brought the four sprouts on your hands a few months prior, excitement making your skin flow and your body to flutter off the ground, he contained his teasing, too entranced by your beauty to say anything to sour your mood.

“Denki my dude! Look what I got for you straight from the underworld!” Your smile lighted up his whole house, literally. And Kaminari felt a blush rise to his cheeks over how pretty you looked.

Now those tiny sprouts grew and got up to his waist, their yellow petals were an unnatural bright yellow, courtesy of Persephone herself. He was ashamed to admit how much he liked those sunflowers, even as much as he liked you.

He was known for having a fascination with pretty girls, but you just went ahead and ruined him forever. Everyone he saw paled in comparison, and it wasn’t fair for the rest of the world. You were literally a Deity. Your beauty was something no mortal could achieve.

And whenever he tried to flirt, you always said something along the lines of

“Nah, you should see Aphrodite, your brain would fry instantly”

The forced easy laugh that usually followed was enough of a proof to know that, no matter how extraordinary you could be, you were still insecure.

On one of your sleepovers, when the sun was down and you were weaker, you shared your secrets with him. How every relationship you tried to maintain failed, every god, demigod, nymph and human abandoning you. You were aware of the Myths humans told about you, but since they said you were Male, he started doubting every tale that circulated with your name.

“I wish you would’ve been around on the golden era... The old olympic games would’ve been your shit, naked wrestling, bodies slick with olive oil...”

“Wow, Sunshine. If you so desperately want to see me naked all you had to do was ask.” Kaminari joked, expecting one of your quick comebacks, but seeing your cheeks glow golden, in the way the deity of light blushed, he felt a flutter on his chest. A small ray of hope.

“Don’t be dumb, Denki. All I’m saying is that I wouldn’t have been as lonely if I had you then.” You rolled your eyes, portraying annoyance, but he knew it was only to mask your embarrassment.

Almost without him noticing, he fell for you, hard. As hard as the Python did under your unwavering power. And the realization filed him with equal amounts of dread and joy.

In love with a goddess, who would’ve thought, huh?

Never in his wildest dreams he saw himself feeling as strongly for someone as he did for you. Yes, the ocassional crushes were there, but they always seemed to have fade into nothing just like an ice cube on a hot summer day.

Kaminari couldn’t even look at the sky without thinking about you. Even when the clouds were thick and the thunders made the glass of his window rattle, whenever he looked above, he imagined you there, looking down at him and winking, as a way of encouraging him in his everyday tasks that seemed so mundane. The life of a pro hero is far from dull, but it still paled compared to a literal deity.

Kaminari sat outside, growling at the dark sky that killed his chance at seeing you. He felt the cold breeze caressed his face and violently rock his sunflowers. They were sad looking at that moment, almost a perfect reflection of how he was feeling on the inside, crestfallen and slumping down, facing the dirt, with no sun to make them happy.

He sighed and rested his head on his bents knees, trying to focus on anything instead of the empty feeling on his chest. He hated being so attached to you, but every time he thought of your face, so close that he could feel the air out of your lungs tickle his nose, the same thought invaded him.

How could he not be?

You were warm and shiny in every sense of the word, Your heart was as gold as your blood and you never showed anything but care and -he hoped- love. Maybe not in the way he wanted it, because hell, the need to hold your hand just because he could, and kiss your lips to see your cheeks shine is all he ever dreamt of ever since he met you, but how would it work?

You were a Goddes, a supernatural being. Immortal.

You saw millions of humans come and go, and the wicked fantasy of you being in love from someone of your past, and never looking at him ever again always woke him up with a startle in the middle of the night, sheets drenched in sweat and heart thrumming in his ribcage.

Another Thunder boomed, this time closer, so close in fact that Kaminari felt the static buzzing on his skin, making him sit straight because of the jumpscare.

His eyes laid on the sky and he scowled once again, the rain clouds were closer and so thick that swallowed any remains of sunbeams, turning everything a somber shade of gray, dulling the colors of everything, including his sunflowers, that now were facing straight at him.

Wait...

Since when the sunflowers were like that? There was no sun for them to seek for. He was disturbed by this, but still, he couldn’t ponder on it much.

The heavyweight of a pair of hands on his shoulders, accompanied by a hushed “boo” on his ear, tore a high-pitched shriek out of Kaminari’s insides.

The sweet sound of your laugh followed right after, the beginning drowned by his terrified outburst, but the end infiltrated his ears and flowed like honey through his body.

“(Y/n)? What are you doing here?” He asked, glancing upwards to the somber dark sheet covering the sky. You were smiling so bright it almost hurt his eyes, but one look over your body later he noticed the charred ends of your dress and the frizz sticking your hair up in all weird directions, leaving you as a bad Simba wannabe. “What happened to you?” Concern laced his voice, and he saw your smile falter. Doubt misting your eyes as your posture visibly tensed.

“Well, it’s actually a funny story...” You laughed shakily, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, going the extra mile to wave a hand, but he didn’t miss the way your fingers shook or the tense lines at the side of your mouth. “Let’s say the pissy prick I call father is against me spending so much time with mortals, and we had a bit of an... arterncate, you could say.” You were a bundle of nerves, and even the usual crown you sported was hanging crooked on your head.

Kaminari felt a cold hand clasping his heart at the implications of that that meant. Your encounters needed to stop, you were there to say goodbye and disappear from his life. He masked his pain with a soft smile and took a step closer, hands going to fix the mess on top of your head.

“It’s okay... I never thought the all mighty Apollo, Phyton, Loxias Del-Delos was it?...” He stopped, brows furrowed as he tried to remember the first time you spoke to him. word by word.

“Delian...” You corrected, eyes soft and tension melting off your face, a small twitch in the corner of your mouth made it look like you were almost smiling.

“Right, Delian, or (Y/N), Or Sunshine... Would want to spend her time playing Mortal Kombat with a loser like me...” His smile was still there, but the corners twitched down for a second, letting you see the insecurity that laied beyond his cool facade

Seeing him like that left you stunned. Eyes shimmering with an emotion he couldn’t quite read, and when his fingers finished arranging your hair the way it usually was, he rested his palms on your shoulders, squeezing a little just to remember that you were still there for a little.

Your fingers enveloped his wrist and the both of you just stood there, lost in the sad atmosphere as the wind picked up around you, and the lights flashed dangerously in the sky. Kaminari felt his chest constrict with the words he so desperately wanted to throw out there, but your fight with your dad sealed his lips.

Now there was no point in trying anything beyond the months of fun and jokes you shared.

“Thank you for teaching me how to use Kotal Kahn, Bakugou is so pissed about how I suddenly got so good at it... Sorry I couldn’t do the same about Raiden.”

“Why is this suddenly sounding like a goodbye?” You asked, with your throat tight and tears glimmering in your eyelashes, like little diamonds suspended forever in there.

“You shouldn’t anger your father Sunshine...” He said, grasping a lock of hair that was flying in front of your face, victim of the merciless wind. His knuckles brushed your cheekbone as he placed the stubborn silky strand behind your ear. You held your breath upon contact.

Your fingers enveloped his, keeping them trapped in between your cheek and your hand, with a grip that would be almost painful if he weren’t used to your unearthly strength.

He watched you crumble underneath his fingers, eyes flashing raw pain behind them.

Then, just like when you had healed him months back, he saw resolve and vigor replace that sad expression, brows furrowing and fire dancing behind your eyes, and it was all unleashed by his gentle hands cradling your face.

“No...” You whispered, leaning back away from him, but still holding on to his wrist like he was a lifeline in the middle of a turbulent sea.

“(Y/N)... I think...”

“No Denki!” She circled around him and stood in the middle of his front yard, looking straight up at the storm above and with cheeks glowing from anger. “You what to know what I think?” She turned to him, pointing an accusatory finger up the sky.

The warning of a flood of lightning made him take a step forwards to warn you, but a zap charred the earth missing his feet by only a few inches. His quirk was electric and a normal lightning couldn harm him, but he wasn’t sure those rules applied with the fucking god of lightning, Zeus.

“I’m tired of feeing like there’s something wrong with me, because there’s not...” The sky rumbled and a flash of blue descended, deathly close to her figure.

Kaminari searched everywhere to find a solution in this situation. Certainly a fight between two gods on his porch wasn’t ideal.

Your scoff brought his attention back to you and he saw your arms flying around, a halo of golden unclasping your body, your emotions breaking your control over your power.

“No, dad, certainly what happened with that demigod years back wasn’t my fault. Eros was just a dick and you know it... Why don’t you make the same scandal when Aphrodite comes down here and mingles with mortals?” Another set of lights burned through the sky and you laughed incredulously. ”Now you worry about the blood not mixing with mortals? Yes, hi... Do you remember Hercules, You Demigod Son!? Stop behaving like a child!”

Kaminari sucked a breath in after your insult towards the god, and rightfully so, because half a heartbeat later, a lightning bigger than he ever thought possible coursed through the sky and impacted with your body. He saw your silouette through the blinding light, and for a moment he feared the worst. He never felt a power like this, every hair in his body raising and a wave of nausea destabilizing him.

“Pretty fucking mature dad, really...” You were still alive, and as he leaned on his knees hunched over and panting another wave of emotion hit him through the chest. Even with smoke flowing up like black tendrils around you from your gown and grime staining your cheeks, it only seemed to enhance the way you shone. “I don’t care, and you shouldn’t either, no one else does! Uncle Dis even said he liked him, and that is saying something... Just please dad. I never asked for anything, just this once. Let me choose who I love...” Your voice was so brittle and frail he believed he had imagined it.

And then he realized... You said it, the word he wanted so desperately to shout on your face but to afraid of the consequences. You loved him... You, Apollo, Loxian, Delos, or whatever, you loved him, and even if you didn’t said it to him, the implication was as clear as day.

Kaminari forgot about everything else. The threat of being reduced to ashes a, the rage of your father above, the way his insecurities had kept him from showering you in affection like he longed to, all of that faded to the back of his mind, the only thing clear was you. You standing in front of him, only a few feet apart.

You, that loved him.

He was by your side, and almost in a daze his fingers found yours, holding them in a gentle yet firm hold. The warmth of your skin soothed his locked joints, and he took a breath in. Opting not to say anything, but let his actions speak for himself.

You looked up at him and beamed, drawing strength out of nowhere just by his sole presence. Both looked up at the sky, that turned a murderous shade of purple, just like the bruising he might have in his body if he survived turning into Zeus shooting toy.

“Father, this is not something I’m backing out of, and since the Olympians came into an agreement of not snooping their noses into other’s business, I’m staying here with Denki as long as I please.” You turned to him, hesitation written all over your face, and a flimsy peak of that ugly insecurity you had showed itself in your eyes. “If you want, of course...?”

It came out more of a question than a statement, as if you were subconsciously begging for reassurance.

He leaned in, his lips grazing the skin of your forehead, soft as a feather, but it left a burning sensation on his mouth. Your cheeks were shining bright, but a dumbstruck smile was plastered on your face.

“That is final, father. I took your opinion into consideration because I respect you, but if you try to do something funny, I won’t hesitate to ask Uncles Dis and Sai to interfere.” The sky grumbled one last time, and Kaminari Imagined it had to be reflection of Zeus own grumble of defeat.

If he admired you before when you took down Python, now he was awestruck at your strength and determination.

You deflated like a balloon and sat down on the grass, where blackened grass stained the skin of your legs. Letting a small incredulous laugh, you looked up at him, eyes open and so full of emotion. The tension that once constricted your whole body was now gone, and your whole body seemed to glow.

“I can’t believe that actually worked...” You muttered, wiping a hand across your forehead but never dropping the smile.

Kaminari sat down next to you and circled your shoulders with his arm.

“So... You just wanted your daddy dear to let you choose who to love?” Teasing you wasn’t the most sensible thing to do after the rollercoaster of emotions you two rode nearly a minute before, but it was his way of dealing with stress. Whatever the reason may be, it was worth if he could get to see your flustered face.

“Yeah, I’ve been feeling some kind f way towards this Ground Zero dude... It may be worth the shot” You teased right back, and in it felt like nothing ever changed between the both of you- even after the biggest confession- everything felt natural, no nerves burning inside other than the usual warm flutter on his chest when he saw your face.

He pondered on saying those three little words, but feeling how relaxed you were, with your face tucked in between his shoulder and neck, breath fanning over his jaw, he resolved against it.

The sense of knowing both of you were on the same page was enough for now.

Groaning, you got up, and extended your hand towards him, pulling him up and letting your touch linger a heartbeat longer than necessary.

“Man, I’m beat...” You stretched your back, smiling when a ‘pop’ filled the air. “Can we pretty please play MKX? I need to beat Raiden’s ass right now?

“I always thought you were crazy good at it, but turns out you were just motivated by imagining Raiden as your dad, weren’t you?”

There was no need to respond. The humor shining in the side glance you gave him and your crooked smile said it all.

As you passed by the sunflowers, he saw them turn around, facing you no matter how fast you were going. He stopped in his tracks and observed how they bent in an impossible angle trying to face you.

When you realized he wasn’t following behind, you sent a look behind your back.

“What’s wrong Denki?” You asked walking back up at him, the yellow petals following around like a shadow.

“Can you walk back to the door? I want to see something...” He said, fascinated by the reaction you had over them.

Confused, you did as he said, taking slow strides, trying to figure out what was he on to now, until you followed Kaminari’s gaze and noticed it too. Exited, you ran, twirled and crouched, trying to see if in deed they were turning to you. You giggled like a kid opening a present and turn to him.

“I didn’t know they were always looking at me...” You whispered in awe, caressing the yellow petals fondly. Your eyes gleamed under the sun’s light. The clouds long forgotten on the horizon, letting the rays finally warm up his skin. Your crown was lopped again, but it gave you an air of mischief instead of nerves, and Kaminari prayed his mouth was closed and not gaping like a fish. You never failed to knock the air out of his lungs.

“They’re not the only ones that do...”

[elisaphoenix13]

An Attempt At Normalcy

They wanted a bit of normalcy. Well, Stephen was trying to get the kids to have some semblance of normalcy so instead of eating at home with either takeout or a home cooked meal...they went out. Of course considering they were a large family of nine, they needed a large table to be accommodated and something in the back and a little private since Tony was there. Even after all these years, the paparazzi couldn't get enough of him and the family.

All of the kids were sitting and looking at their menus sans Valerie who was coloring on the paper kids menu she and Diana had been given. Diana was at the age where she could read now, and quite well so she was also trying to decide what she wanted for lunch. The place was a family establishment so it wasn't fancy and wouldn't make things extremely difficult for the kids to find, but still Stephen stared at the extra kids menu with a look like he was trying to set it ablaze with his eyes.

Tony looks up from wiping the drool off Lucy's mouth and ignores the infant as she slams her hands on the table and babble nonsense. "Honey, it's going to burst into flames if you keep looking at it like that." He chuckles.

"I'm just double checking to make sure there isn't any mango in any of the food or juice Valerie may want." Stephen sighs as he sets the menu down to pick up his own.

"Duchess, mango is hardly served at places like this. Just get her the chicken fingers with fries and a glass of milk. She'll be happy."

Stephen grunts. "Worry about your own leech."

Tony grins and tightens his hold around Lucy where she's comfortably placed on one of his legs. She had found her father's silverware and was currently slobbering all over the spoon since Tony had moved the knife and fork out of her reach and was even a little offended when he tried offering her one of her toys in place of the spoon. The glare she gave him was definitely inherited from her mother and Tony vocally said so since Stephen had been in the room the first time it happened.

The doctor was considerably less salty about her clinginess to Tony when the glare came out. All over a bottle that Tony took away too fast. He learned his lesson and let Lucy keep her bottles until she let go or she was just sucking on air. Tony endured the angry glares when it came to empty bottles.

"She has her spoon. She's happy." Tony shrugs.

"I really wish she'd play with one of her toys instead." Stephen sighs and puts his menu back down after deciding on his lunch.

"I tried. You saw the glare."

"If you keep letting her have her way, she's going to grow up a spoiled brat."

Tony rolls his eyes. "It's a spoon not a credit card."

Stephen huffs but a smile does finally grace his features as the waitress comes over with her own smile. She was a nice younger girl trying to pay her way through college and even though their trips to the restaurant were rare, they always asked specifically for her. Tony always left an enormous tip.

"Who's this cutie?" She coos at Lucy who looks up at her and babbles and drools around her spoon.

"This is the Baroness. Her name is Lucy." Tony says. "How are classes going Olivia?"

"Great! So what are we all having today?" Olivia asks.

Lunch was ordered and brought out in good time and they ate happily as they all conversed about one thing or another. Harley and Peter were talking about another possible project to work on in the lab, the twins eventually joined in on the conversation, and Diana was telling Stephen about the cookies she made with Cassie. The sorcerer listened intently as he wiped off the ranch dressing smeared across Valerie's face, and Tony alternated between feeding Lucy and feeding himself. It was about halfway through their meal when another family walked nearby to be seated but stopped and looked at them.

"So this is where you ran off to. You got Tony Stark's pity." The woman sneers and both William and Thomas freeze.

The rest of the family stop eating collectively and look up at the family that William was actively avoiding eye contact with. Thomas was glaring and Stephen...well Tony managed to catch the glint of gold that flashed in his eyes. Mama Dragon was clawing his way to the surface and Tony had to stop it. He really didn't want to pay for damages.

Tony stands with Lucy in his arms and glares at the couple and their four children. Foster kids? Actual kids? He wasn't sure at the moment but didn't care. No one disrespected his children, especially in front of him.

"Excuse you?" Tony glowers angrily. "Who are you to come in here and verbally attack my kids while we're trying to enjoy a family meal?" He snaps.

"They were more trouble than they were wor--" The lady starts.

It was then that Lucy threw her spoon, with deadly accuracy, at the woman's forehead. Tony's lip very minutely quirked up humorously but he managed to keep himself under control. Maybe it was the woman's tone that angered the baby but she was babbling angrily at her and the woman had looked both appalled and infuriated. When the man opened his mouth to say something, Tony held up a finger.

"Ah! No. You and your family go sit down and eat. I don't want to hear another word about Thomas and William or the rest of my family or I will sue you of everything." Tony threatens.

"They are not a burden." Stephen finally says. "Thomas and William are amazing kids and you among the rest of their previous homes restricted them. I'm sure you only cared for the money."

"And you don't?" The man says and Tony scoffs.

"I'm a billionaire. What the state pays you is pennies to me. I told them not to bother and they're officially ours anyway."

The woman smartly keeps her mouth shut and walks away with her family with a huff and to Tony's surprise, a couple of the kids looked at him and the twins apologetically. Tony was starting to wonder again if they were foster kids. He stamped the thought down quickly though because if he gave off the slightest hint that he might want to save those kids, Stephen would hop on the train. Not even they could save all the orphans and foster kids of New York and Tony was a little afraid that Stephen would try.

Lucy babbles angrily at the retreating family as Tony sits back down and the twins finally relax and go back to enjoying their food.

"That's my good girl." Tony grins and smooches a chubby cheek multiple times, making the baby laugh.

Stephen looks over at Thomas and William. "I shouldn't condone running away from home but I'm glad you did. I don't know what they did but you're safe with us." He pauses and frowns a bit. "You feel safe don't you? Despite the circumstances."

William looks over and nods. "We... we've never called any of our foster parents Mom and Dad."

"At least not willingly." Thomas mumbles.

Tony grunts and ruffles Thomas's hair, and they finish their food just as Olivia comes over to bring the check. He pays it and pulls out some cash for her tip and the waitress takes it with a grateful smile and a thanks before walking away to take care of the check. The family gets up and starts filing out of the restaurant and Tony follows once he gets his card from Olivia. Lucy babbles to the waitress as Tony leaves and meets Stephen and the kids outside.

"Daddy, can we go get ice cream?" Diana asks as Stephen hands Lucy a teething ring.

"I think we can do ice cream." Tony nods.

"Last one there--" Thomas starts and turns to dash away until Stephen grabs the back of his shirt.

"No running!" He says and Thomas huffs.

"Aww...no fun."

The ice cream parlor was a short walk away so the family decided to hoof it instead of driving, that way they could take the girls to the park. Valerie was carried by Stephen, and Harley gave Diana a piggy-back ride all the way to the parlor and even the park before he let her down. They all ate their ice cream before spreading out in different directions, and Stephen discreetly got a frisbee through a small portal for Harley and Thomas to use. Diana pulled Peter over to the monkey bars and Valerie quietly asked if William would take her to play on the swings which he of course agreed to, leaving Tony and Stephen on a bench with Lucy.

A blanket and a few of the baby's toys were also retrieved through the portal and Tony handed Lucy to Stephen so he could lay out the blanket for them to lay on. Lucy was content to chew on her teething ring until the blanket was spread and then the couple laid on it themselves after placing her between them with her toys.

"It took a lot of willpower not to laugh when she threw that spoon at that woman." Stephen finally says after a few minutes of calm.

Tony bursts into laughter. "Diana did it too but unfortunately I was the target." He sobers a bit at the memory. "It happened after…" he trails off and sighs, causing Stephen to sit up and look at him.

"Tony... we're home. Yes, I missed those memories and milestones but I got a second chance with Valerie." Stephen smiles. "Now we have Lucy and you've robbed me of her attention and I'm here."

Tony snorts. "Hey, I had nothing to do with that. Maybe your book decided I needed my own leech...the princess was Cassie's from the moment we left the compound."

"I don't think she minds. It might have helped her too to be honest. If it was just you and her--" Stephen starts.

"Cassie would have had no one to talk to. I...wasn't in the greatest state of mind for a while. She was heaven sent." Tony admits.

"It all worked out." Stephen says softly and grunts when Lucy chucks her teething ring at his forehead. "She is definitely your child."

Tony snickers and sits up to look at the rest of the kids before looking back at Stephen.

"Think there's a chance Harley has something to do with it?"

"I wouldn't put it past him." Stephen answers as he picks up the ring and gives it back to Lucy after checking it for dirt.

"He's looking at William again." Tony states with a smirk when he looks back over at their oldest.

He had just thrown the frisbee over to Thomas and his attention was directed to their youngest son who was pushing Valerie on the swing. Tony didn't miss the faint smile on Harley's face before the frisbee hit it and chuckles when he groans and holds a hand over his face.

"I really wish he would say something." Stephen sighs. "The pining is getting to Scott and Quill's level and I don't think I can go through that again."

"Ah, give it another month."

"It's been two years Tony."

"Then it's way past Porcupine and Thumbelina's level." Tony grins. "It only took them a few months.

"Thank the Vishanti for that."

"Mom! My nose is bleeding!" Harley says as he walks over with his hand over his nose. "Do you have a tissue?"

Stephen fishes a packet of tissues out of his pocket and holds them up to Harley. "Maybe pay attention next time." He smirks.

The blush that creeped onto Harley's face was well worth the tease.

[dessarious]

Misconceptions, Miscommunication, and Misinformation Pt58

Inspired by @ozmav Maribat AU

AO3   Beginning   Previous   Next

“So what you’re saying is that Batman and his team have done more in two months than you managed it two years.” Discorde was about five seconds from Cataclysming Superman, relations with other heroes be damned. She only held back because Ladybug had a hand on her arm. Robin didn’t seem any happier and it brought him up in her estimation.

“That is wildly presumptuous and inaccurate.” Oracle’s voice came through the comm and both she and Red Robin were scowling at the others from a screen on the wall. “We only managed what we did because of the incredibly detailed and accurate information Ladybug gave us. There’s no telling how long it would have taken us starting from scratch the way she did. Not to mention she is one hundred percent responsible for the plan that gave us Mayura.”

“Convenient.” Superman still sounded doubtful but seemed willing to drop that part of things, for now. “Regardless, there’s still the matter of actually apprehending him and what we do with the object that gave him his powers in the first place.” The hand around Discorde’s arm tightened and she looked over to see an incredibly pissed off Ladybug.

“That is none of your concern.” Ladybug’s tone held an impressive amount of authority and disdain. She’d been around Damian a lot lately and it showed. “We are here as a courtesy but I will not allow you to interfere.” Multiple members of the League glared at her from their seats.

“She’s right.” The voice belonged to a rather subdued Wonder Woman. After the rundown Ladybug had given her of the previous meeting Discorde had expected her to be of the same mind as Superman. “The Miraculous are not our domain, nor should they be. While I’m not thrilled that such a burden was placed on children it is not our place to question a Guardian who has dedicated their life to protecting the Miraculous and maintaining balance.” There was complete silence after she spoke, no one seemed to know how to react. Batman recovered first.

“I agree. There’s a reason most of us didn’t even know the Miraculous existed until now. From what Wonder Woman has told me the Order that protects them is very good at keeping them contained.” Discorde felt Ladybug stiffen slightly, but otherwise she didn’t react to the words at all.

“They failed once. Sure this time it’s contained in Paris, but what happens the next time? We can’t take that risk.” Ladybug had apparently had enough of Superman’s self righteous attitude.

“It is not your decision to make.” Her tone was hard and frigid, it sent a chill up Discorde’s spine and she was thanking every Kwami she knew that it wasn’t directed at her. “Even ignoring the Order for the moment, the Miraculous exist to maintain balance. Having all of them in the hands of a group dedicated to their form of justice will wreak havoc on that balance. Villains and dissenters will start popping out of the woodwork at rates you won’t be able to handle. You’ll just be making everything worse for the people you claim to protect. The cost is far too high whether you believe it or not.”

Discorde watched the heroes' reactions, trying to decide which were threats and which were allies. Batman and his team were firmly entrenched on their side, at least for now. Wonder Woman seemed content to let things take their course and at least not interfere. Superman looked like he was ready to go to war with them along with a couple others so that’s where she kept her focus. When Marinette had suggested she be here Plagg had given her some tips and suggestions to keep them in line if necessary and she wasn’t going to hesitate if any of them came at Ladybug.

“So these powers are better protected in the hands of children? If this Order is so competent why didn’t they send their own people in to do the job?” Okay, that was a good question that she’d have to file away for later.

“You have no idea how the Miraculous or the Order work and I’m not about to enlighten you and put others at risk. You believe in very strict definitions of good and evil. I doubt you’d be willing to listen to let alone understand even if I did explain.” Batman’s lips twitched upward and Discorde thought he was trying not to smile. The rest of his team didn’t seem to feel the need to restrain themselves and were snickering in the background. Red Hood even gave Ladybug a thumbs up. Wonder Woman looked amused and… proud? One more thing to try and unpack later.

“You do not decide what is and is not pertinent information for us to know. We will ask questions and you will answer them to the best of your ability.” Superman’s tone said he didn't expect her to know much and Discorde felt the growl in her chest before she heard it. How dare this pompous, self important, alien…

“It would be wise for you to stop.” Discorde glared at Wonder Woman as she spoke, expecting to be the object of her censure, but she was focused on Superman. “Ladybug is perfectly correct in her assessment and the Justice League as no standing to interfere in the first place. What’s more, threatening her will do nothing but give her black cat a reason to show you just how ineffectual your powers are against the powers of gods.” Her tone was dry but firm. Some of the heroes were now looking at the two Miraculous holders like they were bombs ready to go off while others seemed to doubt Wonder Woman’s claim. Discorde almost hoped one of them would try something at this point. She knew exactly how much stress Ladybug was under and this wasn’t helping in the slightest.

“What’s she going to do, purr at me?” Something inside her snapped. She felt for the destruction inside her as Plagg had taught and pulled it to the surface. She was vaguely aware of Batman and his team moving away from the man of steel and heard Wonder Woman’s resigned sigh. The rest didn’t seem to know how to react. They would soon.

The table and chairs dissolved as though eaten by acid causing everyone to scramble away. After that she concentrated directly on Superman. He still seemed to think he was invincible but she knew better. Plagg and Tikki had created the universe and while Superman was immune to the dangers of Earth, he wasn’t immune to the dangers of his home planet, or the Kwami. She focused the ball of darkness inside her into the shape she wanted before letting it shoot straight at Superman. Just as Plagg predicted, he didn’t even try to move.

“Is that all you have?” His cockiness brought a feral grin to her lips. She waited. “This is a waste of time. I want to talk to whoever thought it was a good idea to entrust-” He broke off in a coughing fit that was so violent he ended up hovering over the floor. When he stopped and looked at his hand everyone in the room could see blood. “What did you do?” Discorde glared back at him.

“I infected you with Krypton’s version of the bubonic plague and Ladybug is the only one who can cure you so I suggest you appropriate a new attitude.”

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Ko-Fi

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[rocksandrobots]

Of Rocks and Robots Ch.22 - Presents and Portals (Part 1)

“Hey, Miss Itamae, I hope you’re having a nice day. You, wouldn’t happen to have anything special today for someone's birthday, would ya?” Hiro asked the grumpy lunch lady before him with a nervous smile.

Miss Itamae only gave him her customary scowl and unceremoniously dumped a scoop of mash potatoes on top of his steak and gravy.

“Yeah...okay then.” He said wearily and moved out the line.

Varian slid into his previously held spot in line.

“Heeelllooo, Miss Itamae, looking lovely as ever! Did you do something with your hair? New hair net perhaps?” Varian flashed the woman his most charming grin but Miss Itamae looked as unamused as ever. Still Hiro had to admit Varian was far more confident in his attempts to butter up the lunch lady; maintaining his witty and suave demeanor even as she dumped his scoop of mash potatoes into his chocolate pudding. “Superb aim, as always.” He said with cheery sarcasm, before turning away.

“Let’s face it. She hates us.” Hiro whispered to him as they both walked away from the line.

“I think she hates everybody.” Varian observed.

“Then why bother with being so nice?” Karmi asked as they joined her at the lunch table.

“Oh, cause it annoys her.” Varian chirped.  

“Yeah, we’re trying to kill her kindness.” Hiro added.

‘Ooookaay.” Karmi rolled her eyes and then opted to change the subject. “Sooo, birthday boy, how's it feel to be fifteen?”

“Uh, not that much different from being fourteen, honestly.” replied Hiro, as he poked at his unappetising lunch.

“Got any celebration plans?”

“Well, Aunt Cass is holding a birthday party later today at the Luck Cat, if you wanna come.”

“I’d love to. What time?”

“It’s at six. It’s nothing special, just a dinner and some cake.”

“And I’m making the cake.” Varian excitedly added.

“And if it’s anything like his fish pie, you’ll want to skip dessert.” Hiro warned Karmi.

Varian looked offended. “Hey! I can bake a cake. Besides it can’t be any worse than these chocolate covered potatoes.” He gave a rueful look at his plate before taking a bite of the nasty connection anyways.

“Then why are you still eating it?”

“What!? And waste food?” He asked aghast.

Hiro rolled his eyes, “Anyways, how did your essay go, Karmi?”

“Great! I got an A, as usual, but I have to admit writing about bacteria’s evolving resistance to antibiotics isn’t nearly as fun as writing fan fiction.”

“What’s fan fiction?” Varian innocently asked.

Karmi’s eyes went wide with excitement and Hiro felt his heart stop as he knew what was coming next.

“Only the greatest thing ever! It’s when people write stories based on stuff they like, like books, or movies. I have this whole ongoing story about Big Hero Six that I’ve been working on!” She pulled out her phone and pulled up said story before handing it to Varian.

Hiro suppressed a groan. “Karmi, did it ever occur to you that maybe real life people wouldn’t appreciate you writing fiction about them?”

Karmi huffed, “Shows what you know. Captain Cutie himself said he liked my work.”

“Captain Cutie?” Varian asked, confused.

“He’s the leader of Big Hero Six, and he’s just the dreamiest.” Karmi explained with a wistful sigh.

Hiro felt like he was going to die of embarrassment.

Varian looked back and forth between Karmi and Hiro in surprise as he pieced together what was happening. Finally he burst out laughing.

“Cap..Captain, Cuuutieee!?” He wheezed, before balling up into more laughter.

Now it was Karmi’s turn to look offended. “You got a problem with that?”

“Nooo! Oh, no, no, N….not at all!” Varian tried to assure her between his fits of laughter. Once he had managed to compose himself, he looked her dead in the eye and said with the most sincere voice he could muster, “Captain Cutie, is the perfect name.”

He followed this up with a smarmy smile that told Hiro that he would never hear the end of this.

“Well, it should be, I came up with.” Karmi held her head up high to mask that her pride had been hurt.

“And it’s amazing !” Varian enthused. “If your story is half as awesome as that name, I’ll bet it’ll be even better than a Flynn Rider book!”

That was enough to placate her. In fact she outright blushed, knowing full well how much Varian loved Flynn Rider novels; though she herself had never read one.

“I promise to read every word.” Varian vowed.

“Weeell, in that case I’ll text you the link.” She took her phone back from Varian and stood up from the table. “It’ll be more than what Hiro does.”

“Hey, I’ve read all your stories.” Hiro defended himself. Karmi looked at him accusingly and he buckled under her glare. “I just... didn’t like them.” He admitted sheepishly.

And with that, Karmi turned her nose up into the air and stormed off in a huff. Hiro slumped down in his seat.

“Smooth move, Captain Cutie.” Varian teased.

Hiro kicked him the shin.

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

Hiro scrounged underneath the bed, reaching his arm out as far as it would go, but his hand grabbed hold of nothing but air.

"I did not find anything in the sock drawer" he heard a robotic voice proclaim above the bed.

"That's ok.. ouch… Baymax." Hiro crawled out from under the bed and rubbed the spot where he had bumped his head against the frame. He looked up to find Varian standing in the doorway watching him.

"What are you doing?" The other boy asked with a look of concern on his face.

Hiro was sitting in the middle of what was once Tadashi's side of the room. No one had bothered to touch his brother's things since his death, other than to occasionally dust or tidy up, so seeing both him and Baymax raiding the place was unusual.

"Uhmmm… just...looking for something."

Varian raised an eyebrow.

Hiro sighed.

"You'll think this silly, but, I was hunting for my birthday present."

Hiro searched Varian's face to see what his reaction would be. He blinked a few times in surprise, but other than that, the older teen was careful not to say or do anything that might upset Hiro. Instead he stood by patiently, letting Hiro have the space he needed to explain things on his own terms.

"Tadashi always liked to plan ahead for things. He'd gift stuff in advance and then hide it somewhere around the house until time to give it. I found one at Christmas, that he'd wrapped a year ahead of time, but, I don't know, I guess he didn't think that far ahead for my birthday."

Hiro looked forlornly around the room. He felt stupid now for having even bothered to look and self-conscious at having dredged back up bad memories on what suppose to be a fun day.

"Well, maybe he just hid it somewhere else." Varian reassured him. "Did you try the attic or the garage?"

Hiro shook his head.

"There, ya see? This a three story house and you haven't even searched a tenth of it. Once the party is over with I'll help you look. Okay?"

He offered Hiro a helpful smile and Hiro returned it.

"Okay."

"Speaking of which," Varian continued, "Megan called and said she's on her way and everyone else should be here soon. Aunt Cass sent me up here to get you. Also the cake's done." He flashed a proud grin at that last part.

"And what weird flavour did we come up with this time?" Hiro teased as got up to join Varian at the door. "Black pepper? Bacon? Licorice, again?"

Varian gave him an unamused look.

"It's vanilla with vanilla frosting, wise guy. Also I made sure to write in big bold letters 'Happy Birthday, Captain Cutie' on the top." He sneered.

Hiro rolled his eyes, not believing Varian's bluff, only to second guess himself as Varian gave a smug smile as he walked off.

"You..you didn't, did you?"

Varian didn't answer.

"Seriously, tell me you didn't." Hiro yelled after him as he rushed down the stairs.

Baymax was left standing in the bedroom as he watched the two teens leave. He looked around at the mess, unsure if to follow or to stay and clean up. If robots could sigh in frustration he would have just then. Eventually his primary programming overrode his cleaning operatives and he slowly hobbled after the boys.

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

Ding-dong

“I’ll get it!” Hiro yelled as he rushed to the door to answer it.

So far the only people to arrive at the party were Wasabi and Megan. They, along with Varian, were in the kitchen decorating the cake, which thankfully had no ‘Captain Cutie’ written on the front, while Aunt Cass busied herself with shutting down the cafe for the evening.

Hiro opened the door to find Karmi standing there, holding a present in her hands and shuffling her feet like she was unsure of what to do. Hiro stared at her in surprise, first, because he didn’t know if she would show up after getting mad at him during lunch and second, because she wasn’t wearing her usual sweater. Instead she wore a cute summer dress. It was purple with spaghetti straps and a flared skirt that cut off right above her knees. Hiro couldn’t help but feel his cheeks flush at the sight.

Damn it, why did she have to look so pretty? Why did he even care what she wore to begin with? What was his stupid body doing?

She gave him a nervous smile and held out her present to him. He took it numbly, eyes still fixed on her.

“I’m sorry for getting mad earlier today.” She said sheepishly. “I hope I’m not late.” After a slight pause she added, “You know, for the party.”

“Oh! Oh no. Not at all.” Hiro responded, finally snapping out of his stupor. “In fact you’re early. The party got pushed back to 6:30. Fred’s running late with the balloons. But there’s some of us already here, come on in.”

“Thanks.” She said with another small smile as she slid past him.

“Everybody is in the kitchen decorating the cake.” He pointed her down the hallway to the upstairs kitchen and was going to show her where to go when his phone rang.

“Hello.”

It was Keri.

“What do you mean stolen?” Hiro asked with concern as Keri blabbered on about missing project files.

Karmi paused and looked back at him questiongly.

“Look, do I have to come in now?” He tore the phone away from his ear as Keri started ranting instead.

“Okay, okay, I’ll be there soon.” He hung up.  

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

“Uh...looks like I need to go into the office today, just for a bit.”

“But what about your party?”

“Oh, it shouldn’t take long.” Hiro looked at his watch. “Thirty minutes, tops.”

“Hey, Wasabi?!” He yelled and his friend poked his head around the corner. “Do you mind giving me a lift to Keri Tech?”

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

“Wow. So she was behind you the whole time?”

Hiro looked at the surveillance footage of the theft. A woman with short white hair, dressed in a red and black leotard with her face covered in matching makeup, flipped silently behind Krei, downloaded files to a flash drive off his computer, and then cartwheeled away unnoticed.

“Can we have a little less mocking and a little more solving, please?” Krei huffed in defense.

“I have found a biometric match.” Baymaxed announced. “Celine Simard; a professional physicist from Lyontreal.”

Wasabi studied the read out on Baymax’s screen. “Says here she worked her way through college as an acrobat in the circus. Stage name, Sirque. I guess that explains the leotard.”

“It also says she’s wanted for theft in major cities from around the globe.” Hiro added. “Any idea what she took?”

“No idea.” Krei answered. “My personal computer has information on hundreds of top secret projects. It could’ve been anything.”

“And with a physics degree, that means she’s smart enough to use whatever it is she took.” Wasabi ominously warned.

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

Hiro and Wasabi arrived back at the Luck Cat just in time for the party. Fred and the rest of their friends had arrived and were just finishing decorating the cafe.

"Hey, so what did we miss?" Wasabi asked.

"Oh not much." Honey Lemon answered. "Karmi was just telling us the latest chapter of her story."

"Yeah the one where Captain Cutie and his girlfriend Lab Lady go on a romantic getaway. It's adorable." Varian mocked, and it took every bit of Hiro's willpower not to tackle him from across the room.

"Yeah, it's real interesting. I didn't even know ‘Capitan Cuite’ had a girlfriend." Megan got in on the teasing and Hiro wanted to sink into the ground and disappear.

Karmi however seemed to not to notice the meaning behind their words. "I'm glad someone likes my stories. Hiro doesn't think much of them."

"Oh he just doesn't know what's good." Megan encouraged her. "I think you're a great writer."

"Thanks."

"Yeah! I especially liked the cool new power ups you came up with." Fred added.

Fortunately Aunt Cass interrupted the conversation. "Food's ready!" She sang while carrying two trays of homemade pizza.

From there the party proceeded smoothly. They ate dinner and then played some games, with Hiro finally getting back at Varian with truth or dare. He dared the other teen to juggle some eggs, which all wound up landing on top Varian's head after only one attempt.

Next was cake and ice cream; which Hiro had to admit turned out pretty good. Even though he was loathed to stroke Varian's ego by saying so out loud.

Still, all went well, right up until time to open his presents. Hiro had opened most of them, save for Varian's and Karmi's. He got to Karmi's and had only just unwrapped it, when a loud booming noise from across the street was heard. Soon, the cafe shook as if hit by an earthquake.

Everyone ducked for cover as cups and dishes clattered off the table and shelves and pictures fell off the walls. Hiro though spotted a familiar figure run pass and duck into an alley. She was wearing a leotard.

As the shaking subsided, and before anyone could stop him, Hiro rushed out to see what had happened and hopefully to catch the culprit.

He saw the damage from, not an explosion, but an implosion. As if something had sucked everything inward with street lamps and a mailbox bent in on themselves towards a central point.

There was no sign of Sirque, but Hiro spotted some small metal balls lying on the ground in the center point of the wreckage.

"Hiro? What are you doing?" Megan came up behind him. "Usually people run away from explosions not towards them."

"And yet, here you are." He teased. She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Also it wasn't an explosion that caused this."

He didn't get a chance to explain further as Gogo came up and told them to come back inside before Aunt Cass noticed they were gone. Hiro scooped up the clue he'd found and they headed back.

The cafe was a mess and the party was officially deemed over with. Everyone stayed to clean up but soon one by one they all left.

First Cruz picked up Megan. Then Wasabi offered Karmi a ride back to the dorms. Gogo and Honey Lemon took their leave next, both promising to go on patrol once they had time to get their gear.

Finally, once there was nothing left to clean, Hiro and Varian made up an excuse to Aunt Cass and rode with Fred to HQ to study the metal orbs Hiro had found.

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

"So..nice evening, hun?" Wabasi awkwardly tried to make small talk on the way back to the dorms. He didn't know Karmi as well as some of his other friends did and wasn't sure what to talk about.

"Yeah." Karmi dully said as she gazed out the window, chin in her hand.

"Yeah." Wasabi echoed in defeat.

He wasn't getting anywhere. He racked his brain for another point of conversation, when suddenly a swirling hole appeared in the air. It wiggled and writhed, crackling with energy, and a woman wearing a leotard jumped out and landed on the hood of Wasabi's car.

He slammed the breaks in surprise. She in turn responded quickly, nimbly rolling off the hood and running in the opposite direction of the portal.

Wasabi took a few moments to breath. His heart was racing. He looked over to Karmi who looked equally scared. However, her eyes were still fixated on the portal.

"Look out!" She cried.

Wasabi saw debris fly past and into the gaping mouth of the portal. It appeared to be shortcuriting, writhing even more erratically than before. Then, to Wasabi's horror, the wind picked up speed, lifted the car up, and hurled them into the portal.

Their screams were cut short as they entered and then the portal closed, leaving no trace that they had ever been there.

[aharris00britney]

ASKS 19

It’s 6am and Brandon woke me up when he got up to go to work so now... i answer asks bc i cant sleep. 

@mileyzangel said: Can you please make a Harley Quinn hairstyle from both Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey?

I went and watched Birds of Prey the other night and it was really good. Brandon went to sleep I think tfgvhb. But I doubt I’ll try doing her hair from either of the films. @enriques4 is working on one for her Birds of Prey look if you are interested in that <3

Anonymous said: is tiny living worth it? im leaning towards the gameplay although i love cas. is the gameplay as bad as people say?

I honestly don’t think the new beds do anything. They’re... there. Lmao I think the CAS and buy items are very nice. If we get some cc murphy beds then that would make them a lot more usable tbh.  

Anonymous said: how do you and ayoshi keep making some fantastic collabs?? y'all are literally the first people i go to when I make a fresh install and I can't wait to see what you do next

Anonymous said: AxA CC KINGS!!!

Anonymous said: you guys didnt have to snap like that on AxA

Anonymous said: I LOVE EVERY SINGLE PACK U AND AYOSHI DO PLEASE KEEP MAKING MORE

Anonymous said: another iconic ah00b x ayoshi collab YAS LESSGOOOO

We put a bunch of cc ideas (hair and clothes) in a discord server we have together and then work on the stuff together on call usually so each item is the way we both want me. Like for example i’ll be meshing the Ivy top while he works on texturing the ribbed version.  We also only do collabs when they happen, we didn’t plan AxA 2019 or this new set, mainly just made cc starting in May and wrapped it up in July to release in August. Then this time we started making stuff late December and got most of it done by the time I got done with my break. Having a planned collab/deadline makes stuff less stressful and the stuff usually turns out better imo

Anonymous said: hi! ur sims are so prettyyyy what skin texture and eyes do u use?

Anonymous said: hi! wcif the eyes of the sim in the edit that Dogsill edited for you please? thank you!

Anonymous said: Hi! I really love the way your sims looks so, I was what skin and eyes you use?

I actually am changing my default eyes so I need to update my resource page soon ;n; but the skins they use are all listed for each sim on the resource page here

Anonymous said: you always name axa packs by the year but this one was named after a season those that mean.... 👀

We are wanting to do something in the fall, just not sure how our lives will be then ya know? There’s a chance that this will be the AxA 2020. Since we weren’t sure I didn’t want to label it that if 2 AxA’s release this year lmao

Anonymous said: what game is the pokemon thing you're playing!? pls help a guy out i'm in love with the art style

Pokemon Sword and Shield (I have shield) for Nintendo Switch. I’ll prob post more pics once I get some new shinies :P

@kristabunny said: lol is it bad that when I saw your Santana hair I read it as Satan Hair XD

tbhhhhh it was lowkey referencing that lmao. I made the hair in October for a speed meshing video and since it was around Halloween I was like “lemme give her an almost demonic name” also Santana from glee is a queen

Anonymous said: Tbh I absolutely adore your female cc but I LIVE for your male cc!!!

Thank you! lmao the only thing I can take full credit for is the AxA male hairs. I mesh the clothes for packs but ayoshi does the texturing for them.  

Anonymous said: Could you have a go at the updo Dua Lipa has on the cover of her Future Nostalgia? The high bun with a flick in it and the strands of hair down the sides. Thanks if so :)

I’m not the biggest fan of the hairstyle tbh ;n; but we will see. (Physical is a serve, just saying)

Anonymous said: So ive never played pokemon before until my friend gave me a copy of pokemon moon. I love cats so of course my starter was a litten, but i had no clue about evolutions or anything like that. I was heartbroken when my cute litten turned into some big man cat :(

omg noooo ;n; yeah Litten is a cutie... incineroar is... well I got used to him tbh and kind of like him now? I absolutely hate scorbunny’s evolution (and most of the SWSH starters final evolution) so I think that made incineroar slightly better in my eyes. My shiny litten will be staying a kitten however :)

@multifandom-slytherin said: Hello! I love your cc! Would it be possible for you to make the bangs from your Bree Hair a separate accessory that you can put with other hairs (for example the BG low ponytail)? Thank you so much!

Anonymous said: have u considered making or allowing someone to make an acc version of your handmade bangs?

I have thought of doing accessory bangs tbh, I just like... don’t like using accessory bangs myself. So I’m not sure if I’ll end up doing it. I might try it for myself and see how many hairs they work with, and if it is a decent amount I’ll release. 

Anonymous said: First off I want to say how amazing all of your hairs and collabs are! Second I was curious if you ever thought of going back to your old hairs and updating their thumbnails / display indexes so they matched your stuff now?

I really really wanted to have all my 2019 hairs updated by 2020. It was only January 2019-April 2019 that needed updated (thumbnails and display indexes). But I just lost motivation for doing it. I will focus on it next time I have a big break from school. Also planning on updating select stuff from 2018 and 2017. 

Anonymous said: please put Sophia Barker in the gallery. PLEASEEEEE it's the most beautiful sim I EVER seen! >:3 PLEASEEE!!!!!!!!!!

She should be on there? I think? Make sure you have CC enabled and if you can’t find me through the gallery her tray files are here

Anonymous said: Hi! After the recent patch I started having a small issue with Bree hair(without bangs), when I zoom out it looks like a completely different hair, something similar to that one basegame hair that's layered with tips pointed outward but longer. Thought I'd let you know, maybe others have had a similar issue or maybe I need to change a setting or something. Love your work so much!

Really surprised this is the first time someone told me about this lmao. The hair should be updated now on SFS/Patreon <3

Anonymous said: I tried to look around for this on your "Asks" portion before bothering you (so sorry), but do you have a link perhaps for all the lips you use on your models? Are they in game or a cc you create? Thanks so much! Love all of your work! I'm super new to cc stuff and I found yours like 2 days ago and have been going nuts with downloads lol 

like presets? None of my cc models use a lip preset. I do use this slider on some of them though. For lipsticks, that is listed for each model on my resource page <3

Anonymous said: i’ve been looking for a hair like lexi that i actually like forever and now i find it but it’s for paterson peeps and i’m like actually broke and i’m like :/

im sorry ;n; at least it wasn’t too long of a wait? :/ I hope you liked the hair

Anonymous said: I can't find your jisoo ponytails in your downloads?

they’re in my retired section... may they rest in peace. scroll to the bottom of my downloads and youll see ‘RETIRED.’ click that for the retired download page. 

@eclypt-0-sims said: Hi, I recently started making MM hair and I know you're probably an expert at this but; every time I go into CAS to test a hair, all of my accessories clip with the hair. Like the hair texture would cover some glasses if my sim was wearing glasses. I don't know how to fix it, someone told me to delete an eye weight in blender but I don't really understand weight painting that much, any suggestions? love your content btw

this is a late as hell reply i’m sorry. I think that you have texture where the glasses texture would be. Hair texture should only be in hair section or hat section (if you don’t want it hat compatible). Here is a UV map layout that I use for making hair textures. It shouldnt have anything to do with weights

Anonymous said: Do you use reshade when you take previews for your cc? and also is the tropical punch ombre overlay a palette or did you make it?

I do use reshade when I take cc previews. It adds a bit of saturation to my sims and gives them some shadows under their chin/clothes. Nothing major. Also, myself and @imvikai came up with the tropical punch palette together.

@little-eris​ said: You probably have answered this before but who drew your tumblr icon? I’ve seen the same art style with other simmers 👉🏼👈🏼 it’s super cute!

thank you! here is their twitter 

Anonymous said: The male sim in your Tiny Living review looks soo familiar; was there inspiration from anyone IRL? The person he reminds me of isn't even famous so I don't even know! He is very pretty though *-*

He was a gallery sim that I just revamped a bit so I’m honestly not super sure lmao. But he is very attractive yes I agree

that concludes this ask ceremony please collect your things and move to the exit to your left. fvghbjn if you sent something I didn’t answer and it was off anon I’ll get to you soon (person who asked what beards I used for AxA... I see you)

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Delusions & Discussions

A JSE Fanfic

It’s time for the next entry in this series! And I think this one is one of the more intense ones, but who am I to say? Maybe nothing can top the last-minute reveal in the last story. But yeah, basically something happens with Jameson, then we another reveal (one that some people guessed! I’m so proud of you!) and we catch up on some characters, and that’s it. I’m really enjoying this series, hope you guys are too!

You can find the other stories under the pw timeline tag!

Chase’s phone pinged with a text notification. Before he even looked at it, he knew it was Marvin. He sighed, deliberately not reaching into his pocket to get his phone out. Instead, he continued loading dishes into his dishwasher. He had energy for one task today and he was sick of seeing the pile in the sink.

The text tone went off a few more times before Chase had finished. He sighed, putting the last tea mug into the washer and closing the door. He pressed the button to start it before walking over to the kitchen table and collapsing in one of the chairs. Only then did he take out his phone and look at the repeated texts Marvin had sent him.

Hey you still coming? JJs already here were not gonna start without you. Hey did you get my last text? Hey are these sending? Chase do you still want to come?

Chase winced. Maybe he should’ve picked up sooner. Marvin wouldn’t say it, but he got nervous when people didn’t reply. Chase texted a quick reply saying he’d been caught up in something and he was on his way now. Then he sat at the kitchen table for five more minutes before actually standing up and heading to his car, throwing on a jacket and his cap so he’d look a little bit more put together.

It was a Wednesday. He knew this because of two reasons: he had to remember to visit Schneep in two days, and Marvin had texted him last Wednesday asking if he wanted to come over for a little get-together. “Were gonna watch otgw and have cake,” he’d texted. “Consider it a late birthday party :) Yknow, for me kslahfjd” Of course Chase didn’t want to let him down, so he said he’d be there. He promised. He’d resolved that he’d do one task today, and then go over to Marvin’s house for cake. That would be his reward for completing the task.

He arrived fifteen minutes later, parking on the street before walking up to the door and knocking. “Don’t come in!” He heard Marvin shout. Two minutes after that, Marvin opened the door, holding the bundle of cat fluff that was Ragamuffin. “Get in quick, Luna’s got the zoomies,” Marvin said. Chase nodded, and stepped inside. 

Quickly closing the door behind him, Chase saw that the house was back to normal, or at least to how it was before Marvin left. There were folded cardboard boxes against one wall, leaning flat against it, but otherwise everything was in order. Marvin’s posters and knickknacks were scattered about as usual. JJ was sitting on the sofa, holding Luna the cat to his chest, even though she was trying hard to wiggle free. Once JJ noticed Chase had closed the door, he opened his arms and let Luna go free. She landed on his lap, jumped to the coffee table, ran across the surface, jumped onto the floor, and proceeded to zoom across the room at breakneck speed. “Are you seeing ghosts?” Marvin asked her in his special I’m-talking-to-a-cat voice. “Do they spook you?” He leaned over and let Ragamuffin hop out of his arms, who huffed and went to sit on top of the snake terrarium.

“Cuties,” Chase muttered. “Anyway, what’s up so far?”

“Not much. We got the cake and plates and stuff out.” Marvin gestured to the coffee table, where a tall chocolate cake sat under a plastic container. There was a stack of three plates, accompanied by knives and forks. “We considered making popcorn, but figured you’d probably want to be here for that.”

“You could’ve gotten started without me,” Chase said, smiling nervously. 

“Yeah. But we didn’t. We’ve just been chilling.”

And Chase had kept them waiting. He tried not to visibly wince. “Well, we can get started now.”

Cake first, then the movie? JJ suggested.

“Sounds great!” Marvin said cheerfully. He suddenly reached out and grabbed Chase’s hand, swinging it slightly. “Glad you could make it, dude!”

“Hah. Glad to be here.” And he was. Really, he was.

They ended up sprawled across the living room, with Marvin on the sofa, JJ in the armchair, and Chase perched on the sofa’s back like a bird. They’d sliced the cake and started eating, making meaningless small talk. They talked about work for a bit, with Marvin mentioning he was looking for a new job, hopefully something he could preform in. Chase briefly touched on his situation running his own channel and Jack’s, but he quickly moved on; didn’t want to unload everything on the other two. From there, the conversation switched to various games. JJ had been playing Subnautica, so the other two gave him tips and hints. Then Luna ran back into the room, stared at them, and ran back out, so Marvin gushed about his cats for a bit.

Chase had moved back down to the couch and was going in for a second slice of cake—it was rich cake, but his first slice had been pretty thin—when he noticed it. There was a manila folder on the coffee table. One which looked familiar. “Hey.” He picked it up. “Isn’t this the, uh, case file thing? You still have it?”

Marvin shrugged. “Well you haven’t asked for it back. I read through it already, but I’m...doing some rereading.” His brows furrowed, in confusion. “I thought I’d read something recently, wanted to see if it was in that. Do you want it back?”

“No, no, I’m good.” Chase started thumbing through the papers. He didn’t linger too long on any one of them, especially not the ones with photographs. A few words stood out: crime scene, fingerprints, flashes of names.

JJ cleared his throat, and stood up. I’m going to make some tea, he said. Either of you want anything?

“No. But thanks,” Marvin replied.

“Yeah, um, I’m good, thanks,” Chase said.

JJ nodded, and vanished through the doorway leading to the kitchen.

“Do you...think we made him uncomfortable?” Chase whispered to Marvin.

“I...don’t know.” A flash of sudden panic flew over Marvin’s face. “Why, did we say something?”

“I don’t know, he just kind of left suddenly.”

“I thought he just wanted tea.”

“I mean, he could.” Chase looked down at the case file in his hands, folding it closed. “But I think...h-he also seems a bit uncomfortable when we mention Schneep. I guess the last visit he had with him kind of freaked him out. But I think they’d really like each other, you know.”

“Yeah, they have a similar vibe,” Marvin nodded. “Damn, I really need to go see Schneep. I keep forgetting. I say, ‘I’ll put it in my calendar after I’m done with this thing’ and then I forget while I’m doing the thing, so I forget to make a note of it, so I forget to do it all together.”

“God, mood, bro,” Chase sighed, rubbing his eyes. “But at least you managed to see Jack, so that’s something.”

Marvin suddenly snapped over to look at Chase. “How do you know about that?”

Chase paused, confused. “I...was there?”

“You were? You saw me?”

“Um...yeah?”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Marvin asked, sitting up straight.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Chase shook his head, now utterly baffled. “I did say something. Multiple somethings!”

Marvin sat his plate on the coffee table. “Well, I guess I didn’t hear you. You should’ve walked up to me instead of just going away, it would’ve been less awkward.”

“Dude! We had a whole-ass conversation!” Chase gaped. “You came up to me first, remember?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!”

“When we ran into each other at the hospital?” Chase asked. “Remember? I was in Jack’s room, and you came in and said you wanted to talk to Jack so I left? The twenty-first of August? Any of this ringing a bell?”

Marvin held up a hand, asking Chase to pause. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out his phone, unlocking it. A few swipes later, Marvin looked up at Chase with wide eyes. “The twenty-first?”

“Yeah.” Chase nodded.

“Um...Chase...” Marvin said slowly. “I just checked my calendar, and I didn’t go see Jack until the twenty-seventh. You weren’t there at all.”

“What?” Chase just stared at him. “Is...is this a prank? Cause it’s kind of a mean one, bro. My memory’s already shitty enough.”

“I swear to you this isn’t a prank or anything, Chase. I wasn’t there.”

Marvin sure sounded serious enough. But he’d always been good at putting on a performance. Chase shook his head firmly, and stood up. “No, I saw you there. Stop fucking...don’t lie to me. I have enough to deal with.”

“I’m not lying to you!” Marvin got to his feet as well. “Chase, I don’t know what you saw, but it wasn’t me!”

“Well I don’t see things!” Chase protested. “I never had before, so why would I start now? Why would I just imagine you being there?”

“I don’t know!” Marvin started biting his thumbnail, but then stopped to ask Chase a question. “What happened when you saw me there? What did I say?”

“This is ridiculous,” Chase muttered. “I don’t know, you knocked on the door, cause I closed it, so I opened it. Then you were like, ‘oh so you are here, are you busy’ and I was like, ‘no, nice shirt, hey it’s been a while,’ and you said, ‘yeah, do you mind if I talk to Jack?’ and I said, ‘no, it’s okay, I’ll wait outside,’ so I waited until you came out and I went in to say goodbye to Jack and then I left too.”

“What shirt was I wearing?” Marvin interrogated. “Why’d you comment on it?”

“I don’t know, it was a green T-shirt, I thought it was a little weird so I said something about it.” Chase shrugged.

Marvin inhaled sharply. “You thought it was a little weird that I was wearing that, when I only wear green for St. Paddy’s Day and I hate the feeling of wind on my skin?”

“I mean, yeah a little, but—”

“I don’t own a green t-shirt, Chase!” Marvin suddenly shouted. “You know I don’t like them! You can go look in my closet and hamper if you want, I don’t have anything like that.”

“Well, who was it, then?” Chase demanded. “What, are you saying that someone was pretending to be you—”

Crash!

Marvin and Chase turned in unison towards the sound. JJ was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking very pale. The remains of a ceramic mug were shattered at his feet, tea spilled across the floor. “Jameson?” Chase asked. “Are you alright?”

Jameson was frozen, barely breathing, eyes wide. Marvin took a step forward, reaching out a bit. “Hey, is something wrong?” When Jameson didn’t respond, Marvin walked the rest of the way towards him. “JJ, please, you’re—”

Jameson suddenly turned around and dashed back into the kitchen. Marvin looked back at Chase, then darted into the kitchen as well. Chase hurried to follow.

The kitchen didn’t look any different than usual, so nothing in there could’ve upset Jameson. The closest thing to something out of place was the kettle, sitting on the counter. Nevertheless, Jameson was sitting on the floor, hands braced against one of the cabinets, head tilted down, shaking as he heaved in deep gulps of air. 

“JJ?” Marvin hesitated, then approached, getting down on his knees next to JJ. Chase leaned over the both of them, unsure what to do. “JJ, what’s wrong?”

“Ahh!” Chase jumped once he realized Jameson made that sound. “Ahh! Uuh! Hnnm nnihh, annn!” They were sounds of distress, made by a voice that couldn’t wrap itself around words. “Eee! Eh, eehhhn!” Tears were starting to drip from his eyes.

“Whoa, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay!” Marvin held up his hands, as if to keep them both in Jameson’s line of sight. “What do you need? Are you okay with touching?”

Jameson shook his head furiously. “Nnuh, nnnah, nnn—tih-tih-tih—”

“Okay, got it, no touching.” Marvin was careful to keep his voice soft. He looked up at Chase and shook his head, at a loss for how to proceed beyond that.

Chase, meanwhile, was scrambling over his knowledge about what to do when someone was having a panic attack. He’d looked this up before, but...well, he’d never expected to be using these steps with Jameson. Jameson had always been the calm, cheerful one. Chase shook his head. Stop concentrating on the unexpectedness of it, just go. He walked around to Jameson’s other side, slowly sitting on the floor. “Hey Jays, I need you to breathe with me, okay? Look at me. Can you do that?” Jameson managed to turn his head to the side, eyes catching on Chase. “Okay, good. Just watch me and do it with me, okay? In and out. In...” He inhaled slowly. “...and out.” Exhaled slowly. “In...” Inhale. “...out.” Exhale.

After a while, Jameson managed to keep pace with Chase’s breathing. Chase nodded encouragingly. “You’re doing great. Now, you know the 5 senses method, right? Can you do that now? Start with five things you see.”

Jameson pulled away from the cabinet a bit, casting his eyes around the kitchen. His hands came up, and he began to sign, shakily listing things he saw. Kettle. Fridge. Cabinets. Marvin. You.

“Good, good job. What about five things you can hear?”

That one took a little bit longer. You. Cats. Fridge. Lights.

“Very good. Three things you can touch?”

His hands patted the area around him. Cabinet. Tile floor. Clothes.

“Nice. And two things you can smell?”

Jameson’s tense posture had loosened up by this point, no longer breathing as quickly. Spilled tea. Marvin’s detergent.

“You’re almost there. Just one more. One thing you can taste?”

Cake from earlier. Jameson closed his eyes, slumping back against the cabinet. Thanks, Chase.

“Hey, no problem.” Chase smiled, even if Jameson couldn’t see it. “Is there anything else you need? Like a blanket or something?”

That would actually be good.

“I’ll get one,” Marvin said, standing up and leaving the room.

“Anything else?” Chase asked. “Do you want me to drive you home or something?”

Jameson shook his head. I want to keep going like this didn’t happen. Can we just...forget it?

“Oh, of course.” Chase nodded. “Yeah, we’re all just gonna—just gonna put everything in a box. Then we’re gonna close the box, duct tape it closed, and shove it under a bed. Never to be seen again, unless you want it to be.”

JJ chuckled, opening his eyes. Alright, then.

Marvin reappeared, holding two different folded blankets. “I got a normal one and then I got the weighted one Grandmam got me. Which do you want?”

“Weighted one? That’s new,” Chase remarked.

“Yeah, she just got it when I went to visit. Dude, it’s so great. And I heard it helps with anxiety problems and stuff. So I figured, I mean, if you want, y’know.”

JJ nodded. That sounds great. Can we go back to the living room?

“Yeah.” Chase got to his feet, holding down a hand for JJ to take. “Let’s go. You still want to watch the movie?”

Of course. JJ took Chase’s hand, letting him help him stand. But technically it’s a mini-series.

“Movie’s shorter,” Chase said with a small grin. “Now c’mon.”

The show passed in mostly silence, with a break to make popcorn after twenty minutes. Marvin couldn’t help but add commentary, but they didn’t have a conversation through the show as they might have otherwise. JJ remained in his place in the armchair, Marvin’s weighted blanket wrapped around him like a burrito. Once it was over, Chase turned the lights back on, ruining the illusion of them being in a movie theater.

“I love this series, guys,” Marvin said, a big smile on his face. He waved his arms, slapping his legs. “Guys, I love it so much.”

“It’s a good show,” Chase agreed, returning to sit on the couch. “I like the message about being siblings. I could show it to Sophie and Nick, but they’re a little young.” He chuckled. “Maybe in six years.”

Jameson was quiet for a while. His expression was unreadable. Then seemingly out of nowhere, he signed, Did you know I was in a car crash once?

“Wh—” Chase’s mind went blank. He could only gape at Jameson. What—? Why—? Well, sorry, of course, but—what? He realized that this was the true definition of being speechless. He couldn’t think of words, and if he could, he wasn’t sure he would say them.

Marvin, after a stunned silence, cleared his throat and said, “JJ, are you sure you want—?”

Chase didn’t know, Jameson signed idly. Didn’t I ever tell you? You know I was in the foster system.

“I—I just—” Chase shook his head. “I didn’t think to...to ask, like...that’s not something you ask someone. Why they were a foster kid, I mean. I...”

Jameson was leaning back in the chair, staring up at the ceiling. I suppose that’s fair. I’ve told Marvin, but not you or Jackie. Maybe I should. Yes, that’s what happened. Family car ride. Someone in another car fell asleep at the wheel, head-on collision. Mum and Dad didn’t make it, and I hit my head pretty hard, and now I can’t talk. It’s called acquired apraxia. He spelled out the second word so there could be no mistaking it.

“That...” Chase shifted in his seat, once again rendered speechless. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marvin reach forward and pick up the manila folder that was Schneep’s case file. He started flipping through it, probably to avoid feeling awkward. “That’s...awful, Jays, I’m so sorry.”

Thank you, Jameson signed. You can guess what happened from there. Mum and Dad were the last of their respective lines, so into the foster system it was. Didn’t get out until I was sixteen. Don’t think people wanted kids that were “damaged.”

“That’s bullshit,” Chase growled. “Kids are kids. If you’re not prepared for a ‘difficult’ one—” He spat out the word like it tasted dirty. “—then you’re not prepared at all.”

Jameson smiled. You’re a good dad, Chase. 

“Oh. Um, thanks.”

Family should stick together, you know. Jameson paused. They should always look out for each other. He fell silent. The room was filled with tension, thick enough to feel it as you breathed. Jameson raised his hands—

“That’s the bitch!” Marvin suddenly shot to his feet. Chase and Jameson jumped, comically in sync, and looked over at him. “Oh. Sorry, guess I startled you.” Marvin smiled sheepishly. “I just got excited.” He looked down at the case file he was holding. “Were you guys...talking?”

Jameson shook his head hurriedly. He looked like he very much regretted what he was saying, like he’d been in a trance that he just now came out of. He even looked a little...horrified. But he put on a shaky smile. What is it, Marvin?

Oh, I was just—” Marvin opened the file to a spot he’d marked with his finger. “You know Schneep got a new doctor, since the last one disappeared?”

“Yeah,” Chase said. “Dr. Newson.”

“Yes, yes! That’s the bitch!” Marvin nodded excitedly. “I tried to visit Schneep outside of visitors’ hours, and she came out to tell me off for it. I thought her name was familiar, like I’d read it somewhere, and it’s in here.” He pulled a series of stapled papers out of the file, flipping to a specific one and reading it over. “There was this big Christmas incident, with video clues and a search for five people. Three of those people ended up dying, and apparently the third was named Jeremy Newson.” He looked up at the others. “That can’t be a coincidence. It’s not the most common name.”

Chase sat up straight. “Gimme that paper.” Marvin handed it to him. Chase scanned the details of the incident. Which included a picture of the victim, Jeremy. “He does look like the doctor lady,” Chase realized. “Holy shit, how has nobody else realized this?”

“I don’t know, I’m guessing that not everybody looked at this section,” Marvin shrugged. “And the people who did probably didn’t know of Dr. Newson when they read it.”

“If she’s related to one of the guys who Schneep supposedly killed, is that a conflict of interest?” Chase wondered. “Can we sue her?”

“I don’t know, do we need to sue her?” Marvin asked.

“I dunno, she was kind of...” Chase made a vague gesture. “There was a tone issue, when I last talked to her, let’s say that.”

“Tones probably aren’t good grounds for suing.” Marvin’s eyes were alight. “We’d need proof that she was actually doing shit.”

“We don’t know if she’s doing anything, though,” Chase pointed out. 

“Can we find out?”

JJ coughed, drawing the other two’s attention. I don’t think we should go about suing people willy-nilly, he said. Someone worse could come along, easily.

Marvin frowned. “I guess.” He paused. Chase handed the stapled papers back to him, and he replaced them in the file, closing it. “You guys want to stick around any more? Or is it time to go home?”

Chase smiled softly. “I’m...I’m ready to go home, if that’s okay.” He was very, very tired. The little gathering had turned out to require more energy than he expected, and he was now into below-zero, in terms of energy. He wanted to lie down forever and never wake up.

“Alright, that’s cool,” Marvin nodded. “JJ?”

I can stay for some time longer, JJ said, considering. Not too long, though.

"Got it. In that case, see you later Chase? Text you or something?”

Chase shrugged. “Sure.” He wasn’t sure if he’d answer, but Marvin could just text him anyway. In case.

Goodbye, Chase, JJ signed.

“Bye, Jays.” Chase headed to the door.

“Wait!” Marvin looked around. “Where’s Luna? Is she in zooming-toward-the-door range?”

She’s not in the room, Marvin, JJ signed with a smile.

“Alright. Go ahead, Chase.” Marvin waved a bit. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you.” Chase opened the door and went outside, quickly closing it behind him in case the tiny cat was indeed somewhere in the room. Once he was in the clear, standing out in the evening air, he sighed. Deeply.

This had been...a lot. A lot he wasn’t expecting. But he was done with it now. Time to go home, get in bed, and not get out.

Chase walked to his car, pulling his keys out. As he unlocked the door, he saw...something. Someone was sitting on a bench on the side of the road, reading a book. Nothing too strange. But he frowned at the figure anyway. This felt...familiar.

He shook his head, and got inside the car. He was just tired. And ready to get home. So he headed in that direction, never noticing how the figure on the bench turned to follow him with his eyes.

——————

“You’re gonna break your wrist. Probably.”

“Thank you, Jackie, very help—ow!”

Jackie looked across the room to where Dr. Laurens was. “Told you.”

Laurens hissed. She’d been trying to yank her hand free of the handcuff for the past five minutes, and it was clear by now that it was too tight for her to make any headway. She sighed, shifting from a crouch down to sitting on the floor. Her wrist throbbed. It felt like the metal of the handcuffs had cut into her skin. And her head was pounding again. She watched Jackie silently for a little bit. “Why do you do that?” she asked.

“What, this?” Jackie was doing sit-ups, curling up and down with his hands behind his head. He didn’t stop to go look at her this time. “You’re the psychologist, you should know about how it’s important to keep a routine when isolated. Until you showed up, I had a period of like three months where I saw literally no one.”

“No one?” Laurens asked. “What about...him?”

Jackie faltered. “He...didn’t really talk to me. Well, h-he did for a little bit, but then he gave up, even when I did see him. So...yeah, he doesn’t count.” He resumed his exercise, now flipping over to do push-ups. “Another reason I do this. So I keep in shape and I can kick his ass when the time comes.” He chuckled, but his words sounded a bit...hollow.

“Hmm.” Maybe she should start up an exercise routine too, then. She was already getting bored, sitting on the floor. Sure, she was handcuffed to a pipe, but Jackie was cuffed to a support pillar, and he’d managed to work around that. “You do anything else?”

“Lot of daydreaming. Remembering. I don’t know.”

They fell silent for a moment. Laurens closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, managing to wedge her head between some of the wooden supports to rest against the cool concrete. She let the headache take over, a tiny drum pounding in her temples and forehead.

Some minutes later, Jackie had given up on his routine, and was now lying on the floor spread-eagle, staring at the bare rafters overhead. “So...what did he want?” He asked softly.

Laurens opened her eyes. “He just asked me a bunch of questions. About Schneep, mostly. Wanted to know...well, everything, basically. Everything that I knew about him.”

“You say anything?” Jackie asked dully.

“No. Nothing at all.” It was easiest to stay quiet entirely, refusing to acknowledge him. Not necessarily easy, but easiest. She recalled now that scarred face with its dual-colored eyes, the way he smiled and cajoled and got close. And she shuddered. “He’s not gonna just ask questions forever, is he?”

“Probably not,” Jackie said plainly. He looked over at Laurens just in time to see the blood drain from her face. “Hey, I mean, it might not be you. Might be me.”

“You?” Laurens repeated, aghast.

“Yeah.” Jackie looked back up at the ceiling. “That’s what he did with Schneep...once I arrived, at least. Hah...stupid me, not telling anyone where I was going, just following a lead on where he went. I should know better by now. But I thought...” He trailed off. “...I thought that...it was just Schneep. That he just left after what happened to Jack. I didn’t think anyone else was involved, but guess I found out the hard way.”

“I’m sorry,” Laurens whispered. “He...Henrik did do those things, didn’t he?”

“Sometimes. Sometimes Anti just wanted help, or for him to hold the murder tools and get his fingerprints all over them.” Jackie folded his arms. “I think it was, like, the first week I got here. Schneep and I got put in a room with some unconscious guy, and Anti told him to kill the guy. Hen didn’t want to, of course, so Anti said that...” He stopped.

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Laurens said gently.

“No, I want to,” Jackie said. He took a deep breath. “Anti said that if Hen didn’t kill the guy, then he’d kill me, then the guy. And that he’d do it painfully. I told him not to listen, but then he broke my arm, and Henrik just couldn’t—couldn’t watch it.” Jackie rubbed his upper arm unconsciously. “The guy never even woke up, so there’s that, at least.” His eyes suddenly widened, as if regretting going that far. “Sorry, there’s just something about you that makes me want to talk.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Laurens said. “Which is great. I’m a therapist, helps in work.”

That got Jackie to chuckle. It faded quickly. “Look, you can’t...can’t give him what he wants, okay?”

Laurens stared at him. “I can’t promise that, Jackie.”

“I know. But...just keep that in mind. I-I don’t know.” Jackie rolled over. “I’m gonna go to sleep now. Good night.”

“Good night,” Laurens repeated.

She wasn’t tired. And it wasn’t just because there was only the concrete floor to sleep on. Apparently if you got tired enough, you’d fall asleep anywhere. No, she was busy thinking. She’d been left alone for over two weeks, luckily enough, but it seemed like things were about to change. She...didn’t know how to proceed. She knew she had to get out of here, but how? There was a way, wasn’t there? Because if there wasn’t...she didn’t want to think about it.

She watched the light from the basement window fade, and eventually the buzzing lightbulbs overhead shut off on their own, leaving her in the dark.

——————

The door closed. It must’ve opened, but he hadn’t heard that, only the swing of it shutting. His head turned to look in the door’s direction. There was someone in the room now. Did he recognize him? He felt like he did. What was the name?

“Hey, Schneep.”

He latched onto that phrase. Friend. Only friends called him that.

But what if he’s lying?

He hadn’t considered that. 

You should be lied to.

Awful, awful, awful.

Not them again. He looked up towards the ceiling. Augen, Augen. They were staring at him, blinking, all different colors. One of them dropped from its spot on the ceiling, dangling by an optic nerve. He flinched back, growling at it.

“Hey, I need you to—”

He growled at the man, too, backing up and pressing against the wall. No closer. Not until he could figure out if he was lying. The man’s uniform looked familiar. A beige outfit with a nametag that he couldn’t read—why couldn’t he read it? Where were his glasses? His hand touched his face and head, looking for where they could’ve gone. They weren’t there. His nails started to dig. Maybe they were underneath, if he could just get under there—

“Hey! Stop!” The man suddenly surged forward, grabbing his wrist. He yelped in surprise, managing to yank it away, hitting the man’s face in the process.

No grabbing! No no no no, this man wasn’t to be trusted if he suddenly grabbed people. Who knew what would happen next? When would the ropes and cuffs come in? “Nein,” he gasped out. He was shaking, breathing coming a bit harder. He could only manage the one word. “Nein, nein, nein.”

“Just calm down.” The man reached forward. As he watched, the man’s features started to twist. His eyes fell out, dripping along his face, his hair darkening.

“Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Did you miss me?”

It was him. “Nein! Geh weg!” He scrambled backwards, his leg hitting the frame of the bed. Bed! That would be safe, safe place from him. He immediately fell to the ground, scooting backwards until he was mostly underneath.

“I can’t underst

and you.” “What’s 

your name?” “It’s so good to see y

ou okay.” “Henrik, I ca

n’t stay like this.”

He hid his face in his hands, whining, blinking against the tears. Where was Jackie? Was he alright? Where was Jackie? Where was Jack?

“YOU KILLED YOUR BEST FRIEND!”

He was laughing at him, laughing, laughing. He screamed, trying to plug his ears. There were hands coming for him, hands reaching, and the laughing wouldn’t stop. He saw eyes, one green and one blue. Smiles in the shadow’s face.

“Come with me, Henrik. Come with me, come with me.”

“Get out from under there.”

“I won’t do it again.”

“C’mon, man. You know I won’t hurt you.”

“What’s your name?”

“I just need you to take these.”

“I’m going to keep you.”

One of those voices might be safe. But maybe not. Better safe than sorry. “Geh weg—!” He kicked at the reaching hands, his own too busy trying to cover his ears. “Get away from me! Shut up!”

Where was he? He suddenly realized he didn’t remember. He was in a room, last time he checked. Did that change? He couldn’t see any walls. It was dark. He remembered being out in the dark once. It was raining. And a man had asked him, “Are you okay? You’re blocking the sidewalk.”

Yes, yes. He remembered. He looked up at the man, and he’d mistaken him for someone else. The man had looked very similar to him, it was an easy mistake. He remembered saying, “Jack? What are you doing out here? In the rain?”

And the man had looked confused. “I’m not Jack.”

And he’d laughed. “Do not try to pull this on me, I can tell the difference between all of you. You should go home.”

The man’s confusion had slid away, right off his face as he adopted another mask. “Right, just running some errands.” The man had smiled. “Didn’t know it was going to rain. What are you doing out here?”

“I...don’t know.” He’d said that. He’d said that because he was in rough ocean waves, untethered from the boat that drifted through reality. He’d said that, and he’d started to shake as distress set in. “Again, again. I-I don’t—”

“Hey, it’s okay.” The man had smiled. It was so similar, so easy—not like the smiles he would give him later. “Why don’t we go to my house?”

And he’d nodded. He thought it was Jack. “You know how I get, thi-this will pass.”

“Yeah, I know.” The man had grabbed his arm, and started pulling, and he’d let it happen. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Was he in the house now? Maybe he was. Maybe the man—he didn’t want to say it, he didn’t want to say it—was in the room, like he’d been that night. The man had sat him down on the sofa, and let him talk and chatter, listening intently...maybe too intently. And eventually he’d fallen silent, and then he realized. “You are not Jack,” he said.

“No, I’m not,” the man said.

“I-I am sorry, I just—you look a lot like him—” Later, he’d wonder why he’d ever mistaken the man for Jack. The man’s two-colored eyes, the scars across his neck and face—ah, that was why. The face was astonishingly close, under those scars. He’d wanted to see Jack. So he’d seen him.

“Is this Jack a friend of yours?” The man had seemed interested. Friendly.

“A good friend, very good friend,” he’d said. And then the tears had risen. He remembered covering his mouth. “I think I did something very bad to him.”

And it all came pouring out, the tale of an accidental operation. The man had stayed quiet through it all. And at the end, he’d seemed sympathetic. “Sorry that happened,” he’d said.

“I need to go back, I-I need to fix it.” He’d been shaking with the need to do so.

“You’re not exactly in a good state to.” The man had smiled again. It looked a bit...different. “But if you insist, I can get you a Lyft or something. You’re welcome to stay here.”

“I need to go back,” he’d repeated. “I need to see, a-at least.”

“Alright. Give me a second, I’ll call someone.” The man had stood up. “It’ll be a while, though. You want anything to drink, or something?”

He couldn’t remember if he’d said yes. But he did remember that five minutes later, the man had handed him a mug of coffee. He’d mumbled, “Thank you,” and five minutes after that, he’d finished it. But something was wrong. Everything was slow, slow, slow-motion record with sound distorted enough to make you dizzy. “I feel...I feel strange...” he remembered saying.

And the man had smiled again. “I know.”

And he’d realized he was in trouble.

Wait, when had something grabbed his arm?

He jolted. He was in that room, that room with the white walls, and someone was grabbing him. He screamed, pushing at that someone, hitting them—him—as hard as he could. Let go! Let go! Let go!

“Calm down, Schneep.” A man’s voice. “It’s me, remember? I just need you to take these.”

He shook his head. No! No, he didn’t know if he was lying! People lied all the time, he lied all the time! Lied until he couldn’t tell if his memories were right or just more false beliefs—there was a word for those, a word, a word—more delusions! He managed to push away from the man speaking, falling back, tripping onto a bed.

“Please don’t make me do this.” The man—he had no face, no face—set something on a table, and he pulled out—

“No! No no no, nein nein!” No more needles! He hated them, they stored darkness inside and put that darkness in his mind. He couldn’t think with them. He pressed back against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest. He grabbed the nearest object—a pillow, it was a pillow—and threw it at the man. It bounced right off.

“I’m so sorry, this’ll only take a moment.” The man quickly closed the distance, and managed to grab his arm. He tried to pull away, but not quick enough to stop the needle. The man quickly backed up. “It’s just a light sedative, it won’t knock you out.”

He curled up on his side, waiting. It had been him, hadn’t it? He didn’t want to say it, he didn’t want to say it. A. That had to be a name he’d given himself, didn’t it? But it had been A the whole time, hadn’t it? Pretending to be someone else, like he always did, changing faces as easily as changing a set of clothes. He wore people’s bodies—he’d felt A in his body, his, making him do terrible things. What did he want to do now? What was the needle this time?

“Okay. We’re good? Good. Look, just swallow these. I’d give you water, but not allowed.”

He felt...he couldn’t put words to it. There were song lyrics in his mind that would do that, describe it easier. He mumbled...scattering sparks of thought energy, deliver me and carry me away. 

“I’m so sorry, but you need to take this, okay? It’s going to help.”

He wouldn’t open his mouth. It seemed important not to do that. But there was a fog inside his head, weighing down his bones. So when the man squeezed the sides of his face, he let his jaw drop open. Now there was something—he recognized the feel of this. Little round something. Pill. He remembered he was supposed to eat this, right? Yes, yes. It was medicine, it was supposed to help. He swallowed it. He felt...tired.

“Okay. Good.” The man backed away. “I’ll see you later today, Schneep. Okay?”

That song from earlier had more lyrics. They were stuck in his head now. He murmured some that he remembered. Understand what’s going on inside my mind, doctor I can’t tell if I’m not me. He liked those ones.

“...okay. I’ll see you.”

The door closed again. He was alone.

But he was never alone.

“Did you miss me? Did you miss me? Puppet boy.”

He whimpered, curling into a tighter ball, squeezing his eyes shut. He was always there.

[alittleofsomethingarts]

The Spy Comic (7-10 + Q&A #2 and a fic)

Alrighty guys, this took a while to post and draw!

The Spy Comic (1-6 + Amino Q&A)

The #10 took me a while to do, but otherwise I hope you guys enjoy this stupid comic!

#7 Criminal Scum

#8 Unscripted Wrestle

#9 Wow Wow Chibi Cuties!~~♡

EXTRA #2

#10 A Catastrophy

EXTRA #3

QNA #2

And last, but not least, a little story I wrote way back in August with the origins of the Spy Crew, adding to the lore. Whoops. Yes my mind went that way.

COVER:

~~•°☆♡○♧○♡☆°•~~

Agent Punny sighed deeply. How did it get to this point? How come her job doesn't bring any joy anymore? She was looking at the new recruits training, going back in her mind to what could've started all of this mess.

It started out really well. Her skills proved to be very useful in the agency, and she became the top newbie in a matter of weeks. The best agent, Agent King, invited her personally to pass the hardest test of all - becoming his partner. Nobody has passed it before, until Punny proved herself to be worthy.

She was ecstatic, for she admired him from day one. He was funny, had good work ethic and just was so super cool... And she wanted to get to know him better. At first, being the partner of the Best Agent of C.R.O.W.N. (Crime fighting Rentless Operators Whamming No good) was the best job ever. She got to spend with him every single day, going on epic missions full of danger and action. He did most of the action though, Agent Punny was very observant and helped Agent King to get through all sorts of tough situations.

Unfortunately...

Agent King turned out to be a complete workaholic. He would care only about doing a good job, and he seemed to be enjoying what he does, but Agent Punny wanted something more. She did everything in her power to grab his attention, but he only saw her as a friend and a partner. It was bumming her out a lot, to the point of having a slightly worse work performance.

She remembered it clearly - that day she almost sent Meme King to his death, by forgetting to tell him about an acid trap laid down by the enemy. They were sitting on a bridge, waiting for C.R.O.W.N. bus to pick them up, along with the bad guys...

But before Agent King could confront her about it, a guy looking just like Agent King approached them. He was immediately accepted to C.R.O.W.N., due to having great powers and high morals, and in a matter of a week, he was accepted as one of the top agents, breaking all the records the company had before. The guy was dubbed Agent King Junior, for being an almost exact copy of Agent King.

What Punny found, however, is a new friend. She was bouncing between both Agent King's, going on different missions together. But it didn't improve her mood much. While Agent King Jr. turned out to be a very good friend, he wasn't all alone and there was no way Punny was going to ruin somebody's relationship over her selfish desires.

That quickly changed on the faithful day, when C.R.O.W.N. discovered the man behind many of the troubles the company faced. His name was...

"Doctor Fell?" Agent King Junior scratched his head, as he and Agent Punny were looking through the files.

"This is a side mission the HQ has given us. In between missions we must spy at him and find out everything that we can." Agent King has already read the file and was instructing his young colleagues.

"But there's not much to read," Agent Punny raised the only sheet of paper that they had on the guy.

"The agents that tried to do research on him, have all mysteriously disappeared, so it's up to us to get the data on him." Agent King had tossed a different file towards Agent Punny. "Me and Tori will have to go on the next mission, so the first phase of data gathering falls on you."

She was looking at the bad quality photo of Dr. Fell in the files, thinking that it would be nice to have a better look. There was a written description, of course, so that it would be easier to identify him, but that side mission was for another time.

Or so she thought.

Apparently, their next mission involved stopping somebody from spreading a chemical with who-knows-what to a building full of innocent people, who turned out to be Dr. Fell himself, in flesh (or, rather, bone). Both she and Agent King had a good look at Fell, before he escaped, not before they managed to stop him from poisoning an entire building. As she suspected, his golden tooth and wide grin looked better in person. And his coat looked absolutely badass, making him look really cool. Agent Punny kept reminding herself that Fell was an enemy.

That night Agent King and King Jr. located the house Fell was living in and tried getting in, but were almost killed by the traps set by the Doctor. Their clothing was all scratched and cut, and Agent King had a piranha stuck to his cloak, but they were all alive and well, and brought a lot of data to the company.

Ever since then, both Agent King's and Agent Punny were rotating in spying at Dr. Fell. Agent Kings mostly tried getting as much data on the traps as possible, and she was spying on Fell whenever he got out in public in civilian clothes.

Little did they know that Doctor Fell was completely aware of the eyes on his house and himself. He was really annoyed at the fact that a couple of stubborn idiots were sticking their noses, where they weren't suppose to. He didn't want them to know what's he's been experimenting on, and went an extra mile to set up high security around his house and motion detectors with mini cameras on his neighbours houses. Eventually, Agent Kings were getting more and more traps, and spent a lot of time disabling them, but they could never make it in time. Fell made a habit of going out for not more than an hour at the time, which sort of annoyed Agent King, who had never had trouble with traps beforehand.

He also noticed that some goat lady monster was seemingly following him around, whenever he went out. Intrigued, he decided to lure her closer, thinking she had something to do with those annoying skeletons in his backyard. She was definitely not bad looking, from the footage he'd seen of her spying on his house.

Agent Punny was appointed to spy on Doctor Fell all the time, for Agent Kings got busy with plenty of missions she wasn’t aware of. Though whenever they got free, they would check on her or even replace her, if she was falling from exhaustion. To Fell’s disappointment, the goat lady was never truly alone. She would either be with those pesky skeletons, or other agents of all sorts, and she would always be nice to them. He sometimes teleported to listen to what they were talking about, and not too long after that he decided to pursue after Agent Punny and spend a night with her.

And, oh boy, did he succeed… But she was getting ahead of herself.

Whenever she was alone or wasn’t looking, he’d slip little notes and gifts in her surroundings and even her pockets. Agent Punny was rather puzzled, but it didn’t take her too long to figure out who it was from. She did notice a skeleton hand putting a flower in her pocket once and, in the rare instances she was left alone, one time he opened up the window on the front and blatantly waved at her! Something irked her to keep this attention to herself, though. It was mysterious and special. Eventually, she was looking forward for those little things and she kept every single note to herself. Just like Fell hoped and planned.

And none of the C.R.O.W.N. agents could get close even to the front door.

But then, it happened. Something that would completely change her outlook on things.

One hot afternoon, after a night in a casino, she didn't have time to change to casual clothing from her field dress, so she was hanging out around Fell's house, looking at the front door, being totally fabulous. She remembered, how the sun was burning everybody alive, and how loudly nature made itself known with the birds and the insects singing together in chaotic harmony. She was under a tree shade, though, so the sun wasn't as bad on her fur. To her surprise, she heard a voice from behind her back:

"Hey there, Sweet Momma, I've noticed you've been hanging out around my house a lot."

It. Was. Fell!!! Her heart started to beat fast, and she tried to keep her cool, but she suddenly started sweating and her cheeks turned red involuntarily. Thankfully her shades were shielding her panicked eyes. She noticed him getting closer as he said just loud enough for her to hear:

"Why don't you come over and have a cup of coffee?"

He was inviting her to his house?! WHAT??? How did it even-

The next thing she knew is that she was sitting in his living room, holding a cup of iced coffee and him sipping his own coffee next to her. Her cheeks were red from how flustered she felt. She just stared at her mug and muttered:

"I don't even like coffee..."

She could hear Fell putting down his half empty mug on the coffee table, and reaching for her mug, levitating it with his magic.

"Well, you don't have to drink it if you don't want to."

Her special C.R.O.W.N. mobile device started vibrating in her pocket, getting Agent Punny's head back in place just enough.

"I-I really shouldn't be here-"

"Ssshhh..." her sunglasses were lifted up with magic and her eyes met with his. When did she turn her head?

"They can wait after we have some fun~"

He knew that at this point, she wouldn’t say no.

"Ah-"

___

"AGENT PUNNY!!!"

She snapped back into reality, and turned towards her colleague Agent Screen, that has been calling for her for the past minute.

"Are you alright? You've been zoning out a lot for the past hour without moving an inch."

"Ah... Mmm, I'm alright." She stood straight up and stretched, bringing relief to her stiff body.

"You sure? We're all worried about you."

She noticed other agents were looking at her with worry in their eyes, making her smile nervously.

"Well, don't worry about me, I'm really fine. Maybe tired a bit. I'm gonna go to the chill room and grab a snack or something..."

She waved to the agents that were looking at her and hurried to the lounge. Agent Screen coughed and fixed the screen on his head, as the Special Forces caretaker Agent Dance asked:

"Was it me, or was she smiling the second before she snapped back to reality?"

___

Drinking some tea and munching on a sandwich, she was sitting in her favorite spot in the corner, where she could watch other agents come and go. Agent Cocoa was snoring on one of the couches and Agent Scram seemed to be very busy with his documents. She wanted to get her situation sorted out, so she tried to remember what was the last thing she was thinking about...

... Oh that.

She still remembered what happened that day and night. They were definitely having LOTS of fun. The next morning she woke up in Fells bedroom, completely naked and alone, in shock of what had happened. She sat up, looking for her dress, which had been carefully laid on a chair next to the bed. Grabbing the blanket to cover herself, she got to her dress and pulled it towards herself, searching for her C.R.O.W.N. mobile device. She flipped it open, to see at least a 50 missed calls and around a 100 new messages. Knowing that the 10 agents that tried to contact her must be worried sick, so she wrote her superior, Agent King, that she had infiltrated the house...

... But why does she feel so bad about telling on Fell to the CROWN HQ?

Punny sent the message and sat on the bed, with the blanket covering her front and her hands pressed against the chin. It didn't take her long to realize why she was feeling bad.

"Good morning, hun~" she heard and felt a peck on the cheer.

I don't want to work for C.R.O.W.N. anymore, she thought.

She felt something being put on her knees. It was a plate with bacon, eggs and thick pancakes, complete with a side of mustard being poured all over the bacon.

"Breakfast is served~"

At first she smiled and thought that it was a really nice gesture, but then she remembered who was she with.

"I can't eat this! What if you laced it with poison?!"

Fell looked as if he was deeply insulted.

"Why would I poison the food I eat myself?"

As to prove her wrong, he grabbed a piece of bacon off her plate and ate it in front of her. She just stared at him and started giggling. She had a good knack for when people were lying, and this was not the case here.

That was a start of a very weird relationship. She never reported on what she did with Fell in his house, but she did report on some other things. Like how he said that she's welcome to come over anytime. Agent Punny didn't use the privilege often, though. Mainly because her co-worker friends wouldn’t leave her side anymore.

He'd start bringing her tea at times or other snack food and chit chat when the other agents weren't looking. They had a lot in common, surprisingly, and the chats were always warming her heart. Sometimes he would tease her, by kissing her in front of other agents and flipping them off before disappearing... And the more Fell did that, the more the thought returned to her head.

I don't want to work for C.R.O.W.N. anymore.

I don't want to work for C.R.O.W.N. anymore!

I DON'T WANT TO WORK FOR C.R.O.W.N. ANYMORE!!!

She looked at the empty paper cup in her hand with a wet teabag on the bottom of it. Is she really ready to leave the agency she's been apart of for many years now? Two months ago she'd say no.

"Tori! Quick!" Agent King teleported to the room, disturbing Agent Scram’s documents, making them fly all over the room, and ran up to her. "We've got information of Dr. Fell!"

She looked rather calm. "What's wrong?"

"We've got information on where that evildoer  will appear next! He's got some evil plan going on! Make sure to look presentable!" He teleported away with a pop.

"Oh boy..."

~~•°☆♡○♧○♡☆°•~~

Right after that the first comic of the spy series happens.

[cosmosogler]

hi guys. today i set an alarm to start writing. so it is exactly 10. but my water bottle is not full!!!

you know what snoopy likes to do? she likes to go over to her water bowl and shove her head under the fountain and let it run all over her food mat and the floor. and it makes the water bowl very empty very fast. the dry motor running kept me up last night so i had to unplug the bowl or else i’d have to refill it every 20 minutes because snoopy felt like taking a shower in the middle of the night.

she woke me up with her yowling many, many times. i think it’s because she broke a nail. she does it every night though. but i do find her claws when i sweep the floors most weeks. need to look into that.

she also bumps things and scooby-doos on the wood flooring and starts screeching so i’m thinking she doesn’t have very good traction in general.

i wanted to write about my dream when i woke up but i forgot it now.

i didn’t want to do anything when i woke up and i was 5 minutes late for class because i put off eating breakfast for so long. i took notes just fine though. and i followed the quantum lecture a little better today.

in classical we talked about the midterm happening tomorrow. the professor didn’t want to commit to any one problem not being on the test. to encourage us he said “i don’t think you’ll DIE.......”

i said “you underestimate my power.”

no one in the classroom seemed to have heard it, i was kinda mumbling. so i sent it to my sister and she replied “#relatable”. 

i texted back and forth with her three or four times over the course of the day. i was thinking about it last night, i’d wanted to try catching up a little bit. i dunno. my siblings and i just don’t seem to have much to say to each other unless we are literally locked in a small area together. like a six hour car ride.

none of us is very emotionally well adjusted. and we all adjusted in wildly different ways. so when a topic comes up we don’t always... have compatible reactions, i guess you could say.

like my brother tries to ignore it. he gets mad when i ask how he’s doing. when i complain about something mom did my sister says “so what” half the time and “haha yeah” the other half. it’s a toss up. 

it’s really fun when my parents dogpile my brother or sister and i tell them to cut it out and then get snapped at for defending them. i think it annoys my sister too when i do that. the more resistance you put up the harder they pound at the walls. all i really manage to do for her is make them more angry and unreasonable. and then they punish her partly because she’s in trouble and partly to spite anyone who jumped in to defend.

i wish i was closer with my siblings. it’s really hard to talk about anything though when mom and dad are around. and when we’re home we mostly just keep to ourselves. my brother never wants to do anything except play league. he never even went with me when i took the dogs for walks after he turned like 13. he would do it some of the time before that but he’d ride his skateboard out in the road so it’s not like we talked.

and i couldn’t find justin or skyler on facebook or anything. they have the most generic last name ever so it’s impossible. and glenn wouldn’t give me their contact info. i mean, i didn’t ask, but when dawn asked for me he said no. i don’t think that’s something that will happen for a long time, if ever.

the funeral wasn’t a good time to dig in to the sibling mystery.

anyway class went fine. lunch went fine. we huddled around the blackboard while my classmates talked about their homework that was due today. i’m not in graduate e&m with them as i’ve... mentioned. harrison heard me bite into my sandwich, looked over at me, and said “why are you even here?”

i said “because i like you guys.” and took another huge bite.

harrison made an exaggeratedly confused face and rebika said “awww!” suzanne took a picture of all of us.

i can’t ever tell if i look weird or not in pictures with other people. i hope it’s ok that i posted this. i mean we’re not doing anything except talking about integrals.

(i’m the one with the sandwich.)

then i went to my office for my office hour. no one came in but i worked through a whole classical homework assignment in an hour and a half. then i went back to suzanne’s office for the half hour before class, mostly to have a snack and try to relax. 

in undergrad e&m i took as many notes as i could in as much detail as i could. the professor writes faster than i do so i fell behind... at the end he erased the answer before i could write it down. i was going to give myself a hernia from how hard i was anger vibrating. 

after class i waited outside the grad e&m classroom and charged in as soon as one person filed out. i got suzanne to explain basically the entire lecture to me one step at a time. we actually got through the problem in about 15 minutes... i felt a little more grounded when we actually found the problem the professor had been referencing.

see, he expects all of us to have memorized the book and just says what a problem number is before writing down the answer that takes the whole lecture to get through. then we gotta do five of them during the test, which is also the length of a lecture!!!

it’s so intimidating though. i don’t know how he makes e&m so cryptic. i can do quantum mechanics better than i can do e&m. this is ridiculous.

i really was gonna cry with frustration though. i felt a lot better after talking it out with suzanne for a few minutes and figuring out where some stuff came from that had seemed to materialize out of the ether during the lecture. 

at one point the professor had stopped and turned toward us and said “does this make sense?” and one guy, bless his soul, raised his hand and started asking a question. the professor cut him off. 

“not right now, i’m doing a thing, wait until after the lecture,” he muttered. he also gets annoyed with people for asking questions if it’s mentioned anywhere in the book or on his schedule. but even i know that not everyone can retain information they read as well as information they personally have a conversation about.

anyway after that i took a 25-minute break, gave my trail mix to keegan and rebika, and worked on a single problem from the second classical homework assignment. it took forever. i really don’t feel good about this test. i know that i have to lie to myself and say that i’ll do fine though to even have a chance of actually doing fine. 

i realized that i didn’t have the quantum homework for wednesday done so i spent basically the rest of the day working on that with suzanne and jennica. still having trouble understanding what the question is asking for... i need to learn how to interpret more key words. i just have so much trouble figuring out where to start. when harrison left i gave him one of my apple cinnamon fig newton bars. 

i dunno everyone gets hungry before they leave! and we all live like 20-40 minute walks away from campus and not all of us have bikes.

i’ve been in a much better mood since starting to pack trail mix and stuff though. keeps my stomach settled better.

i biked home in the rain. when i got home i was soaked so i put on my pajama pants and made dinner shirtless. didn’t much care for it but i didn’t want to be still wet when i put on a shirt. i don’t like my scar being so exposed, mostly. and my incisions from my surgery in july, which still haven’t finished healing. they are still red and slightly raised.

i made taco rice for dinner since it’s easy and there’s a lot of it and it’s filling. it was just one of those pre-made meals you boil for a little while.

then i put together a lecture for my lab section tomorrow morning. hopefully that will partially make up for the fact that i don’t have their labs graded even a little bit! just didn’t get around to it with everything else going on. i talked to my classmates and my supervisor chuck about it and they all said that was normal and fine. chuck said not to worry about it. he also said to get some sleep and that he better not catch us wearing the same shirts as yesterday. “no all-nighters,” he said.

after that i worked on another problem from classical and got just as turned around. i’m going to have to talk with my classmates about it tomorrow. i’ve got the basics down really well, and i think i can do the tensor gymnastics pretty ok now that i understand indices and inverses way better. i also talked to asher a little bit about his new dog, who is a turbo cutie. 

now it’s just about 10:45, which is my designated “stop rambling and get ready for bed you maniac” time. 

worried about the test... worried. my e&m test is also on friday. not sure how to make the time i have this week work for me. guess i’ll put a lot of effort into therapy too.

oh! speaking of. good thing about me is that when i was biking up the hill on my way home i didn’t realize i was a gear higher than normal! no wonder i zipped right up there. so i guess i am getting into better shape. and i had a snack before i left so i wasn’t suffering the whole ride home. i am Taking Better Care of myself. 

and... i have been studying. real studying. it’s gotta be enough.

and i got a passing grade on my classical homework for once in my life!!!!!!!! 82 isn’t bad.

[myladytano]

Sterre Meets Some Jedi

This is a little fic trade I did for the lovely @auroraguardian where their star wars oc interacts with mine!! This was a blast to write tbh Sterre is a cutie

Sterre was supposed to be delivering a small shipment of Mandalorian Iron and Kyber Crystal to and even smaller repair shop in the capital of Shili; Corvala.

Supposed to being the key word in this scenario, as they had been stopped in their delivery by what looked to be a band of pirates. Now they were off track and behind schedule, having to land on one of Shili’s moons.

Sterre snatches up their fixer-upper lightsaber and tucks it into a pocket. “Just in case.” They mutter to themself. They send out a quick broadcast recording to the shop that had paid them for this job, telling them Sterre had been stopped and would likely be late upon delivery. Once that’s done, they wipe a bead of sweat off their forehead and quickly head out to meet the delayers.

As they step off their ship, they see that four ships have landed around them. Out of the largest ship saunters an elderly Weequay man dressed in a red and grey striped outfit. ‘He seems to be enjoying himself,’ Sterre thinks as he walks up to them with a bounce in his step.

Once the man gets within ten feet of Sterre, he lifts a pair of dusty goggles from his eyes and looks around calmly before his gaze falls onto them. Once he’s looking right at them, his calm gives way to joy, and he spreads his arms in a friendly open gesture.

“My friend!” he calls out.

Sterre tenses, despite the friendly tone, and eyes him warily. “You are no friend of mine. What do you want? Why did you make me land when you could’ve opened your comm link?”

A few more people dressed just in similar styles as their apparent leader step out of the surrounding ships. Yep, definitely pirates. Their leader chuckles.

“I like your fire, little friend! I can assure you, Hondo wants no quarrels with you today! Take our meeting in good faith!” He walks a bit closer, hands still raised in an appeasing stance. “What are you called, friend?”

Sterre’s wariness had turned into a glower as Hondo had been talking. “I told you, you’re not my friend. Now why did you stop me?” They look straight into his eyes, challenging.

“You were being followed, my friend.” Sterre’s glare deepens. “And not by me, might I add! Hondo does not let his friends be followed by unmarked ships!”

Just as he finishes his declaration, a sleek black ship jets past their party overhead, its left wing aflame. Both Sterre and Hondo stop their conversation to whip their heads upward, following the trajectory of the craft. The rest of Hondo’s crew follows suit. The ship speeds by right over their heads, and Sterre watches as it crashes not even two hundred feet from where they’re standing.

“Uhhh…” Sterre looks between Hondo and the crashed ship, not sure whether or not to trust him.

They’re still deliberating (though they’re still leaning heavily on “just get the fuck outta here”) when another ship lands between Sterre’s ship and the crashed one. A tall hooded figure jumps out and turns to the crashed ship, standing and watching for a moment before holding a hand out to it. Suddenly, the ship explodes, making everyone jump about five feet in the air. The only one not affected by this is the figure, who merely lets their arm drop, and after another moment seemingly examining the wreckage, they turn back towards the group, making their way over.

“So…” Sterre nervously eyes Hondo. “Which one was following me?”

“Ah,” he squeaks out, his brown skin visibly paler, “the ship that made the big explosion, I believe.” Sterre looks back to the figure. “However, I am not entirely sure who this newcomer is. Perhaps another friend of yours looking out for you?”

Sterre shakes their head, staying silent.

As the figure comes up to them, the hood falls away, allowing for a bright red ponytail to come spilling out of it. The newcomers face identifies him as a male humanoid, and the deep scar under his left eye makes Sterre somehow even more nervous than they already were.

“Hondo!” he calls. …maybe Sterre isn’t the one who has to be nervous here.

Hondo chuckles again, although this time its higher pitched and quicker. Yep, he’s nervous. “Ah, Xyak! Old friend! My, you…haven’t aged a day!”

“It seems you have, Hondo. But that’s beside the point of our meeting here today. Tell me, why did you stop this traveler?” The newcomer-Xyak-retorts, coming up in between Hondo and Sterre.

“Ah, well, you see, my friend here-“

“Not your friend!” Sterre calls out.

“-was being followed by that slimy looking unmarked ship! So, I thought I would bring it to their attention.” Hondo finishes valiantly.

Xyak hums. “And I suppose you couldn’t have informed them over comms?” He inquires coyly. “Or perhaps you wanted to ground them and distract them with your extravagant words while a few of your hands relieved them of their cargo.” He turns to Sterre while Hondo sputters, giving them and their ship a once over before nodding to himself. “It seems Hondo is aware of your rare cargo. Don’t let him try and charm you, he’ll always win if you let him talk.”

“Now hold on, Xyak, old friend, I have nothing but pure motives for helping out this new friend-“

“I am not your friend!” Sterre growls out in frustration.

Xyak sighs. “Hondo, in all my years of knowing you, plus all the stories Ahsoka and Hera told me of you, there was never one instance where you did something out of the goodness of your own heart. There was always something to gain, no matter what happened to anyone else around you. Now, do you want to stick to this false story?”

Throughout his little speech, Hondo grows more and more twitchy. “I always made sure my friends survived our meetings, a-and had escape routes as well!”

At this point, Sterre is just about ready to bolt, the longer they stay around Hondo, the sketchier he becomes.

Xyak shakes his head. “Hondo-“

There’s a clang from Sterre’s ship, and they whirl around, gasping. “No one’s supposed to be…”

They trail off as two of Hondo’s pirates come flying out of Sterre’s ship looking like they’ve been grabbed by the scruffs of their necks. But…there’s nobody holding them? As they get closer the force that was dragging them becomes apparent. The air shimmers between the two pirates as a small Twi’lek girl slips into existence. She throws them in the dirt at Hondo’s feet before moving to stand by Xyak.

She tilts her head up, staring Hondo down. “Hondo.” She states. Xyak looks greatly amused by her antics.

Hondo seems to be at a loss of words for a moment, but then, “Ah, we meet again, Kaori!” he tries.

“Unfortunately.” She retorts. “I found these two-“ she gestures to the me at Hondo’s feet. “-rifling through their-“ she nods at Sterre this time. “-cargo hold. Care to explain, Hondo?

He opens his mouth. Closes it again. Then, “Ah, w-well-“

“Perhaps that ship following them was one of yours as well,” she states with a sharp edge in her tone. “It certainly came from the system your base was in.”

Hondo sputters, “What? No, I had nothing to do with-“

“Don’t lie, Hondo.” She snaps. “Come clean, and we’ll let you return home.”

He stays silent, and Sterre can tell he’s debating whether or not to lie.

He lets out a little shriek as a hyperdrive on one of his ships explodes, turning it to scrap.

“Or we could always leave you here.” Xyak says calmly, arm raised as if ready to strike. “We don’t want to strand you Hondo. But we will.” Another hyperdrive goes up in flames, and as Sterre stares at Xyak, they realize he’s the one destroying the machines.

Xyak’s arm sweeps over to the third ship. “Well?”

“The ship, it wasn’t mine!” Hondo exclaims. “But, the men, ah, yes yes they were under my orders. We spotted the portage insignia on your tail, and the ship quickly after. I am sorry little friend, truly I am! At least you’re not being followed anymore, happy endings all around, yes?”

Hondo gets shoved a bit by an invisible force…the Force, now that Sterre thinks about it. These people are…

Sterre is brought out of their thoughts by Hondo. “All right all right, I’m leaving, not to worry. Oh, little friend! I hope when next we meet, it will be under more pleasant circumstances! Farewell!” And with a short bow, he begins backing up anxiously.

“Two ships will be enough to carry all of you.” Xyak states as he glances at the rest of the crew filing in. “There’s a good mechanic in Corvala, if you’re looking to get these fixed.” He points to the ships he destroyed, then up to the planet hanging above their heads. “I would not go there this week, however. She seems to be in a sour mood that her shipment is late. You wouldn’t want to be on this woman’s bad side. Have a good rest of your day, Hondo.”

Hondo nods quickly. “Yes, yes, until next time, old friend. Kaori.” He bows his head once more, this time in her direction, and she scoffs and rolls her eyes. Hondo smiles and turns to follow his crew.

Once they’re all on their ships and leaving the atmosphere, Kaori turns back to Sterre, who does a double take. Her eyes are a bright piercing orange that stand out starkly against her dark purple skin. How did Hondo look this girl in the face without fainting? “You’re lucky we were with the Fulcrum when you sent out your distress.” She studies you for a moment, and a faint smile graces her lips. “I’m Kaori, and that is Xyak.” She introduces, pointing to the redhead. Xyak seems to be…shuffling the broken ships around. With his gestures. Huh. “What’s your name?” Sterre gets wide eyed and looks back at Kaori.

“Uhh, Sterre. Is he..?” Sterre gestures, trying to mimic Xyak.

“Using the Force?” Kaori finishes for them. They nod. “Yes, he is.”

“You’re Jedi, aren’t you?”

“Kaori studies them for a moment. “If I tell you, will you swear on your life not to tell anyone?” She leans in real close, orange eyes never leaving Sterre’s.

They nod. “Yes, I won’t tell anyone, I swear. I don’t really have anybody to tell, anyway.

She narrows her eyes for a moment, before backing up and softening her gaze. “Xyak is, yes. I’m just his Padawan.”

Sterre just stands there awhile, taking it in. Wow, real Jedi. I mean, there was proof that they existed, I have a freaking junker lighsaber! I- they stop for a second, and turn to Kaori who looks a little concerned.

“Are you oka-“

“Do you have a lightsaber??” They blurt out.

Kaori stares at them with her eyebrows raised. “Um, well yes, I do. So does Xy. Why?”

“…Could I see it?” They want to see if their own is in decent shape by comparison.

“I…sure? Why though?” Kaori is staring at them like they’d grown a second head.

Xyak walks up. “Did you ask to see her lightsaber?” They’re blushing now, embarrassed.

“W-well I uh…yes I did.” They swallow. “Sorry I just.” They pull out their stolen saber. “Wanted to know if this was in decent shape? It works just fine, but it’s not like I could take it anywhere to have it looked at just in case, so…” they avoid eye contact.

The two Force users look at each other, shocked, before returning their gazes to the saber. Xyak gently reaches forward and lifts the hilt out of their grasp. He brings it up to his level and examines it, turning it over in his hands. “Well, general inspection lets me know that it’s old, but up to standard for lightsabers. I’d have to take it apart to inspect it fully.” He glances up at Sterre. “Where did you get it?”

“Just, in some trash.” They shuffle anxiously.

“Where was the trash?” Kaori pipes up.

“…a Hutts’ palace.” They admit, avoiding eye contact.

“A Hutt? How did you even manage that?” Xyak exclaims, eyebrows raised.

“I uh. Was a… guest in their house for awhile. Forceful guest. But I escaped with the help of that saber.” Sterre gestures at it.

Kaori hums, impressed. “I’ve dealt with the Hutts before, they’re a temperamental lot.”

Xyak hands the saber back to Sterre. They take it, and hesitantly say, “Thanks for looking at it. And saving me, actually.” They frown. “How did you know I was shipping for the Fulcrum?”

Kaori smirks. “We were with her when she got your distress call. She asked if we could go save her cargo and her pilot. She could actually take a closer look at that saber if you wanted.”

Sterre hesitates, then “She wouldn’t tell anyone of this, would she?”

Xyak laughs. “Depends on whether or not she likes you. But you’re already working for her, and not spilling her secrets, so that almost guarantees discretion.” He gestures to your ship. “Follow us, we’ll take you to her. At the very least she’d like her materials.”

Sterre blinks, then what he’s said kicks in and they’re jolted until action. “Oh uh, yeah of course. I’ll be right behind you. “They tuck the weapon back into their pocket and nod to the two watching them. They nod back and the three of them split off to get on their respective ships.

As Sterre sits down in the pilot seat, they take a deep breath and all the tension bleeds out of their body. They rub they’re hands on their face and groan, “What have I gotten myself into??”