#fully went up to me and scribbled his initials on me before i could react and im like wtf and he says its to make our other coworker jealous

[doradotcom]

lowkey think im being sexually harassed at work 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[thyme-writes]

Satan NSFW fic

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Satan x Female MC

Summary:

"You do recognize that was a mistake right?" He leaned forward toward me and his eyes looked dark "you couldn't possibly think telling a demon you'll do anything was in fact a good idea" the corner of his mouth raised to a devilish smirk and my mouth ran dry.

______________________________________________

Initially I didn’t really like Satan, but I’ve come around and I think  it shows ;)

My footsteps were loud through the quiet house of lamentation. It was far too late but I realized the project Lucifer asked me to work on a few days back was due in the morning and I was missing citations. The library would of course be closed but naturally Satan must have the book I need, hoping he was still awake.

I rapped quietly on the door and Satan opened it slowly, and revealed a shirtless smooth body accompanied by his sweatpants. On a normal day he was so put together and dressed so well, I could help but stare. His torso had well defined and toned ab lines decorating up to his tight pecs, with strong collar bones pushing against his skin. I could feel my face get flushed, and I tried to meet his gaze quickly but I was uncomfortably aware of him seeing my wandering gaze across his bare skin.

"What is it Thyme? Awful late for you to be visiting my room." He smirked and leaned against the doorway.

"Well I don't want to impose but I need to ask you for a favor.." I sighed, feeling nervous and still feeling my face was red and warm.

"Come on in" he stepped back and opened the door wide, walking over to his chair where he was like sitting before I knocked and picked up his book tentatively. "What's the favor then?"

I went into my rambling story nerves taking over and fully recognizing I was talking at the speed of light. He seemed to have a mischievous gleam in his eye. He pursed his lips and put his fist under his chin waiting for my rambling to finally end.

"You know, that book in particular is incredibly rare and expensive I have one of the first copies printed." He shook his head "that's part of my collection I don't let anyone touch"

"I promise I will be safe Satan. Please I really can't wait until Monday to go to the library!" I felt like dropping to my knees, I could see this whole plan not working then having to delay turning in the project.

"I'm sorry Thyme, it's a no." He shook his head and although his face was so stern I still felt there was a chance, as Satan was not one to agree quickly.

My knees hit the floor and I bowed my head. "Please, I'll do anything. I can not delay this project," I slowly brought my head up in the slowest and most adorable way I could pouting my lips and clutching my heads together.

"You do recognize that was a mistake right?" He leaned forward toward me and his eyes looked dark "you couldn't possibly think telling a demon you'll do anything was in fact a good idea" the corner of his mouth raised to a devilish smirk and my mouth ran dry.

"I-" I stammered, for some reason my whole body warmed up, I took stock of his figure again, leaning towards me. Strongly aware this time he was mostly half naked. The dips in his shoulders, his firm and delicious looking chest. He caught my eyes again and the smirk grew as my cheeks lit up rosy and warm. "I think-... I-"

"Yes you see the fault in it now, but you can't take it back." He settled back into the chair putting both hands on the arm of the chair with the most smug smile on his face. "Go ahead and grab the book, Thyme, you may quickly take your notes at my desk, but I'm going to collect that payment of 'anything' and I'll listen to no complaints with my terms."

"Thank you," I stood up and grabbed his hand on the armchair, bowing slightly when I held his hand in mine and felt some electricity run through me. Why did I grab his hand? His eyes shot back up to my face, but where was he just looking, was he just checking me out? Then I saw a glimmer of heat in his eyes, and he quickly pulled his hand back from me. I spun on my heels to search for the book, before swiftly seating myself at his desk. After scooting in and opening the book I snuck a glance over to him, he seemed completely unaffected aside from a miniscule scowl on his face as he was immersed back in his book.

Despite my begging to get access to the book, my mind desired to be anywhere but in this book. I began scribbling notes on some spare paper between my constant thoughts of Satan's hand in mine, his tight chest as he leaned against the door, and his impending request of "anything". More than a few times I had to shake myself from the thoughts to return back to my notes. About 15 minutes into dissecting the book I could see from my peripherals he stood and walked up the spiral stairs in his room. My body seemed to relax and a breath forced out of my lungs, I hadn't been holding my breath but it did feel easier to breath for a moment. I didn't dare ask where he was going, but maybe I'd be able to finish before he got back and come back for whatever he asked of me.

I gently closed the book and ran a quick glance over the pages of notes. I sighed in relief and realized i had enough information. Before I could scoot back and slide out of the chair a body pressed up against me and Satan's hand rested quickly on the desk and his head above my shoulder. I sheepishly angled myself to look up at him and his eyes were pinned on the desk studying my notes. The sight of him sending electricity through me again, feeling my cheeks heat up, I looked back at my notes as well.

"I take it the notes are finished" he was so close I could feel his breath exhaling against me

"Thank you Satan, I appreciate this so much." I started to stack the pages when I felt his breath against my ear and I froze.

"You can thank me in other ways," his fingers began trailing along the crest of my shoulder and neck and I felt my breathing quicken and I gasped quietly. "Get your ass in my bed." I turned to look at him. His face was so close and his cheeks were pink just at the top. I could see his breathing was hard and his emerald eyes seemed to take on a darker color. I felt his hand cup my face gently and his lips met mine. My body reacted and I pushed into the kiss with a fever. I was silently cursing my body for being so desperate for the kiss and I reached up to put my hands in his hair. He pulled away with a growl, grabbed my hand, leaned against my ear with his lips pressed on my lobes, and breathed "Now" He then stood up straight and I could see his erection push against his sweatpants, which offered not a stitch of resistance, producing a well built tent. I gasped and got to my feet walking over to his bed.

My legs were liable to give out any moment under the extreme arousal building in me. When I got on his bed I realized he was following right behind me silently walking to his bed. He climbed on top of me on the bed, forcing me back on my elbows, then laying flat on my back as he pushed up against me pushing my legs apart. Feeling his cock against my pussy I couldn't fight the small whimper that escaped my lungs. He began kissing my neck and more whimpers, much loader, escaped and morphed into moans. My body reacting and desperately aching causing my back to arch against him. I felt his delicious sigh against my neck as my hips rocked into him.

All of a sudden his lips were against my ears again and he whispered, "I said no complaints, but I will only go further if you say so now." he nibbled on my lobe "But be warned, I will not be gentle, those are my terms." He pulled his head back to look me in my eyes, and the desire in his own green eyes sent my head spinning. I could tell him I've been curious for months to be in this bed. I could tell him how much I loved pain with my pleasure.

"I accept." I pulled his head back to my lips and kissed him passionately, his hips rocked against mine and he bit down on my lower lip sending pain through my body and I moaned grabbing at him a little harder. He pulled away from me and began tearing at my clothes, ripping them apart, and I sensed while he may have been tearing at my clothes he was being more gentle with me and holding back was increasingly harder and harder. I reached up to his abs and dragged my nail from just under his nipples down to his pelvis and he let out another growl that teetered the edge of a roar and he looked down at me with viscous eyes. I felt a slight pang of fear, but my arousal took over and I could feel my pussy soaking in my juices.

I sat up readjusting so I was leaning on my knees and reached out for the waistband of his pants and he watched me as I pulled his pants down he stepped out of them as they pooled at his feet and he swiftly grabbed the back of my head leading me to his hard cock not far from my face. I wrapped my lips around his veiny long cock and let it slide through my mouth about half way and back, then his hand pushed me back to take it all. I happily ignored my gag reflex and pushed my tongue up against the bottom of his cock to try to signal he could fuck my face all he wanted. It absolutely triggered something inside him and his hips began rocking and his cock was pumping back and forth in my mouth. I looked up at him when my face was stuffed full, his eyes meeting mine and his head rolled back and he groaned hard. His speed picking up, I knew he wasnt long for this aggressive of a face fucking, so I let myself gag a bit when my lips touched his pelvis and he wimpered. Instead of him pulling back a little I grabbed his hips, keeping his dick stuffed in my throat, gagging a bit more and his breath caught, his hips jerked and I felt his cock twitching in my mouth. I cupped his balls and I could hear his moaning when the hot load hit the back of my throat. I let him catch his breath before pulling him out of my mouth, his hands out of my hair now, and his cock still rock hard popped out of my mouth.

I looked up at him just as he began pushing me back on the bed, all of a sudden his hands all over my body, grabbing at me as his lips found my collarbone.Kisses turning into sharp bites trailing across my body like rapid fire. The sensation was so overwhelming, igniting my body again, that I didn't even notice his hand trailing to my pussy when a finger grazed my lips and Satan groaned again. "You like getting your face fucked huh?" and he shoved a finger inside me, my back arching and a moan leaving my lips as he continued to attacked my body with quick bites and nips. He began pumping his finger inside me when he added a second finger, my hips now accustomed to his pace I bucked back against his hand. His biting became a more calculated trail and was just reaching my nipples when his thumb began rubbing my clit while his fingers continued to pump inside me.

"Oh SATAN" I screamed and gripped at his shoulders as I felt my climax building and about to explode when he yanked his fingers away from me with a loud whimper from me.

"On your fucking hands and knees now." I leaned up staring at his completely rock hard cock, wondering if it ever went soft to begin with, and I complied, turning my body to my hands and knees when he pushed my head down into the bed. "Actually, this is better." My ass up on display for him and within a second the head of his cock at my entrance. "Beg for it like you begged for the book" His voice was raspy with desire and every word sounded like a growl.

"Oh Satan please, please fuck me, shove that big dick inside me" I moaned in a similar raspy voice, my pussy clenching desperate for penetration and he delivered by pushing the head of his dick inside me, and stopping "Oh please more, please-" and then he shoved the whole thing inside me in one motion and I screamed as he bottomed out inside me gripping my hips so hard there would be bruises tomorrow.

"Fuuuuuck" He groaned, and started pumping his cock back and forth, slamming into me every couple pumps but speeding up too. within a few minutes his balls were slapping against my lips and his cock was slamming into me at a ravenous pace. He was groaning in tune with my own whimpers and moans and the world felt like i spun under me, my eyes rolling back as the rhythm of him fucking me was like music. In my pleasure I felt him reach into my hair and pull hard forcing my head back and garbled moans left my lips quickly. Releasing my hair I felt his palm snake around my neck and his body leaned a bit over me when he grabbed my neck. Pushing on the sides causing blood to rush to my head my climax was impending now, my pussy clenching on him and I was ready to explode.

"Uuugh shit" He groaned, as my whimpers barely escaped my lips anymore. "Are you gonna cum on my cock Thyme?" and with his question my head was spinning, I tensed and gasped for air as my legs shook under him ready to give out, he released my neck to grab back at my hips and hold me in place, pumping deep inside me while my orgasm wracked my body. Tremors shook me and as I reached my climax I felt Satan's dick bottom out inside me. His hips began jerking and he was shooting his load inside me as I was reeling from my own climax.

My body collapsed on his bed and he rolled off me to crash next to me. We were both gasping for air for a moment before I heard his voice rumble. "I would like you to know that your debt is not paid, that was one of your installments to pay." He started to get up slowly.

"I'll be paying on time Satan, trust me." I smirked as I looked curiously at him getting up and walking across the room.

"I believe that," his gazes drifted across my body sprawled out on his bed. "Let me get you some clothes for your walk back to your room."

"Oh I'm not getting up, my legs won't allow it." I chucked and he paused, thinking for a moment as he looked me over again. Then began walking back to the bed moving the covers aside for me to crawl into and he got in beside me.

"Well, then I look forward to your next payment when I wake up." He slapped my ass under the covers and we drifted off to sleep.

[pinkplantmakesstuff]

I’ve written a thing about Alec based on past personal experiences, so big warning for suicidal ideation and suicide attempt. 

I’m not entirely sure if I want this to actually happen in Alec’s story, I’m erring on the side of not at the moment or even at all, but I wanted to write a thing because I’m doing so much better then I ever was but I wanted to write something I related to back when I was having a real bad time. (January is a weird time for me because of this lmao, not bad but weird!)

This only has Caithe and Logan in it because like I said it’s heavy stuff and I’m not sure I even want this to actually happen in his story, but out of all the npcs those are the two who I think would be around and Alec would feel like he could turn too. (Canach too, him and Alec get on REALLY well and I reckon he would know about this situation but I didn’t wanna add anymore characters)

Also the ending is kind of “And things got better the end” coz things for me DID end up getting much better, and it’s hard to write that up in the equivalent of a fictional made up universe. Right enough rambling here’s the thing, Trigger warning: for Suicidal Ideation and Attempted Suicide.

Alec absentmindedly scratched at his throat, it had been several years since it had happened, and the burning sensation only flared up when he was truly angry. The symbols he’d carved into his chest had long since faded too, no trace of them remained. It was as if his body simply rejected the concept he’d been originally trying to achieve.

He smiled slightly, though one of reflection rather than happiness. It had taken a lot of work but he felt secure in the knowledge that regardless of anything that happened he wouldn’t go down the same path.

Looking back he thought about what happened.

-

He hadn’t initially started researching ways to prevent coming back. Originally it had been morbid curiosity, perhaps an idea of sealing away his beastly powers forever after death. Over time it turned into a failsafe, a last go to measure, and from there it developed into a constant thought at the back of his mind.

Trying to learn about ancient magic was hard, especially given Alec couldn’t read. Instead he turned to the small yet growing collection of books he’d gathered that only he seemed to understand. Their contents were scattered at best and he was sure it changed frequently, but the knowledge contained within was old and dark. It left a bad taste in his mouth as he went through them, their subject matters often always celebrating destruction and the pain of others, but he continued on, flipping through the pages looking at anything that might prevent someone passing to the mists. At first the books showed him ways to become a lich, but he rejected those, pushing on further through the densely packed scribbles. It seemed as though the text knew what he wanted to achieve and tried hiding it, but he was nothing if not determined.

Eventually he was able to cobble something together. It seemed he needed a seal - a lock to prevent him coming back again. He practiced in his notebook, hand shaky as he tried copying the curving and swirling shapes. It took time before they resembled any of the old language he’d slowly grown accustomed to seeing. Even his own writing seemed to want to change into anything but what he’d drawn, but it seemed he held sway over the language when drawn in his own hand as the more he practiced the less it changed.

The sigil was step one, step two required something easier to obtain. Going over all the options he reckoned poison would be the best bet - something to destroy his body before his magic would have a chance to heal itself.

Alec went to Caithe for that, framing it in a way that looked like he was helping Taimi with dragon research. She hadn’t even questioned it, as why would he lie? It would take time she said, she had to gather the right ingredients and brew them together. He helped with the gathering, in his mind this was still just a precaution right? A last resort.

When Caithe handed him the vial she’d smiled as he’d thanked her, the weight of it heavy in his hand. She explained it was deadly, a painful concoction that destroyed the consumer from the inside out. There was an antidote, she made one too in case Taimi wanted to study that, but it had to be administered quickly. He promised he’d send them to Taimi right away, but that lie came with a guilt that weighed in his stomach, adding to the already grim secrets he felt like he was keeping.

If the others had noticed a change in attitude they never mentioned it, but he doubted they had. He was just as quiet as ever, always pushing forward through each obstacle without complaint, pushing through each injury as if it were nothing. The bubbling anger in his chest remained constant - a sharp fury that struggled to climb out of his throat. An anger that would lash out and hurt people if he wasn’t careful. He refused to acknowledge it however, letting it fester inside him instead.

As the days pressed on the constant “what if” grew and grew til it was an all-consuming thought. What if he snuck away, and drank the vial here, what if he waited and did it there - it was no longer a what if to an escalating situation, but now a when.

The night came after he bid farewell to his travelling companions; Caithe was heading to do a goal she would not fully disclose, and Logan had been called back to Divinity's Reach. They’d parted early in the afternoon, and the moment they were out of sight he was acutely aware of the vial and notebook in his bag.

Once the sun had slunk beneath the horizon, he found his hands moving automatically, his movements almost mechanical in nature. He removed his shirt, painstakingly carving the seal onto his chest, just enough to draw blood. Once completed he sat inside his tent, it only took a moment for him to uncap the vial and down the contents. 

The burning was agonizingly painful and his hands flew up to his throat. The words on his chest seemed to react, and he could feel them trying to squirm into any other shape then the one he’d carved but to no avail. And then, he slipped into darkness.

For a moment there was nothing.

Then the next thing he knew he was violently throwing up a mixture of poison and black blood. Someone’s hand was on his back, another in his hair stroking it. He was aware of muted voices and being lent against someone’s shoulder, before he passed out again.

The next time he awoke he was in a bed. He shifted and let out a groan. The marks he’d etched into his chest stung but were wrapped in heavy bandages, and his throat felt torn and shredded. Opening his eyes and saw Caithe by his side, watching him intently. As soon as she saw he was awake her eyes lit up.

“ ‘m sorry.” His voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper.

She shook her head and gently took his hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

Behind her Alec could make out Logan, who looked tired yet relieved. The other man took a seat beside the sylvari, and at Alec’s request helped him sit up.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment before they all started trying to talk at once. 

“I really am sorry-”

“I should have said something I knew something was up-”

“Thank the gods you were okay I was so scared-”

And then Alec started laughing, not his normal gentle chuckle but as close as it could be with a destroyed throat. The angry viscous ball nestled in his felt dislodged, instead he simply felt physically and mentally exhausted. Logan and Caithe paused, letting him go first.

Then they started talking, properly.

Alec explaining what he’d learnt, the anger he’d been feeling all these years and how he was just so scared he’d lash out. Both Caithe and Logan listened, no judgement from them except blaming themselves with how they’d let Alec slip into such a mindset. He forgave them, it was no one’s fault really, but he was grateful they were there now. They took in turns to stay by his side while he slept, and over the coming weeks they took it slow while Alec recovered physically - taking a break from the draining awful job they had of saving the world, and instead took time to be, in their opinion, as normal people as they could be.

-

It had been several years since then, an incident that only the three of them knew about. 

They didn’t really talk about it as time passed, it was in the past and he'd grown better at recognising his emotions and powers since then. 

No longer was this grey cloud hanging permanently clouding his every thought, instead, despite everything, he was able to keep going; taking time to appreciate and enjoy more of the little things regardless of how small. Sure there were bad days, but now he was equipped to deal with them.

[stories-sometimes]

Bedtime Stories

40s!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Summary: You tell your son the story of his father.

Word Count: 1972

Masterlist

~~~

“Can you tell me about Dad?” Her eight year old son asks as she tucks him into his bed. She was aware that this question would come eventually, but wasn’t fully prepared for it. She waits a second before starting the story, composing herself.

“He was an amazing man, one of the bravest people I’ve met. And he fought for us and everyone else you know to have a safer life. He was fiercely loyal, protected those around him. Sometimes he could come off as cocky, but really it was a facade, he was nothing like that once you knew him.” She smiles at his memory, thinking back to the time she first met him. Initially she wasn’t fond of him, brushing him off as another arrogant ladies man, used to getting his way with a few smooth words.

~~~

“What’s a pretty dame like you doing here all alone.” She heard his voice for the first time. She'd gone to the dance hall with her friend, although the girl soon abandoned her for a date. She opted to reside at the edge of the room, perched on a bench wishing she’d stayed at home. She looked up to see him. He was tall, well dressed, too handsome for his own good. She'd seen guys like him before, overly-confident, a new girl every week - she was determined not to be one of them.

“Trying to avoid guys like you.” She retorted.

“Well what’s that supposed to mean?” He asks, a smirk growing as he sat down next to her.

“I’ve dealt with guys like you too many times, you play around with all the girls, but never stick around. You sir, are a heartbreaker.” He gasped, placing his hand over his heart, feigning hurt.

“How do you know that? You’ve only just met me.”

“You look the type.”

“Tell me about that type.”

“They’re always tall, strong,” She said, running her hand up his muscular arm, just because she didn’t want to be with him didn’t mean she couldn’t tease him a little. “Far too good-looking.” That boosted his ego, she reached up a little so she could whisper her last point in his ear, “and they know exactly what to say to get any girl on their knees.” His breath hitched as she sat back down. It became her turn to smirk, knowing she'd got him to react how she wanted.

“You doll are a grade-A tease.” He replied in an attempt to regain his composure and the upper-hand.

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m just saying what I see.” She continued the teasing.

“So you’re saying I could get you on your knees.” He grinned, clearly enjoying where this conversation was going. She looked him up and down, smiling without giving him a definite answer. She kept the innocent look in her eyes she’d managed to master, conflicting with the flirtatious smile on her face.

“You’re trouble,” He stated, she cocked her head to the side, keeping up the sweet act, “don’t pretend you don’t know it. Bet you leave a trail of hearts in your pretty little wake.”

“Your compliments aren’t gonna work on me.”

“Worth a shot. But don’t try to change the subject. You’re the kind of girl who acts all innocent, sitting here, looking all gorgeous. When in reality you’re as bad as the guys who chase after you.” She smiled subconsciously, unsure of how she should’ve reacted.

“You’ve read me wrong.” She responded.

“Have I?” He brought back that smirk. “How about I get you a drink?”

“I’d love one.” He left to grab them, but she’d vanished before he returned.

~~~

“The second time I saw him I decided to give him a chance, best decision I ever made.”

~~~

She strolled into her usual cafe, ordering a drink before settling into a seat. Only a few minutes had passed before she heard the door chime, she glanced to see who’d come in. Shit. It was the man from the dance hall, accompanied by a smaller man. She immediately looked away from them, praying he wouldn’t notice her. Just her luck, they had sat directly behind her, the only silver lining being that the man was faced away from her, less likely to spot me if she didn’t draw any attention to herself.

“I’m tellin’ you Steve she was perfect.” She overheard him say to his friend. 

“Bucky you just meet her, you don’t even know her name.” So that’s his name.

“And still she hasn’t left my mind. She was like my perfect dream, looked like an angel and knew exactly what to say. But she disappeared too soon.”

His friend groaned, “Why are you gettin’ all dizzy over a girl who clearly isn’t that into you?”

“If you saw her and she talked to you like she did, you’d get where I was coming from.” She listened intently to the rest of their chat. Maybe she was wrong about him, maybe he wasn’t the player she thought he was, maybe she could try it out. Fuck it, she was gonna give him a chance. She scribbled down my name and home’s telephone number, dropping it down in front of Bucky as she walked out. She winked playfully over her shoulder as he recognised her, watching starstruck, but still she didn’t stay as long as he would’ve wanted.

“Who isn’t that into me now.” She heard him brag to his friend as she walked out the door. She giggled, a stupid grin grew on her face. He wasn’t so bad.

She got my first call that evening.

“Hey doll, it’s Bucky.”

“Hey mister, someone’s impatient, couldn’t even wait 24 hours to call.”

“What can I say, you’ve sure as hell left an impression on me. Have you eaten yet?”

“No, not yet.” She replied.

“Good, cause I’m taking you out.”

“And why would you think I’d say yes?”

“You wouldn’t have given me your number if I didn’t have a chance, plus I’m paying for your food.” There he went again with the confidence.

“Alright then.”

“Yes!” She heard an over-excited shout down the phone line.

“But only because I want a free meal.”

“I’m sure that’s why. I’ll pick you up at eight.” She gave him my address before she hung up. Sge searched through her wardrobe to find a suitable enough outfit, suddenly caring about what he thought about her. When eight rolled around she found herself far more excited then she thought she'd be. He knocked on the door, looking as dashing as ever.

“Hey doll, you ready.”

“Guess if I have to be.” She shrugged, lying through her teeth, this is exactly where she wanted to be.

“How long are you gonna play hard to get, you like me enough to agree to a date, but still you act like you don’t want me.” He smirked, watching as her cheeks started to glow red.

~~~

“He took me out for a meal, then we walked around in the moonlight for hours. Everything felt so perfect, we were young, happy and fell in love faster than I ever thought I possibly could. He would keep his friends safe as well. You know Captain America wasn’t always as strong as he used to be.”

“Really.” Her son says, looking confused.

“He used to be this skinny, sickly little kid. But that didn’t stop he standing up to anyone he saw treating people wrong. Your Dad was constantly pulling him out of fights. ” She stands up, grabbing an old photo album from the hallway. “There he is.” She points to a much smaller Steve.

“No way.” It was a picture of them at a carnival, Steve was awkwardly smiling next to her whilst she had a bright grin plastered on her face, holding onto a large teddy from one of the booths. “That’s my bear.” He says, pulling it from the side of his bed and into his chest.

“Your Dad won that for me and I know he would have wanted you to have it. He was so excited when he found out about you.”

~~~

She knocked on Bucky’s door, shaking with nerves. It was confirmed - she was pregnant. A little scandalous, they were engaged but not yet married, she knew some would look down upon it. It was due to a celebration from when he proposed, both too caught up in the excitement of the moment to remember to stay safe. Don’t get her wrong, she wanted a family with him. But with a war arising around the corner it didn’t seem like the best time to bring a child in the world.

“Hey doll,” He smiled seeing me, but his expression turned sour as he saw her shake. “What’s wrong.” He ushered her into his house.

“I’ve got something to tell you.” The anxiety building up in him was clear.

“You’re not breaking up with me.” He whispered, looking terrified.

“God no,” She paused, mentally preparing myself, “I’m pregnant.” His face froze, staying deadly still for an uncomfortable amount of time, “Bucky, please respond.” She whispered, showing the fear in my voice.

“I’m gonna be a dad.” He murmured softly. She nodded. “I’m gonna be a dad.” He said louder this time, his face growing brighter, “I’m gonna be a fucking dad!” He was shouting now.

“Yes, you’re gonna be a dad.” She laughed, reassured by this reaction. He grabbed her around the waist, picking her up and spinning here around. She shrieked. “Bucky, put me down.” She said, lightly punching on his shoulders.

“Right, gotta be careful, there’s a baby in there.” He said, placing his hands over her stomach, barely able to contain his smile. He rested his forehead on hers letting her stare into his blue eyes. “I love you so much.”

~~~

“Then he left for the war, it was difficult but we wrote to each other as much as two people possibly could. I’ve kept every last one.” She says, thinking of the box she had stuffed under her bed since the day Bucky left. She pauses glumly, “then one day they just stopped, he was gone. Steve had left, I had no contact with him, I was all alone. It felt as though that side of my life had been completely cut off.” She looks up to be met by her son’s sympathetic eyes, resting his hand over hers as a show of comfort. “But one day he appeared, he was saved by Captain America. I got a letter telling me he was safe, that he was being promoted to work with Steve and other elite soldiers. I thought we were gonna have that perfect life we’d always dreamt of.”

“What happened?” He whispers softly, watching as tears well in her eyes.

“Life doesn’t always work out how we want it to.”

“Where’s he now?”

“He’s up in the stars, with all the other heroes, he protected those around him for all his life, and if he was still here, he’d be out fixing the world as best as he could.” She saw her son glancing up at her, a slight wonder flickering through his eyes.

“Am I like him?”

“You have his eyes,” It was true, he was the spitting image of his father, the blue eyes and dark hair, the same cheeky, boyish smile he pulls when he knows he’s in trouble, “and you treat those you love with as much care as he did.” She saw the signs of a protective friend, the way he would scare off the bigger kids on the playground when he saw them picking on someone who couldn’t defend themselves. “I love you kiddo, now go to sleep.” She say playfully, kissing his forehead as he yawns sleepily.

“Night mum.” He says as she reaches his door.

“Goodnight James.”

[jarhara]

With just a little smile

(Joss / Smiler OC origin story)

chapter I/III

„this is the third time this week!“, the teachers voice echoed through the almost empty classroom. The only student still left was a teenage girl with blond hair and a choppy haircut.

The teacher was in her early 60s and had her graying hair tied to a bun. She didn’t like having to confront students like that but she knew when she had to. And this one hadn’t left her with much of a choice after growing worse every day.

Trying to give of a more friendly and understanding vibe, she sat down next to the young student, looking her in the eyes „Josephine… “

„Joss!“, the girl interrupted, she couldn’t stand her full name, not even her father used it. That was when he did talk to her.

Doing her best not to show how startled she was by the girls interruption, the teacher went on „I know moving and going to a new school in the middle of the year can be hard, especially for someone your age, but do you really think you have to make a joke out of everything to be accepted here?“

„I don’t care about moving, the old school wasn’t any better, and what do YOU know about being my age? Must have been a few hundred years ago for you.“ It truly didn’t matter that much for Joss. She had changed schools more often then anyone she ever knew and she and her father hadn’t lived in one place for longer than a year since she could remember. This was mostly thanks to her father’s profession. As a scientist, Dr. Thomas Myles had to go where there were projects that required someone with knowledge in his specific field and and those projects usually only went on for little over 6 months.

The teacher was still starring at her in shock. Such a direct attack was not what she had expected. She had witnessed Joss making similar, disrespectful and mocking comments about various topics of the lecture but as of now, she hadn’t directly offended anyone.

„and I don’t care if anyone accepts me either, this whole place is just a big joke anyways.“ Joss went on with her rambling. She was just so over it with all those people pretending they knew what her problem was and acting all understanding.

„Josephine, I think it’s about time I get in touch with your father“, the teacher said, now looking very stern. The gentle approach had failed, intimidation was the logical next choice, although she feared it wouldn’t make a difference.

„go ahead then. You know, his job at that stupid ministry or whatever is more important to him than me. So good luck getting him here“, Joss commented and leaned back in her chair, placing her feet with her worn out converse on the table. They were bright yellow and the smile she had drawn over the faded logo was smiling a very cynical smile in the teachers directions.

The teacher went back to her front desk where she picked up her phone. She didn’t bother to leave the room, she wanted Josephine to listen. „Mr. Myles?... Excuse me, Doctor Myles…. I am calling on behalf of your daughter, Josephine…. She has made a habit of repeatedly interrupting the lectures and making a mockery of it….. Consider this a warning, if her behavior does not change, she’ll have to be suspended…. Of course we offer disciplinary measures but I fear they'll have little effect on such an unruly child, such as your daughter. This is a school after all, not a youth penitentiary….i’d recommend that you pick her up in person… fine, have a nice day“

Joss could have filled in what her father must have said without a second thought „what has she done now?“ „can’t you just put her in detention?“ „you really expect me to leave work just to come over and pick her up?“

Like she had predicted, the teacher seemed very disappointed at the effectiveness of the call, which made Joss smile. It was always the same but still fun for her to watch when they found out out how little her dad seemed to cared for her behavior.

„you can go home now“, the teacher gave in with a sigh. Without the support of the father, there was nothing she could do for now. Getting the girl suspended or even expelled would take some time and a long talk with the school-director and the father.

Still smiling triumphantly, Joss picked up her schoolbag that was covered in buttons and scribbles and left.

When her father got home later that day, she expected him to make a big scene about a teacher having to call him at work, but instead he just vanished into his room, avoiding his daughter for the remainder of the day.

on the next morning:

Hurriedly chugging down her orange juice, Joss grabbed her school bag and jacket, heading for the door. She was about to be late again, not that she really cared.

„Josie…“, she heard her father behind her. Something was off about him, he normally left for work before she even got up, so why was he still here? There was also a slight shaking in his voice that made Joss prepare for the worst.

„how about… I give you a ride today?“ he asked her, sounding unreasonably nervous.

„sure, dad. But don't'cha have to work?“, she cocked her head to the side and gave him a confused look. Since when did he even care?

„I’ll drop you off on the way there“, he said still not sounding fully convincing

„sure…why not?“, Joss gave in and followed him to the car, that was parked in front of the house.

They both remained silent throughout the drive, although Joss had expected her father to use this opportunity for a talk.

When the school came into view, they did not slow down but instead drove past it.

„Hey, whata you doin‘? School was back there“, Joss suddenly started, pointing over her shoulder, back towards the school.

„I’m taking you with me to work today … so you can maybe understand what’s at stake for us here“, he explained, still with a slight shake in his voice.

Joss had no idea how to react to that, this was so out of character for her dad. He never before cared to explain to her what exactly he was doing or why this specific job was so much more important than anything else. But whatever was up with him, she didn’t like it.

They soon left town and arrived in an industrial district. The building they where heading for was hidden behind fences and barbed wire.

They pulled up at the gate where Thomas Myles waved his bright yellow lanyard in front of a scanner to open it. There was no guard but a lot of surveillance cameras aimed at where the gate opened to let them inside the wired fence.

The building itself looked pretty bland if it wasn’t for the giant letters proclaiming this to be „the ministry of joy“

Joss still wasn’t sure if she should be happy about her father actually making her ditch school, or if taking her with him to work was going to be an entirely new type of punishment. But if this job was so damn important to him, why would he risk her making a fool of him in front of his colleagues or even his boss?

But Joss soon realized that there was no-one to notice her as her father pushed her on through the empty corridors.

After a seemingly endless walk, they entered a room that had nothing but a chair and a mirror in it. The chair had suspicious restraints mounted to it like Joss had seen it only in movies where they were never used for good things.

„Dad, what’s goin‘ on here?“, she asked with fear now evident in her voice.

„you leave me with no other choice“, he answered, sounding sad and disappointed, as he forced her into the chair

„please, don’t get me wrong, Josie, I still love you…“, he tried to explain calming, but she could see tears forming in the corners of his eyes „I just can’t deal with all of this right now, this job, what I get to do here, is just too important for you to screw it all up.“, he went on, his voice shaking even more now “Why did you have to be such an unhappy child… I only hope this will help you get better„

With what was supposed to be a reassuring smile he finished tying his daughter up and left the room.

„please stop, Dad! This isn’t funny!“ The leather straps where tight around her wrists and ankles and she had to watch helplessly.

Lights turned on behind the mirror, revealing her father in the next room. The room was filled with all kinds of consoles and computers.

„initializing marmalisation, test sequence number seven. Commencing correction.“, an automated voice said over the PA system.

Still struggling to free herself, Joss had to watch as a ceiling panel moved back to reveal some kind of mechanical devices with five arms moving in her direction.

One of the arms placed spinning discs right in front of her eyes, while the bright lights mounted to another one started to flash viciously. The arm equipped with yellow canisters released a suspicious gas, while the brushes on a different arm started to tickle her, so she couldn’t hold her breath.

[septic-heart-and-mind]

“Magic” | “Imprisoned” (JSE Ego Fic) Pt. 4

This part is a little longer than the previous ones but hopefully you’ll enjoy it! If you haven’t already maybe check out @thesepticactress​‘s ego fic, it’s super awesome and it inspired me to write mine! ^-^

Part 1: (x)

Part 2: (x)

Part 3: (x)

Chase’s POV

It was Maths class, one that I actually quite enjoyed; I didn’t seem like the ‘type’, but I was surprisingly good at it and that helped make it enjoyable for me to do. I used to help some of the kids at my old school but, of course, I got kicked out and couldn’t do it anymore. I hoped that I wouldn’t let myself down again, and I would be able to carry on here what I started there. It wasn’t long before I got the perfect opportunity to make yet another good friend and do something positive; we were paired up at random by Miss Singh, our teacher, and I ended up with the shy kid I had wanted to try and talk to. He seemed to be excellent at maths, and I thought that it would be more likely that he would end up helping me than the other way round. I was good at it, but I wasn’t a genius - yet this kid seemed to be amazingly smart with numbers. When it came to being put into pairs, though, I saw that he looked extremely nervous. He appeared worried when he was put with me, as he didn’t know me and was perhaps afraid that I wouldn’t like him. When we sat down, he generally kept his gaze towards the desk; while everyone else was being paired up, he glanced up at me, and I decided to give him a friendly smile to let him know that there was nothing to worry about. He still looked anxious, but pleasantly surprised at what I did, and he smiled back at me before looking back down again. Once everyone had been put into twos, we were set the task to do together; I was puzzled as I initially looked at it, while he had a look of confidence and something in his eyes that told me he wasn’t fazed.

“I’m Chase, by the way,” I introduced myself to try and break the ice.

“Hi,” he stammered shyly.

“What’s your name?” I asked kindly to prompt him to continue the conversation. I thought I might know it, as it was said in a previous class, but I wanted to make sure I got it right.

“I-I’m Jameson,” he stuttered, “Well, JJ,” he added nervously to correct himself.

“Nice name,” I smiled. He returned an appreciative smile to me, seemingly too shy to reply; he seemed rather anxious, like he was terrified of talking to me. I hoped that I was saying the right things and helping to put him at ease at least a little bit. I didn’t want to frighten him any further, and I wanted him to know that he didn’t need to be scared; I just wanted to be a friend to him, and I hoped he realised that. “Right, shall we do this, then?” I suggested to bring the focus back to the work we were meant to be doing. JJ nodded nervously. I looked at the puzzle again, and I was struggling to see where to start. I spotted JJ scribbling furiously; when he saw that I was looking over his shoulder, he continued writing as he moved the page slightly towards me to aid my view. He then stopped and allowed me to read what he’d written. “Oh,” I uttered with realisation, his work now making sense of the problem we’d been given. I then continued writing under what he’d done as I worked out what the next step was. We did almost the entire thing like this, as he was too shy to discuss it with me fully. When he did speak, he was very soft-spoken and he stuttered - not like he had a stutter, but like he was extremely anxious to talk. I figured that he probably had social anxiety, but of course I didn’t yet know why. I pondered whether he was bullied, too, or that maybe he had been traumatised for some reason just like I had. I definitely knew he needed a friend, and - sadly - not many people seemed to want to be. The friends I’d made did interact pleasantly with him, which was lovely too see; JJ still wanted to be on his own most of the time, which I did understand. I didn’t have social anxiety severely like JJ, but I didn’t always feel comfortable talking to people - especially new ones - because of what Dad did to me. It was hard for me to fully trust or get close to anyone because of his abuse. About the only person I was really close to was Mum, and that’s because she loved me through all of the trauma and was always there for me - and I wouldn’t have got through any of it without her. Probably literally, as there were several occasions where she prevented Dad from actually killing me. The rest of the lesson went by, and it was now break time. It was so cool being able to hang out with my new friends, rather than sitting around on my own like I had originally expected. All of us sat on a big wooden bench together; it was me, Jackie, Marvin, Seán. We chatted and we joked around, and time flew by. Before break was over, Henrik found us and came over to the table.

“Hello,” he said in a friendly voice.

“Hey, Henrik!” Seán replied brightly. “Join us!” Henrik sat down at the bench, carefully putting his bag underneath by his feet.

“Chase, isn’t it?” he said as he lifted his head back up, looking at me.

“Yeah, it is,” I responded with a smile, happy that he had remembered my name.

“Henrik,” he spoke politely as he held his hand out to me, and we shook hands. It was then that the bell rang and we knew break time was over.

“We’ll have to chat again at lunch,” I suggested as we all began to get up from the bench, picking up all our bags simultaneously.

“That is an excellent idea,” Henrik reacted happily, “I second that notion.” I smiled at him, before getting out my timetable to see what we had next. We all had the same, so I could have just followed them, but I wanted to know what it was before I got there. It was English, and it was a double lesson which meant it would last all the way until lunch time. When we arrived at the classroom, I saw the gorgeous girl I had spotted in Biology, and she was looking at me again. After I smiled at her, she started muttering excitedly to her girl pals beside her like she thought I was cute or something. She couldn’t possibly think that. Could she? Her eyes met with mine again and I felt my heart warm up as butterflies danced inside me, and her gaze seemed to glow as she looked at me. I wanted to talk to her so badly, even just to get her name, but I didn’t have the guts to speak to her. Every time I thought about approaching her, I just couldn’t do it as I would get too nervous. We soon entered the classroom, as our teacher arrived, and we all found a seat. I kept looking over at the girl, just wishing I at least knew her name - and thinking that was probably all I’d ever get, because she couldn’t possibly be interested in me. Who would be? Who would want a troubled, traumatised mess like me? I knew that I needed to talk to her, though, because I fancied her too much not to - and I knew I would kick myself if someone else got in there first. I didn’t think it was likely that she would feel that way about me - but what if she did and I let that chance go? I kept telling myself that all the way through English class, to try and give myself the courage I needed to talk to her. All I had to do was talk to her, I didn’t know her yet so it felt too early to ask her out or anything like that - but I wanted to at least have a little conversation with her to start a friendship. Even if that was all we ever had, I felt like it would be worth it. From what I could see and from what I sensed, she seemed to be a very warm and kind person - just the sort of person I wanted to be with. My life was rather lacking in love and nurture, apart from what I got from Mum, so maybe this girl was the answer to my problems at least in part. Not that this was the only reason I wanted to talk to her; I also hoped that, maybe, I could make her happy as well somehow. I seemed to do that whenever she looked at me, but I didn’t get why. She couldn’t possibly find me attractive, could she? Not me, surely. I kept looking to see if maybe she was gazing at someone behind me, but her eyes definitely seemed to meet with mine and her eyes seemed to shine a little brighter when I felt myself blush. I tried to hide it, though, because I didn’t want everyone figuring out I fancied her. I quite liked it being between just me and her - well, that’s if she could tell, of course. She probably could, as I felt like I wasn’t hiding it very well despite my efforts. She was too beautiful for me to cover it up. At some point in the class, I saw something being discreetly being passed across the room; I had no idea what it was and tried to focus on what Mr. Howell, our teacher, was explaining to us. My concentration was broken, though, when my arm was gently tapped by Jackie beside me. I turned to look and he passed me a little paper note. I unfolded it, and I carefully began to read what it said. “Hi, Chase, I’m Stacy!”, it said in beautiful cursive writing, with a little smiley face at the end. My expression mimicked the happy symbol on the page and I felt my cheeks get slightly flushed. I looked up to see her smiling straight at me. I gazed at her for a moment, before carefully tearing off a little bit of paper to write a note back. I quickly scrawled my reply. Your name is beautiful. Why am I not surprised? I tactically handed it to someone to pass it to her, and soon I saw it in her hands. She carefully unfolded the paper, and her smile grew as she read my words. She looked up at me and her glowing eyes met with mine again. My focus broke as I heard Mr Howell clicking his fingers to get my attention.

“Chase? Are you listening?” he said to alert me.

“Y-Yeah, yes, Mr. Howell,” I replied, a little startled as I suddenly brought my attention back to the class. He was about to continue, but he saw Stacy writing another note; her expression of excitement was clearly giving away that what she was writing wasn’t work.

“Stacy, can you put that down for a moment, please?” Mr Howell requested.

“Sorry, sir,” she responded politely as she laid her pen on the desk.

“Thank you,” he replied, before continuing with the class. Stacy waited a while, before subtly finishing the note and passing it to me. My heart joyfully skipped a beat when I read it. It read “Text me!” followed by her number, and another cute smiley face. I looked at her and I mouthed the words ‘I will’ to her, and she look ecstatic. Mr. Howell clocked that we were not concentrating again. “Romeo and Juliet, can you please focus on what we’re doing?” he suggested jovially. We both nodded, a little embarrassed. I felt my face going red, as I saw eyes on me as they realised that I liked Stacy. I knew that everyone was going to tease me about it after class - but I didn’t entirely care, because so what? I liked her, and she seemed to like me, and nothing could bring me down from that. It was going to take more than any immature mocking to make me feel upset now that it seemed that Stacy was interested in me after all - at least as a friend, and maybe even more.

I looked at my phone repeatedly over lunch time, wanting to text Stacy but not having the courage do just do it - even though she was the one to give me her number. I would pick it up, open my messages, but my fingers would just hover over the keys when it came to typing anything out. I just wanted the first text to be special and I didn’t want to screw it up by saying something stupid or being too awkward. My friends could see that I wanted to do it and were all encouraging me. At one point, Jackie offered to type it for me and even jokingly tried to take my phone to do it - but I insisted it had to come from me. I thought about it, took some deep breaths, and eventually just sent her a simple message - which led to a lovely exchange.

Me: Hey! Thanks for your number :)

Stacy: Hi! You’re very welcome, Chase! I’’m glad you wanted to text me :) Me: Of course I did, you seem lovely :)

Stacy: Aww, you do too! I hope we’ll get to know each other a lot more :)

Me: Yeah, so do I :)

I was ecstatic about this simple conversation, especially the last bit she said; the fact that she hoped to get to know me a lot more told me that she at least wanted to have a really good friendship with me - if not more than that. My friends could all see how happy I was, and they were all really encouraging and positive - they were actually happy for me, and my heart felt so full to be so cared about on my first day here. I was practically bouncing with joy all the way through lunch, and I could barely focus in our last lessons of the day. We had Physics with Mr. Fischbach and I.T with Mr. Kjellberg and, despite my efforts, I struggled to keep my mind on task in both classes. I just kept thinking about Stacy, and how happy I was to have all my new friends. We were put in groups randomly in I.T, and I ended up with Anti and Robbie. That was an interesting experience. They were kind of hard to get on with, but at the same time they were rather fun - and I think it was because they appealed to the bad boy in me, the side of me that I showed a lot of in my last school. Not only that, but I understood that their outward anger probably reflected a deeper inner issue, and I sympathised greatly with that. I even thought that, maybe once I had been friends with them a while, that we might connect a little more and maybe they would act the same way with me as they did with each other. I was almost skipping on the way out of school, feeling so happy with how the day had gone, when I bumped into Stacy - quite literally, as we didn’t see each other.

“Oh!” she exclaimed as we collided. “Sorry!”

“Sorry,” I echoed. It was then that she realised it was me, and she smiled.

“Hi, Chase,” she said in a softened, bright voice.

“Hi,” I replied a little shyly with a smile. “You walking home?” I asked.

“Yeah!” she answered cheerfully, “Are you?”

“Yep,” I nodded. “We can, um… We can - walk together? I-I mean, if you want,” I suggested nervously.

“I’d like that,” she smiled. We then began to walk side by side; it was quiet at first, but eventually we found ourselves in conversation. She asked me things to get to know me, and I returned with answers and my own questions for her. I then, as she asked about what I did in my free time, started telling her about my favourite video games. She got excited, as she loved to play the same ones as me. As we walked, we discovered that we both had similar tastes in music as well, and it started to feel like we were meant to be. The conversation was cut short when she had to go her own way. I was so happy that she had walked that far with me, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her just yet as I was enjoying her company so much. “I… I’ve gotta go,” she said as we stopped, her eyes seeming to say that she didn’t want to go just yet either. “It was really nice talking to you, Chase,” she added, smiling.

“Y-Yeah, um… You too,” I responded, still blown away by the fact that someone as amazing as her even liked me at all.

“See you tomorrow?” she wrapped up the conversation.

“See you tomorrow,” I echoed. We smiled at each other, our eyes locked for a while, before we slowly parted. Even then, we repeatedly looked over our shoulder to get a few more glimpses of each other, until we were out of each other’s sight. It was only as I neared home that reality kicked in and I remembered that life wasn’t always so sweet for me. I began to fill with dread as I put my key in the front door and turned it.

“What took you so long?” Dad immediately shouted at me. I was only about ten minutes late, and that was only because I had walked slower with Stacy than I normally would and because our last class overran by a few minutes.

“N-Nothing,” I stammered, “Our class finished late, that- that’s all.”

“I don’t believe you!” he yelled.

“You never believe me!” I defended myself irritatedly.

“Don’t you answer back,” he threatened, his eyes angrily narrowing. “Now get upstairs and do your homework. Go!” I jumped slightly at his last word, before rushing upstairs away from him and into my room where I could do my work. I rooted through my bag to retrieve the books I needed, and I opened the first one to make a start. Just as I was about to begin, it suddenly occurred to me that I missed Marvin’s magic show, and I felt terrible; I immediately had to ring him to tell him that, in case he thought I just didn’t like him or was lying when I showed interest in his magic.

“Marvin!” I said apologetically, “I’m so sorry I missed your show! I did want to come, honest.”

“It’s okay,” he sighed, “It got cancelled anyway.”

“Why?” I asked concernedly.

“Um… just… something came up,” he stammered, before hurriedly ending the phone call. “I-I’ve gotta go, bye!” The call cut off, and I was left puzzled about what was going on. His voice sounded like something terrible had happened and I worried about him, hoping everything was okay.

Marvin’s POV

After hanging up the call with Chase, I went to see to Mum who was having another violent coughing fit; I rushed to her with a glass of water, and I reassured her that she was okay. I did this every day, and so much more; I was her carer because she was very sick and Dad wasn’t around anymore. I was only a kid, but someone had to take care of her; I loved her dearly and couldn’t bear to see her go to some care home or  hospital, so I just looked after her myself - despite all the stress it brought me. That was the real reason I’d cancelled the magic show; Mum was having a particularly bad day and she needed me to be there for her. I worried that she didn’t have much time left, as her bad days seemed to be getting increasingly frequent. I wished my dad would come home - not only to take some pressure of me, but to give her anything that I couldn’t. I knew that, as I was only kid, I couldn’t possibly be doing everything right; I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. A lot of what I learnt was from forums with other young carers, and a support group that I went to - which was hard to do because I had to rely on getting a neighbour to care for her for an hour or two. I hated leaving her, not knowing how she was doing or whether she was even comfortable with them; my neighbour would sometimes tell me that she refused any care from her, and that seemed to be happening more often as well. It broke me to watch her slowly die in front of me, just desperately hoping that it would go into sudden remission despite knowing it was diagnosed as terminal. As the day went on, she got more severe and I ended up getting her taken to hospital. She improved enough to leave a week or so later, but I knew it was only temporary. She was slipping through my fingers and there was nothing I could do about it. This was why I did magic in the first place. My childhood was agony so if I could do something, to make other kids happy, it would be worth doing. Magic was a good choice because I was always interested in it, but also it felt like it would require magic to save my mum. I vaguely remember Dad doing magic tricks with me when I was very little, not even two, and Mum used to tell me all about it. It sounded so exciting, and apparently I used to babble and bounce when he did it - so I wanted to make children happy in the same way. No child deserves to go through what I did, and to feel the things I felt. Children should be able to be happy and carefree, and my magic shows seemed to provide that at least for a little while.

Months Later…

Marvin’s POV

I sat at Mum’s bedside as she slept, back in hospital yet again and wondering how little time she had left. This vicious cancer was draining the life out of her slowly and painfully, and it was amazing that she was even still alive as she had been battling it for years. She first had it when I was about seven, and I had to take care of her because Dad had walked out on us when I was two to be with another woman. It went into remission for a while, but when I was nine it made a comeback and she hadn’t got rid of it since. She had been expected to die a long time ago, but she was defying all the odds. But now we were in hospital, it looked like maybe her luck was running out. She was in the most severe state she had been in for a long time, and she really looked terribly unwell. I held her hand as I sat by her, just hoping that she would make it through again and one day get better. She’d fought for this long and made it this far, she seemed like the strongest person I knew. If anyone could beat cancer, it was my mum. Things didn’t look hopeful, though, when the doctor next came into to check on her. He had a solemn look in his eyes as he talked to his colleague; I didn’t yet know what it meant, but it certainly sounded scary. It was then that their eyes shifted to look at me, and it looked as though they were about to deliver bad news.

“I’m so sorry, Marvin,” the doctor sighed sympathetically. “I’m afraid your mother has very little time left to live. I’m really sorry.”

“No!” I cried.

“We can only give her palliative care now,” he explained. “We can make her more comfortable, but that’s about all we can do.” I gazed at Mum in disbelief that she was really slipping away, tears filling my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. “I know this is a lot to take in,” the doctor continued caringly, “I wish I was able to give you better news.”

“No, no, she can’t die, she can’t,” I wept, holding her hand a little tighter. “H-How - How long has she got?” I stuttered tearfully. “Weeks? Days?”

“Days at best,” he replied apologetically. “But… but she might not make it to tomorrow.”

“No, no!” I sobbed. This was just too much to deal with on my own, so I decided to see if any of my friends could come and join me; I asked Chase, but he said he wasn’t allowed to go out anywhere apart from school on weekdays. Eventually I got hold of Henrik, and he told me that someone would bring him here as soon as possible. It was probably not even an hour later, but it felt like forever, when Henrik arrived and entered the room.

“Oh, Marvin,” he sighed sadly. “I am so sorry that you are going through this.”

“I can’t lose her, Henrik…” I cried shakily.

“I know this is hard for you,” he replied understandingly.

“You have no idea!” I wept, “At least you were able to save your mother! But what can I do? Nothing!”

“I know what it’s like to see your mother dying in front of your eyes, though,” he stated sombrely as he seemed to be recalling what he went through.

Four Years Ago…

Henrik’s POV

Mum had just picked me up from school and we were on the way back, when a car seemed to come out of nowhere at high speed - BANG! As the cars smashed together, I genuinely thought that this was how I would die - but somehow I was barely injured at all. I called to Mum, but she wasn’t responding to me, so I repeated myself in a panicked voice - and still got no answer. I saw out of the window that someone was calling an ambulance already, but I just had to do something to help my mother. I did ache a little as I got myself up and out of the car, but I didn’t care if it meant I could save her. The door seemed to be jammed but, with a lot of desperate effort, I managed to eventually fling it open. I jumped in and checked her breathing and pulse like I had seen people do on TV before, and she was alive. I tried to keep calm as I looked for injuries, and I soon spotted blood coming from her neck where some broken glass was sticking out. I knew not to pull the glass out, but I applied pressure where I could to try and stop the bleeding. I was so thankful that I had spent some time watching medical shows with her, because otherwise I would have had no idea what to do and I would have just sat there panicking instead of helping her - or worse, I would have done something wrong and hurt her more or even killed her. When the medics arrived after what felt like an eternity, I was soon informed that, if I hadn’t done what I did, she might have been dead by the time they got to her. I saved her life. After this day, I knew that I wanted to be a doctor, so that I could save more and more people just like I saved her. I realised that this was what I needed and wanted to do, more than ever now that I knew I was capable. I had actually saved a life - and it was my mother’s life, no less. I had no idea what I would have done if I had failed to save her and had to live without her forever; she was a rock to me, and she was the one who had been supporting my interests in science which led me to being able to save her life.

In The Present…

Chase’s POV

I realised that I had a message from Marvin, and my heart sunk when I read how serious it was; his mother was dying and had very little time left to live, and he needed a friend to be there with him. He had asked me if I was able to go out, and I’d told him I couldn’t - but I had no idea that this is why he asked me. My heart broke that I couldn’t go, and I wished that I could somehow find a way to be there. I was his friend, even if only for a day, and I wanted to be there for him at what would probably be one of the most difficult times of his life. I decided to tell Mum when she got home from work a little while later, and she was very supportive of me; she wanted to take me there herself, but she had to get past Dad first.

“Where d’ya think you’re going?” he interrogated her.

“Chase wants to see a friend,” Mum explained, trying not to let him frighten her.

“He’s not allowed,” Dad stated snappily. “You know he’s not, you stupid bitch.”

“It’s important!” Mum insisted, although her voice was a little shaky now.

“I don’t care!” Dad shouted back. “He’s not going!”

“Please let me go,” I begged him.

“Shut up, you!” he yelled at me, “You’re not going anywhere!”

“B-But - my friend needs me,” I told him anxiously.

“No-one needs you, idiot,” he spat nastily. “Get upstairs.” I slowly shuffled up the stairs, my head down despairingly, and Mum followed behind me.

“We’ll wait until he passes out drunk,” Mum spoke quietly, “Then I’ll take you to your friend, okay?” When we reached the top of the stairs, I threw my arms lovingly around her. We had a few hours to wait, as it was usually pretty late by the time that Dad was so drunk that he fell deeply asleep. The hospital visiting time was likely to be over by then, but I hoped they would let me see Marvin just for five minutes. I just needed to show him that I really did care, and wasn’t just making up an excuse not to go and support him. After a long wait, we both crept downstairs and peered into the living room to see Dad passed out in front of the TV. We snuck out of the house, closing the door quietly behind us, and we headed to the hospital. Mum waited for me in the reception area while I went to see Marvin. But before I even got to him, I saw him crying his eyes out with Henrik beside him with his arm around him supportively. He looked like he had seen a ghost, and his appearance made him look like one as he was so pale.

“Marvin!” I said as I rushed to him. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“She’s gone,” he whispered, heartbroken.

“No… Oh, Marvin,” I sighed with sympathy. As he sobbed, I held out my arms and I hugged him. “I’m so sorry, Marvin,” I told him sincerely. He just cried heavily, unable to say a word for a while. I kept my arms around him but, unsurprisingly, nothing seemed to soothe him at all. I wasn’t what he wanted. He just wanted his mother to hold him, not me. I thought about how much I treasured my mother and how heartbroken I would be if I ever lost her, and my heart felt heavy for Marvin.

“She can’t be gone, she can’t, she can’t…” Marvin wept in denial.

“I’m sorry, Marvin,” I said again solemnly, not knowing what else to say.

“Stop saying that!” he sobbed, pushing me away. “Oh, I just want Mum…”

“Does your dad know?” Henrik asked calmly.

“No, and he probably wouldn’t fucking care!” Marvin bawled.

“He would, Marvin,” Henrik replied kindly, “I’m sure he would.”

“I wish my magic was real…” he wept, “So I could have my mum back…”

Marvin’s POV

Even after all these years, I wondered if Mum kept Dad’s number in her phone. She’d never found anyone else, so maybe she still loved him and hoped that they would get back together one day. I went to see her, but they didn’t let me just yet - but they did allow me to see her phone, when I explained what it was for. I looked through it, and I soon found a number that I knew was the one I was looking for. Nervously, I began to make the call and hovered the phone by my ear. I waited for a response.

“Hello?” I heard a voice say. I paused. “Hello?” he repeated.

“D-Dad?” I stammered.

“Marvin? Is that you?” Dad responded, rather shocked to hear my voice.

“Yeah,” I replied tearfully.

“Oh, wow, you’ve grown up,” he reacted in amazement as he faced the reality that I wasn’t little anymore. He then realised that I was crying. “What’s happened?” he asked concernedly.

“It’s Mum,” I wept.

“Is she alright?” he questioned, showing that he still cared about her.

“No,” I sobbed, “No, the cancer came back… and… and now she… she’s… Mum’s gone!”

“Gone?” he echoed a little shakily, like he knew what I meant but didn’t want to accept it.

“She’s gone…” I cried sorrowfully. “Forever…”

“No…” he spoke in disbelief, sounding like he might break into tears. “I’m gonna come and see you, okay?” he announced in a wobbling voice, “You can’t do this on your own.”

“I’ve got this far without you,” I wept a little bitterly.

“You’re my son,” he stated lovingly, “I’ve not been there for you enough and now I want to put that right. Please. Let me be there for you.” I paused. I sighed.

“Fine,” I sniffled reluctantly, “But you’re not Mum. It’s her I want.” At that, I hung up the call.

Chase’s POV

“Do you want us to stay?” I asked him gently.

“No,” he cried, “I wanna be alone.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Henrik kindly contested.

“Just go away!” he sobbed. “Go - away!”

“We will be right back if you need us,” he responded caringly, before we left the room to give him the space he wanted. Henrik and I went to the reception area, said goodbye, before returning to our mothers. Mine could see how sad I looked and she hugged me tightly, before taking me home; we both hoped that Dad had stayed asleep because, if not, we were going to be in a lot of trouble when we got back.

[storiesbyaya]

Story of A Hero- 23

{First}{Previous}{Mobile}{Next} Jazz was sitting on Will and the twins’ table monday at Lunch. She held a mysterious cardboard box on her lap and, for a moment, Will was confused…

Until he saw the familiar green lightning bolt logo. Instead of confused, he became excited, and nearly bounded over to the box. Jazz grinned at him, but continued to hold it close even as he approached. “So… Weird thing, but my sister came outta her room this morning. She gave me this. Made me promise not to let anyone but you touch what’s in it. And then, she ate breakfast with me and walked me to the bus. I don’t know what this thing is, and I don’t care. But I know you did something, and because of it, I got to see my sister, and hear her laugh and stuff. So whatever this is? You take good care of it.” She spoke with a serious tone, yet also seemed happy. Will was happy for her.

He nodded. “I know you said you don’t care to know, but… that box likely has my parents’ research,” he explained. “Oh,” Jazz said, understanding blooming on her face. She gave him a cheerful smile. “Explains why it’s so important… And why she’d only trust you with it.” Even though she didn’t know Will, as far as Jazz was aware. He held the box with the same care she had. “She trusted you with it, too. I think that’s a good thing?” “I think so too.” Their conversation ended when Percy and Lily arrived. She rejoined her table, and they ate together. It was hard to concentrate through the rest of the day, with the anticipation and fear all welling up at once. What could it contain?

-x-x-x

The box contained an external harddrive, as well as a note, written in green glitter pen. William decided to start with that first.

“Fun fact,” it read “A friend of mine has ‘Anaesthesia Awareness’. Waking up during the herein described procedures caused damage to his Adex. (Read up on subject KX-023) This break is what allowed us to break free.

I believe in you, William.  Let the mistakes of our past become the tools to build a better future.

Tessa Nickols (xxx-xxx-xxxx. Let me know if you need any more help. Give my number to Kat too. I miss that brat.)

PS- For privacy reasons, many names and faces have been redacted. Hope you understand.

PPS- Hard drive password is your sister’s middle name.”

Diana. The password was Diana. William wondered if that was done by Tessa or by his parents, but he only wondered briefly.

The amount of stuff here was… Intimidating. He didn’t even know where to start. He had to take a deep breath and center himself to even try to tackle this. Maybe… weed out the unnecessary stuff? Grant applications. Letters to investors. A bunch of other money related things. That was irrelevant to his studies. It went into a special folder. Just in case. Facility descriptions… As the document began with nothing but maps of the facility, William was going to ignore it, until he noticed that there were several pages. The building only had four floors, if he remembered correctly. There should only be four pages, if it was nothing but maps.

“As this is a foreign field of research, much of our equipment has required upgrades, and some custom equipment has been needed to advance our research.”

The section below the maps continued on, describing what kind of upgrades and changes had been made to existing equipment. It was all incredibly fascinating to William, but one very specific section caught his attention.

It described, in great detail, a special instrument created to measure and observe resonance.

“Tests have revealed that Adex exude a special energy. It has been named “resonance” due to the way it reacts within human subjects. With this, resonance can be observed and measured. This advance has increased the success rate of forced symbiosis to 98.7% Forcing symbiosis with two subjects who’s resonances do not match almost always results in MEIR-Type entities, and/or loss of one or both subjects. Forcing symbiosis with a subject that exudes no resonance at all results in failure 100% of the time.”

“So resonance has… types. And this thing they made shows them in different colors,” he said to himself, and scribbled this fact into a notebook. To his surprise, Imshael hopped onto his desk. “Hello,” they greeted, before curling into a ball near the keyboard. “I want to help.” “You… want to… help?” William repeated, confused. The words themselves were not confusing, but rather the ‘who’ they were spoken by. Even after the first time he’d heard Imshael during training, they’d still stayed so quiet Will almost forgot they COULD speak. “Well, yes. Bayesh and I feel I may have answers to questions you might have. I am, after all, an Adex. You’d assume I would know a few things about myself.” “I think assuming that would be kind of silly. Humans have to learn about their bodies, I’m sure you guys do, too. But...unlike us, there is no school for adex.” “True,” they said, swishing their tail to and fro, “But you learn things with age. Like the fact that resonance’s color matches the color of the adex itself. The color of the thing within you. It also tends to dictate what kind of abilities we will grant. I’ve come to notice white adex mean white light, for instance.” William scribbled that down, and gave her a few small pets as thanks.

Then, he continued to read.

None of it was nearly as interesting as the resonance testing equipment, and most of it made him grumble in disgust. The schematics for Meir containment cells. The dampeners that kept the ‘subjects’ from using their powers. All kinds of resonance sapping weaponry.

“Oh. Hey, maybe that could be useful for… I don’t know, fighting bad guys?” Harley suggested. For a moment, William considered keeping the documents and then sending them to Angel. She’d know what to do with them, and how to make them into weapons that could be used to fight metahumans and meirs without the need for HeroNet. But William turned to Tessa’s letter once more, and sighed. “We promised we’d never let anyone else see this research, Harley. I’m not going to betray Tess’ trust…” William reminded her. Harley looked down, and would probably frown if her muzzle would allow. “Oh. My apologies. Shall I leave?” Imshael asked. William looked down to them, then back to the screen, and then to Harley. “Immy’s technically not another person… They’re an Adex.” While true, William gave a sigh. Technicalities didn’t sit well with him. But he had Tessa’s number, so he decided to ask her.

[Will] Hi Tessa, this is William Kray. We received the hard drive safely, but my father’s Adex wants to help. You said not to let anyone else see what’s on this drive.

[Peony] Oh! A wild Will! Right down to business, I see. Call me Peony, kay? Wow. She answered pretty fast. But Jazz did say that she never left her room, so she likely always had her phone.

[Peony] Would Kat trust this Adex? Knowing who your parents are, I would say there’s no one more trustworthy. But ultimately, I kept this stuff safe FOR your sister.

[Will] Right. Thank you, Peony.

Kat… She wouldn’t be angry if William let Imshael see the data. But she WOULD be angry if it was used to hurt anyone. So, ultimately, Wiliam chose to put a pin in it and continue to read.

He moved on to the folder that contained actual test results.

“KY subjects?” William read out loud. There were twenty entries, but no indication what the KY stood for. William had to examine them, and after a few, he noticed the pattern.

“These are… Older than me. The subjects were all adults… This must be the initial testing for forced symbiosis… Look, this person is deceased,” he pointed out. The other four sets of eyes looked to where he was pointing.

“Of course. Adults can’t fuse with us. The necessary changes can not be done to an already fully formed body. That it took them twenty people to notice,” Imshael grumbled. “Well… I guess… The good news is that they only resorted to using children because nothing else would work… Granted they could have just… Not continued their research on forced fusion.” “Not every question needs to be answered,” Harley agreed. “Like… I don’t actually want to know how many bugs I can fit in my mouth?” While Imshael and Harley continued to list off examples of things they did not need to know the answer to, William skimmed through the rest of the KY files, but they were ultimately more of the same.

He moved on to the KX subjects. Those he knew. “Kx-01 subject. 12 year old female. Volunteer, informed consent (See risk waiver) blah blah…” William read out loud, frowning. “This girl became their first Meir… But they ‘learned a great deal about Meirs, how to contain them, and how to destroy them’ thanks to her… I… Don’t…” William had to step away for a moment. Destroy. They meant kill. Murder. End a life, maybe even two. He couldn’t bear to read about the tests they did on the meir. He closed the file and moved on. More Meirs. More deaths. Some children saved at the cost of their Adex being destroyed. Few successes, until... “This one’s different. KX-14,” Will eventually said, his brow relaxing from the ever deepening frown he’d had previously. “Different how?” Imshael asked. “Successful symbiosis with ANB72… Result, the ability to mimic the abilities of other Adex. KX14’s ability has allowed us to predict the type of abilities an adex will have-”...Basically, this says she’s the reason we know Adex colors correspond to what kind of power they’ll give. She also… ‘claims to see a faint colorful glow’ coming from the Adex.’... She could… See resonance?” Though Harley was wagging her tail enthusiastically,  Imshael showed no sign of interest. Their tail just… swished lazily. “Immy, there’s people who can see Resonance! Isn’t that cool?” he asked, putting his hands near them, but they didn’t move. “I suppose?” they said. William frowned. “You knew already.” “Yes. Sorry. I see you’re excited. I do not mean to detract from your excitement.” Imshael’s apathy aside, William continued, noticing that there was a small note at the end of kx-14’s file. They weren’t the only person to see Resonance, but it took until subject 19 to realize that this phenomena was a real thing and not a stress induced hallucination or something of the sort. From there, there was a lot more successes. 22, however, was an outlier.

Succesful at first, the stress and isolation turned them into a Meir. “Dr. Evergarden decided to use the Meir to test out the powers of successful subjects, beginning project Nightmeir.” It linked to the project, but this William refused to click. He continued.

Kx-023. William picked up Peony’s note and looked again. She’s mentioned this subject, told him to look.

“Subject awoke during procedure. Panic caused a small scuffle until he could be sedated again. No lives lost, but Adex suffered damage. See Incident reports.” And dated later, a note had been added stating :”Subject releases small amounts of Resonance even with Dampeners. Without dampeners, subject can not control his ability and destroys anything he touches. (Re: Request- Wall repair in B2-B wing,)” And a little later still, “Subject experiences blackening of veins in hands (What??) Sent to medical examination immediately, but no medical reasons have been found. He is perfectly healthy. Maybe this is caused by the Adex damage? Continue monitoring.”

William looked back to the floor plan, on an inkling that this wall that needed repairs might be one that resulted in the collapse.

Unfortunately, he realized that he was not an architect and couldn’t really figure it out, so he returned to his reading.

There were few deviations. Meirs, successes… He could tell that it was around there that they’d managed to get the Resonance measuring machine working. Hell, even the number of consenting subjects rose the closer he got to his sister’s number.

There wasn’t much to learn, but he did notice a naming pattern for the Adex, and understood they were named by their color. From there, he compiled a list of Adex colors and their abilities… But there was one strange code he didn’t understand. Some adex codes started with an “A”, but they were few. 14, 24,72…

Wait.

72? 72 was…

Kat!