#he's smoking that shit that improves your eyesight

[vainvex]

opened csp for the first time in a while and this is the restored file. so fucking real

[id: a sketch of aloysius lindt, as an anthro rabbit. he is wearing a fancy coat, tall boots, an unreasonably long cravat, and dark round sunglasses. his face and tall bunny ears have spots, and his long moustache, hair, and beard blend into the rest of his fur. in one gloved hand, he is holding a cigar-sized carrot, which is smoking from one end. /end id]

[dekus-afro-pic]

Smile For The Camera

Dabi x Fem!Reader x Hawks

⚠️ warning ⚠️: This fic includes the use of Dabi and Hawks real name which are spoilers to the manga. This fic also includes non-con sex with Endeavor, murder, crying, SWEET SWEET REVENGE, and Villan Hawks

Summary: After months of being held captive by the number one “hero” you finally snap. When you reunite with your childhood friends, whom you thought were dead, your opportunity for revenge is brought to you ona silver plater. Art by @brttpaige

Burns and bruises littered your body and the man on top of you was to blame. You scratch at the hand that was around your throat as you felt yourself losing oxygen. The “hero” slaps your hands away and strikes your face as he continued to thrust into you.

“Just take it,” He grunts above you “Give me what I want”

Tears were no longer streaming down your face but that didn’t stop you from wailing in pain as his hips met yours. You refused to look into his eyes when he hurt you this way. Knowing that if you did, he’d only go harder. You didn’t want this at all. How could he not see that? You didn’t expect your close friend’s father to be such a…monster.

How could you not know y/n? He killed his own son for Christ's sake. And soon, he’d kill you too.

After Endeavor finishes his load inside of your womb, he zips up his pants and leaves. You laid there, in the bed of an apartment that he kept you captive in, and shuddered. You knew two things for certain.

You are not going to bear his child and you were going to kill Enji Todoroki.

You crawl towards the nightstand and pull out a plan-b from beneath it. After swallowing the pill dry, you make your way to the bathroom to tend to your injuries and cleanse yourself of that monster.

Unbeknownst to you, someone watched the whole ordeal take place. Dabi’s blood was boiling. How the fuck could the number one “hero” be capable of such actions. But then again, heroes weren’t all that they seemed. His chest tightened as he watched you use your water quirk to heal your bruises. You shouldn’t be going through this. You should be out there getting rid of villains like his “father”. He knew he had to get you out of there. He pulls out his phone to inform the others of his plan. But for it to succeed, you were going to have to make the first move.

And that you did. Once your body was back to an ok state, you start packing everything you could. Your toothbrush, clean clothes, the little food you had in the beat down apartment, 2000¥ ($20 USD) you stole from your abuser, and your only second pair of shoes. You were on a mission to get out of there as fast as you could.

It was a Friday night, meaning that Endeavor was out playing pretend with his family. The looks on their faces once you reveal his secrets were ones that you want to cherish forever. You couldn’t wait until the world finally knew who it was idolizing.

You wasted no time opening the bedroom window and sprinting down the fire escape stairs. You held the duffel bag close to your body as you ran down the dark alleyway. You were free. You were finally free.

After running for what felt like 20 minutes you finally stop to give your aching lungs and legs a break. You didn’t know where your legs had taken you but from the looks of it, you were farther away from the apartment than you had imagined. You weren’t complaining though. The farther away you were from that wretched man the better.

You sat in a quiet alleyway for some time. You reach into your bag for a water bottle as you pressed your back against the brick wall. When you looked back up from your bag three men were standing on the opposite side of the alleyway. As the men inch closer to you, you realize that there weren’t three men. It was one man with gigantic wings.

“Hey kid. I know this might sound crazy but” He said grabbing you and your bag with both his hands “You’re a package I need to deliver.”

“What the fuck let me go” you struggle against the stranger's hold. Your actions are stopped as he rose in the air. You cling to his chest for dear life hoping he wouldn’t drop you.

“Where the fuck are you taking me bird brain?” You yell against the roaring winds. He didn’t answer you, he only smiled as you continue to spew curses at him. “I swear when you land I’m going to DROWN you”

Finally, he lands in front of a relatively big house in the woods. Once his feet touch the ground you use the water in his body to make him punch himself. Before you could swing at him with your fist, his feathers lifted you off the ground and carried you into the house.

“Hawks is back” you heard a girl squeal “And he brought her too.”

Hawks’ feather dropped you on your bum as the man walks off. The girl from before comes into your line of eyesight and smiles. She had blonde hair which was tied into pigtails and her canines were long.

“Hi I’m Toga” She introduced, holding out her hand to help you up. “The birdie who flew you in is Hawks, he’s Dabi’s boyfriend. Welcome to the new and improved League of Villains super-secret hideout. Don’t tell anyone though. Or I’ll have to kill you”

“Y/n” you reply as you take her hand. “Why am I here? I’m no villain.” At least not yet you weren’t.

“Dabi has told us all about you. Which is why you’re here. He should be around here somewhere” She wonders off. You hear her yell “DABI” Before she returns with Hawks and another man, who you assumed was Dabi. You flick your middle finger at the birdman as he walked closer to you.

“Aww don’t be like that kid. I was only trying to help” He said with a smile. With the proper lighting in the house, you got a proper look at the man. His wings were a bright crimson color and his blonde hair was done messily. He had a long scratch from above his right eyebrow down to the middle of his cheek. Overall the man looked familiar.

Damn this man is gorgeous. If he didn’t have a boyfriend I’d want a piece of that.

You flinched when you feel his hand touch your shoulder. On the defense, you twist his arm behind his back and push him away from you. When you realize what you’ve done you quickly apologize “Oh shit. I’m so sorry I didn’t mean-”

“No it’s fine” He reassured with a smile “it’s obvious that you're on edge. I shouldn’t have done that”

“Yea...on edge” you turn to the other man. His eyes were bright blue and the majority of his skin was covered in burn scars. Staples pierced his skin in various places. “You must be Dabi”

“Correct. But you can call me Touya”

“Tou-?”

“Follow me” He interrupts. You follow the couple down the hallway. You passed multiple rooms. In one room, a man with visible dry skin sat in front of a medium-sized tv with a game controller in hand. Maybe he’d let you relieve him one day.

“I’ve been watching you Y/n” Touya begins “I’ve seen the things that man has done to you”

You stopped in front of a brown door. Hawks stepped in front of you with a softer look.

“You’re going to get your revenge little birdie. But for now,” Hawks opened the door to the room. It was gorgeous, to say the least. A queen-sized bed was centered in the room with the smell of vanilla faint in the air. “You’re going to relax”

You dropped your duffel bag as you slowly walked through the threshold. You make your way to the bed with tears blurring your vision. Hawks place your bag on a vacant chair while Touya makes his way towards you.

“So you’ve been in hiding this whole time?” You question the man standing in front of you.

“Yeah pretty much” he nods, rubbing the back of his neck “I was supposed to come back for you but you went off the grid. Now I know why”

“Where’s Keigo?” You ask.

“What did that monster do to you?” The blonde reaches out to caress your face but you flinch away. “I’m Keigo, Y/n”

“Some friend reunion we have here” You joke.

When you realize that you were indeed not captivated in some beat down apartment panic sunk in. What if he finds you? What if he’s already sent out people to look for you? What if these were the people he sent out?

“Hey” A single feather lifts your head to look at both of them “Don’t worry your pretty little head. He won’t find you here. And if somehow he does...we’ll just kill him”

Dabi nods his head in agreement. You wrap your arms around both of their bodies with tears running down your face. Keigo leaned into your touch while Dabi just pats your head stiffly.

They tell you to adjust to your new room and get cleaned up as they leave your room. Once Keigo closes your door, he buries his face into his hands.

“Did you see her arms and legs Touya?” He sobs, “She looks like she hasn’t eaten in days”

Dabi places his hand on his lover’s back, guiding him to their shared room. “Don’t cry Keigo. We’ve successfully finished phase one of the plan. We need to get ready for phase two”

———————————

“Ok you two. What’s going on?” You ask your two best friends.

“It’s a surprise y/n, we can’t tell you” The blonde laughs as Touya guided you through the wooded area. The white blindfold did its job at hiding the world from your view. You felt the boy to your right stop walking as the other untied the white cloth.

The view before you was breathtaking. “Happy Birthday Y/N” frosted onto a small cake with balloons tied to tree branches.

“Guys you shouldn’t have” You giggle.

“You’re our best friend Y/N. You’re going to have to get used to celebrating your birthday” Touya scolded.

Little did the three of you know, that was going to be the last time you would be together.

The scene started to change. The woods were engulfed in bright flames, screams were heard in the distance.

“KEIGO!” you scream. “TOUYA!WHERE ARE YOU?”

The smoke covered everything around you. You choked on the thick smoke as you tried to avoid the flames. You scream louder for your friends. But you never found them. You trip and fall over a fallen tree branch. You look up and see your abuser standing over you.

You try to crawl away from him but he catches you by your hair.

“No. Please” you cry. “TOUYA! KEIGO PLEASE HELP”

“Y/n. You can’t escape me” He growls in your ear.

Just seconds before he could throw you against the burning tree, your eyes shoot open as you send icicles flying everywhere. You scream as you feel hands grabbing your own. Your eyesight still blurry from waking up, you swing at the person in front of you. “LET GO. LET GO! GET OFF ME. KEIGO, TOUYA HELP ME”

“Y/n calm down it’s me. It’s Keigo” The blonde whispers. Your eyes frantically search for his. Your body shakes while you sob as you held Keigo’s face in your hands.

“Keigo, where were you? Keigo don’t let him get me please don’t let him get me” You choke out, “I don’t want to go back please don’t send me back. Don’t leave me again, please.”

“He won’t find you baby bird” He cooed. He places your head on his chest as he rubs your hair soothingly. “I’m here now. I’m not leaving again” He stays true to his word and drifts back to sleep with you in his arms.

Touya woke up to an empty bed. Confused, he brushed his teeth and went to check up on you. When he opens your room door he finds you asleep on top of his boyfriend’s chest. His boyfriend, on the other hand, was wide awake. He looks over at the door when he heard the floorboards creak.

“Shh. She had a rough night” He whispers.

“What happened?”

“Night Terror about him. She was screaming our names so I came in to check on her. She almost cut me with an icicle.” Keigo explains.

Touya slides underneath your cover on the other side of you. You stir at the sudden movement which causes Keigo to stop breathing.

“Goodmorning Keigo” you groan, rubbing the sleep from your eyes “and Touya”

“Goodmorning little one” the latter replied, “how are you feeling?”

“Tense” You yawn. You wiggle out of Keigo’s hold and walk towards your duffel bag. “Where’s the bathroom? I’m going to uh..take a shower”

“Across the hall”

You say a quiet thank you and exit your room. The couple let out breaths that they didn’t know they were holding when they hear the shower starts.

“We have to do something. And quick” Keigo whispers “Did Toga and Shigaraki already leave?”

“Yea. They should be back later tonight with our special guest. But for now, we need to calm down y/n”

The water dripped off of your skin as you stepped out of the steamy shower. After drying off, putting on clean clothes, and brushing your teeth, you walk back across the hall to your bedroom. Before you could sit back down on your bed, Keigo’s there with his hand stretched out for you to take.

“Hey, there birdie. Come with me” he says.

You take his hand and followed behind the blonde. He brings you to the kitchen, where a tall shadow man was making lunch.

“Hello young y/n” He spoke “I’m Kurogiri”

“Nice to meet you” You smile faintly. “Keigo I’m not hu-“

“Yes you are y/n” Touya scolds from behind you. “You haven’t eaten since I don’t know when. At least eat the seaweed out of it”

He pulls the chair out for you to sit and sits directly across from you. Keigo takes the seat on side of you as Kurogiri places your bowls in front of you.

“Shoyu Ramen?” You inhale the steam coming from the bowl. It smelled delicious. How long has it been since you had this?

“You always ate this after training and I suspect that you hadn’t eaten a proper meal in-“ Touya was cut off by your loud slurping “years”

“Stalker” You laugh before stuffing your face with more ramen. “So how long have you been watching me?”

“Well, we’ve been looking for you since we turned 20” Keigo answers. “Touya here found you just last week”

Your response was a loud hum as you drank the broth of your meal. You couldn’t help the satisfied sigh that escaped through your lips. The food was just that good.

“I’m kind of grateful that you abducted me when you did. I’d probably still be sitting in that alleyway.”

“Y/n if you don’t mind me asking” Touya begins “How long has he been..”

“6 months” You sigh, “I was dropping Shoto off at home one night and that’s when he took me to the apartment. I had no contact with the outside world. No tv, no phone, not even a god damn newspaper” You felt your quirk activate, causing the water in the glasses before you to boil. “I swear, the next time I see him I’m going to boil the skin off of him”

“Whoa there princess” Keigo uses one of his feathers to rub at your thigh to calm you down. You relax at his touch and bring the raging water to a stop. You grab Keigo’s hand in an attempt to regulate your breathing.

“So what’s the plan?” You ask, “I know you two are up to something”

“It’s a surprise” Touya smirks “you’ll find out after dinner.”

You spent your day sandwiched between the two men in your new bed watching movies, catching up, and enjoying each other’s company. It was strange how you didn’t feel like a complete third wheel. Instead, you felt like you were apart of the relationship and you were happy. You can’t even remember the last time you had a good time like this.

At last, it was dinner time. The two left your room minutes prior to “prepare your surprise” in Keigo’s words. You decided to change your clothes while you waited for the ok to come down. Just as you finished up, one of Keigo’s feathers tapped your shoulder.

You were greeted with blue and yellow eyes when you entered the dining room. Feathers pulled out your chair while the others sat down in their seats.

Fish, rice bowls, and other foods were placed on the table. You ate in silence, mainly because you didn’t want to choke, while the others talked amongst themselves.

“Y/n-Chan” Toga whined “Why are you so quiet over there?”

“The food is so good,” you say after swallowing a mouth full of rice, “I want to eat as much as possible”

Kurogiri nods in your direction at the compliment. Dinner goes on with Dabi and Shigaraki arguing over who’s the strongest and You and Keigo exchanging flirty glances and middle fingers.

“Hey Y/n, Trynna steal my boyfriend?” Touya teases.

“You’re going to have to share Mr. Blueflame” you tease back. Everybody laughs as you two keep going back and forth.

“Alright Alright. Dinners over. Time for your surprise Y/n” Touya announced.

Everybody looked at you with sinister smirks as Keigo helped you out of your seat. You were led to the basement where two seats were on opposite sides of the room with a camera in the middle.

You sat in the chair closest to the door and watched Touya and Shigi bring in someone in handcuffs with a trash bag over their head.

“Guys what’s going…” you stopped talking when Shigaraki dusts the bag off the person’s head. But it wasn’t a person, no.

It was him. The monster that kept you captive for months. The monster that stripped you of your innocence and ruined your life plans. You felt your blood begin to boil as you stood out of your chair.

“Y/n?” The older man groaned. Touya punched him in his jaw before he could speak again.

“Don’t you dare say her fucking name” He spat. He then turned to you with soft(ish) eyes. “Don’t worry. The cuffs are quirk canceling”

“Do your worst baby bird” Keigo whispered into your ear.

You motioned for everyone to move out of the way as you walked towards your new captive. “Remember this face in your next life” You whisper.

You boiled the water in his body and smiled at the bubbles visibly forming on the surface of his skin. As the man before you screams in pain, you walk towards the camera that was recording the whole thing.

“Smile for the camera Enji. Why don’t you tell little Shoto where’d you take me all those months ago. Why I could no longer pick him up from school on Fridays” You toy with the corpse. You watched as blood began to seep through his skin “You’ve always told me to give you what you want. This time it is you who will give me what I want”

“Hey Dabi” Keigo whispered “Is it just me or is Y/N kinda hot when she’s committing murder”

The ravenette nodded at his boyfriend’s statement. You were indeed hot as hell murdering his father. Your abuser. He froze, just as he was about to add a comment, when you spun the camera around to face him and Keigo.

“Say hi Dabi” You smile at the two. “Hi Hawks”

“You’ve officially lost it baby bird”

“I agree. Crazy looks good on you” Touya adds.

You turn the camera off and hand it to Kurogiri. You walk over to the couple with a pout on your face “He’s dead now. My fun’s over”

“Oh no no no” Touya teasingly pulled you into his chest by your waist “The fun is just beginning. Right, Keigo?”

Keigo pushes his groin against your ass and nibbles on your earlobe.“That’s right babe” he whispered “We’re going to help you reclaim what’s yours”

——————-——————

A/n: So there’s smut to this fic😭 but I won’t post it unless this does good. Anyways, HAPPY NEW YEAR.

[irene-sadler]

Six Months

someone wondered when the Baroness (a side character from the Tournament aka Sir Reynard and the Red Knight which I wrote earlier this year) was coming back and uh, “back” implies that she ever left in the first place, tbh. spoilers: she didn’t.

anyway so here’s a little something something

its a quick family story plus a story about civilians in wartime packed into a little over 4000 words. rated PG. ft teen romance drama, sheep, grown up romance non drama, and not a single canon witcher character. think Roseanne (original show not the weird remake that died on arrival for Reasons) but in the setting of The Witcher. or don’t if u have no idea what i’m even talking about b/c u dont watch 90s cable sitcoms constantly like i do lol.

Six Months:

The Nilfgaardian soldiers came at night, but they found an empty manor house. The occupants had had plenty of warning they were on their way; the family’s oldest son had ridden nonstop from Rivia Castle to warn them that there had been a coup, that the Queen had vanished and her young son was in charge, and that it was only a matter of time before their old enemy Caldwell came looking for them. Hilde thought they were, in many ways, fortunate - not lucky, because no luck had been involved - fortunate that their son was riding his fastest horse, fortunate that the rest of the household managed to collect what they could and hide the rest without dramatics or incident, fortunate to have somewhere else to go. An old herbalist’s hut in the woods wasn’t much, but it was, she’d said, a roof over their heads. They’d always had a plan, in case everything in their lives went very badly wrong. Everything had, and the hut was part of it.

    Then her son rode off with most of her other sons and the rest of her husband’s knights, on the chance that the Queen was out there somewhere, and left the place somewhat emptier-feeling in his absence.

    “Wish I was going with them,” the Baron said, looking down the woodland road after them.

    “We talked about this, Eldred; you’re sixty-seven years old, your eyesight’s going bad, and your knees don’t bend anymore. A warband’s got no use for you.”

    “I know that,” he said. “Don’t mean I don’t wish I was going.”

    A little flock of sheep crossed the path, with some of her nephews trailing after them, waving sticks and shouting.

    “I’ll be worried about them, too,” she said, as one of the sheep suddenly bolted. Eldred took her hand, squeezed it, and limped off after it.

    The next time their paths crossed he was in a slightly better mood. She hooked her arm through his elbow and looked up at the full moon through the trees.

    “Can’t hear myself think in there, so I came out here for some fresh air,” he said. There wasn’t enough room inside for even half the people who had followed them along. Most of the household had settled around the hut in tents and bedrolls. The inside of the hut was still jammed with the smaller children. They were also fortunate that it was spring, and nobody would freeze to death sleeping outside. No luck involved, again. No army fought in the winter, although she wouldn’t put it past the Empire to try.

    “We’ll have to build pens for the sheep and pigs, tomorrow,” she said. “Maybe some more shelters, too. The farmhands can do it. And I’ll organize some of the women t’ forage in the woods. We’re fortunate it’s spring. We might be living off pottage of oats and chickweed, but we won’t starve t’ death.”

    “You know,” Eldred said, “I was thinking I might get a shot at some of these invaders after all. They might turn up here.”

    “They might.”

    “Wouldn’t want any spies or wanderers t’ spot us and take word back to th’ army that we’re out here.”

    “No.”

    “Anyhow, with all these boys out here, I thought I might train ‘em up a little, just in case.”

    “That’s not a bad idea.”

    “Might take some of these girls, too,” he added.

    “Even better,” she said. He smiled down at her.

    “We’ll be safe here.”

    “Of course we will, with you around,” she said.

    ———

    Wars were just a part of life. She was born and raised in Rivia; she’d grown up watching her brothers and father ride off to war with Lyria, over and over again. Her father was killed by a Lyrian archer when she was twenty-three. She’d watched her mother’s face while they buried him. She never wanted to know what it took to make someone wear that hard, dead expression. Over a decade later the King married a Lyrian princess and those wars stopped, but more took their place. There had been the rebellion, after the King died, led by her own disgruntled brothers, who refused to serve a Lyrian; her husband’s promotion from petty knight to Baron was a direct result of the glory he’d won putting it down. That war had almost destroyed her marriage, but they’d pulled through, in the end. Then there had been bandits, minor invasions, civil unrest; it seemed like there was always something to fight over, but never anything new. Whether Lyrians were killing Rivians or Nilfgaardians were killing Rivians, they always had the same damn excuses for it. The older she got, the less patience she had for any of them.

    ———        

    Smoke from cooking fires floated through the newly cleared area around the camp. The forest echoed with the sounds of axes hitting wood and more trees falling. The pigs slept in the shade out of the heat, watched over by a pack of skinny boys from the village. The herbalist’s hut sat surrounded by a dozen almost identical buildings - buildings, children, chickens, dogs, a donkey that someone had brought in, loaded down with rushes -

    The Nilfgaardians hadn’t found them, but a whole lot of other people somehow had. Some of them brought livestock or food, but a hell of a lot of them had nothing but the clothes on their backs. Hilde refused to turn them away, even if a few of the hands muttered darkly about spies and famine. More was better; more people meant more hands to work and more eyes to keep watch. Eldred’s little force of skinny teenagers with homemade bows and farmhands armed with handaxes had grown in size, if not, in her opinion, in quality. He seemed pleased with them, at least. Some of them were standing watch at the edges of the clearing. She was pretty sure none of them were asleep.

    It turned out they weren’t; a minor racket interrupted the idyllic peace of the summer afternoon - some kind of argument, she thought. She abandoned the shirt she was mending and headed to the north side of the buildings, where she found a pair of youths shouting at each other. One, she noticed, was her own youngest son, waving a bow and turning an impressive shade of red. The other was a dark-haired girl. The latter spotted her before the former; Hilde watched with detached interest as the girl’s eyes widened and her stance shifted from aggressive to frozen fear.

    “Herron,” she said. “It’s -”

    “What’s this about?” Hilde asked.

    “- your mother.”

    Herron deflated, visibly.

    “We were just - we were talking,” he said, staring at his own feet.

    “I heard.”

    “Just a - a disagreement over the watch schedule,” said the girl. She raised an eyebrow, considered telling them to cut the shit, and then decided not to. Whatever it was, it was probably harmless, and it wouldn’t be improved by her involvement.

    “If you have an issue, take it up with the Baron,” she said. “Meanwhile, quit disturbing the peace.”

    The girl bowed and escaped at not quite a jog. Herron stared after her, still beet red.

    “Who’s that?” she asked.

    “Nobody.”

    “No?”

    “She’s just - she wasn’t at the right guardpost.”

    “Whatever you say,” she said. Herron was shifting uncomfortably, showing the usual signs of a teenager who desperately wanted to escape.

    “Go on,” she said. “Get back t’ work.”    

———

    Herron had begged to go to war with his brothers. He was only fourteen, and although he looked like a skinny, lanky, teenage copy of his father, he had none of Eldred’s athletic ability. The best that could be said for him was he was a decent shot. Maybe he would have survived the battlefield, but she didn’t want to take the chance. Besides, he was her baby boy; she felt like he had been ten years old only the week before. She couldn’t let him go, and Eldred had taken one look at her face and hadn’t argued with her. The resulting angst had taken weeks to wear off.

    Whatever Herron was up to, she was just glad he was finally speaking to her again.

    ———        

    The rainy season hit exactly on time; a genuine stroke of luck, because the rain would keep their ever-increasing hideout a secret for a little longer. The pigs were happy, but the sheep and humans less so. Hilde and her selected lieutenants kept the place running anyway, despite the endless mud, the nonstop damp, and the weather that ranged from a drizzly mist in the mornings to downpours in the afternoons and evenings that were so heavy Eldred stopped making his militia patrol the forest for fear they’d get lost or drown in a flash flood.

    During one of the downpours one of the militia members came splashing through the mud and into the hut. Eldred stopped scrubbing rust off his sword.

    “Something going on?”

    Hilde thought he sounded a little too hopeful.

    “Nothin’,” the man said. “Not really. Just, we had this kid come up t’ th’ east guardpost just now.”

    “Ask around; has t’ belong to someone around here,” Hilde said.

    “Don’t think so, milady, on account of it ain’t a human child.”

    “Oh. I’ll take a look,” she said. “Go on, I’ll be there.”

    Eldred shook his head slightly at her as she stood and pulled a cloak around herself.

    “What?”

    “Nothin’.”

      She could barely see where she was going, but she managed to slop her way through the muck between the huts and made her way the guardpost. A little pack of militia stood around the spot, watching a single, very small shape that huddled under a blanket. The shape didn’t look up when the guards all spotted her and stood.

    “Honestly,” she said. “How many people does it take to keep an eye on one five-year-old? Don’t you all have work to do?”

    “We were thinkin’ maybe there could be Squirrels about,” someone explained, awkwardly. She rolled her eyes; the expression might have lost some effect in the pouring rain and dark, so she added a little of it to her tone.

    “Yes, well. If so, I’ll protect you, Jenny. Get going, all of you. Find something else to do.”

    Most of them trailed off, muttering among themselves. One man stuck around; she raised an eyebrow at him, which he seemed to take as a sign. He stumped off a few yards away and stood squinting out at the dark woods. She rolled her eyes again and crouched down.

    “Hello. Who are you?”

    “I’m six,” the huddled shape said.

    “What’s that?”

    “You said I was five.”

    “Oh. Sorry. It’s hard to tell for sure, under that blanket.”

    “I don’t want t’ get wet.”

    “What’s your name?”

    “Ailfe.”

    “My name’s Hilde,” she said. “If you come with me, you can get something to eat and sit in front of a fire. What do you say?”

    “Alright.”

      Ailfe sat next to the fire, inhaling a steaming bowl of barley and dandelion leaves. Hilde offered seconds after the first bowl was done, bided her time, and, finally, asked, “So - Ailfe. Where are your parents?”

    The girl shrugged, took just enough time away from eating to say, “Dead,” and went back to it. Eldred shook his head again, slightly, when she glanced at him; he had looked less than surprised when she came in out of the rain lugging a bundle. He was trying to look like he was wearily embracing the inevitable, but she could see a hint of a smile in the corners of his mouth. She smiled back.

    “Where are you from?”

    “Dravograd,” Ailfe said.

    “Ah.”

    She’d heard rumors, in passing, through the militia, who’d heard them from the merchants on the roads. Hilde knew enough to believe them.

    “Well,” she said, “You can stay here, if you like; it’s not like we don’t have the room, and you can help my nephews with the sheep. How’s that sound?”

    “Fine.”

      Not twenty minutes later, the girl was dead asleep. Hilde pulled a dry blanket around her and stretched out on the pallet in the corner next to Eldred.

    “Couldn’t let her starve,” she said to him.

    “We’ve had stranger things than elves in our family, I suppose,” he replied. “Remember my uncle Egbert? Th’ one who turned into an enthusiast and became a priest of Pareplut?”

    “I always wanted a daughter.”

    “I know,” he said, kissed the side of her head, and added, “I love you.”

    “And I love you, Eldred,” she said.          

    -——

    When she’d decided she was going to marry him, her parents hadn’t been too sure about the idea. She was twenty and he was slightly more than a decade older, but she’d seen him in the tournaments, and she’d heard about him outside them. He was very often the best knight on the field - perfect form, an undeniable talent - and he was a close cousin to the King, and her aunt’s husband had it on good authority that he was as capable an administrator as he was a fighter. It was true that he wasn’t much to look at, but she wasn’t foolish enough to care about his missing front tooth, or the scar on his chin, or his crooked nose. The day he’d won yet another tournament and gallantly offered her the prize with a gap-toothed smile, she knew nobody in the world was going to change her mind about Sir Eldred Greenwood. Her parents would just have to get used to it.

    ——

    The rain stopped for good and the sun cooked all the water out of the air. She started sending the kids and donkeys off to the stream, a mile away, every morning and evening to fill kegs with water. Ailfe trooped along with the others, wearing a shapeless cap that covered her ears, looking as filthy and half-wild as any of them. She had forgotten about the incident with Herron completely.

    She was sitting on the top rail of a fence in the twilight, watching bats flutter through the smoke and lights of the camp and chatting about nothing in particular with Eldred. Anything resembling privacy was hard to come by, but most people seemed to be off doing something, somewhere, and nobody was near the sheep pens. At least, they didn’t think so, but they were wrong. Right around the time she lost interest in the bats and they ran out of things to talk about, something interrupted the forgotten background hum of insects and humanity.

    “Wynn?” a voice said, from the nearby guardpost, out of sight past a shed. Eldred jumped about three inches and, to her mild disappointment, stopped kissing her.

    “What the hell-”

    She covered his mouth with her hand, quickly.  

    “Shush.”

    It was only Herron. She recognized his voice. She didn’t immediately recognize the voice that responded.

    “Hi Herron. You on watch?”

    “Yep.”

    “When do you get off?”

    “Uh, in around an hour. Why?”

    She figured it out, after some thought; it was the girl he’d been arguing with, weeks earlier. Eldred raised an inquiring eyebrow up at her. She shook her head at him.

    “Do you want t’ get dinner afterward? My folks are cooking a chicken that quit laying.”

    “Oh,” Herron said. “I already ate.”

     After a brief pause, the girl said, “Um, well, have a good shift, then. I’ll see you later.”

    “Later,” Herron replied.

    Hilde waited a minute, then sighed wearily. Eldred looked pained.

    “That was the single worst thing I’ve ever overheard,” he commented.

    “I’m thinking you ought to have a talk with our son,” she replied, quietly.

    “First thing in the morning, and not a minute later,” he agreed. “Anyway, what were we talking about?”

    “We weren’t.”

    ————

    They’d had five sons. The oldest, Hal, had a wife and children of his own. He was at court, most of the time; Eldred had sworn off the place as soon as Hal was old enough to go without him, and only went up for holidays and emergencies. Edgar and Robin, the twins, were five years younger and as unalike as they could make themselves. Edgar was a wanderer, had barely been home for most of the last decade. She wasn’t sure if it was fortunate or not that he had been home during the spring. Robin had just gotten married during the winter, and had a position at court. Jack, the fourth, had died of consumption when he was four. Her youngest son was a surprise; she’d been over forty when he was born, and nobody had expected both of them to survive the event, but they’d been wrong. Herron was weedy, but he was as strong as an ox. He looked like his father, crooked nose and all, but he acted just like her long-dead oldest brother - kind, loyal, brilliant, and unbelievably easy to manipulate. It worried her, sometimes, but she knew better than to wonder if her youngest son would come to a similar end. There was nothing to be gained by dwelling on the past, and even less by trying to predict the future.

    ———

    The dry spell continued. One evening the donkeys and children went off as usual. An hour later as she was helping finish butcher one of the pigs, one of the boys scrambled out of the woods. Hilde balanced the knife in her hand and glanced at the trees behind him. Nothing seemed to be following him - at least, not very closely.

    “What’s wrong?”

    “They’re comin’,” he said, wide-eyed and shaking.

    “Who?”

    “Black Ones. We was on our way back, and - and -”

    She swore under her breath and turned quickly; she would have told one of the others to get Eldred, find the militia, but it was too late; someone had already gone.

    “- they took all the donkeys,” he continued, “Even Donny.”

    “What about all your friends? The other kids?”

    “I don’t know; everyone was running around, and there were soldiers, and nobody was payin’ attention to me and I just ran away.”

    Herron raced up, sweating heavily.

    “Ma, someone said th’ enemy’s here, and dad says t’ get everyone inside th’ stockade-”

    “Yes, I know what t’ do,” she said. “There’s a bunch of kids out in these woods, somewhere.”

    Her daughter was out there, somewhere. She had to go find them.

    “I’ll go look for them,” Herron said. “I’ll find them.”

    He looked terrified. She couldn’t send him - but she couldn’t not send him; she knew she couldn’t really go herself. What would she do out in the woods? Get lost. Get killed. Herron was, if nothing else, a good shot, and a halfway decent hunter.

    “I can do it,” he said. He looked even younger than he actually was, but he sounded confident. She breathed out and nodded.

    “Please be careful.”

    “I’ll try.”

      The stockade was barely a wall; it was a fence with a gate, but it was better than nothing. They’d built it to head height with the sharp ends of logs pointed out toward the trees, and it wouldn’t stop an arrow, but it would stop a horse. Hilde stood by the gate, looking through the holes in the fence at the path her husband and a bunch of teenagers and farmers had taken into the woods. He had trooped out with a sword in his hand, smiled at her under his helmet, and hadn’t looked back. She told herself he would be fine, and Herron would be fine, and the collection of women armed with axes and pitchforks and old spears left over to defend the entirety of the camp would be fine.

    Hours passed, and nothing happened. The feeling of stretched nerves in the air turned to one of faint boredom as the afternoon wore on. She took to pacing the perimeter of the fence, watching the trees for movement, listening for a sound other than the endless rattle of cicadas and crickets and the noise of livestock and people. The shadows got long, and nothing happened. She sternly told herself not to worry, or, at least, not to imagine horrible things that could be happening very far away.

    “Horses,” someone suddenly said. “I hear horses comin’.”

    She stared out at the woods, clutching the makeshift spear she’d armed herself with. There were horses out there; she heard a rumble that could only be a line of heavy cavalry, dozens of armored horses and men. She’d heard them a thousand times in a thousand melees, and she could imagine exactly what they would do to her mass of barely-armed, unarmored peasants if they broke through the fence.

    “Get ready with the spears,” she said. “Just like we practiced.”

    Spears was an overstatement; more than a few of the people who lined up behind the fence with the points of their weapons facing toward the trees were holding pitchforks, but Eldred had thought they’d do just as well. She had her own doubts, but they didn’t have anything better. Any side conversations ended as the sound of the oncoming cavalry rumbled louder; they stood and sweated and waited until the first horse appeared on the narrow road between the trees. She squinted at it; it was hard to see in the dusk, and she wasn’t very familiar with Nilfgaardian armor, but she didn’t think the rider was wearing black. In fact, the knight riding up at the head of the column had a distinctly familiar seat. She breathed, finally, and leaned the spear on the fence.

    “Those are Lyrian banners,” someone said.

    “It’s a trick,” someone else replied, shakily.

    “No,” she said. “No it isn’t. Open the gate.”

    She trooped up the road, met the column, found Herron limping along beside them with a bandage on his leg, a pack of children surrounding him, and Ailfe in his arms.

    “What happened?”

    “I did it,” Ailfe announced. “I saved the day.”

    “Oh?”

    “Well, sort of,” her son replied. “She did keep the Blackclads from catching her and the other kids -”

    “-we climbed a tree,” a boy announced, smugly.

    “-and then I found them and they caught me -”

    “Herron fought like a good one,” said Ailfe. “He got wounded, look.”

    “- then Dad and the lads turned up and attacked the Nilfs -”

     Ailfe finished the story in an excited shout.

    “- and then, durin’ the fight, th’ army came!”

    The knight from the head of the column pulled up and stopped.

    “Not that we needed help,” he said.

    “No, of course not,” Hilde replied, rolling her eyes at him.

    “- anyway, it all ended more or less well,” said Herron. “And they’re saying the Queen’s back.”

    She looked up at Eldred, caught a gap-toothed grin on his face.

    “Oh?”

    Eldred nodded at her.

    “We can go home soon,” Herron said.

    “Home?” Ailfe asked.

    “I’ll tell you all about it,” he said. “Come on, let’s get down to the camp. Ma, are you coming?”

    “In a minute,” Hilde said.

      “Well,” she said, in the comparative quiet after they left, “Did you see any of our sons?”

    “Not in this unit - these people are just scouts, really,” Eldred said.

    “They’re all alive, at least?”

    “Far as I know. We’ll see them soon enough, if all goes well.”

    “That’s a relief.”

    “Can I give you a lift back?”

    “A ride from a noble knight? I can’t say no to that,” she said.

    The camp was swarming with Lyrian soldiers, Rivian civilians, donkeys, barking dogs, and runaway goats and sheep. Eldred reined in the horse at the gate and overlooked the chaos. She thought she caught a glimpse of Herron and Wynn, ducking out of sight behind a hut, and quickly pointed out the leader of the soldiers.

    “Ah,” Eldred said. “Well, I suppose we could wade into this mess and talk to him -”

    “You’re the Baron,” she interrupted. “You can’t just sneak off by yourself with all this going on. Also, it’s getting dark.”

    “I wasn’t going to go by myself.”

    “Oh,” she said.

    “What I’m thinking is we go off somewhere and come back after this has a chance t’ calm itself down -”

    “I suppose I can always pretend you kidnapped me,” she said. “Someone has to maintain an appearance of responsibility around here.”

    “I promise to have you back before dark,” he said. “What d’ you say?”

    “It’s a deal.”            

    “Someone told me our Hal’s a Colonel, now,” he said, turning the horse around. She wrapped her arms around his waist and propped her chin up on his shoulder to see the road ahead.

    “Is he?”

    “Not that it’s a surprise; he’s just like you.”

    “A social climber?”

    “A pragmatist.”

    “You always were a romantic, Eldred.”

    “I’m a lucky man. We wouldn’t have made it all these months without you.”

    Luck had nothing to do with it; they’d planned and fought and were, again, fortunate that it had all worked out in the end. She buried her face in his neck and let him think it had, anyway.

    “I can’t wait to go home,” she said.

[one-shot-plus-size]

From Sons of Anarchy to Mayans MC

Jax's sister must hide from the revenge of SAMCRO enemies, goes to Mayans MC Santo Padre. And he catches the eye of a la presidente.

Chapters 4/20

Sorry for any mistakes, English is not my first language. They will accept any attention and criticism :)

Part 3

Charming

Pov Olivia

I went into my house, pulled out the phone and dialed Marcus' number.

- Tak mi reina ?

- Can we leave today ? - I walked into the bedroom.

- I can organize the guys within an hour. But are you sure ? - he took a breath.

- Yeah, Marcus, Jackson already chose. I'll be ready in an hour.

- Are you taking the motorcycle ?

- No, I'm just taking my clothes, nothing more.

- We'll be there in an hour.

- Thanks. I hung up.

I threw a sports bag on the bed, put the most necessary clothes into it. I packed my drawing equipment into the backpack, she had to keep working to earn money. I changed into a short sleeve shirt and dark denim pants. I put my harley davidson shoes on my feet. If Jackson wants to get rid of me, I will make it easier for him. I put all the things that tied me to SAMCRO on a bench in the living room. It was quite a lot, I fell down on the couch and stared at the gun. Jackson gave it to me when I became an adult. She wasn't wearing any Sons' emblems, nothing connected her to the club. I threw it in my bag and it might come in handy.

Pov Chibs

- I'll go to her, talk to her. You cannot part in an argument, then I will call you.

- Take care - he breathed - she will be angry.

- I know how to please her - I smiled slightly

- I noticed - he laughed.

I smiled slightly, ran down the stairs and went to my motorcycle. I fastened my helmet, sat on it and fired. I breathed deeply and all the way to her house I tried to prepare for the conversation. I had to keep calm so she would calm down too. I parked my motorcycle in her driveway, took off my helmet and hung it on the mirror. I fixed my hair and walked up to the front door. I knocked several times.

- Lass please - I moaned - I know you are mad at your brother but at least talk to me.

There was silence on the other side, I grabbed the handle. The door gave way under my pressure, I wrinkled my eyebrows. I pulled the gun from behind the belt, Olivia always closed the door, even when she was at home.

- Lass - I went inside.

I lit the light in the living room, looked around the room. My eyes stopped on the coffee table.

- I fucking growled - Olivia.

I checked the whole house, she was nowhere. I fell down on the couch in front of the table, looked through the things, grabbed the picture. She and Jackson were laughing while pushing, I remembered well when the picture was taken. It was one of the carefree days at the club, where we could afford to forget for a while. Olivia left here all her belongings, SAMCRO clothes, photos and even her phone. I even saw the chain I gave her for her birthday, the one she never took off. I pulled out the phone and dialed Jax's number. - It's good that you're alive, but something went fast - he laughed.

- I think I have some bad news from Jackie boy - I lost my hair.

- She kicked you out on your fucking face?

- Jackie, she left already.

- What ? - He was surprised.

- She left already, she left all her things at home. She left everything that connected her to the club and her family here. Club clothes, photos and even the chain I gave her for her birthday. Everything - I held back the tears.

- Maybe it's better - he pulled her nose - she was mad at me, if she cools down a bit I will call her. Somehow he will contact her, but now it's good. Go home.

- Sure - I hung up.

I looked at the pile of her things again.

- And I haven't been able to tell you - I've breathed - but I'll tell you when you get home.

I put the chain in my wicked pocket and left her house slamming the door behind.

On the way to Santo Padre

Pov Olivia

- You won't mind if I smoke ? - I looked at the driver.

- No - he twisted his head - smoke all you want.

I took out a pack of cigarettes from my jeans pocket. I played with the pack for a while, but finally I slipped the cigarette between my lips and lit it. I pulled myself tight and blew the smoke out the window. I leaned my elbow against the door and looked at passing cars on the highway. Motorcycles were roaring steadily, those behind and in front of us. Marcus was driving all motorcycles, El Presidente or El Padrino who preferred to call him. Mayans Northern Cali, I watched the surroundings. At this speed we should be there in about 9 hours, it will be a long 9 hours. After four we stopped the petrol station, the motorcycles parked in one row and the bus next to them. I got out of the car and dragged myself hard. I looked around and went to the station. I felt the guys' eyesight on me, but frankly, I didn't give a shit. Let them think what they want about me, let them feel sorry for me that my own family threw me out. I used the bathroom, then I bought chips, cigarettes and something to drink. On the way back to the car, Alvarez stopped me.

- Chica everything ok ? - he put his hand on my shoulder.

- What do you think ? - i looked at him - my own brother fired me from my family.

- Olivia - he breathed.

- He doesn't want to talk about it, ok ?

- Ok, he nodded his head.

I got in the car, started another cigarette and stared at one point. It was four o'clock in the morning so few people were hanging around the station and it was late on the highway. As soon as we entered Santo Padre, I got tense.

- Relax - Nathaniel smiled slightly - the guys are fine, you don't have to worry.

- Sure - I snorted under my nose.

- If something is not right, you can call me or Alvarez.

- Sure - I looked at him - thanks, I was able to manage between the Sons so I think I can manage here too.

- They are different - he drove into the driveway.

- Sure - I looked at him.

- You'll see for yourself that there are others, and then you won't want to go home - he smiled widely.

- I don't have a home anymore - I twisted my head - as if you hadn't noticed, I was fired from the last one.

- You have to believe that Jackson had a good reason.

- Sure, I nodded.

The big iron gate opened and we entered the club. On my right was a row of motorcycles, set up under a shelter that protected them from the sun. And yet they were shining anyway, armed with a lot of chrome. Nathaniel parked the car on the left side of the square, the man who opened it for us was wearing a club vest. Six feet tall with long dark hair tied in a ponytail.

- I hate this town already - I purr.

- What do you mean ? - Nathaniel looked at me.

- The heat will kill me - I breathed.

- You will get used to it - he smiled and got out of the car.

- Surely, I put my hair in a ponytail.

Pov Bishop

- Our star came - Taza improved his vest and left the club.

- Sure - I took a breath.

I left the club as the last one, everyone was standing on the porch and staring at one point.

- Move your assholes - I was growling.

The boys spread out, I went out on the front of those rams. And that was when I understood why they stopped. I was staring at a girl, or rather a woman who was fixing her shirt. Her long blue hair was pinned up in a ponytail, I moved my gaze across her body. Her full shape was emphasized by a blouse and dark denim pants, she had harley davidson shoes on her feet.

- I fucking murmured under my nose.

- That's right, old man - Taza patted me on the shoulder - we all drowned.

- Nobody said she was hot - Tranq smiled wide.

- If anyone gets hit on the head by it, I will personally skin it. Remember that it is J.T.'s daughter Teller and that way she is untouchable, you heard Angel ?

- I am not deaf - he looked at me and smiled.

- Reyes, do not test my patience.

- Don't you think that standing on the porch and arguing is not a good first impression - Taza smiled - Bishop do the honors.

- Sure - I fixed the vest.

I greeted Alvarez.

- Come let me introduce you to Hell.

- Hell ? - I was surprised.

- You'll see - he nodded his head.

- This is an Obispo Losa called Bishop. This is el presidente of this branch, Bishop is Olivia Teller, but commonly called hell.

- Pleased to meet you - I reached out my hand in her direction.

She hugged her gently, but quickly moved back.

- I think she wants to know why the hell - Taza spoke to me.

- This is Che Romero, vicepresidente.

- Taza, just Taza - he smiled wide - so why hell?

- There's nothing to talk about," she waved her hand.

- Oh well - Marcus smiled wide - no representative of any of the Sons Charters was able to beat her in the ring. And when she got pissed off, men three times bigger than her blew up.

- Jizas, el padrino please shut up already - she hit him slightly in the shoulder - you make me a monster that I am not.

- I will gladly face her in the ring - I heard the voice of older Reyes.

- Are you crazy? - I yawned at him.

- All right - she said - we drove all night, if you give me a rest and at least regenerate a little, I will gladly face him in the ring.

- If it is as padrino says, it is interesting how Angel will deal with failure - a smaller and thinner man smiled from ear to ear - I am Johnny Cruz but they call me Coco.

- Maybe I'll introduce you to the rest of this bunch - I smiled a little - Taza and Coco you've already met, this is Tranq El Pacificador, this is Creepera, he is our Road Captain. This is Riz El Secretario of our club. There stands Gilli and the Reyes brothers. Angel is the one who never knows how to hold his tongue and his younger brother prospect Ez. Don't stress out with time you'll get their names in your head.

- Sure - she looked at each of them.

- Prospect - I looked at him - take her things and show her the apartment.

Ez nodded his head, took her bag from the car.

- Are you sure you're a woman ? - He raised his eyebrows high.

- Yeah, that's all my stuff not related to Sons-- she snorted under my nose.

- Come on - Ez nodded his head at her.

Olivia smiled slightly and followed him with her backpack on her shoulder. I turned around behind her and looked at her tattooed hand, the tattoos were hiding under the sleeve of her blouse. And some of the tattoos were also sticking out from under the shirt on her neck. I was wondering where else I could find the paintings on her body. Something feels that we can expect everything from this woman. When she disappeared behind the door, I took a look at Angel. I supported myself with my fists on the sides.

- Really Angel? - I growled.

- What? - He was surprised.

- That's a woman's tattoo. I lit a cigarette.

- So ? - he frowned his eyebrows - if she's as good as Padrino says she'll manage.

- Don't worry Bish, she'll be fine. - Marcus patted me on the shoulder.

- He works with idiots - I was purring under my nose.

Part 5

[ampmiscfiles]

The Webs We Weave: Chapter 30

Start From The Beginning

"You realize you've got the entirety of the Avengers and the vigilantes of New York looking for you?" Peter sneered."Oh, I'm fully aware that all your little friends are looking for Osborn." The man smirked.Suddenly, it hit.Fisk! Wilson Fisk! The rising 'star' from Hell's Kitchen. Start From The Beginning

Fisk?

Tony looked at the large man smirking at Peter.

Fisk. Where had he heard that name before?

"I truly hope your worth the time to me. I wouldn't mind getting rid of you as well, but I promised Osborn I'd leave your fate to him as payment."

"You realize you've got the entirety of the Avengers and the vigilantes of New York looking for you?" Peter sneered.

"Oh, I'm fully aware that all your little friends are looking for Osborn." The man smirked.

Suddenly, it hit.

Fisk! Wilson Fisk! The rising 'star' from Hell's Kitchen.

Tony had never really paid the man any attention as his business was pretty exclusive to Hell's Kitchen and improving it. He was technically small time to Tony, but did have promise if he decided to start expanding, which Tony had assumed he would.

Still, what business did Wilson Fisk had with Dea-

Tony froze.

How could he be that stupid?

Peter wasn't a bait for Deadpool.......he was a bait for Daredevil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harley followed silently behind Wade and Daredevil. His head was spinning with the new revelations.

Peter Parker was Spider-Man.

The cute guy he had been desperately trying to win over was the same man he had been feuding with.

What a mess.

He glared at the back of Wade Wilson's head. Perhaps, if he had gotten to know Spider-Man and Peter before the mercenary, things would be different. Maybe if he had actually taken time to better figure out the story between Peter and Tony, things might be different.

Not that he was sure he wanted to know the story between Tony and Peter.

When it was just Spider-Man, with his attitude, it had been easy for Harley to hate him. Knowing now that it was Peter, and having spent a little time with him, Harley couldn't stop the nagging feeling that maybe Tony wasn't at innocent as he thought.

Still, Harley respected Tony. He looked up to the man and really couldn't find it in himself to believe that anything he uncovered between Tony and Peter would change those feelings.

Because it was obvious Peter didn't want it to.

He could have ousted Tony for whatever had happened, but he didn't. So either the problem wasn't all Tony, or Peter was really just that intent of keeping it between the two of them.

He had to respect Peter for it.

Anyone else might have jumped at the chance to get people on their side, but not Peter. Sure, he obviously had his vigilante friends and family, but it was also clear that they trusted Peter and left the choice up to him. Whatever he decided, whether they liked it or not, they respected it.

"You keeping up back there, brat." Wade tossed over his shoulder.

"Don't push your luck, mercenary." Harley sneered. "I'm only working with you for Peter's sake."

"Don't tell me you still think you have a chance with him!" Wade growled.

"Shut it! Both of you!" Matt hissed. "I don't have the patience to hear you argue."

Both men closed their mouths as Matt seethed next to them. Wade imagined he could see the ground smoking under the man's feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There's no way all these tunnels will lead to where we need to be." Natasha frowned. "Spider-Man and Tony are gone. We're not all going to end up in the same place."

"We've been walking a while." Clint replied. "Even if we turn back and take the tunnel they did, there's no way we'd catch up to them."

"Then maybe we need to be thinking outside the box." Natasha said, stopping.

"What are you thinking?"

"Maybe these tunnels aren't as clean cut as they look. I mean, if I had an elaborate system of moving goods, I'd also have contingency plans."

"You think the tunnels all connect?" Clint asked, looking around.

"I think it's worth keeping an eye out for possible side routes, or even the ceiling."

"Well then," Clint grinned. "Let's put these spy skills to use."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Keep an eye out for side or even top exits from the tunnels."

Clint's voice came through the comms.

Felicia looked over at Bucky as he stopped and looked around. They didn't notice anything where they were, but that didn't mean they wouldn't come across one, or more, if they kept going.

"I hate to tell you big guy," Felicia smirked. "But I can promise you my eyesight is better in dark and dim light than yours."

Bucky raised an eyebrow and Felicia turned, making her way further down the tunnel.

"Enhancement?"

"Night vision."

Bucky stopped as she threw a saucy wink over her shoulder.

"Trust me, it comes in handy.......at the most interesting of times."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So, he goes through all this trouble of capturing us in the room......and never considered the strength of the actual walls?" Luke groaned, running his hand down his face as Jessica punched at the steadily crumbling wall.

"A few more well placed hits and we'll have a hole we can get through." Jessica grinned.

"Get to it Cage. Danny and I aren't gonna do it all."

Luke smirked, cracking his knuckles and throwing a punch. The walls cracked and crumbled sheet rock busted away.

"Looking good. I think you and Rand can handle it from here." Jessica smirked, settling herself against the opposite wall and watching.

"Chop chop boys."

"Well, you heard the lady." Danny shrugged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frank Castle didn't do subtle.

Kicking the door in, he stepped into the dark inside of Fisk Tower. He hated crooked business dealers.

He hated them even more when they went after people he actually liked.

Picking up his duffle, Frank strolled down the long corridors, ignoring the cameras "hidden" in corners. So what if anyone knew he was coming, it wasn't like he had a problem playing dirty.

"Big shot billionaires." Frank scoffed. "They're either disgustingly crooked, or arrogantly obnoxious. Now, if I was an insane, serum high piece of shit, where would I hide?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony watched as Fisk circled Peter, analyzing him.

"I wonder just how old you are, Spider-Man. You've been under the red menace's watch for some time now. Long enough to make you the perfect bait for luring him to me."

"I hate to tell you, Fisky, but Daredevil isn't coming. He's not that stupid."

Tony could hear Peter's smirk behind his mask.

Fisk chuckled as shook his head.

"I think you and I both know that's a lie. In fact, I look for him to show up very soon. We already have a few of your little friends locked away."

Peter tensed.

Tony frowned. He knew it couldn't be any of the Avengers, which only left the vigilantes Peter was always with.

So much for backup.

"Boss!"

Norman and Fisk looked up as a bloody guard stepped into the room. His right arm hung loosely at his side and his left leg left a trail of blood behind it.

"We....we have a pro-"

A bullet through the man's skull ended his warning.

"Good. I haven't missed any fun."

Peter gasped under the mask as Frank Castle, bloody and grinning madly, strolled into the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who the hell hires all these guys?" Danny shouted, punching a guard in the face.

"You're telling me you don't have a mass of evil underlings, Rand?" Jessica cackled, slamming another into the wall.

"I don't need underlings. I run a respectable business!"

"If you have employees, you have underlings!" Luke huffed, throwing a larger man into an oncoming group.

"Whatever, let's just move. We gotta find Osborn be-"

A vent falling out the ceiling stopped the group as two people dropped down.

"Starting without us?" Clint grinned.

"We hate missing all the fun." Natasha smirked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Matt stopped, an odd sound ringing in his ears. Holding out his hand, he stopped Harley from following behind Wade, just in time to watch the mercenary go flying into one wall as a hole was knocked into the other.

"Holy shit!" Harley yelled, immediately encased in the Iron Lad armor.

"Matt!"

Harley watched in shock as the platinum blonde woman and Bucky Barnes stepped into the tunnel.

"Felicia. I want to be surprised, but I'm not." Matt said with a small, but relieved smile as she wrapped herself around him in a hug.

"We have to find him, Matty." she whispered.

Matt didn't reply. There wasn't a need to.

"Where's Wilson?" Bucky asked, looking around.

"Over here under the rubble, you Sebastian Stan wanna be lookin' asshole!"

Bucky rolled his eyes, walking over and pulling the grumbling mercenary out of the rubble.

"It's not like anyone could do any more damage to that head of yours."

"I'll have you know, Petey likes my head just the way it is."

"I never said the kid had good taste."

Wade gasped as Bucky turned and walked back to where Felicia and Matt were talking.

"Lose the suit kid." Bucky grunted, passing by the still suited up Harley.

Harley glared at his back as the suit retracked.

"Let's get moving." Matt instructed. "Peter and Stark were taken in this tunnel, I'm not deviating from it."

The group nodded, moving forward.

They walked for a while before coming to a dead end.

"Are you kidding me?" Harley huffed. "No way this tunnel just ends like this."

"For once, I agree with the brat." Wade grumbled, looking around.

"Because he's right." Matt said, moving back and forth along the wall. "I can hear air hissing through the cracks."

"Are you seriously telling me there is a secret door to and out of this tunnel?" Wade asked excitedly.

"Are you seriously telling me your getting excited over something this stupid when Peter and Tony are missing?" Harley glared.

Wade ignored him, instead choosing to study the area.

Harley looked over as Felicia put her hand on his shoulder.

"Trust me, he's worried, humor is just a defense. Besides, Peter would most likely be the same way."

"Think I found the key." Bucky said, drawing everyone's attention as he pushed into a few bricks, noting the slight give.

"Suit up, kid." Matt tossed over his shoulder to Harley. "We don't know what's on the other side."

Harley felt the nanites run over him, sealing him inside his armor.

As Bucky pushed fully on the trigger, the wall began to slide to the side. Wade clapped in delight at the absolute cheesy evil villainy of the event.

As soon as the door completely opened, the sound of gunshots rang out in the area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter watched as Frank fell to the floor as a group of men ran into the room, tackling him to the ground.

"It seems as though you didn't do as through of a job of dispatching my men as you thought, Mr. Castle." Fisk smirked, his smug expression only serving to infuriate Frank more than being caught off guard.

"Perhaps your lack of proper planning should be reconsidered."

"Of let it be the perfect distraction."

Peter broke out into a grin as Jessica Jones flew into the room, a flurry of excited punches and kicks as Luke, Danny and, surprisingly, Natasha and Clint, followed behind her.

"Osborn!" Fisk growled, "I thought you said they were secure!"

"You started without us!"

Tony's eyes widened as Wade Wilson rolled into the room, guns firing. Harley flew in behind him, repulsors blasting the equipment in the room.

More guards flooded the space, trapping Bucky and Felicia right outside the door they came through in combat.

Norman growled, rushing over to a side table and picking up a syringe.

"I won't lose you again so quickly this time, Peter." he said, stabbing the needle into the side of Peter's neck.

"Peter!" Tony shouted, struggling to break out of his bonds.

Peter slumped forward, Norman catching him as the restraints were undone.

"You just always seem to be a few steps behind me, Stark." Norman sneered, throwing Peter's limp form over his shoulder.

"Put him down or a swear-"

"You'll what? You seem to be missing the picture here, Tony. Your little band of resc-"

Norman's words were cut off as another wall cracked and burst open.

Wanda, hands glowing red flew into the room, followed by the remaining team of Avengers.

Tony had never been more happy to see them.

Grabbing another syringe off his cart, Norman stabbed his leg, the green liquid flowing in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fisk glared at the fighting as he stumbled back into the shadows. If he wasn't killed or captured, Norman would pay heavily for his failure.

Pressing a button, a panel opened up and he slipped inside. He had prepared for the possible problems of Norman's scheme tonight, and a helicopter had been stationed on the roof for emergency evacuation.

He couldn't be charged for a crime he wasn't here to commit after all.

"Going somewhere?"

Fisk jumped, spinning around to find Daredevil standing behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norman cackled gleefully as the serum coursed through his veins. He could feel the raw power it provided, raising him from a normal human to something more.

"How cute that you think you'll win so easily." Norman grinned madly.

"Put Spider-Man down!" Steve shouted, shield up.

"You're so demanding, Captain." Norman laughed. "But I've worked far to hard to get to this point.

Shoving his hand in his pocket, Norman pulled out a small remote.

"Let's even the field a little bit."

"Watch out!" Sam yelled, pushing Steve out of the way as the goblin's glider flew right through where he had stood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony struggled against his bonds. He had to get out and help!

"Tony!"

Tony's head snapped to the side as Harley ran up to him, pulling the straps from him.

"Where's Peter?"

"You know who he is?" Tony asked, rubbing his wrists.

"Yeah, Daredevil spilled the beans on both his and Peter's identities when you two fell."

Tony nodded, looking around. He grinned as his eyes landed on the nanite encasing arc reactor, snatching it off the metal cart.

"What do you say kid," Tony started, attaching the reactor and hitting it. "Let's do some damage."

Harley grinned, helmet covering his face.

"FRIDAY, give me a scan of this structure." Tony said, as his helmet incased him.

"Tony, wha-"

"Get to blasting kid." Tony ordered, firing up his suit. "Scans show this place isn't supporting Fisk Tower, and we can't have anything leaving this lab. Osborn is keeping stuff here and we don't know what all that is. It's all gotta go."

Harley nodded before blasting off.

Tony snatched up the syringe Norman had stabbed Peter with.

"FRIDAY, give a reading."

"It's a strong sedative. From what records I still have of Peter, he'll burn through this, but will be sluggish for a bit."

"Great."

[artificialqueens]

Gimme Love, 3/9 (Miz Cracker/Blair St Clair) - Grinder

AN: Hey, guys! I hope yall are enjoying this fic so far! Throw me a like please if you do. TW for this chapter: Grief // Homophobia

2003 High School. The bane of my existence. Just as I thought elementary and middle school were terrible, High School really was something else. From my childhood therapy sessions, I learned to conceal my anger, avoid freakouts, and channel my emotions into other things. It was good for me, yeah. But it also made me a more reserved person. Things still made me angry, the other kids at school being a primary key to that. But I never defended myself. Ever. Of course, Jujubee always had my back. Only in later years did I learn to appreciate the times she'd yell at the other kids, telling them to fuck off and whatnot. But back then, I wished she hadn't. It only drew more negative attention. All I wanted was to get through those tough years. I would come home a lot, look at pictures of myself as a child. And I'd be so mad because only then did I see that I wasn't an ugly kid. I was adorable. But, God clearly had favourites 'cause puberty did not do me any favours. If only I had grown up in a more modern time when no one gave a shit about looks. When people were outspoken about the cruelty that came with shaming someone for their looks. When people were more aware of the psychological damage that could do. Again, God had favourites. From years of my eyesight getting worse and needing a new pair of glasses every time I went to the eye doctor, I had thick-rimmed frames that made me look straight out of the 70s. And the lenses made my eyes look huge. I looked like Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys. My hair was bigger but full of split ends due to lack of giving a shit about it. I begged Mom to let me bleach it blonde. She always straight up refused. I had braces for a whole year which, yeah, many people had braces, but one time while answering a question in class, I drooled. And no one let me hear the end of it. And makeup wasn't something I really fucked with. I tried it once, safe and sound in my own bedroom, and it looked woeful. Instead of working to get better, I accepted defeat in that I would always be ugly. "I'm serious, girl. The foundation was so bad. And it was too dark." I ranted to Jujubee as we headed to the bus stop. I was trying to smoke my cigarette as fast as I could before getting there. Mom never knew, and what she didn't know couldn't kill her. Of course, I didn't just go into the store and buy them myself. Instead, I took one a day from my Grandpa's supply. "Girl, you gotta test it first." She pointed out, adjusting her bag straps. "Juju, I got the lightest colour they had. I don't fucking get it. Every other girl in the school uses it. Maybelline shouldn't sell this shit." "You just need to find a different brand." She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer, "OK, don't tell my Mom, but I tried some of her MAC shit the other day, and my skin looked fucking flawless." She let me go, took my cigarette from me, taking a toke herself. "Well, how am I supposed to get my hands on that?" I took the cig back. "I don't see any MAC stores around here." "Oh, yeah? Well, you know what your Other World self would do?" Jujubee's brow raised, a sweet grin appearing on her mischievous face. "She would say fuck school, hop on the next bus to Cleveland and go straight to the MAC store." Blowing out some smoke, I looked at her, "Well, Other World you wouldn't be encouraging that sort of behaviour." "No, she wouldn't 'cause she'd be the first on the bus." Jujubee countered. "And she'd start the sing-song." "Yeah, well other world me would out-sing you 'cause she's a star. She's a fucking diva, bitch. Mariah Carey has nothing on her." We were too caught up in our fantasy world; we almost missed the vehicle driving past us. Only when we saw the cackling faces of the boys at the back of the bus did realisation take over. We were going to miss the bus. "Fuck." I uttered, watching the guys still flipping us off as they moved further and further away. To make matters worse, a car pulled up beside us. And of fucking course, it was Trevor Preston, the Captain of the football team. His two sidekicks were in the

back seat, Logan and Noah. "Aw, look, guys. The geeks just missed the bus." Trevor fake whined. In these situations, I just shut down. I thought it was for the best at the time, but fuck, if I could go back and punch that guy. "You know what? Why don't you mind your own fucking business, Trevor?" Jujubee squinted her eyes at him. “Wow, little fiesty, Juju.” He continued, "How about this? We all say sorry, and we can both ride with us to school." 'Hell fucking no.' I thought. "Oh yeah? And what's the catch?" Jujubee raised a brow. "You let me feel your tits," Trevor smirked, his two cronies snickered. "Ah, there it is. I thought that was what your pea-sized brain would come up with." Jujubee nodded her head. "So, hey, Brianna," Trevor shifted his attention, "You're awfully quiet. Don't I at least get a hello?" I was still frozen, feeling my anxiety brewing within. "Dude, don't be so sensitive. You know, if she opens her mouth, she'll just drool all over herself." Logan added, the three axe wounds beginning to snicker again. I felt like I should have at least opened my mouth to prove them wrong, or maybe spit on Trevor's car. But still, I just stood there. "Trevor, if you don't fuck off right now, I'm gonna key your car." Jujubee threatened. "Juju." I tried to stop her. "Wouldn't even have the chance, sweetheart. Either of you bitches come near my car; you'll never walk the halls again." How gentleman-like, threatening two girls. Funny how our safety was the price to pay for a car. Oh, men. "Keep that in mind," Trevor concluded before driving away with dumb and dumber. "You didn't have to do that." I looked at Jujubee. "I'm sorry they're such assholes." She replied, taking my hand in hers. I shook it off, however. "No, I mean, I wish you wouldn't do that." Jujubee crossed her brows, "what? So I'm supposed to sit there and just take it? No fucking way." "I know. But," I paused, "they kinda scare me. You know?" "Brie, there's nothing more pathetic than a man sweating over the safety of his ride." She retook my hand, "Don't be afraid of a cunt like him." "I mean, I can try not to. But I can't make any promises." I shrugged. "Anyway, what's the plan? How are we supposed to get there on time?" Jujubee was silent for a moment before replying with, "my Mom?" Her Mom did end up giving us a ride, much to my dismay. I would have preferred to take the day off. Or better yet, to just fucking drop out altogether. But Jujubee was always there to reassure me - I adored that bitch. I would have fucking taken a bullet for her. I would like to say that it wasn't just Jujubee and me, that we had a group of more friends. But these guys, I never really counted them as friends. A year prior, we both decided to try and improve our social lives by joining a club. The only one that would accept us was the chess club. Every other member was a guy, and they were nerds. Not that Jujubee and I minded. However, the problem was that they only let us in because...well, do I even need to explain? "So, Brianna," Jimmy decided to approach me at the end of one session, licking his hand and sweeping his hair from his face. "Because I beat you twice today, what do I get?" "...Excuse me?" "My prize. What do I get??" He put an arm around my shoulders. I was puzzled, "Uh, you can have my chicken nuggets at lunch." His grin was beginning to disappear. "Oh, I was thinking of something else. A kiss, maybe?" I felt bad for doing it, but my fight or flight response told me to just run from the room. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but these guys were just on another level of thirst. And it wasn't just me who they flirted with. Jujubee had informed me of a time Arnold convinced her to make out with him. She was all for it until she realised how awful of a kisser he was. And as the boys became more desperate, we decided that we were better off alone. Again, I was so grateful for Jujubee. I was surprised she stuck around, considering she had seen me at my worst when we were still so young. How the fuck had she not developed

issues of her own? Jujubee was the number one reason I even found the strength to just get up in the morning, drag my ass to school, and do my work - Well, aside from wanting to get good grades so I could go to a good college. The second reason? Blair. Unlike me, she was thriving. Our lives were totally cliche - me being the kid who grew up to be the nerd who only speaks when it's to answer a question. And Blair, growing up to be the head cheerleader. And I was still very much in love with her. What a fucking cliche. I avoided Blair at all costs for several reasons;

differing social circles (in my case, lack of),

her boyfriend, who was the Captain of the soccer team and wasn't shy about giving me and Jujubee grief,

her friends,

and, of course, my massive crush on her.

So, why was Blair the second reason as to why I dragged myself to school? Her smile. That was enough. As much as I tried to avoid her, the world decided to do a big "fuck you" on me and sometimes put us into situations together. And every time, I'd be internally freaking out. The worst was when we were both 16. It was that time of the year when the school would invite someone to subject us to the most humiliating moment of our lives. How the fuck were you supposed to put a condom on a banana without bursting out laughing? How the fuck were you supposed to sit there and keep a straight face when the educator used words like 'flaps'? We filed into the class, Jujubee and me taking seats at the back of the room. We knew this was going to be hilarious, so best to avoid the attention of the teacher. "Juju, I know you are dying to make jokes during this, but I'm begging you. Please don't." I spoke quietly to her as other students filed in. "But you know I'm going to, right?" Jujubee smirked, putting her bag on the ground. "No. We wanna keep a low profile. If we laugh, we draw attention, and then we risk being singled out. You know? We'll be at the front of the class demonstrating whatever this bitch asks us." Obviously, I was referring to putting condoms on bananas and the like. Juju, however, raised a brow, "I wouldn't mind that, babe. Don't worry. We won't need to take our clothes off." I stared at her for a few seconds, unable to think of how to respond to that. Jujubee winked, and I forced myself to look away. "That's not what I meant." Blair strolled in with Denali and Rosé, already I could feel my stomach knotting. They went to sit together somewhere in the middle. "Ugh, nope. I don't think so, ladies." Ah, Miss Jaida Hall, if only I could have warned you not to say what you were about to say. Somehow Blair and the two others knew she was speaking to them. She continued, "This is an important class, and I'm not gonna have you all laughing and snickering during it." She had a point. The three girls usually whispered to each other in class, giggling about all sorts of shit. It was never anything malicious about the lesson or teachers, just inside jokes with each other, pretty harmless stuff. But it pissed the teachers off so much. "You can't be serious, right?" Denali replied, clearly scandalised. "Very serious, actually." Ms Hall nodded, "Denali, sit with Brian. Rosé, with Gigi. Blair, with Brianna." I grabbed Jujubee by the wrist, the pressure making her squeak. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. Blair was not rolling her eyes as she made her way to the back towards me. This was not fucking happening. As instructed, Jujubee stood up and let Blair sit down, moving to sit somewhere else. I was alone with the one person I tried my hardest to avoid. She slouched down in her chair, arms folded like she was already over it. I wanted so badly to ask if she was OK. But I couldn't bring myself to. And as the lights turned off and the sex-ed lady pressed play on the video player, I wished I had said something. As the way too enthusiastic narrator explained step by step the act of sexual intercourse, I tried hiding the blush on my face with my hair. I tried so hard to focus on what I was being taught. The truth was, I was still a virgin, as were many of the others in the room, I'm sure. But unlike them, I had no idea how sex worked. It wasn't something I ever gave time to think about. I felt a tapping on my hand. My body tensed as I glanced to the side. Blair was looking at the screen, then at me, then her fingers brushed against my hand. I stared back, unsure of what was happening but also knowing full well what she was doing. She leaned closer and pressed her lips on mine. … OK, that's not what happened. Life wasn't a movie. This was the beginning of the fantasies. Was I ashamed because I was thinking about Blair like that? Or was I ashamed that I enjoyed thinking of Blair like that? "This is ridiculous," Blair whispered. Was I supposed to say something back? "What do you mean?" I

whispered back. "Do they actually think we're that dumb? We all know how sex works. We don't need this stupid class." Blair rolled her eyes. I almost told her that I belonged to the small percentage that didn't know. But I stopped myself. I couldn't bear her knowing that information. Instead, I went with the awkward, "haha. Yeaaahhhh…" For the rest of the film, we sat in silence. Still trying to focus on the screen. Not the absolute stunner sitting next to me. And as if by magic, the video ended. I wanted to say I was relieved, but I couldn't lie; what I learned from the film left me nauseous. He puts his hoo-ha in her what, now?? "Well, that was really cool and hip, right?" The educator enthused. I cringed internally. No woman wearing a crucifix necklace and ankle-length skirt has the right to use words like 'cool' and 'hip'. "I know it's probably all so confusing. So that's why I'm here to answer any of your questions, dudes and dudettes." Already, one of the boys put a hand up. "Go ahead, homie." "What about the other hole?" He said with a straight face before his friends started laughing. He laughed back as he fired one of them. "You know. The back door?" Ms Hall shot him the 'look'. He was toast. The sex educator fixed her hair quite uncomfortable, "Well, there's a reason that is an out hole, young man. I warn all of you, do not go down that road. You will get aids and die. Now, does anybody else have a question?" The educator rambled, fixing her hair awkwardly. I heard the rustling of clothes beside me, and glancing around, Blair had her hand straight up in the air. "Yes, sweetheart?" Sex Ed lady pointed to her. "OK, so this is interesting and all, but I was just wondering, what about non-heterosexual sex?" Her brows knit for a moment. I looked around at her now. The breath caught in my throat. "I'm sorry?" Sex Ed lady asked. "You know. Man on man. Girl on girl. What about all of that?" Blair raised a brow. "I mean, you gotta know there's more than just heterosexual people out there. Maybe some even in this room right now." "Blair." Ms Hall began. "Because, if you disagree, then that's ridiculous. Oh, and if you think aids is some kind of death sentence, then you seriously need to educate yourself." Sex ed lady looked appalled, her Christian beliefs quite clearly threatened. "That's it. Get out." Ms Hall stood up. Blair huffed, pushing her seat back, lifted her bag and left the room, Ms Hall following behind. "OK. So, any other questions? Reasonable questions only, please." Jujubee was looking over her shoulder at me now, sharing the same expression I did. Thank God for lunch next period. Jujubee and I were hiding at the back of the school, in an alley between the building itself and the old workshops. The perfect hiding place for a smoke and to freak the fuck out about specific events. "Juju, she knows. She knows I'm a lesbian. She knows I like her." I paced. "I'm moving. That's it." I stopped. "But why would she speak up for me of all people? It doesn't make sense." My eyes widened. "Unless she's also a lesbian. I mean, that makes sense, right?" Jujubee had been sitting on the wall, patiently listening to my manic ramblings. The first few minutes, she was just as astounded. But the more I theorised, rambling on and on, she was over it. "I highly doubt that considering the boyfriend." "Then she must know. Why else would she say it? I highly doubt there are other gays in that class. Speaking of which, I had no idea lesbians could have sex like; how does that work. I'm gonna look into that somehow. But getting back to the point, if she did know, why would she speak out for me of all people?" My ramblings were non-stop. I tried my best to avoid Blair for the rest of the day, not that I could, considering we were both in the same last period. Blair's outburst was the talk of the school. I wasn't sure if it was a positive response or not. The only thing I did know was Trevor was pissed. "Brie, look." Jujubee tapped me. I turned from my locker and looked where everyone else seemed to be

looking. Just down the corridor, Trevor was standing over Blair, their conversation clearly heated. People were shamelessly moving closer, Jujubee following in their path. "Juju, don't," I whispered. But she didn't listen. I went after her as if it would stop her. "Trevor, this isn't that big of a deal," Blair said. "Not a big deal? Blair, do you know what the guys are saying? They think you're gonna dump me for a girl. Do you know how humiliating that is?" Trevor held a hand to his chest "And what if I did?" Blair challenged. The few people standing around cooed with excitement. "Oh, please. Don't get all cocky now that you have an audience." Trevor pointed. But Blair took a step closer to him. "What, 'cause you know you're the one who looks like an idiot? Maybe if you weren't so insecure, you'd know I would never do that to you." "Don't call me an idiot." Trevor lowered his tone, choosing purposely to ignore her reassurance. "Fine. But don't criticise me for a valid question I asked in a class you weren't even a part of. It's none of your business, no one's business for that matter." Blair bit back. "I can do what I want, Blair." "OK. Whatever." Blair brushed past him. Trevor quickly spun around, grabbing her arm. "No, we're not done having this conversation." My stomach twisted. "Let go of my arm, Trevor." Blair tugged, her voice cracking. Trevor did as was told now that the air was thick with tension, "We are not done talking," he stressed. Blair took a step back, "Yeah, we are, actually," and she turned to walk away. "If you walk away right now, we're finished." Trevor threatened. It was as if time was at a standstill, waiting for her reaction. But at the same time, it felt as though time was counting down. Like we were in a competition show. The contestant has to decide before time runs out, while the audience yells, 'DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!' No one was shouting, but you could feel everyone's excitement. Blair's lip curled upwards. "OK. Fine by me." And, finally, she walked off. The people were cooing with excitement again. "Shut up!" Trevor shouted. I grabbed Jujubee by the shoulder and ushered her back. Trevor kicked his locker, the thud echoing through the halls. That was the last straw. Knowing Trevor, he'd take his anger out on us. It was time to flee the scene. It was all Jujubee wanted to talk about for the rest of the day. Now I knew how she felt during my smoke break. But I couldn't blame her. The scene played in my head over and over again, leading to so many questions. Was there more to this breakup? Did he grab Blair like that all the time? What would happen now? Would she find a new guy? A girl, maybe? I came to the conclusion that Blair and Trevor's breakup was neither good nor bad. Bad because, as I said before, now he had more pent up anger from the humiliation of being so publicly dumped. Therefore, Jujubee and I would most likely be subject to more harassment. Good, because maybe Blair did like girls. Maybe there was still some little chance for us to be together. But if we were going to be together, there was one issue; I still had no fucking idea how lesbian sex worked. Cut to later that night, I'm in my room, sitting in front of my computer. I needed to distract myself from my thoughts of the breakup. While the scratchy dial-up tones emitted the machine, I psyched myself up. Even though I knew sex was normal to learn about at that age, it was still daunting. With shaky hands, I searched 'lesbian sex'. And fuck was it a mistake. What I wanted was educational articles, guides, etc. And what I got was porn. I watched all but a few minutes, all the painfully bad acting scenes that took place before the main event. Upon hearing the first moan, I clicked out as fast as I could. Looking behind me, Piggie was just playing with a stuffed animal on my bed. "You saw that, right?" He looked at me with perked ears. I still felt judged, so I opened my bedroom door and let him out. I needed to be exact. 'How do lesbians have sex?' And Brianna Caldwell was never the

same. My mind was opened that night. This was no mistake. This was a surprise. I couldn't look away from the computer screen, no matter how slow the Internet connection was. All of this information was all too much but not enough at the same time. And it made me feel less nauseated than I felt after watching that stupid video in class. And I built up the courage to go back to that porn site. And I watched every damn second. Then I watched another one. And another. And just one more 'cause why the fuck not? My bedroom door opened. "Brianna, I'm ordering - -" "Get out," I shouted, closing the site down like my life depended on it. But she stood there for a few seconds, eyes wide and hand still on the door frame. "Honey, are you - -" "Mom, oh my god. Can you just - -" I couldn't even form a proper sentence. She gave an apologetic look and closed the door. But she remained on the other side. "I just wanted you to know that I'm ordering pizza for Grandpa and me. Do you want some?" My forehead was in my hand now. "Yes." "What kind?" "Just…" I wanted to shout, "Pepperoni." And with that, she left. But that wasn't the end of it. When the food arrived, I waited a few minutes before going downstairs to grab a few slices. Grandpa was in the living room watching an old rerun of The A-Team. But she was there, in the kitchen, as if she was waiting for me. "Honey, look. I know you're getting to that age where you're curious about certain things and - -" "Mom, no. Please, don't do this." I whined. "I know. I know. I just wanted to let you know that this is natural, and…" she continued to deliver the same talk we all got in class. My eyes were wide, face red with humiliation. -_-_-_- 2020 I picked up a slice of pepperoni pizza, instantly reminded of the traumatic event. OK, maybe that was too strong of a word to use. But of course, you are going to dread the thought of that time your parent talked to you about sex. I walked into the living room, pizza slice in hand, trying not to dwell on the memory. "So, Brianna. Any update on the love life?" Tamisha asked. I loved that bitch; being one of Mom's closest friends, she was present for most of my life. But she always had a tendency to ask questions I wasn't up for answering. I took a bite from my pizza and answered with a full mouth, "dry." "Girl, you're almost 40." She continued. I was ready to challenge her because I was actually just 33 when Mom took her turn to speak. "Yeah, get yourself a man and make me a Grandma already." She wasn't serious. She knew I hated these types of talks, but that didn't stop her from encouraging the others. The funny thing about the time she caught me watching porn, she never clocked it was girl on girl. Of all the years I've been on this planet, I hadn't given her a clue that I was a lesbian. Would I ever tell her? I didn't see the point. From previous failed relationships and being too busy with my job, I wouldn't end up with someone anyway. But of course, I'd make an exception for a certain someone. Monét poured the first round of shots. I already knew I'd hate myself the next day. I wasn't drunk already. Just sort of buzzed. But that changed within an hour. I was hammered. Mom, Monét and all her friends were singing all the old songs in the living room. I was out in the kitchen, trying to drink 8 glasses of water. I only managed 3. Piggie ran in and put his paws up on my knee. "There he is. My baby. My fucking son." I slid down to the ground and let him sit in my lap. "How is your night going?" Just great, Brianna! Anyway, how about that Blair girl, huh? Piggie's non-existent voice said. "Oh yeah," my eyes narrowed. I unlocked my phone and opened up Facebook. And I bravely searched up her name. I say bravely because it does take some balls to go and stalk your crushes social media accounts. All it took to fuck everything up was the slip of a finger, and before you know it, you've liked a post or sent a friend request. "Let's do some digging, Piggie." I cuddled him. Immediately, she was the top result, with Jujubee

being the only mutual friend. "Yeah, girl. Infiltration." I commented as I clicked into her profile. And then her profile picture. "Holy shit." She hadn't aged. She still looked as young and radiant as she did back in high school. "What do you think, Piggie?" I showed him the screen. He glanced at it before tucking his head under his arms. The enthusiasm. I rolled my eyes. I looked at her info. 'Single'. Promising. Scrolling down to her timeline, I noticed she didn't post a lot. Fair enough. Facebook was becoming a dead site in recent years. There were just your average Facebook posts, sharing giveaway posts, a post from an old lady saying, 'Blair, this is Granny. Could you go to Walmart and get me some applesauce? Love granny xx', a shared post from a guy called George Miller. And my finger stopped scrolling upon seeing Blair holding a baby. "Oh God, we've encountered our first obstacle, Piggie," I whined. I clicked into the comments. That George Miller guy commented, 'congrats, Blair!' She replied, 'thank you, but she's my cousin's lol'. "Thank you, Jesus." I put my phone down for a moment to put my hand up to the good lord. I scrolled some more, seeing many inspirational quotes, a link to Adore You by Harry Styles. And a picture of her. With that George Miller guy. With his arms around her. Pressing a kiss to her temple. I could feel my heart sink the more I studied it. Yeah, I knew Blair and I were never meant to be anyway. But it was still upsetting. Relax. They could be friends. Yeah, that's right. Friends hold each other and act all affectionate, right?? I cuddle with Jujubee sometimes. That doesn't mean anything. Right? I needed evidence, just anything, to make it not true. I scrolled some more. There was a video, she was sitting on her sofa, with a girl playing the guitar sitting on the other end. "I've been running races on empty, Pour it up 'cause my cup so empty. Gotta make time for the real me. I've been running, I've been running on empty." And my nerves were settled again. I had only heard Blair sing a few times. She and her friends would pretend they were famous singers in early elementary years, and she'd always be the best. Then another time was in high school, at the winter talent show. I specifically remember it being A moment like this by Kelly Clarkson. It was unreal. 'Jujubee 💋💅🏽 is typing…' I clicked into Snapchat before she even had a chance to type the whole message. "Do you remember Jujubee?" I asked Piggie. Again, he was silent. 'I hope you're having fun, babe ❤ lv u'. "Thanks," was all I could manage to type. A shadow cast over me. I looked up to see Monét join me on the ground. "Hey, girl." She greeted me. "Hi, Aunt Monét." I smiled. Piggie hopped off my lap and onto hers. "Aunt Monét? Honey, you haven't called me that since middle school." She smiled. I returned the smile, only mine probably looking goofy. "I'm just wasted." "I noticed. No more shots for you anyway." She noted, taking a drink from her own bottle. "Anyway, how's the project?" "We got fucking Ed Sheeran involved." I then cursed myself internally for bringing it up. "I heard. Your Mom was telling me. Ugh, girl, why him? Why not someone like…" she paused to think, "like Beyonce. Or Lady Gaga." "OK, man-hater." I quipped, reaching over to pet Piggie. "Not true. Not all men are bad." Monét pointed out. "Speaking of which, when are you getting yourself one?" I could have given her the usual 'I don't have time for men's talk. But the alcohol said no. "Monét, I like girls." And I felt no shame in saying it. A moment of silence fell between us before she asked, "for real?" "Yeah." I nodded. "Does anyone else know?" "Yeah. Juju. And Piggie probably." I replied, leaving one more name out for the sole purpose I didn't want to get into that. "And Mom?" "Nope." She nodded. "I guess this is one of these aunty-niece confidentiality things?" "Uh-huh." I smiled. Bless Aunt Monét. "Well, no matter who you live, we still love you." She laughed for a moment before taking another drink. I knew

she was right. Maybe coming out to Mom wasn't such a bad idea. "You know what, Brianna?" She paused, "Grandpa would be so proud of you, right?" My smile slowly began to drop. Fuck, the touchy subject. "Oh, I...thanks." I thought the change in my mood was hard to miss, but Monét clearly had. "You and I ain't ever talked about him since...you know." "OK," I said quietly, feeling like my chest was a fist, beginning to clench tighter and tighter. "And sometimes, it's just good to look back on - -" "I gotta go." I quickly stood up, feeling the dark fog already come over me. I rushed from the room, my aunty calling my name and apologising. I avoided going into the living room, rushing up the stairs and racing for the bathroom. As soon as the door was locked, I let myself crumble, my face hidden beneath shaking hands, a cry clogged in my throat just begging to belt out. Mom would definitely hear it. I wasn't going to ruin her day. Absolutely not. Tags: rpdr fanfiction // s10 // as5 // miz cracker // jujubee // blair st clair // blair x cracker // denali foxx // rose // fluff // coming of age // hurt/comfort // lesbian au // highschool au // grinder // tw grief // tw homophobia [Cover image here] AN: Hey, guys! I hope yall are enjoying this fic so far! Throw me a like please if you do. TW for this chapter: Grief // Homophobia [read more] 2003 High School. The bane of my existence. Just as I thought elementary and middle school were terrible, High School really was something else. From my childhood therapy sessions, I learned to conceal my anger, avoid freakouts, and channel my emotions into other things. It was good for me, yeah. But it also made me a more reserved person. Things still made me angry, the other kids at school being a primary key to that. But I never defended myself. Ever. Of course, Jujubee always had my back. Only in later years did I learn to appreciate the times she'd yell at the other kids, telling them to fuck off and whatnot. But back then, I wished she hadn't. It only drew more negative attention. All I wanted was to get through those tough years. I would come home a lot, look at pictures of myself as a child. And I'd be so mad because only then did I see that I wasn't an ugly kid. I was adorable. But, God clearly had favourites 'cause puberty did not do me any favours. If only I had grown up in a more modern time when no one gave a shit about looks. When people were outspoken about the cruelty that came with shaming someone for their looks. When people were more aware of the psychological damage that could do. Again, God had favourites. From years of my eyesight getting worse and needing a new pair of glasses every time I went to the eye doctor, I had thick-rimmed frames that made me look straight out of the 70s. And the lenses made my eyes look huge. I looked like Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys. My hair was bigger but full of split ends due to lack of giving a shit about it. I begged Mom to let me bleach it blonde. She always straight up refused. I had braces for a whole year which, yeah, many people had braces, but one time while answering a question in class, I drooled. And no one let me hear the end of it. And makeup wasn't something I really fucked with. I tried it once, safe and sound in my own bedroom, and it looked woeful. Instead of working to get better, I accepted defeat in that I would always be ugly. "I'm serious, girl. The foundation was so bad. And it was too dark." I ranted to Jujubee as we headed to the bus stop. I was trying to smoke my cigarette as fast as I could before getting there. Mom never knew, and what she didn't know couldn't kill her. Of course, I didn't just go into the store and buy them myself. Instead, I took one a day from my Grandpa's supply. "Girl, you gotta test it first." She pointed out, adjusting her bag straps. "Juju, I got the lightest colour they had. I don't fucking get it. Every other girl in the school uses it. Maybelline shouldn't sell this shit." "You just need to find a different brand." She grabbed my shoulder and pulled me

closer, "OK, don't tell my Mom, but I tried some of her MAC shit the other day, and my skin looked fucking flawless." She let me go, took my cigarette from me, taking a toke herself. "Well, how am I supposed to get my hands on that?" I took the cig back. "I don't see any MAC stores around here." "Oh, yeah? Well, you know what your Other World self would do?" Jujubee's brow raised, a sweet grin appearing on her mischievous face. "She would say fuck school, hop on the next bus to Cleveland and go straight to the MAC store." Blowing out some smoke, I looked at her, "Well, Other World you wouldn't be encouraging that sort of behaviour." "No, she wouldn't 'cause she'd be the first on the bus." Jujubee countered. "And she'd start the sing-song." "Yeah, well other world me would out-sing you 'cause she's a star. She's a fucking diva, bitch. Mariah Carey has nothing on her." We were too caught up in our fantasy world; we almost missed the vehicle driving past us. Only when we saw the cackling faces of the boys at the back of the bus did realisation take over. We were going to miss the bus. "Fuck." I uttered, watching the guys still flipping us off as they moved further and further away. To make matters worse, a car pulled up beside us. And of fucking course, it was Trevor Preston, the Captain of the football team. His two sidekicks were in the back seat, Logan and Noah. "Aw, look, guys. The geeks just missed the bus." Trevor fake whined. In these situations, I just shut down. I thought it was for the best at the time, but fuck, if I could go back and punch that guy. "You know what? Why don't you mind your own fucking business, Trevor?" Jujubee squinted her eyes at him. “Wow, little fiesty, Juju.” He continued, "How about this? We all say sorry, and we can both ride with us to school." 'Hell fucking no.' I thought. "Oh yeah? And what's the catch?" Jujubee raised a brow. "You let me feel your tits," Trevor smirked, his two cronies snickered. "Ah, there it is. I thought that was what your pea-sized brain would come up with." Jujubee nodded her head. "So, hey, Brianna," Trevor shifted his attention, "You're awfully quiet. Don't I at least get a hello?" I was still frozen, feeling my anxiety brewing within. "Dude, don't be so sensitive. You know, if she opens her mouth, she'll just drool all over herself." Logan added, the three axe wounds beginning to snicker again. I felt like I should have at least opened my mouth to prove them wrong, or maybe spit on Trevor's car. But still, I just stood there. "Trevor, if you don't fuck off right now, I'm gonna key your car." Jujubee threatened. "Juju." I tried to stop her. "Wouldn't even have the chance, sweetheart. Either of you bitches come near my car; you'll never walk the halls again." How gentleman-like, threatening two girls. Funny how our safety was the price to pay for a car. Oh, men. "Keep that in mind," Trevor concluded before driving away with dumb and dumber. "You didn't have to do that." I looked at Jujubee. "I'm sorry they're such assholes." She replied, taking my hand in hers. I shook it off, however. "No, I mean, I wish you wouldn't do that." Jujubee crossed her brows, "what? So I'm supposed to sit there and just take it? No fucking way." "I know. But," I paused, "they kinda scare me. You know?" "Brie, there's nothing more pathetic than a man sweating over the safety of his ride." She retook my hand, "Don't be afraid of a cunt like him." "I mean, I can try not to. But I can't make any promises." I shrugged. "Anyway, what's the plan? How are we supposed to get there on time?" Jujubee was silent for a moment before replying with, "my Mom?" Her Mom did end up giving us a ride, much to my dismay. I would have preferred to take the day off. Or better yet, to just fucking drop out altogether. But Jujubee was always there to reassure me - I adored that bitch. I would have fucking taken a bullet for her. I would like to say that it wasn't just Jujubee and me, that we had a group of more friends. But these guys, I never really counted them as

friends. A year prior, we both decided to try and improve our social lives by joining a club. The only one that would accept us was the chess club. Every other member was a guy, and they were nerds. Not that Jujubee and I minded. However, the problem was that they only let us in because...well, do I even need to explain? "So, Brianna," Jimmy decided to approach me at the end of one session, licking his hand and sweeping his hair from his face. "Because I beat you twice today, what do I get?" "...Excuse me?" "My prize. What do I get??" He put an arm around my shoulders. I was puzzled, "Uh, you can have my chicken nuggets at lunch." His grin was beginning to disappear. "Oh, I was thinking of something else. A kiss, maybe?" I felt bad for doing it, but my fight or flight response told me to just run from the room. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but these guys were just on another level of thirst. And it wasn't just me who they flirted with. Jujubee had informed me of a time Arnold convinced her to make out with him. She was all for it until she realised how awful of a kisser he was. And as the boys became more desperate, we decided that we were better off alone. Again, I was so grateful for Jujubee. I was surprised she stuck around, considering she had seen me at my worst when we were still so young. How the fuck had she not developed issues of her own? Jujubee was the number one reason I even found the strength to just get up in the morning, drag my ass to school, and do my work - Well, aside from wanting to get good grades so I could go to a good college. The second reason? Blair. Unlike me, she was thriving. Our lives were totally cliche - me being the kid who grew up to be the nerd who only speaks when it's to answer a question. And Blair, growing up to be the head cheerleader. And I was still very much in love with her. What a fucking cliche. I avoided Blair at all costs for several reasons;

differing social circles (in my case, lack of),

her boyfriend, who was the Captain of the soccer team and wasn't shy about giving me and Jujubee grief,

her friends,

and, of course, my massive crush on her.

So, why was Blair the second reason as to why I dragged myself to school? Her smile. That was enough. As much as I tried to avoid her, the world decided to do a big "fuck you" on me and sometimes put us into situations together. And every time, I'd be internally freaking out. The worst was when we were both 16. It was that time of the year when the school would invite someone to subject us to the most humiliating moment of our lives. How the fuck were you supposed to put a condom on a banana without bursting out laughing? How the fuck were you supposed to sit there and keep a straight face when the educator used words like 'flaps'? We filed into the class, Jujubee and me taking seats at the back of the room. We knew this was going to be hilarious, so best to avoid the attention of the teacher. "Juju, I know you are dying to make jokes during this, but I'm begging you. Please don't." I spoke quietly to her as other students filed in. "But you know I'm going to, right?" Jujubee smirked, putting her bag on the ground. "No. We wanna keep a low profile. If we laugh, we draw attention, and then we risk being singled out. You know? We'll be at the front of the class demonstrating whatever this bitch asks us." Obviously, I was referring to putting condoms on bananas and the like. Juju, however, raised a brow, "I wouldn't mind that, babe. Don't worry. We won't need to take our clothes off." I stared at her for a few seconds, unable to think of how to respond to that. Jujubee winked, and I forced myself to look away. "That's not what I meant." Blair strolled in with Denali and Rosé, already I could feel my stomach knotting. They went to sit together somewhere in the middle. "Ugh, nope. I don't think so, ladies." Ah, Miss Jaida Hall, if only I could have warned you not to say what you were about to say. Somehow Blair and the two others knew she was speaking to them. She continued, "This is an important class, and I'm not gonna have you all laughing and snickering during it." She had a point. The three girls usually whispered to each other in class, giggling about all sorts of shit. It was never anything malicious about the lesson or teachers, just inside jokes with each other, pretty harmless stuff. But it pissed the teachers off so much. "You can't be serious, right?" Denali replied, clearly scandalised. "Very serious, actually." Ms Hall nodded, "Denali, sit with Brian. Rosé, with Gigi. Blair, with Brianna." I grabbed Jujubee by the wrist, the pressure making her squeak. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. Blair was not rolling her eyes as she made her way to the back towards me. This was not fucking happening. As instructed, Jujubee stood up and let Blair sit down, moving to sit somewhere else. I was alone with the one person I tried my hardest to avoid. She slouched down in her chair, arms folded like she was already over it. I wanted so badly to ask if she was OK. But I couldn't bring myself to. And as the lights turned off and the sex-ed lady pressed play on the video player, I wished I had said something. As the way too enthusiastic narrator explained step by step the act of sexual intercourse, I tried hiding the blush on my face with my hair. I tried so hard to focus on what I was being taught. The truth was, I was still a virgin, as were many of the others in the room, I'm sure. But unlike them, I had no idea how sex worked. It wasn't something I ever gave time to think about. I felt a tapping on my hand. My body tensed as I glanced to the side. Blair was looking at the screen, then at me, then her fingers brushed against my hand. I stared back, unsure of what was happening but also knowing full well what she was doing. She leaned closer and pressed her lips on mine. … OK, that's not what happened. Life wasn't a movie. This was the beginning of the fantasies. Was I ashamed because I was thinking about Blair like that? Or was I ashamed that I enjoyed thinking of Blair like that? "This is ridiculous," Blair whispered. Was I supposed to say something back? "What do you mean?" I

whispered back. "Do they actually think we're that dumb? We all know how sex works. We don't need this stupid class." Blair rolled her eyes. I almost told her that I belonged to the small percentage that didn't know. But I stopped myself. I couldn't bear her knowing that information. Instead, I went with the awkward, "haha. Yeaaahhhh…" For the rest of the film, we sat in silence. Still trying to focus on the screen. Not the absolute stunner sitting next to me. And as if by magic, the video ended. I wanted to say I was relieved, but I couldn't lie; what I learned from the film left me nauseous. He puts his hoo-ha in her what, now?? "Well, that was really cool and hip, right?" The educator enthused. I cringed internally. No woman wearing a crucifix necklace and ankle-length skirt has the right to use words like 'cool' and 'hip'. "I know it's probably all so confusing. So that's why I'm here to answer any of your questions, dudes and dudettes." Already, one of the boys put a hand up. "Go ahead, homie." "What about the other hole?" He said with a straight face before his friends started laughing. He laughed back as he fired one of them. "You know. The back door?" Ms Hall shot him the 'look'. He was toast. The sex educator fixed her hair quite uncomfortable, "Well, there's a reason that is an out hole, young man. I warn all of you, do not go down that road. You will get aids and die. Now, does anybody else have a question?" The educator rambled, fixing her hair awkwardly. I heard the rustling of clothes beside me, and glancing around, Blair had her hand straight up in the air. "Yes, sweetheart?" Sex Ed lady pointed to her. "OK, so this is interesting and all, but I was just wondering, what about non-heterosexual sex?" Her brows knit for a moment. I looked around at her now. The breath caught in my throat. "I'm sorry?" Sex Ed lady asked. "You know. Man on man. Girl on girl. What about all of that?" Blair raised a brow. "I mean, you gotta know there's more than just heterosexual people out there. Maybe some even in this room right now." "Blair." Ms Hall began. "Because, if you disagree, then that's ridiculous. Oh, and if you think aids is some kind of death sentence, then you seriously need to educate yourself." Sex ed lady looked appalled, her Christian beliefs quite clearly threatened. "That's it. Get out." Ms Hall stood up. Blair huffed, pushing her seat back, lifted her bag and left the room, Ms Hall following behind. "OK. So, any other questions? Reasonable questions only, please." Jujubee was looking over her shoulder at me now, sharing the same expression I did. Thank God for lunch next period. Jujubee and I were hiding at the back of the school, in an alley between the building itself and the old workshops. The perfect hiding place for a smoke and to freak the fuck out about specific events. "Juju, she knows. She knows I'm a lesbian. She knows I like her." I paced. "I'm moving. That's it." I stopped. "But why would she speak up for me of all people? It doesn't make sense." My eyes widened. "Unless she's also a lesbian. I mean, that makes sense, right?" Jujubee had been sitting on the wall, patiently listening to my manic ramblings. The first few minutes, she was just as astounded. But the more I theorised, rambling on and on, she was over it. "I highly doubt that considering the boyfriend." "Then she must know. Why else would she say it? I highly doubt there are other gays in that class. Speaking of which, I had no idea lesbians could have sex like; how does that work. I'm gonna look into that somehow. But getting back to the point, if she did know, why would she speak out for me of all people?" My ramblings were non-stop. I tried my best to avoid Blair for the rest of the day, not that I could, considering we were both in the same last period. Blair's outburst was the talk of the school. I wasn't sure if it was a positive response or not. The only thing I did know was Trevor was pissed. "Brie, look." Jujubee tapped me. I turned from my locker and looked where everyone else seemed to be

looking. Just down the corridor, Trevor was standing over Blair, their conversation clearly heated. People were shamelessly moving closer, Jujubee following in their path. "Juju, don't," I whispered. But she didn't listen. I went after her as if it would stop her. "Trevor, this isn't that big of a deal," Blair said. "Not a big deal? Blair, do you know what the guys are saying? They think you're gonna dump me for a girl. Do you know how humiliating that is?" Trevor held a hand to his chest "And what if I did?" Blair challenged. The few people standing around cooed with excitement. "Oh, please. Don't get all cocky now that you have an audience." Trevor pointed. But Blair took a step closer to him. "What, 'cause you know you're the one who looks like an idiot? Maybe if you weren't so insecure, you'd know I would never do that to you." "Don't call me an idiot." Trevor lowered his tone, choosing purposely to ignore her reassurance. "Fine. But don't criticise me for a valid question I asked in a class you weren't even a part of. It's none of your business, no one's business for that matter." Blair bit back. "I can do what I want, Blair." "OK. Whatever." Blair brushed past him. Trevor quickly spun around, grabbing her arm. "No, we're not done having this conversation." My stomach twisted. "Let go of my arm, Trevor." Blair tugged, her voice cracking. Trevor did as was told now that the air was thick with tension, "We are not done talking," he stressed. Blair took a step back, "Yeah, we are, actually," and she turned to walk away. "If you walk away right now, we're finished." Trevor threatened. It was as if time was at a standstill, waiting for her reaction. But at the same time, it felt as though time was counting down. Like we were in a competition show. The contestant has to decide before time runs out, while the audience yells, 'DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!' No one was shouting, but you could feel everyone's excitement. Blair's lip curled upwards. "OK. Fine by me." And, finally, she walked off. The people were cooing with excitement again. "Shut up!" Trevor shouted. I grabbed Jujubee by the shoulder and ushered her back. Trevor kicked his locker, the thud echoing through the halls. That was the last straw. Knowing Trevor, he'd take his anger out on us. It was time to flee the scene. It was all Jujubee wanted to talk about for the rest of the day. Now I knew how she felt during my smoke break. But I couldn't blame her. The scene played in my head over and over again, leading to so many questions. Was there more to this breakup? Did he grab Blair like that all the time? What would happen now? Would she find a new guy? A girl, maybe? I came to the conclusion that Blair and Trevor's breakup was neither good nor bad. Bad because, as I said before, now he had more pent up anger from the humiliation of being so publicly dumped. Therefore, Jujubee and I would most likely be subject to more harassment. Good, because maybe Blair did like girls. Maybe there was still some little chance for us to be together. But if we were going to be together, there was one issue; I still had no fucking idea how lesbian sex worked. Cut to later that night, I'm in my room, sitting in front of my computer. I needed to distract myself from my thoughts of the breakup. While the scratchy dial-up tones emitted the machine, I psyched myself up. Even though I knew sex was normal to learn about at that age, it was still daunting. With shaky hands, I searched 'lesbian sex'. And fuck was it a mistake. What I wanted was educational articles, guides, etc. And what I got was porn. I watched all but a few minutes, all the painfully bad acting scenes that took place before the main event. Upon hearing the first moan, I clicked out as fast as I could. Looking behind me, Piggie was just playing with a stuffed animal on my bed. "You saw that, right?" He looked at me with perked ears. I still felt judged, so I opened my bedroom door and let him out. I needed to be exact. 'How do lesbians have sex?' And Brianna Caldwell was never the

same. My mind was opened that night. This was no mistake. This was a surprise. I couldn't look away from the computer screen, no matter how slow the Internet connection was. All of this information was all too much but not enough at the same time. And it made me feel less nauseated than I felt after watching that stupid video in class. And I built up the courage to go back to that porn site. And I watched every damn second. Then I watched another one. And another. And just one more 'cause why the fuck not? My bedroom door opened. "Brianna, I'm ordering - -" "Get out," I shouted, closing the site down like my life depended on it. But she stood there for a few seconds, eyes wide and hand still on the door frame. "Honey, are you - -" "Mom, oh my god. Can you just - -" I couldn't even form a proper sentence. She gave an apologetic look and closed the door. But she remained on the other side. "I just wanted you to know that I'm ordering pizza for Grandpa and me. Do you want some?" My forehead was in my hand now. "Yes." "What kind?" "Just…" I wanted to shout, "Pepperoni." And with that, she left. But that wasn't the end of it. When the food arrived, I waited a few minutes before going downstairs to grab a few slices. Grandpa was in the living room watching an old rerun of The A-Team. But she was there, in the kitchen, as if she was waiting for me. "Honey, look. I know you're getting to that age where you're curious about certain things and - -" "Mom, no. Please, don't do this." I whined. "I know. I know. I just wanted to let you know that this is natural, and…" she continued to deliver the same talk we all got in class. My eyes were wide, face red with humiliation. -_-_-_- 2020 I picked up a slice of pepperoni pizza, instantly reminded of the traumatic event. OK, maybe that was too strong of a word to use. But of course, you are going to dread the thought of that time your parent talked to you about sex. I walked into the living room, pizza slice in hand, trying not to dwell on the memory. "So, Brianna. Any update on the love life?" Tamisha asked. I loved that bitch; being one of Mom's closest friends, she was present for most of my life. But she always had a tendency to ask questions I wasn't up for answering. I took a bite from my pizza and answered with a full mouth, "dry." "Girl, you're almost 40." She continued. I was ready to challenge her because I was actually just 33 when Mom took her turn to speak. "Yeah, get yourself a man and make me a Grandma already." She wasn't serious. She knew I hated these types of talks, but that didn't stop her from encouraging the others. The funny thing about the time she caught me watching porn, she never clocked it was girl on girl. Of all the years I've been on this planet, I hadn't given her a clue that I was a lesbian. Would I ever tell her? I didn't see the point. From previous failed relationships and being too busy with my job, I wouldn't end up with someone anyway. But of course, I'd make an exception for a certain someone. Monét poured the first round of shots. I already knew I'd hate myself the next day. I wasn't drunk already. Just sort of buzzed. But that changed within an hour. I was hammered. Mom, Monét and all her friends were singing all the old songs in the living room. I was out in the kitchen, trying to drink 8 glasses of water. I only managed 3. Piggie ran in and put his paws up on my knee. "There he is. My baby. My fucking son." I slid down to the ground and let him sit in my lap. "How is your night going?" Just great, Brianna! Anyway, how about that Blair girl, huh? Piggie's non-existent voice said. "Oh yeah," my eyes narrowed. I unlocked my phone and opened up Facebook. And I bravely searched up her name. I say bravely because it does take some balls to go and stalk your crushes social media accounts. All it took to fuck everything up was the slip of a finger, and before you know it, you've liked a post or sent a friend request. "Let's do some digging, Piggie." I cuddled him. Immediately, she was the top result, with Jujubee

being the only mutual friend. "Yeah, girl. Infiltration." I commented as I clicked into her profile. And then her profile picture. "Holy shit." She hadn't aged. She still looked as young and radiant as she did back in high school. "What do you think, Piggie?" I showed him the screen. He glanced at it before tucking his head under his arms. The enthusiasm. I rolled my eyes. I looked at her info. 'Single'. Promising. Scrolling down to her timeline, I noticed she didn't post a lot. Fair enough. Facebook was becoming a dead site in recent years. There were just your average Facebook posts, sharing giveaway posts, a post from an old lady saying, 'Blair, this is Granny. Could you go to Walmart and get me some applesauce? Love granny xx', a shared post from a guy called George Miller. And my finger stopped scrolling upon seeing Blair holding a baby. "Oh God, we've encountered our first obstacle, Piggie," I whined. I clicked into the comments. That George Miller guy commented, 'congrats, Blair!' She replied, 'thank you, but she's my cousin's lol'. "Thank you, Jesus." I put my phone down for a moment to put my hand up to the good lord. I scrolled some more, seeing many inspirational quotes, a link to Adore You by Harry Styles. And a picture of her. With that George Miller guy. With his arms around her. Pressing a kiss to her temple. I could feel my heart sink the more I studied it. Yeah, I knew Blair and I were never meant to be anyway. But it was still upsetting. Relax. They could be friends. Yeah, that's right. Friends hold each other and act all affectionate, right?? I cuddle with Jujubee sometimes. That doesn't mean anything. Right? I needed evidence, just anything, to make it not true. I scrolled some more. There was a video, she was sitting on her sofa, with a girl playing the guitar sitting on the other end. "I've been running races on empty, Pour it up 'cause my cup so empty. Gotta make time for the real me. I've been running, I've been running on empty." And my nerves were settled again. I had only heard Blair sing a few times. She and her friends would pretend they were famous singers in early elementary years, and she'd always be the best. Then another time was in high school, at the winter talent show. I specifically remember it being A moment like this by Kelly Clarkson. It was unreal. 'Jujubee 💋💅🏽 is typing…' I clicked into Snapchat before she even had a chance to type the whole message. "Do you remember Jujubee?" I asked Piggie. Again, he was silent. 'I hope you're having fun, babe ❤ lv u'. "Thanks," was all I could manage to type. A shadow cast over me. I looked up to see Monét join me on the ground. "Hey, girl." She greeted me. "Hi, Aunt Monét." I smiled. Piggie hopped off my lap and onto hers. "Aunt Monét? Honey, you haven't called me that since middle school." She smiled. I returned the smile, only mine probably looking goofy. "I'm just wasted." "I noticed. No more shots for you anyway." She noted, taking a drink from her own bottle. "Anyway, how's the project?" "We got fucking Ed Sheeran involved." I then cursed myself internally for bringing it up. "I heard. Your Mom was telling me. Ugh, girl, why him? Why not someone like…" she paused to think, "like Beyonce. Or Lady Gaga." "OK, man-hater." I quipped, reaching over to pet Piggie. "Not true. Not all men are bad." Monét pointed out. "Speaking of which, when are you getting yourself one?" I could have given her the usual 'I don't have time for men's talk. But the alcohol said no. "Monét, I like girls." And I felt no shame in saying it. A moment of silence fell between us before she asked, "for real?" "Yeah." I nodded. "Does anyone else know?" "Yeah. Juju. And Piggie probably." I replied, leaving one more name out for the sole purpose I didn't want to get into that. "And Mom?" "Nope." She nodded. "I guess this is one of these aunty-niece confidentiality things?" "Uh-huh." I smiled. Bless Aunt Monét. "Well, no matter who you live, we still love you." She laughed for a moment before taking another drink. I knew

she was right. Maybe coming out to Mom wasn't such a bad idea. "You know what, Brianna?" She paused, "Grandpa would be so proud of you, right?" My smile slowly began to drop. Fuck, the touchy subject. "Oh, I...thanks." I thought the change in my mood was hard to miss, but Monét clearly had. "You and I ain't ever talked about him since...you know." "OK," I said quietly, feeling like my chest was a fist, beginning to clench tighter and tighter. "And sometimes, it's just good to look back on - -" "I gotta go." I quickly stood up, feeling the dark fog already come over me. I rushed from the room, my aunty calling my name and apologising. I avoided going into the living room, rushing up the stairs and racing for the bathroom. As soon as the door was locked, I let myself crumble, my face hidden beneath shaking hands, a cry clogged in my throat just begging to belt out. Mom would definitely hear it. I wasn't going to ruin her day. Absolutely not.

[ericsonclan]

Putting Up The Stars In The Sky For Her

Summary: Prisha wants to surprise Violet by bringing the stars to her.

Read on A03:

Prisha felt her annoyance growing with each passing second. No matter where she looked in the basement, she couldn’t find what she was looking for. The dust that had settled on the boxes and miscellaneous items over the decade of this new world had been tossed up in the air, irritating Prisha’s nose more and more with each box she moved. She had been searching for nearly an hour now and still she was coming up empty-handed. A small orb of fear that had settled in the pit of her stomach was rising as her goal seemed further out of reach.

“Damn it,” Prisha whispered under her breath, moving past the shelving unit she was next to and onto one that was nearby the entrance. If things keep going like this… Prisha’s hand brushed off some dust from a container, a frustrated groan escaping her lips when yet another failure had been added onto this search. I’ll never find it before Violet gets back.

“Hey, Prisha! Whatcha up to?” Louis’ cheery voice made Prisha spin around sharply on her heel and caused her head to collide with one of the metal railings. “Oh shit. Prisha, are you okay?” Louis ran over towards her with a concerned expression on his face.

Prisha let out a small hiss while she gently rubbed the back of her head. “I’m fine,”

“Okay, sorry about that. Clem told me you had gone down here and I just thought I’d check on you,” Louis’ eyes trailed over to the container that Prisha had recently dusted off. “So, mind if I ask what’s piqued your interest enough to come down here today?”

“I was trying to see if there was any paint stored down here, but after a thorough search of most of the storage so far I think that the chances may be slim,” Prisha let out a sad sigh at her own statement. Her whole plan rested on this one element.

“Well, have no fear, Prisha, for I know where some may just be,” Louis pulled on the sides of his coat with a dramatic flair, a proud smile appeared on his lips.

Prisha’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really. Now if my memory serves me, I think it may be over in the far left corner right by that weirdly shaped box. Back when the world went to shit some of the kids had found the paint supplies and Ms. Martin ended up having to hide it all away with my help so they wouldn’t mess up the whole school. ” Louis stopped by the metal shelving. “Aha! Here it is!” He dusted off a large tub-like bucket of paint, revealing the company logo when suddenly he inhaled a puff of dust that caused him to cough sharply. “Oh man, that is dusty,” Louis smiled back at Prisha whose eyes seemed to practically shine at the sight of the paint.

“I don’t know how to thank you, Louis,” Prisha grabbed the container and set it down on the ground. “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find-” Prisha’s face suddenly dropped before she pushed aside the bucket. “Damn it!”

“Hey, it’s alright. Why is the paint so important anyway?” Louis glanced over at his friend.

“I…” Prisha took a deep breath. “I wanted to surprise Violet by painting some of the walls in our room to look like the night sky,” Prisha’s hand wandered down and started to play with the tip of her braid. “I thought because of her limited eyesight and the fact that a way to improve it hasn’t worked out yet, I could help her be able to see the sky again. At least a version of it.”

“Holy shit,” Louis had a huge grin on his face “That has to be about the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. I know Violet’s gonna love that. So I’m going to help you. Now what is the problem with the paint?”

Prisha looked surprised for a second before a small, appreciative smile played on her lips. She should’ve known that Louis would be willing to help out, especially whenever it had anything to do with Violet. “It’s all dried up so it’s useless. Unless…..” Prisha’s eyes grew large when the answer appeared in her mind. She looked over at Louis. “Louis, you don’t happen to know if there’s any paint thinner in here, do you?”

Louis shook his head sadly, “No, I don’t. But...” Louis gave a hopeful smile “With the two of us, I bet we can find it if it is down here.”

The two immediately set out to find the paint thinner, quickly searching the areas that Prisha had covered in her previous hunt for the paint before turning towards new areas. Piles upon piles of dust flew into the air, causing both Prisha and Louis to sneeze occasionally as their eyes searched for the treasured item. It was only after nearly fifteen more minutes of searching that the paint thinner had been found. The pair made their way back over to the dried out paint, determined to revitalize it.

“So…” Louis held onto the paint thinner “Got any ideas on how this works?”

Prisha looked at the bucket of paint. “I think if we added it in slowly in small quantities and stir it with something while we do it, it should get back to the right consistency,” Prisha’s eyes scanned the air carefully before landing on an old ruler. “This should work if you can just pour a little in,”

“You got it,” Louis slowly tipped forward the paint thinner causing it to splash against the cracked, dry paint.

After a few moments the paint started to change forms, returning little by little back to its former glory. Prisha carefully stirred around, causing the clumps to fall into the center of the bucket as she motioned for Louis to add more. Steadily with the patient work of the duo they got the consistency back and just in time too as they heard voices coming from nearby the gate signalling that the hunting team had gotten back and that the watchtower shift had been changed. Due to how long they had been in the basement, it probably meant that it was nearing evening.

“I need to go,” Prisha dusted off her clothes as she rose to her feet. “I’m on dinner prep with Omar,”

“Oh, okay. What should we do with the paint?” Louis lifted up the bucket with one hand.

“We can just leave it in this corner and I can pick it up tomorrow when I have some free time.” Besides, Prisha looked down at the container. I still need to figure out how to get access to dye or figure out if I can make it. With that thought in mind, Prisha wandered back up out into the courtyard, lifting up her hand as she shielded her eyes from the change in lighting. She looked around and noticed that Omar was already busy at work getting the fire’s height back up to standards in preparation for the meal. Clementine was already busy at work chopping up some of the veggies. When Prisha had made her way over to the picnic table, she was greeted by the smiling faces of her friends.

“So,” Clementine started up on her next vegetable, cutting it horizontally before slicing it into smaller cubes. “How did the search for the paint go? ” Clementine’s voice went down to a whisper

“Think you’ll be able to paint the walls for Violet?”

“It took awhile, but thanks to Louis’ help I was able to find it,” Prisha grabbed some of the fresh herbs slowly, slicing through them to get the right cut of them for dinner. “But it was white paint which means,” Prisha let out a tired sigh, “That my work seems to be far from over. Unless someone knows where some dye is, I feel like this may end up being a lost cause,”

Clementine looked over at her friend sadly. It was really sweet that Prisha wanted to do this for Violet, but it seemed like a long and tedious process just to be able to get the supplies.

“I know how to make dye,” Omar’s calming voice drew over the girls’ attention. “I found out about it when I went through some of the library books that survived the fire in hopes that I would find some new recipes.”

“Really?” A smile pulled on the corner of Prisha’s lips. “Would it be possible to make blue and yellow dye?”

“Sure, if you have the right ingredients,” Omar turned his attention back to the pot for a minute, making sure that the base hadn’t begun to smoke and burn. “I think I remember that if you get some dogwood bark and its berries, you can make blue dye and any dandelions that you get can easily be turned into yellow dye. All you need is some boiling water and a container to process it. I can help you tomorrow if you’d like.”

“That’s perfect. I think I saw some dandelions just outside the gates and dogwood isn’t too hard to find around these parts.” Prisha felt the small bit of hope that this plan could still work growing stronger inside her. “Omar, I… Thank you. It would mean a lot to me.”

Omar smiled back at Prisha. “I’m glad to help. Now can you focus on getting the rest of the prep done?”

“Right, my apologies,” Prisha returned to cutting the herbs. This can work. I can still do this.

The rest of the evening went by more or less like usual. Dinner time, as always, was as lively as ever. Willy and AJ told tales about their day before letting the others add into the conversation. After that most decided to head off to bed, giving Prisha and Violet some time to talk about this and that. As the sky grew darker they decided it would be best to head to bed themselves and so hand in hand they made their way into the dorms to prepare for the next day.

----

Prisha had offered to go on the hunting trip with Aasim in the afternoon in hopes of finding the right ingredients while still providing food from the newest traps Louis and Willy had made. As soon as they had gotten out the gates, Prisha veered right and snatched some dandelions that were in a small patch of grass. When she had tucked them away in her pockets, she was met with a confused expression by Aasim.

“I’ll explain in a minute. For now let’s just continue down the path,” Prisha moved past Aasim and began to make her way down the path. Her ice axe clinked against her hip while she walked. Aasim soon caught up and walked alongside her. His bow was already out and an arrow in the notch just in case they ran into any walkers.

After they were a fair distance away from the gates, Prisha spoke up.“I was grabbing those dandelions because I need them to help make dye for this paint I found.”

“Paint?” Aasim looked around, his eyes scanning the left side before the right. “What for?”

“It’s for Violet,” Prisha stated. Her own gaze was focused on making sure they wouldn’t be caught by surprise as well as searching for the last ingredient she needed.

“Alright, do you need anything else out here?” Aasim asked with a kind smile.

“I need to find some dogwood bark and its berries,”

“Oh, well I think I saw some the other day over by the west traps. We can grab some on the way back.

Prisha gave an appreciative smile before returning her focus back to the task at hand. The pair made their way towards the traps, talking about different ideas they had come up with to improve Ericson that they could work on and bring up with Clementine. After going through some of the traps, undoing, resetting and relieving them of the prey they had caught, Prisha and Aasim moved onwards to the last set.

When they had arrived they immediately saw the dogwood tree and the rich red berries that clung onto its branches. But first they need to see if the traps have gotten any game for them. Giving a quick glance around, it seemed only one rabbit had been caught and it was a baby at that. Aasim instantly let it go and looked between Prisha and his shoulders to see if they had gotten enough for the day. That was when he noticed a few stray walkers roaming nearby.

“Prisha,” Aasim motioned with his eyes towards the two walkers that were walking over towards them.

Prisha nodded in understanding before setting down the rabbits on her shoulder and unclipping her ice axe, moving to the first walker. With a mighty swing upward, Prisha embedded the weapon underneath the jaw of the walker, crunching through some smaller bones and making a small squishing sound when it impacted the brain. Letting go of her weapon which remained in place, Prisha repositioned her hand, yanking down hard and releasing her signature weapon with a hearty squelching sound. Prisha took a deep breath, ready to face her next opponent when she heard Aasim’s arrow hit its mark directly in the right eye, leaving the walker that was making its way behind her lifeless and hollow on the dirt path. Prisha held out her ice axe, carefully surveying the area before placing it back on her hip.

“Good thing there weren’t that many,” Aasim noted as he tucked away his bow and arrow for a moment.

“Have to count your blessings each chance you get,” Prisha added, her eyes traveling over to the dogwood tree. Wordlessly she made her way over and began to peel off some of the bark while Aasim started to grab some berries. After they had grabbed what they were positive would be an appropriate amount, they began to make their way back.

It wasn’t long before they were in sight of the tall, proud, lightly battered gates of Ericson. Aasim gave his share of the ingredients over to Prisha as they made their way back into the safety of their home.

Immediately Prisha made her way over to Omar and handed off the items. Looking around it seemed like Violet was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she got greenhouse duty today.

“Thanks, I can help you in a minute, just gotta get some more wood for the fire.” Omar placed aside the different bits of nature and walked over towards the pile of firewood that they had stored inside the gates.

“Allow me to help. It’s the least I can do,” Prisha grabbed a few pieces of firewood, tucking them under her arm before grabbing a couple more. Omar walked by her side and gave a warm smile.

“I think it’s really nice what you’re doing for Violet. I know she doesn't say much about it, but I know she must miss the stars,” Omar let out a small grunt when he tossed down the wood. “She used to sneak up all the time.” He took the pile from Prisha’s arms and started to place some in the fire pit.

“I just hope I’m able to get this to actually work after all the hoops I’ve had to jump through. But seeing Violet’s smile…” The brightness of it, the way it makes her eyes dance... “It will be worth it.”

“Well, the dye process isn’t too hard,” Omar took out some small containers. “I found these inside the admin building. They should work for the cooling part.”

Prisha nodded before offering her help. The two began the steps. Omar instructed Prisha to break down some of the ingredients and then asked her to hand them to him while he tossed them into the small pot. It was one he rarely used for anything with meals so it wouldn’t affect the taste of dinner.

Once he had tossed in the ingredients he stirred it around, allowing for it to seep and bring out the color that would make the dye. Adding in some more dogwood bark and berries, Omar tried to get the perfect shade of dark blue and give it the depth that it needed. After a few attempts, Prisha and Omar agreed that they had finally reached the right shade of blue. Next Omar added a thickening agent to make sure the consistency wasn't too runny and ineffective. When that had been completed and Omar was content with the quality, he moved to place them into the containers and handed them off to Prisha.

“There you go. It was my first time so I hope I made the color sharp enough. Just stir it into the paint and it should produce the colors you want.”

Prisha accepted the dye with a bright smile on her face. “Thank you,” With that she turned around and headed down to the basement to hide it along with the other parts to her plan. With some free time on her hand, she sat down with Willy and the two talked for what felt like hours, tweaking and refining some of their plans that had been a bust in hopes to make life better at Ericson.

Soon dinner was called and quickly consumed. The different members of the group wandered off in different directions to go about the free time they had. The sky slowly changed from its warm orange tones, pushing aside the lazily rolling clouds and making way for the dark blue sky.

“Well, I’m gonna go back to the room.” Violet’s voice drew Prisha’s attention as her girlfriend rose up from her spot on the steps of the admin building.

“Alright, I’ll join you in a bit,”

Violet gave a small smile before leaning down and placing a kiss on Prisha’s cheek.

“Okay, see you in a bit then,” With that Violet went off into the direction of the dorms, leaving Prisha alone.

Prisha’s gaze turned upwards to the sky. She had hoped to get some time to herself to properly look at the sky before she attempted to paint the walls tomorrow. Wanting to capture the beauty of the sky that had given her girlfriend so much peace and happiness before she had lost her sight. Prisha’s eyes wandered from star to star, completely lost in the marvel of the starry sky. It was no wonder Violet had grown so fond of the stars: they were beautiful. With a few more moments of peace and looking up at the sky, Prisha got up and made her way to the dorms, her excitement born anew from the success of the day and the stunning sky.

----

The next day rolled around and in the morning Louis and Prisha had pulled aside Clementine in hopes that she would agree to take Violet fishing with her today.

“Say no more, I’ll make sure we go fishing for a long time and give you two all the time you need to get the painting done.”

“Thanks, babe,” Louis placed a quick kiss on Clementine’s lips. “You’re the best.”

Clementine flashed a goofy grin back at her boyfriend. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I really do appreciate it,” Prisha added in which caused Clementine’s smile to grow.

“Please, it’s the least I can do. Besides, I'm happy to help Violet. I’m sure she’s gonna love it!”

It took a few minutes for Clementine and Violet to get ready but soon they had said their goodbyes and were off to the fishing shack.

Not wasting a second, Prisha and Louis made their way down to the basement and grabbed all the necessary supplies. Then they moved into the dorms, moving past all the now empty rooms that were once filled until they arrived at Prisha and Violet’s room. Carefully balancing some equipment, Louis opened the door and made his way to the desk where AJ’s drawing of Violet, Omar and Aasim making their way off the Delta ship was placed proudly above it on the wall and some rough sketches that Prisha made for future inventions laid scattered on the surface of the desk. Louis placed down the bucket of paint and dusted off his hands.

“Could you actually move it over towards those beds?” Prisha motioned with her eyes.

Louis gave a quick nod and moved over to the left bunk beds where the latest innovation that Prisha had been tinkering with laid in bits and pieces. Plopping down the bucket, Louis looked up and noticed the different pieces of art on the wall. A sad, small smile tugged on the corners of his lips. There were a few small sketches that Tenn had drawn of his sisters and Violet, but for the most part the pieces that had covered the wall were ones that were done by Sophie. Bright, lively colors filled those pages which seemed to match the artist’s own soul. It made sense why Sophie was so clearly prominent in her own art. She had poured her heart and soul into every sketch, painting and drawing that she did whether it was of nature or of her friends and family. Out of the corner of his eye, Louis noticed a white bed sheet dangling from the top bunk.

“Oh!” Louis snatched the bed sheet and pulled it off the top bunk “We can use these to make sure the paint doesn’t get on your bed.”

“That’s a great idea,” Prisha smiled while she balanced the dyes in her hand, walking past the bookshelf that held a few books that had caught her attention for future reading. The lower shelfs of the light brown bookshelf held the many different pages of music that Minnie had composed and other songs she didn’t want lost to the sands of time.

Prisha set down the two small containers of dye and four empty cans on the side table that stood between the two sets of bunk beds. A small, blue violet in a garden pot was placed on top of the side table. Its tiny, delicate blue petals danced with the light breeze that was coming through the cracks of the window.

“Alright,” Louis moved over to stand by Prisha. “Let’s get this started. I’ll mix up the yellow while you mix up the blue?”

“Yes, that should work,” Prisha waited for a moment while Louis filled the four cans cans before letting Prisha start mixing in the dye. The two stood around slowly stirring in the dye as it made the right color paint for them. “Oh, Louis? Could you grab the art box in the closet?”

“Sure,” Louis jogged over, pulling open the closet door and revealing Sophie’s old art box covered with all her stickers.

“There should be a couple of paint brushes in there.” Prisha looked back at Louis who nodded and then snatched up all the paintbrushes, both big and small. Returning to Prisha’s side, Louis placed down the paintbrushes and worked on completing the yellow paint. When both of them were satisfied with the colors, they worked on getting the old bed sheets up on the beds to cover them.

Louis was the first to get up, climbing up onto the bunk before the realization struck him. Shimmying his way under the sheet so he wouldn’t get paint on his coat, he reached out his hands to grab the two cans of paint, one of each color, and his paintbrush from Prisha. When he was all set and ready to go, Prisha positioned her set of paints and brushes and climbed on to the bed to start painting. “Man, Violet is gonna be so happy when she sees this,”

Prisha couldn’t see his face, but she was sure it was beaming with excitement. Prisha felt her own smile grow as she dipped the paintbrush into the dark blue and moved it across the wall. “I can’t wait,” Prisha lay down on her side to make sure that she was getting the whole wall so that it could be absolutely covered with stars when she started adding the second color.

Louis hummed happily as he smeared blue paint on the ceiling. The two were wrapped up in their work, wanting to create the best possible starry sky for Violet. It was only when they had finished applying the dark blue paint that they took a break for it to dry.

“So, how are you going to draw your stars?” Louis looked over the safety railing down at Prisha, his arms dangling lazily off it while a goofy smile lay on his face. Prisha shifted on the bed and looked up at Louis.

“I’m going to try and draw it to the best of my abilities to look like the real thing,”

Louis noticed the nervousness in Prisha’s eyes. “Don’t worry, Prisha, I’m sure it’s gonna look great. I’m thinking of making mine like those classic stars that you would see in story books. Big, bright yellow stars that cover the whole ceiling. So Violet can really enjoy the sight if she ever decided to lay up here.”

“I think she’ll like that,” Prisha smiled up at Louis.

The two continued to talk while the paint dried. Louis offered to try and cover their shifts while Prisha showed Violet the room and gave them some time alone. Prisha gratefully accepted the offer. A happy giddiness danced in her stomach at the thought of Violet’s smile when she saw the finished painting. After some time the first layer of paint was dry and a second layer was soon applied to make sure that the blue paint was going to really stand out and last. When that had dried the pair moved to the other color to make the stars.

Louis had a bright, loud, yellow paint which he slapped on the ceiling while he shaped the stars. His excitement grew with each paint brush swipe that completed another star. Soon the ceiling was covered with Louis’ stars that were beaming, sparkling with all of the care he had put into crafting them.

Prisha stared at the deep blue before her. Slowly she closed her eyes, trying to recall the feeling that she got when she stared up at the sky and the bright, marvelous beauty that the stars brought to it. Opening her eyes, she lightly dipped her paintbrush into the can with a very light yellow, barely different from the white. Thanks to Louis’ careful work he had made just the right color for Prisha’s painting. Moving the paintbrush, Prisha created small dots on the wall, putting them each in precise places. When she felt like she had added enough of them, she dunked the paintbrush into the can again. Positioning the paintbrush in between her knees, she held onto it with a tight grasp while she used her hand to pull back on the bristles of the paintbrush. This caused small, minuscule specks of paint to fly and land on the wall, creating dozens upon dozens of tiny stars that covered the spots that the larger stars had failed to capture. Soon the entire wall was filled with tiny stars and a few prominent larger ones that stood to represent more specific stars in the sky. Prisha looked at her handiwork with a proud smile.

“Are you done too?” Louis climbed down the bunk, landing with a hard thunk before he snatched up the paint supplies and the bed sheet, pulling them off the top bunk bed. Louis gave an impressed whistle when he saw Prisha’s stars. “Damn, Prisha, you never told me you were an artist.”

Prisha rolled off her bed and took off the paints and bed sheet before looking up at Louis’ handiwork. “You’ve got some skills yourselves.” Prisha smiled at the different odd shapes and sizes of Louis’ stars.

Louis gave a small chuckle and scratched the back of his head. “Please, it's nothing compared to yours.” His eyes looked out the window, noticing the change in color signaling that it was nearing early evening. “I bet Clem and Vi are back. You wanna gather the supplies, wash your hand and greet them?”

Prisha looked down at her hand; her fingers were covered with the whitish yellow paint. “That would be a good idea.”

The two talked excitedly as they made their way to the water basin. Taking out some of the water, they washed the brushes and their hands before placing away the supplies. When they had just finished cleanup and had made their way back to the courtyard, they heard the happy barking of Rosie and the eager hissing of Garbage that made it known to all that Clementine and Violet had returned. Louis and Prisha made their way over to the two just as they had reached Omar and set down the buckets with a few fish in them.

“Hey, Clem!’ Louis leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek. “How was fishing?”

“It went really well today. Vi and I were able to bring back a pretty good haul,” Clementine smiled over at Violet.

“Eh, I still missed a ton but yeah, I was able to get a few of them,” Violet gave a half-hearted shrug.

“Well it looks like you brought back a lot,” Prisha added, standing by Violet’s side.

Violet looked up at her for a second before glancing away, a small smile appearing on her lips.

“So, Omar, how long till dinnertime?” Louis tilted his head to try to peek into the pot.

Omar looked up from his prep. “It's gonna be a while. Maybe at least an hour, and no, Stew with Lou would not help,” Omar had seen the playful look in Louis’ eyes and wanted to stop it before he had to hear the classic spiel that Louis gave. Not that it was really that annoying… the first time. But after the amount of times Omar had heard all the variants of Stew With Lou from Louis, he figured he should try and space it out if he got the chance.

“Well in that case, Violet? I want to show you something before dinner back at our room,” Prisha’s words caused Violet to look up at her girlfriend with a confused expression.

“Okay, sure,”

Prisha reached down and gently intertwined her fingers with Violet while the pair made their way back to the dorms. When they had passed by Louis and Clementine, out of the corner of her eye Prisha could see both of their excited expressions and Louis giving a small thumbs up.

Violet and Prisha walked in silence through the halls. Prisha felt her heart race with each step that she took. She wasn’t sure whether her nervousness or excitement were stronger within her. She’ll like it... right? Prisha felt a small inkling of doubt appear in her mind.

“Prisha?”

She looked over to see Violet who seemed slightly concerned about her. Prisha gave a small smile.

“Sorry, just got lost in thought for a moment,” Prisha looked up and saw that they had arrived at their room. Stopping in front of the door, Prisha turned to look at Violet. “Okay, I need you to close your eyes.

Violet studied Prisha’s face for a few seconds.“I’m pretty fucking blind, but okay,” Violet closed her eyes. Prisha then opened the door before carefully grabbing both of Violet’s hands into her own. Steadily guiding her through the room, Prisha positioned Violet in front of the bunk beds. She took a quick second to make sure everything looked good. “Alright, you can open them,” Violet’s eyes slowly fluttered open. It took her a few seconds to see what the surprise was. But when she did her eyes widened in surprise. Her mouth was slightly open while her eyes traveled around to take in all of it.

“Louis helped me paint. He did the stars on the ceiling,” Prisha moved forward. “I did the ones by our bed. I know how much you miss seeing the stars at night. So I thought since we haven’t found a way to get your sight back yet, I would bring the stars to you.” Prisha watched as Violet silently made her way up on the bed and sat in front of the mural of stars that Prisha had painted. “I wanted to capture the beauty of the night sky and while I know it doesn’t compare to the actual thing, I hope-”

“Prisha,”

Prisha paused when she saw Violet’s hand reach out for her. Taking a place on the bed beside her, Prisha took her hand.

Violet was still busy staring at the stars when she spoke. One of her hands had touched the wall, brushing over the different stars. “Holy shit. I... You did this for me?” Violet looked over with slightly watery eyes.

“Of course,”

The two stared at each other for a minute when suddenly Violet reached her hands up and cupped Prisha’s face. Leaning in, she captured Prisha’s lips in a deep, loving kiss. Prisha felt her heart soar. Reaching up her hand, she placed it on Violet’s face and leaned further into the kiss. Right there in that moment it felt like she could melt into that kiss. Get lost in this feeling forever. She never wanted it to end.

After a while both of them pulled apart in need of some air. They looked at each with loving smiles while Prisha’s hand held onto Violet’s.

“Is it okay if we stay here for awhile?” Violet asked, rubbing the back of her neck while she looked over at her girlfriend.

“Sure,” Prisha looked at the smile on Violet’s face. It really had been worth every single second of struggle to see that rare bright smile that Violet had.

The two lay down and faced the wall. Prisha’s arm gently wrapped around Violet who curled up beside her. Violet’s hand reached up and intertwined with Prisha’s caressing the side of it as Violet stared at the wall. A warm smile appeared on her lips, her heart filled with happiness. “I love you,”

Violet’s words made Prisha’s heart skip a beat. There was no other feeling in this world that was quite like this. Nothing seemed to compare to it. The way that Violet made her feel, the peace and joy that having Violet in her life gave Prisha.

“I love you too,”

Prisha nuzzled her head against Violet as the two lay there, enjoying the moment, staring at the stars that Prisha placed in the sky for Violet.

[ecofinisher]

The Adventures of Super Nathan 2 - Chap 22

Chapter 22

https://archiveofourown.org/works/18224606/chapters/47744572

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13243294/22/Miraculous-The-Adventures-of-Super-Nathan-2

https://www.wattpad.com/769049273-miraculous-the-adventures-of-super-nathan-2

Little warning: This chapter might be a little too "naughty". Or just cringey, because of certain situations caused by Naughty Boy 

At the rooftops of a building, Super Nathan ran along with Miss Vixen as they saw from the far the supervillain Naughty Boy pass by aiming a few citizens to convert their personality traits. The superheroes jumped to the next building crossing it, then took another gap to the next building heading to the end of the building, then stopped in front of a wall and ducked down to hide from the villain.

“Stay down!” Ordered Miss Vixen leaning against the wall with her partner.

“Where is he? Questioned Super Nathan glancing over the wall to see the villain throw another paper plane at someone down at the streets. “Another one was caught,” Super Nathan said gazing at Miss Vixen, then looked up at her fake-fox ears looking over the wall a slight bit. “Uhm you know your ears are showing, right?” Questioned the purple-skinned superhero, then Miss Vixen passed her fingers under her hair to reveal her normal human ears.

“They’re right here” Miss Vixen mentioned covering them again.

“I mean the fox ears,” Told Super Nathan. “They’re long and notable”

“My ears aren’t the only long thing here,” The vixen heroine said with a smirk, making Super Nathan shriek in embarrassment.

“Lila!” Exclaimed Super Nathan turning light purple on his cheek.

“Hey don’t you worry. No one else is here beside me” Miss Vixen assured the boy, which groaned at her comment.

“Yeah that’s great and all, but hide your ear before he spots us” Ordered Nathaniel’s superhero identity looking worried at his girlfriend.

“I don’t think his eyesight is that good to spot us by my ears”

“Who knows”

“I do” Responded the heroine making the boy roll his eyes.

“Good, but when he actually finds us, it’s because of your ears” Super Nathan pointed out.

“We’ll see it then,” Miss Vixen said slowly moving her head out of the wall to watch the supervillain look down at the ground, then she ducked down again to look at her boyfriend. “Imagine how our relationship would be if we didn’t know each other’s identities”

“One thing would be your innuendos every time we’re together. They wouldn’t probably exist”

“Yeah most likely.” Agreed Miss Vixen. “Unless I also would find it amusing to provoke you like that”

“Hahaha”

“Dork” Miss Vixen replied with a giggle, then over the two appeared Naughty Boy staring down at the two superheroes, which afterward had looked up in surprise to see the supervillain over there.

“Oh, who do we got here?” Naughty Boy said descending down at the two superheroes. “Mr. and Mrs. Vixen”

“What?” Questioned Miss Vixen at his strange quotation. “I don’t think Super Nathan would take my name if we got married”

“Not even her. I don’t think she would even change her name to Mrs. Vixen or Mrs. Super Nathan-Vixen, or Mrs. Vixen-Super-Nathan….man those combinations sound awful. I think with our real names it would sound better”

“I don’t care about, what sounds better...where are Lila and Nathaniel?” Questioned the duo-colored supervillain.

“You have to be more precisely, Naughty Boy. There are many Lila’s or Nathaniel’s in this city” Miss Vixen said at the supervillain, which got angry at the girl.

“Kurtzberg Nathaniel and Lila I’m gonna steal yo man...whatever her name is!”

“I’m going to pretend I haven’t heard this, but I don’t think she hasn’t stolen your man,” Miss Vixen said.

“You just shut up. You don’t even know, who you’re talking about” Naughty Boy ordered, surprising Miss Vixen at his behavior.

“Naughty Boy listen, Nathaniel already has somebody he loves and cares about it. He also seems very happy about it. Do you really want to ruin his relationship with Lila, just because you love him?”

“I should be the one in her place! How did she manage to get out with him?”

“That’s a question I don’t know, how to answer, but...”

“Listen to me Naughty Boy, I know this is very hard for you, but you have to see it from another perspective. Nathaniel is happy in his relationship with her and I tell you, there’s nothing better than seeing your love happy, even if it is with another person”

“And there’s nothing worse, than ruining your crush’s happiness, just because you wanted so badly to be with her. I don’t know, if you understand us?” Super Nathan asked glancing at the supervillain, which looked down thinking about the words of the two superheroes, then he shook his head and raised his arm up in the air, snipping with his fingers making an airplane appear over his fingers.

“Oh no, you don’t” Super Nathan said holding his tablet up to capture an image of him, then before he could do anything on Naughty Boy, Miss Vixen took off hitting with her flute on his hand to avoid him from using it.

“Hey!” Shouted Naughty Boy watching Miss Vixen fly off, then he looked at Super Nathan which grinned at the supervillain, then as he snipped with his fingers to get another paper plane, Super Nathan searched quickly on his previous stored drawings for the recent ones and picked a bunch of basketballs and dragged that layer into the screen over Naughty Boy’s live image, so that in real life the sports balls would appear over him, falling down on his head, causing him to fall with his vehicle down.

“Sorry, you didn’t leave me any other opportunity.” Super Nathan said shrugging his arms, then he pressed on his 3D-render model on his tablet and restored from the saved layers his jet pack and took off in the air to follow Miss Vixen, which heads at the arc de Triomphe.

“Do you think we’re alone in this situation?” Questioned Super Nathan glancing at the girlfriend.

“I don’t know” Responded Miss Vixen. “We took a little in tracking Naughty Boy. He must have reversed them during the time we couldn’t find him”

“If Lady Red was caught we have to deal with Naughty Boy on our own until she’s freed”

“Yes, good thing we can at least break the things, where the akumas are. Imagine we also needed Lady Red to do that”

“That would be a catastrophe” The redhead mentioned earning a nod from the superheroine. “I just wonder, if they’re alright” Super Nathan said fleeing along with the heroine.

Inside a bar many young teens were watching a group of girls dancing the macarena in the middle of the room, amazed by the joy they had.

In the middle of the crowd was the tan-skinned boy Wayhem observing the girls do the macarena, then he tried to copy their dance moves slowly and memorized them quickly, so he could dance. Wayhem also was enjoying it to dance, then he watched beside him pass a tall light brunette girl with a plaid shirt and blue jeans, then stood in front of the girls, which had stopped to see the girl there, which started to do the heel-toe very professionally, making the audience clap at her, then the girls tried to copy Alya Césaire, but they couldn’t move their feet as great as she could with her sneakers.

“I can do that too!” Wayhem said running at the center next to Alya, then started to do the same move as the brunette. “I bet you can’t top that!”

“Ah, I can top that,” Alya said stepping on the floor watching Wayhem observing her and trying to improve his feet skills, then he steps on his other foot falling back on the floor. “Loser!” Alya said holding her finger and thumb in front of her forehead in the form of an L.

At the entrance, a few teens rushed into the room and in the middle of the crowd was Adrien Agreste being pulled by his girlfriend Kagami Tsurugi.

“There is one and there are two spaces free for us,” Kagami told the blonde, which nodded then got pulled again by the girl, which guided him to a hookah, where two other teens were sitting together inhaling the smoke.

“I always wanted to try to smoke out of these things,” Adrien said sitting down on a chair, while Kagami sat down on the chair next to him.

“Oh this one is with honey,” Kagami said putting the hose into her mouth to inhale the dark yellow colored smoke, then exhaled the smoke out. Adrien placed the end of the hose in his mouth, then inhaled a long bit of the stuff into his mouth, then he opened his mouth to release the smoke.

“Holy shit…..that’s some good stuff,” Adrien said wrapping his face in disgust, then watched the boys vice versa to him exhaling out the fume while sitting there relaxed. Adrien smirked and decided to start a conversation with the two. “Are you two often here?”

“Every weekend man” Responded the first guy with short black hair, earning a nod from Adrien, then the boy glanced at Kagami, which was slowly removing the hose off her mouth releasing smoke from her mouth smiling at how delicious the flavor tasted. “Your girlfriend is horny. Is she Asian?”

“She’s Japanese” Responded Adrien inhaling a little bit of fume into his lungs to let it go afterward.

“You’re doing it wrong. Do it like this” The boy instructed the blonde taking a suck from the pipe, then exhaled the fume out of his lungs. “Now you”

“I’m kind of not used into this flavor,” Adrien said placing the hose in his mouth, then breathed the smoke in and exhaled it out. “Oh boy”

“You’re not a smoker, right?” Asked the second boy looking at Adrien, which was about to answer the question, then got blown with smoke by Kagami. “Hey?” Questioned Adrien watching Kagami put the thing into her mouth again inhaling the fume into her and exhale it out at Adrien’s face, making him close his eyes to avoid it to get into his eyes.

“Why do I get turned on, every time she does that?” Questioned the second boy looking at the first, which smirked at him taking a breath from the pipe, making the boy frown insulted by the friend and got blown by his friend with the smoke. “You jerk”

“I was just kidding,” The boy said watching the two smoke, then the door at the entrance got broken as an orange dressed person had crashed against it causing it to break, shrieking a few of the new visitors of the bar.

“It’s Miss Vixen!” One of the guests said, then Miss Vixen got up on her feet looking at the guests all glancing at her, while the rest were busy dancing around. “It’s an emergency, hide all inside the restrooms or any other places, except here. Now!” Ordered Miss Vixen making the others panic and ran around to look for a room to hide. “Come on, all of you.” Miss Vixen demanded watching another part of the group still dance around like nothing was going on.

“Yeehaw! I won! I won! And you have lost my friend! Oh yeah! Uh hu, uh hu!” A voice hollered from the near of the heroine and the brunette turned around to see her classmate Max Kanté stand on a table dancing while in front of him on the table sat two guys half-naked and one of them was Jean Duparc from the other 12th grade, which was fully naked and Miss Vixen could see him there holding his hands to cover his genitals, making Miss Vixen cover her eyes in embarrassment at the sight of it.

“I think they were already caught by Naughty Boy before,” Miss Vixen said, then behind her arrived Super Nathan landing beside the heroine.

“Get prepared Miss Vixen, he’s coming,” Super Nathan said, then widened his eyes in confusion as he saw the same picture as his girlfriend. “Uh….Naughty Boy?” Asked Super Nathan earning a nod from the girl, then in front of them passed Kagami guiding Adrien behind her gazing flirtatiously at him while Adrien just followed her keeping his soft smile on his face.

“There they are and…..I think they were caught too” Super Nathan mentioned watching the two head to a corner, which had a few couches and there was already another couple sharing one and cuddling together there.

“Look after the mission we could just sit down there and snuggle with each other?” Miss Vixen suggested with a wink at the purple-skinned boy.

“S...sure,” Said a little abashed, then looked at the corner, where Adrien had just sit down and the blue-haired girl had got on his laps placing her knees beside his legs and grabbed the boy behind his head, going in for a long kiss.

“If Kagami could see herself acting like that around Adrien….boy I wouldn’t know, how she would react,” Miss Vixen said glancing at her boyfriend which nodded, then the two jumped shortly as they heard Naugthy Boy yell as he got into the room.

“You two really thought I wouldn’t find you here, didn’t ya?” Naughty Boy asked staring angrily at the two superheroes.

“How should we think that, if I got catapulted here” Miss Vixen mentioned making Naughty Boy growl and snipe with his fingers to recall a paper plane he could use against the heroes.

“I’ve got enough of you two. Why don’t you leave?” Questioned Naughty Boy throwing the paper plane at Miss Vixen, then Super Nathan jumped up in front of the girl to grab the paper plane, which disappeared as soon as it touched his hands and Super Nathan landed on the ground in front of the fox-themed heroine.

“Super Nathan!” Yelped the brunette watching her boyfriend got up and look at her.

“Hey hot stuff, got a soft spot for a tiger like me?” Super Nathan asked with a smirk, making Miss Vixen giggle at the weird pick-up line, then shrieked as the boy grabbed her on the taille, forcefully to go for a kiss, but Miss Vixen kicked off with her fists her brainwashed boyfriend away from her, causing him to fly across the room landing on top of a crown, which then moved the defeated boy over the crowd, similar to a rock concert.

“Oh yeah! Super Nathan is our star!” Wayhem cried loud jumping at the stage to observe the crowd, then he got ready to throw himself at the ground and behind him he heard something squeak, afterward he turned his head back to see Myléne Haprèle descending down a pole making some strange chicken sounds, making Wayhem smile goofy, then jumped up at the pole to join her. “I love this song!” Wayhem announced continuing the song, while Myléne tried to climb up on the pole again.

“I’m so sorry babe,” Miss Vixen said apologetic, then glared up angry at the supervillain. “Stop reversing all the citizens, none of them has ever done anything to you”

“They’re all happy. Everyone is in a relationship with anyone, all have friends and best friends… and I’ve got nothing”

“The reason you’ve got nothing is, because you’re always alone in the breaks by yourself, writing stories, fanfictions. Why don’t you try to befriend someone from your class, Nathaniel’s class?” Suggested Miss Vixen. “Or wait….you and Nathaniel are friends, aren’t you?”

“Yes and I wanted more than that, but this stupid Italian girl got in the way”

“Naughty Boy, stop blaming everyone else for your failures. It’s not their fault. If Nathaniel doesn’t love you the way you do, it’s not his fault. It’s like that. Full stop. You prefer to spend your break in writing inside a notebook anything fictional instead of hanging with any of your friends. That’s not Nathaniel’s fault nor Lila’s, that’s yours. There’s nothing wrong with fiction thought, it’s your favorite hobby, so it is mine, except I’ve haven’t had enough time due to being a superhero.”

“Shut up!”

“NO!” Yelled Miss Vixen. “Just listen to me! Don’t blame the others for your own failures. Don’t blame others, if you’re attracted to guys, don’t blame others, that you don’t have or think you don’t have any friends, don’t….”

“Tell me, how I should befriend people, that don’t feel interested in befriending a freak?” Naughty Boy asked loud, making Miss Vixen raise her left eyebrow bewildered.

“You’re not a freak Marc. Why do you think that way?”

“Because they all call me like that”

“Who?” Asked Miss Vixen.

“All! Okay!” Shouted Naughty Boy angry.

“Nathaniel would never call you like that!” Protested Miss Vixen loud.

“And how do you know that? Are you his girlfriend or what?”

Miss Vixen frowned at the villain, which wide his eyes at her figuring out, who’s behind the mask of the vixen-themed miraculous holder.

“You’re Lila Rossi!” Hissed Naughty Boy enraged. “You…..manipulating….vicious….beast!” The akumatized boy roared creating another orange paper plane with his fingers, aiming Miss Vixen, which snarled back at the boy like a fox, waiting for him to throw the plane at her and as he did Miss Vixen filled her lungs with air to released her vixen scream causing the supervillain to get blown away and hit with his head on the deck, then fall down on the floor, while around him the wall had collapsed due to the wave of the cry. Miss Vixen looked down at the paper plane on the floor, then took her flute from behind her back and jumped against the vehicle breaking it with her instrument, then saw from the paper vehicle the akuma flying up in the air, a little shaky due to the impact of the special power of Miss Vixen.

“Good” Miss Vixen said, then observed Naughty Boy transform back into Marc Anciel, then Miss Vixen went to the boy sitting him up to check for his safety. “You’re okay?”

“I’m fine” Responded Marc placing his hand in front of his forehead. “What happened?” The boy asked looking at the crowd in front of him happily holding Super Nathan, then seconds later they had turned normal and stopped cheering, while on the top the art miraculous holder, moved his head up to look, where he was and he fell into the crowd on the floor. “Whoa!”

Miss Vixen chuckled at his fall, then watched Max Kanté hold his eyes covered as he had seen Jean and another boy picking up their clothes blushing embarrassed at that moment, while at the stage Myléne sat on the end of the stage with her boyfriend Ivan Bruel in front of her trying to calm her down about the situation and Wayhem holding on his hands his shirt unknowing about, what had happened.

“I was akumatized, wasn’t I?” Marc asked looking at Miss Vixen, which nodded with a sad face, then Marc looked tragic at all the people together with Miss Vixen, which wide her eyes in shock and ran towards the couches at the corner, where her friends Adrien and Kagami were.

Miss Vixen shrieked as she saw Kagami still sitting over Adrien’s lap, noting the blonde had his belt opened up to the side and Kagami’s leggins were pulled back to the thighs, but the skirt censored to the heroine anything immodest.

“Kagami, get off. You need to catch the akuma!” Miss Vixen ordered moving the blue-haired on the arm, which was deepened in the kiss with Adrien. Kagami opened her eyes, then let go of the boy, which also opened his eyes and looked down, therefore he wide his eyes in shock as he saw his and Kagami’s hand under the skirt, which made Adrien’s face turn redder than a neon light.

“Kagami” Adrien yelped, shrieking Kagami which jumped off Adrien’s legs, just to see Adrien’s front of the pants open and a bulge forming inside his boxers, which were just pulled down by an inch  before he was uncovered.

“What happened?” Asked Kagami in panic, then Miss Vixen placed her arm on her left shoulder to calm her down.

“You were brainwashed before by an akuma to act naughty, but nothing happened between you, luckily” Miss Vixen explained. “Quick you have to catch that akuma, before it leaves to multiply”

“Hey! I can hold it!” Super Nathan told holding the akuma by its wing. “Quick”

“Go ahead, hide into the restrooms or somewhere else to transform” The brunette whispered earning a nod from the blue-haired girl, that left her back and Miss Vixen watched Adrien get up to close the zipper of his pants and to adjust his belt.

“We didn’t really get that far, didn’t we?” Asked Adrien a little tensed about the situation.

“I don’t think so” Miss Vixen assured the blonde, which looked down at his pants and up at the heroine. “The only thing, that might have happened was, you getting excited” “Thank god,” Adrien said, then Lady Red raced beside them and threw her yo-yo to catch the akuma, to activate the healing light to restore everything, that was destroyed during the fight with Naughty Boy. “I couldn’t live with this if it had happened”

“I don’t think Kagami would be mad at you. You were caught by Naughty Boy. You were just acting differently, you didn’t want to rape her or anything”

“I know, but I still don’t feel well about it,” Adrien said disappointed.

“Just talk with her about it, she will understand it,” Miss Vixen said, then she walked at Lady Red and Super Nathan.

“Okay, I’m done” The ladybug-themed heroine announced earning a nod from the fox-themed superheroine.

“Sure, go check the others,” Miss Vixen asked watching Lady Red leave the two, then Super Nathan gave his girlfriend a tight hug.

“Whatever I did to you under Naughty Boy’s hands, I’m so sorry!” The purple-skinned hero apologized making the heroine smile and peck him on his cheeks. “How bad was I”

“You were fine” Responded Miss Vixen. “You just called me hot stuff and described yourself as a tiger”

“I don’t even look like one if I did probably a white one with stripes...or an extinct one”

“I’m just glad, you’re yourself again,” Miss Vixen said placing her hands on Super Nathan’s pecs, making him grin and lean his face closer to Miss Vixen’s to kiss her.

“Miss Vixen?” A voice called, then the heroes stopped and both looked to two different sides, only Miss Vixen found out quick from where the voice came, which was from Naughty Boy’s alter ego.

“Oh, there he was,” Super Nathan said looking from the other side back at the raven-haired boy.

“I just wanted to apologize for everything I cause, when akumatized. I wish I could remember what I did and who I hurt during it, but I just can’t remember, not even from the time I was Reverser and haunting Nathaniel and Marinette all over Paris”

“It’s alright,” Miss Vixen said.

“It just happened, just give your best to keep your negative feelings down, as long as we haven’t taken care of Hawk Moth’s new successor, or whoever he is” “All in your superhero squad are professionals. You’re gonna manage this all”

“Thanks boy,” Super Nathan said. “And I know this is hard for you and you probably don’t want to listen to it at all, but….”

“I’m going to apology to all, mostly Nathaniel and Lila. I should have told him earlier about my feelings, not making him feel bad for not knowing it before or judge people I barely know” “You’re going to make it Marc. Also the people in the art class sure see you as a friend and there’s no reason to think, they’re not”

“I think you’re right. I hope they will understand me” Marc said earning a nod from the superheroes, then Miss Vixen’s miraculous started to beep.

“Oh look, I’ve gotta go,” Miss Vixen said. “Will you be okay?”

“Sure” Responded Super Nathan.

“Goodbye, Super Nathan” Miss Vixen said pecking the superhero on his forehead, making him grin foolishly.

“Miss Vixen is really amazing girl, Super Nathan” Marc complimented making the redhead smile embarrassed.

“I know” Responded Super Nathan scratching the back of his neck. “Who knew a girl like her would love a dork like me?” Super Nathan asked earning a nod from the short boy, watching Miss Vixen take off in the air outside of the club, making the boyfriend smile.

Meanwhile….

“Fuck, I was so damn close to the success. With Adrien and his girlfriend under his influence including Super Nathan. Everything would have worked out, if it wasn’t for Miss Vixen's vixen scream.” A woman in a dark purple women suit complained stomping with her cane on the ground scaring the fewer of butterflies around her, which hide on a wooden board with buckets and cleaning materials.

A doorbell rang, which the villain heard and looked back at the door of the utility room. She opened the door, leaving the room, then before she ran the corridor along, she realized she was still in her miraculous form and used the activation phrase to transform back.

“Dark Wings, fall!”

At the outside waited for the house owner a small brunette boy with a  medium-sized cage full of butterflies, then in front of the door, there was a dog door, which was opened up from the inside and from there appeared a hand with a white envelope with the name Kevin on it and the boy looked down at the envelope.

“Madame Mayura, should I bring you the cage into the house instead?” Questioned the boy.

“No, it’s okay. I….was going to take a shower right now and I’m not wearing any clothes at the moment”

“Oh alright, I’m sorry,” Kevin said, then the woman waved with the envelope for the boy to grab it. “Thank you”

“There are 200 Euros like you wanted, including 50 more as a bonus”

“Thank you Madame Mayura. You can always count on me to help you” The boy said leaving the place, soon as the boy was gone the door got opened and the hand from before pulled the cage into the house, after that, it was closed by the woman.

Who could be this mysterious woman, Kevin had been paid for? :O

[veronica-rich]

My Blue Heaven (RD fic)

Do you like Red Dwarf fanfic? Do you like Lister/Rimmer? Do you like humor, and the Dave-era series? Maybe you like this. Maybe you read it and decide. Maybe you enjoy the visual exhibit at the end. Maybe you don’t mind a PG rating this time.

(Also: You don’t have to read Orange Crush before this, but it doesn’t hurt ...)

He was taking a hell of a chance, here. It was one thing for each individual on the ship to see him like this, but Rimmer knew things always shifted in a group dynamic. People fed off of each other, picked up others’ worst tics and inclinations, and said and did things they never would have done on their own. As the great sage Tommy Lee Jones had once observed, a person can be sensible and wise, but people were scared, stricken animals prone to snap judgments and behavior.

Even if there were only three of them.

Oh well, he thought, giving himself one last shimmy before walking into Parrot’s Bar. This wasn’t for them, it was for one person, and hopefully he would be suitably grateful.

Music was surprisingly subdued as he entered the room, though upbeat and bouncy. Kryten was ladling a cup of lager punch for the guest of honor while Cat batted at a pom-pom at the bottom of a hanging paper streamer. Rimmer took a couple breaths deeper than normal and clicked over, his heels hitting the floor with more confidence than the first time he’d done this so many years ago.

Lister was licking what looked like vindaloo sauce from his fingers as he told a story to Kryten between bites of the giant kabob the mech had fixed him. Rimmer marked that the thing looked like a damn yule log, and frowned; sure, it was a special occasion, but Lister was never going to get the retained water circulated out of his lower legs again. He quickly schooled his expression though, as Lister followed Kryten’s eyes and turned toward him - and halted halfway through a dazzling smile as he spotted it. “Is that a cigarette in your hat?” he demanded, pointing at the old deerstalker Lister had clapped on for some reason.

Lister’s eyes set upon him and briefly lit up. “Holy smeg-” he began, then his gaze traveled up to Rimmer’s frown. “What?”

“You’re back to smoking again, aren’t you?”

“Wha- I haven’t smoked in years! What’re you on about?”

Rimmer fisted his hands on his hips and nodded sharply at the hat. “There’s two in your hatband! At least give me credit for good eyesight; I may look over fifty, but I can see better than Cat.”

“HEY!” The felinoid stopped batting and turned to the standoff. “I see fine, Not-Budinski! The specs are just for reading small stuff.”

Rimmer learned long ago not to be distracted. “Isn’t it bad enough you’re putting away that meat and sauce ... missile, to glom up your colon for a week? You have to smoke, too?”

Lister’s expression shifted to verging on anger, and he looked about to set to on Rimmer. A glimmer of comprehension passed over his face, though, and he reached up and plucked the hat off his head, then turned it over, examining the worn old thing. “Huh,” he mused. “Forgot I had those in there.” He pulled one out and sniffed it, his eyes closing in obvious pleasure. “Probably stale as shit,” he sighed, holding it up, then glaring at Rimmer. “This thing is at least a couple hundred years old; it didn’t go into stasis with me the past couple times Cat and I were in there. I’d no more light up this crap than vote for Nixon’s head,” he snapped, shoving it back into the hatband.

Rimmer was stubborn about letting go a good mad. “So you don’t have any ciggies on the sly? At all? Anywhere?” he demanded,

“Why would I lie?” Lister pointed out. “I’m a grown man, and if I want a smoke, I’ll have one. I told you long ago I’d given ‘em up. Why do you want to be cross with me?” he turned back on his husband.

Gritting his teeth a moment longer, Rimmer blew out a sigh. “I don’t know,” he relented, but still snappish. “Just worry, is all. Is that fine with you?”

Lister’s glare softened. “Aww, you’re concerned for my health-”

“If you die, I get shut off.”

“Nuh-uh.” Lister shook his head. “You care about me. You care!”

Rimmer pointedly glanced at the deerstalker again and ground out, wryly, “Well, no shit, Sherlock. It’s sort of in the contract. It’s sort of why I do fool smeg like this.” He cleared his throat and swept his fingertips down his hips, then out to the side to show off the full picture.

Lister gave a last chuckle, then raked his eyes over Rimmer’s entire form, slowly, and whistled. “You clean up astoundingly,” he murmured, meeting the other man’s eyes. “That color always suits you, man.” Rimmer felt himself blushing like a damn schoolgirl. “It’s a big improvement over the last one.”

“You mean that orange monstrosity?” Cat slid over with a little yowl. “That’s ‘cause I was the consultant on this one, monkey! Bright colors are not this dude’s friend. He’s more of a winter, or at last a late fall. Maybe somewhere around November 16.” Cat teetered his hand in gesticulation. “Although I would also have gone with white, except he’s a bit long in the tooth to carry that off. Or maybe it’s the penis; who knows.”

“That’s enough, moggy,” Rimmer hushed him with a sharp look and tone. Sliding his eyes back to Lister, he asked, “So, you ... like your birthday present, then?”

“Depends.” His expression was sly. “Is there a bow on back for me to untie?” Kryten’s small squeak of censure was eclipsed by Cat putting his hands over his ears and sulking back to his streamer muttering about “sex-crazed primates.” “Oh, come on,” Lister protested at them. “You two should be long past this juvenile behavior. I mean, we’re married, for smeg’s sake.”

“Honestly, I don’t know why this is such a daycare,” Rimmer tutted in agreement, shaking his head. “How old are we, again?”

“Do forgive me, sirs,” Kryten politely responded. “It’s a nasty force of habit I’ve neglected to program out of my run files-”

“Also, nobody wants to think of anyone diddling either one of you!” Cat interrupted matter-of-fact. “Nobody who looks as good as me should have to picture you two going at it.”

“Technically, sir, you don’t have to picture it,” Kryten reminded him, lifting a finger to punctuate. “You’ve walked in on the two of them in flagrante.” Cat looked horrified. “Remember,  Mr. Cat?”

“Uhhhh,” Lister intoned, reaching over to grab Kryten’s wrist and lower his hand. “Maybe we don’t need to remind him of past trauma; maybe we don’t all need to remember past trauma.”

The music had turned slow on the sound system, and Rimmer huffed in interruption. “Excuse me, but I am dressed to dance, and you need the exercise,” he directed at Lister. He tried to drop the stern look and let his expression turn what he thought might be coy. “Want to dance, stranger?”

“Man, nothing’s stranger than-” Cat was muttering, at the same time Lister cut him off with a loud, “I thought you’d never shut up carping at me and ask.” He stepped forward and extended his arms for Rimmer. The two of them briefly wrestled over who should lead before Lister said, “For heaven’s sake, you’re wearing the dress.”

“Are you really trying to impose your made-up gender rol-”

“You know I’m not-”

“Besides, I’m a good nine inches taller in these shoes, and-”

“OH MY GOD,” Lister growled, sotto voce because he was a foot from Rimmer. “It’s MY birthday, okay? Let me lead, smeg it all.”

“Well.” Rimmer purred, deciding to give in. “It is that.” Besides, Lister’s warm hands felt too good on his body through the thin velvet of the gown.

“Good. Now ... shut up and kiss me, Hardy.”

(Below is the dress I had in mind for this one. I think it would look pretty good on Rimmer either in his thirties or his fifties, when this is set, frankly)

[threeteentrio]

Control; Mafia!Jihoon

♡ Group/Member: Seventeen - Lee Jihoon/ Woozi

♡ Requested;  ‘ Mafia!Au + woozi from seventeen (or any au works) !!!!! ‘

♡ WARNING; Mentions of death, murder, swearing.

♡ Author: @joyfuljihao

♡ Notes;  I haven’t actually done like one-shots/scenarios in YEARS, so i’m quite used to writing multilpe chapter fics, so if this isn’t 100% what you like/ best qaulity, i promise i’m doing whatever i can to improve my writing! Also, i put Jihoon as having red hair in this because i honestly loved his red hair and that’s all i have to say...

This can lead to maybe a series if you guys want, make sure to tell me! :) // UNEDITED

| Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |

The static of the radio echoed throughout the room as the blinking computer lights filled your eyesight. Typing away at your computer, the exaggerated sigh left Mingyu's lips.

"Are you even smart enough to do this?" You scoffed.

You? Smart enough to hack into the opposing mafia's database to secretly download their mission plan for the next two months. Of fucking course, you were smart enough. You were Jeon Wonwoo's younger sibling for god sake.

It had been a thing since you were younger that, whatever Wonwoo did, you followed. So you learnt a lot of stuff whilst growing up, but once you found out more about computers and their systems you did everything you could, to learn everything you could.

"Shut Up Mingeww and let me focus" you sniggered, you knew the use of that nickname would just piss him off more.

"I swear to god if you weren't Wonwoo's younger siblings I would have decked you by now" Mingyu stresses, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his foot against the floor. Rolling your eyes, you let the comment pass over your head as you knew Mingyu never would do that, especially not to someone on his own side as well.

"I have to find a backdoor in their systems, make sure if they do even notice that someone's hacked in that it jumps to at least a 1000 different IP address very ten minutes or so, so it can't be tracked back to us" You explained, you threw a look over your shoulder at Mingyu and raised an eyebrow. "And let me guess, you want me to try and put some sort of spyware into their system too"

Mingyu blinked for a moment, he almost looked confused- before snapping out of it and nodding his head.

"If you can do it without getting caught then sure" You let out a sigh, before linking your fingers and cracking them in front of you.

"It ain't going to be easy, but trust me, I'm the one for the job" Mingyu clicked his tongue as he ruffled your hair.

"You really are Wonwoo's sibling aren't you?"

"Without a doubt my dude, without a doubt"

"Minghao will probably be by later to check up, Wonwoo is still out with DK checking things out" you hummed, waving your hand up.

That was his queue to leave. To leave you to do what you do best. Hack the shit out of the rival mafia's database. Mingyu rolled his eyes at you but leaves quietly anyways. Shutting the door behind him, he lets out a small sigh.

"You better get this right kid"

You had spent your whole life in the mafia, yours and Wonwoo's father was the leader of the South Side Mafia, but when an argument between your father and his right-hand man caused your father to get shot and killed, the mafia got split into two. The side that supported your father and the side that supported his right-hand man.

Wonwoo quickly took over your father's position, growing up quickly considering he was still only 18 at the time, whereas you were 16 at the time. Wonwoo, for the most part, tried to hide you well from people outside the Mafia. It was safer for you to stay secrete than to be in harm's way.

You understood that, if anything, staying secrete helped you with your job of hacker/computer expert.

The other side, on the other hand, got taken over by Choi Seungcheol, the too cocky for his own good son of your father's right-hand man. Seungcheol was handsome, he knew that too well. He had an ego the size of a double-decker bus. Even though it had been three years since the initial split of the Mafia, the war- if you could even call it that- was still ongoing.

After a few hours, you managed to bypass their firewall and not long after that, you bypassed all their sensors. You raised an eyebrow to yourself as you clicked through some of the files. You bite your lip as you continued, the whole process seems too easy.

You loved an easy job, but this? This was too easy and too easy was risky.

You continued on, cautiously of course. Clicking through files and going through walls of security, you start to locate the file of their plans for the next few months.

The door opens behind you, which doesn't surprise you and Minghao appears beside you with two large cups of coffee.

"Thought you need this" He chuckles, placing a coffee next to you and moving to the small couch of coffee table that was in the room. Humming, you send him a smile and quickly pick up the large cup and sip at it.

"Thanks, Hao" After you place it back down and go back to work. Letting out a sigh, you turn your head to Minghao and send him a look. "Hao, I think there's something off about this"

He raises an eyebrow and pulls up a chair to sit next to you.

"What do you mean?"

"This was so easy to hack into, this was more than easy, it was easy and quick and for hacking that isn't always a good thing," Minghao chuckles slightly, sending you a look.

"You have a way with words don't you" With a blank you stare at him.

"This really isn't the time Hao" Chuckling again, he motions you to continue. "Most big organisations, have their things to the most part un-hackable, but your favourite person here isn't just anyone, so normally things like this can take at the least a day or two to hack into, because of their firewalls and their systems, but do you know how long this took to hack into?" You asked, pointing at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Half a day?"

"No! Three hours!" You hold up three fingers to exaggerate.

"Maybe you're just too good at hacking" You laughed, flicking some hair over your shoulder.

"I may be good, but I'm not that good" Minghao keeps silent and I soon continue to talk. "Anyways, this is way too quick to be able to hack in a big organisation like this, especially a mafia"

"Yeah, I understand what you're saying"

"I think something's up, I can upgrade the amount of IP address it switches to so it never gets back to us, but I still think something's fishy about this" Minghao nods, agreeing.

"Upgrade the amount of IP addresses, if you can get what you came for and get out of it, make sure there's no way to trace back to us" You nod at what Minghao was staying and quickly get on it.

"I'll get it done before you can say My I"

"Okay then, M-" You cut Minghao off with a laugh and lean back in your chair.

"Done!" Minghao looks at you with a shocked expression and you send him another blank look. "What? You think I couldn't really do it?" Chuckling, he shakes his head.

"You amaze me every time"

"Well you amaze me too" Turning back to your computer, you finishing doing your final things and kept the machine next to your computer that changed the IP address on. Once you had successfully shut everything off, you turned back to Minghao and smiled at him. "Now where's my brother?"

Seungcheol raised the cigarette to his lips and took a long drag. He sat with his feet up on his desk and a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. To most, this would seem unprofessional, but to the rest of the mafia, this was just your typical Tuesday lunchtime. 

Seungcheol was professional when needs are, but on days like today, when he had no meetings some time to himself in the office, well he was going to do it his way. 

Jihoon sat across from him, a blood stain on his collar and his gun holstered on his hip. He had unbuttoned his waistcoat once he had gotten back to Seungcheol's office and leant his head back to look at the ceiling. 

Seungcheol leant forward, offering Jihoon a drag from his cigarette with Jihoon declined. Seungcheol scoffed slightly as he chuckled. 

"You can kill people, but smoking is what you say no to" Jihoon raises his head to look at him.

"Because you're letting the stick kill you and you know I only go for the people who deserve it" Seungcheol takes a long drag again and releases it slowly.

"But my younger assassin friend, who can you tell who deserves it or not?" This time Jihoon scoffs, sending a judging look to Seungcheol.

"Like you're one to talk, you know I get most of my jobs from you right?" Seungcheol waves him off as he takes another drag. 

"Let's not think about that right now and let's just contemplate the meaning of life or something" Jihoon raised an eyebrow.

"What drugs are in your cigarette?" He asked, making Seungcheol laugh.

"Nothing is in there, I promise" He hands out the cigarette "you can even try it yourself to see" Jihoon just rolled his eyes and denied. 

"Yeah, no thanks" 

"Your loss" Seungcheol mutters, leaning back in his chair. 

The door swings open and Soonyoung pops his head through the gap in the door. His usual large smile covered his face and his brown hair fell to just above his eyes. Seungcheol moved his feet from off of his desk and turned to Soonyoung's direction. 

"What do you want?" Soonyoung's smile for bigger as he laughed.  

"I hate to break the party, but you'll never guess what our software just picked up" Seungcheol gasped, putting out his cigarette in the ashtray on his desk. 

"You haven't"  

"Oh, but Boss, we have" Soonyoung smirked. 

"We caught the fly in the trap" Seungcheol's smile dropped and he hissed throwing a hand up in Soonyoung's direction. 

"Come on Hosh, what have I told you about using those codes" Soonyoung sighed, looking away. 

"Not to use them" 

"And what do you keep doing?" Seungcheol asks, pushing his lips into a straight line. Soonyoung just sighs as he replies. 

"Using them" Jihoon covers his mouth as he coughs, looking between the two. 

"You were on about Hosh?" Soonyoung's eyes widen and he nods his head dramatically. 

"Ah yes!! Our systems picked up something earlier and I think you'll want to see what" Seungcheol picked himself up out of his chair and raises his hands to the roof. 

"Then let's get going shall we?" He turned his head to Jihoon. "Ji, you come with" 

Jihoon doesn't bother to argue and just stands up. Running a hand through his dyed red hair, he waits for Seungcheol's orders. 

"Boys, this might be our day!" Seungcheol cries happily, slapping Jihoon on the back and they follow Soonyoung out of the room. 

"Isn't every day our day though?" Soonyoung asks confused and Seungcheol just sighs. 

"That it is Hosh, that it is"

They quickly made their way to their tech room, where Soonyoung was normally centred. Soonyoung was their tech guy, their number one hacker. He could spot a bug from a mile away and decode it and send it back in less than ten minutes. Jumping into his chair and crossing his legs, Soonyoung turns himself to his computers. He started to click on some files before a large black document with a bunch of long different codes in red appears on the screen. 

"What's this?" Jihoon asks, leaning against the back of Soonyoung's chair. 

"Well this you see my assassin best friend is a map" 

"A map?" Jihoon asks, unconvinced. Soonyoung hums. 

"Well you see, a few days ago I created and set up this trap, which I call the fly trap by the way,  and basically what it does is it makes it seem easier to hack into our systems when in actual fact it's all false!" Soonyoung explained, "from what I heard about their hacker, they should have noticed this straight away, but for some reason they didn't, maybe they weren't as smart as I thought they were" Soonyoung pouted. 

"Just get on with it Soonyoung" Seungcheol panned and Soonyoung nodded his head. 

"On it boss, anyways I basically set up a fake system to trick them and I set up all fake documents for them to take and tada!" Soonyoung cries, clicking on a few buttons and the screen changes into a large map. "We are in the process of knowing where they are" Seungcheol clicks his finger and pats Soonyoung on the shoulder. 

"God Soonyoung you're amazing" Soonyoung smiles, proud of himself. 

"They set up so many IP addresses to bounce around, but so it might take a while to directly locate their main source of tech" 

"Damn Hosh, you've really outdone yourself" Jihoon compliments. 

"It's all in a day's work of Hoshi Prince" Seungcheol and Jihoon just stare at him. 

"You know no one calls you that but you right?" Seungcheol asks, to which Soonyoung nods his head.

"That's what makes it even more awesome" Seungcheol shook his head, before turning to Jihoon. 

"If anything comes of this-...” Soonyoung cuts him off with a whine.

“This will work!” Seungcheol sighs, rolling his eyes before continuing to talk.

“Soonyoung here will call you with the address, I expect you to take care of this” Jihoon stays silent, just watching Seungcheol as he thinks.

“I’ll get back to you on it,” Jihoon says, waving him off and turning to walk away. After a few steps, Seungcheol calls after him. 

“You know if you don’t do this I’ll just get someone else to” Jihoon sent a look over his shoulder.

“And I said I’d get back to you on it, so see you later” 

"So you know what you're doing?" Wonwoo asks, you simply reply by nodding your head and sipping an ice tea.

"I know what I'm doing brother, don't worry about it" Wonwoo looked blankly at you. You noticed his fist tightened slightly. 

"You know I worry about you and you can't stop me from worrying" You sighed quietly, placing the ice tea down on his desk. You moved slightly so you were sitting on the edge of your seat and placed a hand on his. 

"Won, I'm 19 now, I'm not a child you can trust me" 

"I know I can trust you, but I just don't want anything bad to happen to you" You smiled as you gently squeezed his hand. 

"I'm strong, I can fight off anything" you giggle, releasing his hand and bringing up your fists in a fighting stance. "They're going to wish they never tried to go against me" Wonwoo laughed, shaking his head before running a hand through his hair. 

"You really are our father's daughter" Wonwoo chuckles, sending you a smile which you return.

"And you are our mother's son" Wonwoo sighs, standing up from his chair and motioning to the door. 

"You should get back now and start working" you nodded your head and stood up too.

"Okay Won" Pulling your big brother into a hug, you both stand there for a moment before pulling away. "I'll get right on it" He patted your head and smiled down at you. 

"I'll come to see you later okay," He says. "I'll have Mingyu drive you home" You roll your eyes and huff slightly. 

"Mingyu seriously? Why him?" Suddenly the door opens and Mingyu enters the room. 

"Hey! It's not like I want to drive you back either, so shut up pip-squeak" You make a face, sending him a look. 

"It's not like I'm short, you're just freakishly too tall" Mingyu let's out a whine, rolling his eyes and looking to Wonwoo. 

"Why are you asking me to do this?" Wonwoo laughs, as he watches you both.  

"Because you're my best friend and their my younger sibling, who else would I want to look after them?" Mingyu rolled his eyes again, before muttering a reply. 

"I'm only doing this because you said I'm your best friend" Mingyu grabbed onto your wrist before dragging you out of the room. "See you later Won" 

"Bye guys" he laughs, waving you off and going back to sit in his seat. 

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" You repeat, tugging at your wrist. "Oh wait," you ask, getting Mingyu to sigh and stop, also making him let go of your wrist. "Can we go to McDonald's on the way back?" 

"Oh my god," Mingyu says, it was evident in his tone he wasn't the slightest bit impressed. Happy that your wrist had freedom again, you skip next to him with a large smile on your face. 

"Well can we? Can we? Can we?" 

"Maybe if you shut up" 

You silently giggle to yourself and link your fingers together behind your back. You and Mingyu silently walk until you reach the main elevator and he clicks the call to buttons. For the next few moments, silence continues until the pleasant ding of the elevator arriving is heard. 

The doors part and your mouth drops slightly at the sight. 

A young looking man, with seemingly dyed red hair and he, had a pair of large sunglasses that covered his eyes. He had on a white button-down shirt, and black trousers with a black waistcoat to match. 

You blinked as he nodded his head to Mingyu and looked at you for a single moment before walking past and heading down the hallway. Your mouth dropped more as you gaze followed him. Mingyu just rolled his eyes and grabbed onto your wrist again. 

"Oh come on" You opened and closed your mouth a few times before turning to Mingyu. He leant over and clicked the ground floor.

"Who was he?!" You felt your cheeks blush. Mingyu shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"I don't know, probably just someone to see Wonwoo, why?" 

"Because, he was the most beautiful person I've ever seen" you gasp, looking at Mingyu with wide eyes. He scoffs, motioning to himself. 

"Sorry, but you must be blind as I'm the most beautiful person you've ever seen" You clicked your tongue and sent him a look. 

"Oh hunny, I think you're going blind" you patted him on the shoulder. "I think you need to go get your eyes checked" He forcefully moved his shoulder and your hand fell. 

"No, I think you're the one who needs their eyes checked"

Wonwoo raised his head at the sound of a powerful knock at his office door. Clearing his throat, he spoke. 

“Come in”  The redhead pops his head through the gap in the door and cracked a smile. Closing the door behind him, he sat in the seat across from Wonwoo. “Ah, Jihoon, what are you here for?”  

Jihoon didn’t say anything for a moment, he just silently undid his waistcoat and leant his head back and let out a deep sigh. Wonwoo raised an eyebrow, but knowing his friend, he didn’t think too much of it. 

“So, what’s going on now?” Picking his head back up, Jihoon stared at Wonwoo letting out another sigh.

“Soonyoung’s a lot smarter than he seems” Jihoon chuckles, “He’s designed this new tech that fakes a software to make it seems like its easier to hack and with that, he can get passes the IP scrambler” Wonwoo gulped as Jihoon continued. “And you know what that means? He can get original IP addresses and could you take a wild guess at who their first target is?” 

“(Y/N)” Jihoon clicks his fingers and points at Wonwoo.

“Bingo” Wonwoo sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I’m lucky they haven’t even noticed that I know you” 

“Wait,” Wonwoo says, looking up at Jihoon. “Do they know it’s them, or who they are?” Jihoon shakes his head.

“Not yet, they don’t know it’s them yet and I doubt any of them remember you have a sibling” Wonwoo becomes silent, he had a thousand thoughts rushing through his head at a mile a minute. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Jihoon didn’t reply instantly, he just fiddled with his fingers until he found the words.

“Because when Soonyoung finds out their location Seungcheol wants me to do whats in my job description” Jihoon explains. Wonwoo’s hands turn to fists on his desk table. 

“Would you, would you do it?” Wonwoo asks, sending a look to his friend. 

“You know if I don’t do it, Seungcheol will just send someone else” Jihoon responds, his voice showing all of his emotions. 

“You know that doesn’t answer my question” Jihoon stays silent again, a frown covering his face which matched Wonwoo’s. “Jihoon...” 

“If there’s a way to get out of it then sure, I would get out of it, but you know how thorough Seungcheol makes everything and how he checks everything, it wouldn’t be easy to get past him” Wonwoo’s face changes from a frown to a smirk. 

“But it’s not impossible” Jihoon’s mouth opens slightly in shock, he blinks for a moment.

“Wonwoo, what are you planning in your head?” 

“A full fi-...” Wonwoo got cut off by the sudden bang of the door slamming open and Mingyu panting as he stands there. Both suddenly both standing, they turn to him. “Mingyu, what’s going on?”

“(Y-Y/N),” He gasps for breath, “They’re hacking their computer” Wonwoo’s eyes go to Jihoon and he shrugs in response.

“That’s probably Soonyoung, once he has their address he’s meant to call me with the details” Mingyu scoffs, now with his breath back.

“See this is the problem with you and being on both sides, you’ll do whatever you're told” Jihoon scoffs too, rolling his eyes before spitting an answer. 

“I’m here to warn your fucking asses about them so shut your face” Mingyu scoffed again, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. Wonwoo hissed.

“This isn’t the time for you two to be arguing right now, we’re going to them and we are finding a way to get away with fooling Seungcheol any way we can” Wonwoo explains, picking up his gun from the drawer and putting it into the holster on his back. “And if either of you tries to argue I’m shooting you myself” 

You typed at lightning speed as you did whatever you could to keep whoever was trying to hack you from hacking you. You chewed on your lip as you concentrated and didn’t try to move an inch in case you lost focus. 

“Whoever you are you fucking piece of shit-...” You mumbled to yourself until you got cut off.

“Watch your language” You hadn’t noticed the door open and Wonwoo, Mingyu and Jihoon appear. 

“Well if this piece of shit didn’t try and hack my computer I wouldn’t have to call them a piece of shit now would I?!” You spat. It was easy to tell you were annoyed- more than annoyed, extremely pissed off. Jihoon chuckled and you raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar chuckle. Only moving your eyes you saw the head of red hair and gasped. “Mingyu, you fucking asshole, why did you bring the hot guy, do you want me to lose focus?!” 

Jihoon covered his mouth to try and cover up his laughter as Mingyu rolled his eyes and sent a glare to the back of your head. 

“I’m sorry that I make you lose focus” Jihoon laughs, this time making you roll your eyes.

“Not the time hot guy” Jihoon tried not to laugh again and Wonwoo just sighed, facepalming. 

“This really isn’t the time for this” Wonwoo says.

“Hate to break it to you big brother, but I pretty much just said the same thing,” you shrugged. “Just different phrasing” 

“Anyways,” Wonwoo starts, “Can you stop Soonyoung from hacking you?” You ran your tongue over your teeth in annoyance as you spoke. 

“So this bastard is called Soonyoung then huh” A smirk covered your face and you started typing quicker than the pace you were typing before. “You want a fucking show Soonyoung, I’ll give you one” 

“Don’t do anything too stupid now” Wonwoo says, making you laugh. 

“When have I ever done anything stupid?” Wonwoo raised an eyebrow and sent you a look.

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” You took in a deep breath but responded.

“Yeah, you probably shouldn’t” 

The room went silent- well as silent as it could go with how fast you were typing away and you giggled to yourself as you repeatedly hit a few buttons. Mingyu sent a look to the back of your head and looked to Jihoon and Wonwoo, with both of them shrugging in responses, he spoke. 

“What are you giggling at?” 

“He wanted a show, so I sent him a bunch of jumpscare clips to try and slow him down” Mingyu gave you a stank glare, judging you completely.

“Couldn't you think of something better than jumpscares?” 

“Mingyu,” You started, your tone evident for him to be wary of what he said next. “Shut the fuck up before I spread your internet history online”

“Better do what they say” Jihoon laughs and Mingyu only sends him a glare. 

After another few minutes of silence, you hit your keyboard, but still, continue to type.

“No! No! No!” You yell as large black box appears on your screen. You gasp, moving away from your computer. “H-He hacked in, h-how did he?” You stuttered, before trying to do whatever you could to get your computer working again. “I have no control”  

You turn to the three boys and see they mirror the same expression you’re wearing. Wonwoo’s eyebrows furrowed together and he let out a sigh. Quickly turning to Jihoon, Wonwoo grabbed his arm. 

“How long will it be until he calls you?” You didn’t understand what Wonwoo was going on about and just like how he had grabbed Jihoon’s arm, you grabbed his.

“What are you on about?” Wonwoo turned to you and moved his arm so you’d release it.

“Not now (Y/N)” He then turned back to Jihoon. “Well?” 

“I don’t know, it could be anytime now” Your eye flicked between the two as your brain raced to try and put together the puzzle of what could be going on. 

“We need to do something now” Wonwoo responds

“It’s not going to be easy, you have to know that” 

“What’s going on?!” You yell sending your brother the worst look you could muster. “I swear to god if you don’t tell me right fucking now” Wonwoo went pale as he turned to you, you raised both of your eyes and let out a sigh. “Just tell me please”

“Soonyoung, who’s apart of the other side made a new software and that was to catch us- you- in a trap to be able to locate you and to try and overtake us” Wonwoo explained and it left like all the air left your lungs. “They’re planning on killing whoever is behind the screen”

“W-What?” 

With that, Jihoon’s phone rang, the loud music blared through the deafening silence. Jihoon took the phone from his pocket and stared at it for a moment before nodding to Wonwoo.

Incoming call; Hoshi Answer Decline

"Who is that? Why is this happening?" You rushed, but before you could say any more, Mingyu rushed to your side and covered your mouth with his hand. Your cried became muffled against Mingyu's hand and Wonwoo placed his hands on your shoulders to try and calm you down.

"You need to stay silent, you need to trust me" You went silent, no matter what happened, no matter what your brother said or did you always trusted him. He turned to Jihoon and nodded. Jihoon picked up the phone and placed it next to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Woozi! Dude! I think this has been the most fun time hacking I've had in a while!" Jihoon sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Hosh, just get to the point already"

"Oh yeah yeah sure okay, anyways I hacked in and got the address for you, make sure to get it done by the end of the day, you know what Cheol's like," Soonyoung said.

"Sure, just send it here"

"Will do, talk to you later" Soonyoung cheered before clicking off the call. Making sure the call had ended, it wasn't a second later until Jihoon's phone beeped again and the text from Soonyoung appeared.

"By the end of the day" Jihoon looked at Wonwoo "that doesn't give us much time" Running a hand through his hair, Wonwoo starts to mutter to himself.

"We have to find a way," Wonwoo says, before repeating it. "We have to find a way"

With Mingyu's hand still covering your mouth, you blinked rapidly as you felt your eyes begin to well up. You hated seeing your brother so frantic, especially over you. Especially now over what might be the lead up to your death. Feeling the tears run down your cheeks and onto his hand. Mingyu turns you around and sends you a look.

"Nothing is going to happen to you, don't worry so much pip-squeak" Mingyu chuckles to try and brighten your mood, but you just nod.

 You already knew who Jihoon was, who he is. It didn't take long for it to click into your brain after he got the phone call, you knew he was the one they were planning on sending to kill you, but he was here, he had been all this time so sure he wasn't going to... right?

 Everything was going to work out like Mingyu had said. Everything was going to be fine. Wonwoo clicked his fingers and looked at Jihoon with a smile.

"I think I figured it out, I think I know a way this could work" Jihoon blinks and motions for him to continue. "Seungcheol will never realise a thing"

Jihoon waited for the elevator to ding once it reached the top floor and let out a silent breath of air as it did. Looking up to the camera in the corner of the elevator he winked, knowing Soonyoung would probably be watching.

Exiting the elevator, he swiftly makes his way to Seungcheol's office, knowing twice before entering. 

Seungcheol was sat like he usually was, his feet up on his desk and a cigarette in between his fingers."Ah! Jihoon! My assassin friend!" Jihoon chuckled, raising an eyebrow as he sat down in the chair across from him.

"What are you on now?" Seungcheol smiled, taking a long drag before puffing out the smoke quickly."Its new in from out west, it's beautiful stuff" Seungcheol laughed, before holding his hand out for Jihoon to take. "Want some?"

"No thank you" Jihoon declines, making Seungcheol roll his eyes.

"Always the same old Jihoon" Another drag. Another puff of smoke released. Sitting up and moving his position, he stares at Jihoon for a moment. "I notice you've dyed your hair again" Jihoon nods, running his free hand through his hair.

"You know my routine," He says simply.

 Dying his hair after every kill.

"So that means you've done it?" Seungcheol asks and Jihoon responds by throwing a file onto his desk. Seungcheol chuckled, picking up the folder and flicking through it.

"That what you mean?"

"You're simply amazing, Ji, this is why you're the best in the business," Seungcheol said, picking up one of the photos and holding up as he examined it. "Your work is honestly perfect"

"Well, I do what I know best" Jihoon laughs. "And this is what I know best"

"It certainly is"

Jihoon silently unbuttoned his waistcoat and leant his head back as he let out a sigh. He sat like that for some time, just thinking. It wasn't too much time before Seungcheol coughed, making Jihoon lift his head.

"Jihoon, you can go now, I have a new business meeting to attend about the new drugs from out west" Seungcheol explained, he sent a smirk Jihoon's way.  "If you want any, all you gotta do is ask"Jihoon rolled his eyes, which Seungcheol accepted. He declined anyways.

"Seriously no thanks, I don't care how good the stuff is, you know I don't do any of it" Seungcheol hummed, nodding his head.

"I know, I was just testing you" Jihoon raised an eyebrow.

"Testing me? For what?" Seungcheol shrugged, getting up from out of his seat.

"Oh Nothing, just nothing" Getting up, Jihoon stayed silent. He seemed like he should just go by what Seungcheol was saying and take this as his queue to leave.

"Okay then, I guess I best be going..." Jihoon starts, "Call me if you need or want anything, you know that dude" Seungcheol smiles

."Same back" 

Once he shut the door behind him, he walked quickly, without seeming to look suspicious to the elevators and waited for it to arrive. Entering it and clicking the ground floor, Jihoon let out a sigh. 

The ground floor soon arrived and Jihoon exited the elevator and left the building, this time running to his dark car that was parked in the car park outside. Getting in and turning on the engine, he let out another sigh and clicked on the fourth-speed dial number on his car phone system.

"Jihoon?" Your voice called out from through the speaker.

"Pack your things, I'll be there soon"

[cbcart]

regarding your reblog of the capitalism post, just know that nobody chooses to be poor. the homeless don't choose to be homeless. and even if their actions or lack thereof led them to such a point, god i promise they want nothing more than so be out of that position. so please don't say "you just don't want to." people don't choose to suffer in truly shitty ways

I completely understand what you're saying. However a lot of the people that are poor won't do anything to get themselves out of that position, it's not that they can't. People are very picky about where they work and beggars shouldn't be choosers like that. A lot of people would rather be poor or homeless than clean toilets for a living, work in customer service, or work outside in the elements (or a combination of the three) and rather than acknowledge that their pickiness is the problem they instead choose to blame it on someone else. My dad had a childhood worthy of a serial killer’s backstory, but when he found out that my mother was pregnant he decided to quit doing drugs, quit smoking, and start working 3 jobs so my mother and my sister would have a place to stay and food on the table (it wasn't unusual for him to not have a meal, but his childhood made him use to it). He didn't make excuses to justify his position in life, instead he decided to do whatever it took to change things so my sister wouldn't have to know the struggle he had (and all the while he was autistic and didn't know it). Even after him and my mom divorced and he went into a deep depression, he made sure that my sisters and I were raised knowing that the world doesn't owe us anything and that if we want something than we have sole responsibility of working for it. Because of my dad going into a deep depression and my mom doing a complete 180 and suddenly not giving a shit about me I went through some bad shit myself. I sometimes didn't have food (my dad didn't know) and when I did it was usually boxed soup. I'm legally considered blind, autistic (inherited from my dad), have two fucked up legs, and ptsd from a lot of the abuse I endured from my mother and my peers (just to give you and idea of how bad the abuse was, my growth was permanently stunted because of it and it may be the cause of my loss of eyesight). I work 6 days a week, 56 hours a week as a custodian cleaning literal and figurative shit for a living. I even started complaining to my dad about how unfair life is and how I have the ability to do so much more than scrub toilets, and do you want to know what he said? “Stop being a victim of circumstance and start doing something to change your life. Know where you want to go and do whatever you need to do to get there.” Obviously my dad takes no shit and bestowed his wisdom on me. And you know what? He's right. He worked his goddamn ass off to change his life and ensure a better future for his family. Anyone who claims that they can't find a way to improve their life is either too picky or just too damn lazy to try. It takes a lot of work to turn your shitty life around but shit it's definitely goddamn possible. Instead of spending all of their time screaming at people who are doing better then them these people should be using that time to better themselves and work. There's no excuse. Also sorry about just going off like that; I know and work with A LOT of people who've had things way better than me and my dad for their entire lives that go “oh woe is me” and think that the world owes them and believe that they shouldn't have to work for anything so I have a short fuse for this kind of thing. 

[aquarianwisp]

I hope your healing goes well. I felt I gave you a wrongful impression so I'm sorry for that, hun. Im sending you a lot of love and happiness. Hope you get better to continue your work

Hey Hun, 

Because you’re on anon, I don’t know what you’re talking about lol. As far as I am concerned I’m not pissed about anything or at anyone on tumblr at all or struggling with wrongful impressions. So don’t worry I’m pretty sure who ever you are, I will give you a high five. I am super unwell at the moment but the good news is that I’ve been improving. Firstly, I’ve been losing weight because my physical health is quite bad, and I ended up losing 6 kilos so far. I go to the gym everyday and my husband actually cooks me healthy meals to try and help me recover which is really nice. He is a chef so he’s been making me all this fancy food with salads and raw fish and stuff and I’m like cool vegetables.Secondly, my mental health went into the crapper, but I’ve been fighting super hard with the healthy eating and the exercise plus a bunch of meditation and my medication with the doc. The sucky thing is that the depression decided to attack what I love most, which is divination. So now I’ve got a bunch of backed up orders on my etsy and a bunch of people going wahhhh where is my reading??????? And I’m like IM SORRY I’M CRYING TOO MUCH AND MY EYESIGHT IS TOO BLURRY FROM TEARS TO READ CARDS.But then I’m like fuck this shit and I smoked a bunch of pot, laughed a lot, thought about the universe and sang some mantras and I felt better. So basically if anyone is concerned about whats going on, it’s basically that I’ve had to throw myself into surviving the onslaught of 3 illnesses. Polycystic ovaries, fatty liver, and bipolar all flaring up at once.BUT I AM GETTING BETTER SO I’LL BE BACK TO MY WORK SOOONNNN

So it really is a case of hey it’s not you, it’s me in this situation.

[ericsonclan]

Love is For the Birds

Summary: Clementine and Aspen go on a bird-watching date.

Notes: Did an OC swap with @king-of-clubs98 that was a ton of fun! :D

Read on A03: 

Aspen woke up slowly, the sunlight trickling through his window gradually pulling him from his slumber. With a long yawn, he stretched out, feeling his joints protest slightly. Even after a full night’s rest they were still a bit sore. At least he wouldn’t be walking around that much today. All he had was meal prep with Omar, helping Ruby harvest some of the vegetables from the garden, and-

Shit. Aspen realized, his eyes widening. Clem and I are going outside the gates today! Is she already waiting for me? Hurriedly he rose from his bed, pulling on his worn-out boots and bending to get through the doorway. If only his whole room could have been built to his size. It wasn’t like Ericson housed a lot of 7’5” kids before the apocalypse. At least he had the comfort of a properly sized bed though. He had to remember to count his blessings.

As he hurried along the walkway toward the main gate, Aspen spotted Louis walking along. The dreadlocked boy saw him as well, turning to him with a smile. “Hey, Aspen. What’s the hurry?”

“Oh, uh, I… Clem,” Aspen managed.

Louis’ face brightened. “That’s right, you guys have that date today! Aasim and I will be heading out on hunting duty pretty soon too. If we see you, we’ll be sure to keep our distance,” he gave a playful wink that almost made Aspen die of embarrassment right there and then. “Hey, are you free tonight to work on our song again? I think I’ve got the melody down pat this time, so no more awkward pauses!” Louis pulled proudly on the collar of his coat.

“That sounds nice. I’ll probably have time. Right after dinner?”

“I’ll jot your name down in my planner,” Louis quipped, pretending to scribble upon his hand. “See you later then – have fun!”

“Thanks!” With an awkward wave, Aspen was back on his way. The front yard wasn’t very busy at this time of day. He spotted Violet sitting up on the wall as she usually did. They shared a noncommittal nod as he passed. Aspen couldn’t believe Violet had still found a way to climb up to her old spot. The thought of climbing up there was scary enough before; it seemed it would only be scarier now with her limited eyesight. To each their own though.

Rosewood was pushing A.J. on the tire swing, something the youngster seemed to be thoroughly enjoying. “Higher, higher!” he called, kicking his feet to help boost himself further into the air. Rosewood caught Aspen’s eye, offering a friendly wave before returning to their task. Aspen was glad to see them smiling again. It’d be a hard couple months for them with everything that happened with the Delta…

“Faster, Willy!” His sister’s laugh broke out behind him, causing Aspen to turn around to see what was going on. Cedar was flying across the yard in her new wheelchair, being pushed by Willy as he sprinted behind. Their hair blew back in the wind as they made a sharp turn, barreling toward Aspen. “Aspen!” Cedar exclaimed, her smile wide as the wheelchair screeched to a halt in front of him. “Look what Willy just added: a seatbelt! That way even if we slip while racing I’ll still be safe and secure,” She looked up into her brother’s eyes for confirmation, her own green ones bright with excitement.

Aspen was still worried by the whole “racing” part of things, but he could tell how happy it made Cedar. Rather than comment on the safety of it all, he merely smiled and nodded. “It looks cool,”

“I was working all night to add improvements!” Willy jumped in, his gap teeth prominent as he beamed proudly at his work. “The whole wheelchair is stronger now, so it can take a hit, and check it out…” He pulled a lever on the back of the chair and a series of pointed stakes shot upward along both sides of the wheelchair. “Chair spikes! Nobody’s gonna be able to get to Cedar in this!”

“Those are cool, Willy, but maybe keep them down while you two are racing around,” Aspen noted.

“Oh, right!” Willy pulled the lever again and the spikes fell. “They’re only gonna be used for emergencies, promise!”

Hopefully we won’t have any of those for a while. “Well, you guys have fun. I’ve gotta find Clem,”

Cedar nodded towards the admin building. “We saw her about five minutes ago talking over something with Aasim. She’s probably still up there,”

“Thanks. I’ll see you two later,” As Aspen headed towards the admin building, he wondered what Clementine had been meeting with Aasim about. Probably a strategy meeting given that Aasim was the de facto leader of Ericson now. Approaching the steps, Aspen was pleasantly surprised to find Clementine starting to make her way down them herself.

A smile broke out on her face when she saw him. “Aspen! Sorry, have you been waiting long?”

Aspen shook his head. “Nah, I just got out here,” His eyes latched onto the book in Clementine’s hands. “What’s that?”

Clementine grinned, slipping the book behind her back. “Well, I checked with Aasim since he has a running inventory on everything at Ericson to see if he knew if the library had any books on bird watching and…” She lifted the book up proudly. “He gave me an encyclopedia on all the birds in West Virginia! We’re about to be the best bird-watching duo ever!”

“Holy shit,” Aspen breathed, reaching out to take the book. “I can’t believe I never thought to ask about that,”

“It was actually Omar’s idea at first. I was telling him what we were planning for our date and he said the library might’ve had something on birds that could help us,”

The book looked tiny within Aspen’s hands. He was able to flip open the cover, but the pages beneath were another story. They were that thin, silky kind that was usually used on Bibles and such. Aspen was surprised it hadn’t been discovered and rolled up into cigarettes back when there were still kids who smoked around here. A grunt of frustration escaped his lips, causing Clementine to look up with a sympathetic smile.

Getting on her tiptoes, she gently plucked the book from his hands. “How about I narrate the book and you lead the expedition? You’re the one with the expert birdwatching eyes anyway.

“Well, OK then,” Aspen looked towards the front gates. “You ready to head out?”

“Yep, let’s go!”

It was a short walk to the front gates and then they were out in the world. As Aspen closed the gate behind them, he looked down at Clementine’s prosthetic worriedly. It had only been a few short months that she’d had it on. He knew the first couple prosthetics had hurt like hell when she wore them, but Clementine had been adamant: she wanted to get off of her crutches as soon as possible. We’ll make it a short walk, Aspen told himself. There was no way Clementine would let him know if she was in pain and he wasn’t risking her receiving any further injuries for the sake of her pride.

“Caught you,” Clementine gave a rueful smile.

Aspen looked away in shame. “Sorry. I won’t mention it,”

“It feels fine today,”

Aspen studied her eyes, hoping he knew her well enough to be certain of the truthfulness of her words.

“I promise,”

“I trust you,”

The happiness in Clementine’s eyes told him he’d made the right choice. They walked alongside each other, Aspen keeping his eye out for birds as Clementine leafed through the book. Suddenly a giggle escaped her lips. “Man, I really hope we come across a dickcissel. That has to be the funniest name I’ve seen yet,”

“Can I see?” Aspen glanced down at the book, studying the illustration Clementine pointed to as she held the book up towards him. It was a small, sparrow-sized bird with brown markings and a bright yellow chest. “Oh, I’ve seen those before. They tend to hide out in the tall grass. Never knew what they were called though,”

“Well, keep your eyes peeled,” Clementine continued to leaf through the book. “I want to be able to tell A.J. each and every bird we saw when we get back for dinner tonight,”

They continued their walk, not coming across anything too interesting. A few crows crossed overhead and Clementine flipped to the section on crows, choosing the fish crow which seemed to match the birds they’d seen best and reading what she found out loud. “When fish crows find a good source of food, they may cache the surplus for later. These hiding places can be in grass, in clumps of Spanish moss, or in crevices in tree bark,”

“Maybe we should try to follow them and see if they lead us to their secret stash,”

Clementine wrinkled her nose at the suggestion. “If they’re storing fish inside trees, I bet it taste like shit,”

“Just cause they’re called fish crows doesn’t mean they only eat fish,” Aspen rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Here, lemme see that for a second,” He held the book up closer to his face so he could make out the tiny words. “See? It says here that they’re ‘supreme generalists, eating just about anything they can find’,”

“Guess you’ve got a point then. We could use as much food as possible back at the school,”

Aspen fumbled with his fingers. He knew Clementine was thinking of him. She always worried that he wasn’t getting enough and often tried to force her food on him. He wouldn’t take it though. Clem was way too skinny as it was. She needed the food just as much as he did. Fishing in his pocket, Aspen decided to change the subject by focusing on something else. He soon found his bird whistle, one he had made for himself out of some foam he found in the old art room and a piece of one of the medical gloves from the nurse’s office. Placing the instrument against his tongue, he waited a few seconds for it to soak up some of his saliva before positioning it at the tip of his tongue and lightly blowing past his lips. A shrill whistle pierced the air, followed by a series of short trills.

Clementine looked up at him proudly. She was always impressed at how many whistles Aspen had mastered. The first time he’d shown her, things hadn’t gone as smoothly though. Clementine had reached for his hand and Aspen had choked mid-whistle, swallowing the instrument and devolving into a coughing fit. It wasn’t a big deal; it was easy to make another. This time though, Aspen made sure the whistle was firmly lodged at the tip of his tongue before reaching out for his girlfriend’s hand.

Clementine seemed to enjoy the gesture. She leaned against his arm for a moment, humming happily to herself before her eyes suddenly widened. Pressing a finger to her lips, she caught Aspen’s eye. There just a dozen yards from them was a full-grown rabbit. Clementine had come prepared. Pulling the bow from behind her back, she notched an arrow, barely breathing as she steadied her aim. The arrow flew and hit the rabbit dead center. It flopped lifeless to the ground. Clementine hurried over to retrieve it. “Looks like dinner’s on us!”

“I can carry it,” Aspen offered. Clementine handed it to him and he threw it over his left shoulder. He had enough experience toting wild game that he wouldn’t need a hand to steady it. Instead his hand returned to Clementine’s completely enveloping hers as the couple continued to walk along.

They saw several more species of birds throughout their date and thanks to the encyclopedia were able to identify most of them. Boreal chickadees, Smith’s longspur, Kirtland’s warbler… Clem dog-eared each page that contained a bird they had spotted so that they’d be able to share each and every one with the group tonight. Aspen’s whistles, trills and warbles had birds flitting over to nearby branches, tittering back at him.

“So, do the birds think you’re like, flirting with them?” Clementine asked. “That’s why birds make calls, right? To attract mates?”

Aspen shrugged. “Hell if I know. I can make the calls. Doesn’t mean I know what they mean,”

“I suppose I have nothing to be jealous about then,” Clementine teased, dog-earing another one of the pages. “That one looks to be a Western kingbird. The book says they defend their territory with “wing-fluttering, highly vocal” attacks, so let’s try not to piss it off,”

“Birds are pretty chill for the most part,” Aspen replied. “You leave them alone, and they do the same for you,”

“Is that why you like them?”

“Yeah, and, y’know, music,” Aspen looked up towards the sky, studying the horizon. “We should probably be heading back. Don’t want to be out too late,”

“It’s not even near evening,” Clementine protested. “If this is about my leg, I can keep going,”

Aspen smiled down at his girlfriend. She was so cute when she stood her ground like that, hands on her hips, lip set in a pout. Terrifying too under the right circumstances, but in this case she was simply cute. “What if I told you I was the one who needed a break? My joints have been aching since this morning.

That seemed to change Clementine’s mind. She clearly wasn’t fully convinced whether Aspen was faking his claim or not, but she wasn’t going to risk it. “Ok, we’ll head back then,” Still hand in hand, the pair turned to start the journey back to the school.

By the time they returned, there were still a couple hours before nightfall. That didn’t make Aspen regret his decision in the least though. Clementine had started to fade a bit on the way back, her brow furrowing in concentration and her breathing growing heavier. She tried her best to mask it, but Aspen could still hear it. He didn’t say anything though. He knew she’d refuse any help he offered, and it was good enough that she’d agreed to head back. He was glad though when he felt her leaning just a bit more upon his arm, a silent agreement to accept his support in some small way.

The front yard was fairly quiet as they stepped inside the gates. Omar waved to them from the watchtower. “Looks like you guys caught something,”

“Yep,” Clementine smiled proudly. “Another rabbit to add to tonight’s stew along with whatever Lou and Aasim bring back,”

“I’ll be ready to help with dinner prep soon, Omar,” Aspen added. “Just gotta drop a few things off in the room first,”

Omar nodded. “Willy’s on watch next so as soon as he comes out I’ll get to work on preparing the stock. You’ll be on vegetable prep,”

“Sounds good. See you in a few,” Aspen and Clementine walked off together, meandering toward the dorm rooms.

“Clem, Clem!” A.J. ran forward excitedly, practically tackling Clementine with a hug. “You’re back! Did you see anything cool? Did you catch any birds?”

Clementine chuckled, ruffling A.J.’s hair. “The goal wasn’t to catch the birds, goofball, just to watch them. We have a book though that we’ll show everybody after dinner. It’s got pictures of all the birds we spotted,”

A.J.’s eyes leapt to the book in Aspen’s hand. ���Is it that one? Lemme see!” He jumped for it, but Aspen quickly lifted it out of his reach.

“Sorry, squirt, you’ll have to wait till after dinner just like everybody else,”

A.J. pouted, an expression that Aspen was pleasantly surprised to see matched Clementine’s own pout quite well. Before either of them could say anything further though, an almost imperceptible groan left Clementine’s mouth.

“Clem? You OK?” A.J. asked, eyes wide.

“We’re getting you inside,” Aspen declared, a hand moving down to circle round her waist.

“I’m fine, you two, just… I should probably sit down for a while,”

“We’ll head to your room first,” Gently, Aspen guided Clementine forward. A.J. circled round to her other side, his own hand coming up alongside Aspen’s to support Clementine. It was clear she had reached her limit. Aspen internally cursed himself for not insisting they turn back sooner. Thankfully it wasn’t too long of a walk before they reached Clementine and A.J.’s room. Ducking to get inside, Aspen made sure Clementine was securely seated on the bed before kneeling down to remove her prosthetic. The buckles were a bit fidgety in his large hands, but he was able to manage them well enough to pull the prosthetic off. He leaned it against Clementine’s dresser where it would be easy to reach.

“Thanks,” Clementine breathed, clearly exhausted. “I think I’m just gonna lay down for a bit, close my eyes. You don’t have to stay, A.J., just let me know once dinner is ready,”

A.J. seemed hesitant to go, but nodded, quickly leaving the room without another word.

Clementine turned back to Aspen who was still kneeling before her. “You can go too,” Her hand reached up to play lightly with his sandy brown hair. “I know you have things to do,”

“I’ll finish them as soon as I can,” Aspen’s eyes searched hers for signs of pain. “You’re sure you’ll be alright?”

“I’m sure,” Clementine held his gaze for a few seconds before leaning forward. Her lips grazed his in a soft kiss.

Aspen felt his face heat up at the gesture. He wanted to lean in and kiss her again, but Omar was waiting and Clementine was clearly on the verge of falling asleep. Instead he settled for cupping her cheek, her head resting against his hand. “You get some rest, okay? I’ll see you later,”

“Later,” Clementine murmured.

Aspen slowly lowered her head till it rested upon the pillow. He then rose to his feet, heading back toward the door.

“Aspen?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you,”

Aspen’s heart fluttered within him. “Love you too,” Bending, he made his way into the hall, heading for the stairs. It really had been a wonderful date.