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gryfflepuffinthetardis · 1 month ago

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The Fisher King Part One

Summary: The BAU are supposed to have two weeks off but a psychotic killer has other plans and forces the team to play in his elaborate fantasy game to rescue a missing girl but what will he do when they break one of the rules?

Warnings: Killing, Blood, Decapitated heads, Isobel Noble and her daughters, Single mother of four with no mention of any fathers.

Cast: (Gifs/Pictures on Archive of Our Own and Wattpad Only)

Amelia Noble (Ten years old) — Caitlin Blackwood

Ophelia Noble (Eight years old) — Sadie Sink

Astrid Noble (Six years old) — Lexi Rabe

Effie Noble (Five years old) — Zoe Colletti

"There is no evil in sorcery, only in the hearts of men." — Merlin (Colin Morgan)

Zoe tossed and turned in her bed. Her heart was racing, she was sweating. In her dreams, she kept hearing her sister, she was crying and then suddenly Zoe shot up in bed, clutching her heart as it raced as if she had been attacked. She felt like the room was spinning, she stumbled out of bed, she moved through the room in the dark expertly, even in this state she was able to move around the dark as well as she could in the day as she had been trained. There was an intense pain in her chest, she made her way to the bathroom and stood in front of the sink, panting heavily.

——————————————————————————————————

Two weeks later, the whole BAU team was actually given two weeks off.

"Morgan, your friend's resort better be as nice as you say it is." Elle was telling Morgan.

"Hey, I never said it was his. He just manages the place, but trust me when I tell you it is off the hook." Morgan said, "Hot sunny days, cool breezes at night, never-ending tropical drinks with the little umbrellas and nothing but young, beautiful adults looking to make vacation memories."

"Male and female, right?"

"Elle, two weeks of pure heaven."

"I can't imagine what two weeks away from this place is going to feel like." Elle sighed as they came back to their desks.

"Well, you know, you better thank your man upstairs for making it the whole team. Otherwise, you know they'd find a reason to bring us back up in here." Morgan said, referring to Hotch,

"Why? They got other teams."

"Okay, you can go on believing that if you want to, but I am not answering my cell phone." Morgan said as Spencer came back to his desk.

"Okay." Elle chuckled and clinked her mug with his.

"Oh, there he is." Morgan said and walked over to Spencer, "Pretty boy. Last chance. I can get my man to swing you a hotel room for practically nothing. Even you might get a little loving out there."

"Thanks anyway." Spencer refused.

"Ah, come on, Reid. Live a little, huh?

I have to go. Uh- I'm going home." Spencer said.

“Zoe, pretty girl, you in?”

"No, my aunt, Dad's sister and her daughters are flying in from Scotland."

"I thought you were visiting your ex." Elle said and Spencer clenched his jaw.

"I'm doing that next week." Zoe said

“Have a good one, guys.” Spencer said, heading off.

"Bye." Elle said.

Morgan turned to Elle, "He look okay to you?"

"He looks about the way I would if I was gonna spend two weeks with my family." Elle said.

Hotch walked down the stairs from his office, saying, "Hey, don't knock family. I'm going to get nothing but for the next three hundred and thirty six hours.

"Good for you."

"Haley's got a list of chores a mile long and I can't wait." Hotch said, "The biggest decision I gotta make is what I'm gonna do first."

"I bet you she has a thought or two about that as well."

"Bring it on."

"I'll be lost in a cabin in the woods for the next two weeks." Gideon

"Sounds like somewhere you'd be murdered." Zoe deadpanned.

"Do not call me for anything. Have a great time. You all deserve a break." Gideon said and then backtracked, "Seriously, don't call."

"Don't worry." Elle chuckled.

Alexander walked down the stairs and said, "Isobel and the girls' plane should be landing in twenty minutes."

"Great. Did she have any more children since the last we saw her?" Zoe deadpanned.

"She only has four."

"That's too many!" Zoe said.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Writer Elbert Hubbard said, "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who has just had one."

Isobel was a beautiful thirty-four-year-old woman. She was seven years younger than Alexander and they were close since ever. Their mother had died when Alexander was fourteen and Isobel was seven, leaving them with their abusive father until they ran away. Isobel worked in the National Crime Agency where she worked in a specialized team that focused on behavorial analysis, criminal profiling, and the investigation of serious crimes. Essentially it was the Scottish BAU.

Isobel had four daughters all with her red hair. The oldest was a ten-year-old named Amelia with red hair and blue eyes. The second oldest was a nine-year-old named Ophelia with curly flaming red hair and blue eyes. The second youngest was a six-year-old girl named Astrid with brown hair with a hint of red hair and brown eyes and the youngest was a five-year-old girl named Effie with red hair and blue eyes.

"Zo-Zo!" Effie ran to her cousin and hugged her.

Zoe picked Effie up and said, "You're getting heavy, you know."

"No, I'm not!" She laughed.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

After a four-hour flight, Spencer arrived at his home city of Las Vegas, he didn’t have many pleasant memories here except of those with his mother.

His mother, Diana Reid, had paranoid schizophrenia and for the past six years, she had been a patient at the Bennington Sanitarium since Spencer had admitted her when he turned eighteen as she couldn’t care for herself. Despite that she, like her son, had a high IQ, she used to be a professor of literature and she had shared that love of literature with her son whom she was immensely proud of. Spencer could do anything he wanted, but he chose to make the world a safer place.

When Spencer was ten, his father just left them, so Spencer had to care for his mother while she hadn’t exactly been easy to deal with, what with her episodes and him going to high school when he was twelve.

Spencer stood on the other side of the room as he watched his mother read.

A nurse who recognized him came up to him. “Heard a rumor you were here.”

“How’s she doing?” Spencer asked, without looking away from his mom.

“Schizophrenia’s a lifetime illness. The meds stabilize the worst of her symptoms, but she still has bad days.” The nurse told him as Spencer nodded slightly, “What makes her most happy are her journals and your daily letters. She is exceptionally proud of you.”

A small smile pulled at Spencer’s lips. “She is?”

“Talks about you all the time to anyone who will listen. Staff, other patients. Her journals are filled with the cases you write her about.” She told him, “Calls them your adventures.”

“Mom’s of the belief that you can find adventure all around you if you just look.” Spencer said, “That’s what happens when you’re a professor of fifteenth-century literature.”

“Well, she’s going to be so excited that you were finally able to get here in person.” The nurse beamed.

The twitch of a smile fell from Spencer’s cheeks as guilt rippled through his chest from his heart.

Schizophrenia was highly heritable, the exact percentage of how so was debatable going from as low as sixty percent to as high as ninety percent. Not one gene was considered to be responsible and there was no sure way to prevent it. It was a brain disorder classified as a psychosis meaning that it affects a person’s thinking, sense of self, and perceptions. Schizophrenia was widely perceived to be dangerous due to media and the few violent schizophrenics who become famous such as David Berkowitz also known as the “Son of Sam” and Ed Gein, just to name a few, but schizophrenics are rarely actually violent, arguably less than ten percent of violence is attributable to schizophrenia.

Spencer knew the statistics. When a parent has schizophrenia, the child’s chances go up ten percent and schizophrenia typically develops in male in their late teen to early twenties with a peak at twenty-one to twenty-five years old. Exactly Spencer’s age. And it very well could be triggered by trauma to those who are already vulnerable to it.

"Maybe it's better if I just let her rest today." Spencer said.

"Rest?" The nurse frowned.

"Yeah, I'll-I'll, uh, come back tomorrow." Spencer stammered.

"But, Doctor, she's..." She started.

Spencer held out the wrapped book in his hands to the nurse, "Can you give this to her? It's, uh, Margery Kempe, her favorite."

The nurse took the book from him and glanced down at it before looking back up at her patient's son and protested, "It would really be good for her if you could just...

Please?” Spencer interrupted her, politely, “Thank you so much. Thanks.” And he left, guilt and the constant fear he lived with continuously pounding in his chest.

He loved his mom dearly, she was all the family he had, but it didn’t get rid of the constant fear that one day he’d have to live with what he watched her go through.

When he was young, around six years old, Diana’s schizophrenia had worsened, he didn’t know why, it just did, and she started having these episodes that had terrified him. How was he supposed to know? He was only six. A six-year-old with a brain beyond most six-year-olds had but still just a kid. Diana had still explained her schizophrenia to him and he had understood enough, not to the extent that he did now or even what Diana had known at the time, but he understood enough. He remembered the words she said to him.

“I know sometimes I get confused, but I want you to remember because this is so, so important, I will never ever stop loving you. My love for you is bigger and stronger than a disease of the brain. Love is a world of its own that lives in the heart, not in the head.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Zoe had the girls staying over at her place, she had a guest room that she kept just in case… they ever found Zarah. Just the kind of room Zarah would want. A bay window that let in plenty of light, a big closet, plenty of room for her to move when she felt like dancing. Decorated how she wanted… Zoe wouldn’t have allowed pink furniture in her house by hand, so everything was on the line of Zoe’s slightly gothic grunge tomboy and Zarah’s girly-girl-ness. Not consisting of Zoe’s preference of dark colors but Zarah’s preference for light colors. Zoe told herself when they found Zarah, she could get what she wanted and maybe Garcia would want these.

A dark voice in her head always corrected, "if" but she always ignored it. She had to hold onto her faith.

There was a colorful plushy carpet that consisted of bright blue, yellow, and pink that Zoe had only bought because she knew Zarah would’ve loved it. There was a large bed with a blue-purple fluffy comforter, identical to the one at Alexander’s house that looked at though it had remained untouched in five years until you realized there wasn’t a spot of dust in the whole room. The bay window had colorful cushions and pillows around it including a folded pushy pastel blanket.

The girls slept in there, strewn through the room. Effy and Astrid would sleep on the bed while Ophelia would sleep in a sleeping bag on the soft clean carpet and Amelia sleep in the bay window.

Now, the girls were in the room watching TV until it was time to go to bed. Isobel would be staying at Alexander's since there wasn't anymore space in Zoe's place.

Zoe sat at her dining room table that she never actually ate food on, wasn’t that what couches in front of TVs were for? She had some case files in front of her but she was clearly distracted. Her heart kept racing and fluxing but she didn’t think it was related to her heart condition.

"You know your mum used to do that too when she was very stressed." Came Isobel's thick Scottish accent as she came and sat across from Zoe. Zoe looked up, she had braided her hair into four separate braids. Isobel had only been fourteen when the twins were born and Zelena died but she had known her well and she knew that her brother had loved her dearly. "What's wrong?"

Zoe hesitated before saying, "...Zarah. I feel like she's... but I can't do anything..."

"I'm sorry."

"I miss her." Zoe confessed.

"We all do." Isobel told her but she knew it wasn't the same. There wasn't a bond like the kind twins had and Zoe had a way of forming this intense bond with certain people and Zarah was one of them.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Late that night, Garcia was still at the office, playing a game on her personal computer, Camelot, where she would meet up with someone she had met on the game.

He wrote: I have a surprise for you.

Garcia giggled and grinned until her laptop screen went black. The only thing on there were two words written in white: GAME OVER. Then the words vanished and one by one more words showed up with a beep for each one: All Work No Play.

It started disappearing and appearing in different spots on the screen as Garcia processed this, she frowned and repeated the words. "All work, no play?" She started to type but then suddenly the words appeared over and over on her screen as there was a rapid beeping and buzzing sound.

She looked up and saw one of the BAU computers were black with: GAME OVER. All Work No Play.

Garcia's eyes widened as the other computer screens started to do that same thing. The first one had the four words repeating. The same thing spread to the other computers.

"No, no, no, no." Garcia kept repeating as the shock wore off she tried to stop it but nothing was working, "No, no, no, no. Oh, my... No. No."

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Isobel had retired to Alexander's place and the girls had fallen asleep, Zoe still remained at the table when there was a knock on the door. Just a simple three-knock knock.

Zoe raised her eyebrows suspiciously. After being kidnapped at least four times, she was wary. She had four girls in the house that she would protect with her life. She grabbed her gun and crept to the door, silently. She looked through the doorhole but there was no one there, clutching her gun, she unlocked the door and opened it. Her eyes immediately went to a simple package. It was a simple box taped with duct tape.

She was no stranger to mysterious packages but the bloody lillies only appeared when she was in or near Boston and his packages were always meticulously packaged with clear tape.

What this box told her was that there was something in the box, they didn't want to be accidentally opened.

Zoe bent down and nudged the box with her gun, there was something somewhat heavy in it. She licked her lips, pocketed her gun and picked up the box, swiftly and brought it over to the table, kicking the door shut behind her which automatically locked.

She put her hand in her pocket and pulled her pocket knife with a clip out and she flicked it open with a soft click. She cut through the duct tape and opened the box.

The first thing she saw was the bloody hatchet with no handle. Things started going off in her head, then she noticed there were pictures underneath. She would deal with that later. She got out her phone and called Alexander.

"Dad, I just got a package. There was a bloody hatchet in it with no handle." There was a crash on the other end of the line as her father fell out of bed. "I'm waking up the girls and getting them out of here."

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Zoe had brought the girls to Alexander's to stay with Isobel and Zoe rode her motorcycle to the BAU before her father did by now it was around seven in the morning. There wasn't anyone in the BAU office except for Garcia.

Zoe walked into the part where Garcia mostly resided and stopped, it looked as though Garcia had taken apart the BAU’s computer case, the rectangle box on the floor that sat under the desk. Zoe had made the computer case when she was seventeen and it had been deemed to be more efficient than any one that the BAU could’ve bought. There were computer chips and ribbon cables all over the floor as Garcia furiously used needle-nose pliers to take the case apart as she grumbled, furiously to herself.

"All work and no play, huh? All work and no play? You just wait till I am through with you."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! What happened here!?" Zoe exclaimed.

"I've been hacked, Zoe! They hacked me! I swear when I get my system up and running again, I am going to track him down!" Garcia shouted. Zoe had never seen her this upset.

"Okay, calm down, Garcia. Give me the tool before you break something and you can't get it back up. Deep breaths." She kneeled by Garcia and took the pliers from her.

"You're right. You're right." Garcia said and then she took some deep breaths that were louder than necessary but very Garcia-like.

Zoe looked down at Garcia's hands and all but shouted, "Why aren't you wearing gloves? What hacker are you, you don't wear gloves when furiously digging around in a computer case! You should be wearing anti-static gloves to protect sensitive electronic compnents from static electricty damage or are you under the impression the computers are only sensitive to coffee?"

"I... I..."

"And there are a bunch of sharp metal edges in there. I don't think your blood has the power that Hulk's does." Zoe scolded her.

"I don't have any anti-static gloves."

Zoe scoffed and got up to move the area and opened a cabinet where there was a safe with an old-school combination lock.

"That doesn't open." Garcia said.

Zoe looked at her and she turned the wheel to the right, then to the left, and then to the right again and it easily unlocked.

“I had your job before you did. This was my office when Dad was on local cases.” She said and she pulled out a toolbox and brought it over. “I made these computer cases.”

"You did?"

"Yeah, when I was seventeen." She said, opening the box. The tools were colorful, a variety of dark and bright colors. "You think the FBI would buy something so retro?"

She handed a pair of pink, green, and white zebra-striped gloves to her while Zoe picked a pair of striped purple gloves.

Zoe noticed Garcia looking at the gloves, oddly. These didn't match Zoe's style. "Those were Zarah's." Zoe explained and Garcia dropped them like they burned.

"Come on, put them on." Zoe said, putting hers on. Garcia put them on.

"Already, tell me what happened?"

"I... I... I was playing a game. Not on the BAU computer on my laptop..."

"Did this game happen to be online?"

"I... y-yes."

"Got it. He hacked your computer through the internet and jumped to the BAU computer." Zoe nodded in understanding.

"I... I thought he liked me..."

"Well, men suck." Zoe said. "And you know what I say, treat everyone you meet online like they're planning on killing you."

The the phone rang, Garcia's irritation came back and she huffed at this distraction from fixing the computer, she got back on the computer chair and slammed her hand on the answer button.

"What?"

"Garcia, I need a rundown on a guy." Morgan's voice said.

"No." Garcia said, bluntly.

"What?" Morgan asked.

"The information superhighway is closed." She told him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Someone had the nerve to run a black hat op into my computers, Morgan. They hacked me. Okay? But you can bet your sweet ass I will find them. I've got honeypot farms hidden behind UML kernel data packets and a first-generation honeynet I personally programmed. My Snort log lists every visitor, every server request, every keystroke on this entire network. If I have to back-hack his IP all the way to the freaking Stone Age, I will find this son of a bitch. Okay? So bye." Garcia raved and then she hung up.

"What's Morgan doin' up? Jamaica is an hour behind meaning it's six in the morning now, you'd think he want to sleep in."

"It's seven? What are you doing here?"

"Someone sent a box with a bloody hatchet with no handle and pictures. I had to

"Oh my God!" Garcia screeched.

Zoe nodded and looked down, "A handless hatchet was the only weapon they found when they found my mom."

The door opened and JJ entered, "Zoe, uh, Alexander said to tell you when Gideon got here. He's here, someone sent him a head."

Zoe got up and pulled the gloves off, dropping them back into the box and followed JJ as Gideon entered the BAU.

"Gideon, I've been trying to call you." JJ said.

"Why?" Gideon asked.

"Someone sent you a head?" Zoe asked him.

"From Jamaica." Gideon confirmed.

"Morgan and Elle are in Jamaica right now. There was a murder. The body was headless. Elle's been arrested for it." JJ said.

"What?"

"Hotch headed down there last night with some Bureau lawyers and a crime scene unit." JJ said, "He should be there by now."

"If you talk to him, have him call me right away." Gideon said.

Yes, sir.

"I was sent a bloody hatchet without a handle and pictures. I haven't looked at them yet. Dad has it."

Gideon's eyes narrowed and his face paled even more. He remembered the scene when they finally found Zelena. The place had been abandoned, she had been left for dead, only recently, meaning they had just missed him. Zelena's body had been coated in sweat and blood from the nineteen blows, in her chest just above her pregnancy bump was a hatchet with the handle broken off.

"I'll be right there." Gideon said.

Zoe nodded and she walked with Gideon and continued to walk when an agent stopped him with some information. Gideon joined Zoe and Alexander in

"Are the girls okay?"

"Yes, I drove them to Dad's, right after I opened the box." Zoe said.

Gideon put on the gloves and removed the hatchet. It was the same kind as the one they found in Zelena's chest.

The pictures below were of each person in the team. Gideon. Hotch. Morgan. Elle. JJ. Garcia. Spencer. Alexander. Zoe. They were clearly taken from a distance but there were two more. Zelena and Zarah.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Spencer entered his mother's sanitarium, hoping to maybe build up the courage to actually face her when the secretary called after him.

"Oh, Doctor Reid?" He looked back at his name being called, "Someone delivered this to the desk last night for you."

Spencer frowned, his teammates didn't even know where he was. Just that he was in Las Vegas.

"What?" He asked and he took the large envelope and opened it to a smaller envelope the kind you would put a business card in, with Dr. Reid written on it, and he opened it and found an old-fashioned black key and a folded-up piece of paper in it.

"She will die unless you save her, Doctor Reid. Call Gideon. He knows." He read aloud.

———————————————————————————

Apparently along with the head was a Nellie Fox card, though Zoe had no idea who that was only that Gideon had mentioned it a few times throughout her life. JJ had been sent a pale clouded yellow butterfly which were indigenous to Europe but mainly Britain. Hotch had given proof that there was no way Elle could’ve killed that man and got her off on the charges.

They had a suspect named Frank Giles who had flown to Flordia and then to Virginia, Arlington and he had a long criminal record. The victim, Marty Harris had been a two-time convicted fetish burglar, and registered child sex offender.

Hotch had gotten a phone call last night before he had found out Elle had been arrested.

They regrouped into the conference room, "So, clearly we have a psychopath intent on drawing us into his game."

"Playing with us." Gideon added.

"Then let's return the favor." Elle said.

"He kept telling us repeatedly to save her. What 'her'?" Morgan asked.

"Maybe, the items he's sent must be some kind of clues." Zoe suggested.

"Let's get them up on the board." Hotch said.

"I got a Nellie Fox baseball card from 1963 and I got a head in a box." Gideon said.

"I got a rare butterfly in a shadow box." JJ said, uncapping the marker to write on the whiteboard.

"And repeated messages to 'save her'." Hotch added.

"I got the decapitated body and a nice visit to the Jamaican Police Headquarters." Elle said, still resentfully.

"Your, uh, tech girl told me something." A Scottish voice said as Isobel strode into the room, "Reid called from Nevada. He's on the way back here with a skeleton key and a note he got, too."

"Uh, who is this?" Morgan asked.

"Uh, Morgan, Elle, JJ, this is my kid sister, Isobel." Alexander introduced.

"Kid? I'm thirty-four years old." Isobel scoffed.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm helping you. My daughters were in your house when that package was sent." Isobel said, challenging Zoe to argue.

"The guy who called me said, 'The second youngest one holds the key'." Hotch interrupted.

"That's Reid." Elle said.

"I got bloody handleless hatchet and stalker pictures of all of us."

"Okay, but wait a minute. UnSubs, they don't contact us this way. I mean, they might taunt us, dare us to catch them, but they don't drag us into their fantasy." Morgan interrupted.

"Why not?" JJ asked.

"Because they're sexual fantasies. I mean, taunting us is a show of power, but making us the object is..." Morgan tried to search for the right word, "I don't know what the hell that is."

"There's something else about the baseball card. Nellie Fox was one of the stars of the 1959 White Sox." Gideon said, "I went to almost every game with my father that year. Fox was my hero. So is it a coincidence that he sends this to me, or does he know how I feel about him?"

JJ turned around, "I collected butterflies when I was a little girl. That's how I knew what butterfly was in the box.

"So then he knows us?" Morgan surmised.

Zoe's memory drifted to Garcia. Could their UnSub be the hacker?

"I got an anonymous message." Hotch said,

"I got a police raid."

"Why'd you get the hatchet?" Morgan asked.

"When we found Zelena, she had..." Alexander's voice broke, he hated to think about it, his sister put her hand on his shoulder so Zoe took over.

"When they found my mom, there was only one weapon to be found a hatchet with the handle broken off stuck in her chest after she was hit nineteen times." Zoe said. It was very quiet for a long time. "That information was never released. I've read every article about Mom's death, about that UnSub, they never mentioned the hatchet. Only the FBI and police involved knew."

"So how did he find out?" Isobel asked.

"And he knew exactly where we were." Morgan said, "Hotel in Jamaica, Gideon at the cabin, Reid in Vegas, you at your homes."

Garcia entered, her rage had by now subsided and had turned into guilt, disappointment and shame in herself. "He got that from the Bureau computers. "Your locations are always in there so they can find you if they need you. And I checked the log. The hacker was definitely in the personnel folders. There were room numbers to the hotel in Jamaica, the address of Gideon's cabin... There's a lot of information in those databases."

"What about my mom's murder?" Zoe asked.

"The digital file was untouched. I don't know how he got that information." Garcia said.

"Have you figured out how he was able to get into the Bureau's computers?" Hotch asked. Zoe looked at Garcia, pursing her lips.

"I'm-I'm still working on that." Garcia choked out, clearly guilt-ridden. Her poker face was useless against profilers.

"Garcia, if you know something...

-No, it's, um... It's just... I..." Garcia struggled to get out, she had never screwed up this badly before. "I was playing a game yesterday. An online game."

"A game?" Gideon asked, confusedly.

"Not on the Bureau computers, sir. On my own personal laptop." Garcia said.

"No, Garcia. No, no, no." Morgan sighed.

"I don't understand." Hotch said.

"Wireless Internet. By wirelessly hooking into the Net here to get online, the hacker could have gotten into her computer first and I doubt her laptop has as much protection as the BAU computers." Zoe explained.

"And he could have gotten into the entire Bureau computer system this way?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, it's possible." Garcia said.

"J.D. used to do it all the time." Zoe added.

"Playing a game?" Gideon scoffed, "How could you be that stupid? Information, files. You have a responsibility."

"I know, sir. I'm so sorry." Garcia said, struggling not to cry.

"Gideon, she didn't know. She told me. She met this guy on the game. He tricked her." Zoe defended. "She's not a profiler like us."

"But I found him."

"You what?" Elle asked.

"I know who he is, the hacker. His name is Giles. Frank Giles. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, forty miles from here." Garcia said, her voice breaking, "I have his address."

"Garcia, you said Giles?"

When they walked down, "ZO-ZO!"

Effie attacked Zoe with a hug and Zoe saw all four of her cousins there.

"Uh, why is there an army of redheaded children here?" She asked in her usual snark.

"This UnSub knows where we live. The girls are safest here. Now anyone else have any problems with it!?" Isobel asked.

"I-I can watch them." Garcia offered.

"Mummy told us not to go with strangers." Effie said.

Zoe crouched down and smiled at her, "Effie, this is a coworker of mine. A friend. She is the most positive person you will ever meet. She has her own little Batcave and she has a table full of pink little knick-knacks and you four can have all of my sugar stash that you want, okay-okay?"

———————————————————————————

They arrived at Giles' place and as per usual they had Morgan do the door-kicking, apparently that was one of his specialties. But when they got there presumably Frank Giles had a sword in his chest and through the mattress below him and written on the wall with blood was: HERE THY QUEST DOTH TRULY BEGIN.

"He's definitely playing with us." Hotch said as they examined the body.

"His identification checks out." Elle said, "That's Frank Giles."

"There's a big old bag of money sitting right here on the dresser." Morgan noted.

"So Giles took Harris to Jamaica to kill him and then the UnSub killed Giles." Hotch recounted.

"Yeah, but he paid him first." Morgan said.

"And left the cash?" Elle asked.

"Well, he's apparently well-funded."

"He said these were 'unrepentant, bad men'."

"Are we looking for some kind of vigilante?" Isobel suggested.

"No." Gideon shook his head. The bodies are nothing but a way to get us interested. They're game pieces. The killings are secondary."

"It's a chess game to him, Giles and Harris were merely his pawns." Zoe said.

"Well, this guy likes to write things in blood on walls." Elle said as Zoe gave it a distasteful look.

"All kinds of cult and demonic significance to that." Morgan said.

"'Thy?' 'Doth'? 'Quest'? 'Thy quest doth truly begin'." Elle said, "Why start phrasing things like this now?"

"Yeah, all the other messages were in modern English." Hotch said.

"Maybe this is the first one the UnSub actually wrote." Morgan suggested.

"So we're looking for Shakespeare?" Isobel asked.

"What are you doing?" Morgan asked Zoe. "Why are you being weird?"

She was crouched down and looking intently at the blade with her head fully tilted to the side.

"There's something etched on the blade." Zoe said and she read it aloud, "To learn of what should next be done, leave the blade till the hour be none."

"'Hour be none'?" Morgan asked.

"'Leave the blade'." Hotch repeated.

Zoe got up and stepped backwards until she was in the doorway. She remembered when Maze taught her how to read a sundial. Tell the time by shadows.

"The bed's in the middle of the room." Zoe noted.

"Which isn't by chance."

"And maybe the light from here casts a shadow and points to something.

Come on. Are we in the middle of an Indiana Jones movie?" Elle scoffed.

"It's called a sundial." Zoe said, sharply.

"The hour be none."

"Well, midnight is zero-zero hours in twenty-four-hour time. Would that be none?" Morgan said.

"No, midnight wouldn't cast a shadow. There would be no sun. Sundials work by using shadows."

"Hour be none."

"Three PM." Spencer said from behind Zoe and she moved out of the way so he could awkwardly scoot on through, "Hey, guys. Garcia told me where to find you.

"Three PM?" Isobel asked.

"Um..."

"Reid, this is my aunt and my dad's sister, Isobel Noble, she's with the NCA in Scotland. Her dozen children are now living at the BAU." Zoe deadpanned.

"Oh, hi. Nice to meet you." He waved awkwardly as she smiled back, she had been told he didn't like to shake hands, "yeah, three PM. It's medieval. The days used to be broken into hourly intervals, the canonical hours of the breviary. Prime: six AM, terce: nine AM, sext: twelve noon, none: three PM, and vespers: six PM."

"Reid, do not ever go away again." Elle said and Spencer smiled.

"Medieval. That's why the language changed." Gideon said. "Doth."

"Everything this guy does is a clue." Zoe said.

"Okay, but, guys, it's four-thirty-five. What do we do? Leave the blade in till three PM tomorrow?"

"Uh, no." Zoe deadpanned.

"Not if we can block that window out." Spencer said and he turned to a police officer, "Do you have any spotlights in your car?"

"Sure." She said, getting up to go get them.

"Thanks."

When she returned, Zoe had blocked the window and the police officer came back and handed Spencer the light. He thanked her and went to a certain spot in the room and shined the light across the room so it cast a shadow from the sword.

"See, the sun is right here at five PM. Zoe, follow the shadow as I move the light higher." Spencer advised.

Zoe kicked a small table away from the wall and started to tap the wall, making hollow sounds.

"It's hollow." Morgan noted.

"Yeah, most walls are hollow." Zoe deadpanned.

"Definitely an Indiana Jones movie."

"Elle, shut up. I'm trying to listen." Zoe told her as she got lower and there was an almost indecipherable change in hollowness in the tap but she could sense it, "Now that's less hollow." She felt the wallpaper, "It's been replaced."

"Tear it up." Hotch said.

"Wait, what if there's like a trap..." Alexander started to protest.

There was a shout and thud and they found Zoe punched into the wall with her fist and she ripped the hollow wall with her bare hands.

"It's a box." She said.

"Take it out."

"Wait, are we sure that's safe?" Spencer asked.

"What, you think it's a bomb?" Hotch asked, "You think he'd be playing this game just to blow us up?"

"He'd have already done that as long as we've been standing here. We've been here for what feels like two hours which means it's probably been thirty minutes." Zoe said and she took the box out and she placed it on the table.

Morgan tried to open it.

"It's locked. You want me to break it?" Morgan asked Hotch.

"No, we should process it first."

"'The second youngest holds the key'." Gideon recalled.

They all looked at Spencer who emptied his pockets before remembering he had put it in the breast pocket of his shirt and pulled out the skeleton key. He crouched beside Zoe and opened the box. It started playing music. A music box.

"Schubert. The Trout Quintet." Gideon said.

"Five people fishing." Hotch said as Spencer took a card

"Never would it be night, but always clear day to any man's sight." Spencer read.

"Well, that was worth it.

"Did you forget what we said fifteen minutes ago or are too sleep-deprived?" Zoe asked, "Everything this guy does is a clue. There's a tab underneath the lock."

She reached out and pulled the tab and the roof of the box pulled down to reveal a lock of blonde hair held together with a ribbon and a DVD with "Thy quest" scrawled on it.

"Oh, God." Elle groaned.

———————————————————————————

When they got back to the BAU, they watched the video on the DVD.

It showed a desk with a bunch of knick-knacks on it, a number of them seemed to be of medieval things. The UnSub walked around the desk and went to get in the chair. He didn't in it swiftly like one normally would. His body was stiff and he moved to the side to shuffle sideways to get in the chair.

"He moves funny." Hotch noted.

"It's like he's injured or something." Morgan suggested.

Zoe leaned her head in with concentration. "It must be a full body injury, he walks stiffly as if in constant pain, not severe exactly but he's learned to walk in a way that causes him the least amount of pain."

"I assure you, you will all understand in the end why it must be this way. You might even thank me." The UnSub said on the video.

"Don't hold your breath, scumbag." Elle scoffed and Zoe shushed her.

"You know now you're on a quest." He said and the video showed what seemed to be an old-fashioned dungeon with a young blonde woman behind the bars. She was clearly very angry as she threw a book at the UnSub and banged and shook the bars. "A young girl's life depends on the successful completion of it. As you can see, she is quite beautiful and in distress. Now please listen closely, for there is one rule and this rule must be followed. The one rule is, only the members of your team may participate in the quest: Jason Gideon, Alexander Noble, Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Elle Greenaway, Spencer Reid, Xiomara Noble-Valdez, Jennifer Jareau, Penelope Garcia." With each name, a picture of said member showed up, different than the blood-splattered ones in the box, "A quest must be completed in the proper way or it isn't a quest, is it? That's it. One rule. Simple. Now, you will be receiving an item soon that will hold the final clue you will need to finish the quest. You will find you will also need a book which has inspired many an adventure like mine. Believe me when I tell you I truly hope to see you all soon. It will mean a successful end to this adventure for all of us."

"What do we do now?" Spencer asked.

"Well, the lock of hair's being analyzed for DNA. There might be something on file." Hotch said.

"I'll get Video to enhance the shots of the girl." JJ said.

"Let's get the clues up on the board. Maybe we can make some sense of something."

"Wait, we're going to play this guy's game?" Elle scoffed.

"Do we have a choice?

"She's a keeping a girl hostage. If we have to play his game to save her, then that's we'll do." Zoe said, sharply.

Gideon suddenly left, clearly shaken.

"Be right back. You guys keep working." Hotch said and went after him.

Zoe soon followed Hotch to tell him about an idea she had that she could look for, "Hey, uh... Hotch, I could analyze the UnSub in the footage and see if I could come up with a list of possible injuries he may suffer from."

"Are you sure it's an injury?" Hotch asked.

"It's most likely a traumatic injury of some sort from just what I've seen." Zoe said.

"Good idea. You do that." Hotch approved.

Zoe's head turned to the side and she turned back, "Also, Haley's here with Jack."

"Haley?" Hotch asked.

Zoe stepped to the side and let Hotch move past her and he walked down to his wife and son. Haley seemed urgent and distracted as she held a yellow envelope.

"I've been trying to call you, but you haven't been answering your cell." She said.

"Oh, no, my battery died. We just got back. What's wrong?" He asked.

"A man came to the door with something he said you would need right away. That a girl's life depended on it." She said.

"He came to the door?" Hotch said, he had agreed to let Isobel's daughters stay because she seemed determined and there was no one else in their family they'd be willing to watch them but maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.

"Yeah."

Hotch brought Haley and Jack to his office and he gently moved Jack's stroller back and forth to ease his son.

"What's going on, Aaron?"

"Honey, what did the guy look like who came to the door?" He asked.

"Look like? Um, I don't know. Young. Dark hair." Haley said as Gideon entered.

"Did he look injured?" Hotch asked, remembering what Zoe had said about it most likely being a truamatic injury.

"Injured?" Haley asked.

"Yeah. I mean, did he seem injured in any way?"

"No. He was just a guy. He told me what he was giving me, you needed right away, that a girl's life depended on it."

"Well, that's not a normal delivery." Gideon said.

"I know." Hotch agreed.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked.

"Well, they don't come with detailed messages like that." Gideon clarified. "Did he say all these things to you? Were they in a note?"

"No, he said them." She confirmed.

Gideon looked at Hotch, "If he isn't the UnSub, he probably talked to him."

"What's going on?" Haley asked.

"It's the case we're working on." Hotch explained.

"What did he deliver?" Gideon asked.

"Um, a piece of paper with numbers on it." Haley recalled.

"The team's got it. It's in the conference room." Hotch said.

———————————————————————————

The folded-up piece of paper was taped the to clear whiteboard

"My eyes are so heavy, I can barely see it." Elle complained.

"Go home. You haven't slept in over twenty-four hours and they were exhausting hours." Zoe said. She dauhad her various medical books from school on the table as she made a list of possible injuries.

"No way."

"Then drink some of the coffee you guys love so much." Zoe said.

"I think it's a coded message of some sort." Spencer said. "The UnSub said we needed a book, didn't he?"

"Yeah. 'A book that inspired many an adventure'." Morgan recalled.

"Maybe, it's a book code. Zarah and I used to do that with Mom's old books."

"You did?" Morgan asked, "Is that a twin thing? Like twin talk?"

“It’s a 'genius daughters of a paranoid FBI agent’ thing. Dad encouraged us to have a code that only we would understand and to challenge us. We both had high intelligence and found a lot of things understimulating.” Zoe said, she got up, walked to the board, and pointed, “Each one of these sets of numbers represents a particular word.”

"For instance, page one-eighteen, line thirty, word three." Spencer said as Zoe walked back to her chair and sat down. "We need to figure out what the words are and fill in the blanks.

"Yeah, but from what book?" Elle asked.

"I don't know." Spencer admitted.

"The trouble is, it has to be the exact same edition of the exact same book that he used." Zoe pointed out, writing on her list as she examined the video now on her laptop.

JJ entered, "Just got a DNA hit on the lock of hair. Rebecca Bryant. She's been missing out of Boston for two years." She handed Elle a picture of a young sixteen-year-old with blonde hair.

"Two years?,"

"I think she's sick." Zoe said, examining Rebecca on the video

"What?"

“She’s pale and sweaty. Plus, if he’s had for two years in that environment, that’s not good for you. Lack of sunshine increases the risk of Vitamin D deficiency which causes rickets and other bone diseases including osteoporosis. Also high blood pressure. Assuming she doesn’t get fresh air, that can contribute to a range of respiratory diseases including asthma, allergies, bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, or lung infections, also it can be linked to cardiovascular issues like stroke and heart disease."

"What does all that mean?" Morgan asked, having understood very little of this.

"Which part?" Zoe asked.

"I don't understand any of the medical talk you just said."

"Does it matter?" JJ asked, "none of it sounds good."

"I... the place I was in for those eight months and then those six months, were similar. Old. Stone. Prison bars. At least, she can see, in my eight months, I was... most of the time, my vision of obscured, making me rely on my other senses." She skirted around it. But Spencer knew. She told him. They had put a headbox on her head.

"Guys, how are we supposed to figure out which book this code was copied out of?" Morgan asked.

"I have no idea." Spencer said again. "How's the list of possible injuries coming along."

"There's a lot of traumatic injuries that can cause full body pain." Zoe said, showing her notebook.

Nerve damage from trauma (like a major accident; can cause chronic pain, paralysis, loss of sensation, difficulty with movement, and/or difficulty with coordination)

Complex regional pain syndrome

Fibromyalgia

Severe burns (it would most likely be full body burns; extensive burns can damage underlying nerves, leading to chronic burning pain even after the itial injury heals)

Severe motor vehicle accidents

Major falls

Crush injuries

Spinal cord injuries

"This is too much." Morgan said.

“Well, I’ve ruled out menstruation.” Zoe sassed and sighed, “I’m almost certain that it’s related to nerve damage. Neuropathic pain, or nerve pain for the Morgans in the room, can occur when the nervous system is damaged or malfunctions, causing nerve fibers to send the wrong signals to the body’s pain centers. This pain can feel like stabbing or throbbing, and can affect the entire body.”

An agent named Agent Grant Anderson entered, "Zoe, they did an analysis on the axe that was sent to your house." Anderson didn't really go in the feild, his duties seemed to be mostly grunt work but he was a good agent, nonetheless, and perfectly friendly.

"What?" Zoe asked

Anderson didn't seem to want to meet Zoe's eyes and he handed her the piece of paper, she looked at it and she sighed, dropping it on the table as Anderson made his escape.

"What?"

"That particular axe that was sent to me was made in the year 1985. Same year, Mom died. Same year, Zarah and I were born."

"Are you sure, it looks ancient?" Morgan asked and Zoe gave him a look.

Zoe typed on her computer and brought up the sealed case file for the UnSub who killed her mother.

"The UnSub who... we, or rather, they back then theorized he was obsessed with famous axe murders. Contrary to popular belief, the Borden murder was not done with an axe-axe, well, depending on who you ask. The only possible murder weapon they found a year later, it was the same kind that was used on my mom and she was struck nineteen times. Same as Andrew Borden." Zoe said with a loud tap on a key and it sent it back to the video.

"Is this common knowledge?"

"No. The hatchet wasn't mentioned to the public." Zoe said.

"So how did he get that information?" Morgan asked.

Zoe shrugged and pulled her medical textbook back towards her.

Spencer awkwardly cleared his throat and got back to the book code, "He said we have everything needed to complete the quest."

"The answer's got to be up there somewhere." Elle said, her voice was tired and slightly slurred.

Gideon entered, "JJ, get some reporters here as soon as possible."

"For what?" JJ asked.

"Just say we need help on a new case."

"Is it this? Because he said we had to keep it in the team. Some criminals are very strict about rules." Zoe said but Gideon ignored her.

"Press conference?" Morgan asked.

———————————————————————————

Zoe had finished with the traumatic injuries and was now writing down possible diagnoses for Rebecca along with all possible symptoms.

"A Pale Clouded Yellow butterfly indigenous to Great Britain?" Spencer questioned as Hotch entered the room.

"How's it going?" Hotch said.

"Here's the list of possible injuries the UnSub has," Zoe handed Hotch a few papers stapled together. "I'm now writing down possible diagnoses that Rebecca may have that we should prepare for."

"The answer to what book we need has to be in here." Spencer said.

"Yeah, but we sure as hell can't see it." Morgan said.

"Yet." Spencer said.

Elle was asleep on the couch, Zoe wasn't complaining, this way she'd be quiet.

Hotch walked over to her and shook her shoulder, gently, "Elle?"

"I'm awake." She awoke with a start.

"I'm sending you home." Hotch said.

"No." She slurred.

"You need to get some rest, and we won't do anything without you, I promise." Hotch reassured her.

"Elle, seriously, we're not any closer than we were." Morgan agreed, "Get out of here. Go home."

"But..."

"It's an order." Hotch told her

Elle sleepily picked up her bag and headed out with Hotch.

"Hotch, have someone drive her home." Zoe called.

"I'm fine." Elle protested.

"Impaired driving performances due to sleep loss is a major contributor to motor-vehicle crashes, fatalities, and serious injuries." Spencer said.

"It can affect driving as much and somethings more than alcohol." Zoe said.

"Ugh." Elle groaned, walking out of the room, bumping into the doorway on her way out.

Zoe held up a hand like, see?

"Good call." Hotch agreed and he followed Elle, making sure she didn't bump into anything else.

"Anderson, take Greenaway home." Hotch requested.

"Yes, sir." Anderson agreed.

Hotch looked at Elle who was rolling her eyes, "I'll have your car brought over later."

"All right, come on, Anderson." Elle sighed.

"Get some sleep." He said.

"Yeah." She sighed.

———————————————————————————

Elle arrived home and too tired to drag herself all the way to her bedroom, she crashed on a nearby couch under some windows, she was too tired to notice that they were both open and as she had last left her house, going on vacation, that should've raised some alarms.

She also didn't notice the man in her house with the gun, until he said in a hoarse voice, "I told you there was one rule."

Elle sat up, seeing him pointing the gun at her, and said, "No."

"One rule, Agent Greenaway."

"Stop."

"Do you not consider that holding a press conference is going outside the team for help?" He asked as Elle glanced at her holster with her gun on the table in front of her.

"Listen." Elle tried to protest.

"ONE RULE!"

"Listen to me!" Elle pleaded, "We can talk about this."

"I told you this was important!"

Elle lunged for her gun and...

BANG!

*I am now on Wattpad too. The profile is GryfflepuffinTardis (I couldn't fit in "the")

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mikasimaginairyworld · 2 years ago

Text

The Umbrella Academy: Firecracker - Extra Ordinary (3/30)

Umbrella Academy Masterlist

warnings: blood, violence, guns, substances (alcohol)

word count: 3458

My name is Vanya Hargreeves. And this is my story.

We were never a real family. We were our father's creation, family in name but not in fact. In the end, after our brother had Ben died, there was really nothing connecting us. We were just strangers living under the same roof, destined to be alone, starved for attention, damaged by our upbringing and haunted by what might have been. We all wanted to be loved by a man incapable of giving love.

Our father never missed an opportunity to remind me that I was ordinary. A hard thing for a little girl to hear. If you're raised to believe nothing about you is special, if the benchmark is extraordinary, what do you do if you're not?

Luther and Allison had been staring at the same recording for over an hour now. It showed mom, Grace, bending over Reginals. Hargreeves. as he was struggling from a heart attack.

"What is she doing? The tea? Did she poison him?", Luther asked again.

"I... I don't know.", Allison sighed.

"Where did you find this?"

"I was looking at old footage of us when we were kids. I saw the tape just sitting there."

"Dad must have started using the security system again. He was getting more and more paranoid. He thought people were out to get him. Well, I guess maybe he was right.", Luther commented seemingly to himself.

"But mom? I mean she's not capable of ... Is she?"

"Let's gather the rest."

Eudora walked up to Diego annoyed. He was at the crime scene. Again. "Do you seriously still not understand the chain of custody? If you touch it I can't use it.", she asked.

"Let me save you some time running ballistics. These nine-millimetres haven't been manufactures since..."

"1963. Odd, I know. Just as odd as the fingerprints we've found on the knife yesterday that apparently matched an unsolved case from 1939. Matching casings were found in the murder scene last night.", Eudora finished his sentence.

"In the span of 24h I've had attacks in two different part of town. Whatever this is, whoever this is, they're not slowing down. So, if you really give a shit and got any fresh ideas, I'm all ears.", she admitted.

Diego promised to hunt the attackers down.

Five grunted softly as Nailah sowed up the wound on his upper arm. She put on a colourful bandaid and smiled at Five's annoyed expression. "You okay there?", she asked and wiped her bloody hands on a towel.

"I've had worse.", he said and put on a new uniform.

Nailah took another huge sip of whiskey. They bottle was nearly empty. "Do you always get drunk this early?", Five asked stuffing Delores back into the duffel bag. Nailah shrugged: "Only when I had to save my lovestruck idiot brother." Five rolled his eyes and threw a bloody towel at her. Then he climbed out the window. Nailah contemplated staying at the academy but curiosity got the best of her. She soon followed him and climbed down the fire escape only to find Klaus in the garbage can.

"You know there are easier ways out of the house, buddy?", Klaus asked Five and took a hit from the cigarette.

"This one involved the least amount of talking. Or so I thought.", Five admitted and glanced up monitoring his tipsy sister balance down the fire escape.

"Hey, hey, hey! You need any more company today? I could you know, clear my schedule.", Klaus offered and took a sip from his flask.

Five eyed him sceptically: "Looks like you've got your hands full."

"Oh this, no! I can do this whenever. I'm just -", Klaus was interrupted by Nailah jumping down into the garbage and landing pretty much on him.

When they both emerged again giggling Five threw them a disapproving look which only intensified when Nailah took a sip from Klaus' flask.

"I'm done funding your drug habit.", Five announced and walked up to a car only to highjack it and drive away.

"Maybe I just wanna hang out with my brother. Not you.", Klaus shouted at Five directing the last part at Ben's ghost. Nailah scanned the air on her side and shyly waved. Ben smiled lightly and waved back. "Mi hermano!", Klaus tried again.

"Alright, I'll keep and eye on him.", Nailah. said climbing out of the garbage can. She threw Klaus a 20dollar bill made her way to follow the car. Klaus send her a kiss inspecting the money. "I love you!"

As expected Nailah found Five not far away from Maritech Prostetics. She spied at him from the car mirror and as soon as he began talking to Delores she opened the car door.

"What the hell, Nailah!", Five said as she sat down on the passenger's seat without saying a word.

"No, I'm not drunk. I'm working.", Five said and Nailah looked at him confused. "Who are you talking to?", she asked confused. "Delores?", Five matched her tone. "Right."

"Yes, it's about the eye thing. This is the place it was made. Or will be made. We just have to wait."

Nailah looked from Five to Delores with a disturbed look which Five just ignored. "Oh my god.", Nailah whispered and took a huge sip from the flask she had stolen from Klaus.

In the evening Nailah had gone to get them food. The sun was shining a pretty orange light at the streets and soon Five dozed off.

He was woken up by Luther banging on the car window. Luther opened the door and tried to climb inside hitting his head repeatedly.

"You okay?", Luther asked.

"You shouldn't be... How did you find me?", Five asked confused.

Luther mentioned to the back seat and when Five looked back he saw Klaus dancing with Delores. "Hey, a little privacy guys. We're really hitting it off back here.", Klaus snarked smelling Dolores' neck. Five threw an empty coffee cup at him making Klaus scream.

"God, how do they keep finding me?", Five asked himself banging his head on the steering wheel.

"Who?"

"Nailah and Klaus. They keep finding me. Have all of you developed some kind of freaky superpower while I was gone or something?"

"Nailah's here?"

"Went to get food.", Five said not looking up from the wheel.

In the same moment Luther's car door was opened and Nailah stood there with two takeaway cups of Chinese noodles. "Get out of my spot, Luther.", she snarled at him. Luther didn't move. Nailah shrugged and just climbed on his lap. Luther closed the door and Nailah handed Five his portion.

"Everyone get out! You can't be here! I'm in the middle of something.", Five hissed.

"Any luck finding your one-eyed man?", Klaus asked as Nailah began slurping her noodles. Five whispered an exasperated no.

"What's he talking about?", Luther asked.

"Does it matter? It's Klaus.", Nailah commented between bites.

"What do you want, Luther?"

"Um, so Grace may have something to do with dad's death. So I need you both to come back to the academy, alright? It's important."

"'It's important'. You have no concept of what's important.", Five laughed dryly.

"Hey! Did I ever tell you guys about that time I waxed my asshole with chocolate pudding?", Klaus asked earning an annoyed glance from Five.

"Yes. It was disgusting. Don't do it again, I'm eating.", Nailah snarled stuffing her face with another huge bite of noodles.

Klaus didn't listen: "It was so painful."

"What are you still doing here?", Luther asked and Five threw him out of the car. Luther promptly placed Nailah in the backseat.

"What the hell are you up to, Five?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me. Last time I checked I'm still the leader of this family."

"Well, last time I checked I'm 28 years older than you.", Five countered and Nailah laughed at the comment.

"You know what your problem is?", Luther asked now clearly annoyed.

"Really hoping you'll tell me."

"You think you're better than us. You always have. Even when we were kids. But the truth is, you're just as messed up as the rest of us. We're all you have. And you know it.", Nailah had finished eating and was staring at her brothers from the backseat.

Five's jaw tensed: "I don't think I'm better than you, Number One. I know I am. I've done unimaginable things, things you couldn't even comprehend."

"Right.", Luther scoffed.

"Just to come back here and save you all."

At this instance Klaus ran across the busy road holding in his arms a handful of stolen snacks with the shipowner chasing him.

"Hey, bitches!", Klaus shouted running in front of the car and crashing into an old ambulance. Nailah giggled at the sight.

"Now I'm starting to wonder if that was the wisest decision.", Five said eying the spectacle on the street.

Luther sighed heavily: "Fine. You coming, Nailah?"

He left the car and before Nailah followed she leaned forward and whispered to Five: "He's right. We're all you have. I recommend you don't screw it up."

"You really think mom would hurt dad?", Vanya asked after everyone had watched the tape.

"You haven't been home for a really long time, Vanya. Maybe you don't know Grace anymore.", Luther said.

"If he was poisoned it would have shown on the coroner's report.", Diego countered.

"I don't need a coroner's report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes."

"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with you vision. Look closer.", Diego commented and let the tape run again. "Dad has a monocle. Mom stands up. Monocle's gone. She wasn't poisoning him she was... taking it. To clean it."

"Then where is it? I've searched the house including all of her things, she doesn't have it.", Luther asked still not convinced.

"That's because I took it from her. After the funeral.", Diego admitted. A murmur went through the siblings.

"You've had the monocle the whole time? What the hell, Diego?", Allison asked clearly angry.

"Give it to me.", Luther demanded extending a hand.

"I threw it away.", Diego sighed."You what?", Luther shouted and Allison scoffed.

"Look I knew that if you found it on mom you would lose your shit, just like you're doing right now.", Diego smiled at Luther proving his point and demonstratively pointed a knife at him.

"Diego, you son of a bitch.", Luther growled and paced towards him only stopping when Nailah placed a hand on his chest and Vanya told them to calm down.

"Look, I know dad wasn't exactly like an open book. But I do remember one thing he said. Mom was designed to be a caretaker but also as a protector. She was programmed to intervene if someone's life was in jeopardy.", Vanya explained.

"Well, if her hardware is degrading then we need to turn her off.", Luther thought out loud.

"Whoa, whoa, woah, wait. She's not just a vacuum cleaner you can throw in a closet! She feels things, I've seen it!", Diego shouted.

"She just stood there, Diego, and watched out father die.", Luther reasoned.

"I'm with Luther.", Allison announced circling the edge of her whiskey glass.

Diego scoffed: "Surprise, surprise."

"Shut up."

Luther and Diego looked at Vanya who began stuttering. "Yeah, she shouldn't get a vote.", Diego said.

"I was gonna say that I agree with you.", Vanya defended herself.

"Okay, she should get a vote. Nailah?"

"Luther and Ally. We can always reprogram her but now it's better to keep her harmless."

"Shit. What about you stoner boy? What do you got?", Diego asked Klaus.

"Oh so now you need my help? 'Get out of the van, Klaus', 'Oh, welcome back to the van'."

"What van?", Allison asked confused.

"What's it gonna be, Klaus?", Luther asked impatiently.

"I'm with Diego because screw you. And if Ben were here, he'd agree with me.", he said offended then hissed at air next to him.

"So we've got what? 3-3?"

"Vote's not final yet. We have to wait for Five. The whole family has to vote we ow each other that.", Allison said determined and everyone went up to their rooms to wait for Five.

In the evening the two figures that had chased Five and Nailah in the mall quietly entered the academy. "Cha-Cha.", Hazel said motioning at the giant painting of Five hanging in the saloon. "That's out kid, Hazel. Let's go get him."

They began walking the corridors until they stumbled upon Diego in his leather outfit. Metal wished at Cha-Cha and Hazel adjusted their creepy masks and they gun clocked as they fixed on Diego.

"Diego, have you seen... oh shit.", Nailah left her room and saw Cha-Cha and Hazel with their guns pointed at them. As soon astray started shooting Diego and Nailah began running. Diego threw his knifes at the shooters but they just bounced back from the masks.

Diego and Nailah hid in a dent in the walls waiting for the attackers. As soon as they were close enough Diego grabbed Hazel's gun and flipped the man over while Nailah ran towards Cha-Cha. As soon as she realised the woman's gun pointed at Diego she pulled him back to where they had been hiding and the siblings ran towards the saloon.

"I had him.", Diego growled.

"I know."

Keeping running, Diego and Nailah jumped down the railings and landed on the plush sofas in the saloon. The attackers' bullets followed not soon after and both Diego and Nailah hid behind a decorative desk. The bullets send shards of furniture flying and both covered their heads with their arms. As soon as the series ended they first checked each other then looked at the holes the bullets had drilled into the painting of their father. Nailah grinned at Diego at the sight and he returned a small smile.

"You okay?", he whispered.

"Got hit on the side. Not too bad.", Nailah admitted lifting up her dark red cropped sweater to reveal a rather deep slash from a bullet.

Suspicious of the silence Diego peaked from behind the desk making the attacker open fire again. "Shit.", Nailah curse covering her head again.

Suddenly the fire stopped and they both heard strained groans. Looking up they saw Luther throwing punches at the woman and Allison kicking the man's gun away. Suddenly the man got ahold of Allison's neck and began choking her. Diego immediately ran up to him and began hitting him in all the most painful places. Nailah soon joined him jumping on his back and making him turn around. providing the perfect opportunity for Luther to land one of his legendary killer-punches. Luther then grabbed the man by the collar and send him flying right into the table in the entrance area.

"Who the hell are these guys?", Allison asked panting heavily.

"You're welcome.", Luther said to Diego.

"We were doing fine.", he snapped back.

"Oh, yeah. You really had them...", "You ever heard of a rope-a-dope?", Diego interrupted.

Before they could throw any other insults at each other the woman began firing again. Covering their heads all of the siblings ducked.

"Let's get out of here now. Go!", Luther said guiding Allison away while Nailah and Diego crawled back behind the desk. Luther began turning around to get them bother but Diego stopped him: "Luther, go!" Diego screamed and surprisingly the giant actually listened.

"I lost my gun.", the man said while the woman announced she would go after Luther and Allison. The man entered the saloon and opened the weapons cabinet.

"If he even touches my spear I will end him.", Nailah hissed.

"Oh yeah? Try not losing too much blood then we'll talk.", Diego mocked her glancing above the desk.

The man chose a morningstar and at the same time Vanya's voice echoed through the hall: "Guys? Is everyone okay? Hello? Guys?"

"Shit.", Nailah cursed.

The man swung the Morningstar at Vanya who luckily ducked. Before he could do it again Nailah kicked him in the back of his knee. The man stumbled and Vanya ran away.

The man turned to Nailah who was standing there with fire in her eyes. "Come at me, man. Let's se what you got."

Before he could swing at her Luther's voice caught his attention: "Hey, asshole. Go pick someone your own size."

The man looked from Nailah to Luther, decided that she was not worth the trouble and came swinging at Luther. Nailah scoffed offended but rushed to Vanya to help her get behind the bar too safety.

Luther quickly disarmed the man and soon they began throwing each other around. As soon as Nailah was sure Vanya had even a glimpse of safety she rushed to help Luther. Small sparks began flying from her fingertips as she approached the fighting men. Luther body slammed the man into ground and punched him in the bag before stepping on him.

"Vanya?", Luther asked after seeing Nailah standing with fire now coating her whole palms.

Suddenly the man rose up and grabbing Luther from behind send him flying to the floor. The man then ran away with Nailah chasing small fire-balls after him most of which blinked out when they hit the walls. Thank god they were fire resistant otherwise the whole academy would have burned down.

Not wasting any time Nailah rushed towards Luther after making sure the man was gone. "Luther!", Allison shouted also rushing to him.

"Come on, get up.", Nailah said while Allison and Diego helped him up.

"You've gotta cut down on that fast-food, soldier.", Diego commented.

Looking up they saw the woman with a knife cutting the rope holding the chandelier on place.

"Out of the way!", Luther shouted pushing all of his siblings away from him. Diego hit his head on the wall, Allison slid nearly to the floor and Nailah got another scratch at her already aching wound.

The chandelier came crashing down, crushing Luther under its weight. "Luther!", Allison cried.

Panting Allison and Diego stood up while Nailah leaned on the wall, clutching her side, all of them with terror in there eyes.

Immediately Luther rose up, shaking the chandelier away. The weight of the ornament pulled on his clothing until it ripped. In front of them stood Luther with an incredibly creepy body similar to a gorilla. The hairy, scarred skin glistened with sweat in the moonlight. Nailah gasped. Allison and Vanya just stared. "Holy shit.", Diego muttered.

Luther's gaze locked into Allison's eyes, searching for anything else than pure shock and horror. But he didn't find anything else. Disappointed he quickly made his way to his room.

"Who were these people?", Vanya asked cleaning the dust off of her with a towel Allison had given her.

"I don't know. But we're lucky to be alive.", Allison said handing Nailah a towel as well for her incredibly bloody slashes.

"You sure you're okay?", Nailah asked Vanya from behind gritted teeth.

"We should ask you that.", Allison commented motioning at the blood trickling from Nailah's side. Nailah just waved them off with a grin.

Diego came pacing into the room and threw an emergency kit in Nailah's direction. "Diego?", Allison asked.

"What are you still doing here?", he asked Vanya with an annoyed expression.

"I'm just tying to help."

"No, you could've been killed.", Diego shouted at her angrily. "Or gotten any of us killed.", he added in a quieter tone.

"She is a liability.", he said looking at Allison.

"Allison?", Vanya asked but Allison just looked down.

"I think what he's trying to say is that this kind of stuff is dangerous. Just look at Nailah. You're just...", Allison began explaining.

"Not like you.", Vanya finished with a sad expression then stood up to. gather her things.

"No, that's not what I... Vanya, wait!", Allison began again.

"Let her go.", Nailah said finishing patching up her wound. "it's safer for her.", she added wiping the blood off her hands.

-> The Umbrella Academy Masterlist

#umbrella academy #luther hargreeves #klaus hargreeves #allison hargreeves #diego hargreeves #five hargreeves #vanya hargreeves #nailah hargreeves #series #netflix #Netflix inspired

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movedtodykedvonte · 4 years ago

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If you’re not busy how bout a headcanon for how the four lords would react to their s/o, a doctor/field medic, somehow healing them of their cadou parasites and returning them to their normal selves

If you can't afford medical treatment just get your doctor S/O to do a quick surgery. It's legal and fun!!

Here's a cut cause this bad boy is long

Alcina Dimitrescu

You two had discussed it and agreed that it needed to be done. The girls would be in constant danger from BSAA/Blue Umbrella if Alcina was still such a strong bio-weapon.

She had worries; would she be weaker? Would she need to worry about her blood disease again? How would she protect her daughters? You assured her that you two would figure it out, that you would never do this if you thought it would do more harm than good.

The girls protested, saying they could handle whatever was thrown at them but Alcina hushed them, explaining that it was for her sake as well. It was only so long until BSAA stopped letting her get away with literal murder, no matter how necessary.

You had explained the most likely and best outcome, that she'd be cured and all the effects reversed, that she'd need regular infusions of blood and may feel weaker. You tried to treat her like a regular patient, the coldness of being a medic, but the worry loomed over you.

It was a quick procedure, the cadou just as it had smoothly integrated with Alcina, had been slipped out, the changes almost just as quick.

Her skin became humanly pale, no longer a porcelain white, wrinkles showing the age she was when infected, her height dwindling. You didn't account for her to wake up as quick as she did and had to dive to catch her as she wobbled of the operating table, not yet used to her smaller size.

"A mirror" "Are you sure, Alcina? Maybe you should-" "I want a mirror now" She was demanding, but you understood how justified that was. You only had a small one for operating on you but it would have to do.

She pulled at her face, a look of disdain as she inspecting the face of a mortal woman instead of an immortal lord. Seeing this you came up behind her, wrapping your arms around her waist like you were never able to fully do before, and planted a kiss on her cheek, now noticing how warm it was compared to her previous form

"I look horrid" "You look beautiful" The comment drew a smile from her, but you could still sense the doubt in her.

She stayed in her room for a while, you being the only one allowed entrance to tend her: Infusions, getting her used to human food rather than humans for food. Alcina insisted she fully recovers before her girls saw her as to not incite panic.

It was tough on her to be distant with her girls, but tougher on them to not see her after such a harrowing surgery.

When the girls first saw her it was as if they were interacting with a valuable and fragile vase, none of them wanted to get close in fear of hurting her, but they desperately wanted to inspect their mother.

"I'm not made of paper, an embrace won't kill me." It was lovely seeing them perk up at their mother's usual sass and even more relieving when they practically dove into her arms, bombarding her with questions on how she felt.

There were many things to still discuss, but for now, everyone was happy.

Donna Beneviento

Donna surprisingly brought it up to you first. You were having tea having a calm conversation with Angie for once. The mood felt off for that alone but for the whole day it felt off, now you knew why.

She wanted a normal life with you, one free of the mold and her dependence on her dolls. It was all a crutch and she wanted to start to walk without it.

You asked if she was sure, the dolls, especially Angie, meant so much to her, you didn't want to do it unless she was positively certain

"We've made our mind up, Y/N. We want this." Angie's serious response and Donna's nod were a startling confirmation. You set a date and prepared the tools for the procedure

Before all of that, you set up a party for Donna and Angie, placing all the dolls for one last goodbye. "Surprise!" You pop out with all the dolls, you suspect she knew as the dolls came to life to yell as well but she was crying tears of joy either way.

She said goodbye to all the dolls individually, thanking them for being there for her as she shut down her cadou in each of them. Donna told you that Angie didn't want to go until she had to. You understood completely.

On the day of the procedure, you knelt down to Angie and hugged her. She was always a little bit of a pain to you and she found you a bit dull but in the end, you cared and you were going to miss her rambunctiousness. You spared yourself the tears of a verbal goodbye as you placed her on the operating table next to Donna, she feigned unconscious to mimic her sedated friend.

It was slow and grueling to remove the cadou carefully from her face and skull, you wanted to leave as little scarring as possible. Donna had just stopped wearing the veil and you had no desire to be the reason it came back on

The procedure was no less easy as every amount removed, you noticed Angie appearing even more lifeless.

When it was done, she woke up, her working eye blinking under the bright lights of your operating chambers. She did not address you but immediately turned to Angie. You had not an idea of how she knew she was lying next to her

"Angie?" There was no response and you could see the tears forming as she slowly reached for her best friend, caressing the inanimate face. You took her other hand and squeezed it, before lifting it to your lips and planting a kiss.

Recovering was less physical than mental. Occasionally she'd ask her dolls a question, you'd catch her staring sorrowfully at them as they stared back unblinking. It was even worse when you heard her call for Angie, knowing it was impossible for her to respond.

Sometimes you'd find her staring out the window, holding Angie as she took in the horizon.

"It's difficult... She was always there for me." She stared at Angie, brushing the veil from her face as the setting sun leaked in. You sat next to her, leaning in close so you could support Angie's slumped head... Donna smiled at the action. "But, I suppose there's a lot else for me too." Donna rested her head on your shoulder, now looking at the broad horizon before you both.

Salvatore Moreau

It hurt you like nothing else to see Salvatore live in constant pain and suffering. You had done wonders for the hurt of loneliness but physically he was still in agony.

He has insisted not to burden yourself with him and that he was used to it, but the more he assured you the less you actually felt comforted. It came to a head one day that all he was doing was vomiting. You were sure you saw red at some point

"Stop saying you're fine!" "I'm used to it, Y/N" "Well I'm not!" You were a medic, it had become an instinct to stop people from being in pain, and Moreau made it flare up.

He refused to be operated on, making up excuses or insisting it was not a big deal to him after all these years. Clearly, you could tell it was something else, something he wasn't telling you but he refused to let it slip. It became a strain on your relationship. It felt bad but you had to threaten to leave if he was not going to be honest. He owed you that.

You felt even worse when you found out. "I'm scared it would get worse!" You realized that the last time Moreau was likely on an operating table, it turned him into what he was now. It was beyond inconsiderate to try and force him through it again.

For a while, you dropped it, letting the waters calm... until another vomiting fit happened and you thought you might lose him.

Luckily you didn't and unluckily for Moreau he had to see you're tear-ridden face the whole time, unable to assure you he would be fine due to the wretching. A day later he agreed to let you try.

You were relieved but now it went on to how you were exactly going to do this. You were unsure if removing the cadou would be enough to rid him of the tumors or if you would be on that too, you had no intention to make things worse like he feared.

A while passed as you collected the tools and set up an area in the reservoir to operate, everytime you made progress Moreau strayed farther from the area.

You finally finished and Moreau was off lurking in the waters, much like a child hiding from getting a shot. "Are you ready?" "Yes." "Are you lying?" "Yes." You were happy he found humor in the situation but you needed confidence.

You practically held his hand the whole way to the table, both to keep him from escaping to the water and a half for comforting, his grip did not slip until you had fully sedated him.

The procedure was more difficult than ever expected, the tumors were gelatinous and blocked the way to his cadou. You had to be careful not to burst one as well as not to accidentally paralyze him due to the proximity to his spine. It was slow and meticulous but eventually, you got it all.

Nothing happened. He laid unconscious on the table, cadou thoroughly gone, you made sure... but nothing happened. Did you fail? Was there another one? You pondered the possibilities but quickly stood up as the tumors began to swell, becoming enflamed before one burst, an acidic substance barely missing you and melting part of the floor. As more popped you took cover as not to get burned.

The grotesque sounds of bursting meat slowly faded, becoming less frequent until they stopped, but you waited, ensuring you did not accidentally get splashed by a straggler.

"Y/N?" The sound of your name from a familiar deep but the somehow less nauseous voice made you peer from around your cover, a man all too foreign and all too familiar sat dazed-looking on the table.

"Salvatore?" {Insert your own description of Moreau, I don't want to intrude on anyone's interpretation.} "Y/N!" He immediately tried to get off the table to come to you before you quickly stopped him, remnants of acid a very real danger. You covered a path and made your way to him, stopping at the edge of the table. "Did it work?"

Something about the question seemed laughable as you assumed the feeling would be completely different, but you still pulled a mirror close and let him marvel at a face he had long forgotten.

"Did I make it worse?" It was a snarky remark at his previous fears, probably a little insensitive but at the moment he smiled, suddenly pulling you into your first full kiss in your relationship. "Not at all."

Karl Heisenberg

You were helping him in the factory one day, decommissioning the more specialized soldats at the request of BSAA. You being less tech-oriented focused on the less mechanical soldiers while Karl took on the scrap heavy ones.

Having used some Cadou in them, you had to carefully remove that too, to ensure they would not resurrect after the metal was removed. It took no time for Karl to piece together who else that skill could be used on.

"Make space for me on your schedules, Y/N" He lit a cigar after the sentence, not explaining further. "Excuse me?" "You heard me, sweetheart." He ripped a core from another soldat before putting it on the belt to bring it towards you. You stared in disbelief.

"You want me to remove your cadou?" "Yep." "But I thought BSAA was." "I don't want those dick heads snooping in my body like I'm some labrat. You do it." The conversation was quick and honestly, it should have been expected.

Karl had joked with you before that you could take away his cadou. Just snip and a rip and it'd be done. You explained it wasn't that simple and he would chuckle out an agreement, but you could tell that the jokes had an air of seriousness around them. It had been his goal for a while to reverse what had been done to him

Picking a date was the biggest issue. Karl wanted to do it as soon as possible, get it out and be rid of it. You had to explain you needed time to prepare as the place was delicate and a risk. You knew it was out of excitement and anticipation.

When you finally made time, Karl was on the table before you had even put on gloves or disinfected it. "An eager beaver I see?" You tried to bring the humor Karl often did to scenarios like this, but you could see a sense of series on his face, even the glint of his glasses seemed steeled. "I want every trace of that bitch gone."

You nodded, pulling out the syringe to sedate him as you laid him down on the table. Removing his glasses you looked directly in his eyes, there was a trust in his that made you that much more determined. "You ready?" You asked as a medic protocol. "Just stick me doc." You rolled your eyes as he smirked before relishing in the slight scared look he gave the needle when you lifted it before him

The silence of it all unnerved you. Karl was always making wisecracks or jokes to alleviate the dreary mood of the factory. Having him laying silently before you, face still somehow serious while completely relaxed, made it all the more discomforting.

You worked diligently, careful to find all traces of the cadou and to remove them into a jar you had set aside. It was long but you did it with dutiful ease, Karl had waited so long for this and you must do it right

When it was all finished you took the jar, disgusted at the somehow living organism inside. How could she put this in someone she considered her child. Bitch, was too kind a word Karl used for her. You took the jar to a furnace, throwing it in and watching the thing wriggle frantically before burning to a crisp.

Coming back to the table you found Karl stirring awake, groggily holding himself up on his forearms. "So, how'd it go?" "You tell me?"

Karl looked around the room, his hammer resting in the corner. Focusing on it he waited for the item to float toward him, yet it remained still. After a minute of nothing he stopped, a slow chuckle emerging from him, melding into a proud laugh.

"Well, I'll be damned, Y/N. You've outdone yourself." He began patting himself in search of a cigar. You pulled one from the side table and offered it, snatching it away before he could get a grasp on it. "No smoking until you're fully healed."

He shook his head, chuckling a little more before sitting up and pulling you close. Tilting your head up he locked your lips together. Pulling apart he smiled, "Whatever you say, doc."

I completely forgot that Moreau was a doctor and honestly I should've added something about medical knowledge but its super late and I have a job interview to get up for.

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in-tua-deep · 3 years ago

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idk if you still do au ideas but what if delores was a real person in the apocalypse? how it woul dbe done i have no idea but i love all your aus and thought it would be cool

okay okay I don't tend to go for real!Dolores aus admittedly because I find her much more compelling as what she is: a reflection of five himself and a symptom of his crushing loneliness

but i started thinking about it and you know what?? i think five deserves a little socialization, as a treat

so say like, 0.5% of the population is resistant to abilities. Allison would really struggle to rumor them, Five wouldn't be able to jump with them, and, most importantly, whatever the fuck Vanya's ability does has like, reduced damage or something

and the og apocalypse isn't the moon apocalypse, so let's say that it was pure waves of Vanya's powers that fucked over the earth

so 0.5% of the population survives the apocalypse. though, let's be honestly, the real number is a lot smaller than that. People who might have survived Vanya's initial power wave (miraculously) did not survive buildings crushing them or survive the car/plane/bus/train/other transportation crashes or survive being left alone when they are too young to reliably look after themselves, or the variety of other problems that come with 99.5% of the population dying at once

So, Five arrives in the apocalypse and is met with ruin and fire and a whole lot of dead people. He finds his siblings, but it doesn't matter. They're dead. He doesn't even recognize them at first, these strange grown-ups who he identifies not by their faces but by the umbrellas on their wrists that match his own

As he realizes the full impact of his situation, he hears a voice that says, very succinctly, "holy shit!"

It's a girl a few years older than Five himself, maybe 15 or 16, and she is very excited to see another survivor.

And here's where I u-turn this au around bc i'm not all that interested in real!Dolores, but I would be down to talk about Five meeting survivors in the apocalypse, because if Dolores is real I don't buy no one else survived.

So Dolores shows up and see a Literal Child crying over the corpses of his family and assumes that Five is a fellow survivor, and she immediately grabs him up. Five is incoherent with grief at this point anyway, so he doesn't even protest when she basically hauls him away from the bodies. She's babbling at him, but he doesn't really hear anything she's saying

And then she takes him to her dad

(Why not, let's have the 1% potentially be a heritable thing)

and her dad, let's call him just some dad name. like Rick. it has been a fucking WEEK for him, okay. he had his daughter with him, his ex-wife is on the other coast for her work, and by some miracle he survived the apocalypse and so did his child, and he's been wracking his brains trying to figure out what the fuck to do next

and then his daughter shows up with a traumatized thirteen-year-old in tow

now rick is a good dude. he's a dad. they get out of five that his name is five ("what the fuck" dolores mouths to him over five's shoulder and rick can't help but agree) and the bodies he found were his siblings ("Dad and Ben and Vanya weren't there though," this child cries desperately and rick feels his own heart clench in response, "They might still be alive!")

"We can look for them." Rick assures his new adopted child, because he is an adult in a fresh apocalypse and this kid has presumably lost everything he's ever known (more than rick even knows at the time)

and they do. They each get wagons and they go out and find supplies and look for other survivors. Five is... surprisingly helpful and also surprisingly docile as he is able to rely on Someone Else to give orders while he attempts to (dissociate) process what the fuck has happened

and here's the thing: Five prides himself on being independent, sort of. He's independent for a child soldier, but he's used to taking orders from a male authority figure and Rick happens to be just that

The first time that Five does something dangerous and Rick yells is a revelation

(Rick isn't sure if he hopes that Five's dad is alive or not, because if they find that man alive then Rick might just kill the jackass himself. Also like, Five is bizarrely knowledgeable out survival skills, like way too knowledgeable about it, which is helpful for them but also very concerning)

they find a newspaper and Five finds the article that mentions his father's recent death ("Huh. Heart attack." Five says, and there is no emotion in his voice)

(Years later, years later, Five and Rick talk. "I don't think I wanted to find him, either." Five admits, softly because Dolores is asleep, "I think I was more scared of finding him alive than I was of finding his body. He would've been so mad at me, I think.")

this newspaper is how Rick and Dolores find out about Five being Number Five, Umbrella Academy Missing Person

"Dude, what the fuck." Dolores says, wide eyes, "You're like, thirty?"

"I'm thirteen." Five says, and then checks the date on the newspaper again, "Also I think I would technically be 29 if I lived through all of it, 'cause it's April and my birthday is in October."

"You... time travelled?" Rick asks, which is honestly the more relevant question, "Can you go back?"

And Five just,,, crumples on himself. Because he tried, he tried really hard. It didn't work. "I'm gonna figure it out. I'm gonna go back, I'm going to save them."

That, Rick thinks, is a lot of weight to put on one person's shoulders, but especially the shoulders of a child.

"Alright." Rick says, because what else can he say after finding out his new child has superpowers and is from like, 2004? "What do you need?"

("Oh my god I have so many memes to teach you." Dolores says later, reverently. Five blinks in confusion and Rick mentally prepares himself for the recitation of so many vines)

And it's easier, somehow. Five sometimes feels like it's a betrayal, but he settles into apocalypse life with an ease that surprises him.

He lets Rick fuss over him and help tie his scarf securely around his head every morning before he sets off on supply runs with Dolores. And they're kids! Five has never had a friend before, and Dolores is funny and smart and she's struggling just as much as he is.

"I don't know if my mom's alive." She says to him, in solidarity when he checks the face of every corpse to see if they're Vanya.

Five is practical in the way only a child soldier can be. He's economical with the room in their wagons, carefully examining what might and what might not be useful.

Dolores, on the other hand, constantly takes up space with what Five sees as useless shit.

"Excuse you," Dolores says, shoving a game of monopoly, the entire discworld series, and a pack of glitter gel pens into her wagon, "These are absolutely vital apocalypse supplies."

She challenges him, plays with him in a way no one ever has. "I bet you I can find more batteries today than you can," She grins at him, "Winner gets to pick dinner first?"

"You're on." Five says, directly before Dolores pulls two packs of 24 AA batteries from behind her back, like a cheat.

Dolores makes him take a ten minute break when they find a playground that has been mostly not-destroyed. They rummage around kids backpacks and mother's handbags for some good loot, too numb to corpses to even be bothered all that badly about the corpses they belong to.

"I'm getting on the swings." Dolores says when Five starts making noises about moving on, "I haven't been on a swingset in ages."

"What's the point?" Five grumps.

"Don't be sour because you can't swing as high as I can!" Dolores laughs, getting higher and higher as the swings creak ominously.

Five grumpily gets into the other swing and grudgingly kicks himself back and forth until Dolores takes pity on him and teaches him how to properly move his legs and body to get higher and higher.

Dolores jumps from the swing seat and lands with a flourish and smile. Five jumps out of his seat and then jumps, warping right in front of Dolores and making her yell and hit at him in outrage. Five smiles the widest he has all week.

This is how Five grows up in the apocalypse, with Dolores teasing him into taking breaks and leaning over his shoulder to look at his math and scandalizing him by stating that she'd only just started on matrices in her own high school math class.

Every night they huddle around Rick while he picks up whatever book Dolores picked out that day because it is a travesty that Five has never read hunger games or whatever, and then they read together because it would be a genuine blood bath if they all took turns. The first time Five accidentally mentioned a spoiler and Dolores genuinely considered murder was the birthday of this tradition

Some days the air is too smoky or there are dust storms or it's just plain too dangerous to go out, and they all stay in. Dolores regales Five with stories about public school, and Five tells them about his siblings.

Then they all cry

"I shouldn't be crying." Five sobs.

"Shut the fuck up," Dolores sobs back, "You literally watched me lose my shit over remembering my shitty eighth grade dance and listened to me sob-sing toxic for like four hours."

"In fairness I also wished you would shut up then."

"Let me hug you or I will start singing songs that I only remember the chorus for again you absolute fucker."

"I could always sing some -"

"No, Rick/Dad."

And Five grows up. Rick shows him how to shave very carefully in front of cracked mirrors. Dolores teases him every time his voice cracks. Rick tells Five in no uncertain terms that he loves and cares for him, and that Reginald was a little bitch. There are a lot of heartfelt conversations around that, honestly. Rick telling Five that he and the siblings deserved better, that they were children and deserved to have a childhood.

And that he has faith in Five. Rick and Dolores both do, they bring him back paper and pens and pencils and chalk and anything Five can use to write equations. They poke around any libraries for books on theoretical mathematics and quantum physics. Rick and Dolores go out scouting for food while Five stays home and can work longer.

They also make him take breaks, make sure that he's looking after himself.

They're a little better off than OG!Five when it comes to food, because some animals survive. Enough that Rick figures out how to hunt. Five is the first one to each bugs, and even though Dolores makes faces they all start eating bugs as well.

"Pretty sure there's loads of cultures that eat bugs." Rick says grudgingly, wondering if he should try stirfry the cockroaches and if that would improve the taste. "There's even, uh, cricket flour or whatever, right?"

"Plus you eat like, five spiders a year when you're asleep." Dolores says cheerfully, just to watch her dad's face scrunch up in displeasure.

"That doesn't sound true, but I don't know enough about spiders to dispute it." Five mutters, and Dolores gives him such a proud look that it makes him roll his eyes.

They're in their thirties when Rick dies. He's out foraging and hunting, and the rubble he's standing on gives way and he ends up with a gash in his leg. He manages to stop the bleeding, but the world is filthy and they don't have any antibiotics.

He gets an infection.

"It's okay." He tells both of his kids, "It's okay. I'm just so glad that you guys have each other, y'hear? I'm so glad."

"It's not okay." Five says, voice thick and choked, "It's not."

"Yeah, well, you're going to figure out how to go back, right? Go back in time and save everyone. Then I'll have never died, right?" Rick smiles, "And even if you don't, I'll be waiting for you on the other side and we'll see each other again anyway."

"I'm going to fix it."

"I know. I have faith in you, Five." Ricks says honestly, and that's more than Reginald ever said.

They sit quietly together while Dolores is out scavenging. They've been taking turns sitting with Rick.

"I won't remember you, in the past, will I?" Rick says rhetorically, but Five answers anyway.

"I don't think so."

Rick hums, "Well, doesn't matter. If you need help in the past, you come to me, y'hear?"

"You won't remember me."

"Doesn't matter. You come find me, and you tell me your crazy story until I believe you, and then I'll help you." Rick says firmly, "You're family. You're my son. Timelines? Don't matter. If you need help, with anything, even if it's just with - with filling out a bowling team or something -"

"I have never been bowling in my life and you know it." Five interrupts, but it makes him laugh just a little bit which was clearly Rick's intention.

"Well who knows what you'll get up to in the past! You'll be able to go bowling, you know. Get to wear those uncomfortable shoes. Hey, you go far enough back maybe you can go to Dolores's tenth birthday party and put me out of my misery."

"Was she bad at bowling?"

"Oh, she was wiping the floor with me. No contest."

"Honestly, that sounds absolutely accurate."

"Shut up, bowling just wasn't my sport. Regardless, the point was that I'm giving you a free pass to come and get me. Because I know you, I know how you think." Rick brings up his hand to tap his finger against Five's forehead, "You get it into your head that you need to go it alone, take it all on your shoulders. I'm telling you that if you do that I'll somehow manifest my memories and come smack you over the head for being stupid, you hear?"

"I'm not dragging you into anything." Five says firmly, "I'll have my siblings."

"Who were also children." Rick points out. "And dragging? Dragging is such a strong word for a volunteer."

"A volunteer who won't remember volunteering." Five shoots back.

Rick just shrugs, and then winces when the movement jolts his bad leg. "Five, I'm going to be honest with you here. And sappy. Can you handle a bit of sappiness for a minute?"

"No."

"Well too bad. Can't leave a dying man, you'd feel too bad. So you're stuck with me. But you listen good, okay? Because you aren't dragging me into anything. Whatever life you have, I want to have a part of that. Because you're my son. Wherever you are, whatever you do, I want to help because you're family. What you'd be doing by leaving me out of it is depriving me of someone I love, depriving me of knowing one of the best kids I've ever known."

"Shut up." Five says, choked.

"Nope, it's sappy time." Rick states, "Maybe asking you to come find me is selfish, but I don't care. No matter what version of me exists, I want to be in your life."

"My life is a walking joke, why would you want any part of that?"

"It has been my privilege to watch you grow up. To help you. To be here for you. Of course I'd want to be there to watch you grow up the rest of the way."

"But -"

"Shut up, just let me tell you that I am so proud of you. You never give up, and your heart is so big. You love so much and so loudly, and it's been the highest honor of my life to be included in your family."

Five pauses for a moment to collect himself before simply saying - "You're the best dad I've ever had."

Rick snorts, "Considering my competition, I'd sure hope so. That bar was so low old Reggie was practically limbo dancing with the devil. Now get over here and give an old man a hug."

They don't bury Rick, when he dies. They don't have time and the ground is too hard and they don't have the heart to move him. Instead the pack everything up and seal him in the shelter they'd lived in.

Dolores pulls out a bottle of ancient nail polish and painstakingly writes Rick's name on the wall with his birth year and an approximate current year. They aren't 100% sure though, since time blends together out in the apocalypse, but it's something.

They continue by themselves. They get older.

Dolores jokingly calls him her husband because the way his face scrunches up makes her cackle. They see other people very occasionally, usually passing through. Usually groups. Dolores and Five get to flex their hosting skills, though more than one group declines their cockroach stirfry.

("It's a family recipe." Five says with amusement in his eyes that usually manages to drown out old grief.)

"Jeeze, that kid couldn't have been older'n twenty-three." Dolores complains, "Makes me feels positively ancient."

"They wouldn't have known any world 'cept for the apocalypse." Five muses, pouring some boiled water into wine glasses because they might be living in the apocalypse but they can be fancy.

"Do you ever think about that?" Dolores asks, turning to him with no judgement, just curiosity. "When you go back, you'll be like, erasing them from existence."

Five shrugs, "Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe this place will just split off into an alternate timeline."

"Maybe none of this is real." Dolores says, amusement coloring her voice. "Maybe you aren't talking to a real person at all. Maybe this is just a symbol of your insanity and cracked mind."

"Dolores, I literally have a scar where you stabbed me. Did I somehow manage to stab myself in the back?"

"Scraped you, I scraped you. By accident."

"So you maintain." Five says haughtily, swirling his water in his wine glass like a pretentious prick.

"I could totally be fake. You don't know my life."

"I know way too much about you, Dolores. Like, way way too much." Five scoffs, because Dolores and him have literally no secrets from one another at this point. Five even knows the truth behind what happened at Janet Scranton's thirteenth birthday party. Like, he said, way too much.

"Maybe you made it up. Maybe that's why you know so much."

"Dolores, I'm going to be honest with you right now." Five presses the tips of his fingers to his chin, "If you were a figment of my imagination, you would be so much better at math."

"Hey!" Dolores squawks indignantly, "I didn't even get to finish high school you pretentious prick!"

"Neither did I!"

"You didn't even go to high school, you brat."

"I'm fifty-two I think I've outgrown 'brat.'"

"Tell that to your attitude." Dolores says haughtily, "You're still younger than me."

"Won't be when I go back in time." Five says cheerfully, completely ignoring Dolores's venomous look.

"That's cheating."

"Sucks to suck." Five says loftily, taking another sip of his water.

Sometimes they talk about The Plan, with capital letters. What Five is going to do when he goes back in time, depending on when he pops out. Is he going to adopt his siblings? What about Reginald?

"You don't think I could kill Reginald?" Five says, holding a hand to his chest in mock offense.

"I think you should let me do it. I'll even give you control of tonight's music if you do."

"What are you doing to do? Bite his ankles? What if you're like, seven or something?"

"All the better to get away with it since I'll be too young to convict or whatever."

"Pretty sure that's not how the law works."

"How would you know? Just for that I'm playing Istanbul on repeat again."

"I don't know why you think that's a threat. That song slaps."

It takes a few more years before Five is close enough that the Commission comes to interfere. Because that's what I think happened - Five was getting too close and they stepped in because they might as well distract the man as much as they can with missions, right?

So the Handler shows up. And she offers Five a job, telling him that they have the ability to travel through time. And Five - hesitates.

"Give me some time?" Five asks, and the Handler graciously gives him 24 hours.

And he and Dolores talk it over, because now that his goal is more in sight than it has ever been and Five is scared.

"What are you waiting for? You have the chance to see your siblings again." Dolores says patiently.

"Yeah," Five says, and what he doesn't say is clear. But I won't see you.

"Five." Dolores says, and she cradles his face between her palms like he is something precious, "I have had so much time with you already. More than I would have ever. We have been so lucky, to have this time. How can I demand more than what we have already been given?"

"When have you ever not demanded the world, Dolores?" Five asks, his own hand coming up to cover Dolores's own.

"We've had decades together, Five. We're getting old. I was always going to lose you, one way or another. Nothing lasts forever."

"I don't want to lose you."

"I know. But if I had to choose a way, if I could decide where our story ends, this would be it. Letting you go, because this way you get to live. You get to see your family again. You get to save the world. I could ask for nothing more than for you to get your happy ending."

Five removes Dolores's hand from his cheek so that he can cradle it between them, "I'm happy here with you. I've never been happier. Isn't that silly? That I was happier in the apocalypse?"

"I bet killing Reggie would make you happy." Dolores laughs rustily.

"One day you're going to see the mysterious disappearance of a famous billionaire in the paper and feel a twinge of satisfaction and now have a clue why." Five laughs as well, shaking his head.

Dolores pats Five's hands, "Five, look at me. We've had our time. And you're going to give me even more of it. More time with my father. More time with my mother. I'll never know it, but you'll have saved me."

"What if this is - what if this is an alternate reality? What if I leave you here alone?"

"Then you'll be saving a 15-year-old girl from the same fate as me. Because as much as I love you, as much as I have loved this time we have had together, this is still an apocalypse. This should never have happened, and if you have a chance to go back and prevent it, then I want you to take that chance with both hands."

"Even if it means leaving you alone?"

Dolores smiles at him, "I'm not going to be alone. Far too many creepy crawlies in the apocalypse for that."

"Shut up, I'm being serious."

"Hmm." Dolores hums consideringly, "Maybe I'll head North, to that new settlement that last group said they'd heard word of. Sure they'd find some use for an old woman who's survived this long in the wilderness."

"You can have my half of the record collection." Five says, pulling her against him into a hug that she easily returns.

"As if I wouldn't have stolen them as soon as you left." She scoffs, but it's a little wet, and Five pretends his own eyes aren't leaking tears.

When The Handler comes back, Dolores gives him another hug. She also slips something into his pocket - some photos. They'd taken it a year into the apocalypse, when Dolores had found an ancient looking polaroid camera and towed it home despite Five's protests about practicality. The photos are worn and faded at the edges, but the smiles on Five's little apocalypse family's faces are undeniable.

"You'll have to see if they magically fade when you change the timeline." Dolores whispers to him with a grin, "Like in the movies."

"Okay." Five whispers back.

"You have the list of movies to watch, right?" Dolores says. Five rolls his eyes and nods because he wrote the list last night into his Vanya-book while Dolores hovered over his shoulder and critiqued his handwriting.

"And you promise to try a proper non-expired twinkie at some point?"

"That I do not promise. I think even looking at one would make me lose my lunch. I have twinkie-trauma."

"Shut up and get going." Dolores says, because the Handler is starting to tap her foot impatiently.

And off Five goes to become an assassin. Though - he's much more gentle this time. He's careful, he doesn't kill children and he usually takes jobs that don't require killing at all. He distracts and manipulates events as much as he can without killing.

He's actually much more well socialized, thanks to Rick and Dolores. Less feral child and more determined man on a mission.

Which is why he's so frustrated when he finally, finally manages to get the equations to work and falls through and falls - directly back into his stupid thirteen-year-old body.

"Shit." Five says, loudly, and revels in the surprised look on his siblings faces.

He strides into the kitchen, and they all follow him like ducklings. They look exactly the way they did when they died.

"Wow this is actually way harder than I thought it would be." Five muses, looking at their dead faces. But as Dolores would say, life is hard but you have to keep on trucking sometimes. "Whatever, what's the date?"

"Five, where have you been?" Diego demands, looking irritated. It makes Five snort in amusement.

"The future. The past. If you want like, an exact list of dates you'll have to hold your horses. I spent like, two weeks in Peru once. No souvenirs though, unfortunately."

They look taken aback, like they didn't expect Five to have quite this much sass. Oops. That is definitely Dolores's influence. Or maybe he was always a little asshole. In fairness, what teenagers aren't tiny assholes? He has an excuse.

"What the fuck does that mean?" Diego's eyebrows are furrowed in anger. It kind of takes Five aback for a second, because he remembers a Diego who stutters when he argued.

"When did you learn the fuck-word?" Five asks, raising an eyebrow before her can help it, "Grace ought to wash your mouth out with soap."

Diego immediately goes red, "Shut up!"

"Wow you're so easy to rile up. Aren't you like, twenty-something? Actually, I could figure out for myself how old you are if you gave me the date."

"I'm twenty-nine." Diego growls, like that was the point.

"Haunting!" Five says cheerfully, because that means there is way less time than he would like, narrowing his time down to a six month window.

It's extremely funny how his cheer makes all of them make faces.

It's Klaus who leans forward, "Why do you need to know?"

Klaus's face is open and curious and - (looks exactly like he did when Five found him all those years ago) - and Five can't help but answer him. "The world end on April 1st, 2019. No it isn't an April Fools joke, yes I have heard that joke like a million different times. I just want to know how close I landed so I can, you know, start working on how to fix that."

"Woah woah woah, roll it back." Allison says, holding a hand up, "What?"

"The apocalypse occurs on April 1st, 2019." Five says, slowly. "I have traveled from afar to prevent this from happening, because like, everyone dies."

"Everyone?" Vanya says weakly from the side.

She's clearly expecting to be ignored, so Five turns his head to address her directly by wiggling his hand back and forth a little. "Sort of. Like, not too many people survive at all. A handful of the human population, you know."

"But you survived?" Diego recovers admirably, if bitingly.

"Well, no." Five says rolling his eyes, "Wouldn't you just know it, Klaus here has managed to figure out a new ability!"

Everyone turns to look at Klaus, who immediately holds up his hands like he's being arrested or something, "I did not!"

"Wonderful! Now that we've established that I'm alive -"

"Why should we trust a word you say?" Luther says for the first time, looking pensive.

Five blinks, genuinely taken aback. "Because... I'm your brother? Because I can clearly and obviously time travel? Like, yeah, it would have been more convenient if I'd arrived in like, my old-body for proof-purposes, but like. I mean. Thirteen is still a pretty convincing age to be to prove time travel considering if I hadn't, I would be like, almost thirty."

"Roll it back again." Allison says firmly, "What do you mean by 'old body'?"

"Great question!" Five says pointing at Allison and smiling. Everyone looks at him weird again, and Five takes a moment to wonder if they've ever experienced positive reinforcement. Knowing Reginald, probably not. "Wait! Is Reggie alive? Wait, no, answer that in a second. Uh. When I time traveled I fucked up my body I guess, I was like, old. White hair and wrinkles-type old from spending decades in the apocalypse. But I fucked up the calculations and got booted back to my thirteen-year-old body, I guess. How, I have no idea."

"What?" Vanya says, still equally weakly.

"You have no idea how fucked up time travel is." Five whispers conspiratorially to Vanya, loud enough for the whole table to hear, "There are so many ways to die. Or permanently tear a hold in space time. But like, with life as we know if ending soon-ish, I figured I couldn't possibly fuck it up worse than it already was, y'know? Speaking of, anyone have the date again?"

"Wait, what was that about dad?" Luther asks, very focused.

"Oh, you still call him dad? Big oof." Five says automatically, because apparently his verbal filter is shot to hell after living with Dolores. It does make Klaus bark out a too-loud laugh.

"What does that mean?" Luther asks aggressively.

"It means Reginald sucks and doesn't deserve the title of 'dad,' what did you think I meant?" Five asks, and now both Diego and Vanya and both cracking smiles, though Vanya is covering hers with a hand.

"Have some respect for the dead." Luther growls, standing up and looking very large and threatening.

Five sways back, craning his head up, "Woah there big buy, sit down before I injure my poor growing spine looking up at you. Jeeze, did Reggie force feed you steroids or something? I wouldn't put it past him but like, I just want to know he at least went over the side effects of the drug with you. Also like, thanks for narrowing it down. Also terrifying! Seriously though, exact date please because if I have less than 24 hours I am going to break down crying and that is a threat."

"I love this Five." Klaus says reverently.

"March 21st." Vanya offers, finally.

"Wow! Terrifying!" Five says, clapping his hands together, "Hate that. Ten days, huh? Well, who wants to get on board the save-the-world express?"

Klaus immediately flings his hand in the air, Five points at his brother appreciatively. "Yes, excellent! I'll take the volunteer in the lovely skirt as my first team member. Any other volunteers?"

"Danke!" Klaus simpers, grinning widely like this is the vest entertainment he's had in weeks.

"I'm not just going to stand here and listen to you badmouth dad and boss us around." Luther slams his hands on the table.

"Well not with that attitude." Five snarks.

Diego raises his hand, "I would like to join team fuck dad as well."

"We can certainly debate team names later." Five says, nodding wisely as Luther gives some sort of scandalized gasp.

"Honestly, I just want to see where this is going." Klaus confesses.

Five shrugs, because he doesn't really care about the reason. "Don't you want to prove me wrong them? Prove what a well-adjusted young man Reginald Hargreeves raised?"

"Shut up." Luther grinds out, looking a moment away from throwing a punch.

"If this is all true, I have to get home." Allison cuts in, looking concerned, "I have - I have a daughter."

"I mean, if you want to give Claire a world to live in then I'd stick around, but that's just me." Five shrugs.

"You know her name?" Allison asks, obviously taken aback.

Five is almost offended, "Uh, yeah. I have her photo as well. Y'all get on like, a bizarre number of gossip magazine covers did you know that?"

Allison manages to outdo herself in terms of being taken aback once more.

There's a beat of silence, and then Five turns, "Vanya? You in?"

"Me?" Vanya blinks, looking shocked. "What can I do?"

"Yeah, what can she do?" Diego asks, crossing his arms and suddenly looking grumpy.

It baffles Five, who scrunches his nose, "Uh, like, a lot? I assume? I mean. I'm going to be honest here, just looking at y'all right now is a lot. In more ways than one! Hashtag trauma and all that, but like, name a single one of you that wouldn't be the most obvious person in the room as soon as you walked into it. Except Vanya, who somehow manages to look like a well adjusted adult, by some miracle."

"Did you just verbally say the word hashtag?" Allison asks, looking so deeply confused.

"More concerned about the trauma he tacked onto there, but y'know, to each their own." Klaus immediately cuts in.

"You think I'm well-adjusted?" Vanya asks, looking oddly touched.

"I would like to direct your attention to Diego's leather pants-scowl combo and Luther's general aura of daddy-issues." Five says pointedly, "I can practically smell the tragic comic book backstory in this room. If I'd jumped back a decade earlier this would have been Batman's wet dream of orphan selection."

"Alright! Game plan!" Five says, waving Diego's knife in his hand.

Diego's hands immediately go to his weird harness looking thing, "Hey!"

"Give me just one moment to get the tracker out." Five rolls his eyes, "Then I'll give it back, I promise. Also if someone could ask Grace for like, some antibiotics that would be good."

"What?" Allison asks, directly before Five stabs himself and there is suddenly panic at the table.

"Relax!" Five says, allowing Diego to remove the knife from his hands. He doesn't need it anyway and his hand immediately drops down to root in the wound.

"Five what the fuck!" Diego yells, but Five just pulls up bloody fingers and waves the tracker into Diego's stupefied face.

"What the fuck is that, Five?" Allison demands, looking very shaken.

"I literally just said it was a tracker." Five points out, "Now, I think our first team activity should be voting on whether we destroy it or take it out to bumfuck nowhere and ditch it to confuse the Commission."

"What the fuck is the Commission?" Diego barks.

"Man. Maybe I should just hit up Rick." Five muses, "This is going to take so much explaining."

"Who is Rick."

"So much explaining."

#survivors au #well adjusted five au #five actually has some social skills!#and an idea of what an actual parent looks like as well #klaus absolutely adores this version of five #who quotes vines and uses gen z slang with the best of them #five has been reliably informed that public education is worse than the apocalypse #but he's also pretty sure working with his family is worse as well #five: i have so much trauma lol #klaus: oh big same #vanya: mood #five is somehow the most well adjusted hargreeves #and the most responsible #he doesn't legally exist and he doesn't pay taxes but somehow he has his shit together #five showing up at rick's house: you don't know me but i know you in the future #rick: what the fuck #five: don't make me bring up bethany midler from highschool because you gave me so many embarrassing stories to convince yourself with #rick: okay okay i believe you and you are???#five: your son from the future lol what's up dad want to help save the world #five arriving back at the manor like: WHAT'S UP LOSERS RICK IS NOW YOUR DAD TOO BC GOD KNOWS Y'ALL NEED AN ACTUAL FATHER FIGURE #klaus calls rick a dilf and five kidney punches him hard enough that klaus can't even properly introduce himself #it's better for everyone that way #delores: 15 and ready to fuck someone up #delores: i'm not staying with this weirdo (diego) while you go off with my dad #five threateningly: don't make me bring up what really happened to dad's good suit in 2012 #delores: i will stay right here #rick: wait WHAT happened to my good suit #five: unimportant don't you want to save the world #long post #far tua long

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makeste · 4 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 310: A Tale of Two Kacchans

Previously on BnHA: Flashback!Deku was all, “hey, you know what sounds like a good decision? Abandoning my studies at the safest place in the country so that the bad guy who wants to find me and kill me has literally nothing standing in his way of doing that.” All Might was all, “I fucking knew you were going to say some bullshit like that so whatever, but I’M COMING WITH YOU and I’m also going to invite the Hawksquad to come with us, mostly so that I can steal Jeanist’s car.” Jeanist was all, “okay fine you can borrow my car, All Might, but only if you wear jeans.” All Might was all, “okay sure” and he wore jeans and also sunglasses and a leather jacket and it was pretty rad. Anyway so now they’re out there fighting crime and hunting down the LoV and stuff, and absolutely none of it is going to end well, I’m just letting you know now. But I guess we’ll let them enjoy it while it lasts.

Today on BnHA: Horikoshi is all “happy belated Kacchan’s Birthday makeste, here’s the flashback you really wanted at long last,” and proceeds to pull the old vestige flashback out of the kitchen drawer and upend its contents all over my Friday afternoon without the slightest bit of warning. OFA III is all “WHAT’S UP I’M JUST SOME GUY, HELLO,” and okay?? Hello yourself. OFA II, on the other hand, is all, “okay yeah I have different hair and stuff, but I’m like 98% sure I’m either Bakugou or his goddamn twin, I mean look at me.” Which, yeah. I looked, and he really is though you guys. Anyway though, so he and OFA II basically just showed up in the First (who goes by Yoichi now)’s prison cell one day all “HEY THERE, WE’RE HERE TO SAVE YOU, APPARENTLY, ALTHOUGH WE SEEM REAL CONFUSED ABOUT IT TBH BUT HEY.” And so they saved him, and Yoichi was all “hey nice to meet you do you want to join my super-exclusive Saving The World Club”, and so they did, and then the chapter ended lol. I would have said yes too.

oh my sweet lord?? I didn’t realize we were getting a color page this week, but LOOK AT THIS

this could have been a fucking volume cover. I’m almost mad that it wasn’t, lol but I mean fkldjslklk just look at it??! Horikoshi out here spoiling us and making sure we’re well fed since next week the manga is on break for Golden Week. well this will certainly help to tide me over. hot damn look at those colors

so now it’s raining on some dumb building in the middle of somewhere

is this where the Hawksquad has set up camp for the night? or are we actually cutting back to the League? that’d be unexpected (but not unwelcome)

ffff nevermind dammit it’s just more random citizens under attack

feels like this is the third or fourth scene we’ve had of civilians being Under Attack since this arc started. I mean no offense, but I think we get it by this point. it’s the end times, etc. etc. we’re well aware that things have gone to shit

so apparently these two guys are facing off against a girl with a mutant quirk. and she’s telling them that she’s not a monster and she was just scared, oh shit. I believe her btw, you can see it in her face

but these assholes don’t believe her at all and they’re pointing what looks to be some type of support item gun at her

you know what’s interesting, is that this kind of random quirk discrimination is the exact kind of thing PLF and the like were swearing up and down they’d put a stop to with their glorious revolution. it’s almost like those guys were completely full of shit. huh

so yeah, fortunately for this woman someone is stepping in and intervening before she can be blasted to bits by this trigger-happy asshole for absolutely no fucking reason

looks like a hero actually stepped in and saved her?? but no that can’t be, heroes are the ones that ruin everything and make everything worse, or so I understand. lol where did all of this sarcasm come from out of nowhere dlkdsjlk I’m sorry guys I just suddenly got swept up in the hypocrisy of certain people’s philosophies out of the blue idek

anyway so it is of course Deku saving her, and now he’s trying to talk thess jerks down all diplomatically instead of just kicking their asses, which is certainly a choice

MOTHERFUCKER I’M

fucking impossible to miss the real world parallels here. shit. this woman nearly died for her crime of Walking While Having A Mutant Quirk huh. and meanwhile Deku is just letting this guy scurry away and even letting him keep that fucking bazooka of his, like, ????

fucking hell she’s crying!!

lmao this chapter is actively trying to make me mad now huh. that’s some genuine righteous anger I’m feeling on behalf of this fictional ferret lady whom I only met two minutes ago. girl you are not the one who needs to explain herself here!! you didn’t do anything wrong holy fuck. everything about this situation sucks so much

fkKJKLMMMHFGH

“I’m sorry I made you upset, please enjoy this panel of tiny!floating!Deku hefting this lady’s massive beach umbrella up for her like the fucking gentleman he is” well okay then thank you sir

and JUST LIKE THAT the tension is broken and I’m entirely incapable of taking the rest of this conversation seriously because Deku’s trying to be all calming and authoritative, but now the illusion has been broken because I know he only comes up to like her knees

“well thanks again for saving me young man. I’ll leave you to it, I’m sure you’ve got more important things to do like protecting your Lucky Charms cereal from all those greedy children”

oh hey All Might

you wouldn’t have just let that guy with the bazooka just walk away to commit more attempted murders would you?? man

OH MY GOD DEKU IS IMMEDIATELY DITCHING HIM AGAIN

I ~CANNOT STAY HERE~ oh, well, sorry to keep you detained I know you’re busy

dfslkjlk oh my god

fucking told you Deku didn’t pack any food lol. it’s literally all notebooks in that bag you guys. he couldn’t just leave them all in his dorm room when he left, because what if someone tried to read them and came across one of the pages where he absentmindedly doodled Kacchan’s name surrounded by little tiny hearts oh gosh

AWWWWW

I needed this Horikoshi. thank you for this wholesome soul-cleansing interaction after all of that bullshit earlier

so now Deku’s climbing up this tall building to eat his lunchbox more dramatically. Tokoyami would be proud

and Banjou is saying that society right now is just like in The Good Old Days (read: bad old days) when quirk society was even more of a mess than it is now

which is exactly how AFO likes it, no doubt

so now Deku’s having a whole conversation with Banjou seemingly out loud lol, weird. and he’s basically saying that they don’t have any clues as to where TomurAFO and the League are hiding right now, and none of the Tartarus escapees they’ve found knew anything either

mmmmmfmhm, marge simpson noises

but you think you can?? you, alone, by yourself?? you think you stand a chance?? I just need you to think this all through a bit more kid

Deku it is NOT JUST YOUR RESPONSIBILITY ALONE, PLEASE REALIZE THIS ALREADY. YOU MAY BE THE CHOSEN ONE, BUT EVEN THE CHOSEN ONE NEEDS HIS FRIENDS BY HIS SIDE GODDAMMIT

and of course my pleading is all in vain, because he’s a fictional character who can’t fucking hear me, and also because I’m pretty sure there’s only one character who is going to actually be able to get him to hear reason here. I’ve been saying it, and I’ll keep saying it lol. so until then I guess I’ll just have to be patient

anyway so it appears we’re segueing into another flashback??? HORIKOSHI PLEASE GIVE ME SOME BAKUCRUMBS BEFORE THE TWO WEEK BREAK, I BEG YOU

dlKSDJLFKWJELKGHSLGKLEKJLFKHLGK

YES, THANK YOU, I KNOW WHERE THIS FUCKING IS LOL, IT’S NOT LIKE I’VE BEEN OBSESSED WITH FINDING OUT WHAT HAPPENS IN THE REST OF THIS SCENE OR ANYTHING LMAO. BUT ANYWAYS DON’T MIND ME, YOU WERE SAYING??

oh my god oh my god I’m not readyyyyy, but also FUCK YEAH I AM SO FUCKING READY LOL LET’S DO THIS

YOU GUYS

I’M ABOUT TO STEP IN THAT ROOM AND YEET ONE OF THOSE FUCKING CHAIRS AT YOU ALL

NOOOOO

I’M ABOUT TO GRAB BANJOU’S GOGGLES AND STRETCH THEM OUT AND SNAP THEM BACK SO THEY SMACK THE SHIT OUT OF HIS FOREHEAD!!! IT’S WHAT HE DESERVES!!! I’M ABOUT TO MOVE TO JAPAN AND GET A JOB WITH DOORDASH AND FIND OUT WHAT HORIKOSHI LIKES TO ORDER FOR LUNCH SO I CAN BE THE ONE TO DELIVER IT SO THAT WHEN HE OPENS THE DOOR I CAN FINALLY ASK HIM “HEY WHAT THE FUCK” IN PERSON

AHHH NO EVERYBODY SHHHHH STOP TALKING!!!!

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THAT PERSON SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS IN THE BACKGROUND TO SHUT THE FUCK UP, OH WAIT, THAT’S ME

(」゜ロ゜)」 щ(゜ロ゜щ)

LOL THIS FUCKING ASSHOLE!!! LOOK AT YOU!!! YOU’RE NOT KIRISHIMA OR SHINSOU OR IIDA IN A WIG OR ANYBODY LOL. YOU’RE JUST A DUDE. BROOOOO ABOUT FUCKING TIME, WHAT’S GOOD

I CAN’T SCROLL DOWN AHHHH BUT I HAVE TO BUT IT’S TOO INTENSE AHHHHHHH

I CAN SEE THE TOP OF HIS SPIKY HEAD, IT’S FINALLY THAT TIME AHHHHHHHH OKAY I’M GONNA DO IT HERE GOES

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

IT’S HIM. IT FUCKING REALLY FUCKIGN IS HIM OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. WHY AM I SO SHOCKED LMAO I’M THE ONE WHO’S BEEN SAYING THIS THE WHOLE DAMN TIME LMAO. OH GOD. O H MY FUCKING GOD

well okay then sir. so are you an ~ancestor~ or a Kacchan from another timeline or so what’s your deal then

YOICHI WHO IS YOICHI

YOICHI ALWAYS KNOWS WHAT’S UP. LMAO WHO IS YOICHI

(ETA: I’m going to punch myself in the face lmao. he’s Yoichi. he, the First. that’s his name. name reveal at long last what what!!)

MORE IMPORTANTLY SHOULD I BE IMAGINING NOBU’S VOICE RIGHT NOW BECAUSE LMAO I AM ANYWAY BUT YEAH

(ETA: I actually think he’s going to end up being voiced by Nobuhiko whether he ends up being Kacchan or not, just because it fits right in with the general “identical in almost every way” aesthetic he’s got going on.)

TUMBLR HOW WE LIKING OUR ANGSTY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE KACCHAN?? EVERYONE HATED YOU SO MUCH BEFORE THEY EVEN MET YOU, BUT THEY FORGOT TO CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY THAT YOU MIGHT BE HOT LMAO WHAT A TWIST

“some bright-eyed brat” oh come on. IT’S GOTTA BE HIM LOL

oh my god you all are probably TIRED AS FUCK of all my screaming but I’M SORRY IMMA HAVE TO DO IT ONE LAST TIME BECAUSE...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

that face. that expression!! THE FACT THAT HE’S OUT HERE OPENING DOORS WITH HIS FEET, LIKE HOLY SHIT!! JUST ADMIT THE JIG IS UP ALREADY

and so they really are the ones who busted First out of his jail cell huh

so how did they know you were in the room?? why did they come and break you out?? and how, pray tell, did they know to get you to transfer OFA to them?? hmmmMMMMMMMM

oh MY GOD

you guys. oh my god. it’s too much. every last bit of it lines up exactly with the Bakuverse theory sdkjfj I’m short-circuiting. it’s really fucking happening oh my lord

HELLO SEXY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE KACCHAN WITH HIS SEXY FUCKING SCAR, FUCK YEAH WE REALLY ARE EATING GOOD THIS CHAPTER

HELL YEAH WE’RE GOING. WE’RE GOING FULL SPEED YOU GUYS. LMAO I’M SO FUCKING HYPED RIGHT NOW I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF WEFKJLDKFFFF

SO, EVERYONE, LET’S RECAP. -- ACTUALLY NO, I STARTED TO WRITE UP A LIST, BUT I IMMEDIATELY REALIZED IT REALLY JUST NEEDS TO GO IN ITS OWN THREAD. SO I MADE IT AND POSTED IT, AND NOW I’M FINISHING UP THIS HOT MESS OF A RECAP POST. SO NOW WE’RE BACK TO THIS ONE FINAL PANEL OF DEKU EATING HIS KATSU ALL SERIOUS

YES SIR. YES SIR, WE GOING, FULL SPEED AHEAD, WHATEVER, IDK WTF IS HAPPENING BUT YES!!

lol, anyways so as I said in my other post, mysterious sexy guys with tragic pasts are what bring us together as a fandom, so whatever your thoughts are on the rest of it, let’s just rejoice in that. it’s what we deserve

#bnha 310 #midoriya izuku #ofa prime #ofa ii #bakugou katsuki #MAYBE???#bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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bytedykes · 2 years ago

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COMPLETELY FORGOT TO DO THIS OMG, tagged by @bi-demon-ium HI GREBO!!! HI HI HI

rules: tag game! tag people and have them tell you your top ten favorite characters of all time (doesn’t have to be in order).

i loooove rambling i will ramble about each of these btw ❤ i am my own enabler (and procrastinating hw rn ahahaha...ha...h)

Will Byers (stranger things) - i LOVE will SO MUCH!!!! i love him soo so much he is my sweet can of peach preserves i want to swing him around like a ferret literally obsessed with him rn. everything about him makes me want to scream and cry and throw up every day im so thankful will exists nobody gets him like me. honorable mentions el who is practically one unit with will so i can legally put her on the same bullet point, and also all the other st characters who im also obsessed with who are not getting their own bulletpoints but i still want to acknowledge them bc i love them.... soo much.......

MAGNUS BANE (shadowhunters tv) - *long drawn out scream* tbh hes probably the first character i was like, really and truly obsessed with, like honestly magnus bane kicked off an Era for me regarding my derangement and how i participate in fandom. magnus bane was the catalyst of a whole gender awakening for me. magnus bane is my everything. i love him and his husband. yeag

Phoenix Wright (ace attorney) - OBSESSED WITH HIS PATHETIC BISEXUAL SWAG no further commentary needed. honorable ace attorney mentions go to maya fey and klavier even tho i have not gotten to him in game yet. i know imgonna love him when i do go back to playing aa4 so he counts

Bart Curlish (dirk gentlys holistic detective agency tv 2016) - THE MOST WOMAN EVER!!!!!!!! the peak of grimy murder women. they peaked with her here. we need more women like bart

Farah Black (dirk gentlys) - OUGH couldnt resist putting farah in here too bc shes also SUCH a woman i love everything about her she is perfect. honorable dghda mentions goes to tina and amanda and dirk and every other character in this show. shakes them up and down puts them all into the pear wiggler even

Diego Hargreeves (umbrella academy) - i love insane men with sharp objects and insane morals

Constance Contraire (the mysterious benedict society tv) - i love insane little girls who have plotted murders canonically on screen and have insane familial relationships

Ben Hargreeves (umbrella academy) - wait ok sorry to double dip again but i cant believe i forgot how obsessed with ben i was?? i spent literally 3 years blogging about him and drawing almost exclusively him?? i even created a crackship with him to torment my best friends with??? ben i am so sorry. how could i have forgotten. i love ghosts who are younger brothers who are big bitches

lowkey cannot even think of anyone else lmao. im gonna say Megamind from the movie Megamind bc i love that movie and i love him. me when autistic blue men from space <3

i genuinely cannot think of anyone else i only rlly started having Favorite Characters around age 10-11 but all of the guys i liked from then i dont care much about anymore so i wouldnt say theyre All Time Favorites. and since then i have been majorly into only like 5-6 pieces of media where i had True Blorbos, Personality Shaping Characters, so like. that might be it? im probably just blanking im sure ill think of a few more characters i love after i hit post on this but ehhhh whatever live laugh love <3

edit: TOOTHLESS HOWTOTRAINYOURDRAGON. HOW COULD I FORGET YOU

okkkk thats it i guess !! i love being so so normal about fictional character just me and my blorbos having a normal sane time

no pressure to do this but tagging @tmoblrina @toadstoolillustrations @urlocallesbiab @jonathansbowlcut annnnd my wifi just went out! so no one else <3 peace on earth

#tag game #TY FOR TAGGING ME IN THIS GERT I LVOE U THIS WAS FUN !!!#no one is allowed to judge me for my taste in characters btw i promise i have coolsexyawesomer ones i just CANT THINK OF THEM RN!!!!#but also some of these are SO coolsexyawesome already i promise. take my hand

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quirrrky · 4 years ago

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CHOOSE YOUR YANDERE ●_● HAIKYUU BOYS EDITION (Part 1) ✧

PART 2 ✧ PART 3

Here’s your new round of yandere selection featuring some of our hq boys! Reminder: I love ‘em boys and this is just for fun!

Rating: T+ Warning: Mild psychological triggers (mentions of kinks and stuff) Selected characters only ~(⊕⌢⊕)~

HINATA SHOYO aka THE ANNOYING TANGERINE (but still loveable tho)

This fella’ follows you all the time!

Asks you tons of questions and invites you to a lot things

Pretty persistent about getting your heart and making him a part of your life

Very chatty and energetic…Will never leave your side

If it’s possible, he’ll tie himself around you (please don’t inform him of this idea, he might actually do this)

Calls you when you finally gets home, he’ll climb your window if you won’t answer

Attempts of avoiding him is close to impossible

He’s like…everywhere

Literally threatens and challenges all the other guys who come near you (they better not!)

He’d do anything and everything in his power to win

He’s pretty delusional too thinking that you might actually like him back if he keeps on “trying his best” to win you

Tbh, he thinks you’re actually liking him back O_O

When you’re being hard to “talk to”, he has that look on his face like he’s so in it for the kill

Despite it all, he can never bring himself to hurt you

“Oh, Y/N. Why haven’t you answered my calls? I’ve been calling you for like…78 times already! I got so worried that I sneak into your bedroom. Hehehe~ I’ll talk to you ’til you fall asleep. Then…I’ll watch you.” Eyes wide staring into you.

Danger level: 40% Pet peeve: You avoiding or ignoring him

KAGEYAMA TOBIO aka THE CRUEL KING

He’s not called ‘The King’ for nothing, y’know

When he’s set his eyes on you, no one’s stopping this guy

At first, he was in awe of you and puts you in a pedestal like some kind of an idol or sum’n

You liked that about him add that he knows you like it’s natural

You thought it was a soulmate connection but think again!

Little did you know that he followed you and studied your every movement

Also knew your daily schedule and routine and imitated your way of life

Once he finally got you, the King shows up

He saw many errors in your way thus he wanted to bring out the “best” in you

Doesn’t hurt you tho, but he lacks consideration

Or he may actually hurt you at times when he got totally irritated

Loves pushing you to the limit…more than your body can bear (and it’s not volleyball we’re talking about here)

Will rile you up until you lose consciousness (doesn’t matter if you’re hurting or what)

You’re wondering where that stamina was coming from and…

Don’t think it sexy cuz you’re basically a slave here who just does what he orders you to do (unless you really like it, yknow)

Worst part of it all, you’re starting to like it and before you even know it, he got you all wrapped around his finger

“I’m doing you so good so keep up with my pace! Too slow! You’re too slow! Are you even moving?” He lashed out on you then followed up through his gritted teeth. “What are you saying you can’t feel your legs anymore? We’re not even getting there yet.”

Danger level: 50% Pet peeve: Your sheer incompetence

TSUKISHIMA KEI aka THE SCHEMING BLOCKER

This guy’s smart, so he’s probably planning an effective course of action to monopolize you without you even noticing it

No, he won’t eliminate anyone (not that we are aware of??? srsly, this guy could stage his innocence for a murder)

But he’s so good at setting you up that you can only see him

You will not know what makes you follow him around and he’s even acting so nonchalantly about it

You don’t know why but he has you begging for his attention

It’s all part of his intricate plan as he carefully analyzed your behavior

And telling your mind creeping into your subconscious what you should believe in

When he has you all under his control, he’ll waste no time to tease and deny you

This guy’s degrading kink gaming is strong

Will call you names, literally belittles you for his amusement (just bc he’s tall lololol)

Yet you kept liking it more and more

Until he’s seriously the only one on your mind and on your sight clearly blocking any aspect of this universe in your perspective BUT HIM

Loves playing you around

Secretly turned on when you talk back (it makes him want tease you even more)

“Oh, I never thought you like me that much, huh, midget.“ He evilly chuckled (it’s sexy don’t @ me) and grinned at you looking down. “What if I say I’m not convinced enough? What would you do? Ahh, don’t talk back to me with that stupid little mouth of yours. You might not like what’s gonna happen next…”

Danger level: 70% Pet peeve: Your stupid ass (but he kinda’ likes that too)

YAMAGUCHI TADASHI aka YOUR HUMBLE SERVER

Like Hinata, this guy will follow you around but…

He possesses a beyond normal amount of servitude (which will only show when you get to be with him for longer)

Worships you and offers to be your servant

For him, there’s nothing more beautiful and wonderful but you

It’s not difficult to like him back, he’s really adorable and gentle and normal (?)

Until, he’s gradually getting overboard with lowering himself before you

Very obsessed with you like everything he does is for you in an extremely overrated manner

Like if you’re a girl, he’s even more aware of your period more than you are

Even this sweet being can have a possessive side tho he seemed like can’t hurt anybody

You wouldn’t know it but people who try to cross you are shivering in their legs under his rather stealth intimidation

Will lie for you, steal for you and kill for you

Loves you that much he showers you with affection in a way you can never let go of him even if his moments of self-deprecation is disturbing

Adores you even more when you talk down on him

Even if you want out, you can’t cuz you’re scaredt of what he’ll do to himself if you leave (TT-TT he’s such a bean)

“It’s raining, you can use my umbrella if you don’t have one. I’m perfectly fine under the rain, it’s just a little drizzle. Oh there’s a puddle! Here, you can step on my-“ NO PLEASE DON’T! TT-TT

Danger level: 30% Pet peeve: Things and people that makes you uncomfortable

⁺˚*·✧ request guidelines ✧⁺˚*·

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iamdeku · 4 years ago

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Needy: Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

Me? Making a fic title that isn’t based off a song somehow? Seems unlikely.

Warnings: school stress. makin’ out. not proofread.

For @sems-diarie

You hated your classmate Bakugou Katsuki with a passion. He was arrogant, brash, and extremely loud. He was rude to you and he was rude to everybody else and he was completely convinced he was the greatest thing to ever exist. There was really only one thing you hated more than Bakugou.

Being teamed up with him for your class’s newest group project.

You had pleaded and begged with Aizawa to let you pair up with literally anyone else, but he was unyielding. All of his pairings were final, and you and Bakugou were no exception. You were just going to have to learn how to work with him, your grades be damned, apparently.

“Alright, listen up,” you said, taking your seat next to Bakugou the day after your group pairings had been announced. “You are not going to mess up my grades. If anyone is going to mess up my grades it’s going to be me. I don’t think you’re an idiot. I know you’re an idiot. So just sit down, shut up, and follow my lead.”

You were perhaps slightly harsher than necessary, even for a guy like Bakugou. In your defense though, you’d had a truly garbage day. Your coffee machine had broken, leaving you with no caffeine this morning. It was an expensive coffee machine too, and you weren’t sure when you would be able to buy a new one. You had spent half of your morning looking for the manual to the coffee machine in the hopes that Momo could just create another one for you, and by the time you realized what time it was you had no opportunity to do anything but toss your clothes on before heading to class. On your way to class, it had rained, soaking you through because you had forgotten your umbrella and provoking Mineta to make a comment on the clinginess of your wet uniform. You had gotten a worse grade than you were expecting on your last test, you had tripped and spilled all of your lunch across the floor, and now here you were, having to sit next to your assigned group partner, hair still damp and mood still very, very bad.

“Hey, I don’t know who you think you are extra, but I’m no idiot. If you think we’re not beating everybody else in this class, then you’re wrong. I don’t know what you’ve been told, but Bakugou Katsuki never loses.”

You had known the great Bakugou Katsuki for the last 3 years of yours and his UA career, and now, in your final year, you were pretty confident that you still knew him. You knew him as a guy who had definitely lost before in the past. There was no particular shame in that, but you couldn’t afford to lose this time, especially not on Katsuki’s account.

“You better be right about that, pretty boy, because this grade is important to me. If we get a bad grade on this assignment it’s going to throw off my entire average, which I really can’t afford right now. Speaking of which, we really don’t have the time for all this dilly-dallying. Let’s get to work, king explosion murder,” you mocked.

To your surprise, the ever confident Bakugou turned bright red at the old nickname.

“Whatever. Let’s just get to work. We’re going to have to trade contact information so we can figure out a time to meet up. Plus I don’t trust you not to screw this up without my advice.”

You rolled your eyes. The nerve of this boy. The sheer gall.

“Yeah, okay, whatever.” You reached into your soggy backpack and pulled out a pencil and a piece of paper, scribbling down your phone number.

“We should just be able to meet up in one of the dorm’s common areas. The trick will be finding a time when everyone else isn’t working there.”

You sighed, knowing your classmates wouldn’t make the scheduling of this easy. Even ignoring the fact that you might have to deal with their noise and obnoxious planning, Bakugou’s sleep schedule was another barrier to your project design. He went to bed early enough to severely limit your time for working on the group project. You honestly didn’t know when he found the time for homework. If you didn’t do yours immediately it probably wouldn’t get done until the very last minute.

“We can just study in our rooms. It will be quieter there.” Bakugou shrugged.

You froze at his casual words. Study in your rooms? As in study in his room? Nobody had ever been invited into Bakugou’s room. Not his best friend Kirishima. Not his childhood rival Midoriya. Not even that girl from the gen-ed course he’d dated when you were second years. Nobody.

“Uh…are you sure?”

“Yeah. Why?” He raised an eyebrow at you. “You’re making a weird face, idiot.”

You shook your head. “Nothing. I was just thinking. Yeah, we can just study in our rooms. Just text me before randomly showing up, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

Aizawa was starting up class, causing you both to shut up. You felt a part of you get very excited that you might be about to see Bakugou’s room. There was something sort of forbidden to the feeling, fluttering around in your chest like a stupid flock of butterflies or something. You were sure it was just the appeal of his room, the secrecy of it all. You loved knowing other people’s secrets. That must have been what it was.

As it turned out though, your hopes and dreams were all in vain. Bakugou texted you to ask about studying, not in his room, but your room. You complied of course. As much as you wanted to see the inside of his mysterious room, you respected his privacy. After all, rooms were sacred. Your room was a deeply personal expression of yourself, and you weren’t about to pry into his space. It wouldn’t get you a better grade anyway, seeing as your project wasn’t on the inside of Bakugou’s room.

You had cleaned up your room earlier in preparation for this moment, anticipating that sooner or later Bakugou would want to study in your room even if you had briefly entertained hopes that he would want to study in his. Your normally messy desk was cleared off, your bed was made and your dirty laundry was all in the basket where it belonged. If you hadn’t cleaned the room yourself you would probably think that you didn’t live here.

Bakugou walked into the room with all the posturing of royalty, shoulders thrown back confidently as he eyed your room. He sniffed, passing whatever final judgement he would, and proceeded to sit down at your desk.

“Nice room, nerd. Cleaner than I thought it would be.”

You grew uncomfortably warm at the truth of his accusation, feeling specifically called out. Could he possibly have heard you vacuuming earlier? It didn’t matter. You didn’t care about his opinion.

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s just get to work, shall we?”

You pulled out your notebook, taking a seat on the floor and gesturing for him to join you.

“Why are you sitting on the floor, idiot?”

“I don’t have two chairs for both of us to work at the desk, so therefore the floor is our next best option.”

“No it isn’t.” Bakugou rolled his eyes. “You have a bed, don’t you? We can just sit on your bed and that way you don’t have to break you tailbone on the floor. Unless you like sitting on the hard floor.”

You gritted your teeth, glaring up at the challenge.

You pushed off from your hand, standing so you could loom over where he sat at your desk. “Fine. Bed it is then.”

You took a seat on your bed as he stood up from your desk chair he had invited himself to sit in. You waited for him to take his spot next to you on the bed, but he hesitated. For a guy who had suggested this idea, he didn’t seem to like it very much. Your surprise wore off though when you realized that he was being…awkward. Bakugou Katsuki was being awkward.

Was it you? Had you done something to make him uncomfortable? Or had he just been shy this whole time?

You could have laughed at him, but instead you took pity. You remembered your first year, when you had been painfully awkward. Maybe Bakugou had always been like that and you had just never had occasion to notice until now.

“Go ahead,” you said, patting the bed next to you. “Take a seat. I don’t bite, and even if I did you would like it.”

You laughed a little bit at your own joke, even if Bakugou didn’t seem to think it was very funny. You did succeed in getting him to sit on the bed though, so some small victories were won. He was stiff and sat much farther away from you than necessary, but he sat nonetheless.

After hours of working together, you managed to have a rough outline for the project. It was sort of a tricky project, based around gathering knowledge and making a presentation on the hero you thought to be the best. Bakugou had insisted with surprising vehemence on making it on All Might, and you agreed with him. After all, he was the symbol of peace and had been the #1 hero for decades. Even though this was a move you would have predicted more from Midoriya, you figured if you were going to do this project you might as well do it right.

Bakugou got up to head to bed, but you stopped him before he could leave. “Hey…I didn’t know you were so into All Might.”

Bakugou blushed, nervously scratching the back of his head.

“I mean, we all love All Might, don’t we?”

“I mean, I know I do.” You laughed a little to set him at ease before revealing a little bit of yourself. “When I was a kid All Might was always my favorite hero because of his smile. I always thought that if someone were ever to come save me, I would want them to smile at me like that.”

Bakugou was silent for a moment, thinking about your words.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I was always so impressed by his strength, and the way people loved him. I always wanted to be loved like that. I wanted to make people believe that I could help them. That they could trust me.”

There was a deep sense of vulnerability to his words that made you want to know more and made you want to understand this boy you had clearly underestimated.

“Is that why you became a hero?”

He huffed, retreating back into himself. “I became a hero to prove I was better than everybody.”

In a way, it was a yes.

“Have a goodnight, Bakugou.”

He stopped in your doorway, looking back at you with a hint of that vulnerability from earlier.

“Goodnight.”

You had been working nonstop for the past 4 days. You had your schedule set up to an unreasonable level of strictness. You would work for an hour, watch a 10 minute motivational video, then work for an hour again. The only real breaks you took were to eat and sleep, and it was starting to wear on you. You just had so much work to do, and you needed to be free this weekend for the sleepover Mina was having, but you were exhausted.

You had finally reached a breaking point tonight, and you found yourself sitting in your bed crying. You weren’t pretty crying either. It was an ugly, exhausted cry, yanked out of you by the hours of work and stress. You had fallen onto your side, curled up in bed as the sounds choked out of you, ugly things breaking you open and cracking your chest and your voice.

Because of all the stress you had been under, you had completely forgotten about your group project. You had met up with Bakugou the first couple of days, but yesterday you had begged off and reschedule for…today. Right now.

You didn’t even hear Bakugou’s polite knock on your door, the same three knock rap he had given the last few days before coming in to work on your project with you for an hour. If he thought you were ignoring him or just not there, it didn’t stop him from coming in. You didn’t notice, completely oblivious to his presence until he spoke.

“Are you hurt?”

He rushed over to your side, rolling over your body to inspect you. His hands were surprisingly gentle as they skimmed over your body, checking for injuries, gently pressing into the divots of old scars. He found no hurt on you though, and pulled back, frowning.

“What’s the matter? Why are you crying?”

You sniffled loudly, shamefully wiping your arm across your face.

“I’m fine,” you reassured him, repeating it for your own benefit. “I’m fine, I’m totally fine. Everything is fine.”

“You sound like stupid Deku. Every time he’s ever told me he was fine he was lying.”

You choked out a giggle against your will. “Yeah, he does that doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, he does. But unlike Deku you’re not stupid. You want to explain this little episode to me?”

“I’m just…stressed.” You sighed, explaining your situation to him.

He sat back, stunned. “Well no wonder you finally broke. Nobody can work like that. You have to have fun, you idiot!”

For such a nice sentiment, he said it awfully aggressively. He almost made you burst into tears again, but he seemed to realize his mistake, quickly softening his voice again as he floundered for something to say.

“I…you…I’ve never seen you cry before,” he said.

“Yeah, well, I do it. This may come as a surprise but I’m human too, y’know.”

His hands still rested on your thighs, and you looked up at him hesitantly, breath catching in your throat. You had, of course, noticed that he was pretty before. Sharp cheek bones, harsh blond hair, bright red eyes that dug into your soul. Somehow though, he had gotten prettier over the past couple of days as you had gotten to know him, gotten to understand him better.

Before, you had thought he was arrogant. From your conversations though, you knew better. He just cared about people too much. Cared about their opinions too much, feared rejection. You offered up a little piece of yourself in exchange for everything he had admitted to you.

“Remember what I told you about All Might being my favorite hero? I thought to be a good hero you had to always be smiling. You could never show weakness. Not anger or sadness or anything else. That’s why you’ve never seen me cry before. Why I’m always so happy go lucky. Because I have to be.”

There was a pause while Bakugou processed that information.

“That’s…stupid,” he decided. “You shouldn’t hold back on your emotions like that. You deserve to feel things. You can’t dedicate your life to other people like that.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m starting to figure that out.” You stared down at your bedspread.

You were shocked when you felt a warm, calloused hand brush your cheek. Bakugou hesitantly, tenderly wiped the last of your tears away, and you felt something in your heart flutter. You had known Bakugou Katsuki a long time, but you had never known him like this. Looking up into his eyes did nothing to dispel your butterflies when you saw how soft his gaze was. Something in you ached to be looked at like that, to be held in someone’s hands as carefully as he was holding you now.

“Can I…can I kiss you?”

You weren’t sure where the question had come from, and yet you were, because some time along the way of getting to know him you had realized something. Everything you had thought there was to hate about Bakugou was really something to love. Over the course of this project, you had done something extraordinarily stupid. You had developed feelings for a boy who would never like you back. Which was why his next words stole your breath entirely.

“Please,” Bakugou said, his words a sticky sweet, fervent plea.

You blinked, daring to look at him again only to find him wide open to you. He was leaning forward, a look in his eyes you could scarcely describe, a feverish desire overcoming him. His hand on your face twitched ever so slightly in anticipation as you leaned forward.

When your lips met his, you were surprised by the easiness of it. You fell forward into him, arms draped around his broad shoulders as he pulled you in, large hand wrapping around your waist, firm and capable. He tasted like burnt sugar, impossibly so, and it made your head spin, made you dizzy with the sensation. It made you hungry for him.

When he licked your lower lip, you let him swallow you down, hands blazing a fiery trail across your waist to your back, making the trip over and over and burning into you with their warmth. You tugged on his hair lightly, eliciting a moan from him that shot straight through your chest. You gasped into his open mouth, your clumsy kiss flipping when he slipped his tongue into your mouth. Everything became easier when you let him take over, let him pull you into his lap up against the hardness of his body and tilt your head to the side just so, pliable and soft in his arms. Kissing him became easy and natural, shivers running through your body as you surrendered yourself to the experience.

When he finally pulled away, you found yourself licking a mixture of your spit and his off your mouth, not even minding how profoundly gross that was. Normally you would have shuddered, but you were far too busy staring at him, mesmerized and breathless.

“You, uh…that was…that was really nice. And I think you’re pretty.” Bakugou coughed. “Do you want to go out sometime? Because obviously you need somebody to distract you from your homework, stupid. Look what you did. Made a mess of yourself.”

You ducked your head into his shoulder at his words, hiding your face and your embarrassment. “Yeah, sure. That sounds nice.”

He hummed, the sound resonating in his chest and traveling straight to your ear. “Can I…kiss you again then?”

“I thought you would never ask.”

#you guys have to tell me if there are any glaring mistakes in here it is the law #i was too tired to proofread it #mha #bnha #bakugou katsuki #agedup!bakugou #bakugou x reader #katsuki x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader

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miraculouscontent · 4 years ago

Photo

You’re getting one reply, my dude.

Chat Noir did NOT fall in love with Ladybug on first sight. It was kinda the same way as with Luka; she was little awkward and anxious at first, but later showed how amazing she is. This is what made BOTH Luka AND Chat fall in love with her. So I don't understand why you see Luka positively and Chat negatively.

“First sight” is referring to “first episode,” so “Origins” for love square and “Captain Hardrock” for Lukanette. That’s not even the issue

Also, no. Luka was charmed by Marinette before he saw how “amazing” she was (at best, he heard about the photo curse breakage from Juleka given that the “Reflekta” picture is hanging where Luka can clearly see it from his bed), and then he fell deeper with the whole, “that girl is incredibly brave” line, whereas Chat Noir only got big heart eyes and started being interested in Ladybug when she was doing “amazing things.”

Marinette disliked Adrien at first. That was due to the situation.

...Yeah? A very dumb situation and misunderstanding that led to needless drama and the briefest one-sided “Enemy to Friend to Crush” subplot that I have ever seen and still made the jump all the more jarring? Lukanette’s “problem” revolves around the love square existing, not misunderstandings that hold no weight or value (even Adrimi is guilty of this because Kagami thinks that Adrien loves Marinette; Lukanette is the only ship free of misunderstandings), which is why it’s so ridiculous to me when people say “you can’t ship Lukanette because Adrien/love square,” because shipping Lukanette (as with any other Marinette ship) would usually imply that the love square isn’t a problem anymore..

And he din't lie. Adrien said that he's never had any friends BESIDE CHLOE.

Ohohooookay, now you are literally lying about what is said in the actual “Origins” episode, or just not telling the full truth.

Because yes, Adrien did say that he’s never had any friends besides Chloe... to Nino.

Adrien: I've known Chloé since I was a little kid. I know she's not perfect, but I can't throw her under the bus. She's like my only friend.

But what does he say when it’s time to clear the air with Marinette?

Adrien: Hey. I just wanted you to know that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat, I swear. I've never been to school before. I've never had friends.

He tells her that he’s never had friends, yet he tells Nino that Chloe is “like his only friend” and will go on later in “Malediktator” to explicitly say that Chloe is his friend.

Adrien being Chloe’s friend in “Origins” was a huge dealbreaker for both Alya and Marinette, then Adrien lied to her and said that he’s never had any friends (which, I get it, a lot of people miss because I fully admit that the atmosphere in the umbrella scene is really good and you will miss it if you’re a heavy shipper not focusing on the details; you can say it a nicer way by going, “he worded it poorly” or “the writers are bad at dialog,” but the fact is that he told her something that wasn’t true), which started their relationship on false pretenses. It’s just like in “Gamer” where he exaggerates (whether intentionally or otherwise) to fish for someone’s pity/sympathy/forgiveness.

Adrien has tried and actually confessed his love to Ladybug. Ladybug knows that Chat loves her. Marinette has never gotten the chance to do that. She's also sending mixed signals when she panics.

So when Marinette would have the chance to confess, she doesn't and instead denies it. This isn't her fault, but it does mean that Adrien can't be sure. She's told him that she's not in love with him. So you can't really compare Chat and Marinette.

Yes I absolutely can and I absolutely will, because Adrien not being sure about how she feels sure didn’t stop him when Ladybug has repeatedly pushed him away when he’s leaned close to her/tried to kiss her hand. Like, wow that’s sure interesting how “Marinette might love someone else, maybe these hearts are friendly” (because yes, he would absolutely be dense enough for that) didn’t stop him from confessing to her in “Chat Blanc” the instant he thought she was Ladybug.

Same with “Stormy Weather 2,” he doesn’t even consider the what ifs of if she were in love with him and what his reaction would be, and “Weredad” is basically a full confirmation that he’s not interested in her. He’s basically like, “Meh, she doesn’t love me, so it doesn’t matter.”

Ladybug also hasn't said ,,I don't feel about you that way". She kind of talked around it because she doesn't want to hurt him.

My dude, my bro, my guy, don’t be in my inbox to come at me with arguments unless you’re ready for me to pull out the transcripts.

Ladybug in “Glaciator“: Listen, I don't wanna play around with your feelings. It would be the same as lying to you. I don't wanna do that. You're more than a partner, Cat Noir. You're my friend. And I'd never wanna lie to a friend.

Cat Noir: Why do you think it'd be lying?

Ladybug: Because there's this boy I...

Adrien later, a direct confirmation to the audience that he’s aware that Ladybug doesn’t feel that way for him: Perhaps Ladybug will love me someday. I mean, like I love her.

Ladybug in “Frozer” because clearly that message didn’t get through anyway: I can't accept this rose from you. I told you already. I'm in love with someone else. (after which he asks about “what if this guy didn’t exist” which means literally nothing and is just him reaching unless he’s planning to enact a murder which he obviously isn’t)

Ladybug in “Ladybug” because he’s still hoping for no reason: But the real Ladybug's heart still belongs to someone else.

Ladybug again in “Miracle Queen”: I can't be in love with you Cat Noir, you know that.

Seems pretty clear to me.

Besides, it wasn't the fact that Marinette confessed nor the fact they knew their identities that the world ended. It was because Gabriel was still Hawkmoth, so he manipulated the situation to his advantage.

Yes? And then Chat Blanc told her that “our love did this,” which puts blame on Marinette. That’s my point (though I’ll let Chat Blanc off the hook for that one since he’s akumatized... however it still doesn’t make much sense as to how he knows that Gabriel saw him transform unless he knew that Gabriel was watching from somewhere (it was Nathalie and Gorilla actually); he could’ve just presumed that Gabriel had known for a while, there was no evidence he saw that told him it was him transforming into Chat Noir in front of Nathalie and Gorilla that tipped Gabriel off and it’s also super unfair to blame Marinette for it anyway when it was Gabriel behind this whole thing but sure, just make Marinette feel at fault for the world almost ending).

Because that’s what the love square is all about; making Marinette feel bad about liking a boy, Marinette being humiliated for trying to confess to said boy, the universe constantly sabotaging her whenever she manages to do something right, having Marinette reconsider her feelings for Chat Noir AND blush at his cheek kiss after he ditched her as Adrien (presumably; we never saw Gabriel tell Adrien he couldn’t go and Chat Noir made plans with Ladybug as if he planned to ditch them even if Gabriel didn’t do anything) to go prepare a date with Ladybug (wow that sure is interesting how we don’t get an equivalent moment for Marinette from Adrien in “Chat Blanc” at the end, almost like they only care about making Chat Noir feel good about himself and not Marinette), then get mad when Ladybug doesn’t show up even after she tells him that she has prior plans, throwing a tantrum mid-battle and forcing her to apologize first before he’s finally like, “no... I’m sorry,” and then has the gall to add, “Maybe another time.”

Adrimi didn’t need to exist to torment Marinette. The love square already does a good enough job of that and I despise its very existence in all aspects of the writing.

Chat Noir got his damn closure, he just refuses to give up on the very first girl he saw when he went out heroing (I thought he just wanted to make friends but I guess he decided that wasn’t enough for him and “making friends” was immediately sidelined in favor of chasing after “his lady” (ugh)), who he doesn’t know the likes/dislikes of, who he can’t know the identity of, and who he can’t see all parts of because she has to maintain a professional attitude or everyone in Paris is going to die.

Marinette still hasn’t gotten her closure, so it’s no wonder to me why she’s still pining and struggling, especially when people like Alya keep pushing for the love square even when she asks her for help seeing Adrien as a friend.

#category: salt #relationship: love square #other: ask and answer

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gisachi · 4 years ago

Note

Hi ^^ I know that your requests are now closed but I was thinking that, given you have written jealous Shinichi, I would very much enjoy some jealous Ran! Maybe you can mix it with one of the prompts? Just throwing the idea out there, no pressure. Delete this if you don't feel like it, it's okay really. Thank you for writing these amazing fics, the shinran fandom is in your debt. ❤️

So this is the last (!!!) and longest (!!!) of the kiss prompts, and I dedicate it to multiple-requests Anon and to this Anon. I hope both of you still see this. It took me a while. ^^;;

P.S. Special thanks to @artycreaty for keeping this in check. You are awesome. 🥰

41. Kisses shared under an umbrella. 46. A lingering kiss before a long trip apart. (6,489 words)

Ran keeps telling herself she has no right to be jealous.

She has hundreds of reasons not to. They’re merely childhood best friends. Life would be much easier if she didn’t involve herself in his business twenty-four seven. Shinichi absolutely doesn’t look at her that way. And so forth.

She wonders why they’re even friends in the first place. If their parents hadn’t enrolled them in the same kindergarten, she was certain they wouldn’t even be on speaking terms. He lives in a world of grisly books and crimes, she in a world of martial and visual arts. Their hobbies don’t overlap. They excel in different fields. They enter the same university with completely unrelated majors. The only bond they have in common is their shared history. Literally bonded since they were four, until now at nineteen.

So when she sees him all jolly around his newfound circle who hold the same interest in Holmes or detective work, it shouldn’t surprise her as much. It’s part of university life, it’s normal, they expand their horizons, and Ran understands that it hits much differently when they bond with people who like the same stuff they do. Something she’s aware they cannot share a hundred percent.

She’s proud of him, and she absolutely has no right to feel jealous, especially when she sees him around taller, prettier, more interesting women from his course block. There is no reason for her to look away with a heavy weight in her chest everytime the women get giggly and touchy while he’s absorbed in narrating his stories.

Everytime she does, she reminds herself of how he didn’t seem to mind when she was casted as the protagonist of their high school play and the leading man was the handsome Araide-sensei. Or how he simply shrugged when she fawned over the brother of a classmate because he looked so much like the karate senpai she was crushing on. Or when she secretly caught Sonoko dragging the detective behind gym after P.E. to confront him about his opinion regarding an upperclassman courting Ran and his only response was, ‘She can like whoever she likes, Sonoko. I’m not her boyfriend.’

He never showed her any sign of jealousy, therefore he must not be into her. Simple as that. So it’s unfair for her to be treating him differently. Getting snarky just because he received sixteen new fan mails again, more now that they’re in uni, and two even coming from the popular criminology seniors he is often teased to? Or ignoring him unprecedentedly just because his eyes followed the back of a woman with long chestnut hair and voluptuous curves? There are plenty of fish in the sea, and he’s bound to be attracted to someone else. This is a pill she ought to learn to swallow eventually.

Eventually.

“Shinichi-kun, you never told us about your scariest case yet, tell us about it?”

Kaori closes her notes and so do the other two girls across her, and Shinichi’s eyes twinkle. He truly seems to enjoy study sessions with the little group they made consisting of some of his and Ran’s coursemates because they love listening to his stories.

“At the top of my head is this murderer disguised as a bandaged man, and he targeted us one by one…” and so the detective drones. Ran pauses typing and reminisces quietly. Ah, that one from summer three years ago. I was almost injured by that crazy man during my sleep but Shinichi woke me up in time.

“Ran-san,” Shun, her friend and coursemate, mutters beside her, also stopping his typing to listen to the detective’s story. “It’s ridiculous how popular Kudou-kun is with the girls. He’s full of wild adventures.”

“Yes, he is,” Ran says, smiling. “He’s been a girl magnet ever since high school.”

She watches as Kaori inches closer to Shinichi, listening attentively, chin on her palm and flirtatious smile on her lips as the detective rants on and on.

For the third time that afternoon, Ran looks away.

Ran keeps telling herself she has no right to be jealous.

She does, everyday, but it’s hard when he smiles at her, cares for her, holds her in a way she’s never seen him do for anyone else. It gives her hope every time the girls cling to him but he never touches them back, whereas he automatically slings his arm over her shoulder because she’s afraid or cold or he simply feels like it.

Then again, maybe she’s giving herself too much credit. Perhaps it’s a free pass for being around him for too long. She even gets to spend time with him during weekends and holidays. It isn’t special because it’s normal.

And that’s all she’ll ever be, a normal girl in his eyes.

“Ran? She’s pretty special.”

Ran reacts to the mention of her name and catches Shinichi looking at her. “She appears quiet but she can kick anyone’s ass without breaking a sweat. It’s bad if you cross her,” Shinichi gloats with a grin.

“Oh my god, really? We can bring her with us then!” Kaori claps her hands in excitement.

“Ah... But she won’t like that,” he follows up, wary. Ran has missed the topic they were talking about and now she’s curious.

“But ghosts aren’t real and Mouri-san can give them a good beating!”

“Gh-Ghosts?” The color in her cheeks drains, eyes freezing at Shinichi who has probably already expected that reaction, for he sports that same look of concern as those times he had expressed whenever she joined him in his way-past-bedtime elementary school adventures.

“We’ll investigate an abandoned house I always pass by walking home,” Kaori explains. “Last night I saw a faint cigarette light at the second floor window. It might be a fugitive or a homeless person or a ghost, who knows?”

“You don’t need to come if you don’t want to, Ran,” Shinichi assures.

Gulping, Ran contemplates whether going with them will do her any good. It’s a nice change, it’s been a while since she last tagged with Shinichi in his cases. But she isn’t exactly proud of shrieking like a little kid in front of serious criminology majors who may feel like she’ll drag their covert investigation down if she joins.

“...I’ll pass,” she answers meekly, and his coursemates sulk except Shinichi, who offers her a smile of understanding.

“Man, I thought we’ll be able to see Mouri-san in action!”

“That’s ok, maybe next time. We still have Shinichi-kun!”

“Shinichi-kun will protect us, ne?”

“Hah. Right. Invite Hakuba too, use him.”

“Oh c’mooon, Shinichi-kun!”

Ran closes her eyes, struggling to zone their voices out.

In her silence, Ran ponders if she has made a wrong choice.

Ran has no right to be jealous. So it’s unfair for her to be treating him this way.

The following weekend, Shinichi narrates what happened in their late-night investigation. Hakuba wasn’t there so Shinichi was the only available guy as usual. Ran refuses to hear any more details, both of the haunted house and secretly of the girls chancing onto him during the investigation. Shinichi is puzzled.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Nah, just swamped with work.”

“On a Sunday?”

“Yes.”

“Want me to assist?”

“No.”

Her replies are curt from the couch of his house, not looking at Shinichi on the other end as she mindlessly cleans up her digital sketches. She hates how snappy she sounds but her brain is too absorbed with conjuring spiteful imaginations to even think of masking her annoyance.

“Ran, hey. Look at me.”

His low voice freezes her from drawing, and she slowly looks up to meet Shinichi’s serious eyes.

When this happens, she knows he’s reading her. She inwardly chants a prayer because now isn’t a good time. Whatever time isn’t a good time. She doesn’t know what to say when she’s aware everything she’s been feeling is irrational and unfair. She’s being selfish.

“You’re… stressed.”

“No, I’m… Eh?”

He scoots closer, an arm’s length away. “Your dark circles are more prominent now, you need a break.” His eyes turn a soft blue. “Let’s have dinner out? My treat.”

Ran is surprised, to say the least. The last time he invited her out was two weeks ago. She’s become so used to seeing him around others that any initiative from him sounds too good to be true.

“But I need to finish this project by tonight.”

“Let’s have food delivery then!” Shinichi announces, not rattled by Ran’s indirect refusal. “I know exactly what you want. Ramen and shaved ice.”

Her eyes thin at the absurdly goofy expression she knows he makes when he’s being mischievous. “Clearly you’re ordering that ramen for yourself. I only like shaved ice.”

“Damn! Miss Detective gets it.” A mile-wide grin stretches across his face, earning an eye roll from the half-smiling woman. “Let’s eat together on your short break, please?”

He leans within a respectful distance and she sees his smile better, pair of kind eyes locking with her overworked ones. “It’s been a while.”

Her heart throbs for him. So much.

She caves - of course she does - and breathes her acquiescence.

After two long weeks, they have dinner together, just them and Shinichi’s ramen and Ran’s donburi and shaved ice, Shinichi taking a spoonful of dessert from the cup when she isn’t looking and Ran snatching a slurp from his take-out bowl and laughing when he catches her.

With how heartfelt his laughter is in her presence devoid of any mysteries, Ran knows she’s probably giving herself too much credit, but for once she wants to believe she is the cause of why Shinichi’s happy.

Just for that night, she gives it to herself.

She’ll change the dark colors of her digital artwork to brighter ones after they eat.

Despite everything, Ran finds it difficult to contain her recurring jealousy.

The more she shares precious time with him, the more it gets harder to suppress the selfish emotions. What is so unsatisfying about being the best friend is that she is only the best friend. No more no less. At the end of the day, she isn’t the one he gets to cuddle with, to tease then kiss, to tell ‘I love you’ to, romantically.

“I love you.”

Ran feels her heart about to leap out of her chest.

“But please. Stop. Tearing. The. Cushions!”

The little furball he has scooped underneath a throw pillow wiggle from his grasp. The kitten and detective engage in a brief staring showdown before it jumps away to hide under a farther couch.

Snapping out of reverie, Ran watches her childhood friend slink dejectedly onto the partly scratched furniture. He’s fortunate enough that his mother isn’t around to give him a long lecture on Why Pets Aren’t Allowed in the House 101. She can always take Yukiko-san’s role and reprimand him for it, but as for this and the cat, she finds herself not wanting to intervene.

“Kaori-san sure is taking her time with her parent’s permission. By the time she does, Momo would’ve shredded all the pillows in this house.”

“You named the cat?” Ran asks, amused.

“She did.” He thinks for a moment, then sniggers. “Actually I did. I suggested a random name. She took it.”

Ran merely hums. What can she say? They’re getting close. Close enough to team up as parents to an adopted kitten.

“I’m surprised you also agreed to keep Momo when you never took in animals before.”

“Kaori said she’ll treat me to the latest Detective Samonji movie this weekend if I do. Can’t resist that.”

“Just you two?”

“Yeah.”

A beat. Then he turns to her.

“Wanna join? I can ask her to count you in since you’re kinda helpi—”

“N-no need,” Ran quips, “It’s—It’s fine.”

“No really,” Shinichi insists, “Kaori-san has a lot of money, she—”

“I’m going to Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum with Shun-san this weekend... so... I can’t.”

“Ah.”

Silence.

“It’s, um, for a project,” she bolsters.

“I know.” The faintest smile graces his lips. “It’s your thing. Both of you.”

“Mm.”

He doesn’t say anything else after that.

“Shinichi, you’re a detective, right?” she blurts out of the blue.

“Yeah...and?”

Then deduce what I feel. Here and now.

“Then you’re going to enjoy that movie!” Ran forces a beam, giving Shinichi a thumb of approval. “And you can discuss it with Kaori-san over dinner. I’m sure you two have a lot to say about it.”

Shinichi’s eyes linger on her, reading her like a book, and Ran has her mind reeling again, afraid to be read.

“Yeah, we do,” he finally says, ending the conversation.

Only a few words are uttered the rest of the afternoon.

Momo resurfaces and curls beside Shinichi.

Momo’s purring is loud, but Ran’s shattering heart is louder.

Ran must not feel jealous. She is not a girlfriend.

Because she isn’t a girlfriend, he’s free to fall for and date anyone else. Who is she to gatekeep him? There are plenty of fish in the sea, and he’s one big catch. Ran believes she’s a big catch, too. With the way she loves dearly, her future boyfriend is going to be very lucky.

Her future boyfriend is not going to be him.

“...mber the required fieldwork in one of my majors I told you? We actually go by batches. The first batch did theirs last month. The second batch was last week… and I— Ran, are you listening?”

“Ah! Yes,” Ran notices they have already reached her station and are now walking two blocks to her apartment. “Your fieldwork, right?”

“...Yeah,” he carries on. “I’m in the last batch... This whole winter break.”

“I see, I understand.” She smiles, getting what he means. No Christmas or New Year’s Eve together. The first time since they’re four. It’s fine, honestly. If it’s a required activity, then there’s really no way to go about it. She isn’t going to lash out just because she can’t be with him in her most favorite time of the year.

“And Hattori-kun and Hakuba-kun will be with you?”

“Hattori did his last month. Hakuba is in the previous batch. I’ll be stuck with the girls.”

Ran’s heart momentarily squeezes. “Where will your fieldwork be?”

“In Akita.”

Her pupils constrict. “That far?”

“Yes... so to cut on expenses, Kaori-san offered her house for me and the others to stay while we’re there—”

Kaori. Again with the tall, beautiful, intelligent Kaori. She bets it’s amazing to spend the holidays doing what he loves and with Kaori beside her, snuggling with him by the fireplace in a romantic snowy night and she might even confess, and it’ll be a great catch for Shinichi, and he’ll return with a girlfriend, and—

“Kaori-san is lucky.” The words flow out of her mouth, unbridled.

Shinichi looks at her. “Lucky?”

Ran remains quiet and keeps walking. It’s dangerous to say anything. She only has one thing in her mind and she doesn’t want to say it out loud. She has no right.

“Ran, hey.”

She doesn’t stop walking.

“Ran.”

She ignores his call.

“Ran… you’re jealous.”

She stops walking.

“Excuse me?”

“...You’re jealous…” Shinichi repeats quietly.

A contrast to his calm tone, his irises beset hers in the cold twilight and Ran attempts to shield herself but her bag and umbrella are in the way. She thinks of turning away but her feet are frigid like icicles, and Shinichi steps closer.

For the third time, he declares, “You’re jealous.”

Hearing her thoughts echo through his words renders her speechless.

It seems to take a moment before Shinichi’s brow arches, lips curl up as his eyes refuse to stray, and she hears a faint exhale even, like he’s exasperated, and suddenly he’s smiling - or is he smirking? sneering? - and...and...

It stings, is her immediate reaction.

For the longest time, she’d wanted him to take a hint. But if she had known this was how he’d react, she’d rather live a life having him oblivious of her emotional struggle. Dealing with that is more tolerable than witnessing him gaze her down in blatant mockery. He sneers as though he’s about to crack a joke and move on and forget such a laughable matter. That’s the last form of acknowledgment she wants for her honest feelings.

Heartbreak and shame and pain build up in her chest like a volcano closing eruption. Water begins to cloud her vision. She clenches her fist tight on her umbrella and Shinichi notices, and he takes another step forward.

“Ran…?”

“I am not, and you’re a fool.”

In a span of a breath, she’s sprinting in the opposite direction, tracing the path where they have walked, ignoring the distant yells of her name behind her. She runs and runs, and as she runs farther, with her thoughts muddy and breath short and dry, she wonders if she may have overreacted.

If he’s done that on purpose, screw him. If not, screw her.

After all, they are merely friends and she has no logical reason to act this way.

“Stop... running... will you!”

She hears heavy footsteps close in. It takes all the energy Ran has to prevent herself from turning her body around but his strong grip overpowers her.

“Let me go!”

“Why are you running?!”

“I can’t...deal with you!”

“Why? Was I right?”

“Right or wrong, it doesn’t matter!”

“Why doesn’t it matter?”

“Because I am your best friend!”

On another occasion, she would’ve successfully jilted away and run farther, but Ran is floored when he yanks her into a one-armed hug, so floored she drops her umbrella to the snowy ground.

“Stop saying that!” he hisses in her ear, frustration apparent.

“What are you— Let me go!”

He hugs her tighter.

“If you don’t let go in three seconds, I will screa—”

“I am happy!”

Ran stops struggling, eyes widening in shock.

Icy huffs tickle her neck as he half shouts, “I’m happy you feel that way!”

“You’re...You’re happy because I’m suffering?”

“What? No! I—”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? How?” The hurt in her tone is impeccable, prattling muffled against his chest as she spares him no moment to butt in. “You think I wanted to feel this? That I enjoy griping in helpless jealousy? And you’re rejoicing that I am? How full of yourself can you be?!”

“That’s not...You don’t underst—”

“I do understand! I understand that I am so incredibly stupid for catching this disgusting heap of emotions for an obnoxious, stuck-up deduction maniac that is my best friend and maybe it’s better after all that he never, ever sees me the way I see him!”

“Stop saying that, Ran!”

She thinks he has broken away, but he drags her back with an insistent tug, crashing his lips onto hers as she stumbles into his arms.

All willpower rippling through her disintegrates quickly like snow in high heat.

An impatient pop resonates as he separates, eyes slowly opening, breath thick and ragged.

“I know that is not how we explain things, but does that explain anything?”

She hears it. The madness. But more than madness, yearning bleeds through his voice so much that her frustration turns into physical pain. Blinded by an all-consuming ache, she tips her chin and presses her lips back against his, demanding for cure in the wrong place. Shinichi freezes, then relaxes. He moves his hand to her nape, four fingers in her hair, thumb treading her jaw.

They look like a scene in a movie.

Under his umbrella and hidden from view, they communicate through brushing lips and tilting heads. His mouth closing over hers with gentle force, her hands splaying across his chest, heavy with something that makes his heart pound under them.

She is so lost in the chase and his tender embrace that for a second she forgets she is kissing her best friend.

Best friend.

This doesn’t explain anything. It worsens it.

She pulls back, ending what she has so recklessly started. “N-no, I’m— No.”

She pushes him away, gathers the stuff she drops, and runs without looking back.

“Ran!”

He shouts her name. Twice.

On the third call, his footfalls die down. On the fourth, he stops running.

She doesn’t.

Thirty minutes before midnight, Ran stands outside his gate, boots buried half foot under the snow as she rings his intercom for the second time, thinking to herself how foolish she must be to cut communications with him for a week and then show up his doorstep looking miserable like a stood-up date.

It’s the start of winter break.

He’ll leave for Akita in ten hours.

She needs to give his Christmas present before his departure.

She’s crazy, pathetic, still frustrated, and hurtfully in love.

“Oi. You better have a good explanation for why you’re buzzing at goddamn midnig—”

“Shinichi.”

His surprised gasp is apparent even through the intercom. A rustle follows and with a croaky voice, he responds. “...Ran.”

Surely he isn’t expecting this. Not after the tantrum she threw days ago. He probably thinks she hates him more than ever. But what she truly feels is more overwhelming than all negative emotions combined, and may god grant her all the strength to address it all, tonight.

“May I come in?”

“The house is—The house is a mess I, um. I’m packing my stuff for...”

“I’ll help you.”

“...”

She’ll understand if he decides to turn her down. But the answer that follows the deafening pause is a low and quiet ‘Okay’.

Despite psyching herself hours before she came, courage wanes when he opens the front door and gate in his pullovers. She is welcomed in, and the trip up his room is wordless. Shinichi only talks when he points out that he’s already packed clothes for two days and will need help for two weeks�� worth. He lamely laughs when he instructs her to pick the tops and layers, and he’ll take care of the pants and underwear.

On a normal instance, she would’ve humored him and they would’ve been talking right after. Now she simply pulls an empty smile and then they fall back into silence.

She supposes he’s trying to act unbothered, to treat what happened a week ago as a one-and-done glitch in their friendship, never to be discussed again. She cannot fault him when she’s trying to do the same. But it’s not easy when in the stillness of the night the echo of their altercation howls, raging persistently in their ears.

What has he been thinking of for the past week?

Has he been kept up all night by the words she said and the words he left unspoken?

Are they still friends? Will they still be friends after this?

The kiss... What about the kiss?

So many questions. So little words. So little time.

Ran is seated on the floor, folding shirts and stuffing them neatly in his duffel bag. Her back faces Shinichi who is sorting out bottoms in his cabinet. She senses him sit on the floor, back against her but not touching. Neither dares to speak first.

A ringing phone cuts the silence.

“Mm, still awake. Good for two weeks right? Gotcha. No, I’ll meet you girls at the station, no need to fetch me. Pfft. I can walk. Ok, see you tomorrow.”

If Ran wasn’t so hyperaware of where she is and what she’s done, her mood would’ve shifted to the one she’d been trying to avoid. Now isn’t the time to think about that. Midnight sneaking out to go to his house is something she wouldn’t do even on good days. She scans her bag on the far couch, deliberately bringing a bigger one to hide his gift. Maybe she can just sneak it in his bag and leave once she’s done and he’ll discover it only when he’s prefectures away. Brown has always suited him, and he’ll definitely find the overcoat useful as spare protective gear.

That’s right. She always cares for him like this. She is his best friend first, and... and nothing second.

“Don’t just leave after putting your present in my bag. At this hour, I can’t let you walk home alone,” he says swiftly.

Ran’s eyes fly wide.

“How did you…”

He doesn’t say anything and continues with his business.

Again with the throat-drying silence.

Something in Ran’s gut compels her to speak, but she is surprised when he does first.

“I... I don’t like Kaori-san. If that’s what you’re thinking.”

Ran stiffens, pausing mid-motion from folding. “I’m not…”

He leans his back completely against her and she shudders, voice reverberating through her skin. “Ran, if you could just hear me out.”

Unable to talk and move, she does.

“Kaori-san and the rest... They know I love mysteries. They know I want to build my own private detective agency. They know my favorite Holmes’ story is The Sign of Four. They know how many crimes I solved in Tokyo. All the information about me which anyone can read from the internet and newspaper and from what I told them when they ask, they know. Ran, you know all that. All that and more.”

He angles his head to the ceiling as if he’s talking to someone there. Ran supports his weight, curling to her knees as she silently listens.

“You know of my first ever deduction because Christ, my first deduction was about you. You know of the two cases which haunt me until this day because I watched the culprit die in front of my very eyes. You were with me the nights I locked myself in here thinking about them. You know of the interesting, the boring, the absurd cases, everything, because I told you or you were there. You know of the odd way I play the violin while I ponder over a case. You know I forget to eat when swamped with new books to read. I have three copies of The Sign of Four but the one I keep beside my bed and read almost weekly is the one you gave me on my tenth birthday and that is all I need. You know me for me, Ran. Everything about me that is off the record, the good and the bad, you know all of those. Only you. The same way I do... about you.”

She feels him crane slightly to the side, addressing her.

“Ran.”

“Mm.”

“I love you.”

Ran’s heart almost completely stops beating.

“I love you,” he whispers, “more than I am even supposed to.”

All words seem to have fizzled out of her vocabulary as she sits still, stunned at what she’s hearing.

“I’m happy growing up with you, studying with you, bickering with you, acting stupid with you, investigating with you, eating with you, napping with you, hugging you, holding you, taking care of you, simply... being with you. Before I know it, it’s not the cases or Holmes or mysteries that complete my days, it’s you.

“For you to keep repeating that ‘best friend’ phrase, I…” He lowers his head.

“For who knows how long, I’ve loved you as that and more.”

Someone pinch her because in no way can this be real.

“I was happy thinking you’re jealous because it meant a sliver of chance you feel the same way. We could’ve remedied the misunderstanding easily, Ran. We could’ve talked it over like we always do. But I was stupid and emotions were high and in the end I… kissed you…” he takes another deep breath, “But—but you kissed me back, and my heart couldn’t stay still...”

Pulse drumming loud, Ran tilts her head on the side where he leans, wanting to see the slightest expression he makes as he continues.

“If my deductions are wrong and you’re mad for a different reason, and—and you returned that for a different reason...” she hears the pang of remorse in his tone, “then please forget I ever said anything and I’ll leave myself to die in humiliation once I’m out of your sight.”

He lays one palm flat on the floor and she notices.

“But if my deductions are right and you were indeed jealous, I...” She feels his head swivel enough to feel his warm breath fan across her cheek, before shifting back front and releasing a slow, guttural exhale he’s kept contained within.

“I’ll wait... until you accept it. Accept me.”

Ran may have choked on her throat for how long she’s held her breath.

In spite of herself, she knows she doesn’t need to think of what to say. She had it all in her head before coming here. Yet expressing it out loud is a different matter.

She isn’t ready, but when will she ever be ready? Shinichi undoubtedly isn’t too. Yet here he is, laying the groundwork for her, no holds barred and a stuttering mess at that. How she plans to build from it is the question she asks herself next.

Inhaling as though bracing herself, she places a hand beside him, pinky slightly grazing his.

“I didn’t... You never showed any signs.”

Careful and calm, he extends his little finger over hers. She doesn’t flinch, and both hands crawl closer until two fingers overlap.

“Either I’m a great pretender or you’re incredibly dense.”

“I’m...I’m not dense.”

“I’m a bad actor, then.” He slides his hand further.

“I was trying so hard to be a supportive best friend for you.”

“I sensed that but ignored it because I didn’t want to assume anything.”

“You did though. Now we’re here.”

“Would you rather we aren’t?”

“I would rather we spend the last weeks of this year talking like normal than being stupid idiots before you leave.”

“It’s just two weeks, Ran.”

“Two special weeks I would’ve wanted to spend with my best frien-... with you.”

Without knowing it, his hand has completely nestled atop hers, four fingers curled between her thumb and index finger.

“Ran... You must really hate the idea of falling in love with me.”

“Eh?”

“You’re so wrapped with the thought that we’re simply best friends that you hold your love in chains as though it isn’t permitted to grow.”

“I… I didn’t want to ruin the only connection we have-”

“Two friends falling in love are still friends… They are also more. You cannot ruin an indefeasible connection. Friendship and love may be the only bond we have, but they’re the most important bond of all.”

Ran falls quiet.

“Geez…”

He releases a thick sigh, brushes his thumb across her splayed fingers.

“I have shit art appreciation skills, but I can take you to museums too... as a friend and as a date.” A beat, and a mumble. “Even to better museums than Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.”

She darts her head sideways, realizing something.

“Were you also…?”

“No.”

Ran doesn’t suppress the heartfelt giggle that bubbles out.

“Shun-san has a boyfriend, Shinichi.”

“I—” he pauses. “I wasn’t asking.” Ran giggles more.

“Shinichi.”

“Yes.”

“I love you too.”

The hand above squishes hers all too suddenly like he’s been blown away and is needing something to hold onto.

“I came here to give your present and to apologize for being so shallow and for acting without thinking and for a lot of things actually... but now I feel there’s no need, because then I wouldn’t have...” She looks down at their intertwined hands.

Before she can return his squeeze, he recoils.

“Oh, y-you do apologize. Running away like that.” He coughs, and she can practically hear the tripping in his tone.

“Aren’t you already used to it? I’ve done it many times,” she chides.

“No. Apologize,” he insists. “And look at me while you do.”

Ran’s stomach twists, heart kicking up a step.

It’s easy to talk without eye contact, but to be requested so after confessions are exchanged—

“Face me, Ran.”

The familiar voice of yearning strums her heartstrings, tone sounding a lot like a plea than an order and Ran finds her head instinctively craning at an angle, hand coiling on the floor trying to calm her nervous beating heart. She feels him shift behind as well.

She takes all her time to face him, partly unsure what to do, partly knowing exactly what she wants to do. Despite the deliberate slowness of their movements, it is when they lock eyes that time truly seems to stop.

Shinichi appears so different, so soulful. His blue irises glimmering, fixated on nothing but her as she reveres him with matching intensity. The same guy she treats as her best friend looks at her with tender love in his eyes, darting down her lips and up like no best friend ever would.

“I love you,” he says, breathless. “Make me your boyfriend.”

A wave of emotion sweeps over her, heartbeat fluttering in overdrive as they huddle on the floor, bags and clothes and time forgotten.

“From best friend to... such a shift-”

“Nothing will be different.” He rests his forehead on hers, gaze of soft blue patient though more intimate now, knowing what they share is mutual. “We’ll still do what we do... With exclusive romantic commitment and sweet nothings that translate to ‘I love you’ in more ways than one.”

She attempts a jab on his chest but he catches her fist, soft but jesting beam all too apparent and she does but play along.

“What about when we fight?” she asks.

“Same. But...” he slides a thumb over her quiet lips, parting them slightly, “I can do this once we make up.”

“...Like right now?”

“Like right now.”

A genuine smile is the last thing she sees before delicate pair of lips lands on hers, capping their one-week fight and their last night of the year together in the best and most unexpected way imaginable.

Ran keeps telling herself she shouldn’t be jealous.

Not because they are simply best friends, because they aren’t. Not because life would be easier if she didn’t involve herself in his business twenty-four seven, because it wouldn’t.

Not because Shinichi doesn’t look at her that way, because he does.

She shouldn’t be jealous because she absolutely has no reason to, is all.

“I haven’t forgotten about your present. I was planning to buy yours in Akita.”

“Stop lying, you totally forgot it.”

“I didn’t. Stop that.” Half-mast eyes rake her side profile, and Ran covers a mirthful grin with her mitted hand holding the umbrella, then yawns. Hours of packing and talking and laughing left them with roughly four hours of sleep. It isn’t like she slept the whole period because while sleeping in his room isn’t new, cuddling while they sleep is. Ran couldn’t simply shut her eyes and heart to that.

“I believe though,” he wraps a hand around her free one, pocketing both of them in his brand new overcoat, “I gave half of my present already.”

“Hnn. That doesn’t count as a gift.” Her hand shifted, coddling his own to a warm fit.

“Really?” A smug smirk pulls up his face. “I believe I am a nice present, Ran. That’s why they—”

“Screw this. You are unbelievable. A humbug. Why do people like you.”

“I know. Why do you like me?” Shinichi laughs as he avoids the swing of her umbrella.

From afar, they see Kaori and the girls at the meet-up point outside Tokyo Station, though they seem unaware of their presence yet. Suddenly feeling conscious, Ran feels the urge to disentangle her hand, but Shinichi holds on, firm.

“Why?” He asks in a low voice.

“I dunno… maybe this isn’t the best time…”

“Isn’t now the best time?” His smile is proud and natural, not one ounce of reluctance visible.

Although she gets what he means, that doesn’t free her of shyness and guilt. Somehow she feels like apologizing to Kaori for… she doesn’t know. She just wants to. Letting her see them like this makes her think that she’s giving her an indirect slap on the face. Shinichi certainly won’t agree because ‘What’s with women and their logic?’, but still, whether or not it’s all in her head, Ran needs more time to prepare for this.

But to her surprise, Shinichi lets go of her hand. They are still a few feet from view when he steps in front of her and turns around. “Maah, fine, I get it,” he huffs, then smiles. “Then, just give me your umbrella.”

The moment she does, Shinichi closes their distance and dips his face onto hers. Ran is given no leeway to gasp as loving lips seal her quiet. It isn’t as long as what they shared a week ago, but the emotions are loaded and full, speaking fond thanks and temporary farewell.

She doesn’t realize she has closed her eyes until he separates, and she’s met with the most tender, most angelic expression he wears only on the rarest occasions. He’s saying without telling that her feelings are valid, she doesn’t have to worry, and he doesn’t have eyes for anyone but her. Somehow, the snow is the sea and fish are swarming around but neither cares because they have already caught each other.

“You don’t have to, silly.” Three layers of pink blanket Ran’s puffy cheeks.

“But I want to.” Grinning, Shinichi hands her back the umbrella. “You don’t like hand-holding. You don’t like being seen. Don’t you think that’s a great compromise?”

“Idiot, many people saw...”

“No, they didn’t!” Upping the duffel bag slung on his shoulder, he steps back and gives her one last goofy beam. “I’ll see you next year, Ran. I’ll call as often as I can.”

Wordlessly, Ran watches Shinichi’s back as he jogs to his waiting companions, who by then have already had their eyes pinned on the approaching figure.

“That is Shinichi-kun! ...And Mouri-san!”

“Ehhh!!?! You’re a thing!”

So much for being subtle, Ran flushes inwardly as she returns the wave the other girls are giving her. At that moment she really does feel immature for her past conduct. All of them are sweet. Even Kaori.

“I knew it Shinichi-kun! Mouri-san is sooo lucky, I’m so jealous!” Ran hears their banter and sees her jab his bicep before acknowledging her. “We’ll take care of him, Mouri-san!”

The Ran from one week ago would’ve had her heart crushed by such declaration, but now she’s nothing but pleased and the smile that forms across her lips is nothing but honest. “Make sure he doesn’t drag your group into a random dead body, Kaori-san!”

“Hey!” surfaces Shinichi’s shout amidst the mincing laughter of the group and the onlooking passers-by, and Ran bids her last wave before they enter the station.

Smiling to herself, Ran returns home, the lingering promise of his kiss committed to memory, knowing that she doesn’t have to get jealous because she has no reason to. Their indefeasible bond is all the assurance she needs.

#shinran #kiss prompts #fanfic #lmk anon(s) if you see this and if you do then yaaay #thank you for requesting!#and thank you for reading!#:')#I have a love-hate relationship with this fic #it's only supposed to be 4 scenes #oh well it is what it is lmao #it's ok ig since this is the last (awww) from the kiss prompts!#😌#I tried so hard with a jealous Ran haha #jealous fics are good reads but writing them is hard :O

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shelby-love · 4 years ago

Text

HARGREEVES SIBLINGS

What Brings us Together: Funerals

Requested: yes [x]

Prompts: none

Warning(s): none

Word count: 3.5K

Author’s note: I hope this is what you wanted. You didn't specify what kind of interaction we should have w our siblings so I just went off what was most realistic. Luther is a b of course, that's just how he is at the beginning lol. Don’t think I hate him though! p.s. so is diego we know he wasn’t really nice to vanya in the beginning :(

You sighed heavily through your nose, gathering your brows in distaste at the building standing tall in front of you. The Umbrella Academy looks as imposing as ever, making you remember just how much it once scared you when you were a kid.

Time went by and you became an adult. Someone with common sense, living an ordinary life far away from your once bright future that suggested money and luxury. Of course, when you’re informed of your father’s passing through a TV screen, it’s mandatory to show up and pay your respects.

You snorted at the rogue thought. “Bastard.”

Seeing your siblings after so many years of being apart made you feel anxious. Your father and his ashes weren’t the cause of your sweaty hands. It felt weird. Too weird.

But you ignored the feeling and called out your inner adult, placing one foot in front of the other and walking straight through the two-winged doors.

Your eyes fell on every surface of the academy, sweeping over every object while doing so. The number of memories, good and bad, that this place held was uncountable. But life, alas, is too short.

Your father a true example.

You gazed at the portrait with no emotion, looking at the picture of your father and siblings with a crooked smile of sadness. The tips of your bare fingers flickered with energy, and you fought the urge to curl them into a fist and punch a wall.

But your father's voice rung through your head, what you've been taught all your life bucking into instinctive actions. "You must know self-control Number Eight. You lack of it will be your downfall. Now put your gloves back on!"

You were 4 when those words big words started to leave his mouth, and you never heard the end of it. Not until he died.

You uncurled your fists, took a deep breath and felt the energy cave in.

"Y/N? Is that you?"

The sudden sweetness of a voice that belonged to your sister travelled into your ears, so quietly you almost didn't hear her. Your eyes widened slightly, and when you turned around – for a moment you didn't know what to do. The girl had turned into a celebrity, and you wondered if that had changed her in any way.

"Allison?"

She took a few sharp steps your way and wrapped her arms around you, pulling you in a bone-crushing hug you returned immediately.

"You're not wearing your gloves," she took note, looking tentative to touch you for a second after pulling away.

"I don't need them anymore," you stated proudly.

Your father graced you with leather gloves at the age of 4, telling you to never take them off. That in a way, you and the powers you possessed were a danger to your siblings. The dark leather gloves weren't comfortable, in fact, they felt suffocating every time you wore them. Because that's how silencing your powers feels like. Suffocating. For a second too short, you had wondered what Allison felt like. Not being able to use her voice for what it was made for.

"Well, I'm happy for you," said Allison, wrapping an arm around your shoulders. "You never really liked them."

"No," you agreed with a mumble. "No, I didn't."

The two of you walked out of the hall and into the living area, legs paired with pace.

"Where is everyone?" You asked her quietly, your eyes inspecting an antique you knocked over as a kid more times than you could count.

"Diego is here, somewhere," she mused, and you raised your brows ever so slightly in surprise. "He has this weird hero complex, so he's out saving the world, I guess. Apart from us three, no one’s here yet."

"Do you know when he'll be coming back?" You wondered out loud, watching her give you an odd look a second later. "I haven't seen him in years, Allison. He's my brother."

A part of you wanted to tease her about Luther by saying that not everyone is into what they were, but you withheld it and instead locked your eyes onto your other brother.

Number Five.

"I missed you Y/N."

You smiled at her quiet voice, "Missed you too Ally."

***

"You know if I was murdered, and if one of my sons...adopted sons... happened to be able to commune with the dead, I might think about, I don't know, I don't know...manifesting!"

You attempted to stifle your laughter as you watched Klaus prance around your father's ashes in an attempt to talk to him. He wasn't sober, so you doubted it would work.

But it was pleasantly nice to see him try at least.

"I don't think he wants to talk," you interrupted him mid-vent.

You watched as his pacing stopped, his demeanor switching from crazy to collected in the seconds it took your voice to be heard. Klaus turned around slowly, beaming from one ear to another. "It's you! You're alive!"

His scream of joy brought a wide smile to your lips, and you rushed to his arms. Both of you screamed like little kids, telling how much you missed each other and how tragic life has been without one another. Making jokes on your dead father's account was overly present too.

"And you're high!" You squealed in delight, ruffling his crazy looking hair.

Klaus pulled away at that, swaying in a matter that looked like he was stretching before a run. He pointed his thumb at the ashes, "Dad's too stubborn. He won't talk to me."

"Did you try begging?" You asked amused.

"I-I guess…" He mumbled before groaning. "I'm too sober for this!"

Then his eyes snapped to you and a pout drew on his face. Klaus went to stand in front of you, grabbing your hands in his and placing them on his chest. "Y/N…"

You rolled your eyes but didn't remove them, "Yes, Klaus?"

"I was just wondering if you," He said gingerly. "You know…"

This time you did pull your hands away but placed them on his face. Teasingly you squished his cheeks like you used to when you were kids. "You want me to give you money, so you can go get high because your childhood trauma of being locked in a mausoleum catches up to you every time you're sober? Of course, I will. How much do you need?"

It took him a second to process your words. "Oh my God really?" Klaus whispered, almost as if he didn't believe that was happening.

"I tried it your way when I left -" you explained, pulling out your wallet and glancing at his stunned expression. "- to suppress my powers. It didn't work, and I continued to suffer. If that's what it takes for you to not suffer from them, I'll gladly help."

You handed him a wad of money but when he tried to take them you pulled away, "Just…be careful Klaus."

"Yeah of course I will," he replied absentmindedly before he turned his head to the side. "Shut up."

You furrowed your brows, "Did you say something Klaus?"

"Oh no, no, no, no, no," said Klaus quickly, a little too quickly. "I didn't say anything."

You hummed but swore you had caught him swing his leg at something too.

"Well, if that’s all…" you murmured, "I'll leave you to it then, I gotta go see Mom. Don't say hi to dad from me, okay? Don't you dare Klaus."

The sibling only saluted, turning around to get back to trying to reach your dad, securing the money into a pocket in his skirt.

"Hey! Wait!"

You stopped and turned back around. Klaus waved his hands at the big lone fireplace. "Can you do that thing, please?"

By that thing, he meant to say start the fire. You shrugged and walked back to the fireplace. The amount of time you lit it up for your siblings was infinite. It felt weird to do it now even though you light your fire at home with your powers all the time.

Fire comes out of your hands quickly and with ease in the shape of a golden ball, igniting the lone fireplace within seconds. You watched the inferno you created in a daze, only breaking out of it when Klaus came to stand in front of the fire to warm up.

"Love you Klaus."

"Awww I love you too sis."

You shook your head, turned and left the room.

***

"Heard you came from the moon." You mused, "Thought I'd stop by and see for myself."

When word spread that Luther was on the moon, you didn't quite believe it. Then you found out that he too came back to send your father off to the lands of the dead, and you just had to see him and ask for yourself.

It was no surprise to find him in your dad's office of all places, although at first glance he did look like an intruder. You felt yourself stiffen at the sight of a big man in a coat, looming over your father's desk imposingly. Power surged through your veins, and it took everything in you to stop it from overflowing in fear.

When your brother met your face, you exhaled in relief and a single candle lit in the room as a result.

Luther seized it, looking impressed. "You've gotten better."

"Cut the crap Number One," you snapped suddenly, the tone mainly coming from the fact that your powers activated because of the fear that came from seeing a completely new version of your brother. "First of all, what happened to you? I thought Diego would turn out like that, not you."

He shrugged his massive shoulders.

"Second of all," you began. "What are you doing in dad's office?"

"Nothing," he said quickly.

Luther might look big and dangerous but the creases in his face give you all the answers you need. "You haven't changed a bit," you mused, leaning against the door. A part of you still felt young and that made you respect your father's words a little more by staying put. "Save for the…" You pointed to your torso for reference.

Luther noticed the way you eerily stood at the doorstep, contemplating whether to enter and break his word. "He's dead you know."

You shot him a look, "I know that."

"So, why don't you come in?"

You contemplated to come in, but in all honesty - nothing was of interest. You would much rather like to interrogate Luther and his whims.

"Is Allison really the only person you care about?" You asked him instead, the bubbled feelings you've been holding inside threatening to spill. It was rather hostile, the way you two met after years of not seeing each other. A big part of you felt angry at him for not calling you when things obviously went wrong somewhere. His body wasn’t a result of something natural, and you knew it. "I mean this as a sibling. Let's ignore the weird thing you two have for each other."

"We don-" he started, your seizing eyes stopping him mid-sentence. "Is it that obvious?"

You sighed, "Look Luther, I'm just trying to say…"

"No, you're accusing me."

"Of what?"

"You left. All of you."

You snorted, "You really want to do this right now?"

"I don't see why not."

"You're looking for something," you said instead, completely ignoring his words. "I won't help you find it nor will I try to lie if you ask me if I have it."

His ears perked, "Dad's monocle."

You chuckled, "That lame thing he always wore?"

Luther nodded.

"Why do you need it?"

"You said you wouldn't lie."

"I'm not lying Luther, I just asked you a question!" You told him. A thought washed over you when his eyes pinned you in, and you could barely even grasp it. "You think I killed him, don't you?"

"I didn't say that." He tried to reason, although he didn't move from around the desk to try and soothe you.

"You didn't have to," you said quietly, feeling tears gather in your eyes. "I see the way you look at me, brother. Ever since I hurt her-"

"Don't talk about her," he stopped you.

"Why the hell not?!" You exclaimed, "She's my sister you know. Our sister. You keep forgetting that."

Luther stayed silent after your outburst, probably contemplating whether to apologize, but you cut him from speaking before he could even start. "We were 7 Luther. I didn't know what I was doing. You think I wanted to take the air out of her lungs? She was going to rumor me Luther. I was scared."

It didn't really matter how much you repeated it to him, he never understood. His love for her goes beyond siblingship, as weird and disturbing as it was. Whoever hurt Allison became a monster in his eyes. "But anyway. I didn't steal that ugly thing. You can cross me off your list."

You looked around the office, ignoring the way Luther stood silently. The lack of light was obviously making it difficult for him to sniff around. You raised your hands in the air, watching as the tips of your fingers turned into flames. A satisfying sight, but a sight you didn't want to look at currently. With a swipe of your hand, you controlled the small blazes until they broke apart and landed at the candles, lighting up the room, so Luther can see. "Hopefully this helps."

You walked away from the office after that, not daring to look behind yourself in fear of breaking down.

***

You stomped across the academy, anger flowing off you in waves. Having your emotions tied to your feelings was never fun. The chandelier above you swayed under the wind that came from your anger and candles burnt out, the fire that came within them disappearing into your body.

"Y/N?"

Suddenly, the wind stopped, but your lip started to tremble instead. "Vanya?"

When you turned around, she stood awkwardly at the door. With hands in her pockets she glanced between the shaking chandelier and you.

It was obvious that she was uncomfortable, at least until she saw your relieved smile. "Is that really you?"

She smiled, "I-I guess."

You outright laughed, the outcome of Luther and yours argument disappearing from your mind completely when you hugged her. "I missed you so much."

"You did?" She asked surprised.

"Why wouldn't I?" You asked her, confusion crossing your features. "You're my sister. Come here."

You brought her into the hug again, feeling her hug you tighter this time.

"You're not mad at me?"

Remembering what she was talking about had you cringing ever so slightly in discomfort. You scratched the back of your neck, "I mean… I was. But not anymore, Vanya. I'm all passed that now."

"You are?" She asked, hopeful.

"I am," you nodded in confirmation. "We're here to say our goodbyes to Dad. You have every right to be here, no one can tell you otherwise."

Vanya stayed silent, so you quickly added, "And the book was good. Exposing, but good. I like your way with words."

She snorted, "Yeah I thought you would."

Beaming, you slung an arm around her shoulders just like Allison did when you first came. Unfortunately, in your dysfunctional family, no one has peace for long. Diego came striding down the stairs in his black spandex suit, looking as he just came out of an action movie.

Seeing you had his smile growing by a mile, but upon glancing at Vanya the easy smile vanished and was instead replaced by a scowl. "You're still here? I thought I already told you. You don't belong –"

"Diego," your hand raised in the air to halt his mouth. "Now's not the time."

He let out a humorous laugh, walking up to you to give you a kiss on the cheek. You didn't fight it, instead letting him kiss your cheek and squeeze your shoulder as a greeting after not seeing each other for years. "Good to have you back sis."

"Enjoy it while you can," you said. "Because I'm leaving the moment dad's ashes are spread."

"Oh, I bet," he mused. "I'm leaving too. You should go now Vanya, save us the trouble."

"Okay Diego that's enough," you interrupted, standing closer to Vanya this time round, hoping she sees your support through mere change of standing. "Why don't you run along and go save lives? I heard that's your life's call."

He rolled his eyes before glancing at your outfit. "That's an awfully bold color for a funeral."

"That's because I'm not dressed yet," you rolled your eyes. "Now, if you don't have anything nice to say, I suggest you leave before I boil you."

Knowing you don't give out empty threats, Diego nodded grimly and disappeared upstairs, not giving Vanya a glance of acknowledgement. "You know, maybe he's right… I should just go."

You shook your head immediately, "Absolutely not. Look Vanya, your book might've not been the best thing that's happened to us, but it certainly isn't the worst. He's just being snappish. That's Diego's factory setting."

She laughed, this time giving you a smile. Not a fake smile, but a real one.

You felt victorious as you wrapped your arm around her again, leading her into the living area for a catch-up.

***

"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?"

You and Klaus held to each other like little kids, not believing what, or who, stood in front of you. The little carbon copy of your long-lost brother swore under his breath, shocking you to the bones with the word ‘shit’. "I'm not high, am I?"

"I-I don't know," said Klaus awkwardly, "Do you feel high?"

"Klaus she's not high," Diego interrupted, standing in front of the group with Luther.

"You never know with her," Klaus tried to explain.

"Five is that really you?" You asked, ignoring the bickering that went all around you.

"Of course, it's me!"

"Oh God Klaus they even sound the same," you whispered, clutching Klaus' hand tighter.

"Look I don't have time to explain this all to you," the boy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose like an old man.

"The hell you do," Diego mumbled, eyeing him with menace.

Number Five (if that was even him) rolled his eyes and tried to push through and walk right past you. No 30-year-old - despite how shocked and curious they were - tried to stop him.

Save for you of course.

A lone vine flew from the wall under your command, wrapping itself around your brother's wrist in a vice-grip. Five eyed it nonchalantly, as if the sight amused him rather than intimidated him. "You do know I can walk right through that?"

You dared him with your eyes and mocked him with your mouth, "You do know that you've been gone for 17 years? I've evolved little man."

He bunched his brows together, almost as if he didn't believe you. To test his theory out, he urged his body to travel through space. You all watched as he walked straight through the air, coming out on the other end in a different part of the yard, not being able to move due to the vine's grip despite having travelled through literal space.

"Cute!" Five called out, walking back toward you using his power. "Now let me go."

"And why would she do that?" Luther asked, the inner Number One in him surfacing.

"Because I've got work to do."

"Five you're a kid literally," Allison objected, gazing over your brother's tiny body.

"You don't understand…"

"Maybe he needs a nap," Klaus mumbled next to you.

"I don’t-"

By not literal smoke was almost coming out of his little ears, his face reddened from anger, and he looked annoyed beyond understanding. "They're too young… I knew it."

You creased your brows, not understanding why Five was mumbling weird things into his chin. "You alright Five?"

He glared at you, "I will be… Once you get this thing off me."

You shrugged with a sigh, mumbling an okay and hauling the vine away from Five who shook his head in irritation. He wrapped a hand around his sore wrist, massaging it with his thumb to get read of the soreness. "Can't say I missed you and your crazy plants. Although you would've been a great addition to my adventures."

"What adventures?" You asked confused. "You’re 13."

Five sighed, brushing you all off with a sway of his hand.

Klaus was the first one to dash back into the house mumbling something about not being able to handle the weather, Allison following behind him carefully. Luther, who looked like a lost puppy, followed after your sister until it was just Vanya, Diego, Five and you left.

"I'm going to head inside," said Vanya awkwardly, disappearing inside quickly.

Diego gave Five a sideward glance but shook his head and left too.

"Elemental manipulation is exactly what we need to fight it."

You rolled your eyes, not quite believing that he forgot how elemental manipulation isn't your favorite thing. "Fight what Five?"

"The apocalypse."

"I'm glad you're back bro, seriously I mean it," You told him sincerely, "But you're crazy. I'd say get some help but…"

MASTERLIST

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✭ GENERAL TAGS (all WIPs):

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