#he helps kittens from trees and helps old ladies cross the street

[thethee]

could i interest anybody in this old superman/clark kent drawing

[vincentpriceofficial]

its honestly so funny how javert is always trying to arrest valjean but every time he catches him valjean is like its not a good time rn because i'm in the middle of rescuing a kitten from a tree or helping an old lady cross the street or donating a kidney to an orphan but as soon as i'm done with that absolutely i'm all yours

[writerfae]

Christmas movie AU Advent Calendar 🎄

Day 3: ✨Christmas Lights✨

Christmas special tag list: @bunnymermaidsblog @deadlycupid @dustylovelyrun @ladywithalamp @sleepy-night-child @theguywithnonickname

That Aiden guy was everywhere.

Talon kept bumping into him. Just like with everything Christmas related in this town, there was no escaping this man either.

Which is why Talon wasn’t at all surprised that he saw him again.

Good, he didn’t expect to see him on the porch roof of the Inn, right outside his bedroom window, but in this town he wouldn’t even be surprised if he’d encounter a flying reindeer there.

So why not.

That didn’t stop him from opening his window and asking: “What are you doing on this roof?”

Aiden startled for a moment and Talon already saw him slipping and falling off the roof because of him.

Luckily that wasn’t the case though and Aiden won back his composure within seconds, trademark grin appearing on his face.

“Ninja practice.”

Talon could only roll his eyes at that, which made Aiden laugh.

“I’m putting up some Christmas lights, Greta asked me to.”

Talon raised an eyebrow in question. “Even more Christmas lights?”

Aiden laughed again.

He should stop doing that, it made Talon’s heart do funny things and he didn’t want to deal with the implications of that right now.

Or ever.

On the other hand, he had to admit that Aiden’s laugh did sound quite nice….

“There’s no such thing as too many Christmas lights.”

Talon was tempted to disagree, but he reckoned it might be unwise.

In this town it was probably a great offense to criticize the Christmas decor and Aiden seemed to be just as much of a Christmas enthusiast as the rest of Woodside.

Aiden seemed to look through him regardless. “Not a big friend of Christmas lights, huh?”

Talon sighed, defeated. “Not a big friend of Christmas in general. Not anymore���”

For a split second the smile slipped from Aiden’s face, his eyebrows scrunching together before his expression went back to normal.

Then a mock offended gasp escaped his lips.

“Don’t let the others hear that, or they’ll have you beheaded,” he said, voice dropping to a whisper.

He meant it as a joke, clearly, but Talon wouldn’t put it past the people here to actually do this, so he grimaced.

Aiden chuckled. “Don’t worry, Mr. Scrooge, I will not tell anyone about your secret.”

Before Talon could decide on whether he should thank him or complain about the stupid nickname, Aiden continued.

“Under one condition.”

Talon groaned. Of course there was a condition. He should’ve expected that.

“What is it?” he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Aiden held up the fairy light he was holding. “Help me with those!”

Talon snorted. Going up on this roof?

No way.

Still he found himself on said roof beside Aiden anyway, fixating Christmas lights on the already very much like Christmas looking roof.

Greta had been delighted about Talon helping the other man. She even came by to compliment their work and bring them something warm to drink.

“If you work at the Café, how come you decorate the facade of the Inn?” Talon asked as they drank their coffee.

“I don’t work at the Café, not really,” Aiden admitted, taking another sip from his cup. “I just help Maya out there sometimes during holiday season because it’s always so busy in town then and she needs all the help she can get. We’ve been friends ever since kindergarten, so that’s a given.”

He smiled.

“And Greta is an old family friend, so I do her a little favor from time to time. Fixing something here, running an errand there,” he pointed at the Christmas lights. “Help her with decorating…”

So Aiden really was that kind of guy, huh? He probably also saved kittens from trees and helped old ladies to cross the street.

Definitely spoke for Talon’s theory that Aiden was actually a character that had fled from his very own Christmas movie to haunt Talon for always making fun of these kinds of films.

“And what else do you do all day?” Talon felt like if he went in just any random building in this town, he would find Aiden working there. Maybe he didn’t have one set job?

“Oh, this and that,” Aiden answered, smiling behind his cup. “But mainly I work at the Christmas tree farm with my dad.”

It took Talon all his power not to spit out his drink.

“The Christmas tree farm?”

Of course. Of fucking course he worked there. Talon should’ve known. Oh, this was the best and worst thing he had heard ever since he arrived.

“Yeah.” Aiden didn’t seem to want to go into more detail there, much to Talon’s dismay.

But he didn’t want to ask either to not seem suspicious.

Aiden put his cup aside and stood up. “Well, let’s continue.”

And they did, without Aiden losing another word about his job at the farm. He seemed to be a little more in his thoughts ever since their conversation. Talon wondered why, but didn’t comment on it.

“Aiden, dear,” Greta said when they were done. “This looks beautiful. Thank you so much.”

She turned to Talon. “And thank you, too, Mr.-“

“Talon is fine,” he interrupted her quickly.

He didn’t know why, but he felt like it was better that Aiden didn’t know about his last name. When he worked at the farm maybe he’d know about Talon’s company’s interest in the grounds of the farm.

He couldn’t risk that.

The old woman smiled. “Talon, then.”

Talon returned the smile, then he turned to the decorated Inn and he had to admit, it wasn’t all too bad.

“Your house looks very nice, Miss Greta,” he said and the woman’s smile grew even more.

“Thank you! But you should see some of the other houses here, they look even better.” She grabbed Aiden’s arm.

“Maybe you could show him around, boy, you know the best spots in town.”

Aiden smiled at her apologetically. “I don’t think Talon wants to-“

“I do,” Talon said. “I mean. I’d like to. If you’d like to. Yeah.”

Very eloquent, Talon, he scolded himself. But Aiden didn’t seem to mind. Quite contrary, he looked delighted.

“Great! Then let’s meet here tomorrow afternoon and I show you around town.”

Well, that would be interesting.

[cicidarkarts]

Joonam - Chapter 2: Noon Chai

< Chapter 1 | Chapter List | Chapter 3 >

He picked up the phone and held the receiver in his slick hand. The dial tone bleated at him. Part of him wanted to take it as a warning, telling him not to call, telling him not to drag her down into his mess. But she'd only be around for a couple of months. Anything that he dragged her into would be left in India after she was gone. At least, he hoped that would be the case as his quivering fingers input her hotel number.

He sat at his dining table, trying to keep his breathing steady as he waited through those shrill rings.

“Hello?”

It was her. His heart felt like it stopped working. His lungs stiffened like they were being crushed. He took a breath and everything worked once more. But now he'd waited too long to answer, hadn't he? His tongue flopped uselessly. He tried to force his words by first clearing his throat. 

“Hey,” he said, heart jumping at how high pitched he sounded. So he opened up his throat and lowered his voice until he found his normal cadence. “Hey. It's Idrees.” “Oh, hey! My hero! Finished helping old ladies cross the street and rescuing kittens from trees just in time to check up on me.” He wanted so badly to match her energy, have a conversation light and playful, but his unpracticed voice was weak and made his stomach lurch. “I have a very busy schedule.”

Her responding giggle made his nerves relax yet again. That laugh. He would have to hear it more. It was like getting a relaxing massage, or eating those first few bites of a delicious meal, and the aftermath kept him floaty and light.

“I called because, uh,” he started, hoping and praying that he'd keep up with her. “I actually cleared my, er, good Samaritan schedule and was thinking, um…” The steam was running out and fast. His nerves out lasted his vocal chords and he trailed off.  “You wanna go out sometime?” she asked.  He shot up straight and bashed his knee into the table. He bit down the pain to avoid it coming through in his voice. “Yes. I'd really like that. Was hoping soon since you won't be here for too long.” “Yeah! Tomorrow?” Somehow, his knee didn't hurt at all. “That would be great. I get off at four. There's this really small tea shop I like to go to called Noon Chai. It's, um, authentic.” “Ooh, now you're talking. I'd love to go, Idrees.”

With the shock of getting her number gone, he took in how she pronounced his name. She didn’t have a roll to her R, the I was much gentler—her pronunciation was clumsy and cute. He wanted to hear it from her lips and accent again and again. And hopefully he would very soon. He gave her the location and they agreed to meet up at 4:30.

“Great,” he said, his nerves betraying him with an anxiety-laden chuckle. “I can't wait.” Oh, he was coming on too strong, wasn't he? “Sounds like fun! I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Idrees!” That smile in her voice as she said his name had his hands soaked with sweat. He pushed through his constricted throat. “Bye, Cece.”

She hung up and he tossed himself back against his chair. His landline fell to the floor as he gazed at the ceiling in disbelief that their conversation truly happened. Not even that throbbing pain in his knee would bring him down. 

Idrees sat outside the tea shop on their crappy patio. Two chairs and what was basically a crate—“Al fresco” some tourist had called it. And when he found out what that meant, one of the employees, his friend Manu found it so hilarious that the nickname stuck.

But his memories and the warm breeze could only keep him occupied for so long. It was already almost 5:00 and they were supposed to meet at 3:30. Why hadn't she shown up yet? Had she forgotten? Even though they'd just spoken about it less than 24 hours ago…

His hands prickled. He couldn't blame her. Not just his unruly hair or unmanageable unibrow—his entire being radiated remnants of his past. He'd come to learn that women could sense that sort of thing. Cece was no different, surely. She felt his sins and decided it was best to never show back up in his life again.

Or worse, she was battered and broken on the ground, somehow, someway. His palms crept and his hands quivered. Some man hurt her; some man saw her—vulnerable and weak—and did horrible things, and he wasn’t there to stop it. He thought back to that creep at the bus stop. If he hadn’t been there— 

His hand shot into his pocket and snatched his bottle of sanitizer. His palms tingled like bugs crawled through his flesh. He doused them in the sanitizer and scrubbed, getting all over his dry palms and between the stiff webs of his fingers. The strong odor of alcohol wafted about him, familiar, safe, furthering the ease of his mind. His skin calmed. He glanced through the window to the clock again. 5:00.

Idrees sighed. No, she had to be okay. He'd just set his sights too high, that was all. If he'd just kept his head down and his mouth shut, he wouldn't have had to face her rejection. But he’d forced her hand, and now… He shifted forward in his seat, preparing to stand—

“Idrees!” called Cece.

His gaze shot up. She jogged toward him from the street, waving and smiling. And bouncing. If only time slowed down like on television. Yet he was still able to take in so many of her features in those short moments. Her thick locks flying behind her, her eyes shining bright beyond her glasses, and a poorly fastened shawl that slipped down her shoulder.

“I'm so sorry I'm late!” she said, reaching him and trying to fix her shawl. “The bus broke down and they said they were sending a new one and ten minutes passed and— Anyway, I walked here, so sorry if I look like a mess.” “It's fine. I'm just glad you're okay.”

She beamed and absently readjusted her scarf. Her unruly hair was a bit wild from her run but she fixed it after a couple of passes with her fingers. Thank goodness she hadn't stood him up or—he tried not to even think about it—gotten hurt. The date could've easily been him admiring her here in the street as she giggled and talked and ran her hands through her hair, but he figured that'd be a pretty lame date for her. So he motioned toward the cafe and followed her inside. 

The small building wasn't the most remarkable, as the stone floors were a bit dusty and the monotone bronze furniture a little cramped, but it was as local and authentic as she could get. The smile never left her face so he hoped she was enjoying it and not just being nice.

“Hey, Idrees!” The cafe owner, Kalidasa, called to him in Hindi.

Idrees greeted him back as he pulled out a chair for Cece to take. He sat across from her. There were menus on the wooden table in a little cubby and he took it out to read the options to her. Just a few minutes later, Manu approached their table.

“Hey, Idrees,” Manu greeted in Hindi. “Getting the usual today?” “Yes, and my friend will be ordering, too.”

He motioned toward Cece. Manu gave him a funny look and glanced over as if this was a joke, only to do a double take when he saw her. He smirked at Idrees, then gave a little bow to Cece.

“Ah, sorry, my English… not very good,” said Manu. “I didn't realize Idrees has… friends.” “Yes, yes,” said Idrees in English, too. “I get it.”

Cece gave Idrees a most sympathetic sort of smile—the same kind of smile he’d gotten far too often at work. He avoided her eye and stuck his nose instead into the menu, despite knowing exactly what he was going to get. When Cece tried to give her order in supremely botched Hindi, Manu struggled to keep it together. Her face was red halfway through. 

“I'm sorry,” she said in English. “I'm trying my best, I had to learn Hindi in less than a month.” “No, no,” said Manu. “Is not bad. Better than some tourists. You should hear some of the crazy—”

Kalidasa yelled at Manu to get back to work so Manu ensured their order was right and left to wait on another customer.

“Wow,” said Cece. “They all know you here.” “I come here now and again.” “It's been five years!” Manu called in English.  Kalidasa snapped at him again.  “Five years, huh?” asked Cece. “The tea here must be delicious.” “Well, when you don't have time to make your own tea, you end up coming to holes-in-the-wall. But I figured it's as authentic as it gets.” “Yeah, this is really cool! Going to a place that you know well is way more interesting than going to some shitty tourist trap.”

Their tea came out first and Manu teased Idrees in Hindi about his “unending smile”. Cece giggled behind her hand. Idrees gave him a dirty look and lightly kicked his shin, wanting to remind Manu that Cece did know some Hindi. But Manu already had an awkward expression and was scratching at his nose. He clearly got the uncomfortable message before heading back out to work. Occasionally 

“Not very smiley?” she asked.  He stirred a sugar packet into his Assam tea. “What makes you say that?” “Well, your coworker for one. She told me you rarely smile for anyone.” His face grew hot and his heart leapt. “Did she now…” “Oops, did I get her in trouble?”

Though he knew it was a simple joke, there was still a part of his brain that couldn't stand the notion of it. He tried to laugh it off, but he guessed his chuckle sounded forced or uncomfortable given the way her grin fell. They thankfully had no chance to discuss it as Manu returned with their food.

Cece looked too adorable with her overflowing excitement. He hadn't found much joy in the food and tea here lately, but his apathy slowly dissipated in the wake of her enthusiasm. That zest for trying new things would rub off on him, he feared. The way her eyes sparkled as she devoured her raj kachori—a far cry from his classic and rather boring dal chawal—wasn’t helping.

“This is so good!” she gushed, a cheek still stuffed. “So much better than takeout where I’m from. I’m so jealous; India seems way cooler than America.” “I wouldn’t know since I don’t know anything about America.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie. He hardly thought warring troops taught him anything substantial about American life. “Do you like living in India?” she asked between crunching bites of food.  “Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “It's fine. Peaceful enough where I live. Is it peaceful where you live?” “Oh, it's gorgeous. Forest all around, off the main road, so I'm surrounded by nature. It's the only place I can stand living.”

It was so strange to him seeing someone revel in solitude. He couldn't think of anyone else who would willingly isolate themselves. Whenever he trapped himself alone in his apartment, his mind wandered far too much. Having someone beside him, to distract or even console him, sounded like too much of a blessing to throw away. Though even he had to admit the constant chattering and bike engines humming grated in his ears on some of his worst days. 

“Besides,” she continued, “it’s best for me to live alone. No one wants to hear my terrible singing.” “I do!” called Manu as he passed. “Are you any good?” Idrees asked. Because if you're not—” “Hey, woah, woah, I'll have you know that I'm incredible. Here, listen to this, you nonbeliever.”

She proceeded to sing the worst rendition of a kid's song he'd heard, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Luckily, just the first few lines. Even though it sounded terrible and grated in his ears—and a customer that walked in during it walked right back out—and it made Manu slow clap in the silence that followed—there was something endearing about it. Idrees couldn't imagine singing so poorly and off-key on purpose without some mastery over his voice that he didn't possess. Still, he joined in Manu's mocking slow clap.

She bowed her head. “Thank you, thank you, you're a wonderful audience.” “You're scarin’ my customer off!” called Kalidasa in Hindi. “Sorry,” she apologized, holding down a giggle with her cheeks turning red.

But the customer peeked his head back in.

“That was… great,” said Idrees.  “Thanks! Been honing my skills for a long time.” “What, like five minutes?” She laughed, and it gave his stomach butterflies to be the funny one for a change. “No, try twenty-some years. I've always loved to sing. Bet that made my mom real happy, given she named me Cecelia after the patron saint of music or some shit. Wanted me to sing in our church choir. She's lucky I love a captive audience.”

Maybe it was the way she cussed a lot, or that she was dressed in all-black despite the scorching weather, but Idrees couldn't imagine Cece at a church. The very thought of it made his palms creep and tingle.

“So you're religious?” He must've been on fire today because she laughed again. “No way, and it drives my mom insane. Nah, I've always been ambivalent to that sort of thing. That said, I can sing a mean Noel.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed hold of her straw. “It's a curse.”

There was a lull in the conversation as she drank. He didn't really know what ambivalent meant, but her not being religious sounded about right. She didn't seem the type to care. Weight that had crept up on his chest disappeared then, letting him breathe a bit easier, but that tingling was still there. He tried to will it away, tried to ignore it, but then…

“What about you?” she asked. “Figure we already went there. Are you religious?” “I…” His palms crept and the tingling traveled up his arms. He couldn't ignore it. It would overtake him if he tried. His hand dove into his pocket and he grabbed the hand sanitizer. He squeezed about half a palmful out. “I don't know.”

Her playful face fell to a frown and her eyes wandered as she took another sip off her straw. He couldn't blame her. Who would want to watch his shame? Who would want to observe that his only salvation, the only thing that kept his body and mind calm, was the sanitizer—its fumes, its feeling. But before he had a chance to put it away, Cece came back to him with a gentle smile.

“I completely get it. It's touchy, right? We can talk about something else. Something more interesting, like…” She assumed a cute thinking pose—finger under her chin, eyes gazing toward the ceiling, slightly squinted as though in deep thought. Only to then bust out, “What's your favorite animal?” “Oh. Umm…” Such a simple question caught him off guard. He'd never really thought about it. The longer he hesitated, the more his mind shriveled up, barren of all thoughts except how silly this must've looked. “Dogs, I guess.” “Dogs? Really?” “Hey, what's wrong with dogs?” “Nothing!” she said, giggling. “I love dogs but that's such a basic answer! Cats and dogs; so boring!” He side-eyed her, trying hard not to smile (and probably failing). “Okay, if you're so unique, then what's your favorite animal?” “Oh, that's easy. Hyenas!” “You know what, somehow that makes a lot of sense.” “And what's that supposed to mean?” “Hyenas are weird. You're weird.” He shrugged as though the logic was so obvious. “Of course you'd like them.” She leaned across the table with a playful smirk upon her now even cuter pink lips. “Oh, so you think you know me?” “I think I could make some educated guesses.” “What kind of music do I like?” Fuck, another hard question. “Uhhh… What's that one, where they all sing in those nasally voices…” “Emo!?” “Yes, that!”

She cackled so hard that she briefly was a hyena.

“I can't believe you!” she said, hand over her chest as though highly offended. “First of all, the answer is ‘all of it’, and second of all, I've never been emo in my entire life! Teenage me preferred metal.” “The screamy stuff?” “Yes, the screamy stuff.” “How can you sing to screamy stuff?” “Observe.” She took a deep breath. “No!” He put his hand up to shush her. “I believe you, please don't demonstrate!”

He'd never laughed like this in… Ever! His inexperienced ribs were sore, inexperienced lungs short of breath, and his inexperienced cheeks hurt. He hadn't realized how loud they had gotten until Manu—his brow upturned and his lips pursed into a smirk—cleared his throat at them as he passed. That's when Idrees noticed the two other customers had been looking at them: two lone men he'd seen frequent the shop before. One smiled, amused at least, but the other scowled as he held his book closer to his nose.

Cece and Idrees shushed each other, lowering their jubilance to soft giggles instead. Their conversation continued from there, much less loud but no less enjoyable. Idrees was sure his face would be hurting tomorrow but his entire body felt so light, like he was practically floating off his seat. It wasn't until there was a lull in the conversation and Cece glanced around the room did she suddenly say,

“Shit, what time is it?”

Idrees noticed then, too, that the sun no longer streamed through the windows. He checked the clock above the kitchen.

“It's after eight already,” he said. “I'm sorry, Cece, I didn't mean to keep you out so late.” “It's no big deal, just that I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn to go to a wedding rehearsal. So I need to get to sleep soon or I'm going to be cranky.” “Not a morning person?” he asked, motioning for Manu to come over with the check. “Not a people person, really.” “You've been nice to me, what are you saying? Am I not people?” She smiled. “You're one of the only tolerable people I've met.”

Manu set the check down and Idrees really didn't want to see the numbers. They hadn't ordered much but still, his budget wasn't very big, she’d ordered something a bit more expensive, and double the usual bill made his bank account ache. 

Cece pulled out her wallet. “I’ll pay for my half.” “No, I was the one to ask you out, so…” “I can pay for my own portion, Idrees, really. I was planning on it anyway.” “I would rather pay.” She eyed him up, face soured. “Are you sure?” “I’m very sure.” “Okay��� I really don't mind splitting the bill, though.”

He could've let her help. He should've let her help (especially given that incredible eye roll she gave him). But the man always paid for dates. The man always provided. So, without looking too closely at the bill, Idrees let Manu swipe his card. He was going to be sorry later when he saw the dwindling numbers of his savings.

As they exited the restaurant, Idrees noticed how dark the sky had become. Knowing Cece was going to be alone on the bus, alone walking back to her hotel, made his stomach uneasy with acid.

“You want me to drive you?” he asked.  “No, I'm going to take the bus. 

The bus? His hand went in his pocket. Did he give off a weird feeling? He grasped his hand sanitizer. No, maybe she was just cautious… He squirted out a palmful of it, the bottle nearly empty from today. Maybe she thought he was a creep or something. He rubbed the sanitizer in and focused on the scent and the way it burned his dry skin.

“I don't mean to be pushy,” he said as the bus stop came into view. “Not at all,” she said. “It was generous of you to offer. Maybe next time I'll take it.”

His stomach fluttered. He'd never heard words as reassuring as “next time”.

“Want me to stay with you until the bus comes?” he asked when they reached the stop. “That would be great, actually. It's pretty dark out.”

There weren't others around, and businesses along the road had their lights on, but he didn't want to risk it. Even if nothing happened, his unrelenting thoughts would consume him. He didn't want their date to be over anyway. If she could spend several more hours talking to him, he would let her.

“You seem like you've got good friends,” she said. “Manu, Kanta. Even your boss, you said she was nice.” “Oh. I guess I do. I never really thought about it. I've only spent time with Manu. We go to the Temple together sometimes.” Her eyes lit up like he said something incredible. “That sounds so cool. I've never been inside a Temple before.” His invitation slipped out before he could hold it back. “Maybe that could be one of our dates, then.”

Once he said it, he got a jolt of embarrassment that made his heart jump. Presuming they would have not only one more next time, but multiple next times, had him looking ahead to avoid her eyes.

“Yeah,” she said. “Maybe it could! I was thinking I really wanted to go to the popular bazaar first, though. That one in the middle of the city.”

He tried to suppress his grin so he didn't look like an absolute simpleton. She already had plans for another date. His voice was completely gone. Luckily, he wasn't made to talk again as the headlights of the bus came up the road. Cece hailed it before turning to him. 

“Thanks for such a great night. I had a lot of fun.” “Me, too. I don't want to overstep, but could you call me when you get back? I want to make sure you're okay.” “Yeah, I still have your number from last night. I'll give you a call.”

She opened her arms up and stepped a bit closer. He swallowed the lump that formed at the back of his throat. She just wanted a hug. Right? She didn’t want him to do anything more. Even though a desire to kiss her invitingly moonlit lips burned hot in his core… 

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she leaned against him. He embraced her soft body. Time stood still in that moment. The bus never drew closer, the moon never moved from its position high above them; all that he noticed was her rhythmic breathing and the gentle smell of her hair up close. He wanted to hold onto her warmth for the rest of the night. That tingling on his palms had gone, banished by her presence and the promise they would see one another again.

It was this reassurance that allowed him to release her. They said their goodbyes as she boarded the bus. He watched it drive down the road, taking all the light away with it. It felt like the darkness crept around him like little paranoid tendrils that whispered in his ear. How he didn’t deserve someone to care for him. How he was going to be all alone. How, one day, his shitty life would tear Cece down.

[kingkatsuki]

are we still talking about manual?? cos i low-key think he'd like to be called a good boy........ his dick going rock hard just from a little praise, he's doing everything in his power to make you cum as much as possible so that you're all fucked out, calling him that again and again and again ✊😔

PLEASE! Even just telling him that he did good helping a little old lady cross the street, reuniting someone with a lost phone or getting a kitten out of a tree, if it’s you telling him that he did a good job he’s already throbbing.

The moment you have your hand wrapped around his semi and you’re squeezing so gently, calling him a “good boy” he’s about ready to cum on command.

Having him already pent up and desperate to cum, balls heavy as he cants his hips forward to feel your pussy swallow him whole when you call him a “good boy” and he can’t hold back, spilling himself inside you with a grunt as he holds himself up above you.

But it’s okay, cause even if you make him cum prematurely, it doesn’t deter him. He’s already pulling out to push your thighs back, pressing his tongue inside you as his nose bumps your clit.

Will spend hours upon hours eating you out, just to feel you run your fingers through his hair and praise him for making you feel so good.

[dragon-ball-meta]

There is no such thing as toxic masculinity.

There absolutely is. The problem is, most people don't use the term properly. It's in reference to a certain view of masculinity and what it SHOULD be. Obsession over stereotypes of the "Alpha Male", this bizarre belief that strength = value in a character, the idea that certain characters cannot be paired with others because they belong with "Alphas", the idea that prioritizing something as "lame" as books or your job over being god-tier powerful and seeking battle, this notion that your height and musculature is determinate of your machismo, etc. Much of the hate for Gohan involves him setting aside being a warrior for being a scholar and family man first. This is why they still thirst over his bloodthirsty moments during the Cell Games; to them, THAT'S what Gohan needed to be. So different from himself that he was almost unrecognizable, so different and cruel that it even scared Vegeta a bit. That's what they want from him. When they don't get that, and instead get the bookworm whose motivation is to protect his wife and daughter rather than simply be "Alpha", they say he's been "ruined". This is why you see the inclination to "fix" him all the time. To randomly have him be into fighting like Goku or Vegeta for some reason. They try to depict him banging several women, including his friends' wives to prove a point about his machismo. They give him a harem and have him go on quests to kill gods. Why? It's not him at all. But it IS their idea of being "Alpha". Ridiculous, but there it is. Much of the hate for Krillin doesn't even really come from strength so much as his size and kinder, gentler nature. I mean, it can't come from strength, really; he's the strongest of the Earthlings, yet Tien gets more respect than him to the point that people say it's an insult that Krillin is stronger. Why? Because they see him as the traditional warrior type. He's taller. He's more muscular. He's got a deeper voice and harsher personality. Therefore, HE must be representative of the strongest or it's an insult to the male ego. Nevermind that Krillin has also trained his whole life, nevermind that he also has a character arc of overcoming abuse and childhood trauma, constant reminders beaten into him that he'd never amount to anything and had zero potential only to become the strongest human being to walk the face of the Earth, that doesn't matter. What matters is... he has a softer voice. A softer complexion. He's more willing to extend a hand in friendship, and prioritize his wife and daughter over himself and his wants. He'll climb a tree to get someone's kitten down, help old ladies cross the street, go shopping with his wife willingly and play & cook with his daughter. That's not MAN enough, and thus he's popularly assigned the role of a "Beta", a "cuckold" who can't please his wife and lacks the spine to stand up for himself should he find her in the arms of another man. It's why even his deaths, no matter how serious the moment, are treated as jokes; people legitimately think they're MEANT to be comedic because... well, look at him. He's not got the rugged, handsome face of a serious character, right? He doesn't have the deep voice of a manly man, right? Also ridiculous. That's not to say these are the sole motivators for everyone who may not favor these characters, sure. But they sure as shoot are VERY common reasons, arguably even the dominant ones. I've met several people who don't particularly care for Krillin who will straight up admit he gets disturbing amounts of hate for no reason, and even some of the people who are disappointed with Gohan will do the same for him. It's kinda rampant. Now I'm not gonna say everyone who tosses the term around is correct with it, but that's not a topic for this blog. Toxic perceptions of what masculinity is very much do exist though.. This fandom is chock full of it. To pretend otherwise is foolish.

[spacebird-diaries]

I just realized I wrote myself into a corner, and the only way out was some very in-character hoop jumping on Bailey's part

Don't know if I can explain it well, but:

Bailey gets the armor, and elects to be a hero with her civvie ID a secret. She has family she wants to keep safe and far away from this danger. Niblings who deserve to grow up living normal lives and not having a crisis about being part space-alien and free of the responsibility that acknowledging their superpowers would give them.

The armor is reported lost, and likely stolen after the fight at the end of Takeoff (I'm working on it, I promise) wrecks the museum.

Bailey is now running around as Golden Eagle, helping old ladies cross the street, saving kittens from trees, and foiling the occasional Rogue's plot when she gets the chance. (You can't swing a cat without hitting a speedster in Central-Keystone. Not a lot of space to do the hero thing...)

Unfortunately for Bailey, she's forgotten one loose end. Nightwing had offered to help figure out this mystery, via a "contact" he was enlisting.

So now a new superhero shows up on the scene, in armor that seems awful close to Bailey's descriptions of the missing museum piece. Dick has seen connect-the-dots pictures on cereal boxes that were less obvious than this. But... There's always room for an incorrect assumption, as he's learned. And what would he even say? "Hi, I know your secret identity?" No! He has to be subtle about this.

Bailey is grinning like an idiot in the face of victory, when Nightwing melts out of the shadows like the weirdly attractive vampire he is and scares the daylights out of her. And then he's questioning her about the armor, where she got it, when she got it, does she know about the recent events in Keystone...

Bailey panics. I can't tell him the truth! The more people who know about Bailey Adler, the more danger my folks could be in. Besides, what if he thinks he has to reciprocate? That's way too much trust and responsibility, he doesn't know me, I don't know him, nope, no way, time to lie my ass off. Sort of.

The armor is hers. (Technically true!) She decided Earth was a decent place to live during the Thanagarian Invasion and decided to stay. (Also true! It just implies a Big Fucking Lie!) She's been quiet until now because... none of your business?? Why do you want to know her personal life?? She has to leave now for totally non-suspicious reasons that don't have anything to do with anything. Goodbye and good day, sir!

...Lying to him would be so much easier if her brain worked properly when he was around. Stupid charming jerk with his stupid pretty hair and stupid fucking smile... Ugh.

Dick, a little relieved by the fact that she has some kind of cover story and/or improv skills even if he doesn't understand where this sudden hostility came from, decides to try and have her defend from the other direction as well. He shows up at her apartment in Keystone with everything he can find on this new hero, the armor, Thanagar, and Andrew Fell.

Bailey tries to kick him out because she still can't stand Richard Fucking Grayson, but relents when he points out that he crossed half a continent on the request of their "mutual friend" -- not Wally, the other guy -- and gives him the space of a cup of coffee to make his elevator pitch.

And suddenly (because like hell is this jackass gonna figure out her secret identity) Bailey has to start insisting that there's no connection between Thanagar and her family, the necklace and the armor were a funky coincidence, such a shame it was stolen after the museum exploded -- no, no, it didn't look anything like the armor the lady in the photos is wearing, something was clearly lost in the game of telephone, oh look your coffee is empty time to get out of my house forever goodbye now!

...Dick conveniently "forgets" the file on Fell as she scoops up his papers and shoves him out the door. He does want to help, even if she doesn't want to let him, and damn it all... It's been awhile since he's gotten under someone's skin like this without actual violence being involved. She's... kinda fun to annoy...

[dontmindthefangirling]

The Switch {p.p.}

Summary: In World 824, you’re the incredibly famous and incredibly obnoxious Peter Parker’s assistant. In World 626, you’re the nerdy and Star Wars loving Peter Parker’s best friend. In both worlds, you manage to fall in love with him, but what happens when there is a glitch in the universe, and they switch places? 

Warnings: swearing, angst, 18+ in future parts, drugs, alcohol 

Pairing: college!Peter x reader, famous!Peter x reader

series masterlist

chapter 1 - stolen glances

-

World 824

You huffed as you stomped up the glass stairs, hoping he would hear you coming as you approached his bedroom door. You had your laptop tucked under your arm after responding to very angry emails about Mr. Parker missing yet again another interview. He had one in twenty minutes in downtown Los Angeles, and he still hasn’t come out of his room. 

You knocked loudly on the door, sighing deeply as you heard giggling coming from inside. You heard muffled chatter as you tapped your foot impatiently. 

“Peter!” you called, rolling your eyes when you heard a high-pitched squeal from Peter’s friend inside. “You’re going to be late!”

You heard some shuffling coming from inside as you blew a strand of your hair out of your face. Finally, the door opened partially, revealing Peter shirtless in the doorway with just a pair of gray sweatpants hanging loosely on his hips. You swallowed thickly, keeping your eyes on his face.

“Like what you see, darling?” he chipped, winking at you. You could feel the blood rushing to your cheeks but you cleared your throat and pointed at your watch. 

“You have an interview with KTLA  in twenty minutes. Get dressed,” you scolded, keeping your voice level so that it didn’t waver in his presence. Peter rolled his eyes. 

“Do I have to?”

“You can’t blow off a fifth interview in one week, Peter.”

“Why not?”

You rolled your eyes at him. “Because then I have to deal with the backlash.”

“What’s so wrong with that?” he chuckled, eyeing you lowly. 

“Petey!” a voice squealed from behind him. “Come back to bed!”

“Just get dressed,” you muttered before turning on your heel and heading back down the stairs. Peter watched you for a moment before he shut the door to get dressed. He didn’t like making you upset. 

At the bottom of the stairs in his large Los Angeles mansion, you padded your way towards the kitchen for a glass of water. Your throat felt dry after talking to him and you had to steady your heartbeat. 

How you managed to end up as Peter Parker’s assistant was beyond you. Your dad knew a guy who knew a guy who somehow got you the job as his assistant. He was apparently looking for one ever since he moved to Los Angeles from New York City, and he said you were perfect for the job when you were interviewed. Probably because you were really good at organizing things, or just because Peter wanted to sleep with you, you weren’t sure. 

Either way you were just happy to get the job. 

It paid really well, and you got to live in a huge mansion in Beverly Hills. When you took the job, you wondered how bad could it really be. Peter Parker is loved by everyone who knows him. 

Apparently, they didn’t really know him. 

He’s portrayed in the news as this kind vigilante who goes out of his way to save kittens from trees, help old ladies cross the street, and stop real danger when it reared its ugly head.

He rose to fame when he was seventeen, revealing to the world that he was Spider-Man and taking over Stark Industries after Tony Stark died, leaving him as his legacy. 

The fame got to his head. 

You had to constantly making sure he wasn’t getting himself obliterated with alcohol every night, or at least not in public where the paparazzi could see him, and you had to make sure the paps weren’t seeing a different girl leave his house every morning. He was always getting into fights with people who tried to challenge him at bars or clubs. Since everyone knew he was Spider-Man, a lot of people questioned it and thought it was all staged for fame, so they tried to fight him and see how it went. 

It usually did not end well in their favor. 

But also making sure Peter was portrayed as this famous hero who had an anger issue was incredibly difficult when he was punching people in the face in a public club. 

You also had to make sure his famous black suit was constantly washed and pressed so it looked brand new for every public appearance. This job deemed difficult when he was coming back to the mansion soaked in blood with an appearance at the Grammy’s the following night. 

“Call me?” the poor girl asked Peter as she followed him down the stairs. 

“Probably not,” Peter said, now completely ignoring her existence. Defeat crossed the poor girl’s face realizing this was only a one night stand. The same thing happened all of the time and you started to feel bad for them. 

“There’s a car waiting out front for you,” you said to the girl with a soft sympathetic smile on your face. “It’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

The girl softly thanked you before leaving the house with her head down. 

“Do you have to be so mean to them after?” you demanded once she was gone, putting your hands on your hips. Peter shrugged his shoulders while chugging the coffee you had left him on the table. 

“It’s not like we’re dating,” he said nonchalantly. 

You rolled your eyes, knowing you’d never get through to him. 

“Come on, we’re going to be late,” you scolded. 

“I was just going to swing there,” Peter said. “LA traffic is a mess.”

“Again?” you groaned. You still had to show up for the interview and if Peter swung himself there that meant that you’d get there after he did, leaving plenty of time for him to say the wrong thing or act out.

“They love when I do that,” Peter grinned, unzipping his hoodie and revealing the black Spider-Man suit underneath. “Really gets the cameras going.”

You sighed while slipping on your heels. “Fine, just don’t misbehave until I get there, please. Someone’s got to clean up after your messes.”

Peter took a step closer to you. “You know I can swing us both right?”

“No way,” you laughed while shaking your head. “There is no way I’m letting you swing me across downtown LA.”

“Why not?” Peter asked, cocking his head to the side. “I’m pretty strong (Y/N), I can hold you.”

“Peter, I’m in a dress.”

“That makes it better.”

“You’re disgusting,” you said while rolling your eyes and heading towards the door. “Just please behave!”

“I always do, don’t I?” Peter said, winking at you as he followed you outside. 

“You’re going to be the death of me, Peter Parker,” you sighed as he shot a web towards a nearby tree and flung himself into the air, disappearing a few minutes later, swinging towards the city. 

-

World 626

You sat propped up on your best friend’s bed, skimming through the book you were supposed to have done for your history class tomorrow. Peter was scrambling around his room, searching for his notebook, throwing things around while you sat calmly on his bed. 

“It’s probably in your backpack,” you offered, not taking your eyes off of your book. 

“It’s not in my backpack,” Peter chided while tearing his closet apart. “Can you help me look?” 

You sighed, putting your book down and swinging your legs over the side of his bed. You walked over to his backpack and pulled out the blue notebook that he was looking for with all of his physics notes in it. 

“Is this it?”

Peter turned around, his curls a mess from frantically tearing his room apart looking for the notebook in your hands. 

“Where did you find it?” he gasped, grabbed it from you and placing it in his backpack. 

“Your backpack.”

“No you didn’t.”

“I saw you put it in there last night,” you chuckled. “I guess you just forgot.”

Peter shook his head with a light laugh.

“You’re a lifesaver,” he said while pressing a kiss to your forehead. 

“I know,” you said with a smile, and Peter rolled his eyes. 

You both made your way down the stairs of the dorm building and exiting onto the Columbia campus. The sun was shining as it was early September and New York still had a few days of summer left before the leaves started to change. You walked next to Peter as he was headed to his physics class and you had history. 

“Want to grab lunch with Ned and MJ later?” Peter asked while scrolling through his phone. 

“Yeah that sounds fun. I haven’t seen them in a while since classes started,” you pointed out. 

“I know, everyone’s been crazy busy,” Peter hummed in agreement. You caught a glance of him from the side as the sun hit him almost...perfectly. His brown eyes reflected flecks of gold in the sun, and his curls looked so soft that you had the urge to run your hands through them. 

You shook your head, shaking yourself out of those thoughts. Peter had been your best friend since high school when you met as awkward freshmen and you were placed as chemistry partners. You hadn’t had the slightest idea how to solve any of the problems, but Peter was patient and helped you through them. 

You just stuck together ever since. 

You’ve seen Peter grow into the young man he was at college now, and you’d be lying if you didn’t say puberty didn’t hit him like a truck. You also knew that being Spider-Man had its perks like the extra muscle on his biceps, but no one else was supposed to know about that, except Ned and MJ, so you kept your mouth shut while girls tried to faun over him. 

But Peter was just too shy to talk to any of them, and it made your heart swell seeing as he didn’t change at all, even with the change in appearance. 

“(Y/N)?” Peter said, pulling you from your thoughts. 

“Huh?” you sputtered, looking back at him. 

“I asked if you wanted to go to Flash’s party on Friday,” Peter laughed. “What’s got your head in the clouds?” 

“Nothing,” you said, feeling your heart quicken in your chest. “Um, yeah, Flash’s party. He’s hosting at his frat at NYU, right? I think MJ texted me about it.”

“Yeah, Ned said he’d get us in. I don’t know if I want to go to a frat though,” Peter winced. 

“Why not? It’ll be nice to see Flash again.”

Peter gave you a funny look. “I still don’t understand your friendship.”

“What?” you shrugged. “He was always nice to me!”

“Yeah but he was mean to me, doesn’t that mean you have to hate him via like...transitive property or something?”

You laughed loudly. “Transitive property?”

“Yeah!” 

You continued laughing until you were interrupted by your arrival at your history building. 

“This is me,” you said in-between chuckles while earning glares from Peter. “You know I make fun of you with love.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Peter said, pulling you into a hug with a gentle kiss to your hair. “Whatever.”

You smiled, pushing him away lightly while waving goodbye as he headed off to Physics. At some point in your friendship, you and Peter got very cuddly with each other, reserving bear hugs and forehead kisses only for each other. You told yourself it was just platonic, but every time his lips touched your head, your stomach erupted into butterflies. 

“I always forget, are you and Parker dating?” a familiar voice asked from behind. You turned to see your friend, Harry Osborn, waiting for you in front of your history classroom. You rolled your eyes.

“No, we’re not dating,” you grumbled. 

“Sure looks that way,” Harry pointed out as you sat down in your regular seats next to each other. 

“We’re just really close,” you said and opened your laptop. 

“Super close,” Harry teased, grinning because he knew it got a reaction out of you. 

“Shut up,” you hissed, glad to see your professor walk into the room so that class could start and Harry had to stop talking. 

-

World 824

Camera flashes were blinding and you had no idea how Peter did this all the time. You were accompanying him to the premiere of his best friend, Will Langston’s, movie. Will Langston was a famous movie star, and naturally he became Peter’s best friend when they both realized they were A-listers. 

“Peter! Is it true that you’re going to be traveling back to New York to train with the Avengers?”

“Peter! Over here! Are you and Daphne dating?!”

“Mr. Parker! How is your Aunt?!”

Peter ignored the questions, per usual, and you stood on the inside of the red carpet, closest to the entrance of the movie theater and waiting for him to join you so you could accompany him inside. You had to admit that he did clean up rather nicely, as he was dressed in a traditional black suit and tie. His hair was gelled back, curtesy of his hairstylist, and his large and expensive Rolex shone brightly in the reflection of all of the camera flashes.

Once Peter had had enough time in front of the cameras he walked briskly over to you. 

“Ready?” he asked, extending his arm for you to hook. You stared at him hesitantly. Usually he brought a date to these types of things, but sometimes he didn’t. You just never expected him to want you to escort him inside. 

You knew you didn’t have time to wait around so you slowly grabbed onto his arm and walked with him inside. 

“Love, you’re shaking,” Peter whispered as you found your reserved seats for the viewing of the movie. 

“No I’m not,” you whispered back harshly. 

But you were. Your fingers that were gripping his arm were trembling because for some stupid and strange reason, being this close to Peter always made you nervous. You hated it. You quickly let go of his arm and smoothed out your dress as you sat down next to him. 

“Did I tell you that you look beautiful tonight?” Peter asked softly as he looked at you while patrons filed into the famous Chinese Theater. You blushed softly, thankful for the dim light of the theater. 

“You may have mentioned it in the car,” you responded, keeping your eyes on the screen. You felt Peter’s eyes on you, but you kept your eyes forward. He was always flirty, that’s just who he was. Lately, though, it seemed like he was dropping these types of comments more often. 

You didn’t like how it made your heart flutter. 

“You know this is a horror, right?” Peter whispered. You looked at him in alarm. You hated horror movies. 

“What?” you almost shrieked. 

Peter started laughing. “I’m kidding. It’s a comedy, I just wanted to see the look on your face.”

“That’s not funny!” you hissed, slapping his arm gently. He grinned at you with his perfect stupid teeth, and you rolled your eyes. 

“You’re the worst,” you grumbled. 

“Nah, you love me.”

“I really don’t.”

“Then why do you stick around?” 

You were a little taken aback by his question and you turned your gaze back to him, seeing the serious expression on his face. His brown eyes bore into yours, but before you could even think of answering, the lights dimmed even further and the movie began to play. 

You were left with your hands barely touching on the shared armrest between you and your heart beating wildly. Little did you know, his heart was beating as equally as fast. 

-

World 626

Music blared widely from inside Flash’s frat. You, MJ, Ned, and Peter were standing outside and waiting for Flash to come out to let you in. The frats had some ridiculous rule of only letting one guy in per a certain amount of girls, something they called the ratio. It was incredibly demeaning and sexist, but Flash insisted you didn’t have to worry about it.

You still worried about it. 

“Promise you won’t leave me alone with any of these guys,” you murmured to Peter as you watched Flash approach you. 

“I would never,” Peter said, placing a hand on your back. His hand made goosebumps break out on your skin and you had to inhale sharply to avoid visibly shivering at his touch. 

“Come on in guys!” Flash said excitedly while turning to one of his frat brothers. “They’re with me.”

Your group followed Flash inside while talking to him about NYU and how his classes were going. You had to admit, you missed Flash and his chaos. You even knew Peter missed messing with him. You could tell Flash was already buzzing, and the smell of vodka instantly hit your nose as you stepped inside of the beaten up old house. 

The music was so loud you almost couldn’t hear yourself think, but Peter’s hand on your shoulder kept you grounded. 

“If you guys want something to drink, there’s alcohol in the back room!” Flash announced over the music. 

“Want to get something to drink?” you asked, turning to Peter. He nodded as he followed you towards the room Flash pointed to. You grabbed a Truly from the cooler and Peter opted for a classic Bud Light. You made a face at him.

“Beer?”

“I don’t feel like getting black out tonight,” Peter chuckled and took a sip from the drink. You shrugged in understanding as you opened your drink. You both headed back to the dance floor and spotted MJ and Ned. 

“This music is terrible,” MJ yelled to you over the bumping bass. You laughed. 

“That’s frats for you,” you yelled back. Ned and Peter were trying to talk about something, but the music was so loud you didn’t think they were getting anywhere. 

“Want to dance?” you asked MJ. MJ gave you a look as if to say seriously, but you took her hand and pulled her further into the dance floor. 

“Come on, MJ!” you pleaded. “Please!”

MJ laughed as you spun her around, dancing terribly to Bodak Yellow by Cardi B. You both began swinging your arms together, ignoring the people making out around you. Eventually, Peter and Ned made their way over to you both. The frat was getting more crowded, which made it more difficult to walk without having to elbow your way through. 

“Ned! Have you talked to Betty recently?” you asked Ned over the loud music. 

“Yeah! She’s coming to visit next weekend!” your friend yelled back. You smiled at him, seeing how excited he was to see her again. Betty ended up going to Harvard for school, and you knew they missed each other. You were also excited to see your old high school friend. 

“Hey guys!” Harry Osborn said, making his way over with a red solo cup in his hand. “I’m surprised to see you here!”

“Why’s that, Osborn?” MJ challenged. “Because you think we’re lame?”

Harry laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head. “N-No, MJ, that’s not-”

“Relax, I’m messing with you,” MJ laughed. Harry seemed to relax almost instantly as he smiled at her. You tugged Peter next to you and leaned up to whisper in his ear. 

“You think there’s something there?” you giggled. Peter looked at MJ and Harry, narrowing his eyes slightly and shrugging.

“Yeah, maybe in another universe.”

You laughed and took Peter’s hand, spinning him regardless of his protests. 

“Aren’t I supposed to spin you?” he asked. 

“We’re breaking gender norms in this house, Parker,” you laughed. Peter chuckled and took another swig of his drink. 

After a few hours of dancing to incredibly loud music and drinking with your friends, you started to feel the alcohol in your system. You were laughing with MJ as you tried to set her and Harry up, which MJ was not happy about. You thought it was hilarious though.

However, at one point, when the fifth guy to approach you tried to dance with you, Peter grabbed your hand and pulled you from the dance floor. 

“Peter, what-”

“Those guys are like predators in there,” he sighed exasperated once you were outside and away from the loud music. Your ears were ringing now that the music wasn’t directly in your ears. 

“What are you talking about?” you asked. “I was dancing with MJ!”

“(Y/N), those guys were trying to dance with you and you didn’t even see them! That’s so creepy!”

“I know how to fend off a stupid frat boy,” you said. 

Peter smiled. “I know...I know you do. I’m sorry, I just...got nervous.”

“What are you nervous about?” you asked, your voice dropping in volume as you stared up at him in the moonlight. Your heart began to quicken as Peter brought up a shaking hand to gently push a piece of your hair behind your ear. 

You both began to move slowly towards each other, your hands coming up to rest on his shoulders and his on your waist. You could barely breathe, and his scent was even more intoxicating than the alcohol. 

“There they are!” a very drunk Ned announced, causing you and Peter to jump away from each other. 

“We thought we lost you in that awful crowd,” Ned slurred. 

“I think we need to get him home,” Harry said, following MJ and Ned towards you and Peter. 

“Yeah, I can take him back to our dorm,” Peter said, giving you a quick glance before patting Ned on the shoulder. 

“Let’s go, buddy.”

You inhaled sharply as you watched them walk away to hail a cab. 

“(Y/N)? You coming?” MJ asked.

“Yeah,” you sighed shakily as you jogged to catch up with them. 

What was just going to happen between you and Peter? 

-

chapter 2 - uncharted territory

[sonder-paradise]

ANSKAMSK CHUUYA IS A FUCKING DORK AND I LOVE HIM

He was such a sweet kid too. He was totally the type to pretend to be all cool and badass with his little brevity ability but would not hesitate to help an old lady cross the street or get a kitten down from a tall tree.

And as he gets older he just gets even more stupidly cute because now he has excess to adult money and with that adult money I’m 100% sure he’s made some useless drunk purchases. Suddenly he has multiple different hair bands and accessories from his most recent drunk spending spree. So what would he prob do? Suddenly Gin, Higuchi, Elise and all the other female mafia members have new hairbands and accessories-

I love Chuuya because he’s such an idiotic, Mafia dork that wouldn’t hesitate to just do the right thing

[thebrownssociety]

Across The Serververse, Chapter 11

Porky was pacing up and down, arms folded a cloud of worry above his head. A few foot away from him Foghorn and Barnyawd were trying to sound ‘encouraging’.

“Don’t, I say, don’t you worry Porky, mah boy!” Foghorn said, cheerfully. “They’ll be comin’ back any minute now!”

Porky screwed his eyes up and looked up to the sky again. “Y-you’ve b-b-been s-s-saying that for the last - for the last - the las - ages.”

The next scene opened up on Daffy and Porky leaving the hospital.

“You know where we’re going wrong, Porkster?” Daffy asked, musingly.

“T-t-the entire scheme?” Porky said, teasingly.

Ignoring him Daffy carried on. “We’re starting to small. We need to set up something grand, something...awsome...” With that declaration he rubbed his hands together and strode off.

Porky watched him go then looked up to the heavens and said. “S-s-somehow I don’t like the s-s-sound of that. Daffy! Wait up!” And he went running after him.

“Porky!” Petunia trilled as she hurried over to Porky and kissed him softly on the cheek. “Any sign?” She asked, sympathetically.

To which her husband made a sort of ‘hah!’ noise and indicated the empty sky.

Petunia then went about trying to convince Porky to put his guard down and come back to the house, even going so far as to assure him that both Foghorn and Barnyawd would be on watch for them [despite not actually asking them if they would be.] 

With one last look at the sky, the older pig sighed. “I-I-i suppose you’re r-ri- correct.” He linked arms with his wife, then looked back anxiously at Barnyward and Foghorn. “Y-y-you’ll tell us if they come b-b-back?”

“Nah, we’ll leave it a few months. Let ya worry a lil’ more” Barnyawd said, sarcastically. “Of coirse we will! Now go!”

Porky and Petunia started to walk off, arm in arm, talking quietly to each other when suddenly Foghorn yelled. 

“Incoming, I say, incoming! Watch out! Marvin’s crash-landing again!” 

Porky and Petunia immediately turned back and looked up. Contrary to Foggie’s dramatic statement, Marvin wasn’t crashing his spaceship but managing to land the ship gracefully a few feet away.

The doors opened, a lot of smoke curled out of ship and Porky could see the silhouette of his family beyond it. He thought his chest was going to explode as a rush of happiness overtook him and he ran into the ship, trying to say. “Oh my-! I can’t believe you’re all back! Amazing!” and instead just managing to do his normal stuttering act. 

Much hugging and exclamations later and Porky looked around the ship once more and asked, in concern. “W-wh-where’s everyone else?”

Porky, Petunia, Foghorn and Barnyawd were duly brought up to speed about everyone else’s locations and, at the end of the explanation, Bugs asked. “Eh...where’s Daf, Porkster?”

Porky sighed and looked at Petunia who made a ‘go on, it’ll be fine’ gesture.

After much stuttering and a few false starts the older toon managed to explain that Daffy was lying down having been given a sleeping tablet by Doctor Scratchensniff. “We-we’ve had s-so-something of an adventure.” Porky added, almost apologetically. “I-i know!” He brightened up. “I’ll explain via fl-flas-oh, just watch.”

And with that the his siblings - and Petunia - pulled up chairs and started to watch the flashbacks.  

*5 and a half months ago*

The flashback opened up on an image of Porky and Daffy screaming as they fell through the air towards a map with the words ‘D.C. World’ written on it.

The two toons smashed into the ground in a puff of dust and earth. There was a worrying gap then Daffy leapt out of the crater the two of them had just created with a ‘Hi-yah!’ and a kung-fu pose. “Alright Rhythm!” He yelled, eyes pinpricks and brow furrowed. “I’m giving you one chance to give yourselth up or I’ll be forced to go Duck Dodgers on ya! And I did two years of training for that role!”

There was a silence then, when it became clear Rhythm was nowhere to be found, Daffy dropped the pose and looked around for any of his siblings. He found Porky at the bottom of said crater and pulled him out by his tail while bemoaning that Porky’s life had been ‘Tragically cut short! He wasth young! Stho young!” * Beat* “Okay, so technically he was in his late 80′sth. But STHILL-!”

“D-daffy-”

The duck gasped and clasped a hand to his heart. “I can hear him! Oh, Porky...” His eyes welled with tears. “...You’ll always have a place in my heart-”

“D-d-daffy, I’m not dead.” Porky said, in annoyance from the ducks arms. 

Daffy blinked and leaned forward. “You sure about that, Chum? You look peaky-”

“I-i-is it any wonder!?” Porky snapped, pushing Daffy away and standing up. Dusting himself down the pig rattled through the list of things they had to do, namely see if any of the others were there and find out where they were.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

*A short while after that*

The next scene opened on Porky and Daffy walking down the street. The duck was noticeably subdued and was speaking in quite a serious manner. “Stho just me and you then, huh pal?” He said, thoughtfully. “Not even Bugsth hasth made it here? Hhmm. I don’t like it. C’mon! We need to try and get back.” Daffy screwed his face up as he racked his brains. “Can you remember where D.C. Worlds portal is?”

“Eh...” Bugs cut in as the rabbits brain leapt ahead about five steps. “Can I just stop you there, Doc? Oi bet oi can guess what happened next. Ya got ta the portal an’ it wouldn’t work?”

Porky glared and folded his arms. “I-i-if you know so much about it why d-d-don’t YOU tell the story then, Einstein?”

Bugs held his hands up and allowed Porky to continue.

The pig cleared his throat and began. “Yes, y-you’re right. The P-p-por - the thing wouldn’t work. And that was when D-d-daffy got his ‘great’ idea...”

*Daffy’s great idea*

“We’ll be superheros!” Daffy said, grabbing Porky by the shoulders. “And by ‘we’ I mean I’LL be a superhero and YOU’LL be my trusty sidekick! You can be...” Daffy thought for a moment. “...Pig Boy!” He declared after a moments consideration. 

“O-o-or I could just be E-e-eager Young Space Cadet?”

Daffy gave his friend a ‘look’. “Eh - copyright, Porkster?”

“W-w-we’re owned by the same company!”

“And? That doesn’t make any difference! Jus’ ask Mickey! ‘Mickey MELON’ my assth...now - with me!”

*One quick scene change later*

[Daffy is in a boutiques. He pulls aside the curtain to reveal he is dressed in his superhero outfit from the movie - which the author has forgotten what it looked like, so can’t give a description] “Behold! Duck Awesome” Leaning up close to the 4th wall, Daffy whispered. “It’s like Duck Dodgers, but not copywrited. Loophole abuse, you might sthay. Anyway - back to the plot...” Daffy cleared his throat and yelled. “An’ here isth my trusthy sidekick - the notorious P.I.G!”

Another set of curtains opened to reveal Porky dressed in a outfit similar to Robin. With a glance at the 4th wall he said, flatly. “I-it was the only way to get the re-ref-reference in.”

“Now my sidekick!” Daffy grinned and rubbed his hands together. “Lesth solve some crimes!” And he bounded off.

“I-i think you’re g-g-getting yourself confused with She-Sherlock Holmes.” Porky said snarkliy, before paying for the costumes and running after his troublesome younger brother. 

What followed was a montage of Daffy trying [and failing] to perform heroic tasks. In order these were:

1. Rescuing a kitten from a tree. [The kitten waited till it had been removed from the tree before attacking Daffy in a flurry of fur and nails. Porky then removed the kitten from where it was hanging off of Daffy’s beak and handed it to the grateful owner.]

2. Helping a little old lady cross the road. [Daffy picked her up and carried her while Porky stopped the traffic. She spent the short journey hitting the duck on the head with her handbag.]

3. Trying to stop a car crash. [Daffy stood between the two cars and put his arms out. He ended up squashed between the two of them making him a very interesting shape. Porky then transported Daffy and the two drivers to a nearby hospital.]

The next scene opened up on Daffy and Porky leaving the hospital.

“You know where we’re going wrong, Porkster?” Daffy asked, musingly. 

“T-t-the entire scheme?” Porky said, teasingly.

Ignoring him Daffy carried on. “We’re starting to small. We need to set up something grand, something...awesome...” With that declaration he rubbed his hands together and strode off. 

Porky watched him go then looked up to the heavens and said. “S-s-somehow I don’t like the s-s-sound of that. Daffy! Wait up!” And he went running after him.

[vegetacide]

Wweeeeeee

I now know how Virgil feels when he has too much coffee. I am pretty sure if I had the skill I could rebuild Two,  paint a master piece and create a symphony.. all while rescuing kittens from trees and helping little old ladies cross the street... 

Perhaps my second cup espresso wasn’t the wisest idea... 

[lu-undy]

Chapter 65 - SBT

Here it is!

"Sit. No, Junior, Junior I said 'sit', c'mon baby cat… There, good kitty, take this treat. Now, Glovy… Glovy…? Eyes are up here, not on the treat, thanks. Right, Glovy? Sit. Good boy… Now ladies? Diamond, sit. Good, and Star, sit? Yeah, see? Girls listen better than boys."

"Meow." 

"Now, everyone, follow me…" Mundy took a few steps. "And, stop!" 

Perle came to a stop and her babies imitated her. 

"Great job!" He crouched down and gave everyone their treat.

"Mundy, what are you still doing here?" Maurice crossed the road to where Mundy's van was parked. The Aussie was outside with all the cats.

"I can't leave without makin' sure they won't get lost or anything. The desert's full of beasts bigger than them ten times."

Maurice smiled.

"And where is their mother?" 

"She's here - oh… She was here a second ago. Pearl?" 

The kittens started mewling more and more. 

"It's ok, babies, Gramps is here. Mum's off for a minute, I'm sure she'll be back soon." 

Mundy crouched and dealt scratches and brushing left and right to calm the kittens. 

"How ready are you for your holidays?" Maurice asked. "If you stay here longer, I might have to chase you out, hm?" 

"Alright, boss…!" Mundy answered and they chuckled. "But yeah, I have food for everyone and for a while. We should be ready to go today."

"Have you… visited him?" Maurice asked and Mundy's eyebrows jumped. 

"So you know?" 

"Oui, I know you have been going to see him almost every weekend without failing." 

Mundy frowned. 

"So I presumed you did see him."

"Had to. I'm off for a long time." Mundy simply answered.

"Maybe." Maurice answered. "I will not judge you, Mundy. I just think that in your stead, I would have moved on. It has been more than a year." 

Mundy sighed. More than a year. It had been more than a year. 

"And you're surprised?" He answered. "Last time, I stayed stuck for ten years in that state. This time? God only knows, I might stay stuck until I pass or something…" Mundy scratched the kittens who brushed themselves against his legs, mewling repeatedly.

"Mundy, I come as a friend." 

"Hm." Mundy grumbled. 

"In any case, I shall come back later today and I hope I won't see your campervan here." 

"You won't, don't worry." 

"Alright." Maurice walked to him and extended his hand. "Enjoy your time off."

"Yeah." Mundy shook his hand and the king of beggars went away. 

"Now, babies, where the hell's mum?" Mundy looked around. 

"Meow?" 

"Oh, that's her… Perle come here, baby, where are you?" 

Perle came from behind a wall, peeking her head out. 

"Where did you go? You left without sayin' a thing." 

"Meow…" She trotted to Mundy and gave him a few loving headbutts. They brushed their heads against each other. 

"Eh, baby? What's wrong…?" He scratched her cheeks below her jaw and she purred louder.

"Meow." She sat down and looked at Mundy who was crouching down to be at her level. 

"What is it?"

"Meow." She raised her majestic blue eyes to him and wrapped her tail around herself. The kittens leapt left and right to get to her. 

"What?" 

Perle looked behind her, at the wall she had come from. 

"Meow." 

A short-haired black cat peeked his head out. 

"You got a friend?" 

Perle turned and trotted to him. The black cat was hesitant. He stared at Mundy with his green eyes and froze. The Aussie looked at Perle. 

"Is that why you went away? You wanted to say goodbye to your friend before we go?" 

"Meow." 

The cat got out of behind the wall and Perle brushed herself against him. He bathed her and she licked him in return. 

"Oh…" 

Mundy watched as they butted their heads and brushed themselves against each other. The kittens ran to their mother and him. Yes, it was a he. 

The black cat started bathing the little ones with Perle while she turned to Mundy and trotted back to him.

"Meow." 

"I'm glad you got a mate, Perle. Makes the days less lonely." 

"Meow!" She protested. 

"What? He isn't a friend? The babies seem comfy with him." 

"Meow…!" 

Perle bit his hand softly and pulled. 

"Alright, alright, I'll get closer." 

Mundy approached the black cat and he turned on his heels, as if to dart away. 

"Meow…" Perle left Mundy's hand and comforted her friend. After a minute of brushing herself against him, Mundy was close enough to hear her and him pur. 

"Hold on…" 

Mundy looked at the black and white kittens, then at Perle, then at that black, short-haired cat. Some of the babies had short hair… And green eyes… 

"Wait, is this your… mate?"

Perle blinked at the black cat slowly and he reciprocated. 

"Oh, Gosh, that's him! That's their dad!" 

"Meow." Perle confirmed. 

"Oh, bugger, I wasn't ready for this… Uhm…" Mundy wiped his hands on his trousers and crouched down again. "G'day… you? You don't have a collar or anything… You have a name?" 

"Meow." Perle answered. 

"I can't believe it's just 'meow', we need to find you a name. Uh… Lu' called you Perle cause you're white, so I guess you could be… Soot?" 

The green-eyed cat looked up at Mundy.

"Hey, mate, I'm Mundy. But the wifey calls me 'Dad'. Here, have a treat…" Mundy laid a few treats flat in his hand and looked down at them.

"Meow…" Perle went and ate one. She looked back at Soot who was a bit more shy. He approached slowly. 

"Here, on the ground, less pressure." Mundy put one on the ground. Soot wavered for a few seconds and finally bent down to eat it.

"There you go…"

Perle went to Mundy and brushed herself against him. She licked him and purred. 

"Yeah, baby, of course I'm happy for you…" He hugged her and scratched her cheeks again. 

"Meow?" She looked him in the eye. 

"What?" 

Perle took one of her babies and trotted to the van. The others followed and she helped them jump in before going back to Soot's side. 

"Meow?" 

"Oh, yeah, of course he can come, if he wants to. He's uh, he's a stray alright, afraid and on the defensive, but you can tell him that I don't bite, eh?" Mundy looked at Soot. "So what d'you say? Wanna join us?"

Soot hid behind Perle. She turned her head to look at him and bathed him to reassure him and bring him some peace. 

"Look, I'll step away and put a few treats. You have a chat with him while I make sure we have everything ready in the van, ok?"

Perle slowly blinked her eyes. Mundy removed his glasses and reciprocated to both of them. 

"Right, see you in a minute. And you guys, stop mewling that loud, mum's just a few yards away, crikey!" Mundy stepped back in the van and left the door open. He checked that he had everything he needed: the cat and kitten food, bottles of water, clean clothes and blankets. Ah, and the fishing rod. Yes, he couldn't hunt anymore, Mundy refused it. But fishing was more than fine. It was relaxing even. He had bought a few baits to get him started and his mini-fridge was full of food. He had enough to survive for a week at least. 

The mewls went on as the kittens started climbing him. 

"Oi there, I'm not a tree, eh?" 

More mewls and louder as they got closer to his head. 

"Claws, claws, claws, be gentle, Gosh…!" 

Mundy pulled them off of him one by one and sat on the couch. 

"There, on my lap. What d'you want?" 

The mewls intensified and they went for his face and covered him in fluff. 

"Alright, alright, meow, meow, meow to you too, babies…!" He kissed them left and right, scratched them. "Love you, babies, love you all…" He looked at the kittens one by one and blinked slowly at each of them. They lay on his chest and he petted them tenderly. 

"Meow?" 

A fluffy white cloud slipped in the van. She leapt on the couch and stood on her back paws to kiss her Dad. 

"So, what did the hubby say? Is he comin'?"

Soot's head peeked in. He sniffed the van's floor here and there. 

"Oh, hey there, Sooty boy. Come in, make yourself at home, mate."

Perle headbutted Mundy lovingly one last time before going to her bed. Soot saw her and went there. He sniffed around and lay down next to her. 

"Aw, look at you…" Mundy put the kittens with them. "A complete family."

He took a second to look at them and smiled. 

"You're cute." 

"Meow." 

"Last time I said that to your Papa, you know what he said?" 

Perle's pupils dilated. 

"He said he couldn't be cute cause he was an old man." 

"Meow!"

"Exactly what I said to him, 'bullshit!'..."

Mundy got closer to them. 

"Uh, look, Soot, I'm happy you join us, alright, but we were off on a trip. I'm gonna go at the front and drive. Do you all want to sit at the front or stay at the back?"

"Meow?" Perle asked. 

"I can put the bed on Lu's seat. You take a nap there while I drive next to you." 

Perle blinked slowly. 

"Alright, come along then…" Mundy went out and around to open the passenger's seat door. Perle followed and took one of her babies between her teeth before jumping up. After hesitating a bit, Soot followed and did the same. But the two remaining kittens were too small to make the jump up. Mundy scooped them up delicately and put them next to their family.

"Right, I'll grab the bed, give me a second." 

Not a minute later, the cat family was in their bed on the passenger's seat and Mundy was on the driver's one. 

"We ready?"

Perle and Soot looked at each other. 

"Meow." 

The kittens mewled along. 

"Alright, alright, say bye to the bit of street we've been stuck in…!"

The meows and mewls went on as Mundy drove through the city. The gentle rumble of the engine put the cats to sleep and Mundy couldn't help but pet them whenever a red traffic light stopped the van. 

"Oh, what's that…?" 

As Mundy drove by, he happened to pass Eddy's hunting equipment shop. A police car was parked in front of it and the short man was talking to them. Mundy decided to stop to investigate. 

"Eddy? You alright, mate?"

"Oh, M! Long time no see! Come in…!"

The policemen entered the shop, followed by Eddy and Mundy. 

"What happened?"

"I got burgled!"

"Seriously?" 

"Yeah, and I didn't even realise it!"

"What?!" 

"I was doing the inventory and stuff was missing. I didn't take it and I don't employ anyone, so someone must have taken it from me." Eddy explained. 

"What did they take?" 

"A couple of rifles, some ammo, and that's all I could see so far…"

"Could you open this room, Sir?" A policeman interrupted Eddy and Mundy. 

"Oh, sure, but there isn't much in that room…" Eddy got the key out of his pocket and unlocked a room that Mundy remembered vividly. It was where his collection of knives and short blades of all kinds were. It was also a room Lucien had kissed him in… 

"What is in this room?" A policeman asked. 

"This." Eddy entered and led the policemen and Mundy in. "It's my father's collection of knives."

"You've got many less than last time." Mundy said. 

"Yeah, your uh… friend, L, he arranged for them to be restored. He's got that friend of his. Name's Richard. He knows his business and I've been sending him a few to try. The result speaks for itself, the blades are in much better shape." Eddy pointed at a few of them. "Hold on, one of them's missin'!" 

"What does it look like?" 

"Black handle, stainless steel blade, about 6 inches long, handle included… Uh, the handle was made of just steel, nothing fancy. It's probably my least expensive one…!" 

The policemen took notes as Eddy went on with the inventory of missing items. Two rifles, quite old models that Eddy liked to keep as souvenirs. Those were amongst the first models he had started to sell. 

When the policemen left, Mundy stayed a bit longer with his friend. 

"Sorry that all that mess happened, mate." 

"Bah, I didn't lose much. It's just the thought that someone waltzed in here like that…!" Eddy snapped his fingers. "I hope they won't come back."

"If the bloke didn't steal much, I don't reckon they'll come back." 

"Hm, hope not. But how have you been, pal?" Eddy asked. 

"Alright. I'm off for a few weeks. Maurice thinks I need a break."

"You don't think so?" 

"I don't know."

"Times been rough on ya?" 

"Don't know." Mundy answered. "I mean. They've been rough ever since L passed." 

"You haven't… moved on?"

"Tried." Was Mundy's answer before he sighed. He looked his friend in the eyes. "By the way… Uhm, I suppose it doesn't make much difference now but uh, remember that time I was sitting right here on this stool and I was drooling?"

Eddy's eyebrows jumped. 

"Course I do, it was about the weirdest thing I saw you do until then. I mean, I'm used to you dreaming away and stuff, but droolin'...? You just took it to a whole 'nother level!"

"I was thinking about him." Mundy answered. 

"Him?" Eddy asked. 

"L. He was… I mean I…"

Eddy put a hand on Mundy's shoulder. 

"You were head over heels for him, weren't ya?" 

Mundy silently nodded. 

"More than I thought I could ever get." 

"I didn't know you liked guys." Eddy said. 

"I didn't know I could like one that hard."

Eddy sighed. 

"You really don't sound like you've moved on, pal."

Mundy headed to the door. 

"See ya, Eddy."

"See ya, M…"

The Aussie hopped back in the van and drove away. No he hadn't moved on. Moved on to where exactly? There was nowhere he could imagine himself being. He sighed. No one understood. Not Maurice, not Eddy, not Victoria, no one. No one understood the pain he felt. And it was too big for him to overcome. As Lucien had put it, it was similar to an anvil, crushing him without mercy, coldly. Mundy frowned and looked at the passengers' seat, at the family of cats.

"You'll see, kitty cats, the lake's very calm, especially now. Most people don't go out there and in winter even the animals are more shy. We'll be comfy and alone. Maybe Maurice is right, maybe I need that time back in the lake… It's like I'm finding myself back. And who knows, maybe this time it won't take ten years…"

"Meow?" Perle asked. 

"Oh, sorry, they're asleep, I'll stop talking." 

"Meow…" She rose on her feet to stand up and pushed a button on the van's radio. 

"What are you - oh…?"

The song diffused in the air and Perle went back to lay next to Soot, who bathed her slowly and lovingly. La Solitude was playing and Mundy couldn't stop it. He just frowned and endured.

It was absurd. All he had to do was press a button, but he couldn't. As he passed the city's gates and raced through the cold desert, Mundy only had to close his eyes to hear Lucien's velvet voice singing.

He sank back on his seat and let the van lead the way. It lasted for a couple of hours and he listened to that one song on loop. He didn't even realise it but he was mumbling the lyrics to himself, as best as he could. French wasn't natural for his tongue.

The van eventually parked at its usual spot and Mundy could see the calm lake spread in front of him. A lot of memories came back to him. The first time Lucien had come, on his invisible motorcycle. Pfff, such a spooky thing to have, that motorcycle… Mundy smiled to himself. And yeah, he had watched him wash himself, hm? Ah yeah, and Lu had said that he hardly saw a thing because it was late at night… What a stalker! That hadn't stopped him from watching anyway, eh?

But Mundy couldn't blame him. Had the roles been reversed, he surely would have watched too… a bit… 

"Meow?" 

The mewls and the meows woke up as the cats stretched and yawned. 

"Yeah, we're here, mates. Uh, Soot, your fur looks dirty mate even with Perle bathin' you non-stop. Want to wash yourself properly?" 

He hissed. 

"I know you don't like water, I won't drown you, I just wanna have some soap in that fur of yours and make sure you don't have any fleas or anythin'. Tell him, baby." 

Perle gave one of her gazes that no man or cat could resist and Mundy saw Soot's black pupils dilate.

"Look at you, Pearl… Charmin' as a devil, eh?" 

"Meow!" 

"Yeah, just like your Papa." 

The family hopped off of the van and stretched their legs on the shore. The kittens started to play, run around and discover their new surroundings. 

"Pearl, you wanna stay with the babies while I wash the mister?" 

"Meow…"

Mundy turned. Soot had answered. His ears were low and he seemed scared. The Aussie crouched down and gave him a slow blink of his eyes. 

"I don't want to harm you or anythin', mate. I just want to make sure you're alright and healthy, ok?" 

Mundy extended his fingers to Soot. The black cat approached him slowly and sniffed them. 

"There you go, it's only me, Sooty boy, it's Dad, it's alright." 

Mundy gently brushed his fingers against Soot's fur and the cat seemed more comfortable. 

"You want to have the wifey with ya?"

Soot brushed himself more on Mundy's fingers and closed his eyes. 

"Oh… Someone's cuddly." Mundy scratched him on his head, between his ears and slowly, Soot started purring. "There we go, Sooty, you can trust me… Can I pick you up? D'you trust me enough?" 

Mundy approached his second hand and started scratching the stray cat and brush his fur, just to put him at ease. He then wrapped his arms around him and scooped him off the ground. 

"Meow?" Soot was scared again. 

"Sshh, baby, I got you…" Mundy opened his van's backdoor and went to the sink. He let the water run and gently petted Soot to put him at ease. 

And indeed, the cat hated his bath and hissed all along. Perle had to come in and bathed his wet self for mister Soot to calm down. Mundy got scratched a few times but by the end of it, the cat parents were bathing and drying each other out while Mundy kept an eye on the kittens outside. He took a cigarette and lit it.

The kittens were playing with the rocks, sand, anything they could see. Mundy looked around them. There wasn't a living soul, especially not any human presence. 

Finding himself back… That was what it was all about and as the sun was gently setting, Mundy thought about possible ways to occupy himself. What did he used to do here in winter, when he couldn't have a swim? 

Ah, yes, there was something that he used to do more than a decade ago now. Gosh, he would probably be extremely rusty at it. Bah, who would judge? The cats? They were busy. The kittens were playing while the parents were cuddling and purring on the sand next to Mundy. Yes, there was something that Mundy could do to try and take his body and mind back in time. But first, dinner.

"Who's hungry?" 

Fluffy ears, little ears, black and white ears, all of them pricked up.

[broken-clover]

AU-gust Day 8- Superpowers/Superheroes

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

So apparently when I say ‘these are very long, maybe I should make them less long next time’ it apparently means ‘WRITE NEARLY 5000 WORDS AND SUFFER’ I’m having. A day. Not a bad one just. A Day. This more or less feels like a pilot episode for something honestly.

Please do not ask why I keep writing Sin because there is no answer.

Ky had left him in charge of the scanner. Again.

And Sin knew why he had done it, why he always left him sitting in the high-backed chair perched in front of an array of high-tech computers while he and his friends leapt into action. It wasn’t because Sin was any kind of tech genius. It was because it was the best way of keeping him out of the way.

They didn’t even pretend like it was a real task in need of doing. Sol had already rigged the scanner so that it would send notifications to the entire team as soon as it picked up anything suitably peculiar. Ky’s excuse was that they needed him to watch it and make sure the scanner didn’t malfunction, but it never did. It was just a good way to keep him from running around while Ky couldn’t keep an eye on him.

Well, he could have brought him along, but whenever he suggested, Ky just had to get all uppity about it, and say in so many words that he didn’t want his precious baby boy going on dangerous missions, except he’d say it in a way that made him sound completely reasonable and rational, even though he was a teenager now and he was tired of spending time in front of the monitors and doing nothing but sitting on his ass like a useless idiot.

He shifted to prop his chin up on his other arm. The scanner did another rotation around Illyria, but no notification popped up, just like the last thousand or so times. Ugh, he’d been here for hours, when were they going to come back? The distress call had come from the complete opposite side of town, but considering that half of them could fly, and Ky himself could turn into a goddamn lightning bolt, they were awfully slow. So much for ‘just a quick mission’ like he had promised.

Groaning, Sin abandoned the chair and left it to spin behind him. He left the completely empty computer room to head into the equally-empty kitchen, hoping to find something to munch on. In between Sol’s beer bottles, Testament’s vegan snacks and Chipp’s leftover Japanese takeout, there was a plastic-domed pastry box. His excited smile melted off as soon as he pulled it out and peered inside.

“Thank you for keeping our city safe!” Said the fancy frosting letters. Yeah, he knew where it was from. The local orphanage had sent it after Ky and his friends had stopped Judgement from blowing up half the city last week. Because they were a bunch of good-samaritan do-gooders so compassionate and helpful that they got fucking cake from orphans.

He still cut a big piece from it before shoving the thing back into the fridge. Hey, cake was cake. Plus, he could get a kick out of ruining the letters and part of the bright yellow smiley-face under it.

At least being stuck at the base meant nobody raised a stink over him sitting on the meeting table. Sin was careful not to leave any shoe tracks on it, though, after Ky had chewed him out for it the last time. Personally, he thought having a white table was stupid in the first place, but that was the design Ky liked. It was the same reason they had the big sweeping ceilings, elaborate carvings along the walls, and a special designated chair for each of their official members, individualized by their names and insignias (Because his dad really was that fucking cliche)

In between bites of cake, he toed at the fancy lightning bolt carved into Ky’s chair, with ’Thunderseal’ written out above it. Sin remembered when he used to chase his father around the house, pretending to be him with a construction-paper mask and towel cape. He had utterly idolized Thunderseal, and dreamed that someday he would be able to take up the mantle when he became a real hero. It wasn’t a dream he clung onto anymore. Just the shadow of being his son was big enough.

Sin tried to take his mind off things by pulling out his phone. Maybe May would be up for a chat.

‘Anything going on w/ u?’

May always had her phone on her, so it didn’t take long before his pinged with a message. ’Just finished a job! Hbu?’

‘Send pics?’ Just his luck he got her while she was out working. At least maybe he could get a few cool pictures out of it.

Just like last time, it barely took a minute before she responded back with a pile of photos. All of them had May smiling with her teammates in uniform, along with a very irritated-looking (and very wet) tied-up criminal. He’d hoped that the pictures would have cheered him up, but all it did was annoy him further. She was younger and smaller than him by a lot, but she was allowed to go out on dangerous jobs.

Mer-May, the absolute darling of the Jellyfish team of superheroes. Even though they weren’t from Illyria, he still saw stories and photos about them in the paper. They looked like a real team. They probably took all their team members out on missions, and when they didn’t, he bet they had a much better reason than needing someone to watch the scanners.

’Great job! :D’ he messaged back with stiff, trembling fingers, before an errant current made his screen crackle and explode in a burnt cloud.

“Oh for fuck’s sake…” Why did that always happen when he got frustrated, this was his twelfth phone in the last year! Like he needed one more thing to be annoyed about.

Sin was sick and tired of being inside. He abandoned his half-eaten cake at the table and headed for the entrance, swiping his jacket and a spare mask on the way out.

++++++

Nobody gave him much of a second look as he slid along the wires twenty feet off the ground. Anybody who even noticed the crackle of electricity in the first place regarded him with complete nonchalance. Superpowered individuals had become a lot more commonplace, especially with the formation of publicly-known groups like the Jellyfish and the Guardians of Illyria. It was practically a celebrity subculture. Just a fixture of daily life. People with powers no longer had much of a reason to hide anymore.

In his absentmindedness, he nearly fell off-balance and slipped from the wire he was on. He wondered if Ky ever did that on the job. He might’ve been the team’s shiny poster-boy, but he wasn’t as perfect as everyone always acted like he was. It didn’t stop the newspapers and nighttime TV reports from painting him as some flawless guardian angel. Even when he was little, they were always talking about Ky.’s exploits, how he made Illyria a safe place. For the longest time, all that praise had convinced him his father could do no wrong.

Sin remembered the times when he would hold his father’s hand as they skated across the powerlines, helping him keep his balance. Sin always kept his eyes peeled for trouble, and whenever they spotted a kitten stuck in a tree or someone struggling with groceries, Ky would let him take charge to ‘save’ the civilian in need. He used to love the slightly-exaggerated smiles from grateful people and congratulatory pats on the head from his father, but it all felt so infuriatingly patronizing now. He didn’t want to be stuck helping old ladies cross the street while his father and his friends fought the real villains and saved the day. It never felt like he was helping anyone in the long run, he was just doing errands for people and nothing more than that.

He skidded to a stop on an electronic billboard, slid down the maintenance ladder, and found a place to sit. From his jacket pocket, he pulled out a tiny battered book and pen.

‘Sin the Superhero!’ was scrawled across the front in faded, childlike handwriting. He skipped past the scribbled-over and torn pages in the front half, all practically carbon-copies of Ky, until he reached the more complicated doodles and neater handwriting.

‘Hero Name Ideas.’ The list had gotten longer recently, but still none of them seemed to fit him right. He scratched off a couple of older ideas and jot down ‘Livewire’ and ‘Sparx’ at the bottom. Mmm, no, when he wrote them down on paper, that didn’t seem right, either.

“Ughh, why is this so hard!?” Sin groaned to himself, closing the book and smacking himself in the face with it. He wasn’t going to be Thunderseal. No matter what, he was not going to be Thunderseal.

He’d thought of skipping town and joining the Jellyfish, but May’s manager Johnny said that they only accepted female members. There were a few others scattered across the country, like the ones down in Kagutsuchi, Remnant, and Inaba, but they seemed so different from what he was used to, Sin wasn’t sure he’d fit in even if they let him join.

He spotted a convenience store half a block down. Maybe he just needed a snack to help him think. He hadn’t gotten to finish his cake, after all.

Sin slid back up onto the powerline and followed the sidewalk until he found a wall generator to jump into near ground-level. The light burst that followed him when he landed startled an older woman as she headed back to her car, but otherwise nobody paid attention.

The convenience store was awfully quiet for the afternoon, but all it meant was that he could scour the aisles for something to eat. They didn’t have anything meaty, so he settled for red licorice. It almost looked like meat.

“Would you like a bag?” The cashier asked, with the usual feigned-cheer that minimum wage barely afforded.

“Nah, I’m just gonna eat it now.” He replied, digging for a few spare bills in his back pocket.

When he found the money and went to turn back around, he spotted an ominous smear of crimson in his peripheral vision. Out through the front windows, a peculiar-looking girl was stumbling across the parking lot barefoot, stained in what appeared to be blood.

“The hell…?” Sin murmured. He realized he still had money in his hand. “Oh. Shit, uh, keep the change!” All but throwing the money at the poor woman, he grabbed his licorice and bolted out the door, taking a moment to swing his head around to find that girl again before running after her. “Hey! Hold on a second!”

Maybe he was too loud, because she immediately flinched and threw up her arms to cover her head. “I-I’m sorry!”

“You’re...what?” He skidded to a stop right in front of her. Yeah, that was definitely blood. The girl didn’t seem to be in a good condition, if the stumbling hadn’t already given it away. All the bloodstains appeared to be coming from the numerous wounds on her body, mixed together with a handful of ugly violet bruises. “Man, you look in bad shape. Did you get attacked?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” With her arms still covering her, she crouched down and began trembling.

Sin’s features softened. “Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you.” He crouched down next to her, trying his best to sound harmless. “Okay? Not gonna hurt you. I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Y-you aren’t?” A single diamond-blue eye peeked between trembling fingers.

“No, I’m not. Are you in danger? Do you need someone to keep you safe?”

She gave him a slow, jerky nod. “Ok! I can do that. My house is really safe, my dad’s a superhero so you don't have to worry about people getting in unless you want them to! Why don’t we go there, and then I can get you some bandaids?”

Another little nod. “Sounds like a plan, then!” He took her hand, helped her back up, and turned in the direction of where he’d come from. “It’s over this way, so we can-”

“No!! No, no, we can’t!” She suddenly shrieked, trying to pull herself from his grip.

“Woah, woah!” Sin let her go in his shock. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t go! I can’t go!” She cried, tugging at her pale pink hair with both hands. “I can’t leave without my sister!”

“Your sister? Where is she?”

Her expression grew haunted. “Oh...oh no...I left her behind...I promised we wouldn’t be separated…”

Sin tried to quell the growing feeling of excitement unfurling in him. Yes, this girl was clearly in need of help. He was finally doing his first real job as a hero, without Ky getting in the way! And he’d found it all by himself! But he needed to keep serious.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get your sister.” He gave the girl a confident grin. “Can you show me where she is?”

Another nod. “Uh-huh. I can show you.”

“Think you can show me from the rooftops? It’ll be faster that way.” She didn’t pull away again when he started leading her towards the generator he had jumped out of.

“Huh? There’s no ladder, how would you- aaaah!”

Sin scooped her up before taking off up the wires to the roof. “I’m a hero, too! I can follow electric currents! So if you can point me in the direction of- oh.”

The sudden movement had apparently freaked her out, and both of her trembling arms were tightly wrapped around him for stability.

“Oops. Um, sorry about that. I forget the vertigo is really bad the first few times.” He tried giving her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “But I promise I won’t drop you, okay? I just need you to show me what direction you came from.”

It took her a moment to unbury herself from her place in his jacket, but she reached out to point towards the heart of Illyria. “That way. It's by the big building with a cow on the roof.”

His grin came back as Sin felt the sparks fly off his feet. “Say no more!”

++++++

Sin had never been to this part of town before, on the ground or otherwise. It seemed like a perfectly nice neighborhood, but for some reason, there was just something that felt...off.

He tried not to worry about it. “Hey, so you didn’t tell me your name. I’m Sin! What should I call you?”

The girl in his arms seemed to have finally gotten used to the harsh movements, only wincing when the harsh wind blew the hair in her eyes. “E-Elphelt.” She said. “My name is Elphelt.”

Weird name, but he didn’t say anything. Even if he wanted to, he was interrupted by her pointing him left. “R-right there! The big white building!”

“This one?” He asked, sliding up onto the roof of what he could only guess was a large warehouse. A few trucks were parked out in front, but he didn’t see any people, nor were any lights on inside. “Are you sure this is it?”

“Mmhm!” She nodded vigorously, though the fear had come back into her eyes. “Please! I can’t leave her behind!”

We’re gonna save your sister, don’t worry.” Sin put her down on the roof next to him, and began searching for some kind of way in. “How did you get out?”

She walked towards one of the building’s edges and peered down. “Stairs! There’s emergency stairs by the windows!”

“Stairs?” He headed off after her. Sure enough, a set of metal stairs snaked down the building’s side. “We can get in through one of those windows!”

The two of them ran down a few flights, only stopping when Elphelt pointed one out. “This one! I think it’s this one!”

“This one?” Sin repeated back. He crouched down to get a good look at it. “I don’t think it’s latched; it should probably just slide open from the bottom.”

“Okay, then let’s-”

“Wait-” He grabbed her hand a half-second before she could slide the window open. “There’s an alarm. It’ll trigger if you pull it open.”

Elphelt recoiled immediately. “How can you tell?”

“I told you I can ride currents, right? I can sense them, too.” He put a hand on the wall next to the window. “Feels like there’s a whole security system set up and wired to the same main hub.” Elphelt was tearing up again in the corner of his eye, and he raised his free hand to assure her. “Don’t worry. Each window has its own sensor alarm. If I can just overload it…”

Sin pressed his eyes shut and willed a bolt of electricity into existence. He slid it between his hands a few times before feeding it into the sensor. After a moment, he felt the current split off between the window and the rest of the system as the wires melted and the plastic exploded.

“Okay, just hold your breath…” He put his hands on the sill. In one motion, he jerked it open and...no alarm.

“Phew…” Elphelt shook her head in momentary relief, before tensing up again. “We have to hurry! We have to hurry!”

She squeezed herself inside before he could even think of doing it himself. Once she had gotten inside, he wormed in after her. “Yeah, of course. But why do we have to hurry? I don’t think anyone’s here.”

The building was as dark inside as it had looked outside. The room they had been dumped into had a high ceiling and a concrete floor, but was nearly empty aside from some storage crates. At least, they looked like storage crates, he couldn’t really tell. From another pocket, he pulled out a rechargeable flashlight, funneled a bit of electricity into it, and switched it on. A narrow slice of light cut through the empty room.

It fell on Elphelt’s horrified face. “El? What’s wrong?”

“We have to hurry.” She spoke in a trembling whisper. “We have to hurry before mother comes home.”

He wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but it seemed important to her. “Okay. We’ll go quickly. What room is your sister in? Can you show me?”

The hallway was slightly lighter, but no less empty. Had everyone gone home already? Then again, he had no idea what this building was for in the first place, maybe there never were people at all. He couldn’t see any security cameras on the ceilings, but even if they were there, he doubted they would be able to see much.

He followed Elphelt down a couple sets of stairs. They both kept their backs pressed to the wall, their footsteps light, and their guard up. Sin glanced over his shoulder every few seconds to be absolutely sure they weren’t being followed.

At one point, Elphelt stopped and held a hand out to him. “I think this is it.”

Compared to the rest of the building, he could sense a veritable feast of electricity coursing back and forth beyond the door they were staring at. It seemed logical that if she was anywhere, it would be in there.

The new room was a stark difference in just how blindingly white it was. Sin had to blink and cover his eyes for a minute while he convinced himself that he was not actually going blind. Elphelt seemed unconcerned with the sudden change, and walked deeper in without him.

“Elphelt! Wait!” He hissed, blinking to clear his vision. The blurry edges eventually smoothed out and sharpened. “Woah…”

Just from a wild guess, it had to be some kind of laboratory. All the glass, fancy equipment, and desks looked like something from the sci-fi shows Sol liked to watch. What kind of science exactly, he had no idea. But it didn’t matter. He had to help Elphelt. Where had she gone to?

“El?” He called out, still trying to keep himself from being too loud. It was a bright white room and she had bright pink hair, how could he not find her in two seconds?

Sin felt his stomach growl as he began to search. Absentmindedly, he pulled out his abandoned licorice and peeled a strand off to eat it. “El?”

He thought he had spotted a flash of pink, but when he approached it, he found a strange pile of pink mush in a large clear dish. He didn’t have the slightest idea of what it was, but it unnerved him. Sin put down his licorice on the tabletop and reached for a glass rod that had been left near it.

What did he think would happen if he prodded it? That was another question he couldn’t answer. It made an odd, gooey noise as the tip sank into its surface. It had looked solid, but the more he pushed into it, the more the glass vanished, even when he thought it would have gone all the way through and come out the other end.

“Sin!”

“Elphelt?” He looked up from his impromptu experiment. Why had he let himself get distracted? Sin pulled the stick back out and set it on the table, and reached for his-

“Where’d I put my licorice…?”

“Sin! Please!”

“Coming, El!” That was more important. He ran off towards her voice. The tables gave way to what he could only describe as giant stove burners built into the ground. “Where are you?”

“Over here!” He saw a hand in the air and headed towards it. It was actually Elphelt that time, instead of some weird arm-monster, thankfully.

“There you are. Jeez, you’re fast-” His eyes went wide.

There was...a girl, suspended in some sort of glassy prison. It hovered over one of the weird floor-burner things, spinning around and around as the room’s lights glinted off it. The girl inside didn’t seem especially bothered by the spinning, or the fact that the ball was barely big enough for her to fit inside. If he didn’t know any better, she looked completely unconscious.

“What the hell?” He looked at his companion. “El, is this her? Is this your sister?”

“Ram…” She said, more to the other girl than to him. Her eyes had gone wet with tears again.

There was an electrical current running under the burner. Without thinking, Sin shoved his hand into it and discharged a bolt of electricity.

He was pretty sure he felt the fluid splattering on his face before he even heard the glass break. The overload of energy had not only shut off whatever the burner was doing, but forced the ball to shatter. He heard Elphelt dive to the ground behind him. Any of the glass that exploded onto him was melted by the heat of his lightning. The smell of ozone and the backlash from overusing his powers was making him dizzy, but Sin tried to focus on what was around him.

Once the chaos had died down, Elphelt crawled back out from the table she’d hidden behind. “Sin?”

“El.” He sent her a dopey, tired smile. “I got it.”

“Ram!!” The girl hurried back over to kneel down by the unconscious body. A few glass shards had nicked their skin, but there was nothing especially worrying. Elphelt seemed to be far more concerned with Ram than she was about her own injuries, anyway. She scooped up the other girl and held her close, placing a hand on her chest as she began murmuring something incomprehensible. Sin watched a faint pink glow envelop her hand and flow into the other’s body.

“Elphelt?” He asked in quiet awe. “You have powers?”

Whatever she was trying to do, it seemed to have worked. As soon as the glow faded, Ram began to rouse.

“Mhh...Elphelt?”

“Ram!” El hugged her sister tightly as her shoulder began trembling. “Oh, you’re awake, you’re awake. I promised I wouldn’t leave you.”

“Elphelt…” She put a hand on her sister’s back and smiled gently. “I’m okay.”

“Th-this is Sin!” When she regained some of her composure, Elphelt pointed at him. “He helped me save you!”

“Yeah. But El, you said we had to hurry, right? We should leave.”

“Oh! We need to leave fast, you’re right.” Elphelt stood back up, but she appeared remarkably calm. In fact, she was smiling. “But we can go even faster with Ram!”

The girl nodded in silent agreement. She looped a hand around her sister’s waist, before beckoning Sin over.

“Faster?” He was confused, but he complied, stepping closer so Ram could grab him by the middle. “I’m not sure what you me-EEEEEAN- !”

The question was answered for him very quickly. His feet were off the ground before he could blink. Ram was shooting off towards the nearest wall, and he had absolutely no way of stopping her.

“Are you insane?!” They were going to fly headfirst into a metal wall! Sin absolutely couldn’t handle hitting something that solid that fast, but he didn’t have any electricity left to try and shock her into dropping him. All he could do was watch.

There was a horrific crunch, and everything went black.

And then blue, as they passed through to the other side without a scratch.

Sin hadn’t realized he was screaming in terror until he stopped. He saw a massive gaping hole in the metal when he turned to look back, but he couldn’t see a single scratch on him, or his questionably-deranged pilot.

“It’s okay, Sin!” Elphelt called. “Ram’s really strong!”

‘Strong’ didn’t seem like a very good explanation on how they hadn’t just smashed their collective heads open, but really, after everything he had been through, it seemed stupid to ask questions.

++++++

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU RAN OFF??”

Sin winced, pulling the receiver away from his ear. “I know, I know, dad, I messed up-”

“MESSED UP??” Ky’s voice shouted back. “You ran off without telling anyone! I thought you had been kidnapped!”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” He said. “But I promise I can explain everything. I need a ride back, do you think you can come pick me up over by Bishop Bakery? The place over at the corner of Hansen and 15th?”

“All the way out there?! Sin, what are you doing in the north district in the first place?”

“Uh, that’s a bit of a long story…” He turned to look at his two new companions. Elphelt kicked her bare feet under the bench as she watched the cars go by, and Ramlethal was sitting cross-legged and bobbing her head back and forth to a song coming out of a nearby radio. “A really long story. Why don’t I tell you all about it over leftover cake?”

++++++

A dark shadow slid along sterile white walls, pacing back and forth and back. Immaculately manicured nails drummed against a pale sleeve, the only giveaway against a perfect porcelain mask of calmness.

“So they both ran away…” A melodic voice echoed off the high walls. “I never would have expected such ingenuity from her.”

The room went quiet for a moment. “Still, nothing I can’t handle. A few steps to shuffle around, but in the end, those girls saved me quite a lot of effort. Brought back to the Guardians on a silver platter! What a stroke of luck.”

She paused. “Oh? The boy? Just another pawn, easy enough to handle. His powers are little more than parlor tricks. I’ll have no trouble disposing of him as soon as he becomes a nuisance."

Another pause. Slowly, the porcelain mask began to crack. “Is that so?

In the blink of an eye, she lashed out to grab one of the trailing tubes. It was squeezed in a white-knuckled grip until the flow was dammed. “Now, you aren’t getting all high and mighty on me, are you?” She asked in a sickly-sweet voice, putting the smiling mask back on. “Don’t forget who gave you all of your shiny new toys. If it weren’t for me, you would still be rotting away in that hospital bed, where nobody could hear you.”

She took a moment longer to grab onto the clear plastic, then let it go. “I’m glad you’ve decided to cooperate. I helped you for a reason, you know. I saw the potential you had...Ah, I ramble so much.” She shook her head. “I’ll leave you to your work. And don’t forget to get plenty of rest. We have so much work to do, and so little time…”

The shadow moved away, melting into all the others with the sound of clicking heels. Once it was far, far away, the faint hum of magic sounded. From another pool of darkness, a half-eaten package of red licorice floated into the faint light. A single braid was pulled out of it, and invisible fingers peeled a stand off to carry it into an awaiting mouth. Artificial strawberry, what a peculiar flavor.

“So…” A silent voice echoed in the darkness. “...Sin?”

[21stcenturyhope]

PJM // “Regret”

Park Jimin

genre: mafia!au // cop!jimin x mafia!reader; angst

warnings: may contain mentions of swearing, murder, drugs, sex and all that other bad stuff

length: 1.4k words

notes: sequel to this mafia!au. I can tell you guys don’t like cliffhangers ;) thanks to @multi-fandom-lachimolala for the request. 

Being the boss of the largest mafia in the city didn’t allow for you to have many regrets in your life.

You had taken countless lives, broken up numerous families and brought grown men to their knees. You weren’t one to allow something as trivial as emotions get in the way of your work.

But for the first time in a long time, the unfamiliar sinking feeling of regret was pooling in your stomach.

It had been several months now since you had forced Jimin to make his choice. You had been surprised when Jimin had actually pulled the trigger, taking the life of one of your henchmen. You had expected his moral compass to come out on the winning side.

At first, you were delighted that he had made his choice to join you. You thought that this was the start of the rest of your lives together. That you could finally be who you truly were with the one you loved.

But from the very moment Jimin had pulled the trigger, he had begun to pull away from you. Physically, he was present but it was like Jimin was mentally checked out. You could count on one hand the number of times the two of you had been intimate in the past several months.

Which is why the accident was both a blessing and a curse.

~

Your men had begun to take notice of Jimin’s attitude and lack of action. He was listless and unwilling to do the jobs required of the men who worked for you. As a result, your own men were starting to doubt your capabilities as a leader.

And there was only so much you could do to protect your lover.  

“Then why did you do it, Jimin? Why did you pull the trigger if you knew you were going to hate yourself so much? Hate me so much?”

You had heard one of your men talking shit in passing and that was the last straw. Of course, the henchman had paid for his wagging tongue with his life but your rage was unquenchable.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Y/N? I made my choice because of you. Because I thought I loved you and because you put a gun in my fucking hand and told me to pull the trigger.”

“You thought you loved me? So, what? That’s it? You’re unable to love me for who I really am.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth, Y/N. I never said that.”

“But you never said you still do love me, Jimin.”

His answer was to pull you into a searing kiss. One moment, the two of you were screaming at each other and the next moment, the two of you were ripping each other’s clothes off frantically. His lips touched what seemed like every part of your body. It was almost animalistic – this was pure, raw angry sex.

The two of you laid side by side trying to catch your breaths once you had finished. Maybe this was all the two of you had needed before starting to make amends.

“Jimin, this is who I am. There is no easy way out of this life once you’re in it. If you could only…”

“I can’t do this right now, Y/N. I can’t stay here and listen to you try to reason with me.”

And before you could stop him, Jimin had pulled on his clothes and walked out the door.

~

If you could do it all over again, you would.

You regretted putting that gun in Jimin’s hands on that fateful day. You regretted bringing him into your lifestyle. You regretted letting him walk out the door that day.

Because the next time you saw Jimin, he was in the hospital. Only the sounds of whirs and beeps from the machines filled the room as you took in his vulnerable condition.

“Tell me what happened.” Your voice was stern and enough to make all of your men in the room cower.

“The arms dealer from the town over found him. They knew who he was. Some civilian found him in a back alley and called an ambulance.”

“What did the doctor say?”

“His physical wounds will heal with time. But they’re worried about his head, it was hit pretty hard. They’re not sure if he’ll remember anything if he even wakes up.”

“Find the arms dealer and bring him to the warehouse. I’ll deal with him myself.”

You left the hospital room, unable to watch Jimin in this state any longer. You left one of your men behind to give you periodic updates on his condition.

It was several days later when Jimin finally awoke. He had no recollection of the past several months. There were also bits and pieces missing from the past couple of years. After days of testing, it didn’t seem like Jimin’s memories would be returning.

While the doctor called it selective amnesia, you looked at it as a second chance.

~

Park Jimin was an angel.

He was the type of man who helped old ladies cross the street. He rescued kittens stuck in trees and volunteered with at risk youth on the weekends. He spent his Christmases volunteering at the soup kitchen and reading books to groups of children at the hospital.

He was also a police officer.

When he woke up in the hospital after an undercover assignment gone wrong, Jimin could only rely on his coworkers to fill in the missing pieces.

Apparently, one of Jimin’s colleagues had turned to the other side and Jimin’s identity was exposed just as he was on the brink of taking down one of the largest organized crime units in the city. He had been missing for months and was presumed dead even though his body had never been found. Nearly half a year later, Jimin had turned up at the hospital.

After a year of intense physical therapy and psychiatric consultation, Jimin was finally back to work. At the insistence of the chief, he had switched over to the homicide unit. There was too much media attention surrounding Jimin’s miraculous reappearance for him to continue his work with the special investigation unit. Other than that, Jimin had more or less returned to his usual routine.

But there were still some days that Jimin felt like something was missing… or rather, someone.

All of his family and friends had insisted that he wasn’t seeing anyone. If he was, he had never introduced them which would have been out of character for Jimin. Yet, he still found himself leaving the right side of the bed empty and reaching behind him for a hand that wasn’t there.

Even now, while getting his morning coffee from the local café, Jimin was still thinking about it. There had to be some sort of explanation for what he was feeling. Too lost in his thoughts to pay attention, Jimin bumped into someone causing his freshly brewed coffee to spill all down their shirt.

“I am so sorry! Please, let me buy you a new shirt or pay for the dry cleaning.” Jimin was furiously patting away at the stranger’s shirt with some spare napkins, trying to absorb as much as the coffee as possible.

A pair of small hands reached up to grab his, causing him to stop and make eye contact.

Jimin could have sworn his breath stopped. The person in front of him was undeniably beautiful but it was their warm eyes and kind smile that had his heart stopping.

“It’s alright. Accidents happen.” Another smile from the stranger sent Jimin’s heart aflutter once again.

“No, please! I insist!” Reaching into his pocket, Jimin pulled out his business card. “Here’s all of my contact information. Please let me know how much to reimburse you?”

“Park Jimin… I see you’re a police officer. How can I make a dutiful civil servant repay me for something as trivial as a shirt?” The stranger’s voice was teasing but it made Jimin feel oddly at peace.

“Yes, that’s me – Jimin. I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”

“I’m not sorry at all. It’s lovely to meet you, Jimin. I’m Y/N.”

[the-observant-frisbeetarian]

Chapter 1

Meanwhile, Across Town by George deValier

Chapter saved by ocean-babyblues ♥

INTRODUCTION

.

Once, not all that long ago, the streets of Hetalopolis were ruled by greed and tyranny. Rival gangs roamed both alleyways and corporate boardrooms. Citizens huddled afraid in their homes, the night belonged to the darkness, and evil held the city in its iron fist. 

Then rose up the superheroes. Humans born with inhuman powers, who chose to fight the dark with the powers of virtue and right. For a time war raged above and within our fair city, the supervillains and the superheroes locked in an age old struggle of right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness. 

Until finally there rose five. Five heroes from the north who vanquished the ruling villains of the east and drove the remainder into hiding. And the streets became safe once more. The villains faded into obscurity and the heroes found themselves unneeded, discarded, forgotten. Some moved on, took jobs, lived quiet, little lives. Others, unable to reside in normality, clung to their past dreams, their past glory. And for a while, all was well on the streets of Hetalopolis. 

But for some, peace is uneasy, and of those born with power some will always use it for darkness and gain. Evil now lurks in the shadows once more. But where there is evil, good will always rise to fight it, and where there is despair, hope is never far...

"Are you nearly done?"

"...huh?"

"Well, it's just, I mean, I asked you if you'd heard any news lately and you've been droning on for about ten minutes now, it's getting a bit tiresome."

"Some people can't appreciate a good bit of dramatic history."

"Some people don't have three years to stand around chatting in alleyways."

"Fair enough. You want to know what news I've heard? Read your local newspaper. The articles by Arthur Kirkland. He's the only one who seems to have a clue."

"I travel all the way here to the scummiest side of town to speak with you and you tell me to read the newspaper? What happened to the informer, the AlleyCat, the guy who always knows what's going on?"

"You asked. I answered. Go pick up your local newspaper. And remember my words."

"What words, aru?"

The AlleyCat shrugged, threw another handful of crumbs to the dozens of cats that always congregated around his feet. "'... where there is evil, good will always rise to fight it.'"

CHAPTER ONE

.

"Just what do you expect me to do with this?" shouted Ludwig Beilschmidt, chief editor of the Hetalopolis Times, throwing the small pile of paper down on his desk. Arthur winced and prepared himself for an outburst. "This is pathetic. Your last story was just as pitiful, but do you really think I will stand for this twice? What is this even…" The editor in chief picked up the papers again and stared at them incredulously. "'The Perfume Villain Strikes Again.'. That's your headline? No one has even heard of this 'Perfume Villain!' How can he 'strike again' when we didn't even know about the first strike?"

"Sir, he's actually robbed a few bank vaults by now, and I really think…"

"No, you don't think, Kirkland, that is your problem. You used to be brilliant. Your articles about The Nordic Five versus the Sunflower Posse were some of the best I have ever seen. They won you the damn Journalist of the Year award. But no one cares about superheroes anymore. Ever since the demise of the Posse, they're old news. Frankly, your work is slipping. And this," the editor threw the papers back down on the desk again, "Is trash. So get out there, bring me a great story, or I am going to have to think quite seriously about letting you go. Now get out of here and do your job."

Arthur picked up the papers and stormed out of the office, almost feeling smoke coming from his ears. He was fuming. He was furious. He was... he was a god damn writer and he couldn't even think of another synonym that started with 'f'. No wonder he no longer wrote the front page articles. Foul! There's a word. He was in one hell of a foul mood. Arthur stomped past rows of identical desks and identical tapping at keyboards and ceiling length windows that looked down on the sprawling city below. He fell into his chair and threw the papers onto his desk even more violently than Ludwig had done. And Ludwig was a champion at throwing paper angrily onto desks. He could compete in the bloody angrily throwing paper on desks world championship. Arthur was just thinking that at least things probably couldn't get any worse when Francis Bonnefoy, fellow journalist, fashion editor, and fabulously irritating thorn in Arthur's side, spun around from his desk in front, smiled revoltingly, and practically sprawled across Arthur's desk. "Well?" Arthur snarled at him. Things could always get worse.

"Same old bleeding bloody buggery bullshit." Arthur realised he seemed to be a fan of alliteration when pissed off. Francis flinched and sucked in a breath through his teeth.

"Language, dear, sometimes you conjure up the most horrific mental images."

"What the hell does he expect me to do?" asked Arthur angrily, loudly ignoring Francis. "I can't create stories out of thin air! I'm a journalist, not Stephen bloody King! How can I be constantly expected to produce five star, gold material when the most interesting thing that has happened this week is that Miss Katyusha from channel five news busted her top open live on air Wednesday night?"

"And the gossip department is already all over that one," nodded Francis sympathetically.

"Do you know what I mean though?" Arthur was nearly shouting now. "No one else gets this sort of pressure put on them. Look at Feliciano." Arthur gestured to where the Italian food critic was currently sitting ON his desk, making paper planes and throwing them at the sports department. "What has he published, two articles in the last month? And he's not getting called into Ludwig's office every day."

"Well, he is, but for an entirely different reason I think."

Arthur groaned and dropped his head onto the desk. "This is so unfair! What am I supposed to do?"

"Come up with a brilliant story," said Francis brightly. Arthur resisted the urge to stab him in the eye with a pen.

"There are no stories, I've already told you." Arthur spoke through gritted teeth. "The town is running better than it has in years. The supervillains have pretty much disappeared and the only heroes left have nothing to do but get kittens down from trees and help little old ladies cross the street. So, pray tell, where am I supposed to find this brilliant story?"

But Arthur knew where the stories were. He was convinced that the only reason no one cared about superheroes anymore was because most of the popular ones had retired. If only there was someone new, someone fresh and interesting that people could get excited about. And if this new superhero had an adversary, well, there was Arthur's golden ticket to journalism popularity. The glittering awards shows, the lavish dinners with heads of state, the prestige that came with having the rich and famous under the power of his pen. It could all be his again. Arthur already had the villain of his story... true, a rather smalltime, unknown, pathetic villain, but what was good journalism without a little embellishment... so now he just needed the hero. But where the hell was he supposed to find...

"Here's your coffee, Mr K!" Arthur looked up to see Alfred Jones, resident copy boy and coffee maker, stumble towards him like an out of control steam train. Arthur pushed his chair back just in time to avoid the cup that smashed and spilled over his entire desk.

"Bloody blasted hell boy, watch what you're damn well doing! And I asked for tea!"

"Sorry about that, Mr K," said Alfred apologetically, leaning over the desk in an eager, dementedly happy attempt to clean up the mess.

"No," said Arthur, trying to salvage what he could of the soaking papers, "Just leave it."

"I am sorry, honest, I'll get you another one just as soon as I've cleaned this..." Alfred pulled a handful of crumpled tissues from his pocket and used them to wipe down the desk. "Oh man, I even spilled some in your lap, lucky it wasn't actually that hot, here let me..."

Arthur shot out of his chair like a rocket. "Hands, watch the hands!"

"Sorry sorry!" Alfred backed away, hands in the air. Arthur sighed in exasperation. How did they even hire people these days...

"Look, listen, Allan..."

"Alfred," corrected Alfred, sounding a little hurt.

"Yes yes of course. Just... look, just go away, will you? I'm incredibly busy right now."

Alfred's face fell and he nodded. "All right, Mr K, I really am sorry though." He walked away slowly and Arthur grumbled as he turned his attention back to saving what he could from his coffee soaked desk. Francis stared at him through narrowed eyes.

"You are too harsh on him."

"Well he's a walking train wreck with impeccably bad timing. Why did you even suggest Ludwig hire him?"

"Well, look at him. He's so... energetic. And cute. Just look. I mean really, look now, while he's walking away, he's got a really cute butt."

Arthur refused to admit that Francis was right on that last point. He forced himself not to look. "He's a bloody nuisance is what he is."

"He has a crush on you, you know." Francis waggled his eyebrows. Arthur felt himself turn red.

"Don't be ridiculous. And stop bothering me, I'm busy! Don't you have your own work to do? Just look at the time. Oh bugger off!" Francis just laughed as he turned back to his own desk.

Arthur stayed late at the office, trying to work on the dregs of this nonexistent story he had. A small time villain whose power appeared to be a nerve paralysing fume he used to render guards and law officers unconscious. Nothing special, but he had so far managed to make off with a few million dollars worth of diamonds and jewellery. But no deaths, no battles. Nothing much to draw the publics attention. Now if only there was a hero to set out, fight, and defeat the guy... now that would be interesting. That would make a story.

By the time Arthur finally left the office the building was empty, and the dark alley he exited onto was silent and unlit. He'd always hated that the staff exit led to this horribly narrow and smelly and sinister alleyway. It was bad enough in the middle of the day. But at this time of night… Barely paying attention to his surroundings, but walking a little faster than usual, Arthur only made it halfway to the main street before the lane was blocked by two huge men before him. Arthur froze and took a wary step backward.

"Little late to be leaving work alone, isn't it?" asked one of the men unpleasantly, stepping forward as Arthur stepped back.

"Well... uh... you know how it is, deadlines and such..." Arthur turned to look behind him but another man, even bigger than the first two, stepped out of the shadows to block the way. Arthur swallowed the rising fear in his throat.

"Now we don't want to make this any more unpleasant than it has to be," said the third man, cracking his knuckles and making Arthur shudder. The other men laughed as they advanced. "Oh wait... yes we do."

Arthur stood frozen for a moment before adrenaline pumped through his veins and he attempted a brash, futile escape. He was swiftly grabbed by the shoulder and slammed against the wall. One of the men pulled his laptop case from his arm and the other tore his briefcase from his grip before rifling through his jacket. "Wait, no..." Arthur couldn't believe this... it was like it wasn't real. His pulse thrummed hazily in his head. Wasn't this just his bloody luck... right when the damned city was getting safe, he gets mugged in the street. He tried for another escape but received a stunning blow to his cheek for the trouble. The men were laughing. Their hands were like iron. Arthur couldn't escape. He started to panic.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a red, white and blue tornado descended before Arthur's eyes. A few surprised shouts, a grunt, a flurry of fists and limbs and garish colour and before Arthur knew it the three men were lying unconscious on the ground. He blinked dazedly in surprise and looked up at his unexpected saviour. He wiped his eyes and shook his head, but the strange vision before him remained the same. The man was dressed in an awful blue Lycra unitard, enormous boots that looked like they had been spray painted red, and what looked suspiciously like an old bed sheet tied around his shoulders. He put his hands on his hips and stood before Arthur in an impossibly ridiculous stance.

"Are you all right, fair dams… uh… citizen?"

Arthur squinted. Sure it was dark, and he was a little shaken, but he was fairly sure that the guy standing right before him was… "Alfred?"

Alfred's eyes darted and he laughed nervously. "Who is this Alfred you speak of?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "Alfred, I know it's you."

"I know nothing of this Alfred. For I, fair citizen, am…" Alfred took a deep breath, thrust out his chest, and tossed his bed sheet behind his shoulder. "America-man!"

Silence. Arthur swore he could hear crickets chirping. "No you're not, you're Alfred Jones, the copy boy who spills my tea every day."

Again Alfred looked around nervously. "I swear, fair citizen, I..."

"Alfred, you can't just take off your glasses and wrap a sheet around you and expect it to be a credible disguise."

"Oh." Alfred deflated somewhat. Arthur tilted his head as he studied him. He didn't know whether to laugh. Alfred almost looked like a little boy playing dress up. A rather tall, oversized, very muscular actually through that Lycra...

"Not thinking that! I mean, uh, so you're a superhero then?"

"Yep!" At Arthur's skeptical expression, Alfred's brave smile fell a little. "Okay, so I've only just started, and I don't have a copyright yet, or a proper uniform, really, or a, uh..."

"Clue?" supplied Arthur.

"I suppose, but hey." Alfred brightened and thrust out his chest again. "Did you SEE the ass kicking I gave those guys?"

Arthur looked down at the unconscious would-be muggers. There were a few superhero wannabes around... those who had a lot of enthusiasm but no actual powers... but Alfred had certainly done a number on the three men. Plus he had a certain something, indefinable, an attitude that made it seem like he really could take on the world. Maybe there was something there after all. Maybe Arthur could work this to his advantage. "All right. Alfred?"

"Yeah? Oh, damn it..."

"Listen here."

"Okay."

"You want to be a superhero?" Alfred nodded eagerly. "So, now I'm just guessing here, you can't fly."

"No."

"You can't turn invisible."

"No."

"You don't have super speed?"

"Uh… no."

"Forgive me for asking, but what exactly is your superpower then?"

"Well, I can do this. Follow me." Arthur picked up his laptop and suitcase and followed Alfred out of the alley, taking care to kick his unconscious attackers in the head as he went. Then he watched as Alfred walked over to a car parked on the side of the road, grabbed it by the bumper, and in one fluid movement lifted it over his head. Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Super strength. Well that's something. Very well, Alfred Jones..."

"America-man."

Arthur paused only briefly. "As I was saying, very well. I believe there may be some hope for you after all. But first thing is first. We are going to have to do something about that outfit of yours. Now you, follow me." Arthur turned and headed down the street. Alfred hurried to follow. "Alfred."

"Yeah?"

"Put the car down."

"Oh. Right."

Alfred wanted to be a superhero. Arthur needed a story. He smiled to himself. He may have just found the answer he was looking for.

.

Meanwhile, across town…

.

The third security guard fell to the ground, motionless. The masked villain smiled as he passed. No one could withstand the assault of his nerve paralysing perfume. Years of exposure had left him immune, but when others smelled it they dropped like little old ladies who got in his way in the after Christmas sales. With none left to obstruct him, he strutted calmly and purposefully to the locked room at the end of the hall. He held up the key, recently obtained from a helplessly unresisting bank manager, and placed it into the lock. The doorknob turned with a satisfying click and the masked man stepped into the undefended room.

The perfume villain walked over to a small safe on the back table, pressed in a simple five number code, and smiled when the little black door swung open. He pulled out a blue velvet box and held it up to the light, inspecting his nails as he did. He frowned. He'd already chipped one. And he'd only just had a manicure. He placed the box in his exquisitely tailored jacket and turned on his red varnished heel. The steadily approaching sound of sirens did not bother him. He would be gone well before they arrived. He giggled to himself and gave a tiny wave to a security camera as he passed.

"Totally killer. Seriously, that was, like, way too easy. Classic."

To be continued…

.

Next Chapter

Disclaimer: This story belongs to George deValier. Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya. I own nothing.

THANK YOU OCEAN-BABYBLUES FOR SAVING THIS CHAPTER!

[esmeblaise]

In a world of supers a guy is convinced he is destined to be a hero and no one has the heart to tell him otherwise.

To prepare for his destiny he gets martial arts skills (watches kung fu movies) learns laws (crime shows), and "saves" everyone (mostly its getting kittens down from trees and helping old ladies cross the street). Since hes not doing any harm, and the cheif of police is the dads best friend, the town just kind of lets him make believe and plays along to make him happy.

One day however the guy decides he needs a villain to fight (all heroes have villains) and the town scrambles to find someone because they dont want to *actually* let a criminal loose just for this guy and theyre in too deep now to not go along (not to mention the guy has been camped outside a bank a couple days now waiting for it to be robbed) So this other guy offers to play the role

Unfortunetly the "Villain" is literally the nicest person ever and does a very *very* inconvincing job of being evil. Luckily the hero is just so happy to have an enemy he doesnt notice.

Each battle is just cool poses, one liners, and puns while the villain "steals" something (pre decided by the town) or literally does anything in costume ("evilly" eats a sandwich) before the villain "escapes"

Theres also a love interest, but neither of them are actually intrested in each other, there just has to be a love interest whose always getting rescued.

She uses her "kidnapped" time to catch up on her work